Coronavirus news highlights: Karnataka sees over 1,200 new Covid-19 cases, 13 deaths

State-wise total number of confirmed cases, deaths on December 4

. India is the largest buyer of Covid-19 vaccines in the world with 1.6 billion doses, according to a global analysis, a number some scientists say could cover 800 million people, or 60 per cent of its population, and will be enough to develop ‘herd immunity’.

. The Congress on Friday raised with the government issues concerning the availability of a prospective Covid vaccine at the grassroots level in the country with party leader Rahul Gandhi asking Prime Minister Narendra Modi to clarify when every Indian will get it.

. West Bengal's Covid-19 death toll climbed to 8,268 after 52 more patients succumbed to the virus on Friday, the health department said in a bulletin. A total of 3,206 fresh cases pushed the tally to 4,96,522, it said.

The discharge rate improved to 93.42 per cent as 3,215 people recovered since Thursday.

. Total active cases: 8,300 Total recovered cases: 34,458 Death toll: 698

. Kerala recorded 5,718 fresh Covid-19 cases and 5,496 recoveries on Friday, as the toll mounted to 2,358 with 29 additional fatalities, Health minister K K Shailaja said.

. Total cases 8,90,360

Total discharges 8,53,461

Death toll 11,834

Active cases 25,046

. Total cases 8,70,675

Total recoveries 8,57,233

Death toll 7020

Active cases 6422

. Total cases: 2,11,698

Total recoveries: 1,94,743

Active cases: 13,641

Death toll: 3,314

. Andhra Pradesh Legislative Assembly has adopted a resolution stating that the present Covid-19 situation is not conducive for the conduct of elections in February 2021: Chief Minister's Office

. Total cases: 2,40,841

Total recoveries: 2,23,973

Active cases: 14,329

Death toll: 2,539

. Total cases: 7,87,554

Total discharges: 7,64,854

Death toll: 11,762

Active cases: 10,988

. Total cases in the State rise to 1,54,788, including 1,42,121 recoveries and 4,882 deaths. Active cases stand at 7,785

. Total cases 18,42,587

Total recoveries 17,10,050

Death toll 47,599

Active cases 83,859

. Total cases 2,76,420

Total recoveries/discharges 2,49,713

Death toll 2,389

Active cases 24,318

. Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Friday said though the state and central governments are making efforts to check the spread of Covid-19, people must continue to take all precautions against the disease.

. The count of Covid-19 cases in the slum-dominated Dharavi area of Mumbai rose to 3,716 with only one new case coming to light on Friday, a civic official said.

. Uttarakhand reported 618 new Covid-19 cases, 560 recoveries, and 10 deaths today, says State Health Department

Total cases: 76,893

Total recoveries: 69,831

Active cases: 4,994

Death toll: 1,273

. The total numbers of active cases and recovered cases are 61,401 and 5,61,874 respectively

. Madhya Pradesh Home Minister Narottam Mishra found unfit for Bharat Biotech's Coronavirus vaccine trial as his immediate family members had earlier tested positive for infection: Doctor

. Wrestler Narsingh Yadav's participation in the upcoming World Cup in Serbia was confirmed on Friday after he returned a negative test for dreaded coronavirus.

. Two coronavirus vaccine candidates developed by China's Clover Biopharmaceuticals triggered strong immune responses in an early-stage human trial and appeared to be safe, the company said on Friday.

. Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Friday hoped that Prime Minister Narendra Modi will clarify at the all-party meeting by when will every Indian get free Covid-19 vaccine.

. Petition filed before Supreme Court seeking directions for immediate removal of agitating farmers from border areas of Delhi-NCR keeping in view the fact that they may pose a risk to spread of Covid-19: Om Prakash Parihar, the Advocate on Record (AOR), for the petitioner, to ANI

. At all-party meet, Cong's Ghulam Nabi Azad calls for safety mechanism to monitor long-term adverse effects of any Covid vaccine.

. Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga said on Friday he would do his utmost to quickly prepare a coronavirus vaccine that can be provided to people in need.

Suga also told a news conference he would decide on an economic stimulus package early next week, adding that green and digital initiatives would be core to the recovery from the coronavirus pandemic.

. Thenumber of people who have recuperated from the disease surged to 90,16,289 pushing the national recovery rate to94.20 per cent,while theCOVID-19casefatality ratestands at 1.45 per cent.

