Coronavirus Case and Fatality Rate in India, Coronavirus Third Wave Highlights: Amid a spurt in Covid-19 cases, India achieved a new milestone by administering the highest doses of vaccination. Over one crore does of Covid-19 vaccine were given in one day for the first time on August 27, according to the data from Union Health Ministry. A total of 1,00,64, 032 doses of vaccine were administered on Friday. Uttar Pradesh administered the most number of doses among all states at 28.62 lakh on August 27.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi hailed this ‘momentous feat’ and appreciated the goal achieved in making the vaccination drive a success. Indi also achieved the highest weekly vaccination figure of nearly 4.5 crore doses from August 21 to 27. Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh organized special vaccination campaigns to push the numbers further.
Meanwhile, India reported 46,759 new coronavirus infections in the last 24 hours, which is the highest in nearly two months, taking the overall Covid-19 tally to 3,26,49,947. The number of daily Covid-19 deaths also increased by over 500. With 509 fatalities, the death toll surged to 4,37,370, according to Union Health Ministry data on Saturday. Kerala remains the top contributor to India’s Covid-19 tally with 32,801 new infections. The number of active cases in the county has surged to 3,59,775 and now accounts for 1.10 per cent of India’s total Covid infections. The national Covid-19 recovery rate was recorded at 97.56 per cent, the ministry said.
Kerala has been reporting high Covid-19 cases for over a month now. The state was advised by the Centre to follow a fivefold strategy to control the spread of Coronavirus infections, along with Maharashtra. Union Health Secretary in a letter has asked the two states to consider night curfews in areas with high coronavirus case numbers as the country reported more than 40,000 new infections for two days in a row on Friday. Kerala has accounted for more than half of the total active cases, followed by 16% in the western state of Maharashtra.
Here are the latest updates on the coronavirus pandemic from India and around the world:
Kerala Govt issues additional COVID guidelines; says special intensified stringent lockdowns will be enforced in the urban wards/panchayats with critical spread where WIPR (weekly infection population ratio) is above 7 (ANI)
Maharashtra reported 4,831 new coronavirus cases and 126 deaths on Saturday, taking the infection tally to 64,52,273 and death toll to 1,37,026, a state health department official said.
As many as 4,455 patients were discharged from hospitals across the state, which took the cumulative number of recovered cases to 62,59,906, he added.
Maharashtra now has 51,821 active cases.
There are 2,92,530 people in home quarantine and 2,357 in institutional quarantine.
Maharashtra’s COVID-19 recovery rate stands at 97.02 per cent while the fatality rate is 2.12 per cent.
The total of coronavirus tests conducted in the state so far climbed to 5,34,56,403 with 2,00,379 samples tested since Friday evening.
Districts of Nandurbar, Jalna, Hingoli, Wardha, rural parts of Nagpur and Bhandara did not report any new case of COVID-19 since Friday evening.
The urban areas of Nanded, Parbhani and Dhule too did not report new infection.
On the other hand, Ahmednagar district reported the highest 789 new infections, followed by rural parts of Pune with 597 new cases.
Pune city and rural parts of Solapur reported the highest number of deaths — 18 each — since Friday evening.
Among eight regions, the Pune region reported the highest 2,060 new COVID-19 cases, followed by 901 cases in the Nashik region.
The Mumbai region reported 850 new cases, Kolhapur 778, Latur region 166, Aurangabad 29, Akola 28 and the Nagpur region reported 19 cases.
Of 126 fatalities reported on Saturday, the highest 59 were reported from the Pune region, followed by 28 from the Kolhapur region.
Whereas the Nagpur region did not report any fresh fatality on the second day in a row.
The Mumbai region reported 17 deaths, Nashik 18, Latur two and Aurangabad region reported one death.
Mumbai city recorded 391 new COVID-19 cases and four deaths, while Pune city reported 284 cases and 18 new fatalities.
Coronavirus figures of Maharashtra are as follows: Total cases 64,52,273; New cases 4,831; Total deaths 1,37,026; Total recoveries 62,59,906; Active cases 51,821; Total tests 5,34,56,403. (PTI)
Flights between India and Bangladesh to resume from September 3 under air bubble agreement after four months, as per Ministry of Civil Aviation (ANI)
Tamil Nadu reported 1,551 COVID-19 infections on Saturday, pushing the overall caseload to 26.10 lakh, while 21 fatalities took the toll to 34,856.
Recoveries outnumbered new infections with 1,768 people getting discharged in the last 24 hours, aggregating to 25,57,884, leaving 17,559 active cases, a health department bulletin said.
