India's COVID-19 caseload went past 91 lakh with 44,059 coronavirus infections being reported in a day, while the recoveries surged to 85,62,641, according to the Union Health Ministry data updated on Monday.
The total coronavirus cases mounted to 91,39,865, while the deaths climbed to 1,33,738 with 511 new fatalities including 121 from Delhi alone, the data updated at 8 am showed. The number of active cases remained below 5 lakh for the thirteenth consecutive day. There are 4,43,486 active cases of coronavirus infection in the country as on date which comprises 4.85 per cent of the total caseload, the data stated.
The national recovery rate was recorded 93.68 per cent, while the COVID-19 case fatality rate stands at 1.46 per cent.
According to the ICMR, over 13.25 crore samples have been tested up to November 22 with 8,49,596 samples being tested on Sunday.
The 511 new fatalities include 121 from Delhi, 50 from Maharashtra, 49 from West Bengal, 35 from Uttar Pradesh, 27 from Kerala and 25 from Haryana.
Here are the LIVE updates on Coronavirus Cases:
The World Health Organization said Monday it had received reassurances from Beijing that international experts would soon be able to travel to China to help investigate the animal origins of Covid-19.
"We fully expect and have reassurances from our Chinese government colleagues that the trip to the field... will be facilitated, and as soon as possible," WHO emergencies director Michael Ryan told a virtual press briefing.
Wedding ceremonies in Haryana's Gurugram will now be host to police officials as well after authorities made it mandatory to keep a check on COVID-19 protocols at large gatherings amid the pandemic.
According to an order issued by Gurugram police commissioner KK Rao, the cops can attend any marriage events in the city without invitation and issue fines to those not wearing masks. They will also keep a check on guests and urge them to follow guidelines like social distancing to prevent the spread of coronavirus.
The move comes amid a rise in COVID-19 cases in Haryana. On Monday, the state reported 2,663 new cases taking the caseload to 2,19,963 while 28 deaths pushed the fatality count to 2,216. According to the state health department's daily bulletin, of the fresh cases, hardest-hit Gurugram district reported 866 cases while 577 infections were recorded in Faridabad. Read
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi today asked Prime Minister Narendra Modi a flurry of questions in connection to the anticipated vaccine for the COVID-19, raising issues like funding, timing, and priority of candidates.
The former Congress President's queries on Twitter came in the backdrop of a spike in fresh COVID-19 cases from several states like Delhi and Gujarat in the past few days and also the expected arrival of a vaccine in the market as announced by Oxford University as well as drug-makers like Pfizer and Moderna. Read
Prime Minister Narendra Modi will on Tuesday chair a virtual meeting with the chief ministers of the eight worst Covid-hit states to review the coronavirus situation, sources say. The PM is expected to discuss with the states the cause for a surge in daily Covid numbers and the countermeasures planned to stem virus growth, sources added.
PM Modi's Covid review meeting, scheduled to start at 10:30 AM, will be conducted in two parts, sources said. In the first leg, he will interact with the chief ministers of the eight worst-affected states and Union Territories; in the second, he will hold a discussion with the chief ministers and L-G's of all the states and UTs on vaccine delivery, sources say.
The primary focus of the review meeting is likely to be the development of a mechanism for efficient delivery of vaccine and identification of priority beneficiaries, sources said.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi will on Tuesday chair a virtual interaction with the Chief Ministers of the eight worst Covid-hit states to review the coronavirus situation, sources say. The PM is expected to discuss with the states the cause for the sudden surge in Covid numbers and the countermeasures planned to stem the virus's growth, sources add.
PM Modi's Covid review meeting, scheduled to start at 10:30 AM, will be conducted in two parts, sources said. In the first leg, he will interact with the Chief Ministers and Lieutenant Governors of the worst-affected states and Union Territories (UT); in the second, he will hold a general review with the Chief Ministers and L-G's of all the states and UTs, where he is expected to discuss all the aspects of vaccine delivery, sources say.
The efficacy of COVAXIN - the coronavirus vaccine developed jointly by pharma giant AstraZeneca and the University of Oxford - is encouraging, Adar Poonawalla of the Serum Institute told NDTV on Monday evening.
