Coronavirus news highlights: Bengal reports 1,435 new Covid-19 cases, 29 fresh fatalities

Thank you for following our coverage on the coronavirus crisis, t stay updated on the latest Covid-19-related news, click here.

Indian researchers have found 19 coronavirus variants circulating in India with "escape mutations" that allow them to evade the antibodies generated by immune systems and one such variant is spreading fast in Andhra Pradesh.

Karnataka on Sunday reported 911 fresh coronavirus infections and 11 deaths taking the total cases and fatalities to 9,16,256 and 12,062 respectively.

Three more UK returnees were among those who tested positive, taking their total to 26, the state government said.

The total infections comprised 8,91,095 cumulative discharges of them 1,214 on Sunday and 13,080 active cases, including 209 in the intensive care units of various hospitals, a health department bulletin said.

West Bengal's Covid-19 tally mounted to 5,47,443 on Sunday as 1,435 more people tested positive for the infection, a health bulletin said.

Twenty-nine more people succumbed to the infection, pushing the state's coronavirus death toll to 9,598, it said.

As many as 1,740 more people have been cured of the disease, taking the recovery rate among the coronavirus patients in the state to 95.73 per cent, the bulletin said.

The Covid-19 tally in Maharashtra rose to 19,19,550 on Sunday with the addition of 3,314 fresh infections, the state health department said.

With 66 more people succumbing to the viral disease, the overall death toll in the state mounted to 49,255, it said in a statement.

A total of 2,124 patients were discharged in the state during the day, taking the number of recoveries to 18,09,948, it said.

Gujarat on Sunday reported 850 fresh coronavirus positive cases, taking the count of infections to 2,41,845, the state health department said.

With seven more persons succumbing to the viral disease, the total death toll in the state reached 4,282, it said.

A total of 920 patients were discharged in the day, taking the cumulative number of recoveries in the state to 2,27,128.

Jammu and Kashmir on Sunday recorded 260 fresh coronavirus cases, raising the tally to 1,20,137, while two more deaths pushed the fatality count to 1,869, officials said.

Of the fresh cases, 119 were reported from Kashmir and 141 from the Jammu division of the union territory, they said.

The officials said Jammu recorded the highest of 93 cases, followed by 69 in Srinagar district.

Tamil Nadu added 1,009 fresh infections to its coronavirus tally on Sunday, taking the total count to 8.14 lakh while 10 more fatalities pushed the toll to 12,069, the health department said.

Daily recoveries continued to outnumber the new cases with 1,091 people getting cured, taking the aggregate to 7,93,154, a bulletin said. The number of active cases stood at 8,947.

Four contacts of the UK- returned Covid-19 positive persons contracted the infection in Andhra Pradesh on Sunday, the health authorities here said. So far, six of the 1,216 people, who returned from the UK in recent days tested positive for coronavirus in East Godavari, Krishna, Anantapuramu, Guntur and SPS Nellore districts.

Read more

Rajasthan reported 843 fresh Covid-19 cases and six more fatalities due to the disease on Sunday, a Health Department bulletin said.

The total number of people infected by Covid-19 now stands at 3,05,360, of which 11,157 people are undergoing treatment.

The state's death toll has reached 2,670, while 2,91,533 people have been discharged so far.

Many people may put off their international travel plans due to concerns over the spread of new variant of coronavirus in some countries and possibility of flight bans by nations like Dubai, France and Singapore, a survey has revealed.

The survey, which is based on over 15,000 responses from over 10,000 people from across 204 cities and conducted by online platform LocalCircles, also revealed that as many as 42 per cent of the respondents did not have any travel plan for domestic travel at all.

Post lockdown, the government hasn’t yet allowed regular operation of international flights, instead it operates transport bubbles with 23 countries, including the UK via the Vande Bharat Mission.

In view of the emergence of a new coronavirus variant in the UK, the Mumbai civic body on Sunday issued revised guidelines to ensure the compulsory quarantine for 14 days for all passengers arriving from the UK, Europe, and the Middle East.

