Coronavirus Cases in India: The recovery rate is 96.12 per cent.
India added 19,079 coronavirus infections in the past 24 hours, placing its overall number at 1.03 crore cases, the Health Ministry's data showed. The number of fresh infections is 5 per cent lower than on Friday. In this period, India reported 224 deaths linked to the virus, taking the total number of fatalities to 1,49,218.
Meanwhile, a dry run to check the best way to vaccinate people against COVID-19 and plug loopholes in logistics and training will be held in all the states today. This drive will also test the operational feasibility in the use of CoWIN application in a field environment. Short for Covid Vaccine Intelligence Network, CoWIN is a digital platform to roll out and scale up the vaccination drive.
The massive exercise comes a day after a panel of government-appointed experts recommended approval for the Oxford COVID-19 vaccine, manufactured by Serum Institute of India, to the regulator Drugs Control Authority of India.
Here are the Highlights on Coronavirus Cases:
Russia Inoculates Over 800,000 People Against Covid, Issues Vaccination CertificatesMore than 800,000 people in Russia have been inoculated so far against the new coronavirus and more than 1.5 million vaccine doses have been dispatched, Health Minister Mikhail Murashko said on Saturday.
Russia, which began rolling out its Sputnik V vaccine in early December, has the world's fourth higher number of COVID-19 cases and is putting high hopes on several vaccines it plans to produce.
From Jan. 1, people who are inoculated in Russia will get an electronic vaccination certificate, the TASS news agency quoted Murashko as saying. The ministry is keeping a database of Russians who have been vaccinated, TASS reported.
The Sputnik V vaccine, which Russia already started supplying to other countries, is administered in two doses, which use different components, 21 days apart.
Russia sent 300,000 doses of the vaccine to Argentina last week, causing frustration at home, with some people arguing that more shots should be made available at home.
Mexican Doctor Hospitalised After Receiving Covid VaccineMexican authorities said they are studying the case of a 32-year-old female doctor who was hospitalized after receiving the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine.
The doctor, whose name has not been released, was admitted to the intensive care unit of a public hospital in the northern state of Nuevo Leon after she experienced seizures, difficulty breathing and a skin rash.
"The initial diagnosis is encephalomyelitis," the Health Ministry said in a statement released on Friday night. Encephalomyelitis is an inflammation of the brain and spinal cord.
The ministry added that the doctor has a history of allergic reactions and said that there is no evidence from clinical trials that anyone has developed an inflammation of the brain after the vaccine's application.
Covid Vaccine To Be Available In UP Around 'Makar Sankranti': Yogi AdityanathUttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Saturday said COVID-19 vaccine will be available in the state close to the Hindu festival, 'Makar Sankranti', which will be celebrated on January 14.
Speaking at a programme, he said, "We initiated the campaign against COVID-19 in March 2020 under Prime Minister Narendra Modi and at the beginning of this year we could say firmly that the dry run of the vaccine will be held on January 5 across the state and the vaccine will be available near around Makar Sankranti."
The Chief Minister added that a dry run of the vaccine was being held at some places in the state on Saturday.
European Union ready to help expand vaccine production
The European Union is ready to help drug companies expand coronavirus vaccine production to clear a "bottleneck" in distribution, its top health official said Saturday.
Health commissioner Stella Kyriakides told German news agency DPA that any delay in getting approved vaccines out was down to production capacity shortage, not EU planning.
"The bottleneck at the moment is not the volume of orders but the worldwide shortage of production capacity," she said, in comments distributed by her office.
Kyriakides noted that Brussels had provided 100 million euros to German firm BioNTech, which developed a vaccine with US giant Pfizer, to help build production capacity.
And she said that the bloc was ready to do more, for Pfizer-BioNTech and other companies with candidate vaccines, as the vaccination campaign gets into gear.
No new COVID-19 case in Nagaland
Nagaland's COVID-19 tally remained unchanged at 11,929 as no new case was reported in the state on Saturday, a health official said. This is the second day since the outbreak when the state did not report any COVID-19 case, the first being December 27 last year, he said.
