India reported 30,093 new Covid cases in the past 24 hours. This is the lowest in 125 days. Overall, the country had recorded around 3.12 crore infections and over four lakh deaths since the outbreak in January last year.
Up to 45,254 patients have recovered during the past 24 hours, bringing down India's active caseload to 4,06,130, the lowest in 117 days. The number of deaths reported in the past 24 hours is 374, the lowest since March 31.
The number of recoveries now stands at 3,03,53,710 across the country. The overall recovery rate for Covid in India has now increased to 97.37 per cent.
Meanwhile, China on Tuesday reported the highest daily tally of new confirmed COVID-19 cases since January, driven by a surge in imported infections in Yunnan province, where cases are spilling over from an "alarming spike" in neighbouring Myanmar.
Mainland China recorded 65 new confirmed cases for July 19, compared with 31 a day earlier, the National Health Commission said in a statement. That was the most since Jan. 30, when 92 new cases were reported, Reuters reported.
Here are the Live Updates on Coronavirus:
Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya today said several Indian companies are increasing production of COVID-19 vaccines and that the country may become the first in the world to develop a DNA-based vaccine.
Replying to a short duration discussion on COVID-19 management in Rajya Sabha, the minister said technology transfer to several companies has started and they will begin production in the coming days to reduce vaccine shortage in the country.
The projected 18-plus population in the country is 94 crore and therefore, the total requirement of COVID-19 vaccine doses for the beneficiaries in this age group is 188 crore, but the number may reduce if in the future, single-dose vaccines are approved and used, the government told Parliament on Tuesday.
In a written reply to a question in the Rajya Sabha on whether the present Covid vaccine manufacturing firms have the capacity to produce the required quantity, Minister of State for Health Bharati Pravin Pawar said it is estimated that around 1.87 billion (187 crore) doses will be available between January and December 2021.
Delhi today reported 44 new cases of COVID-19, taking the number of total active cases to 569 in the city. The national capital also reported five deaths, taking the total number of fatalities to 25,035.
The recovery rate and the death rate stood at 98.21 per cent and 1.73 per cent, respectively, while the positivity rate has come down to 0.07 per cent.
Thirty-seven patients recovered in the past 24 hours, taking the number of total discharged patients in the city to 14,10,005.
Researchers have found no evidence for the presence of Pfizer or Moderna COVID-19 vaccines in human breast milk in a small study, suggesting that the mRNA preventives are safe during lactation.
The study, published in the journal JAMA Pediatrics, offers the first direct data of vaccine safety during breastfeeding and could allay concerns among those who have declined vaccination or discontinued breastfeeding due to concern that vaccination might alter human milk.
The researchers at University of California, San Francisco (USCF) in the US analysed the breast milk of seven women after they received the Pfizer and Moderna mRNA vaccines, and found no trace of the preventives.
More than half of Australia's 25 million people were under lockdown on Tuesday after a third state adopted movement curbs to rein in the highly contagious Delta variant of coronavirus.
Australia's infections and deaths are well below other developed nations, but its use of lockdowns, prompted by a sluggish vaccination campaign, is putting pressure on the national government, with polls at their lowest in a year and just months before elections are due to be held.
Four COVID-19 vaccine candidates are at different stages of human trials while one, developed by Genique Life Sciences, is in the advanced pre-clinical stage, Union Science and Technology Minister Jitendra Singh said on Tuesday.
In a written response to a question in the Rajya Sabha, Mr Singh said Cadila Healthcare Ltd's DNA-based vaccine candidate is in phase three clinical trial. It has also submitted the interim data for emergency use authorisation.
Biological E Ltd's vaccine candidate is also in phase three clinical trial.
Roughly two-thirds of all Indians above the age of six have, at some point, been infected with the SARS-CoV2 virus - which causes the COVID-19 disease - the government said this evening, as it announced the results of the fourth national serosurvey.
