Coronavirus News Live: Odisha reports 3,450 new Covid-19 cases, 19 fresh fatalities

The Centre opposed in the Supreme Court a contention that people were losing their jobs and rations allegedly due to the Covid-19 vaccine mandates issued by various states and authorities. Meanwhile, South Africa said it no longer requires those who test positive for Covid-19 without symptoms to isolate and has also reduced the isolation period for those with symptoms. Stay tuned for live updates.

Pondy registers 742 fresh Covid-19 cases, 6 deaths

Puducherry clocked 742 new cases of coronavirus during the last twenty-four hours ending 10 a.m. on Wednesday raising the cumulative positives to 1,62,633. The 742 infections were identified at the end of examination of 3,633 samples and the cases were spread over Puducherry 531, Karaikal 136, Yanam 65 and Mahe 10.

Odisha reports 3,450 new Covid-19 cases, 19 fresh fatalities

Odisha's Covid-19 tally rose to 12,55,776 on Wednesday as 3,450 people tested positive for the infection, 364 more than the previous day, a health bulletin said.

Nineteen more patients succumbed to the infection, taking the state's coronavirus death toll to 8,648, it said.

The test positivity rate rose to 5.84 per cent as 59,040 samples were examined in the last 24 hours.

World's first trial deliberating infecting young adults with Covid found to be safe

The world's first human challenge trial in which volunteers were deliberately exposed to Covid-19 to advance research into the disease was found to be safe in healthy young adults, one of the companies running the study said on Wednesday.

The data supports the safety of this model which could theoretically provide a "plug and play" platform for testing therapies and vaccines using the original Covid-19 strain as well as variants of the virus, Open Orphan, which carried out the study, said in a statement.(Reuters)

Andaman & Nicobar records 22 new Covid-19 cases

Andaman and Nicobar Islands recorded 22 new Covid-19 cases, five more than the previous day, pushing the tally to 9,826, a health department official said on Wednesday. The union territory now has 335 active Covid-19 cases while 9,362 people have so far recovered from the disease, including 62 in the last 24 hours, he said.(PTI)

Sports set to start at Beijing Olympics but controversies weigh heavy

The sporting action gets under way at the Beijing Winter Olympics on Wednesday, two days before the opening ceremony of a Games overshadowed by diplomatic boycotts and concerns about human rights and Covid.

Added to the controversy are fears for the safety of Peng Shuai, warnings about snooping by the Chinese government and the environmental impact of an Olympics which will rely almost entirely on man-made snow.(AFP)

France eases Covid curbs, including outdoor mask-wearing

France began lifting coronavirus restrictions including mandatory outdoor mask-wearing Wednesday in a bid to ease citizens' daily lives, dividing opinion as the country only last month reported record Covid-19 infections.

Audience capacity limits for concert halls, sporting matches and other events were also removed, and although homeworking will no longer be mandated it is still recommended.(AFP)

India's daily Covid-19 cases decline to 1.61 lakh

India on Wednesday reported 1,61,386 new coronavirus cases and 2,81,109 recoveries in the last 24 hours, data from the Union Health Ministry showed. Read more

Anti-vaccine protest in Canada spurs outrage

In a scene at odds with Canadians' reputation for niceness and rule-following, thousands of protesters railing against vaccine mandates and other Covid-19 restrictions descended on the capital over the weekend, deliberately blocking traffic around Parliament Hill.(AP)

Nobody losing jobs due to vaccine mandate: Centre to SC

The Centre on Monday opposed in the Supreme Court a contention that people were losing their jobs and rations allegedly due to the Covid-19 vaccine mandates issued by various states and authorities.

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S Africa ends isolation for asymptomatic Covid patients

South Africa no longer requires those who test positive for Covid-19 without symptoms to isolate and has also reduced the isolation period for those with symptoms by three days, as the country exits its fourth wave of the coronavirus, a government statement said on Monday.

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South Korea reports record 18,343 daily Covid cases