Experts are hopeful a vaccine for coronavirus is likely to be ready within the next few weeks, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said last evening, adding that three different vaccine candidates are in different stages of trials.
Earlier this week, the United Kingdom became the first western country to clear the Pfizer vaccine. However, the US pharma firm had not applied for trials in India, sources had said.
"India is one of the few countries where the testing and recovery rates are very high and the mortality rate is very low. Compared to developed countries, India has fought against COVID much better and has managed to save a lot of lives," PM Modi said.
Here are the LIVE updates on India Coronavirus Cases:
NCP leader Nawab Malik has said that COVID-19 vaccine should be given free to every citizen of the country. Speaking to ANI, Mr Malik said, "The Prime Minister held an all-party meeting and now they are saying State and Centre will decide the price, how can it be? In Bihar, they have given the assurance that vaccination will be free. We demand vaccine should be given to each Indian free of cost."
Britain's Queen Elizabeth II will receive the Pfizer-BioNTech coronavirus vaccine within weeks, after UK regulators granted emergency approval and the world's first roll-out begins next week, reports late Saturday said.
The monarch, 94, and her 99-year-old husband Prince Philip are in line to get the jab early due to their age and will not receive preferential treatment, the Mail on Sunday reported.
The newspaper said Britain's most senior royals would reveal they have been given the inoculation "to encourage more people to take up the vital jab", amid fears so-called anti-vaxxers could dent enthusiasm for it.
The national capital recorded 3,419 new COVID-19 cases with over 80,000 tests being conducted for the second day, even as the positivity rate further dipped to 4.2 per cent, authorities said.
The positivity rate on Thursday and Friday was 4.96 per cent and 4.78 per cent respectively.
These fresh cases came out of a record 81,473 tests conducted the previous day, including 35,352 RT-PCR tests, according to the latest bulletin issued by the Delhi health department.
The owner of the wedding hall or garden will have to ensure that entry to the venue is closed once 100 people gather, said Rajasthan Government.
"The owner of the wedding hall/garden will have to ensure that entry to the venue is closed once 100 people gather there," the Rajasthan government said in a statement.
Assam reported 157 new #COVID19 cases and 163 discharges on December 5, says Govt. of Assam
- ANI (@ANI) December 5, 2020
Total cases: 2,13,662
Total discharges: 2,09,127
Deaths: 989
Active cases: 3,543 pic.twitter.com/5WhDvPmiZB
Launching the 'Mera Covid Kendra' app, he said it was an initiative of the state government to help people who want to get themselves tested for the virus.
Stressing that the state government has been making efforts at every level to check the spread of COVID-19, he said all districts of Uttar Pradesh have free testing facilities, and rates have been fixed for tests done in private labs.
A total of over 1,16,13,924 samples have been tested so far, out of which 1,04,032 were tested today alone, and 18,367 among them were rapid antigen tests.
The day also saw 1,400 patients getting discharged after recovery.
"No state has conducted so many tests so far. Yesterday, 1,66,938 samples were tested whereas a total of 21,028,312 samples have been tested so far across the state," Mr Prasad said.
Tamil Nadu reported 1,366 new #COVID19 cases, 1,407 discharges, and 15 deaths in the last 24 hours: State Health Department, Govt of Tamil Nadu
- ANI (@ANI) December 5, 2020
Total cases: 7,88,920
Total discharges: 7,66,261
Death toll: 11,777
Active cases: 10,882 pic.twitter.com/oageTO6ttW
Delhi reports 3419 new #COVID19 cases, 4916 recoveries and 77 deaths today.
- ANI (@ANI) December 5, 2020
Total cases 5,89,544
Total recoveries 5,53,292
Death toll 9574
Active cases 26,678 pic.twitter.com/XKBTfyWsfs
Rajasthan reports 2076 new #COVID19 cases, 3198 recoveries and 20 deaths today.
- ANI (@ANI) December 5, 2020
Total cases 2,78,496
Total recoveries 2,52,911
Death toll 2409
Active cases 23,176 pic.twitter.com/UOPJwfGbOL
The official said 49 more patients have recovered, taking the total number of recoveries in the district to 6,583.
Uttarakhand reports 680 new #COVID19 cases, 457 recoveries and 8 deaths today.
- ANI (@ANI) December 5, 2020
Total cases 77,573
Total cured 70,288
Death toll 1281
Active cases 5176 pic.twitter.com/afKFrI68ZY
Among the infected police personnel, two constables have been hospitalized, while others are in home isolation, senior police officer Ajay Chaudhary said.
"We started a drive from Tuesday (December 1) to test all 14,000 police personnel in Ahmedabad. Nearly, 1,000 police personnel are being tested every day. About 100 personnel have tested positive for the virus so far," Mr Chaudhary said, adding that this is the second drive to test the police personnel in the city.
Ahmedabad district's COVID caseload stood at 51,392 on December 4, while the number of deaths went up to 2,100, the health department said.
