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Drug firm Cipla on Wednesday announced the launch of antibody detection kits for Covid-19 in India under the brand name 'ELIFast' in partnership with KARWA Ltd, under the technology transfer from the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR).

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The continuously rising national recovery rate and progressively falling active cases of coronavirus infection have proven the success of Covid-19 containment strategy, Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan said on Wednesday.

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A 44-year-old pregnant woman, who was undergoing treatment for Covid-19, successfully delivered twins at a government hospital here.

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Number of #COVID19 containment zones has gone up to 3,047 in Delhi, with maximum 558 in southwest Delhi and lowest 82 in northeast Delhi: Official data

— Press Trust of India (@PTI_News) October 28, 2020

Himachal Pradesh's Covid-19 case tally stands at 21,149 including 18,179 recoveries, 2,646 active cases and 295 deaths so far: State Health Department

1,354 new positive cases and 31 deaths reported today. The total number of positive cases in Mumbai is 2,54,242 including 2,24,217 recoveries, 18,984 active cases and 10,153 deaths so far: Municipal Corporation Greater Mumbai

— ANI (@ANI) October 28, 2020

Shetti (53), who heads the Swabhimani Shetkari Sanghatna, a leading farmer organisation in Maharashtra, had tested positive for Covid-19 last month and later recovered from the infection.

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Ahead of a fresh set of Unlock guidelines, the Uddhav Thackeray-government was contemplating opening up local trains in Mumbai metropolitan region (MMR) for all, in a phased manner.

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93 cases registered for violation of Covid-19 guidelines in the first phase of polling for Bihar assembly elections today: ADG Jitendra Kumar, Bihar (ANI)

Bengali actor Aparajita Adhya tests Covid-19 positive

Drugmaker Dr Reddy's Laboratories Ltd on Wednesday rolled out a preliminary timeline for the India trials of Russia's coronavirus vaccine candidate, with the late-stage expected to be completed by as early as March 2021.

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Maharashtra reports 6,738 new #COVID19 cases, 8,430 recoveries and 91 deaths, as per State's Public Health Department.

The COVID19 tally of the state rises to 16,60,766, with 14,86,926 recoveries and 43,554 deaths. Active cases at 1,29,746 pic.twitter.com/1sB8wWQ7qh

— ANI (@ANI) October 28, 2020

Gujarat reports 980 fresh cases of Covid-19, 5 deaths and 1,107 recoveries today. State's case tally stands at 1,70,053 total cases including 1,52,995 recoveries, 13,354 active cases and 3,698 deaths till now: State Government

Rajasthan detects 1,785 new #COVID19 cases and 10 deaths today till 6pm.

Total positive cases in the state stand at 1,91,629 including 1,877 deaths, 1,74,044 recoveries and 15,708 active cases: State Health Department pic.twitter.com/30QzBOa8ZR

— ANI (@ANI) October 28, 2020

8,790 fresh Covid-19 cases & 7,660 recoveries reported in the state today. 94 healthcare workers among those infected. Covid-19 death toll in the state stands at 1,403: Kerala State Government

A Covid-19 vaccine could be rolled out in Britain for some people before Christmas but an early 2021 launch is more likely, the woman responsible for procuring possible jabs in Britain said on Wednesday.

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Iran reported 415coronavirusdeaths on Wednesday, its highest one-day total, health ministry spokeswoman Sima Sadat Lari told state TV, pushing total deaths in the Middle Eastern country hit hardest by the pandemic to 33,714.

Editors of the most influential Slovenian news outlets on Wednesday accused the centre-right government of using the coronavirus crisis to attack independent and critical media.

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With experts predicting a major surge in Covid-19 cases in the coming months in Delhi, the city's first coronavirus patient on Wednesday cautioned people to stay indoors as much as possible during the festive season while emphasising that the situation is "not back to normal".

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Mizoram reports first Covid-19 death & fivenew recoveries today. The total number of positive cases is 2,607 now, including 368 active cases and 2,238 recoveries. (ANI)

98 fresh #COVID19 positive cases and 114 recoveries reported in the state today: Nagaland Health Minister

— ANI (@ANI) October 28, 2020

Thecoronavirussituation in Russia is continuing to deteriorate, Deputy Prime Minister Tatiana Golikova told a meeting on Wednesday of senior government officials and President Vladimir Putin.

Golikova said there was a critical situation in 16 Russian regions, where hospital beds were at more than 90% of capacity.

Hong Kong has banned Air India flights from Mumbai till November 10 after a few passengers on its flight earlier this week tested positive for Covid-19 post-arrival, a senior government official said on Friday.