Read more

For the first time since May, a district in Andhra Pradesh reported zero cases of coronavirus even as a total of 349 were added afresh across the state in 24 hours ending 9 am on Sunday.

Vizianagaram achieved the distinction by not adding a single case in a day and incidentally, it was the last district in the state to join the Covid-19 chart on May 7.

With 13 more people succumbing to coronavirus infection in Uttar Pradesh, the Covid-19 death toll rose to 8,306 on Sunday in the state.

The number of total cases touched 5,81,980 with 959 more people found positive for the infection, an Uttar Pradesh government statement said. Of the 13 Covid-19 deaths, three were reported from Lucknow and two from Varanasi. Of the 959 fresh cases, 199 were reported from Lucknow.

On the eve of the three-day session of the Madhya Pradesh Assembly, 61 employees and officials of the Assembly secretariat and five MLAs have tested coronavirus positive.

Protem Speaker of MP Assembly Rameshwar Sharma told this to reporters on Sunday.

"As many as 61 employees and officials of the state Assembly secretariat have tested coronavirus positive so far. Besides, five MLAs were also found infected as per the reports received till now," he said, after taking stock of the preparation for the session that begins from Monday.

From earning the dubious distinction of reporting the first coronavirus positive case in Maharashtra in March this year to being the headquarter of one of the country's leading manufacturers of Covid-19 vaccine, Pune has remained at the centre-stage of the pandemic.

During the nine difficult months, the pandemic forced the city, like several other places in India, to witness a large-scale exodus of migrant workers, indefinite closure of educational institutes and financial impact on people's lives.

Iran reported 119 deaths from the new coronavirus on Sunday, the lowest daily fatalities in more than three months, the health ministry said.

Ministry spokeswoman Sima Sadat Lari told state TV that 5,502 people had been infected in the past 24 hours, taking the total number of Covid-19 cases in the Middle East’s worst-affected country to 1,200,465.

Sunday’s death toll was the lowest since Sept. 12 when it registered 116 deaths.

Israel was set Sunday to begin its third coronavirus lockdown, as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu voiced optimism that a "world record" vaccination drive will restore a degree of normality within weeks.

After a sharp rebound in detected infections, Netanyahu's government announced three days ago that it would re-impose the strict measures that had previously helped limit transmission.

A private Thai hospital was ordered on Sunday to stop advertising Covid-19 vaccinations for sale in advance on the grounds that no vaccine is yet approved in Thailand.

Vibhavadi Hospital told Reuters its online offer for 1,000 initial reservations for the two-dose Moderna vaccine had been the result of a misunderstanding. With reservations priced at 4,000 baht, the total cost of getting vaccinated would have been 10,000 baht ($330).

Thirty-nine more people tested positive for the coronavirus in Ladakh, taking the infection count in the Union Territory to 9,394, officials said on Sunday.

Ladakh has so far recorded 126 Covid-related deaths -- 83 in Leh and 43 in Kargil -- while 9,050 patients or 96 per cent of the total cases have recovered from the infection in the UT.

Beijing has tightened Covid-19 curbs over concerns that China's mass travel during the holiday period could cause cases to spike in the capital, as it reported locally transmitted cases for a fourth straight day on Sunday.

A meeting led by the capital's Communist party boss, Cai Qi, urged all districts in Beijing to enter an "emergency" mode, sealing off residential compounds and villages where infections are found.

The picturesque Himalayan state of Sikkim, with a population of under seven lakh, reeled under a serious crisis in 2020 as the Covid-19 pandemic crippled its tourism industry, the mainstay of its economy.

The tourism sector suffered losses to the tune of Rs 600 crore this year due to the pandemic, Sikkim Tourism Development Corporation (STDC) chairman Lukendra Rasaily said.

Odisha's Covid-19 tally on Sunday mounted to 3,28,504 after 303 more people tested positive for the infection, while four more fatalities pushed the toll to 1,861, a senior health department official said.

Of the 303 cases, 172 were reported from various quarantine centres, and 131 detected during contact tracing.

