India added 24,337 coronavirus infections in 24 hours, taking its tally to 1,00,55,560, the Health Ministry data this morning showed. The number of fresh infections was 8.5 per cent lower than on Sunday when the country registered 26,624 cases. In the past 24 hours, India reported 333 deaths linked to the virus, taking the total number of fatalities to 1,45,810. Active cases in country stand at 3,03,639 while 96,06,111 people have recovered from the disease, the government said.
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Maharashtra, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, and Kerala remained the worst-five affected states.
Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray has said he isn't inclined towards a night curfew or another lockdown, though many people have suggested it to him. His state has 62,218 active coronavirus cases, which is the highest in the country. Up to 17,81,841 have recovered so far in the state while 48,648 died.
India may begin vaccinating people for COVID-19 in January, Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan has said, adding that the government's priority has been the safety and efficacy of the vaccine. The minister said that the vaccines that have applied for emergency use authorisation are being analysed by the drug regulator.
Delhi recorded 1,091 new COVID-19 cases on Sunday, the lowest in around four months, as the total number of such cases climbed to 6,17,005 in the national capital, authorities said. Twenty-six more fatalities pushed the death count due to the disease to 10,277 in the city. The positivity rate stood at 1.31 per cent.
The Union Health Ministry has called a meeting today of its joint monitoring group on COVID-19 to discuss a mutant coronavirus that has spread rapidly in the UK, government sources have said.
EU experts believe existing vaccines against coronavirus are effective against the new fast-spreading strain identified in Britain, Germany's health minister said Sunday. Spahn was referring especially to the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine, already being administered in countries including the US and UK, and which is on the brink of receiving approval from the European Medicines Agency.
Canada on Sunday halted passenger flights from the UK for 72 hours, joining a growing list of countries barring British travellers to prevent the spread of a new coronavirus strain from the country. Britain's European neighbours, too, began closing their doors to travellers from the UK on Sunday amid alarm.
Saudi Arabia on Sunday halted international flights and suspended entry through its land and sea ports for at least a week, over the new coronavirus strain that has appeared in Britain. The kingdom is "temporarily suspending all international flights - except in exceptional cases - for a period of one week, which can be extended by another week," the official Saudi Press Agency said.
Santa Claus can safely deliver gifts to good girls and boys on Christmas, after a special visitor went all the way to the North Pole to deliver a coronavirus vaccine, Anthony Fauci, the top infectious disease official in the US, reassured children on Saturday, adding he personally gave Old St Nick his jab. "I took a trip up there to the North Pole; I went there and I vaccinated Santa Claus myself. I measured his level of immunity, and he is good to go," Fauci declared.
Apple Inc has temporarily shut all its 53 stores in California because of a coronavirus outbreak and 16 stores in the UK following restrictions introduced by the government in London, a spokesman said on Saturday.