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Like you saved yourself from Covid-19 with mask, vote to save Bihar from becoming 'bimar': PM Modi

Rampant flouting of mask-wearing and social distancing regulations have prompted the special officer in the city’s South zone to increase the number of violators that each BBMP marshal must catch.

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With calibrated measures and focussed strategy of the Centre along with the states and UTs, India has sustained its global position of recording one of the lowest Covid-19 cases as well as deaths per million population, the Union health ministry said.

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The ongoing economic crisis caused by the Covid-19 pandemic is “deeper and likely to be more protracted” than past recessions in Singapore, the city-state's central bank said in a report on Wednesday.

Some sectors of the economy, especially those that are travel-related, may not return to pre-pandemic levels by the end of next year as the Singapore economy faces a “gradual but uneven” recovery, the Channel News Asia reported, citing

Swiss hospitals are scrambling to cope with a surge in new Covid-19 patients, bringing back retired staff to replace sick frontline workers and closing other wards as officials warn they could reach breaking point in about 10 days.

Case numbers in Switzerland have risen to record levels this month, with infection rates far exceeding those in neighbours Germany and Italy.

Indonesia's coronavirus infections have passed the 400,000 mark, with 4,029 new cases confirmed on Wednesday, according to health ministry data.

The Southeast Asian country has 400,483 cases. With the addition of Wednesday's 100 more Covid-19 deaths, it has recorded 13,612 fatalities.

Small, yet so divided, Belgium has been hit hard again by the pandemic, and now presents some of the most worrying statistics in a continent reeling under the virus' resurgence.

If ever there was a common enemy for the rival Dutch- and French-speaking citizens and regions to fight, this would surely be it. But even now cooperation goes against the grain in Belgium, to the extent that the country's Roman Catholics bishops issued a call for all, in the name of the Lord, to show some unity.

Mizoram, the only state which had not reported any Covid-19 fatality so far, registered its first coronavirus death on Wednesday as a 62-year-old man succumbed to the infection at a hospital near Aizawl, a health official said.

The patient was undergoing treatment for 10 days at the state-run Zoram Medical College, its medical superintendent, Dr H C Laldina, told PTI.

The man, who resided in Aizawl, was also suffering from a heart ailment, he said.

A study of over 200 Covid-19 cases in a hospital in Spain found that about 80 per cent of patients had vitamin D deficiency, scientists said on Wednesday.

However, the study published in the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism did not find any relationship between vitamin D concentrations or vitamin deficiency and the severity of the disease.

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Chancellor Angela Merkel is seeking drastic new curbs, including fresh shutdowns hitting leisure, sports and the food and drink sectors, in crisis talks Wednesday with Germany's regional leaders to halt surging coronavirus infections and save the Christmas holiday season.

The proposed restrictions to come in force from November 4 to the end of the month would limit contact outdoors to people from two households, according to a draft of planned measures seen by AFP.

Schools, daycares and shops will remain open, but hotels will be allowed to offer overnight stays only for "necessary and expressedly non-tourist purposes".

Puducherry posted 102 new Covid-19 cases on Wednesday, taking the infection count to 34,583 in the union territory. Two more people, including a 55-year old woman, died of the illness during the last 24 hours raising the toll to 590.

Director of Health and Family Welfare S Mohan Kumar said in a release that the two deceased had complaints of diabetes and hypertension.

Professor Philippe Juvin, a leading member of Paris' Georges-Pompidou hospital, told RTL radio on Wednesday that France had to accept a new, national lockdown to tackle a resurgence of the Covid-19 virus.

"We must take it up," said Juvin.

French President Emmanuel Macron will give a televised address on Wednesday evening. His government has been exploring a new, national lockdown from midnight on Thursday, BFM TV reported, albeit a slightly more flexible one than the two-month shutdown that began in mid-March

Champagne corks popped in Australia's second-biggest city as a months-long coronavirus lockdown ended on Wednesday, contrasting with deepening gloom in Europe where France and Germany were set to reintroduce curbs.

The pandemic has unleashed vast devastation across the global economy and in the absence of a vaccine or effective treatment, countries are being forced to impose widely unpopular Covid-19 restrictions that have sparked violent clashes in Italy.

Single-day recoveries outnumbered new Covid-19 cases in Tripura, as 160 more people tested positive for the infection while 202 more people were cured of the disease on Wednesday, a health official said.

The new cases have pushed the northeastern state's Covid-19 caseload to 30,453, he said.

Tripura now has 1,757 active coronavirus cases, while 28,332 people have recovered from the disease and 341 patients have succumbed to the infection so far, the official said, adding 23 patients have migrated to other states.