A total of 1,63,230 samples were tested in the last 24 hours, pushing the cumulative number of specimens examined to 4,18,53,989 till date.
Coimbatore topped in the number of cases with 230, followed by Chennai 182, Chengalpet 122 and Erode 115.
Eight districts reported new infections below 10, while Ramanathapuram and Virudhunagar recorded the least with four each.
No fresh fatalities were reported In 26 districts.
Three of the deceased did not have any co-morbidities, the bulletin said.
Meanwhile, the Minister for medical and family welfare Ma Subramanian said the department would hold vaccination camps in all 112 city colleges, both run by the government and private sector, from September 1.
The camps would be expanded to other colleges in the state later, he said after launching the vaccination programme for college professors at Nandanam Arts College, along with his cabinet colleague K Ponmudi.
On the vacccination front, he said the Centre has increased the monthly allotment of vaccines to Tamil Nadu by additional 22 lakh doses for this month. (PTI)
Telangana on Saturday recorded 325 new COVID-19 cases, pushing the tally to 6,57,119, while the toll rose to 3,869 with two more fatalities.
The Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) accounted for the most number of cases with 80, followed by Karimnagar (26) and Khammam (24) districts, a state government bulletin said, providing details as of 5.30 PM on Saturday.
The number of recoveries outnumbered fresh cases on Saturday with 424 people recuperating from the infection.
The cumulative number of recoveries till date was 6,47,185.
The number of active cases was 6,065, the bulletin said.
It said 78,787 samples were tested on Saturday, taking the cumulative number of specimens examined so far to 2,44,26,002.
The samples tested per million population was 6,56,260.
The case fatality rate in the state was 0.58 per cent, while it was 1.3 per cent at the national level.
The recovery rate in Telangana was 98.48 per cent, while it was 97.53 per cent in the country. (PTI)
COVID-19: Karnataka reports 1,229 new cases, 13 deaths (PTI)
Madhya Pradesh on Saturday reported seven fresh cases of COVID-19 that took the tally of infections to 7,92,143, an official from the health department said.
At least 79 patients were discharged from hospitals raising the count to recoveries to 7,81,548, while the toll remained unchanged at 10,516, as no new fatalities were reported during the day, the official said.
With the addition of 73,671 swab samples tested during the day, the total number of tests conducted in the state rose to 1,63,99,528, he added.
As per an official release, the state has administered 4,53,36,925 COVID-19 vaccine doses so far, of which 7,35,271 jabs were given on Saturday.
Coronavirus figures in MP are as follows: Total cases 7,92,143, new cases 7, death toll 10,516 (no change), recovered 7,81,548, active cases 79, number of tests so far 1,63,99,528. (PTI)
India administered more than 65 lakh (65,39,745) COVID vaccine doses today, taking total vaccine coverage to over 63 crores (63,00,67,629) landmark milestone as per the 7 pm provisional report: Union Health Ministry
West Bengal Govt extends COVID restrictions till September 15 with some additional relaxations; allows coaching centres to reopen with 50% capacity (ANI)
Tamil Nadu reports 1,551 new COVID-19 cases, 1,768 recoveries and 21 deaths.
Active cases: 17,559
Total recoveries: 25,57,884
Death toll: 34,856 (ANI)
The Kerala government on Saturday declared that night curfew would be enforced in the state from next week to prevent the spread of COVID-19.
A review meeting chaired by Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan decided to impose night curfew from 10 PM to 6 AM from next week.
“In areas where the weekly infection population ratio is above seven per cent, the government has decided to implement a lockdown.
From next week, there will be night curfew from 10 PM to 6 AM. Night curfew has already been issued for tomorrow,” Vijayan said at a press conference here.
Fresh COVID-19 cases crossed the 30,000 mark for the fourth consecutive day in the state on Saturday.
Since July 27, when restrictions were relaxed in the state for a few days on account of two festivals, the state has been logging more than or close to 20,000 case almost every day. (PTI)
Nashik district in Maharashtra on Saturday reported 98 fresh COVID-19 cases and two deaths, taking the tally of infections to 4,05,162 and the toll to 8,572, officials said.
A total of 92 patients were discharged on Saturday, taking the count of recoveries in the Nashik district to 3,95,612, they said.
With 4,390 new tests, the number of samples tested so far for coronavirus in the Nashik district rose to 24,39,357, the officials said. (PTI)
Sikkim’s COVID-19 tally rose to 29,729 on Saturday as 90 more people tested positive for the infection, while one fresh fatality pushed the Himalayan state’s coronavirus death toll to 369, a health bulletin said.
