Coronavirus Vaccine Registration, Coronavirus Omicron Variant Cases in India December 14 Live Updates: Gujarat and Maharashtra on Monday reported a total of three new Omicron cases, and with this, India’s tally of the COVID-19 variant-induced infections has crossed 40. Meanwhile, Tamil Nadu extended its restrictions banning public gatherings for religious, cultural, and political reasons till December 31. Moreover, the state would not be allowing the general public to be present at the beaches on New Year’s Eve or on New Year’s Day. At the same time, Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal has said that the national capital was prepared to deal with the threat of the new variant. He also said that though such restrictions are not needed currently, he was prepared to impose restrictions in the UT for Christmas and New Year celebrations if needed.
ALSO READ — Will India roll out booster jabs to combat Omicron threat?
On the global front, the Canadian city of Kingston has decided to cap the gatherings to a maximum of five people as the Omicron variant is spreading across the country. Kingston is one of the many regions in Ontario that have taken to announcing new measures for public health. However, community spread of Omicron has been confirmed in Kingston, which makes it crucial for the city to take stricter measures. The restriction would be in place till at least December 20. Meanwhile, California has also been witnessing a rise in cases, and has therefore brought back the mask mandate so that cases can be prevented from spreading, especially with the holidays around the corner.
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Jewellery designer and film personality Maheep Kapoor has tested positive for COVID-19 and is under home quarantine, her actor-husband Sanjay Kapoor said on Tuesday. Maheep, best known for featuring in last year’s Netflix series “Fabulous Lives of Bollywood Wives”, is currently asymptomatic. “She has tested positive and fortunately with no symptoms as she is doubly vaccinated. She is following all norms by being self isolated,” Sanjay told PTI. There are reports that Maheep’s close friend and co-star from “Fabulous Lives of Bollywood Wives”, Seema Khan, has also tested positive for COVID-19 but there’s no confirmation yet. On Monday, Bollywood star Kareena Kapoor Khan and her actor-friend Amrita Arora also tested positive for the virus. (PTI)
Four new Omicron cases detected, taking the total number of cases to 6. Of the 6 cases, 1 patient has been discharged from the hospital. Currently, 35 Covid positive patients & 3 suspected cases admitted to LNJP hospital: Delhi Health Minister Satyendar Jain on Omicron cases (ANI)
Four more cases have been reported, the health condition of these patients is stable. All previous Omicron cases in the State have tested COVID negative now: Rajasthan Health Minister Parsadi Lal Meena on Omicron cases (ANI)
Karnataka | 4 people arrested for providing a false RT-PCR report to a South African national who was later confirmed to be India’s first Omicron case. The patient, who was in quarantine, managed to leave the country via Dubai after producing a fake report: DCP Central Bengaluru (ANI)
Delhi’s first patient of the Omicron variant of the coronavirus, a 37-year-old man, has been discharged from the Lok Nayak Jai Prakash Narayan (LNJP) hospital, officials said on Tuesday. The man, a resident of Ranchi, had travelled from Tanzania to Doha and from there, to Delhi on a Qatar Airways flight on December 2. He stayed in Johannesburg in South Africa for a week and had mild symptoms. The LNJP hospital has been designated for treating patients infected with the new Omicron variant of COVID-19. A 35-year-old man with travel history to Zimbabwe and South Africa has also tested positive for Omicron, becoming the second patient in the national capital to get infected with the new variant of the coronavirus. (PTI)
The National Football League (NFL) sent a memo to teams on Monday requiring their staff members to receive a vaccine booster amid a COVID-19 outbreak that saw 36 players test positive. The league said in a report posted on its website that of the 36 players placed on the reserve/COVID-19 list, 25 were on active rosters and 11 on practice squads, with at least 18 teams affected. In the memo, which was obtained by Reuters, the NFL said staff who had been vaccinated must receive a booster shot by Dec. 27, citing the “increased prevalence of the virus in our communities”. Players are not required to get the vaccine but the NFL has repeatedly urged them to do so. “Our own data has shown that unvaccinated players have contracted the virus and lost time as close contacts at a much greater rate than vaccinated players,” the league said. (Reuters)