Hours earlier AstraZeneca said the vaccine candidate could be around 90% effective, giving the world another weapon with which to fight the a pandemic that has killed nearly 1.34 lakh people in India alone.
The Himachal Pradesh government has decided to impose restrictions on gatherings and movement, including night curfew till December 15, in view of rising COVID-19 infections and deaths in the state.
On Monday, the Himachal Pradesh cabinet, headed by Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur, decided to impose a night curfew in Shimla, Mandi, Kullu and Kangra districts from 8 pm to 6 am for everyone barring those involved in discharging essential services.
Schools have been directed to remain closed till December 31, but online classes would start from November 26. In view of the pandemic, students of classes 1 to 4, and classes 6 and 7, would be promoted as per provision of the Right to Education Act-2009.
Only travellers who test negative for Covid will be allowed to enter Maharashtra from Delhi NCR, Gujarat, Rajasthan and Goa, the state said today, announcing a set of new rules. This will cover passengers in both flights and trains, who have to show the negative test results before boarding.
Britain's AstraZeneca said on Monday its vaccine for the novel coronavirus could be around 90% effective without any serious side effects, giving the world another important tool to halt the COVID-19 pandemic. The combined analysis from both dosing regimens resulted in an average efficacy of 70%.
The vaccine developed by Oxford University was 90% effective in preventing COVID-19 when it was administered as a half dose followed by a full dose at least one month apart, according to data from the late-stage trials in Britain and Brazil.
No serious safety events related to the vaccine have been confirmed and it was well tolerated across both dosing regimens, it said. Read
The Karnataka government has decided to keep the state's schools and pre-university, or PU colleges - equivalent to classes 11 and 12 - closed at least till December end in view of the coronavirus pandemic.
"According to the opinion of education experts, we should not start any classes in schools or PU colleges till December end, and a decision should be taken after that. In the few engineering colleges that had resumed classes the attendance is under 5 per cent. So, we will meet against in December-end and take an appropriate decision at that time according to the (coronavirus) situation," Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa said.
The decision to not reopen any schools and PU colleges in Karnataka was taken at a meeting where Mr Yediyurappa and Secondary Education Minister S Suresh Kumar met government officials from the education department on Monday.
The meeting was scheduled after taking suggestions from parents, health committee officials and educational experts. Read
Another 18,662 people in Britain have tested positive for the COVID-19, bringing the total number of coronavirus cases in the country to 1,512,045, according to official figures released Sunday.
The coronavirus-related deaths in Britain rose by 398 to 55,024, the data showed.
Amid this, ministers from England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland on Sunday backed plans to allow different households to meet "for a small number of days" over Christmas.
Over 1,500 people who were found not wearing a face mask at public places were issued challans across the national capital on Sunday, the police said.
The Delhi Police distributed face masks across various shelter homes and residential areas in the city.
According to the police, 1,501 challans were issued to people for not wearing a face mask while 33 people were fined for not adhering to social distancing norms.
Over 3,600 people who were found not wearing face masks at public places were issued challans across Noida and Greater Noida in three days, police said on Sunday.
Police Commissioner Alok Singh has directed officials to penalise people who are found not adhering to COVID-19 protocols in public places, it stated in a statement.
According to the statement, 1,312 people were issued challans for not wearing face cover or mask while in public places and Rs 1.31 lakh was collected from them in fines on Saturday.
On Sunday, challans were issued to another 1,089 people who were found without mask in public places, it added.
West Bengal will lose the chance to conduct Phase II clinical trial of Russian COVID-19 vaccine candidate Sputnik V because of the delay in grant of approval by the state government, a top official of an organisation involved in facilitating the exercise said on Sunday.
The trials were proposed to start at the state-run College of Medicine and Sagore Dutta Hospital (CMSDH) in North 24 Parganas district adjoining Kolkata later this week along with six other centres in different parts of the country.
"We will not be able to hold the Phase II trials of Sputnik-V vaccine at the CMSDH because of the slow approach of the state health department in giving the approval. We had applied for the approval on November 4 and there is no response yet. It's too late now.