Coronavirus News Highlights: With 35,499 more people testing positive for COVID-19, India's infection tally now stands at 3,19,69,954, while the death toll climbed to 4,28,309 with 447 fresh fatalities, according to the Union Health Ministry on Monday. The number of active cases has declined to 4,02,188 which comprise 1.27 percent of the total infections, and the national COVID-19 recovery rate has improved to 97.39 percent, data updated by the ministry at 8 am showed. A decrease of 4,634 cases has been recorded in the active COVID-19 caseload in a span of 24 hours, it showed. The number of people who have recuperated from the disease surged to 3,11,39,457, while the case fatality rate stands at 1.34 percent, the data stated. The daily positivity rate was recorded at 2.59 percent. It has been less than three percent for the last 14 days, the ministry said, adding that the weekly positivity rate was recorded at 2.35 percent. Cumulatively, 50.86 crore COVID-19 vaccine doses have been administered under the nationwide vaccination drive till Monday morning. India's COVID-19 infection tally had crossed the 20-lakh mark on August 7 last year, 30 lakh on August 23, 40 lakh on September 5, 50 lakh on September 16, 60 lakh on September 28, 70 lakh on October 11, 80 lakh on October 29, 90 lakh on November 20 and one crore on December 19. The country crossed the grim milestone of two crore cases on May 4 and three crore on June 23. The 447 new fatalities include 151 from Maharashtra and 93 from Kerala. A total of 4,28,309 deaths have been reported so far in the country, including 1,33,996 from Maharashtra, 36,793 from Karnataka, 34,317 from Tamil Nadu, 25,066 from Delhi, 22,773 from Uttar Pradesh, 18,229 from West Bengal and 17,747 from Kerala. The Health Ministry stressed that more than 70 percent of the deaths occurred due to comorbidities. "Our figures are being reconciled with the Indian Council of Medical Research," the ministry said on its website, adding that state-wise distribution of figures is subject to further verification and reconciliation.
Maharashtra on Monday reported 4,505 new coronavirus positive cases and 68 fatalities while 7,568 patients recovered, a health department official said. With the new additions, Maharashtra's tally of infections and the death toll climbed to 63,57,833 and 1,34,064, respectively. The total number of recoveries in the state stands at 61,51,956 and active cases at 68,375. With the new additions, Maharashtra's tally of infections and the death toll climbed to 63,57,833 and 1,34,064, respectively.
The financial capital on Monday reported 208 coronavirus positive cases, the lowest addition in a day after April last year, and three fatalities for the second time this month, a Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) official said. A total of 372 patients were discharged during the day, which raised the number of recoveries in Mumbai so far to 7,15,389, he said. Mumbai's average recovery rate now stands at 97 per cent.With new additions, Mumbai's tally of COVID-19 infections and fatalities reached 7,37,724 and 15,954, respectively, he said. Mumbai has been reporting below 500 cases for the last 25 days.Notably, Mumbai has already reported less than 300 cases in a day on three occasions, including on Monday, since the beginning of this month. On August 2 and 3, Mumbai recorded 259 and 288 cases, respectively.
Karnataka has reported 1,186 new cases of COVID-19 and 24 deaths, taking the total number of casesto 29,19,711 and the fatalities to 36,817 till date, the Department of Health said.
Nepal reported 3,651 new coronavirus infections, taking the country's COVID-19 tally to 787,006 as of Monday, according to the health ministry.
Goa's coronavirus caseload went up by 61 and reached 1,71,944 on Monday, while 148 people recovered from the infection, a health department official said. The death toll rose to 3,164 as four more patients succumbed to the infection during the day, he said.