South Korea on Tuesday marked its deadliest day of the pandemic as an unrelenting, delta-driven spread stretched thin hospitals and left people dying while waiting for beds. Health experts warn that the country’s medical system is quickly approaching its limits and that fatalities could worsen if the government continues to be slow and hesitant in tightening social distancing. The Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency said Tuesday that 94 virus patients died in the past 24 hours while a record 906 were in serious or critical condition. The 5,567 new infections were the highest yet — daily tallies are usually smaller at the start of the week because of fewer tests on weekends — indicating the virus has continued to gain speed after the government moderately tightened social distancing last week. Park Hyang, a senior Health Ministry official, said medical resources are quickly running out in densely populated capital Seoul and nearby metropolitan areas, where around 86 per cent of intensive care units designated for COVID-19 treatment were already occupied and more than 800 patients were still waiting to be admitted. (AP)
U.S. drugmaker Moderna Inc will produce millions of mRNA vaccines a year in Australia after agreeing to set up one of its largest manufacturing facilities outside the United States and Europe. The deal, a second such commitment in Asia Pacific by a western mRNA vaccine developer, underscores efforts by governments around the world to build up local production and prepare for future pandemic threats after limited early access to shots led to slow COVID-19 vaccine rollouts. Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison said the plant in Victoria state was expected to produce up to 100 million mRNA vaccine doses every year when it begins operations in 2024. (Reuters)
Mumbai | Our medical teams will be conducting RT-PCR COVID19 testing at the residential buildings of actors Kareena Kapoor Khan and Amrita Arora. Sanitisation of the building premises will also be done: BMC (Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation) (ANI)
Ladakh has reported 17 fresh COVID-19 cases, taking the tally to 21,839 while the active cases in the union territory have gone down to 178, officials said on Tuesday. The union territory has recorded 216 Covid-related deaths — 158 in Leh and 58 in Kargil — since the outbreak of the pandemic last year, they said. Twenty nine patients were cured and discharged from hospitals from Ladakh. All the fresh cases were reported in Ladakh, they said, adding a 562 sample reports in Ladakh were found negative. (PTI)
Australia’s government said on Tuesday it plans to start making mRNA vaccines at home with a new plant that could produce up to 100 million doses each year. The announcement came as coronavirus cases in Sydney and surrounding areas jumped, driven in part by the omicron variant. The new factory would be built in Victoria state in a partnership between vaccine manufacturer Moderna and the federal and state governments. It is expected to open by 2024. Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison said it was in the country’s national interest to produce vaccines locally. “The mRNA vaccines have proven to be, I’d argue, the biggest scientific discovery over the course of this pandemic,” Morrison said. “And that means that they are a massive part of the future of vaccines, not just here in this country but all around the world.” (AP)
COVID19 | India reports 5,784 new cases, 7,995 recoveries, & 252 deaths in the last 24 hours
Active cases: 88,993
Total recoveries: 3,41,38,763
Death toll: 4,75,888
Total vaccination: 133.8 crore doses (ANI)
With the addition of 74 new cases of coronavirus, the infection count in Maharashtra’s Thane district has reached 5,70,620, an official said on Tuesday. These cases were reported on Monday, he said. No fresh fatality was recorded and the death toll stood at 11,593, he said, adding that the COVID-19 mortality rate in Thane is 2.03 per cent. In neighbouring Palghar district, the COVID-19 case count has gone up to 1,38,826, while the death toll stands at 3,302, another official said. (PTI)
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on Monday advised Americans against travel to Italy, Greenland and Mauritius, citing COVID-19 concerns.The CDC now lists 84 destinations at “Level 4: Very High” classification, including nearly all of Europe. The State Department on Monday also added Italy and Mauritius to its “Level Four: Do Not Travel” advisories. Italy reported 98 coronavirus-related deaths on Monday against 66 the day before, the health ministry said, while the daily tally of new infections fell to 12,712 from 19,215. Italy has registered 134,929 deaths linked to COVID-19 since its outbreak emerged in February last year, the second-highest toll in Europe after Britain and the ninth-highest in the world. The country has reported 5.24 million cases to date. (Reuters)
