Coronavirus News Highlights: Maharashtra reports 35,756 Covid-19 cases, 79 deaths

Fifty four per cent of Delhiites are in favour of lifting the odd-even restrictions in markets but want the weekend curfew to continue till the positivity rate declines to five per cent, a survey has claimed.

Delhi had seen an uptick in Covid-19 infections, mainly triggered by the Omicron variant, but the cases have seen a decline over the last 10 days. - PTI.

. The coronavirus caseload in Gujarat on Wednesday crossed the 11 lakh-mark with addition of 14,781 new cases, the state health department said. The tally of infections in the state reached 11,07,749. With 21 patients succumbing to the viral infection during the day, the death toll reached 10,323. - PTI.

. The world's first medical trial authorised to deliberately expose participants to the coronavirus is seeking more volunteers as it steps up efforts to help develop better vaccines.

. Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia on Wednesday said "a generation of children will be left behind if we do not open schools now".

Sisodia said excessive caution is now harming our children, following a meeting with a delegation of children's parents, led by Chandrakant Lahariya, an epidemiologist and Yamini Aiyar, a policy researcher.

The delegation of parents of Delhi's children has submitted a memorandum signed by more than 1,600 parents for reopening of schools in the national capital. - IANS.

. Vaccine is a protective shield against Coronavirus and the Bihar government is working on a mission mode to expedite inoculation drive in the state, Governor Fagu Chauhan said on Wednesday. Addressing a Republic Day function, the governor said tests for detecting Covid-19 and vaccinations are being done on a large scale in the state. - PTI.

. Like other sectors, the Covid-19 pandemic and subsequent curbs have badly hit the learning ability of schoolchildren in Chhattisgarh, where the percentage of students unable to recognise even alphabet letters in beginner-level classes has doubled in 2021 as compared to 2018, according to a report.

According to Annual Status of Education Report (ASER) 2021 for Chhattisgarh, in the pre-Covid-19 period (2014-2018) basic learning outcomes in the state had been improving, but the pandemic, which hit India in March 2020 and led to school closures, has caused a very serious 'learning loss'. - PTI.

. The make-up of the gut microbiome may be linked to a person's risk of developing long Covid many months after initial infection with SARS-CoV-2, the virus responsible for Covid-19 infection, suggests a study.

Fatigue, muscle weakness, and insomnia are the most commonly reported long Covid symptoms.

According to researchers from University of Hong Kong, microbiome 'profiling' might help identify those who are most susceptible to developing the condition.

The findings, published online in the journal Gut, showed that 81 bacterial species were associated with different categories of long Covid and many species were associated with more than two categories of persistent symptoms. - IANS.

. The World Health Organisation said there were 21 million new coronavirus cases reported globally last week, the highest weekly number of Covid-19 cases recorded since the pandemic began. The number of deaths was largely unchanged, at more than 50,000.

. The National Football Championship for the Santosh Trophy was postponed on Wednesday till further notice due to the rise in Covid-19 cases.

The tournament was scheduled to be held at Malappuram in Kerala from February 20 to March 6.

The All India Football Federation (AIFF) said it will review the circumstances next month before announcing the new schedule. - IANS.

. Sikkim on Wednesday reported 206 new Covid-19 cases, 31 less than the previous day's count, pushing the tally to 37,539, a health department bulletin said here.

It said one fresh fatality took the death toll to 425.

Sikkim currently has 1,928 active cases, while 600 patients have migrated out and 34,586 people have recovered from coronavirus. - PTI.

. The price of Covishield and Covaxin, the Covid vaccines which are expected to soon get regular market approval from India's drug regulator, is likely to be capped at Rs 275 per dose plus an additional service charge of Rs 150, official sources said.

. Austria on Wednesday announced it was ending a lockdown for those unvaccinated as it prepares to become the first EU country to make Covid-19 jabs mandatory from next week.

The government last November ordered those not vaccinated or recently recovered from coronavirus to stay at home with limited exceptions, such as going to work, as the country battled a surge in cases.

But with intensive care units no longer at capacity, Chancellor Karl Nehammer said the general order to stay at home would be lifted from next Monday. - AFP.

. The Omicron variant of coronavirus can remain alive on skin for over 21 hours, and more than eights days on plastic surfaces, which may be contributing to its faster spread compared to other strains, according to a study.

. Volkswagen Chief Executive Herbert Diess has contracted the coronavirus and is currently in quarantine, the German carmaker said on Wednesday.

A spokesperson confirmed that the 63-year-old had been infected, as initially reported by Business Insider.

Diess had already received a booster vaccination, which means he can leave quarantine after seven days if he tests negative. He did not have any major meetings planned in the next week.

All employees with whom Diess had personal contact had been tested and had not been infected. - Reuters.

. An ICMR study has demonstrated that individuals infected with Omicron have significant immune response which could neutralise not only the Omicron, but also other variants of concern, including the most prevalent Delta variant.

