Covid-19 Cases in India: The recovery rate was recorded at 98.26 per cent.
India recorded 12,516 new coronavirus infections, taking the country's total tally of COVID-19 cases to 3,44,14,186, while the active cases declined to 1,37,416, the lowest in 267 days, according to the Union Health Ministry data updated on at 8 am.
The number of deaths climbed to 4,62,690 with 501 fresh fatalities, according to the data.
The daily rise in new coronavirus infections has been below 20,000 for 35 straight days and less than 50,000 daily new cases have been reported for 138 consecutive days now.
The active cases comprise 0.40 per cent of the total infections, the lowest since March 2020, while the national COVID-19 recovery rate was recorded at 98.26 per cent, the highest since March 2020, the ministry said.
A decrease of 1,140 cases has been recorded in the active COVID-19 caseload in a span of 24 hours.
Here are the Highlights on Coronavirus Cases In India:
Eight Big Cats Tested Positive For Coronavirus In US: ReportDays after a pet dog in the UK tested positive for COVID-19, now eight big cats in a zoo in the United States detected positive for coronavirus.
Citing St. Louis Post-Dispatch, The Hill reported that the infected cats include two African lions, two snow leopards, an Amur tiger, a puma and two jaguars. These animals had mild symptoms, although some had a cough and nasal discharge.
Apart from them, none of the other 12,000 animals in the St. Louis Zoo have tested positive, the local newspaper reported. Staff have not traced the source of the infection among the cats.
Telangana: 172 new COVID-19 cases, one deathTelangana on Friday reported 172 new COVID-19 cases, pushing the total infection count to 6,73,312, while the toll rose to 3,972 with one more fatality.
Mumbai reports 262 COVID-19 cases, one death
Mumbai recorded 262 new coronavirus infections on Friday, taking the city's tally to 7,59,081.
Goa logs 23 new COVID-19 cases; active infections at 279Goa's coronavirus caseload reached 1,78,445 after 23 more people tested positive for the infection on Friday, an official from the state health department said.
Andhra Pradesh records 262 new Covid casesAndhra Pradesh reported 262 new cases of Covid-19 on Friday, taking the total to 20,69,614.
In 24 hours ending 9 am on Friday, 229 infected persons recovered, making it a total of 20,51,976 so far.
631 new cases take Mizoram's COVID tally to 1,27,548Mizoram on Friday registered 631 fresh COVID-19 cases, 100 more than the previous day, with the caseload increasing to 1,27,548, a bulletin said.
At least 145 children are among the new patients, it said.
Coronavirus News Updates: Beijing Cancels Events As Covid Hits 17-Month RecordBeijing is hunkering down after experiencing more Covid infections in the current cluster than at any time in the past 17 months, with officials asking for events and activities to be moved online.
Companies should cancel all conferences unless they are essential and take other steps to reduce public interaction as much as possible, authorities said at a press briefing held late on Thursday after seven cases were found in the Chinese capital in one day. Companies and individuals who host events will be held responsible, they said.
Beijing has detected 45 cases in the latest wave, the most since June 2020. The country is struggling to contain its fourth outbreak with the more infectious delta variant in the past five months.
Covaxin 77.8% Effective Against Covid, Says Lancet StudyCovaxin, the coronavirus vaccine developed by the government's medical research agency and Bharat Biotech, was found to have a 77.8 per cent efficacy rate against symptomatic COVID-19 in a long-awaited analysis published in The Lancet. The study also found it to be 65.2 per cent effective against the more dangerous Delta variant of the coronavirus in its preliminary analysis but said further investigations are necessary to confirm it.
Read more Coronavirus Updates: Puducherry adds 37 fresh COVID-19 cases, overall tally rises to 1,28,369
Puducherry logged 37 new COVID-19 cases during the last 24 hours taking the overall tally to 1,28,369 while no death was reported for the second straight day, a senior official of the Department of Health said on Friday.
The new infections were identified at the end of the examination of 2,465 samples, Director of the Health Department G Sriramulu said, adding they were spread over Puducherry (21), Karaikal (11), Mahe (4) and Yanam (one).
The number of active cases stood at 271 with 82 in hospitals and the remaining 189 in home isolation.
He said no fresh fatality was reported from any of the four regions of Puducherry, Karaikal, Mahe and Yanam during the last 24 hours ending 10 AM Friday and death toll remained at 1,863. The union territory did not register any death on Thursday also.
Northeastern Chinese port city battles growing COVID-19 cluster
A growing COVID-19 cluster in China's Dalian has spurred the northeastern port city to limit outbound travel, cut offline school classes and close a few cultural venues after being told by national authorities to contain the outbreak more quickly.
Dalian reported 52 locally transmitted infections with confirmed symptoms on Thursday, a daily count higher than any other Chinese city affected in an ongoing nationwide outbreak since mid-October, and more than doubling from 21 cases a day earlier, official data showed on Friday.
A total of 1,149 local cases were found in China between Oct. 17 and Nov 11. While the number is tiny compared with many outbreaks outside the country, local authorities have exerted resources to put out the flare-up with Beijing not expected to change its zero-tolerance policy any time soon.
