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Coronavirus News Highlights: Today is the 336th day since India implemented a nationwide lockdown to help curb the novel coronavirus pandemic. So far, India has recorded 1,10,30,176 confirmed COVID-19 cases, including 1,56,567 deaths. A total of 1,07,26,702 people have recuperated from COVID-19 so far. There are 1,46,907 active cases in the country as of date, which comprises 1.33 percent of the total caseload, the data stated. India's recovery rate continues to rise and now stands at 97.25 percent. Globally, more than 11.2 crore people have been infected by the coronavirus and 24.83 lakh have died so far. India, along with many countries, has granted emergency use authorization for COVID-19 vaccines and has started the process of vaccinating healthcare workers and high-risk groups. India's regulator has granted restricted emergency use approval for two vaccines -- Covishield and Covaxin. More than 1.19 crore people have been given the COVID-19 vaccine in India so far.
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Serum Institute of India (SII) on Wednesday said it has initiated supplies of COVID-19 vaccine Covishield to COVAX, the global initiative to ensure rapid and equitable access to the vaccine for all countries.
"It is a historic moment for all of us as COVAX receives its first doses of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine manufactured by SII, COVISHIELD. We are delighted to see the combined efforts of everyone result in saving the lives of millions," SII CEO Adar Poonawalla said in a tweet.
Over 18K beneficiaries vaccinated on February 24in Delhi; total 3.4 lakh
Over 3.4 lakh beneficiaries have received COVID-19 vaccine till date in Delhi since the start of the inoculation drive a month ago, with more than 18,000 people receiving the jabs on Wednesday, according to data shared by officials. Of these, more than 1.41 lakh are healthcare workers and over 2 lakh are frontline workers, as per the data.
Amid a spike in coronavirus infections in Maharashtra, Kerala, Karnataka and Telangana, the West Bengal government on Wednesday made it mandatory for passengers travelling in flights from these states to produce negative COVID-19 reports.
According to a notification issued by the health department, passengers should undergo RT-PCR tests within 72 hours of the flight departure.
"In view of the increasing trend of COVID cases in the states of Maharashtra, Kerala, Karnataka and Telangana and in continuation of earlier order issued last August, this is to inform you that the state government has decided that from February 27, all passengers coming to the state from the four states shall mandatorily carry a COVID negative RT-PCR report," it said.
The cumulative number of COVID-19 vaccine doses administered to healthcare and frontline workers has crossed 1.23 crore in the country, the health ministry said on Wednesday.
A total of 1,23,66,633 vaccine doses have been administered through 2,63,224 sessions till 6 pm on Wednesday, according to a provisional report.
These include 65,24,726 healthcare workers (HCWs) who have taken the first dose, 14,81,754 HCWs who have taken the second dose and 43,60,153 frontline workers (FLWs) who have taken the first dose.
While the countrywide vaccination drive was rolled out on January 16, the inoculation of FLWs started from February 2.
Maharashtra registered 8,807 new coronavirus cases and 80 deaths in a span of 24 hours. The numbers are significantly higher compared to Tuesday when the state had recorded 6,218 new infections.
The state Health Department said the total count of cases reported in the state has gone up to 21,21,119, including 59,358 active cases.
The Supreme Court Wednesday said India resiliently fought back the unprecedented situation created by the COVID-19 pandemic and the economy as also life of the common man is on the path towards normalcy in a shorter period of time than expected.
Citing disaster management laws, the apex court noted that the country already had in place legal and administrative instruments to empower the State to contain and manage the several crisis that would arise from the pandemic.
Kerala logged 4,106 new cases of COVID-19 and 17 deaths on Wednesday, taking the caseload to 10,45,358 and toll to 4,136.
State Health Minister K K Shailaja said the state tested 70,568 samples in the last 24 hours and the test positivity rate was 5.82 per cent.
She said 5,885 people recuperated from the disease, taking the total recoveries in the state to 9,87,720.
China is moving ahead with two more COVID-19 vaccines in the regulatory process, one from state-owned company Sinopharm and another from a private company CanSino.
Both vaccines have been submitted to regulators for approval this week.
CanSino said that Chinese regulators are reviewing its application for its COVID-19 vaccine, in a stock filing on Wednesday.
Sinopharm's subsidiary the Wuhan Institute of Biological Products announced on Wednesday that it had submitted an application on Sunday and that regulators were reviewing it.
As many as 52 persons tested positive for coronavirus, while 35 were discharged from hospitals after recovering from the infection in Goa on Wednesday, an official from the health department said.
With the addition of the latest cases, the state''s COVID-19 tally has reached 54,700, of which 53,416 patients have recovered so far, the official said.
Following the death of one patient during the day, the toll stood at 789, he said.
Puducherry added 28 new cases of COVID-19 on Wednesday, pushing the caseload to 39,656. A release from the Director of Health and Family Welfare S Mohan Kumar said the new cases were identified at the end of examination of 2,069 samples. A 79-year-old man, hailing from Uppalam village here, succumbed to infection during the last 24 hours raising the toll to 666, the director said.
The deceased had co-morbidities like diabetes,hypertension and coronary artery disease (CAD).The cause of death was covid pneumonia, acute respiratory disorder syndrome and septic shock, the release said.
After a gap of more than a month, Mumbai''s slum colony of Dharavi reported a double-digit count of COVID-19 cases at 10 on Wednesday, the city civic body said.
A senior Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) official said the slum-dominated area, spread over 2.5 sq km, recorded 10 new cases in the last 24 hours, taking the tally to 4,041.
On Janaury 17, ten new COVID-19 cases were found in Dharavi and since then daily infection counts have been in single digits and even zero.
In the first week of February, single-day COVID-19 cases in Dharavi were in the range of 0 to five.
At midnight nurse Ines Lopes and her colleagues are about to start the night shift taking care of patients in a COVID-19 intensive care unit in the heart of Lisbon. Nursing is a job they love but it barely pays the bills.
Politicians, celebrities and people across Portugal have spent much of the coronavirus pandemic praising frontline health workers, sometimes emerging from their homes to clap and cheer on the medics.