Seven COVID-19 patients are currently undergoing treatment in Andaman and Nicobar Islands, a health bulletin said on Tuesday. The Union territory’s caseload remained unchanged at 7,698 as no fresh infection was registered, it said. A total of 7,562 people have recovered from the disease so far, including one in the last 24 hours, while 129 patients have succumbed to the infection to date. The administration has tested over 6.45 lakh samples for COVID-19 thus far, and inoculated over 2.98 lakh people, of whom 2.76 lakh have been fully vaccinated. (PTI)
The Premier League has confirmed the game between Brentford and Manchester United on Tuesday has been postponed due to a Covid-19 outbreak: Manchester United (ANI)
West Bengal on Monday reported 418 new COVID-19 cases, 165 less than the previous day, with the tally rising to 16,23,609, a health department bulletin said. The death toll rose to 19,610 as 10 more people succumbed to the disease in the last 24 hours, it said. North 24 Parganas accounted for three new deaths, while two each were recorded in Kolkata and Nadia and one each in Paschim Bardhaman, Hooghly and South 24 Parganas. Kolkata reported the highest number of fresh cases at 135, followed by North 24 Parganas at 73, the bulletin said. At least 439 people were cured of the disease in the last 24 hours, taking the total number of recoveries to 15,96,482. The discharge rate stood at 98.33 per cent, it said. (PTI)
A city in Canada’s most populous province is limiting gatherings to a maximum of five people in response to the spread of the omicron variant and the variant prompted several regions in Ontario to announce new public health measures on Monday. The top doctor in the region in and around Kingston, Ontario — where community spread of omicron was confirmed — brought in new rules that limit social gatherings to groups of five until at least Dec 20. He also ordered restaurants to close to indoor dining between 10 pm and 5 am, stop serving alcohol at 9 pm and seat only up to four at a table. Ontario reported 1,536 new COVID-19 infections Monday and the province’s expert pandemic advisers estimated that omicron now makes up 30% daily caseload, just weeks after it was first detected. Cases of the variant are doubling every three days. Canada’s chief public health officer said Canada is expecting a potentially massive surge in COVID-19 cases in the coming weeks, driven by the new omicron variant already spreading through communities. (AP)
California is bringing back a rule requiring people to wear masks indoors, a move aimed at containing a new type of the coronavirus as people gather with family and friends during the holidays. Gov Gavin Newsom’s administration announced the new mandate will start Wednesday and last until Jan 15. The order comes as the per capita rate of new coronavirus cases in California has jumped 47% in the past two weeks. “We know people are tired and hungry for normalcy. Frankly, I am too,” California Health and Human Services Secretary Dr. Mark Ghaly said Monday. “That said, this is a critical time where we have a tool that we know has worked and can work.” California lifted its statewide mask mandate on June 15 for people who were vaccinated, a date Newsom heralded as the state’s grand reopening. But since then, county governments covering about half of the state’s population have imposed their own indoor mask mandates as case rates surged with new variants. The new mask mandate will cover everyone else, but state officials on Monday were unclear about how it would be enforced. Ghaly said enforcement would likely be stronger in some places than others, but he urged Californians to heed the warnings and wear masks. (AP)
Delhi on Monday recorded 30 fresh COVID-19 cases with a positivity rate of 0.06 per cent, according to health department data. No new deaths were reported. Delhi has recorded two deaths due to COVID-19 so far in December. It had logged seven deaths due to the viral disease in November, four in October and five in September. With the new cases, the city’s infection tally climbed to 14,41,748. Of this, over 14.16 lakh patients have recovered from the disease, the health department bulletin stated. The death toll stands at 25,100, it said. According to the bulletin, authorities conducted 46,169 tests, including 43,916 RT-PCR ones, the previous day. There are 393 active COVID-19 cases in Delhi. Of these, 199 are in home isolation. The number of containment zones in the city stands at 119, the bulletin said. (PTI)
Mizoram on Monday reported 81 new COVID-19 cases, the lowest single-day spike in several months, taking the state’s tally to 1,38,293, a health department official said. The death toll rose to 522 as five more people succumbed to the infection in the last 24 hours, he said.