East Sikkim registered the highest number of new cases at 55, followed by 16 each in South Sikkim and West Sikkim, and three in North Sikkim.
Sikkim now has 1,333 active cases, while 27,746 people have recovered from the disease, and 281 patients have migrated to other states so far, it said.
The recovery rate among the coronavirus patients in the state stood at 94.2 per cent.
The Himalayan state has tested over 2.29 lakh samples for COVID-19 so far, including 810 in the last 24 hours, the bulletin said, adding that the positivity rate stood at 11 per cent. (PTI)
Fresh COVID-19 cases crossed the 30,000 mark for the fourth consecutive day in Kerala on Saturday, taking the total caseload to 39,77,572, while the Test Positivity rate dipped to 18.67 per cent from 19.22 on August 27.
Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan said the state reported 31,265 cases and 153 deaths, taking the toll to 20,466. | Read More
Kerala Govt decides to impose night curfew (10pm-6am) in the state from Monday, says CM Pinarayi Vijayan (ANI)
Andhra Pradesh reports 1,321 new COVID cases, 1,499 recoveries, and 19 deaths in the past 24 hours
Active cases: 14,853
Total recoveries: 19,81,906
Death toll: 13,807 (ANI)
Goa on Saturday reported 111 new coronavirus positive cases and two fatalities while 92 patients recovered, a health department official said.
The new additions took the tally of infections to 1,73,717, death toll to 3,193 , and the recoveries to 1,69,572 in Goa, leaving the state with 952 active cases, the official said.
With 4,681 new tests, the total number of samples tested so far in Goa has gone up to 11,93,853, he added.
Goa’s COVID-19 figures are as follows: Positive cases 1,73,717, new cases 111, death toll 3,193, discharged 1,69,572, active cases 952, samples tested till date 11,93,853. (PTI)
Two people died after receiving Moderna Inc COVID-19 vaccine shots that were among lots later suspended following the discovery of contaminants, Japan’s health ministry said on Saturday. (Reuters)
The British government says it is preparing to vaccinate children ages 12-15 against the coronavirus, even though the inoculation campaign has not yet been approved by the country’s vaccine advisors.
The Department of Health said it wants to be ready to hit the ground running once approval comes and be in position to deliver shots in schools when the new academic year starts in most of the country. | Read More
The British government says it is preparing to vaccinate children ages 12-15 against the coronavirus, even though the inoculation campaign has not yet been approved by the country’s vaccine advisors. The Department of Health said it wants “to be ready to hit the ground running” once approval comes and be in position to deliver shots in schools when the new academic year starts in most of the country. The return of children to class in September is expected to drive up Britain’s already high coronavirus infection rate. Britain is currently giving coronavirus vaccinations to people 16 and up, as well as those between 12 and 15 with underlying health conditions or who live with vulnerable adults. (PTI)
Sri Lanka has reopened its borders to India. Fully vaccinated travellers will only require a negative PCR test report conducted 72 hours prior to arrival & an on-arrival PCR test at a certified hotel: High Commission of Sri Lanka in New Delhi (ANI)
Vietnam’s health ministry reported 12,103 new coronavirus infections and 356 deaths on Friday, most of which were in epicentres Ho Chi Minh City and its neighbouring industrial province of Binh Duong. The Southeast Asian country has recorded over 422,000 cases of the novel coronavirus and 10,405 deaths overall, the health ministry said. (Reuters)
All international passengers arriving in Maharashtra will have to carry a negative RT-PCR report even though they are fully vaccinated, the state government has said. “All international passengers arriving in Maharashtra, including those from the European countries, Middle Eastern countries and South Africa, will be in line with the above-mentioned guidelines issued by the Union ministry of health and family welfare,” said the order issued by Maharashtra Chief Secretary Sitaram Kunte on Friday night. The Maharashtra government later issued a statement mentioning that fresh rules of the Central government mandate a negative RT-PCR test report before arriving in India. “Same rule is applicable for international passengers arriving in Maharashtra. Although the passenger has taken two doses of vaccine against COVID-19, the negative report of RT-PCR is mandatory,” the statement said. (PTI)
It is a matter of pride that we made a record of inoculating one crore people in a day (yesterday). I congratulate health workers and citizens for making the largest COVID vaccination a success: Union Minister for State for Health, Dr Bharati Pawar (ANI)
At least 779 more people, including 105 children, tested positive for COVID-19 in Odisha, taking the tally in the state to 10,05,654, a health department official said on Saturday. Sixty-eight fresh fatalities raised the death toll to 7,765, he said. The daily positivity rate was at 1.09 per cent as 779 new COVID cases were detected from 71,137 sample tests conducted in the last 24 hours, the official said. The infection rate among people below 18 years of age was at 13.47 per cent, up from 12.99 per cent recorded on Thursday. Altogether, 1,602 children and adolescents contracted the disease since August 15, and 35 of them died during the period, he said. Of the fresh cases, 454 were reported from quarantine centres, and 325 detected during contact tracing. Khurda district registered the highest number of new patients at 259, while Nabarangpur did not report any fresh case. Odisha now has 7,996 active cases, and 9,89,840 people have recovered from the disease. (PTI)
