Coronavirus News Highlights: Swedish Crown Princess Victoria tests positive for COVID-19

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Sweden's Crown Princess Victoria, next in the line of succession to the Swedish throne, and husband Prince Daniel have tested positive for the novel coronavirus, the royal court said on Thursday. "The Crown Princess and Prince Daniel display mild symptoms, but are feeling well considering the circumstances," the Swedish Court said in a statement. As crown princess, Victoria, who is 43 years old, is next in the line of succession to the Swedish throne currently held by her father, King Karl XIV Gustaf. (Reuters)

Those engaged in exam duty must test negative for #COVID19. It's better that people engaged in the exam duty should be vaccinated first. No one should have any doubt in their mind examiners themselves are infected. We'll declare the fresh date by tomorrow: Maharashtra CM

Last time when it (MPSC exams) was postponed, I'd assured you it won't be further postponed when next date is declared. Today it was postponed due to COVID. I assure you that postponement isn't for 2-3 months but for few days. Exam will take place in a week's time: Maharashtra CM Uddhav Thackeray

Total cases 22,66,374
Total recoveries 21,06,400
Death toll 52,667

Active cases 1,06,070

Total cases 1,93,345
Total recoveries 1,77,280
Death toll 5996

Active cases 10,069

Hours after Maharashtra Chief Minister UddhavThackeray warned of a #lockdown in 'some areas', the Centre made the alarming revelation that 8 out of the top 10 worst COVID19-hit districts in the country are located in the state.While Pune tops with maximum new cases, Nagpur, Thane, Mumbai, Amravati, Jalgaon, Nashik, and Aurangabad are the other districts of the state with highest #COVID19 cases in the country, Union Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan said at a NITIAayog Covid-19 status presentation.

Night curfew will be imposed in Patiala district of Punjab from March 12 between 11 pm to 5 am. Essential services, medical emergency services, and movement of government officials will be exempted from the COVID-19 curbs.

Pointing to the steep rise in coronavirus cases in neighbouring Maharashtra, KarnatakaHealth Minister Dr K Sudhakar appealed to the peopleto follow strictly COVID-19 protocol such as wearingface masks and social distancing. In a series of tweets, he also urged people above 60years of age and those with comorbidities to get vaccinated against COVID-19 as soon as possible.

"More than 13,000 coronavirus cases have been found in the last 24 hours in neighbouring Maharashtra which bothers me," Sudhakar tweeted. The Minister's comments came even as Karnataka itself hasseen a sharp rise in the number of active cases in the last ten days. The active cases which stood at 5,824 on March 1 has touched7,456 on March 10

Appealing to the people to stay away from the crowd, the Minister emphasised on wearing face masks and maintaining social distancing at all the public functions and festivals considering it as a warning bell.

He also appealed to the relatives, friends and neighbours of those eligible for vaccines to encourage themget the shot. (PTI)

Kerala's active COVID-19 cases touched 33,785 as the staterecorded 2,133 fresh infections and 3,753 recoveries, the government said. The toll climbed to 4,355 with 13 more deaths. While the caseload soared to 10,86,012, total recoverieswent up to 10,47,226, Health minister K K Shailaja said in a statement. In the last 24 hours ending 2 pm, 69,838 samples were testedand the test positivity rate was 3.05 percent. According to the statement, 1,21,30,151 samples have beensent for testing.

Pfizer-Biontech's coronavirus vaccine offers more protection than earlier thought with effectiveness in preventing symptomatic disease reaching 97 percent, according to real-world evidence published Thursday by pharma companies. Using data from January 17 to March 6 from Israel's national vaccination campaign, Pfizer-Biontech found that prevention against asymptomatic disease also reached 94 percent. An earlier real-world study had shown effectiveness at preventing symptomatic disease at 94 percent and asymptomatic illness at 92 percent.

Pfizer-Biontech's coronavirus vaccine offers more protection than earlier thought with effectiveness in preventing symptomatic disease reaching 97 percent, according to real-world evidence published Thursday by pharma companies. Using data from January 17 to March 6 from Israel's national vaccination campaign, Pfizer-Biontech found that prevention against asymptomatic disease also reached 94 percent. An earlier real-world study had shown effectiveness at preventing symptomatic disease at 94 percent and asymptomatic illness at 92 percent.

Delhi recorded 409 new COVID-19 cases on Thursday, the highest single-day rise in nearly two months, while the positivity rate rose to 0.59 per cent, according to health department data. The city's infection tally stands at 6,42,439, the latest bulletin issued by the Delhi Health Department stated.The death toll rose to 10,934 with three more fatalities, it said. The number of active COVID-19 cases in the city rose to 2,020 from 1,900 on Wednesday, while the positivity rate climbed to 0.59 from 0.52 per cent the previous day.The total number of tests conducted on Wednesday stood at 69,810, including 42,187 RT-PCR tests and 25,623 rapid antigen tests, the bulletin said. The number of people under home isolation climbed to 1,028 from 982 on Wednesday, it said, adding that over 6.29 lakh people have recovered from the infection till date. (PTI)