Omicron Coronavirus India Highlights, Coronavirus Vaccination Statistics and Registration Highlights, Covid-19 Cases and Deaths in India Highlights, Covid Restrictions Feb 16 Highlights: The Tamil Nadu government re-opened Nursery schools across the state on Wednesday after reporting a decline in the number of Coronavirus infections. The Nursery schools have opened after a gap of almost two years with the government insisting that masks will not be mandatory for kindergarten children, as per a PTI report.
Meanwhile, India on Wednesday morning reported 30,615 new Covid-19 cases and 514 deaths, according to the official data shared by the Ministry of Health. The number of new infections recorded today was 11% higher than Tuesday’s daily Covid numbers. The country had on Tuesday morning recorded 27,409 infections. According to the official data updated at 8am today, the death toll in the country reached 5,09,872 with 514 fresh fatalities. The daily Covid-19 cases recorded were less than one lakh for ten consecutive days. The Health Ministry has revealed that the active cases comprise 0.87 per cent of the total infections, while the recovery rate has improved to 97.94 per cent.
India has recorded a total of 5,09,872 deaths so far including 1,43,451 from Maharashtra, 62,681 from Kerala, 39,691 from Karnataka, 37,946 from Tamil Nadu, 26,081 from Delhi, 23,404 from Uttar Pradesh and 21,061 from West Bengal, as per a PTI report. The Health Ministry had earlier stated that more than 70 per cent 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 figures are subject to verification.
Assam on Tuesday became the first state in India to withdraw all Covid-related curbs. The state has now fully returned to normalcy. According to a PTI report, all restrictions related to night curfew, re-opening of educational institutions etc. were lifted from 6AM on Tuesday. However, basic practice of wearing masks and keeping social distance in public, will still be followed.
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Coronavirus India Live News: Covid-19 Omicron Cases in India Live Count, Coronavirus Lockdown, Night Curfew Guidelines and Restrictions Live Updates
A drop in COVID-19 testing rates is likely contributing to a decline in reported cases even as deaths are rising, the World Health Organization's technical lead on COVID-19 Maria Van Kerkhove said on Wednesday.
"The bigger concern right now, I think, is the still increasing number of deaths," Van Kerkhove said during a virtual panel discussion livestreamed on Twitter, Facebook and YouTube.
"In the last week alone, almost 75,000 people died reported to us and we know that that is an underestimate," she said.
The countries claiming that their transmission has dropped from two to six weeks ago have likely seen a drop in testing rates, said WHO's emergencies chief Mike Ryan.
The WHO earlier this week urged governments to improve vaccination rates and rapid testing as infections have risen from the Omicron variant of the coronavirus, especially in east Europe.
Several countries have announced plans to relax COVID-19 restrictions in coming weeks if daily infection numbers kept falling.
Now is not the time for countries to change isolation requirements for people who test positive in rapid antigen or PCR tests, Ryan added. (Reuters)
Maharashtra on Wednesday recorded 2,748 new coronavirus cases, including 111 of the Omicron variant, and 41 fresh fatalities linked to the infection, the health department said.
With this, the state's caseload reached 78,50,494, while the death toll increased to 1,43,492, the department said.
On Tuesday, the state had recorded 2,831 infections and 35 fatalities.
On Omicron, a department bulletin said, "111 (new) patients with the Omicron infection have been reported in the state. All these patients have been reported by the National Institute of Virology (based in Pune, where swab samples were sent for genome sequencing).” Of the 111 infections, Ahmednagar reported 21, Navi Mumbai (19), Jalna and Yavatmal (15 each), Aurangabad (10), Nagpur and Mumbai (nine each), Thane Municipal Corporation (6) and Mira Bhayander Municipal Corporation (three), among others.
Till date, a total of 4,456 patients infected with the highly contagious Omicron variant have been reported in the state. Of these, 3,334 have been discharged following a negative RT-PCR test.
“Until now, 8,904 samples have been sent for genome sequencing, out of which, results of 7,991 patients have been, received while 913 results are awaited,” the health department said.
