Coronavirus News Highlights: Maharashtra records 2,246 Covid-19 cases, six deaths

Tamil Nadu on Thursday logged 643 newCovid-19infections, pushing the tally to 35,61,453 so far. The death toll remained unchanged at 38,033 with nil fatalities today, the Health Department said.

. Maharashtra recorded 2,246 new coronavirus infections and six fatalities on Thursday, the state health department said. The state's Covid-19 case tally rose to 80,78,411, and death toll reached 1,48,186.

The state had recorded 1,800 new cases and six fatalities on Wednesday. Mumbai recorded 1,201 new coronavirus cases and two fatalities on Thursday.

. People infected withCovid-19can be more at risk of psychosis, dementia, seizures and brain fog for up to two years compared to other respiratory infections, finds a study published in The Lancet Psychiatry on Thursday.

. Himachal Pradesh recorded 388 freshCovid-19cases on Thursday as an 85-year-old man succumbed to the infection here, officials said.

So far, 4,167 people have died from the infection in the state, where the number of total cases reached 3,08,944. Currently, the state has 2,319 active cases.

On Thursday, 4,335 samples were taken for testing, 388 of which tested positive for covid.

As many as 299 people have recuperated from the disease, taking the number of recoveries to 3,02,438.

. The World Health Organisation (WHO) on Thursday recommended the use of French drugmaker Valneva'sCovid-19vaccine.

The UN agency also recommended the use of a second booster dose for some individuals at high risk of severe disease.

However, that does not constitute a general recommendation of vaccinating all adults, and is aimed at avoiding severe disease and death in populations at the highest risk, it said.

The recommendations come after the WHO's Strategic Advisory Group of Experts (SAGE) on immunisation held a meeting last week.

. Half of people in poorer countries have now received two vaccine doses againstCovid-19, a global vaccine alliance said Thursday, hailing progress in closing the vaccine equity gap.

Gavi, which co-leads the Covax global vaccine distribution scheme with the World Health Organization and others, said the 92 lower-income countries receiving donor-funded jabs had reached 50 per cent coverage on average.

. Puducherry witnessed rise in number of freshCovid-19cases with 80 people testing positive, a senior official of the Department of Health said on Thursday.

The union territory on Wednesday reported 16 new coronavirus cases. Director of Health G Sriramulu in a release said, the 80 cases surfaced after examination of 1,223 samples in the last 24 hours ending 10 AM today.

. Patients with the most severe post-Covid smell and taste disorders are likely to perform worst in cognitive tests, especially when these involve memory, finds a study strengthening the hypothesis that loss of smell could be an early sign of the impending onset of Alzheimer's disease.

In the study, a group of Brazilian researchers analysed clinical data from 701 patients hospitalised for moderate or severeCovid-19.

The results, reported in European Archives of Psychiatry and Clinical Neuroscience, showed a moderate or severe reduced sense of taste was the most frequently reported sensory complication (20 per cent), followed by a moderate or severe olfactory deficit (18 per cent), a moderate or severe deficit of both smell and taste (11 per cent), and parosmia (9 per cent) or distortion of olfactory perception, so that a previously enjoyed smell becomes unpleasant, for example.

Olfactory hallucinations (perceiving smells of which others were unaware) were reported by 12 of the participants, and gustatory hallucinations (perceiving tastes without eating anything) by nine. In both cases, most said the hallucinations occurred only post-Covid.

People reporting parosmia (smell loss associated with Covid) were found to have more memory problems than the rest, while those with a moderate or severe loss of taste performed significantly worse. Those who reported moderate or severe loss of both smell and taste were also found to have significantly impaired episodic memory.

. Odisha'sCovid-19tally rose to 13,24,069 on Thursday as 482 more people, including 108 children, tested positive for the infection, a health bulletin said.

The toll rose to 9,160 as a 72-year-old woman succumbed to the disease in Khurda. Fifty-three other patients have died due to comorbidities so far, it said.

Odisha had logged 280 infections and two fatalities on Wednesday.

The state now has 2,909 active cases, while 553 more people were cured of the disease in the last 24 hours, taking the total recoveries to 13,11,947.

The daily positivity rate was at 2.67 per cent as 18,036 samples were tested for the infection in the last 24 hours.

. Arunachal Pradesh'sCovid-19tally rose to 66,480 on Thursday as 33 more people tested positive for the infection, a senior health official said.

The northeastern state had reported 43 cases on the previous day.

The toll remained unchanged at 296 as no fresh fatality due to the infection was recorded in the last 24 hours, State Surveillance Officer (SSO) Dr Lobsang Jampa said.

. TheCovid-19tally of Andaman and Nicobar Islands rose to 10,533 on Thursday as 13 more people tested positive for the infection, a health bulletin said.

The archipelago had reported three cases on the previous day.

Two new patients have travel history, while 11 fresh infections were detected during contact tracing, it said.

The Union territory now has 25 active cases, while 10,379 people have recovered from the disease so far, including four in the last 24 hours.

A total of 129 patients have succumbed to the infection to date. The administration has thus far tested over 7.68 lakh samples forCovid-19, and fully vaccinated 3.49 lakh people.

. Assam reported 174 new Covid-19 cases on Thursday, as per the National Health Mission (NHM).

. Mainland China reported 3,570 new coronavirus cases for August17, of which 682 were symptomatic and 2,888 were asymptomatic, the National Health Commission said on Thursday.

That compared with 3,036 new cases a day earlier - 637 symptomatic and 2,399 asymptomatic infections, which China counts separately. ( Reuters )

Coronavirus News Highlights: Maharashtra records 2,246 Covid-19 cases, six deaths

Tamil Nadu sees 643 fresh Covid-19 cases

Maharashtra records 2,246 Covid-19 cases, six deaths

Delhi reports 1,964 new Covid-19 cases, 1,939 recoveries, and 8 deaths, in the past 24 hours

Covid raises dementia, psychosis risk up to 2 years: Study

Himachal Pradesh reports one death, 388 fresh coronavirus cases

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