The first generation vaccine developed by BioNTech-Pfizer works against coronavirus variants such as the Delta strain and does not need to be modified for the moment, the chief executive of German company BioNTech said Monday."It is quite possible that in the next six to 12 months, further variants will emerge and that would require adaptation of the vaccine but it is at the moment not yet the case," Ugur Sahin told journalists. (AFP)
Jammu and Kashmir recorded 108 fresh COVID-19 cases on Monday, taking the tally to3,22,658, while one fresh death pushed the toll to 4,390, officials said.Out of the fresh cases, 43 were from the Jammu Division and 65 from the Kashmir Division of the union territory, they said.The officials said Srinagar district recorded the highest number of 20 cases, followed by 17 in Baramulla district.The number of active cases dipped to 1,311 in the union territory, while 3,16,957 patients have recovered so far, they said.The death toll in the union territory due to the pandemic was 4,390 as one fresh death was reported in the past 24 hours.Meanwhile, the officials said there were 37 confirmed cases of mucormycosis or black fungus in the union territory as no fresh cases were reported since the last evening.
The count of COVID-19 cases in Nashik district of Maharashtra rose to 4,03,428 with the addition of 104 new patients on Monday, health department officials said. The virus claimed three more lives, two of them in Nashik city, taking the death toll in the district to 8,536, they said. So far, 3,93,845 patients have been discharged from hospitals following recovery, 130 of them in the last 24 hours, the officials said. As many as 23,36,852 swab samples have been tested for coronavirus detection till date, out of which 8,935 were examined during the day, they added.
Health Ministry has decided to allow foreign nationals residing in India to get registered on CoWin portal to take COVID vaccine. They can use their passport as ID for registration on CoWIN. Once they're registered on this portal, they'll get a slot for vaccination.
A modified drug prescribed to treat tapeworms may be effective against COVID-19, according to a study conducted in lab.The team at the Scripps Research Institute in the US said it was known for 10 to 15 years that the class of drugs called salicylanilides work against certain viruses, but they tend to be gut-restricted and can have toxicity issues.According to the study published in the journal ACS Infectious Disease, the modified salicylanilide compound overcomes both issues, in mouse and cell-based tests.The compounds act as both an antiviral and an anti-inflammatory drugs, with properties that auger well for its use in pill form, the researchers said.Salicylanilides were first discovered in Germany in the 1950s and used to address worm infections in cattle, they said.
Kerala on Monday reported 13,049 fresh COVID cases pushing the total infection caseload to 35,65,574, with the number of people succumbing to the virus rising to 17,852 after 105 more deaths.As many as 20,004 people have been cured of the infection since Sunday, taking the total recoveries to 33,77,691 and the number of active cases in the state to1,69,512, a state government release said.In the last 24 hours, 98,640 samples were tested and the TPR was found to be 13.23 per cent.So far, 2,86,12,776 samples have been tested, it said.Some of the worst affected districts in the state are Malappuram (2052), Thrissur (1762), Kozhikode (1526), Palakkad (1336), Ernakulam (1329) and Kannur (944).Of the new cases, 58 are health workers, 64 had come from outside the state and 12,300 were infected through contact with the source of contact being not clear in 627 cases, the release said.
BioNTech and partner Pfizer have supplied more than one billion doses of their COVID-19 vaccine as per July 21, a bigger number than delivered by competitor AstraZeneca, the German biotech group said on Monday.The supply tally, up from more than 700 million doses announced by the biotech firm in June, compares with AstraZeneca saying late last month that it and manufacturing partner Serum Institute of India had supplied a billion doses to 170 countries at the time.
Hotel owners in Aurangabad in Maharashtra on Monday demanded relaxed timings for operation amid the COVID-19 outbreak and threatened to protest by handing over establishment keys to authorities if they are not met. The outbreak had hit business for 18 months now and the local administration was allowing operations only till 4pm unlike Pune where hotels could operate till 10pm and carry out parcel service till 11pm on all days, Hotel Owners' Association secretary Kishor Shetty told PTI. "If our demands for relaxation in timings are not met in two days, then we shall hand over our hotel keys to the district administration as a mark of protest," he warned. The association had, earlier, demanded waiver of bar licence fees claiming these outlets were closed all through the pandemic.