The bulletin said 5,806 patients were discharged in the last 24 hours, taking the number of recoveries to 76,75,578.
The state, where the coronavirus recovery rate is 97.77 per cent, is now left with 27,445 active cases, it said.
“Currently, 2,79,743 people are in home quarantine and another 1,169 in institutional quarantine,” it said.
Mumbai reported 225 fresh cases and zero fatality for the second straight day, while Pune recorded 376 infections and two deaths.
Of the eight administrative circles in the state, Pune recorded 811 fresh cases, followed by Mumbai (549), Nashik (446), Nagpur (358), Akola (267), Kolhapur (117), Latur (107) and the Aurangabad circle (93).
Each administrative circle consists of multiple districts.
Of the 41 fatalities, Pune, Nashik, Kolhapur and Aurangabad recorded seven each, followed by five in Akola, four in Latur, three in Mumbai and one in Nagpur, the department said.
The bulletin said 1,18,124 coronavirus tests were conducted in the last 24 hours, taking their cumulative count to 7,67,57,238.
Maharashtra COVID-19 figures are as follows: Total cases 78,50,494; fresh cases 2,748; death toll 1,43,492; recoveries 76,75,578; active cases: 27,445; total tests 7,67,57,238. (PTI)
Sikkim's COVID-19 caseload rose to 38,987 on Wednesday with 10 fresh infections, a health department bulletin said.
The state had reported 20 coronavirus cases and one more fatality on Tuesday.
East Sikkim logged six new cases, followed by three in South Sikkim and one in West Sikkim.
The northeastern state now has 249 active cases, while 743 others have migrated to other areas and 37,555 people have recovered from the disease.
The coronavirus death toll stood at 440 as no fatality was reported due to the virus in the last 24 hours. (PTI)
Madhya Pradesh's COVID-19 tally rises to 10,30,261 with 1,388 fresh cases, death toll climbs to 10,703 after three more patients succumb to disease: Health department official (PTI)
Delhi records 766 COVID-19 cases and five deaths, positivity rare stands at 1.37 per cent: Authorities (PTI)
Andhra Pradesh reported 675 fresh cases of COVID-19, 2,414 recoveries and three deaths in 24 hours ending 9 am on Wednesday.
The state Covid-19 chart now showed a total of 23,14,502 positives, 22,88,989 recoveries and 14,705 deaths, the latest bulletin said.
The number of active cases declined further to 10,808, it said.
East and West Godavari districts registered 143 and 130 fresh cases.
Four districts reported between 50 and 70 fresh cases each and two less than 10 each.
The remaining five districts added between 10 and 50 new cases each.
Chittoor, Krishna and Visakhapatnam districts reported one fresh fatality each in a day. (PTI)
Mumbai did not record any death linked to COVID-19 for the second consecutive day on Wednesday, while 255 people tested positive for the infection, the civic body said.
With the new cases, the infection tally in the metropolis rose to 10,54,732, while the death toll remained unchanged at 16,685, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) said in its bulletin.
On Tuesday, Mumbai did not witness any death due to the virus. Prior to that, it had not reported any fatality on January 2. So this is for the third time this year that the city did not witness any case.
Also, this is for the third day in a row that Mumbai registered less than 300 COVID-19 cases. Besides this, the metropolis does not have any sealed building and containment zones for the seventh consecutive day.
Mumbai's case positivity rate stands at 0.83 per cent.
In the last 24 hours, 30,371 COVID-19 tests, around 5,000 more as compared to the previous day, were carried out in the city, which took the test count to 1,58,90,587.
As 439 more patients recovered and got discharge during the day, the recovery count grew to 10,33,071 and the city's rate of recovery is 98 per cent, the health bulletin said.
Mumbai's case doubling rate jumped to 2,205 days, while the overall growth rate of COVID-19 cases for the period between February 9 and 15 is 0.03 per cent.
Presently, Mumbai has 2,115 active COVID-19 patients. Around 91 per cent means 232 out of 235 new patients are asymptomatic.
In the last 24 hours, only 23 patients were hospitalised and only nine patients are on oxygen support.
