Coronavirus News Highlights: 102 people found infected with UK strain of coronavirus, says Health Ministry

England's Moeen Ali is infected with the new UK variant of the coronavirus, Sri Lankan authorities said Wednesday, after the cricketer tested positive for Covid-19 on his arrival in the country 10 days ago. Deputy Chief Epidemiologist Hemantha Herath told reporters in Colombo that the 33-year-old England all-rounder was Sri Lanka's first case of the UK strain, which is believed to be more transmissible. The health ministry said extra precautions were ordered to ensure Moeen did not spread the new variant in the country -- which is battling an upsurge in infections -- but did not elaborate on what they were.

The Bolivian government said on January 13 that it has signed a contract with the Serum Institute of India for the supply of five million doses of Oxford-AstraZeneca’s COVID-19 vaccine Covishield. Bolivian President Luis Arce said that combined with another recent deal to buy Sputnik V vaccine dosages from Russia, the country can now expect to inoculate all of its vaccinable population.

Let me congratulate India on very effective governance in the field of vaccination and how generally India has been tackling COVID-19 crisis. With its pharmaceutical production capacity, the entire world is seeking opportunities here in India: Katrin Kivi, Estonian Envoy to India

|Kerala reports 6,004 new COVID-19cases and 5,158 recoveries today. Total recoveries: 7,56,817, Active cases: at 65,373.

India Wants Pfizer To Do Local Study For Approval: Official

Serum Institute of India, the local manufacturer of the vaccine developed by AstraZeneca Plc and Oxford University, has done a similar study on more than 1,500 people over months before seeking and…... Read More

Full initial procurement amount of 1.65 cr doses ofCovishield&Covaxinvaccines have been allocated to all States/UTs in proportion of Health Care Workers database.Therefore, there is no question of discrimination against any State in allocation of vaccine doses.This is the initial lot of supply of vaccine doses and would be continuously replenished in the weeks to come. Therefore, any apprehension being expressed on account of deficient supply is totally baseless and unfounded.States have been advised to organize vaccination sessions taking into account 10% reserve/wastage doses & average of 100 vaccinations/session/day. Therefore, any undue haste on the parts of States to organize unreasonable numbers of vaccination per site per day is not advised.The States & UTs have also been advised to increase the number of vaccination session sites that would be operational every day in a progressive manner as the vaccination process stabilizes and moves forward.

Russian President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday tasked officials with launching mass coronavirus vaccinations from next week, touting Russia's homemade jab as the world's best."I ask you to begin the mass vaccination of the entire population next week," Putin told officials at a televised government meeting."The Russian vaccine is the best in the world," he said.Russia in August registered Sputnik V -- named after the Soviet-era satellite -- months ahead of Western competitors and before the start of large-scale clinical trials."Thank God our vaccine does not require extreme conditions during transportation," Putin said."This is much simpler and more effective," he added, referring to Western-made jabs.

The Philippines has detected its first case of the highly contagious variant of the coronavirus first found in Britain, in a Filipino who had travelled from the United Arab Emirates, the health department said on Wednesday. The individual was quarantined on arrival, the department said. The government has temporarily banned flights from Britain and other countries where community transmission of the new COVID-19 variant has taken place.

Goa's coronavirus caseload rose to 52,079, after 96 persons tested positive for the infection on Wednesday, an official from the health department said.At least 78 patients were discharged from various hospitals, while one died of the infection during the day, the official said.This has taken the number of recoveries in the coastal state to 50,515 and the toll has reached 750, he said.There are currently 814 active cases in the state, the official said.With the addition of 1,942 samples tested in the day, the total number of tests conducted in the state has gone up to 4,21,490, he added.Goa's COVID-19 figures are as follows: Positive cases 52,079, new cases 96, death toll 750, discharged 50,515, active cases 814, samples tested till date 4,21,490. (PTI)

Uttar Pradesh recorded 487 fresh COVID-19 cases on Wednesday which took its tally to 5,94,641 while 15 more fatalities pushed the death toll to 8,529.This is the first time in almost seven months that the state has reported less than 500 infections in a day, said Additional Chief Secretary, Health, Amit Mohan Prasad.The number of active cases in the state stands at 10,132. Of these, 3,746 are in home isolation, 1,010 are undergoing treatment in private hospitals, and the remaining are being treated in government facilities, he said.So far, 5,75,980 people have recovered from the infection and been discharged from hospitals. The recovery rate of the state stands at 96.86 per cent, he added.There have been 8,529 deaths due to COVID-19, Prasad said.So far, over 2.57 crore tests have been done in the state, with over 1.38 lakh conducted on Tuesday alone, he said.

