Omicron India Highlightss: DGCI grants emergency use approval to Sputnik Light vaccine

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DCGI granted emergency use permission to Single-dose Sputnik Light COVID-19 vaccine in India, says Union Health Minister Dr Mansukh Mandaviya. "This is 9th COVID19 vaccine in the country. This will further strengthen the nation's collective fight against pandemic," he tweets

Gujarat's COVID-19 tally crossed the 12 lakh-mark on Sunday after 3,897 new cases took the number of infections to 12,00,241, a state health department official said. It was also the first time since January 5 that the daily addition of cases had fallen below the 4000-mark, he pointed out.The death of 19 patients, which was the lowest in nearly two weeks, put the toll at 10,667, he said. So far, 11,44,956 people have been discharged post recovery, including 10,273 during the day, leaving the state with an active tally of 44,618, which includes 225 patients on ventilator support.

Kerala saw a drop in daily coronavirus cases with 26,729 fresh infections being reported on Sunday, taking the total number of those affected by the disease to 62.71 lakh. The COVID toll mounted to 58,255 with 22 additional deaths.The state had recorded 33,538 cases yesterday and 38,684 on Friday. "Currently, there are 3,29,348 active COVID-19 cases in the state out of which only three per cent are admitted to hospitals," the health department said in a release, adding that the state has tested 88,098 samples in the last 24 hours.

Mumbai on Sunday reported 536 COVID-19 cases, which took the tally in the metropolis to 10,51,373, while three deaths put the toll at 16,661, a civic official said. The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation, in a statement, informed that 82 per cent of the cases detected during the day were asymptomatic.The civic body's data showed that the number of tests carried out here had reached 1,55,49,418 after 38,082 samples were examined during the day. The discharge of 1,153 people on Sunday took the recovery count to 10,26,144, which is 98 per cent of the caseload, it added.

Mizoram's COVID-19 tally rose to 1,85,227 on Sunday as 1,754 more people, including a minister, tested positive for the infection, while two fresh fatalities pushed the northeastern state's coronavirus death toll to 623, a health official said. Mizoram had reported 1,777 cases and three fatalities on Saturday.State Agriculture Minister C Lalrinsanga tested positive for the infection. He has developed mild symptoms of COVID-19, and is currently under home isolation, the official said. Aizawl district continued to register the highest number of new cases at 1,013, followed by Lunglei (126) and Mamit (132), he said, adding that the fatalities were recorded in Aizawl and Lunglei.

Maharashtra on Sunday reported 9,666 new coronavirus positive cases, taking the state's infection tally to 78,03,700, while the death of 66 persons took the toll to 1,43,074, the health department said. A total of 25,175 patients were discharged during the day, which raised the recovery count to 75,38,611, it said.There are 1,18,076 active cases in the state now. With 1,44,755 tests conducted during the day, the overall test count rose to 7,55,54,798.No new case of the Omicron variant of the virus was detected in the state on Sunday.

With the COVID-19 surge showing a significant drop in Bihar, the Nitish Kumar government on Sunday decided to reopen schools, lift night curfew and relax many other restrictions which have been in place for a month. The decision was taken at a meeting of the crisis management group which was chaired by the chief minister.Later, Kumar announced on social media that from Monday onwards, schools will be allowed to hold physical classes with 50 per cent attendance for up to class 8. For classes 9 upwards, there will be no restrictions. According to Chaitanya Prasad, Additional Chief Secretary, Home, night curfews, in force since January 6 whereby people were asked to stay indoors from 10 PM to 5 AM, was also being done away with.

West Bengal on Saturday reported 1,345 new COVID-19 cases, 218 less than the previous day, which pushed the tally to 20,05,037, the health department said in its bulletin. Thirty-one more deaths were recorded, raising the toll to 20,789, the bulletin stated.North 24 Parganas logged 223 fresh cases, followed by Kolkata at 159. Eight fatalities were recorded in Kolkata and five in Darjeeling district.

Tamil Nadu has inoculated 90.78 percent of people above the age of 18 with the first dose of vaccine against COVID-19 by administering the vaccine to 1,86,785 people. At the 21st mega vaccination camp held in Chennai on Saturday, the State Minister for Medical and Family Welfare Ma Subramanian said as much as 70.02 per cent received the second dose with 5,77,397 people getting the jab. He inspected the vaccination at the Government Omandurar Medical College and Hospital in the city. During the camp, precautionary booster dose was administered to 27,707 people totalling 7,91,889 beneficiaries who included those who received the first and second dose, said a press release.

With new coronavirus cases declining, the Gujarat government on Saturday announced the reopening of schools for classes 1 to 9 from February 7. A circular issued by the education department said that considering the COVID-19 situation, government, private and grant-in-aid schools can resume offline education for classes 1 to 9 from Monday.

A sharp drop in COVID-19 cases on Feb. 5 among Beijing Olympics-related personnel was due to fewer arrivals at the airport and organisers said on Sunday that they did not expect any more large fluctuations in infection numbers.

China detected 10 new COVID cases among Olympic Games-related personnel on Feb. 5, the organising committee of the Games said. That was down from Feb. 4's 45 cases - the second highest daily tally since arrivals commenced last month.

Among the latest cases, four were new airport arrivals, including two athletes or team officials. The remaining six were already in the "closed loop", a bubble keeping Games personnel away from the local population during the Feb. 4-20 Olympics.

Jharkhand's COVID-19 tally rose to 4,31,252 on Sunday as 449 more people tested positive for the infection, while two fresh fatalities pushed the state's coronavirus death toll to 5,310, a health bulletin said. East Singhbhum district, under which industrial city Jamshedpur falls, registered the highest number of new cases at 187, followed by 90 in state capital Ranchi. The fresh fatalities were recorded in Seraikela-Kharsawan and Hazaribag districts.

The state now has 2,787 active cases, while 4,23,155 people have recovered from the disease so far, including 715 in the last 24 hours. The administration has tested 56,625 samples for COVID-19 in the last 24 hours, it added.