The fresh cases put the single-day positivity rate at 18.28 per cent as the news cases were detected from 443 sample tests. The number of active cases now stands at 2,539, while 282 people have recovered on Monday, taking the total number of patients who have recovered from the disease to 1,35,232. The recovery rate among COVID-19 patients is 97.79 per cent and the death rate is 0.37 per cent. The state has so far tested over 14.65 lakh samples for COVID-19. According to state immunisation officer Dr. Lalzawmi, over 7.25 lakh people have been inoculated and 5.76 lakh of them have received both doses of COVID-19 vaccine till Monday. (PTI)
Gujarat reported 58 COVID-19 cases on Monday, raising its tally to 8,28,191, while one death, in Valsad, took the toll to 10,099, an official said. The number of people discharged during the day was 56, after which the overall recovery count mounted to 8,17,543, leaving Gujarat with an active tally of 549, including five critical patients, he said. Ahmedabad added the highest 19 cases in the day, followed by 13 in Vadodara, five each in Rajkot, Bhavnagar and Kutch among other districts, he said. An official release said 8.55 crore vaccine doses have been administered in Gujarat so far, including 2.56 lakh on Monday. Adjoining Dadra and Nagar Haveli, Daman and Diu, which has so far reported 10,658 COVID-19 cases, 10,651 recoveries and four deaths, has three active cases, officials in the Union Territory informed. Gujarat’s COVID-19 figures are as follows: Positive cases 8,28,191, new cases 58, death toll 10,099, discharged 8,17,543 active cases 549, people tested so far – figures not released. (PTI)
Tamil Nadu on Monday logged 657 new COVID-19 positive cases and 12 fatalities, taking the caseload to 27,36,046 and death toll to 36,624. A passenger who returned from UAE added to the 657 cases today, according to a bulletin from the State health department. With 702 COVID-19 positive patients getting discharged after treatment, the total recoveries so far has mounted to 26,91,756. The number of active cases as of today remain at 7,666. Chennai and Coimbatore reported 114 and 101 new infections respectively, while Ramanathapuram and Theni reported nil cases, the bulletin said. While Erode reported 53 new cases, 12 districts recorded cases below 50 and 21 districts reported cases in single digits. Chennai accounted for 5,59,581 positive cases while the active cases remain at 1,311. The total recoveries including 108 on Monday, have gone up to 5,49,639. Including 3 deaths today, the toll has mounted to 8,631 in the metro. (PTI)
The COVID-19 tally in Madhya Pradesh rose to 7,93,377 on Monday with the addition of 19 cases, a health official said. The death toll remained unchanged at 10,529 with no new fatality reported, the official said. A total of 3,93,235 people were vaccinated during the day in MP, he said. After discharging 19 people, the number of recoveries in MP increased to 7,82,688, leaving the state with 160 active cases. With 57,267 new tests, the number of samples examined in MP so far went up to 2,26,16,362, the official added. A total of 9,47,12,121 COVID-19 vaccine doses have been administered so far in MP, including 3,93,235 on Monday, an official release said. (PTI)
Two people died from coronavirus in Haryana on Monday as 13 fresh cases pushed the state’s infection count to 7,72,032, according to a health bulletin. The infection has claimed 10,057 lives in the state till now. According to the bulletin, fresh deaths were reported from Hisar and Panchkula districts. Nine cases were reported from Gurugram and two each from Faridabad and Panchkula. The total active cases in the state were 185 while the overall recoveries were 7,61,733. The recovery rate stood at 98.67 per cent, the bulletin said. (PTI)
Jammu and Kashmir on Monday recorded 119 fresh coronavirus cases that took its infection tally to 3,38,990, while three more fatalities pushed the death toll to 4,498, officials said. Of the fresh cases, 26 were from the Jammu division and 93 from the Kashmir division of the union territory, they said. Srinagar district recorded the highest number of fresh cases at 48, followed by 20 in Jammu district. There are 1,442 active coronavirus cases in Jammu and Kashmir. So far, 3,33,050 people have recovered from the infection, the officials said. The number of mucormycosis (black fungus) cases in the union territory stands at 50, with one fresh case reported since last evening, they said. (PTI)
