Maharashtra, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, and Kerala remained the worst-hit.
- The Drugs Controller General of India has approved Ahmedabad-based Zydus Cadila to initiate phase III clinical trials of its Covid-19 vaccine ZyCoV-D. The Health Ministry said Phase-I/II clinical trials of this DNA Vaccine candidate have been completed with over 1,000 participants. Interim data showed it was safe and immunogenic when three doses were administered intradermally.
- Delhi recorded 424 fresh COVID-19 cases, the lowest in over seven months, and 14 fatalities on Sunday, even as the positivity rate slipped to 0.62 per cent, authorities said. Its infection tally stands at over 6.26 lakh while deaths linked to the pandemic rose to 10,585.
- Maharashtra, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, and Kerala remained the worst Covid-19-hit among all Indian states.
- All members of the Indian cricket team, including the isolated five, and support staff have test negative for coronavirus after undergoing a RT-PCR test on Sunday. Amid scrutiny after five India players - Rohit Sharma, Prithvi Shaw, Rishabh Pant, Shubman Gill, and Navdeep Saini - had gone to a restaurant in Melbourne, the news of all the members testing negative will come as a big relief.
- Coronavirus vaccines will be given in the first phase to around nine lakh healthcare and frontline workers in the national capital, Delhi Health Minister Satyendra Jain said on Sunday, charting the strategy of the inoculation drive.
- Up to 65 people were arrested on January 1 and 2 from two illegal hookah bars in Delhi's Rohini are following police raids. Covid rules were being broken at the bars, police said. Of these, 26, including four staff members, were arrested from Uptown Cafe, and 10 hookahs were seized. Thirty-five people, including 10 women and three minors, were arrested Rohini's Mud House restaurant. Six staff members were also taken into custody in the raid, along with three owners of the establishment.
- Up to 35 more test positive for Covid-19 in Chennai's ITC Grand Chola hotel, where 85 people have tested positive since December 15. About 85 people, including staff members, had tested positive since December 15 last year, a senior official said on Saturday.
- The Assam government is preparing a list of people, including healthcare personnel and frontline workers, who will be administered the COVID-19 vaccine. Officials expect the first batch of the vaccine in March-April, Health Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma has said.
- The Brazilian Association of Vaccine Clinics (ABCVAC), a private grouping, has said it was negotiating with India's Bharat Biotech to buy five million doses of its Covid-19 vaccine which India has just authorised for emergency use. ABCVAC said it has signed an MoU with the firm to purchase Covaxin, currently in the final stage of clinical trials.
- Two top US health officials on Sunday disputed a claim by President Donald Trump that federal COVID-19 data was overblown. "The number of cases and deaths of the China Virus is far exaggerated in the United States because of the @CDCgov's ridiculous method of determination compared to other countries, many of whom report, purposely, very inaccurately and low," Trump had tweeted.