"Various measures should be quickened and their quality should be improved, in order to get the outbreak under control in a shorter amount of time and to minimise the outbreak's impact on manufacturing and life of the general public," the National Health Commission said on Thursday, citing a meeting chaired by the commission's director in Dalian.
Coronavirus Live Updates: 1 Active COVID-19 cases in country lowest in 267 days
India logged 12,516 new coronavirus infections, taking the country's total tally of COVID-19 cases to 3,44,14,186, while the active cases declined to 1,37,416, the lowest in 267 days, according to the Union Health Ministry data updated on Friday.
The active cases comprise 0.40 per cent of the total infections, the lowest since March 2020, while the national COVID-19 recovery rate was recorded at 98.26 per cent, the highest since March 2020, the ministry said.
COVID-19 Live Update: India Reports 12,516 New Cases, 501 More DeathsIndia reported 12,516 new coronavirus cases and 501 related deaths in the last 24 hours, according to a health ministry update. The recovery rate is currently at 98.26%, highest since March 2020. The country recorded 13,155 recoveries in the last 24 hours. With this, the total recoveries increased to 3,38,14,080. Currently, India's Active caseload stands at 1,37,416, lowest in 267 days. So far, 110.79 crore vaccine doses have been administered in the country, with 53,81,88 doses being administered in the last 24 hours.
Coronavirus Updates: Thane district's COVID-19 count rises by 122; no new death
With an addition of 122 coronavirus cases, the infection count in Thane district of Maharashtra rose to 5,67,279, while no fresh death due to the disease was reported, an official said on Friday.
The new cases were reported on Thursday, he said.
The death toll remained unchanged at 11,549 as no fresh fatality due to the infection was registered in the district, where the mortality rate stood at 2.03 per cent, the official added.
This was the second time in the last one week that the district did not report any new death related to coronavirus.
Coronavirus Updates: Karnataka logs 286 new COVID-19 cases, 7 deaths
Karnataka reported 286 new COVID-19 cases and seven deaths, as per the state health bulletin on Thursday.
The active caseload in the state mounted to 8,017.
With 289 recoveries reported in the last 24 hours, the recovery tally in the state reached 29,44,958.
As per the bulletin, the state has recorded 38,138 deaths due to COVID-19 infection.
Coronavirus Updates: Kerala reports 7,224 new COVID-19 cases, 47 fatalities
As many as 7,224 new COVID-19 cases and 47 deaths were recorded in the last 24 hours, as per the state health department said on Thursday.
7,638 fresh discharges in the past 24 hours pushed the cumulative recoveries to 49,36,791.
As per the health department, the active caseload in the state now stands at 69,625, while the cumulative COVID-19 death toll has gone up to 35,040.
Coronavirus Updates: UP records 9 fresh COVID-19 infections in last 24 hours, active cases at 92
Uttar Pradesh reported nine new COVID-19 cases, while seven people recovered from the infection in the last 24 hours, the state health department informed on Thursday.
According to the health department, only four districts out of a total of 75 districts in the state reported COVID-19 cases in the last 24 hours.
Lucknow reported five new COVID-19 cases, Lakhimpur Kheri logged two fresh cases, while Gautam Buddha Nagar and Jhansi reported one case each in the last 24 hours.
No new COVID-related deaths were recorded in the last 24 hours, the health department informed.
Growing Inequality Gaps Amid Pandemic "Unacceptable": US Vice PresidentThe world must work together to narrow inequality gaps on issues including poverty, health and gender inclusion that have only grown during the Covid-19 pandemic, US Vice President Kamala Harris said Thursday.
Speaking a week after the US Congress passed President Joe Biden's $1.2 trillion infrastructure investment package, she said "no single nation" could be relied upon to deal with these challenges alone.
She told President Emmanuel Macron and other leaders at the Paris Peace Forum conference that inequality gaps had narrowed and widened during human history but "throughout this pandemic the gaps have undoubtedly become larger".
Mizoram Plans To Inoculate Myanmar Refugees Against CovidThe Mizoram government is planning to administer Covid-19 vaccine to Myanmar nationals who have taken refuge in the state following a military coup in the neighbouring country in February, a health department official said on Thursday.
Altogether 12,736 people of Myanmar are currently staying in various parts of Mizoram, particularly in districts bordering that country, according to the state police's record.
The official said the authorities of those districts are gearing up to vaccinate all the eligible refugees.
East Mizoram's Champhai district has the highest number of Myanmar nationals at 7,291, followed by the southernmost Lawngtlai district at 1,746 and state capital Aizawl at 1,622.
A large section of those who have taken refuge in the state belong to the Chin, also known as the Zo, community. They share the same ancestry and culture as the Mizos of Mizoram. They were mainly the residents of Chin, a state in Myanmar, which shares its Western border with Mizoram.
The majority of the Myanmar nationals are lodged in relief camps set up by villagers, while others live with their relatives in the state and some others in rented houses, police said.