Five more people have been cured of the disease, Health Minister S Pangnyu Phom said.
The state's recovery count has improved to 11,533 and the recovery rate to an all-time high of 96.68 per cent, Health Department Director Dr Denis Hangsing said.
COVID-19 News Updates: Bharat Biotech recruits 23,000 volunteers for COVAXIN's phase 3 clinical trial
Bharat Biotech has recruited 23,000 volunteers so far for the Phase III clinical trials of its COVID-19 vaccine candidate, ''COVAXIN''.
"Bharat Biotech has announced successful recruitment of 23,000 volunteers, and continued progress towards achieving the goal of 26,000 participants for Phase-3 clinical trial of coronavirus vaccine "COVAXIN" across multiple sites in India," an official statement read.
COVAXIN, India's indigenous COVID-19 vaccine by Bharat Biotech is developed in collaboration with the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) - National Institute of Virology (NIV). This indigenous, inactivated vaccine is developed and manufactured in Bharat Biotech's BSL-3 (Bio-Safety Level 3) bio-containment facility, one of its kind in the world.
COVID-19 News updates: Night curfew to remain in place in Rajasthan's 13 districts
Rajasthan government on Saturday informed that night curfew from 8 pm to 6 am will continue to be in force within the urban limits of the district headquarter towns of 13 districts in the view of COVID-19.
The curfew will remain imposed in Kota, Jaipur, Jodhpur, Bikaner, Udaipur, Ajmer, Alwar, Bhilwara, Nagore, Pali, Tonk, Sikar and Ganganagar till further orders.
Coronavirus News Updates: Russia inoculates more than 8,00,000 people against COVID-19
More than 8,00,000 people in Russia have been inoculated so far against coronavirus and more than 1.5 million vaccine doses have been dispatched, Health Minister Mikhail Murashko said on Saturday.
Russia, which began rolling out its Sputnik V vaccine in early December, has the world's fourth higher number of COVID-19 cases and is putting high hopes on several vaccines it plans to produce.
The Sputnik V vaccine, which Russia already started supplying to other countries, is administered in two doses, which use different components, 21 days apart.
Russia sent 300,000 doses of the vaccine to Argentina last week, causing frustration at home, with some people arguing that more shots should be made available at home.
Mizoram successfully conducts COVID-19 vaccination dry run
The Mizoram government on Saturday successfully conducted a dry run for COVID-19 vaccination, a health official said.
Twenty-five people each were administered dummy vaccines at two PHCs in Aizawl under the supervision of health officials and senior doctors, he said.
"The mock drill will help us review our preparedness for the actual drive and plug loopholes in logistics and training," the official said.
Health and other frontline workers will be vaccinated in the initial phases of the actual drive when it begins, he said.
The northeastern state has so far reported 4,219 COVID-19 cases, including eight fatalities. The recovery rate among the coronavirus patients in the state stands at 97.18 per cent.
Coronavirus News Update: 37 UK returnees test positive for COVID-19; Kerala reports 5,328 new cases
Thirty-seven people who returned from the UK to Kerala recently have tested positive for COVID-19, while the state recorded 5,328 new cases and 4,985 recoveries on Saturday, Health Minister KK Shailaja said.
While the virus caseload has gone up to 7,71,251, as many as 7,02,576 people have recovered. At least 2,40,490 people are under observation in various districts, including 11,811 in hospitals.
The minister also said the dry run for the Covid vaccine was successfully held and asserted the state was fully prepared to receive and administer the vaccine.
In the first phase, 3.13 lakh people have registered for the vaccination, she said.
COVID-19 vaccine dry run held in three Nagpur centres
A coronavirus vaccination dry run with 25 "beneficiaries" was conducted in three centres in Nagpur city on Saturday, a civic official said.
The exercise was conducted under the supervision of Nagpur Municipal Corporation commissioner Radhakrishnan B who spoke to the staff as well as those who were being given dummy vaccinations, he said.
"The exercise was done in a proper manner and we will be sending a report on it soon," commissioner Radhakrishnan told PTI.
