The daily rise in new coronavirus infections has been below 20,000 for 45 straight days (File)
India logged 8,488 new coronavirus infections today, taking the country's total tally of COVID-19 cases to 3,45,18,901, the lowest in 538 days, according to the Union Health Ministry data updated this morning. The figure is the lowest reported since May last year.
The country recorded 249 new deaths in the last 24 hours, taking total fatalities since the beginning of the pandemic to 4,65,911.
India's active caseload stands at 1,18,443, the lowest in 534 days, with active cases continuing to account for less than one per cent of total cases in the country.
The daily rise in new coronavirus infections has been below 20,000 for 45 straight days, and less than 50,000 for 148 consecutive days now.
Over 116 crore COVID-19 vaccine doses have been administered so far under the nationwide vaccination drive, said the Union Health Ministry today.
Here are the Highlights on Coronavirus cases in India:
Israel starts vaccinating young children as coronavirus cases riseIsrael began rolling out Pfizer/BioNtech COVID-19 vaccinations for 5- to 11-year-olds on Monday hoping to beat down a recent rise in coronavirus infections.
A fourth wave of infections that hit Israel in June began subsiding in September. But over the past two weeks the "R", or reproduction rate of the virus, that had remained below one for two months began climbing and has now crossed that threshold, indicating the virus could again be spreading exponentially.
Daily cases have also crept up over the past few days, with half the confirmed infections presently among children age 11 and younger.
The children's vaccine drive kicked off on Monday in a Tel Aviv square, where a small number of parents quietly lined up with their children to get shots. The campaign will go nationwide on Tuesday.
Receiving their shots in front of television cameras, some of the children smiled and laughed, while others teared up and held on to their parents.
Israel's 9.4 million population is relatively young, with around 1.2 million children in the 5-to-11 age group. By November, that group comprised more than a third of new cases, according to health ministry data. Scientists and officials have been doubtful the country can reach "herd immunity" unless children are vaccinated.
French PM tests positive for Covid
French Prime Minister Jean Castex tested positive for Covid-19 on Monday evening, his office told AFP, adding that he would isolate for 10 days but would continue to work.
Castex "immediately carried out a PCR test" after finding out that one of his daughters had tested positive, his office said.
US raises COVID-19 travel warning for Germany, Denmark
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on Monday advised against travel to Germany and Denmark because of a rising number of COVID-19 cases in those countries.
The CDC raised its travel recommendation to "Level Four: Very High" for the two European countries, telling Americans they should avoid travel there.
The CDC separately lowered its COVID-19 travel advisory from Level Four to "Level Three: Low" for Israel, Aruba, the U.S. Virgin Islands, Curacao and Guadeloupe.
West Bengal reports 615 new COVID-19 cases, 14 more deathsWest Bengal reported 615 new COVID-19 cases on Monday as the pandemic situation in the state improved, the Health Department said.
Fourteen people died in the state in the last 24 hours, taking the number to 19,397, it said.
West Bengal has so far reported 16,10,460 COVID-19 cases, it added.
Kolkata reported the highest number of new deaths at five, followed by neighbouring North 24 Parganas district where four people died.
The number of active cases dropped by 75 to 7,945 after 676 recoveries were reported.
Himachal Pradesh Reports 110 Covid Cases, 3 Deaths.
Kerala Reports 3,698 Covid Cases, 75 Deaths
Tamil Nadu Reports 750 fresh Covid cases, 13 Deaths
Union Health Secretary Asks States To Ramp Up Vaccination
Delhi High Court Resumes Full-Fledged Functioning
The Delhi High Court today resumed full-fledged physical functioning which was restricted due to the COVID-19 pandemic., PTI reported. All the judges started holding physical hearings from Monday while continuing the hybrid system.
Odisha Reports 171 New COVID-19 Cases
Odisha on Monday reported 171 fresh COVID-19 cases, including 34 children, which took the tally to 10,47,174 while one new fatality pushed the coronavirus death count to 8,394. The daily COVID-19 cases in the state dropped below 200 after a week. While 205 infections were detected on Sunday, 239 on Saturday, 242 on Friday, 229 on Thursday, 226 on Wednesday and 206 on Tuesday.