Maharashtra on Monday reported two new patients infected with the new Omicron variant of SARS-CoV-2, the state health department said. With these two cases — one from Latur and the other from Pune — the tally of patients infected with the newly discovered variant of the coronavirus rose to 20, it added. COVID-19 is caused by the SARS-CoV-2 virus. (PTI)
China has reported its first case of Omicron variant of COVID-19 amid a spike in coronavirus infections stated to be that of new Delta strain “sub-lineage AY.4”, prompting authorities to bar millions of people in the eastern province from travelling. The first case of Omicron variant of coronavirus was reported in Tianjin city in north China, state-run CGTN-TV reported on Monday. A person who came from overseas was tested positive for the new variant, the report said. Details on the person’s nationality or travel history were not immediately disclosed. Officials said the individual is an asymptomatic COVID-19 patient and its respiratory specimen has shown existence of the Omicron variant on December 9 after tests. The person was under closed-loop management since entry to Tianjin and is now being treated in isolation in hospital, the report said. (PTI)
Researchers at the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Delhi have developed an RT-PCR based assay for the specific detection of the Omicron variant of COVID-19 within 90 minutes, according to officials. Currently, the identification or screening for Omicron is done worldwide using next-generation sequencing-based methods which require over three days. The institute has filed an Indian patent application for the rapid screening assay developed by its Kusuma School of Biological Sciences and is in process of initiating talks with potential industry partners. “The assay is based on detecting specific mutations which are present in the Omicron variant and absent in other currently circulating variants of SARS-CoV-2. Primer sets targeting these unique mutations in the S gene were designed for the specific amplification of either the Omicron variant or other currently circulating variants of SARS-CoV-2 and tested using real time PCR,” a senior IIT Delhi official said. “Using synthetic DNA fragments, the assays were optimised to distinguish the wild-type from the Omicron variant in a dynamic range. Currently, the identification or screening for Omicron is done worldwide using next-generation sequencing based methods, which require over 3 days. By using this RT-PCR based assay, it will be possible to test for the presence of the Omicron variant within 90 minutes,” the official added. IIT Delhi was the first academic institute in India to have obtained ICMR approval for a real-time PCR-based diagnostic assay. The institute developed a method to detect COVID-19 which significantly reduced the cost of testing, making it affordable for a large population in the country. Following approval from the ICMR, the kit was successfully launched in the market. (PTI)
Mumbai’s coronavirus caseload grew to 7,65,471 as 174 persons tested positive for the infection on Monday, while the fatality count increased by two to touch 16,359, the civic body said. With 195 patients discharged from hospitals, the number of recoveries in Mumbai reached 7,44,784, leaving the metropolis with 1,751 active cases, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) said. A man and a woman, both above the age of 60 and having comorbidities, died during the day, it said in a release. With 31,415 samples being examined, the number of coronavirus tests in Mumbai went up to 1,29,17,132. Mumbai’s recovery rate is 97 per cent and its case doubling time is 2,557 days, the BMC added. (PTI)
Karnataka on Monday recorded 236 new cases of COVID-19 and 7 deaths, taking the total number of infections to 30,00,671 and death toll to 38,268. The day also saw 321 discharges, taking the total number of recoveries to 29,55,138. Of 236 new cases reported today, 121 were from Bengaluru Urban, as the city saw 188 discharges and 4 deaths. Total number of active cases in the state is at 7,236. While the positivity rate for the day stood at 0.29 per cent, case fatality rate (CFR) was at 2.96 per cent.
