Coronavirus News Highlights | First COVID-19 vaccine shot in any week of January, says Union health minister Harsh Vardhan

This LIVE blog session has concluded. Stay tuned to Moneycontrol for the latest news, views and updates.

West Bengal's COVID-19 death toll mounted to 9,360 on Sunday with 40 more fatalities, while 1,978 fresh cases pushed the coronavirus tally to 5,36,828, the health department said in a bulletin.

West Bengal now has 17,771 active cases, and a total of 5,09,697 people have recovered from the disease so far, including 2,627 since Saturday, it said.

The recovery rate stands at 94.95 percent.

Nagaland reported a fresh coronavirus positive case on Sunday, while the recovery of 43 patients has brought down the number of active cases to 496, Health Minister S Pangnyu Phom said.

The new COVID-19 positive case was detected at Phek, while the patients who recovered on Sunday were from Kohima, the minister said.

Top US health official says third COVID-19 vaccine could come next month

A third vaccine to stave off COVID-19 could get USapproval as early as next month, a top U.S. health official said on Sunday as the second vaccine began shipping out nationwide.

Admiral Brett Giroir, an assistant secretary at the Department of Health and Human Services, told ABC News that data was yet to be released on the novel coronavirus vaccine from Johnson & Johnson and Janssen, but that if approved it would give the United States its third vaccine following ones from Pfizer Inc and Moderna Inc. (Reuters)

Madhya Pradesh on December 20 reported 1,069 fresh COVID-19 cases, taking the count of infections to 2,31,284, health officials said.

With 13 more people succumbing to the viral disease, the overall death toll rose to 3,481, they said.

A total of 1,274 patients were discharged from hospitals in the last 24 hours, taking the state's overall recovery count to 2,16,485.

Haryana's COVID-19 caseload surged to 2,57,644 on December 20 with 577 fresh infections, while the death toll climbed to 2,821 as five more people succumbed to the disease, the state health department's daily bulletin said.

Of the latest fatalities, two each were reported from Faridabad and Sonipat and one from Kurukshetra, it said.

Maharashtra on December 20 reported 3,811 fresh COVID-19 cases, taking the count of infections to 18,96,518, the state health department said.
With 98 more people succumbing to the viral disease, the total tally of fatalities rose to 48,746, it said.

A total of 2,064 patients were discharged after treatment during the day, taking the number of recoveries to 17,83,905. The state is now left with 62,743 active cases.

Devotees visiting the hill shrine of Lord Ayyappa at Sabarimala must carry a COVID- 19 negative certificate after undergoing an RT-PCR test, the Travancore Devaswom Board (TDB) which manages the temple said on December 20.
TDB President N Vasu said the RT-PCR test certificate, taken not more than 48 hours prior to their visit to the temple, is must for pilgrims from December 26.

"COVID-19-negative certificate after a RT-PCR test, taken not more than 48 hours prior to their visit to the temple, is a must for the pilgrims to visit the shrine. Else they will not be permitted to undertake the pilgrimage," Vasu said in a release.

Italy to suspend flights to and from UK over virus fears

Italy plans to suspend flights to and from Britain over fears of a new strain of the coronavirus detected there, Foreign Minister Luigi di Maio said in a Facebook post.

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson and scientists announced on Saturday that a new strain of the virus identified in the country was up to 70% more infectious than the original version.

In a major relief to central government pensioners amid the COVID-19 pandemic, the date for submission of life certificate has been extended up to February 28 next year, Union Minister Jitendra Singh said on December 20.

"This decision has been taken considering all the sensitivities to avoid pandemic risk emanating from gathering of crowds at the pension disbursing banks," said Singh, the Minister of State for Personnel.

In addition to this, he said, the pensioners above the age of 80 years were given an exclusive window from October 1 onward to submit their life certificate so as to avoid rush likely to happen from the opening date of November 1.

Andhra Pradesh adds 438 new COVID-19 cases, two deaths push toll to 7,076

Andhra Pradesh reported 438 fresh coronavirus cases, 589 recoveries and two deaths in 24 hours ending 9 AM on December 20. The state's COVID-19 chart now showed 8,78,723 total positives, 8,67,445 recoveries and 7,076 deaths.

The latest bulletin said the number of active cases now came down to 4,202.

So far, 1.12 crore sample tests were completed at the rate of 2.10 lakh per million population that turned out an overall infection positivity rate of 7.80 per cent.

Tighter restrictions in London and southeast England to curb a new fast-spreading variant of the coronavirus could stay in place for some time, Britain’s health minister suggested on Sunday, but added a new national lockdown was not inevitable.

With COVID-19 cases surging, Prime Minister Boris Johnson imposed the effective lockdown on more than 16 million people on Saturday and reversed plans to ease curbs over Christmas, saying the new strain was up to 70% more transmissible than the original. (Reuters)

The Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) on Decemeber20 removed the cap on the number of visitors to its protected monuments.

The decision was taken in accordance with a communication issued by the government on the updated Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) on December 18, the Ministry of Culture said in a statement.