The active COVID-19 caseload continued to remain below 5 lakh.There are 4,16,082active coronavirus infections in the country whichcomprises4.35per cent of the total caseload

. A melancholy guitar melody intertwines with an ethereal beat as wild-haired singer Lu Yan intones his hometown's feelings into a microphone: "Virus in Wuhan. We all survived."

In music, graffiti, even comics, Wuhan artists are beginning to pay homage to their city with works referencing its coronavirus suffering, punishing 76-day lockdown, and subsequent rebirth.

"Wuhan's people made a great sacrifice for the whole nation and world," Lu said of the song's intended message.

The song, "WUHAN2020", is the title track of the pandemic-themed debut album by Wuhan synth-rock trio Hardcore Raver in Tears, conceived and written remotely while the bandmates were separated during the lockdown.

. Britain hopes that millions of doses of the Pfizer/BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine will be delivered by the end of the year but the total will depend on how quickly it can be manufactured, Britain's business minister Alok Sharma said on Friday.

Britain approved Pfizer Inc's COVID-19 vaccine on Wednesday, jumping ahead of the rest of the world in the race to begin the most crucial mass inoculation programme in history.

. Investors pushed Asian markets higher Friday on continued optimism over vaccines and on signs of progress on a new US stimulus, though surging infections and deaths highlighted the painful, immediate reality of the coronavirus crisis.

While the consensus is that the world can begin to get back to normal -- and the economy recover -- from next year as people are inoculated, observers warn lockdowns and other containment measures in place now are crippling businesses and jobs.

. Scientific approach is important on their way ahead. There will be rumours as such a massive vaccination programme will be underway, hence important to keep citizens alert on fake news, rumours, says Modi

. We will use the help of states for the distribution of vaccines and several measures to enable and strengthen this distribution: PM

. Credit: Special arrangement

. We have the capacity to vaccinate Delhi's population in a few weeks’ time, through mohalla clinics, polyclinics, dispensaries, hospitals, when vaccines are provided to us: Delhi Health Minister Satyendar Jain

. Credit: Reuters

. Fear has gripped Khanepuri village in Maharashtra's Jalna district after 66 of its residents tested positive for coronavirus within a week, a health official said.

The village, located in Jalna tehsil, has a population of 1,700.

"Between November 26 and December 3, a total of 66 people in the village tested coronavirus positive," Rahmani Shakil, medical officer of the primary health centre, said.

On December 1 alone, as many as 35 villagers were found infected, he said.

. Telangana reported 631 fresh COVID-19 cases, taking the tally to over 2.72 lakh while two fatalities pushed the toll to 1,467, the state government said on Friday.

Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) accounted for the most number of cases with 109, followed by Medchal Malkajgiri (57) and Rangareddy (49), it said in a bulletin, providing details as of 8 PM on December 3.

As many as8,826 patients are under treatment and 57,405 samples were tested on Thursday.

Cumulatively, over 56.62 lakh samples have been tested.

The samples tested per million population was over 1.52 lakh, the bulletin said.

. The number of confirmed coronavirus cases in Germany increased by 23,449 to 1,130,238, data from the Robert Koch Institute (RKI) for infectious diseases showed on Friday.

The reported death toll rose by 432 to 18,034, the tally showed.

. South Koreans were urged to cancel Christmas and New Year parties on Friday as daily coronavirus cases hit a nine-month high and the government considered imposing tighter social-distancing rules to halt a third wave of infections.

Health authorities reported 629 new coronavirus infections, the highest in South Korea since a first wave peaked in February and early March.

Prime Minister Chung Sye-kyun said the situation was critical and the government would decide on Sunday whether to upgrade restrictions to include the closure of karaoke bars and limits on religious gatherings to just 20 people.

"It's been 10 days since we upgraded the social distancing rules to phase 2 in the Seoul metropolitan area, but the transmission still seems to be uncontainable," Chung told a government meeting.

The Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency said 463 or more than three quarters of the latest locally transmitted cases were from Seoul and nearby areas. South Korea has now reported a total of 36,332 infections, with 536 deaths.

. South Korea's capital Seoul will require most establishments to close at 9 p.m. each day, acting Seoul mayor Seo Jeong-hyup told a briefing on Friday, to prevent the spread of coronavirus.

The measure take effect Saturday and comes after Seoul alone reported 295 new coronavirus infections as of midnight Thursday.

