Coronavirus News highlights: Nearly 70% people in Karnataka were exposed to Covid-19, suggests sero-survey

More than 70% of people in eight of India's large states are estimated to have Covid-19 antibodies, a government survey showed on Wednesday, suggesting that a second surge in infections affected many more people than the reported figures. India reported 43,654 new Covid cases and 640 deaths in the last 24 hours, according to Health Ministry data. India's overall Covid cases reached 31.48 million, while the overall death toll touched 422,022. Stay tuned to DH for latest updates.

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Nearly 70% people in Karnataka were exposed to Covid-19, suggests sero-survey

Nearly 70 per cent of people in Karnataka were exposed to SARS-CoV-2 in the last one and half years, the Union Health Ministry said on Wednesday, directing states to carry out sero-prevalence surveys on their own in order to find out inter-district variations to guide actions on the ground. Read more

Karnataka logs 1,531 fresh Covid infections, 19 deaths

Karnataka on Wednesday registered 1,531 fresh Covid-19 infections and 19 deaths, pushing the caseload and death toll to 28,99,195 and 36,456 respectively, the Health Department said. Read more

Maharashtra slashes school fees by 15% in wake of Covid

The Maharashtra government on Wednesday decided to slash school fees by 15 per cent for the current academic year. “Maharashtra Cabinet today decided to slash school fees by 15 per cent for this academic year. A detailed order of this decision will be issued soon,” School Education Minister Varsha Gaikwad told reporters. Read more

PM Modi interacts with representatives of religious and social organisations on Covid-19,asks them to work with government to spread awareness about vaccines andtackle vaccine hesitancy.

Delhi records 67 Covid-19 cases, 3 deaths in a day; positivity rate 0.09%

The national capital recorded 67 cases of Covid-19 and three fatalities in a day while the positivity rate stood at 0.09 per cent, according to a health bulletin issued by the Delhi government on Wednesday. During the same period, 61 patients recovered from the disease.

With the fresh cases, the tally of Covid-19 infections reported in the city so far has reached 14,36,093, of this 14,10,471 have either recovered, been discharged or have migrated out. The new fatalities pushed the pandemic death toll to 25,049, the bulletin said.

Majority in big states with Covid-19 antibodies: Survey

More than 70% of people in eight of India's large states are estimated to have Covid-19 antibodies, a government survey showed on Wednesday, suggesting that a second surge in infections affected many more people than the reported figures. Read more

WHO says coronavirus deaths up 21%, cases 8% worldwide in last week

The World Health Organisation says the number of coronavirus deaths globally jumped by 21% in the last week. Most of the 69,000 deaths were reported in the Americas and Southeast Asia. The UNhealth agency also noted that Covid-19 cases rose by 8% worldwide and that there are now nearly 194 million infections. (AP)

DRDO to get 2% royalty from Dr Reddy's on sale of anti-Covid drug 2-DG in India: Govt

The Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) will get two per cent royalty from Dr Reddy's Laboratory (DRL) on the sale of anti-COVID drug 2-DG, Minister of State for Defence Ajay Bhatt said on Wednesday.

In a written reply to a question in the Lok Sabha, Bhatt said the DRDO developed the technology (for 2-DG) along with DRL, Hyderabad. The pricing is solely decided by DRL. The actual price fixed by Dr Reddy lab is Rs 990 per sachet, he said. (PTI)

48% parents not willing to send their children to schools till they get Covid vaccines: Survey

Nearly 48 per cent parents are not willing to send their children to schools till they are vaccinated against the novel coronavirus infection, says a new survey.

The survey conducted with over 32,000 parents across 361 districts in the country found that 30 per cent parents are willing to send their wards to schools if coronavirus cases in their districts come down to zero. (PTI)

4,182 people violated Covid protocols at Delhi airport between March and July, says Centre

A total of 4,182 people violated Covid protocols at the Delhi airport between March and July this year, Minister of State for Civil Aviation V K Singh said on Wednesday. Singh said 529 such complaints were received from the Hyderabad airport, 301 from the Mumbai airport and 150 from the Bengaluru airport, he said in a written reply to a question in Rajya Sabha.

"There have been cases of violation mainly related to non-wearing of masks by the persons at various airports for which appropriate actions have been taken by the airport operator in collaboration with local authorities/law enforcing agencies," he added. (PTI)

Odisha logs 1,703 new Covid-19 cases, 69 fresh fatalities (PTI)

UK to offer 817,000 Covid vaccines to Kenya (Reuters)

On 30June, SC had directed National Disaster Management Authority to recommend guidelines for ex-gratia payment to families of persons who died due to Covid. The matter is in consultation with all stakeholders: MoS Home Nityanand Rai in a written reply in Rajya Sabha

CanSinoBIO's inhaled Covid vaccine candidate triggers immune response in early trial (Reuters)

Tokyo Covid cases exceed 3,000 for first time (Reuters)

AstraZeneca second dose doesn't raise risk of rare blood clots: Lancet study

US to ship 4 million Covid-19 vaccine doses to Nigeria, 5.66 million to South Africa (Reuters)

Arunachal Pradesh reports 443 new Covid-19 cases, 3 more deaths (PTI)

Boris Johnson in talks with US on Covid travel corridor (Reuters)

Myanmar junta seeks international cooperation over Covid-19 crisis (Reuters)

3 regions near Tokyo to ask for state of emergency on Thursday (Reuters)

282 new Covid-19 cases in Thane, 10 more deaths (PTI)

India's overall Covid cases reach 31.48 million

India's overall death toll reaches 422,022: Health Ministry

No fresh Covid-19 case in Andaman & Nicobar Islands (PTI)

India reports 43,654 new Covid cases, 640 deaths in the last 24 hours: Health Ministry

Olympic host Tokyo neighbours to seek Covid-19 emergency steps after cases surge (Reuters)

CDC calls for indoor masks again as variant erupts (NYT)

Olympics organisers report 16 new Games-related Covid-19 cases (Reuters)

Sydney locked down for another month as Covid-19 cases rise

Australia's New South Wales state authorities on Wednesday extended a Covid-19 lockdown in state capital Sydney for another month after weeks-long curbs failed to contain an outbreak of the highly infectious Delta virus variant.

Lockdown rules were due to end on Friday but restrictions will now run until Aug 28, state Premier Gladys Berejiklian told reporters in Sydney.

A total of 177 new locally acquired cases were detected in New South Wales, up from 172 a day earlier. - Reuters.

WHO has commenced review process for emergency use listing of Covaxin: Govt

All documents required for Emergency Use Listing (EUL) have been submitted to WHO by Bharat Biotech for Covid-19 vaccine Covaxin as of July 9 and the review process by the agency has commenced, Minister of State for Health Bharati Pravin Pawar told Rajya Sabha on Tuesday.

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14.5 million jobs were lost in Q1 of 2020-21: Govt

Tourism economy fell by nearly 43 per cent and an estimated 14.5 million jobs were lost in the first quarter of 2020-21 as the Covid-19 pandemic and resultant lockdown decimated the sector which directly employed 34.8 million people in the country the year before, according to details provided by the government in Parliament.

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WTO fails anew to agree Covid jab IP waiver proposal

World Trade Organization countries failed anew Tuesday to agree a proposal to suspend intellectual property rights on Covid-19 vaccines in order to boost production and fill a void in poor nations.

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Two Covid cases of UK strain and five cases of Delta strain have been reported in Darjeeling district. One (Delta strain) case in Kalimpong: Dr. Sandip Sengupta, Dean of Student Affairs, North Bengal Medical College in Siliguri - ANI