212 Test Positive For COVID-19 In Mizoram
Mizoram's COVID-19 tally surged to 1,31,897 as 212 people including 80 students of three private schools in Aizawl tested positive for novel coronavirus in the last 24 hours on Monday.
The death count stood at 479.
Arunachal Pradesh Covid recoveries surpass new cases; no new deaths reportedSingle-day COVID-19 recoveries surpassed fresh cases in Arunachal Pradesh, as six more people recuperated from the disease while only one person tested positive for the infection, a senior health official said today.
The COVID-19 death count in the frontier state remained at 280 as no new fatalities reported in the last 24 hours, he said.
Coronavirus India Updates: Ladakh reports 16 new Covid cases, zero related deaths in 24 hours
Ladakh has recorded 16 fresh COVID-19 cases, taking the tally to 21,327 while the active cases in the union territory has come down to 230, officials said on Monday.
There were no new deaths reported due to Covid. Ladakh has registered 212 Covid-related deaths since the outbreak of the pandemic last year.
Ten patients were recovered and discharged from a hospital from Leh. The total number of those recovered is 20,885, officials said.
Coronavirus LIVE Updates: India reports 8,488 new Covid cases, lowest in 538 days
India logged 8,488 new coronavirus infections taking the country's total tally of COVID-19 cases to 3,45,18,903, the lowest in 538 days, according to the Union Health Ministry data updated today.
UK Calls Out Racial Bias In Oximeter Device Used To Assess Covid PatientsBritain called on Sunday for international action on the issue of medical devices such as oximeters that work better on people with lighter skin, saying the disparities may have cost lives of ethnic minority patients during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Health Secretary Sajid Javid said he had commissioned a review of the issue after learning that oximeters, which measure blood oxygen levels and are key to assessing COVID patients, give less accurate readings for patients with darker skin.
"This is systemic across the world. This is about a racial bias in some medical instruments. It's unintentional but it exists and oximeters are a really good example of that," Javid said during an interview with the BBC.
Kerala Reports 5,080 New Covid Cases, 40 DeathsKerala reported 5,080 new COVID-19 cases and 40 deaths, the state health department said on Sunday.
With the addition of new cases, the active caseload in the state stands at 58,088 and with new 40 deaths, the total death has gone up to 37,495.
As per the bulletin issued by the state health department, as many as 7,908 recovered from the viral disease in the last 24 hours, the recoveries in the state mounted to 50,04,786.
Mizoram reports 437 new Covid cases, 2 more fatalities
At least 437 people, including 41 students, teachers and other staff of a private school in Aizawl, tested positive for coronavirus in Mizoram, pushing the tally to 1,31,685, a health department official said on Sunday.
The single-day positivity rate was 13.95 per cent as the new cases were detected from 3,133 samples.
Of the new cases, Aizawl district registered the highest at 225, followed by Lunglei (106) and Kolasib (36), the official said.
The number of active cases in the state now stands at 4,900, which is 3.72 per cent of the total cases.
Israel PM sets goal to vaccinate children aged 5-11
Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett said on Sunday that the country's goal is to vaccinate 50 per cent of children aged 5-11 by the end of December.
The remark was made in a meeting between Bennett and general managers of the country's four health maintenance organizations, a spokesperson for Bennett said in a statement.
The managers informed Bennett of the preparation for vaccination rollout for the children.
The move came after the Israeli health ministry decided to approve Pfizer's COVID-19 vaccine for younger children earlier this month.
Covid-19: Assam reports 91 new cases, one more deathAssam on Sunday registered 91 fresh Covid-19 cases, 147 less than Saturday's figure, as the tally went up to 6,15,382, the National Health Mission (NHM) said.
One more person died due to coronavirus during the day as against five on Saturday. the total number of fatalities rose to 6,072.
The lone death was reported from Kamrup Metropolitan district.
The NHM said 1,347 more Covid-19 patients have died till now, but the government's Death Audit Board has not included them in the tally of deaths caused by the disease as they had other ailments too.
With the detection of 91 patients against the testing of 14,759 samples on Sunday, Assam has reported a positivity rate of 0.62 per cent.
The state had reported 238 coronavirus positive cases on Saturday against the testing of 37,223 samples. Currently, the state has 1,626 active cases.