A Merchant Navy captain, who returned from the US and the UK recently, has been put under isolation here after testing positive for Covid-19, officials said on Sunday.

Read more

With vaccine rollout beginning in some countries, the world ravaged by the Covid-19 pandemic is looking to India for the large-scale production and supply of coronavirus vaccines as it enters 2021.

Read more

After a new, more infectious strain of the coronavirus emerged in the United Kingdom in early December, countries across the world shut their borders to flights to and from the UK in a bid to prevent the spread of the virus, but to no avail.

Read more

(PTI)

As the world is set to brace for a new year amid the Covid-19 pandemic, the city is poised to emerge as a 'saviour' from the killer virus, with as many as five vaccine manufacturing firms based here racing to bring out an antidote.

Read more

72.37% of the new recovered cases are observed to be concentrated in 10 states/UTs. 76.52% of the new cases are concentrated in 10 states & UTs. Kerala reported highest daily new cases at 3,527. It is followed by Maharashtra with 2,854 new cases. Ministry of Health, Govt of India

(ANI)

With a significant improvement in various parameters in India’s financial capital of Mumbai vis-à-vis spread of Covid-19 pandemic, the Maharashtra government and civic administration may take a call on closing or scaling down jumbo treatment centres.

Read more

(PTI)

Hollywood veteran Tom Hanks believes movie theatres will "absolutely" sail through the coronavirus pandemic.

Read more

Thailand confirmed 121 new infections of the novel coronavirus, a senior official said on Sunday, up from the 103 cases reported earlier in the day.

(Reuters)

Due to Coronavirus, the supply chains got disrupted the world over but we learnt new lessons from each crisis. The nation also developed new capabilities. We can call this capability 'Aatmanirbharata' or self-reliance: PM Modi during Mann Ki Baat

(ANI)

The total number of confirmed positive cases in India reaches 10,188,898; death toll stands at 1,47,622 as of December 27.

Read more

The coronavirus crisis will not be the last pandemic, and attempts to improve human health are "doomed" without tackling climate change and animal welfare, the World Health Organization's chief said.

Read more

Scientists have found evidence of lower than expected transfer of protective antibodies against the novel coronavirus via the placenta from mothers who are infected in the third trimester, findings that shed light on critical windows in pregnancy that may be most desirable for vaccination.

Read more

France has not ruled out imposing a third nationwide lockdown if coronavirus cases continue to rise, its health minister said Sunday, as the country braces for a possible post-Christmas spike.

Read more

(PTI)

Total positive cases: 2,84,863

Total recoveries: 2,76,753

Active cases: 6,579

Death toll: 1,531

(ANI)

The first two cases of a particularly infectious coronavirus variant that recently emerged in Britain have been confirmed in Canada, health authorities said Saturday.

Read more

Some European countries started rolling out their first coronavirus vaccines on Saturday, even as a reputedly more contagious variant spread around the world and the WHO warned that the current pandemic would not be the last.

Read more

The United Kingdom will roll out Oxford University’s Covid-19 vaccine from January4, according to plans being drawn up by ministers,The Sunday Telegraphreported.

Read more

South Korea reported 970 new coronavirus cases for Saturday, the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) said on Sunday, bringing the national tally to 56,872 cases, with 808 deaths.

That is the smallest in five days but still not far off from the record 1,241 infections logged on Friday.

(Reuters)

Japan will halt all new non-resident foreign arrivals coming from overseas from Monday until late January, Tokyo said Saturday, as the country reported its first cases of a new strain of the novel coronavirus.

Read more

Bengaluru city police are considering clamping Section 144 during New Year's eve across Bengaluru to prevent public revelry and, with it, the threat of a possible second wave of Covid-19, particularly in the wake of the emergence of the new strain of the virus.

Read more

A symptomatic 103-year-old man with serious comorbidities has become one of the oldest persons in the city to catch Covid-19 and survive it.

Read more

It was over breakfast on the wintry morning of January 24 that Ozlem Tureci and her husband Ugur Sahin decided, "we need to fire the starting gun on this".

Read more