The first consignment of Covishield vaccines reached Delhi from Pune today, four days ahead of the launch of a nationwide drive against the coronavirus.
A SpiceJet flight carrying the vaccines landed at the Delhi airport around 10 am. It had left for the national capital around 8 am, three hours after three trucks with the maiden consignment of the vaccines rolled out of the Serum Institute of India (SII) facility, 15 km from the Pune airport.
Civil Aviation Minister Hardeep Singh Puri said four airlines will operate nine flights to transport 56.5 lakh doses of COVID-19 vaccine from Pune to 13 cities across the country on Tuesday. Vaccine movement has started, he said on Twitter, adding that first two flights operated by "SpiceJet and GoAir from Pune to Delhi and Chennai have taken off".
Here are the Highlights on Coronavirus (COVID-19) Cases:
All air passengers bound for the United States will require a negative Covid-19 test within three days of their departure, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said Tuesday.
The Chinese-developed Coronavac Covid-19 vaccine has demonstrated a 50 percent efficacy following tests in Brazil, the organization in charge of its production in the South American country said on Tuesday.
The Dutch government said it would extend lockdown measures, including the closure of schools and shops, by at least three weeks to help slow the spread of the coronavirus. Prime Minister Mark Rutte told a live news conference that social curbs must remain in place until at least February 9, adding: "This decision does not come as a surprise, but it is an incredible disappointment."
Jharkhand reported 127 new COVID-19 cases and 153 recoveries on Tuesday, as per State Health Department
- ANI (@ANI) January 12, 2021
Total cases: 1,17,088
Total recoveries: 1,14,684
Active cases: 1,356
Death toll: 1,048 pic.twitter.com/DhylBrjh0I
"After their arrival (on December 13), the family entered the required quarantine and got tested five days later. Those tests were negative," a spokesman for the social affairs ministry in the southwestern German state of Baden-Wuerttemberg said in a statement.
"The following week, the first members of the family developed mild symptoms of illness."
In the meantime, six coronavirus cases have been recorded from three households, AFP reported.
The European Union started the approval process for its third vaccine on Tuesday as WHO scientists warned that herd immunity from coronavirus was unlikely this year even with mass inoculation schemes, AFP reported.
"The federal structure is going way too slow in terms of getting vaccine to us," de Blasio said, echoing similar criticisms leveled by President-elect Joe Biden.
After a slow start in administering vaccinations, the most populous city in the United States has accelerated in recent days, AFP reported.
The 72-year-old, who is in the middle of an election campaign seeking a second term, cancelled public appearances on Tuesday and was self-isolating after Monday's test result.
He will await instruction from health authorities, Reuters reported.
Trudeau told reporters that Ottawa now had agreements with Pfizer, which developed its vaccine with German partner BioNTech, and Moderna Inc for a total of 80 million doses of their COVID-19 vaccines to be delivered this year.
Shetkari Sanghatana chief Anil Ghanwat, a member of the committee appointed by the Supreme Court to hold talks with agitating farmers, said on Tuesday that the new farm laws partially implement what his outfit has been demanding for decades.
His attempt will be to improve them, he said, while coming out in support of reforms including permission for contract farming, PTI reported.
People infected with COVID-19 experience a wide range of symptoms and severities, the most commonly reported including high fevers and respiratory problems, suggest the findings of a new review, ANI reported.
However, autopsy and other studies have also revealed that the infection can affect the liver, kidney, heart, spleen--and even the gastrointestinal tract. A sizeable fraction of patients hospitalised with breathing problems also have diarrhoea, nausea and vomiting, suggesting that when the virus does get involved in the GI tract it increases the severity of the disease.
The first flight carrying the vaccine is expected to reach Kochi's Nedumbassery airport at 2 pm on Wednesday and by 6 pm, another set will reach the Thiruvananthapuram airport, PTI reported.
Till Monday, bird flu outbreak was confirmed in 10 states -- Delhi, Maharashtra, Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh, Kerala, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh, Haryana and Gujarat, PTI reported.
The Centre said 54.72 lakh COVID-19 vaccine doses have been received at designated national and state-level stores till Tuesday afternoon, and all the shots -- 1.1 crore from the Serum Institute of India and 55 lakh from Bharat Biotech -- will be received by January 14, PTI reported.
A massive pan-India inoculation drive against COVID-19 was set in process with Covishield vaccine leaving Pune for 13 cities across India early in the morning, four days before vaccination is scheduled to begin on January 16.