A dry run to assess the readiness of the mechanism laid out for the COVID-19 immunisation drive, which is expected to begin soon, was conducted in four districts of Maharashtra during the day. It was held in identified health centres in Nagpur, Jalna, Pune and Nandurbar districts.
One primary contact of U.K returnee tests positive for new virus strain
One primary contact of a UK returnee was among 10 people who tested positive for the new strain of coronavirus and all of them are undergoing treatment, Karnataka Health Minister K Sudhakar said here on Saturday.
"Ten people have so far been confirmed with the new variant of coronavirus infection... nine of them are returnees from the U.K., while one is a contact, the mother of one them.
All of them are undergoing treatment and are without any serious health condition. They will recover soon," he said.
The Minister told reporters here that so far 32 people who returned from UK and 10 of their contacts- a total of 42-have been confirmed with COVID-19 infection during RT-PCR test.
COVID-19 Cases: 1.60 crore people to get the shots in phase-I, says Tamil Nadu Minister
Tamil Nadu has taken steps to administer COVID-19 vaccine to 1.60 crore people across the state in the first phase, Health Minister Dr Vijayabhaskar said on Saturday.
Talking to reporters at the ESI Hospital, during a special camp as part of the dry run, he said it is being carried out to identify the problems and challenges of administering the vaccine.
A total of 47,200 vaccine centres have been established and 21,200 health workers trained for the purpose, he said.
At least 17 places in five districts have been identified for the trial run for which 425 workers have been trained, he said.
The vaccinated person has been asked to wait for 30 minutes for observation, he pointed out.
Bangkok imposes partial lockdown to combat virus
Bangkok's nightlife will go quiet as a ban on bars, nightclubs and restaurant alcohol sales goes into effect Saturday, among a raft of restrictions aimed at curbing the kingdom's rising coronavirus deaths.
In Bangkok, where more than 2,600 active cases have been detected, city authorities acted swiftly and announced a partial lockdown to go into effect Saturday.
Bars and nightclubs, boxing stadiums, cockfighting rings and massage parlours -- as well as beauty salons and gyms -- will be among a slew of businesses affected. The capital also announced Friday that public schools would close for two weeks, while more than a dozen virus checkpoints were set up Saturday across the city.
Gujarat to strive for free vaccination as far as possible: Deputy Chief Minister
The Gujarat government will try to bear the cost of coronavirus vaccination "as far as possible" so that people get it free, Deputy Chief Minister Nitin Patel said on Saturday.
Mr Patel, who also holds the Health portfolio, said the state is fully prepared to administer vaccination to the priority groups as soon as doses are received from the centre.
"So far, the Central government has not fixed any cost for the coronavirus vaccine. We provided treatment and medicines to lakhs of coronavirus patients free of cost in the state," he said.
"We have been discussing this (free vaccination) with the Chief Minister from time to time that as far as possible, we shall not let the citizens bear the cost of vaccination," he told reporters.
Telangana Governor inspects COVID-19 vaccine dry run in Hyderabad
Telangana Governor Tamilisai Soundararajan on Saturday urged people not to hesitate to take COVID-19 vaccine, saying it was safe.
"Vaccine is safe. People all over the world are taking the vaccine. There is not even a single incident of fatality due to the vaccination till now. People should not be afraid to take it," the governor said in a release.
She visited the Urban Health Centre (UHC) at Tilak Nagar in the city to inspect COVID-19 vaccine dry run held there. The governor also inspected the cold chain system, vaccination rooms and the vaccination process at the UHC.
Later, in a tweet, Ms Soundararajan, a medical doctor said, "Appreciate arrangements of state and central governments to vaccinate eligible beneficiaries.
Tokyo calls for state of emergency over virus third wave
Tokyo's governor on Saturday asked Japan's central government to declare a new state of emergency as the country battles a third wave of the coronavirus, with record numbers of new cases.
Yuriko Koike, joined by the governors of three neighbouring regions, called for the measure to be imposed in their areas during a meeting with Yasutoshi Nishimura, the minister in charge of the coronavirus response.