The Delhi government is not taking any chances and making “thorough” preparations for an impending third wave of COVID-19, Health Minister Satyendar Jain has said. Jain also thanked doctors who sacrificed their lives during the pandemic and said that their names will be written in golden words. Jain urged people to follow Covid-appropriate behaviour and asked them not become negligent. The health minister was speaking at the sixth felicitation ceremony for healthcare workers of government hospitals — Institute of Liver & Biliary Sciences (ILBS), Vasant Kunj; Deep Chand Bandhu Hospital in Ashok Vihar; Sanjay Gandhi Memorial Hospital in Mangolpuri and Burari Hospital — in northwest Delhi at Delhi Vidhan Sabha on Friday. “Their (healthcare workers) dedicated service saved precious lives, their supreme sacrifice cannot be forgotten and shall be written in the pages of history in letters of gold. “The Arvind Kejriwal government salutes the selfless and dedicated service of healthcare workers, who had put their own lives at stake and stood with the Delhi government day in and day out to fight this deadly disease.” (PTI)
A group of 56 academicians, doctors and other professionals have written an open letter to chief ministers and union territory administrators requesting them to urgently consider reopening schools and resuming in-person classes. In their letter which has also been marked to the Prime Minister’s Office, Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya, Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan and the National Disaster Management Authority Chairperson, the signatories said COVID-19 vaccination of children should not be a prerequisite for reopening schools. “A number of governments have not yet reopened schools for all classes because of concerns including students are not vaccinated, schools appear to be ‘super-spreaders’, fear of a third wave and a rise in cases in areas where schools have been opened…. There is global evidence to support school opening and governments should urgently consider opening schools and resuming in-person classes,” the letter reads. India is among only four to five countries across the world where schools have been closed for such a long time (one-and-half years), it said. (PTI)
Prime Minister Narendra Modi motivated scientists and doctors to conduct medical research which led to the development of an anti-coronavirus vaccine in India, Union minister Virendra Kumar Khatik said on Saturday. “It is for the first time that we need not have to depend on any other country to procure vaccines to fight against a virus,” the Social Justice and Empowerment Minister told reporters. Khatik is in Jabalpur to launch the BJP’s ‘Jan Ashirwad Yatra’, which is aimed at reaching out to the masses. “Prime Minister Narendra Modi took the initiative to motivate scientists and doctors to conduct medical research which led to the development of an anti-coronavirus vaccine in the country,” he added. In contrast, anti-polio vaccination in India was launched three to four years after vaccination against polio almost got completed in many countries, he said. (PTI)
A single dose of Bharat Biotech’s Covaxin in previously COVID-19-infected individuals elicits a similar antibody response as obtained with two doses of the vaccine in those without a previous history of the disease, according to an ICMR study. The study was published in the Indian Journal of Medical Research on Saturday. “If our preliminary findings are confirmed in large population studies, a single dose of BBV152 vaccine may be recommended to previously confirmed SARS-CoV-2 infected individuals so that the naive individuals could attain the larger benefit of a limited vaccine supply,” it said. India’s first indigenous COVID-19 vaccine Covaxin, codenamed BBV152, was approved by the government for emergency use in January. Two doses are given with a gap of four to six weeks. The study was undertaken to examine SARS-CoV-2 specific antibody responses after day zero (baseline, before vaccination), day 28 plus/minus two days post-first dose (month 1) and day 56 plus/minus two days post-first dose (month 2) of BBV152 in a group of healthcare professionals as well as frontline workers. The antibody response of individuals with confirmed pre-vaccination SARSCoV-2 infection was compared with those individuals without prior evidence of infection. (PTI)
Japan’s Tokyo city hall has apologized for “confusion” amid its vaccination rollout targeting young people, after crowds looking to get the shot were turned away from a facility in the Shibuya district. Health authorities on Saturday switched to a reservation system instead of first come, first served. But more than 2,200 people showed up to get vaccine appointment vouchers, some waiting in line since dawn, and 354 were selected by lottery to receive shots, Japanese media reported. Inoculations for those ages 16 through 39 began Friday. Japan, which has one of the slowest COVID-19 vaccine rollouts in the developed world, has prioritized giving shots to elderly people and then gradually working its way down by age group. (AP)