Of 7 deaths reported on Monday, 4 are from Bengaluru Urban and one each from Ballari, Belagavi and Kolar. Among the districts where the new cases were reported, Bengaluru Urban accounted for 121, Kodagu 35, Dakshina Kannada 19, Mysuru 13, Hassan 10, followed by others. Bengaluru Urban district now has a total of 12,59,025 positive cases, while Mysuru has 1,80,059 and Tumakuru 1,21,209. Among discharges, Bengaluru Urban is at the top with 12,37,124, followed by Mysuru 1,77,420 and Tumakuru 1,19,936, according to a health department bulletin. Cumulatively a total of 5,46,55,864 samples have been tested in the state so far, of which 80,217 were tested on Monday alone. (PTI)
Russian authorities on Monday backed away from introducing some of the restrictions for the unvaccinated that were announced a month ago and elicited public outrage all across the vast country where vaccine uptake remains low.
The speaker of the State Duma, Russia’s lower parliament house, on Monday announced the withdrawal of a bill restricting access to domestic and international flights and trains to those who have been fully vaccinated, have recently recovered from COVID-19 or are medically exempt from vaccination. The bill, along with another outlining similar restrictions in many public places, had been expected to go through the first reading on Thursday, but speaker Vyacheslav Volodin cited “a joint decision by the State Duma and the government” to withdraw it from the parliament’s agenda for now. The other bill is still going forward. “We need to be balanced when working out these decisions so that the opinion of the people is taken into account,” Volodin said. (AP)
The Delhi government has provided a one-time financial assistance of Rs 50,000 to 21,235 families that lost their near ones to COVID-19, Social Welfare Minister Rajendra Pal Gautam said on Monday. Separately, 9,484 of the 12,668 applications received have been approved for a monthly pension of Rs 2,500, he said at a press conference here. Under the “Mukhyamantri COVID-19 Pariwar Aarthik Sahayata Yojana”, the Delhi government has been providing a one-time financial assistance of Rs 50,000 to the families of all the coronavirus victims in the city and a monthly assistance of Rs 2,500 to households that have lost the sole breadwinner and to children orphaned due to the pandemic. “A total of 25,100 applications have been received for a one-time financial aid of Rs 50,000. So far, 21,235 families have been given the assistance,” Gautam said. Around 2,500 families did not avail the scheme due to various reasons, while around 1,500 will receive the aid soon, he added. In most cases, the refusals came from financially well-off families, Gautam said. He said the city government has approved 9,484 of the 12,668 applications received for the monthly pension of Rs 2,500. Of the applicants, 7,955 have already started receiving the pension, he said, adding that 1,120 applications are under verification in the revenue department. Gautam underlined that the government has been disbursing pensions as soon as the verification process is complete and the pendency is negligible. The health department has contacted all the households that have lost at least a member to Covid. So far, the Delhi government has disbursed a total compensation amount of Rs 4.06 crore under the scheme, the minister said. The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government, in a statement, said the compensation disbursement process has been streamlined and simplified. “We have made every effort to make the documentation burden as light as possible for the applicants. SDM offices and their teams have been directed to carry out door-to-door verification as well,” it added. (PTI)
The COVID-19 count in Nashik district of Maharashtra rose to 4,12,927 with an addition of 30 new cases on Monday, while one more patient succumbed to the infection, health department officials said. The fresh death took the toll in the district to 8,738, they said. Also, 33 patients were discharged from hospitals in the last 24 hours, pushing the number of recoveries to 4,03,859, the officials said. As many as 29,44,680 swab samples have been tested till date, 6,837 of them during the day, they added. (PTI)