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Coronavirus News Highlights: Today is the 366th day since India implemented a nationwide lockdown to help curb the novel coronavirus pandemic. So far, India has recorded 1,17,87,534 confirmed COVID-19 cases, including 1,60,692 deaths. A total of 1,12,31,650 people have recuperated from COVID-19 so far. There are 3,95,192 active cases in the country as of date, which comprises 3.35 percent of the total caseload, the data stated. India's recovery rate continues to rise and now stands at 95.28 percent. Globally, more than 12.46 crore people have been infected by the coronavirus and 27.42 lakh have died so far. India has begun the second phase of the vaccination drive in which everyone above 60 years of age and those over 45 years with comorbidities will be able to get the COVID-19 vaccine. India's regulator has granted restricted emergency use approval for two vaccines -- Covishield and Covaxin. The cumulative number of COVID-19 vaccine doses administered in India has crossed 5.08 crore, according to the Union Health Ministry.
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The number of COVID-19 cases in Chhattisgarh increased by 2,419 on Thursday, the highest single-day addition in the past four months, taking the state''s tally to 3,32,113, an official said.
The death toll rose by 15 to touch 4,026 and the recovery count stood at 3,14,769 as 37 people were discharged from hospitals and 557 people completed home isolation, he said.
The active caseload in the state is 13,318, he said.
The number of COVID-19 cases in Pune district increased by 6,432 in the last 24 hours to touch 4,92,694, while the day also saw 42 deaths and 1,200 people getting discharged, an official said on Thursday.
Of the new cases, Pune city accounted for 3,286, Pimpri Chinchwad 1,811 and the rest were in rural and cantonment areas, he added.
Pune city now has a caseload of 2,47,629, while it is 1,28,747 in Pimpri Chinchwad and 1,16,318 in rural and cantonment areas, the official said.
At least 138 countries have started to vaccinate their people against COVID-19, with Chile currently moving at the fastest pace per capita among countries with populations of at least 1 million people.
The South American country has administered a daily average of 1,299 doses per 100,000 people in the past seven days, according to a Reuters analysis of vaccination data collected by the University of Oxford's Our World in Data.
Covid-19 claimed four more lives raising the death toll due to infection in Uttar Pradesh on Wednesday to 8,773.
The state also reported 836 new cases of coronavirus infection, raising the caseload to 6,10,273, a state government medical bulletin said.
Of the four deaths, one each was witnessed by the state capital Lucknow, Kanpur, Allahabad and Sultanpur, it said.
Of the 836 new cases, Lucknow reported 237.
Government-run and privately managed colleges in Puducherry have been directed to hold classes only online from Friday following the rise in number of coronavirus cases in the Union Territory.
The classes would be held six days a week (Monday to Saturday).
A release from the office of Lt Governor on Thursday said Lt Governor Tamilisai Soundararajan had approved of the Universities' proposal to hold classes only online.
Gujarat reported 1,961 new coronavirus cases on Thursday, its highest singe-day rise since the pandemic began last year which took the tally to 2,94,130, the health department said here.
Since March 22, the state is witnessing record rise in cases every day. On Wednesday the state had recorded 1,790 new cases, the highest one-day rise till then.
As many as seven patients died on Thursday -- four in Surat, two in Mahisagar and one in Ahmedabad -- taking the COVID-19 death toll to 4,473, the department said.
With 1,405 patients getting discharged, the number of recovered cases increased to 2,80,285. Recovery rate in the state stands at 95.29 per cent.
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India has not banned COVID-19 vaccine exports, will keep supplying in phased manner : government source
India has not imposed a ban on coronavirus vaccine exports and New Delhi will continue to supply vaccines in a phased manner, a government source told Reuters on Thursday.
“We had stated that keeping in view the domestic requirements of the phased roll out, India will continue to supply COVID-19 vaccines to partner countries over the coming weeks and months in a phased manner,” the source said.
“This position remains unchanged. We have not imposed any ban on exports of vaccines, unlike many other countries,” said the source.
With the detection of 189 new COVID-19 cases, Goa''s caseload of infections rose to 57,170 on Thursday, an official from the state health department said.
One person died of the infection, while 66 patients were discharged from various treatment facilities during the day, the official said.
The toll now stands at 822 and the count of recoveries has reached 55,070, he said, adding that the state is now left with 1,278 active cases, the official said.
The Mumbai civic body on Thursday said it had completed administering 10 lakh doses of the COVID-19 vaccine and the aim now was to increase the target to one lakh per day.
A Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation official also said the civic body had conducted 40,400 COVID-19 tests on Tuesday, and the number of reports that returned positive was 5,458, a positivity rate of 13.5 per cent, of which 83 per cent were asymptomatic cases.
The number of deaths from the infection on Tuesday stood at 10, he added.
On Wednesday, 47,000 tests were conducted, and 5,365, or 12 per cent, people were detected with the infection, of which 84 per cent were asymptomatic, he said, adding that the number of deaths was six.
The White House announced Thursday that it is dedicating another $10 billion to try to drive up vaccination rates in low-income, minority and rural enclaves throughout the country.
The effort, which is funded through the $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief package passed earlier this month, will include $6 billion in funding for community health centers to expand Covid-19 vaccinations, testing and other preventive health care for populations at higher risk for the virus.
Poland recorded a record high number of new daily coronavirus infections for the second day in a row on Thursday as the prime minister prepares to give details of harsher restrictions for the Easter period.
The Health Ministry said it recorded more than 34,000 new cases — thousands more than the nearly 30,000 that set a record on Wednesday. There were also 520 new deaths.
Elsewhere in the region, Hungary, with the world''s highest death rate per capital in recent days, set a new record for daily deaths on Thursday with 252.
That brings the deaths to nearly 19,000 in the country of fewer than 10 million.
Gujarat Chief Minister Vijay Rupani on Thursday said although the coronavirus cases were on the rise in the state, the death rate in the fresh wave of infections is low.
Speaking to reporters, Rupani said the state government is working to bring the cases under control, but the numbers are expected to rise for another one week.
'The rate of infections is high in the entire country, including the state. However, there is no need to panic.
Although the rate of infection is high, the number of deaths is less (in this wave),' the chief minister said.
