Covid-19 Cases in India: The recovery rate was recorded at 98.19 per cent.
India reported 14,348 new COVID-19 cases and 805 deaths in the last 24 hours, informed the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare on Friday.
The country also reported 13,198 recoveries in the last 24 hours, taking the recovery rate at 98.19 per cent, which is the highest since March 2020.
The country's active caseload stands at 1,61,334.
The active cases account for less than 1 per cent of the total cases, currently at 0.47 per cent, which is the lowest since March 2020.
Here are the Highlights on coronavirus (COVID-19) cases:
Coronavirus Live Updates: Iran reports new 10,644 Covid cases, 197 related deathsThe Iranian health ministry reported on Wednesday 10,644 new COVID-19 cases, taking the country's total infections to 5,888,100.
According to an official briefing published on the ministry''s official website, the pandemic has claimed 125,716 lives in the country so far, after 197 new deaths were registered in the past 24 hours.
A total of 5,455,329 people have recovered from the disease or been discharged from hospitals across the country, while 4,127 remain in intensive care units, the ministry said on its official website.
Coronavirus Live Updates: Assam reports 278 fresh Covid cases, 3 deaths in last 24 hoursAssam reported 278 new COVID-19 cases on Friday, 44 less than the previous day's figure, taking the tally to 6,10,150, a National Health Mission (NHM) bulletin said.
Three new deaths during the day pushed the total deaths in the state to 5,992. The bulletin said 1,347 more coronavirus patients have died of other ailments.
The number of active Covid cases in the state currently is 2,444, the bulletin said.
Jharkhand Unlock: 500 people allowed in weddings, gatherings
The Jharkhand Disaster Management Authority on Friday raised the number of people allowed to attend weddings and other social gatherings from 50 to 500 while allowing shops to open on Sundays.
The decisions were taken by the Jharkhand Disaster Management Authority, at a meeting chaired by Chief Minister Hemant Soren.
Gathering of more than 500 persons outdoors at one place will remain prohibited. Gathering of more than 500 persons indoors or more than 50 per cent of the hall capacity, whichever is less, shall also continue be prohibited, the Chief Minister's Office said.
However, fairs, exhibitions and processions will continue to be prohibited.
The shops have been allowed to be open on Sundays for the first time since Covid-19 restrictive measures were announced.
Earlier shops were allowed to remain open till 8 pm on weekdays only.
"Shops, Cinema halls, Clubs etc can remain open till normal periods. Coaching will be allowed for students of Class 10 and above. Angawadi Centres will open but full vaccination of Anganwadi workers will be mandatory," the Chief Minister's Office said.
Over 105 crore Covid vaccine doses administered in India: Centre
The cumulative number of COVID-19 vaccine doses administered in the country crossed 105 crore on Friday, according to the Union health ministry.
More than 51 lakh (51,59,251) vaccine doses were administered till 7 pm on Friday, the ministry said, adding that the daily vaccination tally is expected to increase with the compilation of the final reports by late night.
In a tweet, Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya said, "105 Crore Vaccines of Victory! Congratulations to the people as India's #COVID19 vaccination drive achieves new accolades."
The countrywide vaccination drive against the viral disease was rolled out on January 16 with the healthcare workers (HCWs) getting inoculated in the first phase. The vaccination of the frontline workers (FLWs) started from February 2.
The next phase of Covid vaccination commenced from March 1 for people over 60 years of age and those aged 45 years and above with specified co-morbid conditions.
The country launched vaccination for all people aged above 45 years from April 1.
Madhya Pradesh logs 9 COVID-19 cases, zero death; vaccine coverage tops 7 crore
The COVID-19 tally in Madhya Pradesh rose to 7,92,832 on Friday with the addition of nine new cases, but no fresh death due to the infection was reported in the state, while the vaccine coverage crossed the 7- crore mark, a health department official said.
The deaths remained unchanged at 10,524, he said.
The recovery count stands at 7,82,195, leaving the state with 113 active cases.