Also, only 936 of the total 36,436 hospital beds are occupied in the city, the bulletin said.
On January 7 (last month), Mumbai had reported the highest ever 20,971 cases during the third wave.
Last year (2021), Mumbai had reported the highest 11,163 daily cases on April 4, while the highest 90 fatalities were witnessed on May 1. (PTI)
The Uttarakhand government on Wednesday lifted night curfew after over one-and-a-half months and allowed various other economic activities to resume fully following a decline in daily Covid cases.
According to revised COVID-19 SOP, night curfew imposed in the state on December 27 to rein in a spike in pandemic cases has been lifted, and gyms, shopping malls, cinema halls, spas, salons, theatres, auditoriums and meeting halls allowed to open with full capacity.
However, swimming pools and water parks will remain closed till February 28.
The ban on political rallies and dharnas will also continue till February 28, the standard operating procedure (SOP) said.
Hotels, restaurants and dhabas can also open for dining with their full capacity, but will have to strictly follow Covid norms. (PTI)
Karnataka reports 1,894 fresh COVID-19 cases, 5,418 recoveries, and 24 deaths, in the last 24 hours.
Active cases: 23,284
Positivity rate: 1.90% (ANI)
Mumbai reports 255 new COVID-19 cases, 439 recoveries, and no deaths in the last 24 hours. (ANI)
Days after clusters of recombinant Delta and Omicron variants of coronavirus were reported from across the world, a leading virologist said there was no need to panic at the moment.
“Nothing to suggest at this moment that these recombinants have any additional advantage compared to Omicron,” Vinod Scaria, a scientist at the CSIR Institute of Genomics and Integrative Biology, said on Twitter on Tuesday. | READ MORE
Kerala logs 12,223 new COVID19 cases and 25 deaths today; Active cases stand at 1,13,798, death toll at 63,019 (ANI)
Days after clusters of recombinant Delta and Omicron variants of coronavirus were reported from across the world, a leading virologist said there was no need to panic at the moment. "Nothing to suggest at this moment that these recombinants have any additional advantage compared to Omicron," Vinod Scaria, a scientist at the CSIR Institute of Genomics and Integrative Biology, said on Twitter on Tuesday. Scaria said more epidemiological data was awaited as more genomes get reported from across the world. (PTI)
Kerala logs 12,223 new COVID19 cases and 25 deaths today; Active cases stand at 1,13,798, death toll at 63,019 (ANI)
German vaccine maker BioNTech, which developed the first widely approved shot against COVID-19 together with Pfizer, unveiled plans on Wednesday to establish manufacturing facilities in Africa that would boost the availability of much-needed medicines on the continent. The modular design presented at a ceremony in Marburg, Germany, consists of shipping containers fitted with the equipment necessary to make the company's mRNA-based vaccine from start to finish, save for the final step of filling doses into bottles. (AP)
The Netherlands was inadequately prepared for the onslaught of the coronavirus pandemic two years ago and the government paid insufficient attention to the threat to people in care homes, according to an independent inquiry released on Wednesday. The Dutch Safety Board said authorities in the Netherlands, where more than 21,000 people are confirmed to have died of COVID-19, “became overly fixated” on hospitals in the early days of the pandemic while focusing too little attention on what it called “an unprecedented impact" on nursing homes, education, cultural institutions, and business. (AP)
The entire eligible population in Goa has received both the doses of anti-coronavirus vaccines, a health official said on Wednesday. With this, Goa's Directorate of Health Services has decided to close down all its COVID-19 vaccination centres and integrate them into the normal immunisation programme, the official said. (PTI)
Amid the coronavirus pandemic, lakhs of devotees took the holy dip in the Ganga river here on the auspicious occasion of Magh Purnima on Wednesday. An official of Prayagraj Mela Authority said that since morning, around seven lakh people, including children, elderly and women, have taken the holy dip in the Ganga and Sangam. (PTI)
China's President Xi Jinping has told Hong Kong's leaders that their "overriding mission" was to stabilise and control a worsening COVID-19 outbreak, pro-Beijing media reported, as infected patients lay in beds outside overwhelmed hospitals. The daily tally of COVID infections in the global financial hub rose to more than 40 times the level at the start of February as health authorities reported a record 4,285 confirmed new infections on Wednesday, and another 7,000 preliminary positive cases. (Reuters)
