Coronavirus News Highlights: Cases of`Kappa' variant found in Gujarat

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Active cases: 14,379
Total discharges: 5,36,597
Death toll: 5,114

For the first time, five cases of `Kappa'' variant of coronavirus have been detected in Gujarat, the state health department said on Saturday. Three cases were found in Jamnagar, two in Godhra in Pahchmahal district and one in Mehsana, it said in a release. In May, the World Health Organization had named the new variant, a `double mutant'', as "Kappa", after a letter of the Greek alphabet. Genome sequencing of samples of these patients, who had tested positive for COVID-19 between March and June this year, revealed that they were infected by the new variant, the department said. Kappa is a "variant of interest" but not a "variant of concern" as per the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), the release said. The department also traced those who came in contact with these patients. "So far, none of their contacts have been found to have COVID-19 symptoms. The health department has also undertaken intense surveillance in the areas from where the cases emerged," it said. Gujarat has so far reported 8,24,683 COVID-19 cases of which 8,14,265 patients recovered. There are 342 active cases in the state at present.

Chhattisgarh on Saturday reported 156 COVID-19 cases and three deaths, taking the tally to 10,01,037 and the toll to 13,511, an official said. He said the recovery count touched 9,84,737 after 129 people were discharged from hospitals and 281 completed home isolation, leaving the state with 2,789 active cases. "Raipur district recorded 15 new cases, taking its caseload to 1,57,608, including 3,136 deaths. Sukma district recorded 18 new cases, Bastar 13 and Bijapur 11 among others. With 33,626 samples being examined on Saturday, the number of tests in the state went up to 1,11,22,114," he said. He said over 1.16 crore COVID-19 vaccine doses have been administered in the state till Friday, with 94.35 lakh people getting the first shot and 21.72 lakh getting the second one as well. Chhattisgarh's coronavirus figures are as follows: Positive cases 10,01,037, new cases 156, Deaths 13,511, Recovered 9,84,737, Active cases 2,789, Tests today 33,626, Total tests 1,11,22,114.

Tamil Nadu on Saturday recorded 1,819 new COVID-19 cases, taking the tally to 25,46,689, while 27 fatalities took the toll to 33,889. Recoveries continued to outnumber new infections with 2,583 people getting discharged, aggregating to 24,88,775 till date, leaving 24,025 active cases. Among those infected were two people who returned from Andhra Pradesh and one from West Bengal, a health department bulletin said.

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Karnataka reported 1,857 new COVID-19 cases, taking the tally to 28,93,556 while 29 deaths pushed the toll to 36,352. The day also saw 2,050 discharges, continuing to outnumber the fresh cases, taking the total number of recoveries in the state so far to 28,33,276. Out of 1,857 new cases reported on Saturday, 551 were from Bengaluru Urban, as the city saw 560 discharges and only nine deaths. The total number of active cases stood at 23,905.

Maharashtra reported 6,269 fresh coronavirus positive cases and 224 fatalities, taking the tally to 62,58,079 and the toll to 1,31,429, a health department official said. A total of 7,332 patients were discharged from hospitals in the last 24 hours, pushing the number of recoveries in Maharashtra to 60,29,817, leaving the state with 93,479 active cases. Maharashtra's COVID-19 recovery rate now stands at 96.35 per cent whereas the fatality rate is 2.1 per cent, the official said. . Mumbai saw 410 new cases and 9 deaths due to COVID-19, taking the tally to 7,33,754 and the toll to 15,827, the official said. A total of 1,100 new COVID-19 cases and 86 fatalities were reported in the wider Mumbai region comprising the city and satellite towns, taking the overall count of infections to 16,33,449 and the number of fatalities to 34,051.

Police and civic officials in Vasai-Virar in Palghar district on Saturday sealed several eateries on Mumbai-Ahmedabad highway for COVID-19 norm violations. Deputy Commissioner of Police Sanjay Kumar Patil said some stalls and hotels were sealed and others were fined.

Gujarat on Saturday reported 39 COVID-19 cases and 42 recoveries, taking the tally to 8,24,683 and the number of people discharged to 8,14,265, an official said. No death was reported from the infection during the day, which kept the toll unchanged at 10,076, leaving the state with an active caseload of 342, or 98.74 per cent of the overall tally, he informed. Ahmedabad led with 10 cases, followed by nine in Surat and six in Vadodara, among other districts, he said. An official release said 2,96,092 people were vaccinated on Saturday, taking the overall number of COVID-19 vaccine doses administered in the state so far to 3,13,07,617. Neighbouring Dadra and Nagar Haveli, Daman and Diu witnessed seven new cases and two people getting discharged, taking the tally to 10,609 and recovery count to 10,560, leaving the Union Territory with 45 patients under treatment. Gujarat''s COVID-19 figures are as follows: Positive cases 8,24,683, new cases 39, death toll 10,076, discharged 8,14,265, active cases 342, people tested so far - figures not released.

India administered nearly 46 lakh (45,74,298) vaccine doses today, taking cumulative vaccination coverage to 43 crore (43,26,05,567), as per the 7 pm provisional report today: Union Health Ministry

Telangana on Saturday recorded 647 new COVID-19 cases, pushing the tally to 6,40,659, while the toll rose to 3,780 with two more fatalities. The Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) accounted for most number of cases with 81, followed by Karimnagar (76) and Khammam (58) districts, a state government bulletin said, providing details as of 5.30 PM today. It said 749 people recuperated from the disease, taking the total number of recoveries till date to 6,27,254. The number of active cases stood at 9,625. It said 1,20,213 samples were tested on Saturday, taking the cumulative number of specimens examined so far to 2,12,24,462. The samples tested per million population was 5,70,243. The case fatality rate in the state was 0.59 per cent, while it was 1.3 per cent at the national level. The recovery rate in Telangana was 97.90 per cent, while it was 97.32 per cent in the country, it said.