This means around 40 crore people are still at risk of infection, the government added, as it warned against laxity in following Covid-appropriate behaviour and urged them to get vaccinated.
Canada on Monday announced that it is extending the ban on incoming passenger flights from India for another month due to the Delta variant of COVID-19, reported ANI.
The ban, which was imposed on April 22 when India was witnessing a surge in COVID-19 cases, was set to expire on July 21, but will now remain in place until August 21, Global News Ca reported.
It is for the fourth time that the ban has been extended.
The Uttarakhand government on Monday announced that fully vaccinated air travellers will be allowed to enter the state without a mandatory negative RT-PCR or Rapid Antigen test report.
Speaking to ANI, Uttarakhand Minister Subodh Uniyal said, "If passengers coming by air have got both the vaccine doses, then they will be allowed to come to the state without negative RT-PCR or Rapid Antigen test report."
This comes as part of the fresh relaxations allowed by the Uttarakhand government which on Monday extended the ongoing COVID curfew till July 27.
All passengers flying to West Bengal, on both commercial and non-commercial flights, will have to produce either a certificate that shows they are fully vaccinated or a COVID-19 negative (RT-PCR) test report, the state government wrote to the civil aviation ministry on Monday.
Passengers need to produce proof of their full vaccination or a COVID-19 negative test report at the time of boarding.
The RT-PCR test must be conducted within 72 hours of the departure of the flight.
Delhi reports 44 new #COVID19 cases, 37 recoveries and 5 deaths in the last 24 hours.
- ANI (@ANI) July 20, 2021
Total cases 14,35,609
Total recoveries 14,10,005
Death toll 25,035
Active cases 569 pic.twitter.com/2wdLgPaWJ7
#NDTVCoronavirusTracker pic.twitter.com/nnWELuLxBZ
- NDTV (@ndtv) July 20, 2021
The Union Health Ministry said Tuesday over 2.11 crore unutilised COVID-19 vaccines doses are still available with the States, UTs and private hospitals to be administered, according to news agency ANI. Over 42.15 crore vaccine doses have been provided to States, UTs so far, through all sources and a further 71,40,000 doses are in the transit, it further said. Of this, total consumption including wastage is 40.02 crore doses. Over 2.11 crore (2,11,93,241) balance and unutilised COVID vaccine doses are still available with the States, UTs, and private hospitals.
Twitter Inc on Monday said it temporarily suspended Republican U.S. Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene's account for tweets which violated the social media's misinformation policy on COVID-19.
Greene posted that the coronavirus is not dangerous for non-obese people under 65, and that organizations should not force "non-FDA" approved vaccines or masks. These tweets have been labeled as "misleading" by the platform. Read here.
A third Australian state announced lockdown rules on Tuesday to combat the COVID-19 Delta variant spread, with South Australia entering week-long restrictions, joining an extended lockdown in Victoria and a five-week shutdown in Sydney.
Australia's most populous state New South Wales (NSW), of which Sydney is the capital, is battling the worst COVID-19 outbreak of this year, with total cases exceeding 1,400 since the first case was reported more than a month ago in a limousine driver who transported overseas airline crew. Read here.
Mainland China recorded 65 new confirmed cases for July 19, compared with 31 a day earlier, the National Health Commission said in a statement. That was the most since Jan. 30, when 92 new cases were reported. Read Here.
Besides these new cases recorded on Monday, eight more people also died due to the viral infection, which raised the death count in the district to 10,920, PTI reported.
The inoculation target comes as the Southeast Asian nation's effort to contain an exponential rise in infections has been thrown into chaos by the turmoil since the military seized power from the elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi in February, Reuters reported.
United States has improved the travel advisory for India, lowering it from the highest Level 4, which means no travel, to Level 3, which urges citizens to reconsider travel. pic.twitter.com/Ys662ey6s5
- ANI (@ANI) July 20, 2021
The US State Department and the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) both issued on Monday their highest warnings against travel to the United Kingdom because of a rising number of COVID-19 cases in that country.