With 58,306 swab samples examined during the day, the number of coronavirus tests in MP went up to 2,01,81,418, the official added.
An official release said 7,00,53,790 COVID-19 vaccine doses have been administered so far in the state, including 1,91,307 on Friday.
Coronavirus figures in MP are as follows: Total cases 7,92,832, new cases 9, death toll 10,524 (no change), recoveries 7,82,195, active cases 113, total tests 2,01,81,418.
Covid: 37 new cases, zero deaths in Delhi
Delhi recorded 37 new COVID-19 cases and zero deaths on Friday, while the positivity rate was 0.06 per cent, according to data shared by the health department.
The infection tally rose to 14,39,788 and the deaths remained unchanged at 25,091, the bulletin said.
48 patients were discharged in the last 24 hours. A total of 59,293 tests were conducted a day ago, according to the data.
Covid-19 tally breaches 27 lakh in Tamil Nadu
Tamil Nadu on Friday added 1,039 new Covid-19 infections, pushing the tally past the 27 lakh mark to reach 27,00,593, while the deaths mounted to 36,083 with 11 more deaths, the health department said.
Recoveries outnumbered new infections with 1,229 people getting discharged in the last 24 hours, aggregating to 26,52,660 leaving 11,850 active infections, a medical bulletin said.
A total of 1,23,084 samples were tested in the last 24 hours, pushing the cumulative number of specimens examined to 5,09,11,486 till date.
Chennai and Coimbatore accounted for the majority of new infections with 126 and 118 cases, respectively, while the remaining was scattered across other districts.
As many as eight districts reported new Covid-19 infections below 10, while Theni recorded the least with one, the bulletin said.
Maharashtra reports 1,338 new COVID-19 cases, 36 deaths, 2,584 recoveries
Maharashtra on Friday reported 1,338 new COVID-19 cases and 36 fresh deaths, taking the infection tally to 66,09,292 and the deaths to 1,40,170, a health department official said.
The state has witnessed a marginal dip in the new COVID-19 cases as compared to Thursday, but there was no change in fatalities. A day ago, Maharashtra had logged 1,418 COVID-19 cases and 36 deaths.
The official said with 2,584 patients discharged from hospitals in the last 24 hours, the number of recovered cases surged to 64,47,038. The state now has 18,465 active cases.
He said 1,68,338 people are in home quarantine and another 908 in institutional quarantine.
Maharashtra's coronavirus recovery rate now stands at 97.55 per cent, while the fatality rate is 2.12 per cent.
381 COVID-19 cases, 7 deaths in KarnatakaKarnataka on Friday logged 381 new cases and seven deaths, taking the caseload and deaths to 29,87,694 and 38,061, the health department said.
The day also saw 305 people being discharged, pushing the total number of recoveries to 29,40,978. Active cases stood at 8,626, a department bulletin said.
Bengaluru urban district reported 179 new cases and four deaths.
Other districts too recorded fresh cases including 55 in Mysuru, 35 in Dakshina Kannada, 28 in Hassan, 21 in Kodagu and 10 each in Udupi and Uttara Kannada.
While nine districts reported zero infections, 14 districts had cases in single digits.
Chikkaballapura, Dakshina Kannada and Dharwad reported one death each, the bulletin said.
Bagalkote, Bidar, Chamarajanagar, Gadag, Haveri, Koppal, Raichur, and Yadgir reported zero infections and zero COVID-19 related deaths. As many as 27 districts reported zero fatalities.
90 new Covid cases in Jammu and KashmirJammu and Kashmir recorded 90 fresh COVID-19 cases on Friday, taking the infection count to 3,32,053 while no fatality due to the virus was reported from the union territory in the past 24 hours, officials said.
Of the fresh cases, seven were from the Jammu division and 83 from the Kashmir division, the officials said.
They said Srinagar district recorded a maximum of 48 new cases, followed by 13 cases in Baramulla district.
There are 872 active cases in the union territory, while the number of recoveries stands at 3,26,749, the officials said.
