The Delhi government has relaxed the 8 pm deadline for shops, markets and malls, allowing them to stay open longer, in view of the falling COVID-19 cases. The announcement came on a day the city reported 19 new coronavirus cases, its lowest single-day count this year, and no new deaths.
Meanwhile, 34,457 new cases were reported from across the country -- a marginal drop from yesterday. About 375 deaths were recorded during the 24-hour period, according to the Health Ministry.
India's drug regulator on Friday approved Zydus Cadila's three-dose COVID-19 DNA vaccine for emergency use in adults and children aged 12 years and above, bringing in the sixth vaccine authorised for use in the country.
ZyCoV-D is the world's first plasmid DNA vaccine against the coronavirus. It uses a section of genetic material from the virus that gives instructions as either DNA or RNA to make the specific protein that the immune system recognises and responds to.
Here are LIVE Updates on Coronavirus Cases:
Zydus Cadila, whose Covid vaccine ZyCoV-D for adults and children aged 12 years and above got approval yesterday, said Saturday it hopes to produce one crore doses per month by October.
Sharvil Patel, managing director Cadila Healthcare, said his company will produce 3-5 crore doses by December-January, adding that it will not be able to meet the government's commitment of 5 crore doses from August to December.
It is in talks with some third party companies about a production alliance, and technology transfer, said Mr Patel.
The vaccine cost, he said, will factor in new technology and delivery mechanism.
The Assam government will use the voters' list and data from 1,204 polling booths across Guwahati to verify the Covid vaccination status of the city's residents and identify those who have yet to get the jab, Health Minister Keshab Mahanta said Saturday.
The government is targeting 100 per cent coverage in the state's largest city and de facto capital.
"Each polling booth has its separate list of voters... which means 1,204 voter lists will be used to contact every voter/resident of Guwahati to confirm they have been vaccinated. For this purpose, BLOs (Block Level Officers) have been assigned to each list," Mr Mahanta said.
Tamil Nadu on Saturday saw 1,652 new cases of COVID-19 and 23 fatalities, the Health Department said, according to news agency PTI. With these, the total number of the infected were 25,99,255 and deaths 34,686 till date, the department said. Recoveries were more than the fresh infections with 1,859 people getting discharged in the last 24 hours, aggregating to 25,45,178 leaving 19,391 active infections, a bulletin said.
Continuing its strategy of easing Covid restrictions in a graded manner, the Tamil Nadu government announced further relaxations in curbs today." Read here.
The COVID-19 caseload in Maharashtra's Nashik district rose to 4,04,604, after 118 new cases were detected on Saturday, a health official said, according to news agency PTI. The death count stood at 8,559 with one casualty during the day, while the count of recoveries reached 3,95,037, as 103 patients were discharged from hospitals, the official said. With the addition of 5,530 swab samples tested during the day, the total number of tests conducted in the district rose to 24,04,628, he added.
India does not have enough data right now on the need for a third COVID-19 vaccine shot, called a booster shot, to increase protection against the disease and information might be available by early next year, AIIMS chief Dr Randeep Guleria said." Read here.
A total of 1,21,318 people were vaccinated against COVID-19 in the national capital on Friday, according to the Delhi government's vaccination bulletin, reported news agency PTI. According to the bulletin issued on Saturday, 90,882 people received their first dose while 30,436 have been given the second dose of COVID-19 vaccine on Friday. The city has administered 1,22,37,895 vaccine doses so far, of which 87,77,612 were first doses and 34,60,283 second doses, it showed. As of Saturday morning, Delhi had only four days of vaccine stock left, the bulletin claimed.
With 20,224 cases, Kerala leads states in most number of Covid cases daily. The state also reported 99 deaths.
India today reported 34,457 cases, a marginal drop from yesterday. About 375 deaths were recorded during the period, according to the Health Ministry.