The Centre has asked states and union territories to review, amend or do away with additional COVID-19 restrictions after considering the trend of new cases and positivity rate in their regions, stating sustained downward trend in the nationwide case trajectory. In a letter to sent to chief secretaries and chief administrators of all states and UTs on Wednesday, Union Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan said the coronavirus pandemic in India is showing a sustained declining trend since January 21. The average daily cases during last week were 50,476, and 27,409 new cases were reported in the last 24 hours. The daily case positivity rate declined to 3.63 per cent on Wednesday. (PTI)
Singapore will expand its quarantine-free travel programme to Hong Kong, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) this month, its health ministry said on Wednesday, and will progressively add more destinations under the scheme. It will also restore and increase quotas under its vaccinated travel programme, which had been reduced in December to deal with the Omicron variant of the coronavirus. (Reuters)
The number of new coronavirus cases globally fell by 19 per cent in the last week while the number of deaths remained stable, according to the World Health Organisation. The UN health agency said late on Tuesday in its weekly report on the pandemic that just over 16 million new COVID-19 infections and about 75,000 deaths were reported worldwide last week. (AP)
States/UTs must also continue monitoring the trajectory of cases and spread of infection on a daily basis. They may also the five-fold strategy of- Test- Track-Treat-Vaccination & adherence to Covid appropriate behavior: Union Health Secretary (ANI)
— ANI (@ANI) February 16, 2022
South Korea will distribute free coronavirus rapid test kits at schools and senior care facilities starting next week as it weathers an unprecedented wave of infections driven by the fast-moving omicron variant. Health officials on Wednesday reported its highest daily jump in coronavirus infections with 90,443 new cases, shattering the previous one-day record set on Tuesday by more than 33,000 cases. The figure represents more than a 20-fold increase from the levels seen in mid-January, when omicron emerged as the country's dominant strain, and some experts say the country could see daily cases of around 200,000 in March. (AP)
The union territory of Puducherry witnessed a further dip in number of daily coronavirus cases logging 53 infections in the last 24 hours, a senior Health department official said on Wednesday. The union territory had logged 68 cases on Tuesday, Director of the Department of Health G Sriramulu said in a release. The 53 new cases were identified at the end of the examination of 2,019 samples and were spread over Puducherry (35), Mahe (8), Karaikal (6) and Yanam (four), he added. The total caseload rose to 1,65,416. - PTI
Ladakh reported 58 fresh Covid cases, taking the infection tally to 27,594, officials said on Wednesday. The number of active cases stands at 523, including 404 in Leh and 119 cases in Kargil, they said. The Union Territory has recorded 227 Covid-related deaths -- 168 in Leh and 59 in Kargil, they said. No death was reported on Tuesday, officials said. As many as 57 patients, 34 in Leh and 23 in Kargil, were cured and discharged from hospitals, taking the overall recoveries to 26,844, they said. Of the 58 new cases, 43 were from Leh and 15 from Kargil, officials said, adding that a total of 1,193 sample reports in Ladakh were found negative. PTI
RUSSIA REPORTS 179,284 NEW CORONAVIRUS CASES IN PAST 24 HOURS (Reuters)
The Biden administration is telling Congress that it needs an additional USD 30 billion to press ahead with the fight against COVID-19, officials said. Two people familiar with the administration's plan confirmed key details on Tuesday: USD 17.9 billion for vaccines and treatments, USD 4.9 billion for testing, USD 3 billion to cover coronavirus care for uninsured people, and USD 3.7 billion to prepare for future variants. They spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss deliberations between the administration and lawmakers over the supplemental funding. AP
Coronavirus India Live News: Covid-19 Omicron Cases in India Live Count, Coronavirus Lockdown, Night Curfew Guidelines and Restrictions Live Updates