A team from Precisa Medicamentos visited the Bharat Biotech facility last week to discuss potential export possibilities of the vaccine, the indigenous antidote for the killer virus, the company said in a release.
Britain has reported record levels of deaths and new infections in the last few weeks, fuelled by a new variant of the coronavirus which has caused a surge in cases, especially in London and southeast England.
The Swiss drug regulator Swissmedic's decision comes days after the European Medicines Agency (EMA) gave the green light to Moderna's vaccine. The messenger RNA vaccine, relying on similar technology as that used by Pfizer-BioNTech, is a two-dose shot that in trials showed 95% efficacy.
Spain received on Tuesday the first shipment of the vaccine against COVID-19 developed by the US pharmaceutical company Moderna, ANI reported.
According to reports citing the Spanish government, a truck delivered the vaccine from Belgium to a warehouse belonging to the Spanish Health Ministry early on Tuesday. The vaccine will soon be distributed across the autonomous communities of the country.
Walt Disney Co's Disneyland, which has remained closed since March, will become the first large site to provide COVID-19 vaccinations in Orange County, California, government officials announced late on Monday.
Disneyland will be the first Super Point-of-Dispensing (POD) sites in the county and become operational later this week, Reuters reported.
Asserting that the central government has been proactive and pre-emptive in addressing the needs of COVID-19 vaccination in the country, the Union Health Ministry said 54,72,000 COVID-19 vaccine doses have been received till date at the vaccination stores across the country, ANI reported.
The official data showed that 14,363 samples were tested in the last 24 hours across Bangladesh, ANI reported.
"The first consignment of COVID vaccines from Serum Institute has arrived at Hyderabad airport. The first consignment of Bharat Biotech will be going to 11 destinations outside the state by this evening," Mr Panicker said.
LIVE Now📡 Press Briefing on the action taken, preparedness & updates on #COVID19 at National Media Centre, New Delhi. https://t.co/Ad6cDZthIm
- #IndiaFightsCorona (@COVIDNewsByMIB) January 12, 2021
Bihar: The first consignment of Covishield vaccine by Serum Insitute of India (SII), brought to Nalanda Medical College in Patna, where it is being stored.
- ANI (@ANI) January 12, 2021
The first phase of #COVID19 vaccination will begin from 16th January. https://t.co/0HnSI1yOto pic.twitter.com/aYSP3AEVdN
Karnataka: The first consignment of 7.95 lakh vials of Covidshield vaccine from Serum Institute of India, Pune arrived in Bengaluru. Each dose of vaccine contains 0.5 ml and each vial contains 10 dosages of vaccines. pic.twitter.com/MtMYRos3RZ
- ANI (@ANI) January 12, 2021
Tamil Nadu: Chennai receives the first batch of COVID19 vaccine 'Covishield' pic.twitter.com/qJ8YtBlSNr
- ANI (@ANI) January 12, 2021
Gujarat: The first consignment of the #COVID19 vaccine arrives at Ahmedabad's Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel International Airport
- ANI (@ANI) January 12, 2021
Gujarat Deputy CM Nitin Patel present at the airport pic.twitter.com/3y3RP0SxdQ
Once it arrives at state vaccine centre, we'll be reinsuring that everything is in place. It'll be distributed further to 10 regional centres & 51 walk-in coolers at district level by today evening. Later, it will go to actual vaccination site in cold boxes: TN Health Secretary https://t.co/I4Nf31Fd9T
- ANI (@ANI) January 12, 2021
The first consignment of COVID19 vaccine 'Covishield' arrives at #Delhi's Indira Gandhi International Airport from #Pune pic.twitter.com/b5yTQfZUrZ
- ANI (@ANI) January 12, 2021
Today, Air India, SpiceJet and IndiGo Airlines will operate 9 flights from Pune with 56.5 lakh doses to Delhi, Chennai, Kolkata, Guwahati, Shillong, Ahmedabad, Hyderabad, Vijayawada, Bhubaneswar, Patna, Bengaluru, Lucknow & Chandigarh, says Union Civil Aviation Min Hardeep S Puri https://t.co/9QhSUWF1WC
- ANI (@ANI) January 12, 2021
At least two gorillas at California's San Diego Zoo have caught the coronavirus, the first known instance of natural transmission to great apes, officials said Monday.
Maharashtra: Three trucks carrying Covishield vaccine reach Pune International Airport from Serum Institute of India's facility in the city.
- ANI (@ANI) January 12, 2021
From the airport, the vaccine doses will be shipped to different locations in the country.
The vaccination will start on January 16. pic.twitter.com/xYZ1m8xR87