It suggests that the immune response induced by the Omicron could effectively neutralise the Delta variant, making the re-infection with Delta variant less likely, thereby displacing the Delta as dominant strain, the study said emphasising upon the need for Omicron-specific vaccine strategy.

The study was conducted on 39 individuals, of which 25 had taken both the doses of AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine, eight people had taken double dose of Pfizer jab, while six were unvaccinated. - PTI.

. The next Covid-19 variant that will rise will be more contagious than Omicron, but there's no guarantee that the future strains will be milder, the World Health Organization said.

According to Maria Van Kerkhove, WHO's Covid-19 technical lead, the real question scientists need to answer is whether or not it will be more deadly, CNBC reported.

Last week, about 21 million Covid cases were reported to the WHO, setting a new global record for weekly cases from the rapidly spreading Omicron variant, Van Kerkhove said on Tuesday. - IANS.

. The Danish government plans to lift its Covid restrictions on February 1, despite registering a record number of infections but with vaccine rates high, the health ministry said Wednesday.

"I would like... Covid-19 to no longer be categorised as a disease dangerous to society as of February 1", Health Minister Magnus Heunicke wrote in a letter to lawmakers, proposing the de facto lifting of all domestic restrictions, such as mask-wearing and early closings for bars and restaurants. - AFP.

. The Omicron variant of coronavirus can remain alive on the skin for over 21 hours, and more than eights days on plastic surfaces, which may be contributing to its faster spread compared to other strains, according to a study. ( PTI )

. Germany on Wednesday reported a new record of 164,000 Covid-19 infections in one day as the lower house of parliament prepared to debate proposals to either require or robustly encourage residents to be vaccinated.

Around 75% of the population has received at least one dose of a vaccine - less than in other western European countries such as France, Italy or Spain, where the equivalent figures are 80%, 83% and 86% - and the vaccination campaign is stuttering. ( Reuters )

. The United Nations is supporting India’s vaccination drive, which is the largest in the world, and the global body and its partners have reached some 600 million people in the country withCovid prevention and mitigation messages, spokesperson for UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has said. ( PTI )

. Municipal health workers take part in a demonstration against the absence of the ministerial authorities and the negligent management of the health portfolio in the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic in Santiago. ( AFP Photo)

. With cinephiles returning to theatres and multiplexes following a dip in fresh Covid-19 cases, at least three Bengali filmmakers have lined up their movies for release, including one on Wednesday. ( PTI )

. Beijing reported 14 local confirmed Covid-19 cases on Wednesday, the highest daily count in its current outbreak, less than two weeks before the Winter Olympics are due to commence in the Chinese capital and in neighbouring Hebei province. (Reuters)

. South Korea on Wednesday began enforcing new Covid-19 response measures, including reduced quarantine periods and expanded rapid testing, as its new cases jumped nearly 50 per cent in a day.

The 13,012 new cases were 4,400 more than the previous single-day high of 8,571 set on Tuesday.

.Daily new infections in Russia have been rising sharply for the past two weeks, increasing more than four-fold, from about 15,000 on January 10 to 67,809 on Tuesday, the highest daily tally in the pandemic. (AP Photo). With the addition of 1,563 coronavirus positive cases, the infection count in Thane district of Maharashtra rose to 6,96,141, an official said on Wednesday. These new cases were reported on Tuesday, he said.( PTI )

. Amid an ongoing resurgence across the world, the global coronavirus caseload has topped 357.9 million, while the deaths have surged to more than 5.61 million and vaccinations to over 9.85 billion, according to Johns Hopkins University.

In its latest update on Wednesday morning, the University's Center for Systems Science and Engineering (CSSE) revealed that the current global caseload and the death toll stood at 357,963,895 and 5,614,043, respectively, while the total number of vaccine doses administered has increased to 9,850,294,423.( IANS )

. As India celebrates its 73rd Republic Day, the country on Wednesday reported 2,85,914 new coronavirus cases. 665 fatalities were reported in the past 24 hours, Union Health Ministry data showed. Active cases declined to 22,23,018. Read more

. "Over 21 million new cases were reported, representing the highest number of weekly cases recorded since the beginning of the pandemic," the World Health Organization said in its weekly epidemiological coronavirus update. Read more

. With the number of daily Covid-19 cases having stabilised over the course of this week, there is guarded optimism that Bengaluru's outbreak has plateaued. Experts, however, cautioned that a few more days are required to determine if the peak has happened. Read more

. Pop megastar Elton John on Tuesday postponed two concerts in Dallas – part of what is expected to be a lengthy farewell –after testing positive for Covid-19.

Coronavirus News Highlights: Maharashtra reports 35,756 Covid-19 cases, 79 deaths

Over half of Delhi citizens want weekend curfew to continue: Survey

Gujarat reports 14,781 Covid-19 cases, 21 deaths

Maharashtra reports 35,756 Covid-19 cases, 79 deaths

Wanted: Volunteers to catch Covid in the name of science

Children will be left behind if schools don't open now: Sisodia

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