Japanese officials have in recent weeks asked restaurants and businesses to close early and urged people to stay at home, measures that Koike said were having "some effect". "But considering the number of cases and the situation of the medical system in Tokyo and the three neighbouring prefectures, we decided it was necessary to immediately and thoroughly curb the movement of people," she told reporters.
Vatican to begin vaccinations second half of January
The Vatican announced Saturday its Covid-19 vaccination campaign will begin "in the next few days" with health workers and the elderly to receive vaccines from the second half of January.
No mention was made in the short press release about Pope Francis and when the 84-year-old pontiff will receive a vaccine.
"It is foreseeable that the vaccines could arrive in the State in the second week of January, in a sufficient quantity to cover the needs of the Holy See and the Vatican City State," it said.
Rajasthan conducts anti-Covid vaccination dry runs at 19 centres in 7 districts
Rajasthan Health Department on Saturday conducted dry runs for anti-Covid vaccination at 19 centres of seven districts of the state as per the centre's protocol for the inoculation, an official said.
During the dry runs, the support staff for the inoculation were given training and the state now is ready for the vaccination after receiving the vaccine, he said. Dry runs for the universal vaccination as per the protocol received from the Centre were held Saturday at 19 centres of seven districts of the state, Health Secretary Siddharth Mahajan told reporters.
Rajasthan is fully prepared now for the first phase of vaccination, he added. He said he has taken feedback from the centres where dry runs were conducted.
UK returnees to be tested for COVID on arrival between January 8 and January 30
All passengers coming from the UK between January 8 and January 30 would be mandatorily subjected to self-paid RT-PCR tests on arrival at the Indian airports concerned, the health ministry said in a standard operating procedure (SOP) issued on Saturday.
All the passengers coming from the UK during the intervening period from January 8 to 30, 2021 shall be subjected to self-paid RT-PCR tests on arrival at the Indian airports concerned (port of entry).
All passengers should submit self-declaration form on the online portal (www.newdelhiairport.in) at least 72 hours before the scheduled travel.
All the passengers arriving from the UK should be carrying a negative RT-PCR Test report for which test should be conducted within 72 hours prior to undertaking the journey. The same also shall be uploaded on the online portal (www.newdelhiairport.in).
Coronavirus News: London schools to stay closed amid COVID-19 infection surge
The UK government has instructed all primary schools in London to remain closed and not return for the new term on Monday amid a surge in COVID-19 infections rates across England.
After an urgent review, the Department for Education (DfE) decided that the "education contingency framework" will be applicable across all of the UK capital instead of just a few boroughs.
"As infection rates rise across the country, and particularly in London, we must make this move to protect our country and the NHS. We will continue to keep the list of local authorities under review, and reopen classrooms as soon as we possibly can," said UK Education Secretary Gavin Williamson.
From Monday, London primary schools will be required to provide remote learning to all children but vulnerable and critical worker children who will continue to attend school.
COVID-19 vaccination dry run a learning experience: Tamil Nadu government
Tamil Nadu on Saturday conducted a dry run at 17 centres for the rollout of COVID-19 vaccination that showed successful working of the processes involved and it was a learning experience as well, a top state health official said on Saturday.
The exercise showed that all preparations were in "ready" mode for the roll-out of the COVID-19 vaccine in the state, Tamil Nadu Health Secretary J Radhakrishnan said, adding that overall, the processes worked successfully.
The dry run was held at three centres each in the districts of Chennai, Tiruvallur, Nilgiris, Tirunelveli and five in Coimbatore. "An initial learning was that the room earmarked for vaccination should be more spacious," the secretary told reporters, adding officials from the World Health Organisation (WHO) and United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) also witnessed the drive.
3 Crore On Frontline To Get Free Vaccine In 1st Phase: Health MinisterFree coronavirus vaccines will be given in the first phase to three crore people who have been on the frontline in the fight against the highly contagious disease, Health Minister Harsh Vardhan said today. The government will give priority to 1 crore healthcare workers and 2 crore frontline workers when India begins the rollout of the Covid vaccine.