Jordan launched a Covid-19 vaccination campaign on Wednesday, beginning with jabs for healthcare workers, people with chronic illnesses and those over the age of 60.The kingdom said on Saturday that it had granted an "emergency licence" for the use of China's Sinopharm vaccine, the second vaccine it approved after the US-German Pfizer-BioNTech.The first injections were given at hospitals and other healthcare facilities,after the authorities designated 29 vaccination centres across Jordan, including seven in the capital Amman.Wael Hayajneh, head of the epidemics and communicable diseases deaprtment at the health ministry, said Jordan was among the "first 40 countries to be vaccinated" against the novel coronavirus."I advise everyone to take the vaccine as it is the only trusted solution to end the coronavirus," Doctor Etimad al-Khawaja told AFP after getting a shot."The health situation in Jordan will not get better unless we all get vaccinated."

The Mumbai airport on Wednesday said it is facilitating the delivery of about 2,72,400 doses of the Covishield vaccine to 22 domestic destinations on the first of commencement of flights carrying COVID-19 vaccines from the city.Earlier in the day, the country's second busiest airport commenced transportation of the vaccines with low-cost carrier GoAir's first flight to Goa.This came a day after a massive pan-India inoculation drive against COVID-19 was set in process with more than 56 lakh doses of the Covishield vaccine leaving Pune for 13 cities across the country.The vaccinations are scheduled to begin on January 16.As part of the momentous mission, CSMIA will facilitate the distribution of a total of 227 boxes containing about 2,72,400 doses of the vaccine, the private airport operator said in a statement on Wednesday.These shipments are being carried out by SpiceJet, IndiGo, GoAir and Vistara. These will be delivered to Goa, Bagdogra, Rajkot, Ranchi, Imphal, Agartala, Cochin, Bhopal, Kanpur, Jammu, Srinagar, Lucknow, Chandigarh, Gorakhpur, Raipur, Dehradun, Varanasi, Indore, Trivandrum and Jabalpur, it said.The first vaccine shipment departed from the airport at 5:20 am to Goa through GoAir carrying two boxes of the vaccine, followed by a flight to Rajkot at 6:00 am, which carried seven boxes of the vaccines and was operated by SpiceJet, CSMIA said.The Mumbai airport has facilities such as Asia's largest temperature-controlled export pharma excellence centre and pharma-dedicated import cold zone, and a first-of-its-kind ''cooltainer'' facility, it said.Additionally, it has an exclusive station dealing with storage and maintenance of both e-type, and t-type active containers that help facilitate the seamless distribution of vaccines across India.The airport has placed a well-defined process for the faster turnaround of COVID-19 vaccine EXIM and transhipment movements, CSMIA said.

Japan expanded a state of emergency in the Tokyo area to seven more prefectures on Wednesday amid a steady rise in COVID-19 cases as a survey by public broadcaster NHK showed most people want to cancel or postpone the already delayed Summer Olympics.The governors of Osaka, Kyoto and other hard-hit prefectures asked the government to announce the emergency, which gives local authorities the legal basis to curb movement and business.Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga has been wary about taking measures that would hamper economic activity, while he has put on a brave face against the mounting challenges of hosting the Olympics, delayed from 2020, in Tokyo.

"A declaration of a state of emergency is a powerful means, based on the law, for tackling the spread of infections, but it also places big restrictions on people's lives," Suga told a news conference."A very careful decision is therefore required of the government," he said. "A very careful decision is therefore required of the government," he said.