Ministry of Health

Novartis has licensed global rights to two Molecular Partners' antiviral drugs that have potential to treat Covid-19 patients, the two companies said on Wednesday.

Molecular Partners will get an upfront payment of 60 million Swiss francs ($66.2 million), a potential milestone payment of 150 million francs, and a "significant royalty" on sales of the drugs called MP0420 and MP0423.

Odisha's Covid-19 caseload mounted to 2,85,482 on Wednesday as 1,540 more people tested positive for the infection, a health official said.

Twelve fresh fatalities pushed the coastal state's coronavirus death toll to 1,284, he said.

As many as 886 new cases were reported in quarantine centres, while 654 infections were detected during contact tracing, the official said.

COVID-19: All schools in Delhi will continue to remain closed till further orders, says Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia

— Press Trust of India (@PTI_News) October 28, 2020

href="https://twitter.com/PTI_News/status/1321342198906933248?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 28, 2020

Aerosol microdroplets, which are tiny particles that linger in the air longest after we talk, cough, or sneeze, may be ineffective at spreading the virus that leads to Covid-19, according to a new study.

The results of the modelling study, published in the journal Physics of Fluids, noted that aerosol transmission of the novel coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 in confined spaces is not very efficient.

"If someone enters a space even a few minutes after a mildly symptomatic carrier of the coronavirus has coughed in that area, the probability of infection is rather low," the researchers, including those from the University of Amsterdam in The Netherlands, noted in a statement.

French drugmaker Sanofi SA and Britain's GlaxoSmithKline plan to make 200 million doses of their Covid-19 vaccine candidate available to the vaccine allocation plan co-led by GAVI and the World Health Organization.

The companies said on Wednesday they have signed a statement of intent with vaccine alliance GAVI, which is coordinating the global plan known as COVAX.

COVAX aims to deliver 2 billion vaccine doses around the world by the end of 2021, and more than 180 nations have joined the plan.

Ministry of Health

Arunachal Pradesh's Covid-19 tally rose to 14,472 on Wednesday as 81 more people tested positive for the infection, a health official said.

An undertrial prisoner lodged in Jully Central Jail succumbed to the infection at a hospital on Tuesday, taking the state's coronavirus death toll to 36, he said.

The 61-year-old man was admitted to the hospital on October 19. He died due to septic shock, State Surveillance Officer, Dr Lobsang Jampa said, adding the state has reported 18 coronavirus deaths this month.

China has reported 42 new Covid-19 cases, including 22 from Kashgar prefecture in Xinjiang province where all the 4.74 million people underwent tests following the detection of a villager as an asymptomatic carrier, the health authorities said on Wednesday.

This comes a day after the Kashgar prefecture reported 183 coronavirus cases after the completion of Covid-19 tests for all the residents in the region, according to official media reports.

Mizoram's Covid-19 tally rose to 2,607 on Wednesday as 80 more people tested positive for the infection, a health official said.

Twenty-seven school students, the majority of them staying in hostels, 11 Army jawans, and one Mizoram Armed Police (MAP) personnel are among the new patients, he said.

The Army jawans and the MAP personnel had returned from other states, the official said.

With 1,481 new cases, Telangana's coronavirus tally reached 2.34 lakh while four more deaths pushed the toll in the state to 1,319.

Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) accounted for the most number of cases with 279, followed by MedchalMalkajgiri 138 and Rangareddy 111 districts, a government bulletin said on Wednesday providing data as of 8 PM on October 27. As many as 17,916 are under treatment and40,081samples were tested on October 27

The Covid-19 tally of Andaman and Nicobar Islands rose to 4,274 on Wednesday as 21 more people tested positive for the infection, a health official said.

Five new patients have travel history, while 16 infections were detected during contact tracing, he said. Twenty-two more people have been cured of the disease, the official said. The Union territory now has 197 active coronavirus cases, while 4,019 people have recovered from the disease and 58 patients have succumbed to the infection so far, he said.

AFP Photo

Chancellor Angela Merkel is expected to push for a "lockdown light" in crisis talks with Germany's regional leaders Wednesday, as the number of coronavirus cases soars and hospital beds fill up.

The proposed new restrictions would include closing restaurants and bars and putting strict limits on private and public gatherings while keeping schools, daycares and shops open, according to the best-selling Bild daily.

Credit: ICMR

Nearly half a million people in the United States have contracted the novel coronavirus in the last seven days, according to a Reuters tally, as cases and hospitalizations set fresh records in hot spots in the Midwest.

More than 5,600 people died from the virus nationwide in the last week, with hospitalizations shooting up 13 per cent, a Reuters analysis showed.