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Arunachal Pradesh reports no fresh COVID-19 case
Arunachal Pradesh did not record a single fresh COVID-19 case in the last 24 hours, a health department official said on Saturday.
The state's coronavirus tally remained at 16,719, he said.
Two more people were cured of the infection on Friday, taking the total number of recoveries in the state to 16,566, State Surveillance Officer (SSO) Dr Lobsang Jampa said.
The COVID-19 recovery rate in the state is 99.08 per cent, the SSO said.
Arunachal Pradesh now has 97 active coronavirus cases, while 56 people have succumbed to the infection so far he said, adding that the fatality ratio is 0.33 per cent.
COVID-19 vaccine dry run to continue in Assam till actual dose arrives: Official
In order to prepare the medical staff and infrastructure, the dry run for the COVID-19 vaccine will continue regularly across Assam till actual vaccination takes place, a senior official said on Saturday.
Talking to PTI, National Health Mission (NHM) Mission Director Lakshmanan S said the Health Department does not want to leave any stone unturned to find out any lacuna in the system before administering the vaccine to the people of the state.
"Today, we are having the dry run at Gauhati Medical College and Hospital, Sonapur Civil Hospital and Khanapara State Dispensary. This is going to be a continuous process and we will be having dry runs till the actual vaccine comes to us," he added.
Dry run for COVID-19 vaccination underway in West Bengal
A dry run for COVID-19 vaccination is underway at three centres in West Bengal with at least 75 health workers participating in the programme on Saturday, an official said.
The exercise started at 9 am at Urban Primary Health Centres in Duttabad and Madhyagram and Amdanga Rural Hospital in North 24 Parganas district, he said.
"At least 75 people are participating in the programme at three centres. They have been asked to register their names for the vaccination mock drill. Their health condition will be observed for at least 30 minutes after completion of the exercise," the official said.
The dry run was part of the nationwide exercise to test the preparedness of the authorities before launching of the actual vaccination programme.
All passengers from UK to be tested for COVID-19 on arrival between January 8-January 30: Health ministry
All passengers coming from the UK between January 8 and January 30 would be subjected to self-paid COVID-19 tests on arrival, the health ministry said in a standard operating procedure (SOP) issued on Saturday.
Moreover, each passenger arriving from the UK would have to bring his or her COVID-19 negative report from a test done 72 hours prior to the journey, the SOP stated.
India had suspended all flights to and from the United Kingdom from December 23 to 31 to check the spread of the mutated, more contagious variant of coronavirus found there. Later, the suspension was extended till January 7.
Only 30 flights per week will operate between India and the UK when services resume from January 8 and this arrangement will continue till January 23, Aviation Minister Hardeep Singh Puri had said on Friday
Pfizer And BioNtech To Offer Covid Vaccine To Volunteers Who Got Placebo
Pfizer Inc and its partner BioNTech Se plan to give volunteers who received a placebo in its COVID-19 vaccine trial an option to receive a first dose of the vaccine by March 1, 2021, while staying within the study.
The trial's Vaccine Transition Option allows all participants aged 16 or older the choice to discover whether they were given the placebo, "and for participants who learn they received the placebo, to have the option to receive the investigational vaccine while staying in the study," the companies said on their website for trial participants.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration and a panel of its outside advisers have expressed concerns over Pfizer's "unblinding" plan, saying it could make it harder to continue collecting data on safety and effectiveness needed to win full FDA approval of the vaccine.
Just In| India records 19,079 new cases, 5% lower than yesterday; 1.03 crore total cases, 1.49 lakh deaths so far
Oxford COVID-19 Vaccine Cleared By Expert Panel For IndiaThe Oxford COVID-19 vaccine manufactured by the Serum Institute of India will be sent for approval to the regulator Drugs Controller General of India (DCGI) by a government-appointed panel of experts.
The Serum Institute of India (SII) is making the vaccine Covishield developed by Oxford University and pharma major AstraZeneca, while Bharat Biotech has partnered with the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) for its Covaxin.