The deaths from the pandemic remained unchanged at 4,432 as no fatality was reported in the past 24 hours.
The officials said the mucormycosis (black fungus) case count too remained unchanged at 49 as no fresh infection was reported in the UT.
COVID-19 pandemic not over yet, don't take it for granted: Venkaiah Naidu
Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu on Friday cautioned that the COVID-19 pandemic is not over yet and people should not take it for granted.
The vice president was addressing a select gathering of Konkani and Marathi intellectuals and writers at Raj Bhavan in Goa in the presence of Governor PS Sreedharan Pillai.
"In India, we are fortunate, hats off to our scientists, our medical fraternity, our policy makers, the Central and state governments and various institutions. We were able to fight back successfully and compared to many other western countries our performance was better," Mr Naidu said.
"But the pandemic is not yet over. This is my caution to the people of my country. Don't take it for granted," he said.
People must maintain honourable distance and follow hygienic advices given by the government and scientists from time to time, the vice president said.
US could have reduced COVID-19 deaths by 30-40 per cent: Former health officialThe United States could have saved tens of thousands of lives if certain measures against COVID-19 were well implemented in the country in the early stages of the pandemic, a former health official has said.
"I believe if we had fully implemented the mask mandates, the reduction in indoor dining ... and we had increased testing, that we probably could have decreased fatalities into the 30 percent less to 40 per cent less range," Deborah Birx, the White House COVID-19 response coordinator under the Donald Trump administration, told a congressional panel in a closed-door hearing earlier this month.
Birx, in her testimony made public this week, also said that she thinks the 2020 elections "took people's time away from and distracted them away from the pandemic."
The United States has reported more than 45 million COVID-19 infections and 743,000 deaths, both the highest in the world, according to data provided by Johns Hopkins University.
Flights, Weddings Cancelled As China Tackles Covid Outbreak
Beijing officials on Friday told residents to postpone weddings and keep funeral ceremonies short, as disease controls across China were tightened just months before the Winter Olympics kicks off in the capital.
The world's most populous nation has reduced infection numbers to a trickle since its initial epidemic last spring thanks to a zero-tolerance approach of border closures, targeted lockdowns and long quarantine periods.
But China is now grappling with flare-ups in a dozen regions linked to tourists, spurring officials to order millions to stay home, restrict inter-provincial travel and ramp up testing.
Case numbers remain far lower than in most countries, with 48 new domestic infections on Friday bringing the tally to fewer than 250 in the past week.
But authorities are not taking any chances, with tens of thousands of people in Beijing -- which will host the Winter Olympics in February -- under lockdown after a handful of cases were detected.
Residents should "postpone weddings, keep funerals brief, don't organise banquets, and reduce unnecessary gatherings", deputy chief of the city's disease control centre Pang Xinghuo said at a Friday press conference.
Assam to vaccinate all eligible population by January 15: Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma
The Assam government is targeting to complete COVID-19 vaccination of all its eligible population, estimated to be around 2.1 crore, with both doses by January 15 next year, Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said on Friday.
Accordingly, the first doses of vaccines to all the people above 18 years will be completed by November 20, Himanta Biswa Sarma said at a press conference here.
"We have given 2.78 crore jabs to our people, including 77 lakh people with double doses. We have around 2.1 crore eligible population for the vaccines and around 2,00,76,000 have received the first dose," he added.
All the willing and concerned people above 18 years of age have almost taken at least the first dose of vaccine and the remaining around 10 lakh people are a "resistant population", who are either not willing to take the jabs or some very senior people not able to come to the vaccine centres, Himanta Biswa Sarma said.
Thane district's COVID-19 count up by 247, death toll by sixThe coronavirus infection tally in Thane district of Maharashtra has increased to 5,65,366 with the addition of 247 cases, an official said on Friday.
As the virus claimed the lives of six persons, the death toll in the district rose to 11,516.
These cases and fatalities were reported on Thursday, he said.
Thane's COVID-19 mortality rate stands at 2.03 per cent.
