Coronavirus News LIVE Highlights | Tamil Nadu adds 508 new COVID-19 infections, 6 more fatalities push toll to 12,356

Coronavirus News LIVE Updates | Tamil Nadu adds 508 new COVID-19 infections, 6 more fatalities push toll to 12,356

Tamil Nadu added 508 new COVID-19 cases aggregating to 838,340 in the state, while six more fatalities pushed the toll to 12,356, as per health department bulletin. Recoveries eclipsed new infections with 523 people recovering taking the total number of those cured in the state so far to 821,430 a bulletin.

The number of active cases stood at 4,554. Chennai's caseload increased to 231,286, the maximum among the districts, with 141 people testing positive. The metropolis also accounted for a little over one-third of the COVID-19 fatalities at 4,102.

Coronavirus News LIVE Updates | Maharashtra logs 2,585 fresh COVID-19 cases, 40 deaths

Maharashtra reported 2,585 fresh coronavirus cases, taking the count of infections to 20,26,399 while 40 more deaths pushed the toll to 51,082 in the state, the Health Department said. With 1,670 patients being discharged during the day, the total number of recoveries in Maharashtra went up to 19,29,005.

The number of samples tested so far for coronavirus in Maharashtra has gone up to 1,46,17,168 with 58,008 new tests. Maharashtra's case recovery rate now stands at 95.15 per cent, while the fatality rate is 2.52 percent, the department said. The state now has 45,071 active cases.

Coronavirus News LIVE Updates | Uttar Pradesh logs 226 new COVID-19 cases; tally touches 600,299 

The COVID-19 death toll in Uttar Pradesh jumped to 8,658 on January 31 with eight more fatalities, while 226 new cases pushed the infection tally to 600,299, an official statement issued here said. Of the eight COVID-19 deaths, two were reported from Lucknow, while one each was reported from Varanasi, Meerut, Aligarh, Muzaffarnagar, Pilibhit and Balrampur, the bulletin said.

In the past 24 hours, over 1.19 lakh samples have been tested, while so far over 2.78 crore tests have been conducted in the state, the statement said.

Coronavirus News LIVE Updates | Delhi records 140 fresh COVID-19 cases, death toll reaches 10,853

Delhi reported 140 fresh cases of COVID-19 on January 31 as the Capital's positivity rate dropped to 0.23 percent, authorities said. The state health department said these cases came out of 60,695 tests conducted the yesterday for detection of COVID-19.  

The death toll mounted to 10,853 after four more people succumbing to the disease. The tally of active cases in Delhi has dropped to 1,361 from 1,436 on Saturday.

Coronavirus News LIVE Updates | Scientists decode how COVID damages lung cells within hours

After months of interdisciplinary research assessing tens of thousands of lung cells infected with the novel coronavirus, scientists have created one of the most comprehensive maps to date of the molecular activities that are triggered inside these cells at the onset of the viral infection, an advance that may lead to the development of new drugs to combat COVID-19.

From their analysis, the scientists, including those from Boston University in the US, discovered close to 18 existing drugs approved by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) that could potentially be repurposed to combat COVID-19 soon after a person becomes infected.

 Coronavirus News LIVE Updates | Total active cases in India drop to 1.68 lakh

India is at the fifth position globally in terms of the number of COVID-19 vaccine doses administered within the country, while the total active cases have dropped to1.68 lakh comprisingjust1.57 per cent of the total cases, the Union Health Ministry said on Sunday. As of January 29, the country ranked fifth worldwide in term of vaccine doses administered, the ministry said.

Elaborating on the active cases, the ministry said that 31 states and UTs have less than 5000 active cases. Andaman and Nicobar Islands reported 4 active cases followed by Daman and Diu and Dadra and Nagar Haveli with 6 active cases. It said 79.69 percent of the total COVID-19 active cases are constituted in 5 states and UTs. "Two states alone, Kerala and Maharashtra cumulatively account for a bulk (69.41 per cent) of India's total active cases," the ministry underlined.

Coronavirus News LIVE Updates | Puducherry logs 21 new COVID-19 cases, 1 death takes toll to 648

Puducherry reported 21 new coronavirus cases while a 78-year old patient succumbed to the infection pushing the toll to 648, a top Health department official said on Sunday. The 21 fresh cases were identified at the end of the examination of 2,352 samples, Director of Health and Family Welfare services S Mohan said in a release. The overall tally of COVID-19 in the union territory rose to 39,068, he added.

Of the new infections, the Puducherryregion reported 17, followed by Mahe (3) and Karaikal (1) while Yanam did not report any fresh case, the Health department Director said. Mohan Kumar said 41 patients had been discharged during the last 24 hours. (IANS)

 Pakistan secures 17mn doses of AstraZeneca Covid vaccine

Pakistan has secured 17 million doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine against the novel coronavirus, out of which 35-40 per cent or 6 to 6.8 million doses will be available within the first quarter of the current year, the media reported on Sunday. The AstraZeneca vaccines are in addition to the 500,000 doses of the Sinopharm jab from China that Pakistan has already procured, The Express Tribune reported.

"Happy to share that in addition to the 500,000 doses of Sinopharm, almost 7 million does (doses) of AstraZeneca to be made available in Q1 and given to the public free of cost," Special Assistant to Prime Minister on Health Dr Faisal Sultan said in a tweet on Saturday night. (IANS)

Coronavirus News LIVE Updates | France logs 24,392 new Covid-19 cases in a day

Amid an ongoing resurgence, France registered 24,392 new coronavirus cases in the past 24 hours, which took the overall infection tally to 3,236,685, the sixth highest in the world, according to health authorities. Meanwhile, the country also reported 242 new fatalities due to the disease in the same period, increasing the total death toll to 76,006, currently the seventh highest globally, reports Xinhua news agency.

As of Saturday, 27,282 patients remained hospitalised, out of which 3,113 were in intensive care units. Prime Minister Jean Castex on Friday ruled out a new lockdown, but announced a series of tougher restrictions.