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Jharkhand's Covid-19 tally crossed the 1 lakh-mark on Wednesday as 318 more people tested positive for the infection, a health official said.

The new cases have taken the state's caseload to 1,00,224, he said.

Four more people have succumbed to the infection, pushing the state's coronavirus death toll to 876, the official said.

The readiness of the Brazilian Navy has not been affected by the coronavirus outbreak, despite 8% of personnel catching the virus and 549 people dying of Covid-19, its commander said on Tuesday.

Admiral Ilques Barbosa played down the impact of the virus on the Navy's 80,000 men and women, adding that those who caught it were never all out at the same time. Most of those who died were veterans over the age of 70, he said.

Mexico's health ministry reported on Tuesday 5,942 additional cases of the novel coronavirus and 643 more deaths in the country, bringing the official number of cases to 901,268 and the death toll to 89,814.

Health officials have said the real number of infected people is likely significantly higher than the confirmed cases. On Sunday, the ministry said the true death toll from Covid-19 may be around 50,000 higher.

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Tuesday predicted a "tough winter" in the face of a second wave of Covid-19 infections engulfing much of the country, and called it a horrific national tragedy as deaths topped the 10,000 mark.

Canada's case numbers have been rising, triggering new restrictions on public gatherings and indoor activities in several provinces. On Tuesday, Canada recorded 2,674 new cases, while there are now 10,001 deaths and a total of 222,887 cases.

Mainland China reported 42 new Covid-19 cases on Oct. 27, up sharply from 16 a day earlier as new cases were reported in the northwestern Xinjiang region, the country's health authority said on Wednesday.

Of the new cases, 22 of them were locally transmitted infections in Xinjiang following an apparent mass infection in Kashgar. The region's health authority also reported 19 new asymptomatic infections, half of the total number of symptomless infections reported in Mainland China for Oct. 27.

UK Vaccines Taskforce Chair Kate Bingham said on Tuesday that the first generation of Covid-19 vaccines "is likely to be imperfect" and that they "might not work for everyone".

"However, we do not know that we will ever have a vaccine at all. It is important to guard against complacency and over-optimism", Bingham wrote in a piece published in The Lancet medical journal

Reuters Photo

There are significant problems with the availability and quality of Covid-19 data in England, British researchers said on Wednesday as they launched a dashboard to help make sense of the patchwork of stats.

The Covid-19 Response Evaluation Dashboard (COVID RED) presents available statistics from Public Health England (PHE), the Office for National Statistics (ONS) and the National Health Service (NHS) and also highlights where more data are needed

A first-of-its-kind study using satellite images to count fresh graves and analyse burial activity in Yemen has estimated the death toll there from Covid-19 or Covid-related causes is far higher than official government figures suggest.

Using high-resolution satellite imagery, researchers at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine (LSHTM) analysed burial activity at all identifiable cemeteries in Yemen's Aden region and calculated an estimated 2,100 "excess deaths" during the Covid-19 outbreak between April and September.

Australia's coronavirus hotspot of Victoria state reported two new Covid-19 cases on Wednesday after posting no infections in the previous two days, as state capital Melbourne emerged from more than three months of a hard lockdown.

Restaurants and cafes in Melbourne - home to 5 million people - can reopen from Wednesday and limits on social gatherings at homes have been eased, allowing two adults and dependents from one house to visit another household.

Pfizer executives expressed measured optimism Tuesday over the prospect of providing a coronavirus vaccine in 2020 even as they signaled key data on the vaccine would not be released before the US election.

Pfizer Chief Executive Albert Bourla said the drug giant could supply some 40 million doses in the United States in 2020 if clinical testing proceeds as expected and regulators approve a vaccine.

"If all goes well, we will be ready to distribute an initial number of doses," said Bourla, who pointed to a US government contract for Pfizer to supply 40 million doses by the end of this year and 100 million doses by March 2021.

Italian police fired teargas at demonstrators protesting virus restrictions on Tuesday for the second night running, as dire figures on global tourism and investment highlighted the devastating economic impact of the pandemic.

Thousands protested again in Italian cities with the cry of "freedom" punctuated by clashes with police, with many traders and employees fearing a second wave economic slump as much as the rising virus numbers.

The Metropolitan Transportation Authority announced Tuesday it is embarking on a first-in-the-nation testing program to test thousands of workers weekly to guard against a second wave of the coronavirus.

MTA Chairman Patrick Foye said the goal will be to test 15% of frontline workers weekly.

That would amount to roughly 6,000 bus and subway workers, Transport Workers Union Local 100 President Tony Utano said in an email. Overall, the nation's largest public transit system has more than 70,000 employees. More than 120 MTA employees have died from Covid-19 this year.