. Seven more people, including two children, have tested positive for Covid-19 in Mizoram, taking the state's tally to 3,888, a health department official said on Friday.

Of the fresh cases, four were reported from Lawngtlai district, two from Champhai and one from Lunglei, he said.

"Six patients were detected during contact tracing and it is yet to be ascertained how the remaining one person contracted the disease," the official said.

Barring one, six are asymptomatic, he said.

Of the 349 samples tested through RT-PCR at Zoram Medical College in the last 24 hours, no Covid-19 case was detected.

"Three new cases were found through TrueNat method and four through rapid antigen tests," he said.

The death toll remained at six as no new fatality due to the infection was reported, the official said.

Sixty-three people were discharged from various Covid care centres on Thursday, taking the total number of recoveries in the state to 3,647.

. Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday chaired an all-party meeting with leaders of various political outfits and top union ministers to discuss the Covid-19 pandemic situation in the country, sources said.

Floor leaders from all parties in Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha have been invited to attend the virtual meeting which started around 10:30 am.

About 12 leaders from prominent political parties having five or more than five MPs, will be speaking at the meeting, the sources said.

Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha Ghulam Nabi Azad will speak on behalf of the Congress in the meeting. Sudip Bandyopadhyay from the TMC, Sharad Pawar of the NCP, Nama Nageswara Rao from the TRS and Vinayak Raut from the Shiv Sena among others will also speak during the meeting, they said.

Opposition leaders are also expected to question the government about the expected availability of the Covid-19 vaccine and plans for its distribution, the sources said.

This will be the second all-party meeting called by the government to discuss the Covid-19 situation since the outbreak of the pandemic.

. The Pakistan cricket team has been denied the right to train while in managed isolation in New Zealand after eight members of the touring squad tested positive for Covid-19.

Under exemptions granted to visiting sports teams, members of the 53-strong Pakistan team could have been allowed to leave their Christchurch hotel to train in small groups after the third day of their 14-day isolation period.

But the positive tests and a breach of isolation protocols by team members on their first day in isolation has led New Zealand authorities to withhold the training exemption.

. World Health Organization said it was considering introducing electronic vaccination certificates, as hopes for an end to the pandemic were boosted after Britain became the first country to approve use of a Covid-19 vaccine.

"We are looking very closely into the use of technology in this Covid-19 response and one of them is how can we work with members states towards something called an e-vaccination certificate," WHO Europe expert Siddhartha Datta told an online press briefing Thursday.

. With 540 new deaths, toll mounts to 1,39,188. Total active cases at 4,16,082

. France will ensure free Covid-19 vaccinations for all in its social security system and has earmarked some 1.5 billion euros ($1.82 billion) of next year's social security budget to cover the cost, Prime Minister Jean Castex said on Thursday.

Castex, who unveiled France's vaccination strategy alongside several ministers of his government, confirmed the vaccination would not be made compulsory but urged as many as possible to get a shot.

Covid-19, caused by the new coronavirus, has killed more than 1.4 million globally, more than 54,000 of them in France, and derailed the world economy.

"The remarkable mobilisation worldwide has allowed the rapid development of vaccines. However, this timeframe in no way means that we have compromised safety," the prime minister said in a briefing, adding a vaccine distributed in France would be safe.

"Getting a vaccine is also about protecting others. It is a choice of trust, we must be as numerous as possible to get a vaccine."

On Wednesday, Britain became the first Western country to approve a Covid-19 vaccine, clearing a shot from U.S. drugmaker Pfizer and its German partner BioNTech and targeting about 800,000 initial doses in early December to vulnerable members of its population.

. Costa Rica has signed an agreement with pharmaceutical companies Pfizer Inc and its German partner BioNTech SE for the manufacture and delivery of 3 million Covid-19 vaccines next year, the office of President Carlos Alvarado said on Thursday.

Deliveries will be made throughout the four quarters of 2021, as established in an initial agreement announced on Oct. 1, the president's office said in a statement.

The deal will allow Costa Rica to provide two doses to 1.5 million people and follows accords with AstraZeneca and the Covax mechanism backed by the World Health Organization. In total, the agreements should cover about 3 million people, or almost 60% of the Costa Rican population.

. Former US presidents Barack Obama, George W. Bush and Bill Clinton as well as President-elect Joe Biden are volunteering to take a coronavirus vaccine on camera if it will help promote public confidence.