At a meeting at his official residence, he directed officials to increase the cold storage capacity to 2.3 lakh litres by December 15, according to an official statement.
He also said that cold chain facilities would be arranged at each districts and divisions.
"All security arrangements should be made to ensure its availability. The safety of the vaccine storage spots should be ensured in the same manner as that of the electronic voting machines," the chief minister said.
No new #COVID19 cases reported in Mizoram over the last 24 hours, while 16 patients recovered in the state. Total cases stand at 3,913, out of which 201 are active patients. 3,706 people have been discharged so far. No death reported in the state till date: Government of Mizoram pic.twitter.com/lpO9rjhLa7
- ANI (@ANI) December 5, 2020
When the virus outbreak began, this rate was 35 to 36 per cent, he said.
"COVID test positivity for the last ten days looks promising but we should not be complacent and should not lower our guard," the commissioner warned.
On December 4, as many as 16,394 tests were conducted in the city, of which 825 or 5.03 per cent came out positive, he said.
The test positivity rate was 6.69 per cent on November 25, the commissioner noted.
According to the Delhi airport, it has two cargo terminals with world-class infrastructure that provides a GDP (Good Distribution Practice)-certified temperature-controlled facility for handling temperature-sensitive cargo. The airport facility has state-of-the-art temperature-controlled zones with separate cool chambers too.
Meanwhile, GMR Hyderabad Air Cargo (GHAC), located at the centre of one of the vaccine production regions in the country, is also a key stakeholder in the global vaccine logistics with facilities such as modern temperature-sensitive pharma and vaccine storage and processing zones.
Covaxin, India's first indigienous vaccine for the highly infectious coronavirus, has been designed to be effective if a person takes two doses, Hyderabad-based pharmaceutical firm Bharat Biotech clarified in a statement today, stressing that the "efficacy can be determined 14 days after the second dose"." itemprop="description
The roll-out of vaccines to fight the Covid-19 pandemic will not by itself eliminate the deadly coronavirus, the World Health Organization said on Friday." itemprop="description
Haryana Health Minister Anil Vij, who had participated in the trial of Covid vaccine recently, has tested positive for coronavirus, he tweeted this morning. Read here
I have been tested Corona positive. I am admitted in Civil Hospital Ambala Cantt. All those who have come in close contact to me are advised to get themselves tested for corona.
- ANIL VIJ MINISTER HARYANA (@anilvijminister) December 5, 2020
Bahrain announced on Friday that it had approved the emergency use of the Pfizer-BioNTech coronavirus vaccine, becoming the second country after Britain to green-light the drug." itemprop="description
36,652 fresh COVID-19 cases in India, marginally higher than yesterday; 96.08 lakh total cases, 1,39,700 deaths" itemprop="description
With over 18 lakh cases, Maharashtra has logged the highest number of Covid infections so far, followed by Karnataka (over 8.8 lakh cases), Andhra Pradesh (8.7 lakh cases), Tamil Nadu (over 7.8 lakh cases) and Kerala (6.2 lakh cases).
India is the largest buyer of COVID-19 vaccines in the world with 1.6 billion doses, according to a global analysis, a number some scientists say could cover 800 million people, or 60 per cent of its population, and will be enough to develop "herd immunity"." itemprop="description
The World Health Organization chief said Friday that he, like several former US presidents, would be happy to have a coronavirus vaccine to help promote public confidence." itemprop="description
The United States on Friday saw a new record in rise in Covid cases in a single-day with over 225,000 new infections in an hour, news agency AFP reported, quoting the Johns Hopkins University. The US is the country with the most number of Covid cases in the world (1.41 crore), followed by India (95.71 lakh).
COVID-19 vaccine will be first given to about one crore health workers from both the public and private sectors, and then to about two crore front-line workers, the Union Health Ministry said in its presentation at the all-party meet today, sources said." itemprop="description
The Delhi High Court on Fridayt asked the AAP government to re-look its decision prohibiting the operation of spas in the national capital.
The query was posed to the Delhi government by Justice Navin Chawla who said prima facie there is a merit in the submission of the spa owners that if salons are allowed to operate, then they too should be permitted to function.
#IndiaFightsCorona#Unite2FightCorona
- Ministry of Health (@MoHFW_INDIA) December 5, 2020
Demonstrating a landmark achievement, India's Active Cases have fallen below 4.2L.
The Recovered Cases have leaped past 90 L. pic.twitter.com/W8fy1dAlM4
Researchers of Jamia Millia Islamia's (JMI's) Department of Mechanical Engineering have developed a solar-powered disinfection system to prevent the spread of COVID-19 or similar diseases in large gathering, public and remote places. This disinfectant can be self-generated using solar energy and tap water.
"The disinfection system is mainly intended for remote or public places such as, banks, malls, hospitals, marriage halls, party halls, airports, universities, schools, temples, colleges and etc, where the transportation of chemicals and electricity availability for disinfection is scarce, thereby self-generating the mixture with available tap water using the solar energy," a JMI statement read. Read