Russia reports 19,492 new Coronavirus cases in the past 24 hours (vs. 19,509 cases on the previous day); Russia reports 799 deaths from covid-19 in the past 24 hours (Reuters)
The US intelligence community has failed to reach any firm conclusion on the exact origin of COVID-19 and is split on whether it leaked from a lab in China or emerged in nature, even though it does not believe the virus was developed as a biological weapon, according to results of a detailed review ordered by President Joe Biden. The Director of National Intelligence in a report on Friday said SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, probably emerged and infected humans through an initial small-scale exposure that occurred no later than November 2019 with the first known cluster of COVID-19 cases arising in Wuhan, China in December 2019. However, there was no unanimity among the intelligence community (IC) on the origins of the coronavirus. “The virus was not developed as a biological weapon. Most agencies also assess with low confidence that SARS-CoV-2 probably was not genetically engineered; however, two agencies believe there was not sufficient evidence to make an assessment either way,” said the unclassified version of the report. The report did not name the intelligence agencies. The IC also assesses that China’s officials did not have foreknowledge of the virus before the initial outbreak of COVID-19 emerged, it said. (PTI)
hose infected with the Delta variant of COVID-19 in the UK have been found to be twice as likely to be admitted to hospital compared to the Alpha variant, according to a large new study. The study, carried out by Public Health England (PHE) and Cambridge University and published in “The Lancet’ journal on Friday, is the first of its kind to compare the hospitalisation risk of the two variants and highlights the need for people to be fully vaccinated. It confirms previous reports that Delta, first identified in India, is more infectious than Alpha, first identified in Kent, England. “This large national study found a higher hospital admission or emergency care attendance risk for patients with COVID-19 infected with the Delta variant compared with the Alpha variant,” note the researchers in their analysis. “Results suggest that outbreaks of the Delta variant in unvaccinated populations might lead to a greater burden on health-care services than the alpha variant,” they conclude. (PTI)
With a US intelligence community report failing to determine the origins of the COVID-19, including whether it leaked from a lab, a relieved China has said the allegation by Washington that it stalled international probe and resisted in sharing information about the coronavirus was aimed at politicising and stigmatising the issue of the origin of the deadly virus. The US intelligence community in its report on Friday concluded that SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, was “not developed” as a biological weapon, with President Joe Biden reiterating that China continues to reject calls for transparency and withhold information about the origins of the virus. Critical information about the origins of this pandemic exists in China, “yet from the beginning, government officials in China have worked to prevent international investigators and members of the global public health community from accessing it,” Biden said after acknowledging the receipt of the report. (PTI)
Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte has lengthened coronavirus restrictions in the capital region and some provinces, his spokesperson said on Saturday, as the Southeast Asian nation logged a new record in daily COVID-19 infections.The Philippines, which has among the worst coronavirus outbreaks in Asia, is battling a renewed surge in COVID-19 cases driven by community transmission of the more infectious Delta variant.”We expect the number of cases will continue to increase in the coming days,” Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire told a public briefing.The health ministry recorded 19,441 new coronavirus cases on Saturday, notching a record-high for the third time in the past nine days. (Reuters)
Sudan has received a shipment of 218,400 doses of the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine as a donation from France, the health ministry and UNICEF said.The vaccines were delivered with UNICEF’s support through the COVAX facility, they said in separate statements on Friday.In March, Sudan received an initial 820,000 doses of the coronavirus vaccine made by AstraZeneca in March through COVAX and UNICEF.It also received 606,700 doses of the Johnson & Johnson vaccines as a donation from the United States earlier in August. China also had donated quantities of Sinopharm’s COVID-19 vaccine.More than 800,000 people in Sudan including health workers have been vaccinated since March 2021 with the first COVAX shipment and other donations, UNICEF said on Friday.Most have taken only one dose, and the new shipment will contribute to an increase in the number of people who are fully vaccinated, it added. (Reuters)
The Philippine health ministry reported a record 19,441 new coronavirus cases on Saturday.In a bulletin, it said confirmed cases rose to more than 1.93 million, while deaths rose by 167 to 33,008. (Reuters)