Pfizer had sought more time to present their data to the panel of experts.
The centre is looking to start giving vaccine shots from this month, once the vaccine is cleared for a final time by the DCGI.
A dry run for vaccination is scheduled in all the states today.
Coronavirus news - AstraZeneca Expects To Supply 20 Lakh Vaccine Doses A Week In UK: Report
About two million doses of COVID-19 vaccine developed by Oxford University and AstraZeneca are set to be supplied every week by the middle of January in the United Kingdom, The Times reported.
AstraZeneca expects to supply two million doses of the vaccine in total by next week, the newspaper reported, citing an unnamed member of the Oxford-AstraZeneca team. "The plan is then to build it up fairly rapidly - by the third week of January we should get to two million a week," the report added.
The company was not immediately available to respond to a Reuters request for comment.
The report comes after Britain on Wednesday approved the Oxford-AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine, hoping that rapid action will help it stem a record surge of infections driven by a highly contagious form of the virus.
COVID-19: All States To Begin Coronavirus Vaccine Dry Run TodayA dry run to check the best way to vaccinate people against COVID-19 and plug loopholes in logistics and training will be held in all the states today.
This drive will also test the operational feasibility in the use of CoWIN application in a field environment. Short for Covid Vaccine Intelligence Network, CoWIN is a digital platform to roll out and scale up the vaccination drive.
The massive exercise comes a day after a panel of government-appointed experts recommended approval for the Oxford COVID-19 vaccine, manufactured by Serum Institute of India, to the regulator Drugs Control Authority of India.
Pfizer And BioNtech To Offer Covid Vaccine To Volunteers Who Got PlaceboPfizer Inc and its partner BioNTech Se plan to give volunteers who received a placebo in its COVID-19 vaccine trial an option to receive a first dose of the vaccine by March 1, 2021, while staying within the study.
The trial's Vaccine Transition Option allows all participants aged 16 or older the choice to discover whether they were given the placebo, "and for participants who learn they received the placebo, to have the option to receive the investigational vaccine while staying in the study," the companies said on their website for trial participants.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration and a panel of its outside advisers have expressed concerns over Pfizer's "unblinding" plan, saying it could make it harder to continue collecting data on safety and effectiveness needed to win full FDA approval of the vaccine.
75 People Who Returned From UK To Be Traced In Karnataka: State MinisterEfforts are on to trace 75 people who have travelled to Karnataka from the UK with authorities hopeful of locating them soon, state Health Minister K Sudhakar said on Friday.
The number of returnees from the UK who have tested positive for the new strain of coronavirus prevalent in the European nation remained at seven and results of genomic sequencing of 31 others was awaited, he told reporters here.
"We are yet to trace 75 people who travelled from the UK... some foreign nationals are also there who might not have local contact numbers, their details have been collected from immigration department," Mr Sudhakar said.
France Tightens COVID-19 Curfew In Worst-Affected AreasThe French government on Friday announced it is bringing forward its nighttime curfew by two hours in 15 regions to help combat the coronavirus, as infections remain high.
The 15 of France's 101 departments affected by the switch from Saturday, to a curfew beginning at 6:00 pm rather than 8:00 pm, include the Les Alpes-Maritimes department where the Mediterranean city of Nice is located.
The other areas are concentrated in the east of the country.
Paris has, for now, been spared the additional restriction.
"The virus is continuing to spread in France... but with a disparity between regions," said government spokesman Gabriel Attal as he announced the move.
"If the situation were to deteriorate further in certain areas, we will take the necessary decisions," he told TF1 broadcaster.
UK Reactivates Emergency Covid Hospitals, Closes London Primary SchoolsBritain reactivated emergency hospitals built at the start of the pandemic and shut primary schools in London on Friday to counter the rapid spread of a much more infectious variant of the coronavirus.
With more than 50,000 new daily cases of COVID-19 for the last four days, the health service said it was preparing for an anticipated rush of patients and needed more beds.
The announcement comes just days after the Royal London Hospital told staff in an email it was now in "disaster medicine mode" and unable to provide high standard critical care.