Obama, in an interview with SiriusXM radio, said he would be inoculated if top US infectious disease expert Anthony Fauci signs off on a Covid-19 vaccine.

"If Anthony Fauci tells me this vaccine is safe, and can vaccinate, you know, immunize you from getting Covid, absolutely, I'm going to take it," Obama said.

"I promise you that when it's been made for people who are less at risk, I will be taking it," he said.

"I may end up taking it on TV or having it filmed, just so that people know that I trust this science, and what I don't trust is getting Covid," Obama said.

. Mainland China reported 17 new COVID-19 cases on Dec. 3, up from 16 cases a day earlier, the country's national health authority said on Friday.

The National Health Commission, in a statement, said 15 of the new cases were imported infections originating from overseas. There were also two locally transmitted infections in the Inner Mongolia region, the commission said.

. The United States topped 14 million known Covid-19 infections on Thursday with over 100,000 patients hospitalized for the first time as California imposed stay-at-home orders to take effect when intensive care units approach capacity in the coming days.

The latest round of California restrictions, going beyond any now in place across the United States, will be triggered on a region-by-region basis when available ICU-bed space falls to 15% of capacity or less in any of five designated geographic areas of the state.

California Governor Gavin Newsom said four of the regions, including Southern California, the most populous, were on track to reach the 15% threshold this week, with the San Francisco Bay area expected to follow by mid- to late December.

The stay-at-home restrictions will begin with 48 hours' notice and remain in effect for at least three weeks once they are imposed. California is the most-populous US state, with almost 40 million residents.

. Top US infectious diseases expert Anthony Fauci apologised on Thursday for casting doubt on the rigour of the British regulators who approved the Pfizer Inc vaccine against Covid-19, saying he had faith in the quality of their work.

Britain announced the approval of the vaccine on Wednesday, with the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) saying it had rigorously assessed the vaccine data and had cut no corners.

. A seller stands amidst funny hats as he waits for customers inside his stall at traditional Plaza Mayor Christmas market, amid the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic, in Madrid, Spain. Credit: Reuters

. Many of our leaders, from politicians to university administrators to business owners, face difficult trade-offs during the Covid-19 pandemic, which has created increasingly tense conflicts of interest. Across the globe, decision-makers grapple with dilemmas that weigh economic outcomes with responsibilities for public safety and health. Conflicts of interest impact decisions to close borders, implement quarantines, impose lockdowns, stagger reopenings, enforce social distancing and mandate mask-wearing.

. AstraZeneca and Oxford University have given conflicting accounts of how they came upon the most effective dosing pattern for their Covid-19 vaccine, a rare instance of public dissension between major institutions collaborating on a pivotal project.

. Karnataka has registered the steepest fall in the rate of cases as well as deaths among the five southern states, ananalysis of Covid-19 cases reported in November shows.

. The United States recorded more than 210,000 Covid-19 cases in 24 hours on Thursday, according to Johns Hopkins University, in an all-time high for the country since the start of the pandemic.

. Over 1.5 million people have lost their lives due to Covid-19 with one death reported every nine seconds on a weekly average, as vaccinations are set to begin in December in a handful of developed nations.

Half a million deaths occurred in just the last two months, indicating that the severity of the pandemic is far from over. Nearly 65 million people globally have been infected by the disease and the worst affected country, United States, is currently battling a third wave of coronavirus infections.

. The Moderna Covid-19 vaccine, which was recently demonstrated to have 94 percent efficacy, causes the human immune system to produce potent antibodies that endure for at least three months, a study showed Thursday.

. Over 1.5 million people have lost their lives due to Covid-19 with one death reported every nine seconds on a weekly average, as vaccinations are set to begin in December in a handful of developed nations.

. AstraZeneca and Oxford University have given conflicting accounts of how they came upon the most effective dosing pattern for their Covid-19 vaccine, a rare instance of public dissension between major institutions collaborating on a pivotal project.

Coronavirus news highlights: Karnataka sees over 1,200 new Covid-19 cases, 13 deaths

India biggest buyer of Covid-19 vaccine with 1.6 billion doses, experts say this could cover 60% population

Congress slams Modi govt over Covid-19 vaccine distribution plans

West Bengal's Covid-19 toll mounts to 8,268, tally at 4,96,522

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