In neighbouring Palghar district, the caseload has now reached 1,37,950, while the death toll is 3,282, another official said.
Coronavirus Live Updates: Active COVID-19 cases in country increase to 1,61,334
With 14,348 people testing positive for coronavirus in a day, India's total tally of COVID-19 cases rose to 3,42,46,157, while the active cases were recorded at 1,61,334, according to the Union Health Ministry data updated on Friday.
The death toll climbed to 4,57,191 with 805 fresh fatalities, including 708 from Kerala, according to the data updated at 8 am.
Kerala has been reconciling Covid deaths in the past few days, ministry officials said.
Of the 708 deaths, 56 were reported in the last few days, 542 were those which were not confirmed until June 18 last year due to lack of adequate documentation and 110 were designated as Covid deaths after receiving appeals based on the new guidelines of the Centre and Supreme Court directions, a state government release said on Thursday.
The ministry said that daily rise in new coronavirus infections has been below 30,000 for 35 straight days and less than 50,000 daily new cases have been reported for 124 consecutive days now.
Coronavirus Updates: Bengal schools, colleges to reopen on November 16, notification issuedBengal schools, colleges to reopen on November 16, notification issued
Schools and colleges in West Bengal will reopen for offline classes on November 16, as per official notifications issued by the state government, days after Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee made the announcement.
The schools will reopen for students of classes 9 to 12, according to a notice issued by the School Education Department on Thursday evening.
In another notification, the Higher Education Department asked teaching and non-teaching staff to go to their colleges and universities from November 1, so that necessary preparations can be made for reopening on November 16.
The District Magistrates have been asked to ensure schools are made ready by October 31 for reopening from November 16.
The vice-chancellors and college principals have also been asked to make the buildings ready by November 1 to pave the way for the resumption of offline classes in undergraduate and postgraduate courses from November 16.
Just In|14,348 fresh COVID-19 cases in India, 11% lower than yesterday
Bharat Biotech Submitting Data "Regularly, Very Quickly": WHO Official On Covaxin India's Bharat Biotech has been submitting data on the EUL of Covaxin "regularly and very quickly" to a technical committee which hopes to have a final recommendation to the WHO next week, a top official of the global health agency said on Thursday, stressing that the UN body "trusts" the Indian industry that manufactures high quality vaccines.
Hyderabad-based Bharat Biotech, which has developed Covaxin, had submitted EOI (Expression of Interest) to the World Health Organisation on April 19 for the vaccine's Emergency Use Listing (EUL).
A technical advisory group of the UN health agency which met on Tuesday has sought "additional clarifications" from Bharat Biotech for Covaxin to conduct a final "risk-benefit assessment" for Emergency Use Listing of the vaccine.
"Let me say that Bharat has been submitting data regularly and very quickly, but they submitted the last batch of data on the 18th of October," Dr Mariangela Simao, Assistant Director General, Access to Medicines and Health Products at WHO, said at a press briefing in Geneva.
Covid Plan Needs $23.4 Billion Over Next Year: WHOThe World Health Organization said Thursday it needed $23.4 billion over the next 12 months for its plan to conquer Covid-19, urging the G20 to show some leadership and pay up.
WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus bluntly told the Group of 20 global powers, meeting this weekend in Rome, they could no longer leave poorer countries hanging out to dry in the pandemic.
Tedros said the money was needed to secure Covid-19 vaccines, tests and treatments -- and potentially prevent another five million deaths in the crisis.
Australia's COVID-19 vaccination drive reaches Antarctica's frozen shores COVID-19 vaccines have arrived at Australia's Casey research station in Antarctica, authorities said on Friday, allowing expeditioners to be inoculated before they journey back home to a country reopening to the world.
Australia is gradually easing pandemic restrictions as it boosts vaccination levels after its southeast was rocked by a third wave of infections fuelled by the Delta variant.
Sydney and Melbourne, its largest cities, are readying to welcome fully vaccinated residents flying from overseas without quarantine from Nov 1 - the first time in over 18 months.