New Delhi: Nearly 11 months after India logged its first coronavirus case from Kerala on January 30, the country crossed the 98 lakh-mark this morning; more than 1.42 lakh patients have died after contracting the virus.
India has the second highest number of Covid infections in the world after the United States. This morning, however, the number of active cases dropped to 3.56 lakh, lowest in 147 days, the government data shows.
Maharashtra has the most number of cases - 18.72 lakh, followed by Karnataka (8.99 lakh), Andhra Pradesh (8.74 lakh), Tamil Nadu (7.96 lakh), Kerala (6.58 lakh and Delhi (6.03 lakh).
Very few countries in the world have cleared vaccine candidates as India still waits for the candidate that can boost its fight against the deadly virus.
Worldwide, over 7 crore people have contracted the virus so far and 15.93 lakh people have died since the beginning of the pandemic.
After the United Kingdom, the US has become another western nation to green light the Pfizer-BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine late Friday, paving the way for its imminent rollout across the country, with President Donald Trump promising the first immunizations would take place "in less than 24 hours."
Here are the LIVE Updates on Coronavirus Cases:
Dec 13, 2020 01:04 (IST)
Coronavirus News: Bengal Covid Death Count Crosses 9,000-Mark
The COVID-19 death count in West Bengal crossed the 9,000-mark on Saturday as 44 patients died due to the disease, while 2,710 fresh cases pushed the tally in the state to 5,19,215, a health department bulletin said, reported news agency PTI. The new fatalities increased the coronavirus death count in the state to 9,010, it said. At least 2,913 people were cured of the disease during the day, taking the total number of recoveries in the state to 4,87,171.
Dec 12, 2020 22:51 (IST)
G Kishan Reddy inaugurates COVID-19 safe incubator for newborns
Union Minister G Kishan Reddy on Saturday inaugurated COVID-19 safe incubator for newborn babies at his parliamentary constituency in Hyderabad.
Reddy had also inaugurated portable Reverse Transcription Polymerase Chain Reaction (RTPCR), remote health monitoring system for Covid and non-Covid patients at Employees'' State Insurance Corporation (ESIC) Hospital in Sanath Nagar.
"In Telangana at my parliamentary constituency, ESI Super Speciality Hospital and ESI Medical College has been functioning since 2016. This ESI secured the ''Best Medical College'' award among all the ESI Hospital in the country," Mr Reddy said.
The minister announced that the medical college will be turned as a research institute.
Dec 12, 2020 22:22 (IST)
Americans will receive Pfizer vaccine from Monday
Americans will start receiving the Pfizer-BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine from Monday after shipping on Sunday, the official in charge of the distribution operation said.
"Expect 145 sites across all the states to receive vaccine on Monday, another 425 sites on Tuesday. And the final 66 sites on Wednesday, which will complete the initial delivery of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine," said General Gus Perna.
The first push will vaccinate about three million people.