Coronavirus: Ahmedabad extends night curfew till further notice as cases cross 52,000

Here are the day’s top updates

10.45 pm: 15 new cases reported in Andaman and Nicobar, reports ANI. The number of active cases in the Union Territory stands at 81.

10.44 pm: Madhya Pradesh reports 1,307 new cases, taking the total tally to 2,15,957, reports ANI. Toll goes up to 3,347, with 10 new fatalities.

9.52 pm: Congress leader Digvijaya Singh says “people of India should not be made guinea pigs”, reports ANI, referring to Haryana minister Anil Vij, who tested positive after being administered with a potential vaccine.

9.43 pm: Himachal Pradesh reports 739 new cases, taking the tally up to 45,697, reports ANI. The toll in the state stands at 729.

8.20 pm: Union health minister Harsh Vardhan says that the government is supporting hundreds of projects in its fight against the coronavirus pandemic and more than 100 start-ups have developed innovative products to deal with the infection, reports PTI.

8.15 pm: More new cases and deaths in states/Union Territories, according to ANI:

• Punjab: 620 new cases, total rises to 1,56,839. With 19 deaths, toll is at 4,934.  
• Manipur: 152 new cases, total rises to 26,225. With three deaths, toll is at 309.
• Tamil Nadu: 1,312 new cases, total rises to 7,91,552. With 16 deaths, toll is at 11,809.
• Jammu and Kashmir: 280 new cases, total rises to 1,13,568. With nine deaths, toll is at 1,755.  

5.02 pm: Delhi on Monday registers 1,674 new coronavirus cases, which take its tally to 5,93,924. The Capital’s toll rises by 63 to 9,706.

4.56 pm: UK minister James Cleverly says arrangements may be made for the airlifting of Pfizer’s coronavirus vaccine if the country’s trade talks with the European Union collapse and delays emerge at Channel crossings, Sky News reports.

4.51 pm: The Odisha government tells colleges and universities that they should consider conducting exams of undergraduate and post-graduate students only after the completion of in-person classes, ANI reports. “It’s not desirable to hold examinations for UG [undergraduate] and PG [post-graduate] students based on online teaching as most of the students are unable to get benefits of online teaching,” the government says.

3.28 pm: Resident doctors in Karnataka stage a protest against shortcomings in the medical education department, NDTV reports. The doctors say that due to the coronavirus, not much is happening in the post-graduate courses for which they are still being charged hefty fees.

3.14 pm: Ahmedabad extends night curfew till further notice, PTI reports. The curfew had previously been imposed till December 7. The city recorded 306 cases on Sunday, the highest in Gujarat. Its tally went up to 52,030.

3.09 pm: NITI Aayog Chairperson Rajiv Kumar says India will soon bounce back from the impact of the impact of the coronavirus crisis, ANI reports. “[The] Indian economy will be among top economies in the world in next few years using science, technology and innovation in all sectors,” he adds.

1.36 pm: India’s caseload of active coronavirus cases fell below the four-lakh mark on Monday to 3,96,729, which is the lowest in 140 days, the health ministry says. This number translates to just 4.1% of total cases, it adds.

12.01 pm: The first batch of the coronavirus vaccine produced by Pfizer and BioNTech arrives at a hospital in London, United Kingdom, reports AFP.

11.57 am: A total of 14.77 crore samples have been tested in the country for the coronavirus so far, the Indian Council of Medical Research says. Out of these, 8,01,081 samples were tested on Sunday.

11.54 am: Odisha recorded 368 new coronavirus cases on Sunday, pushing the state’s tally to 3,21,564, reports ANI. The toll rose by seven to 1,778.

11.48 am: The Serum Institute of India on Monday said it has applied to Drugs Controller General of India for emergency use authorisation for its coronavirus vaccine, Covishield.

The Pune-based company has collaborated with Oxford University and pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca for making the vaccine and is conducting trials in India.

Also read:

Coronavirus: Serum Institute of India applies for emergency use of its vaccine

10.07 am: Drugmaker Bharat Biotech said that in the phase three clinical trial of its vaccine candidate, Covaxin, the company expects 130 Covid-19 infections among trial participants, according to details shared by the company on the government’s clinical trial website, The Hindu reports.

The company added that it will also perform an “interim analysis” when a third or two-thirds of the number of such infections are reached. This is to determine whether more volunteers must be included in the trial or participants should be followed for longer, Bharat Biotech said.

This came after Haryana Home Minister Anil Vij announced on Saturday that he has tested positive for the coronavirus, after he participated in the third phase of Covaxin clinical trials.

10.03 am: Two more persons tested positive for Covid-19 in Mizoram on Monday, pushing the tally in the state to 3,936, PTI reports. The state has reported six fatalities so far.

10.01 am: Jharkhand registers 92 new coronavirus cases on Monday, pushing the state’s tally to 1,10,278, PTI reports. The toll rises by seven to 986.

9.56 am: A fire broke out at a Covid-19 hospital at Ulhasnagar in Maharashtra’s Thane district on Sunday, reports PTI. No casualties were reported.

The blaze erupted around 9 pm on Sunday due to a short-circuit in an air- conditioning unit, an unidentified official told the news agency. Fire personnel from a local fire station reached the spot and doused the blaze within an hour, he said.

9.55 am: Moncef Slaoui, the head of the United States government’s effort to develop a vaccine against Covid-19, on Sunday praised President-elect Joe Biden’s plan to ask all Americans to wear masks to curb the spread of the coronavirus, saying the practice is key as the country awaits widespread distribution of the vaccine, reports CNN.

“I think it’s a good idea,” Slaoui told CNN’s Jake Tapper on “State of the Union”. “It’s never too late. This pandemic is ravaging the country. We all need to take our precaution, wear our masks, wash our hands, keep our distance, remain aware that this virus is a killer.”

9.50 am: A couple in Rajasthan got married in a Covid Centre, wearing personal protection equipment, on Sunday, after the bride tested positive for coronavirus on her wedding day, ANI reports.

9.47 am: The Uttar Pradesh Police on Sunday arrested two persons after a group of health workers in a Meerut locality were allegedly attacked with stones and were stopped from taking a coronavirus patient to hospital, The Indian Express reports. A first information report has been lodged at Partapur police station. “We are trying to identify others involved in the incident,” said Additional Superintendent of Police KK Bishnoi, also acting in-charge of Partapur police station. “More arrests are likely,”

9.42 am: President Donald Trump says his personal attorney Rudy Giuliani has tested positive for the coronavirus.

The 76-year-old former New York mayor has traveled extensively to battleground states in recent days and weeks in an effort to help Trump subvert his election loss. On numerous occasions he has met with officials for hours at a time without wearing a mask.

Trump wished Giuliani a speedy recovery. “Rudy Giuliani, by far the greatest mayor in the history of NYC [New York City], and who has been working tirelessly exposing the most corrupt election (by far!) in the history of the USA, has tested positive for the China Virus,” he tweets. “Get better soon Rudy, we will carry on!!!”

9.32 am: India records 32,981 new coronavirus cases on Monday, taking the country’s tally to 96,77,203. The toll rose to 1,40,573 with 391 more deaths. The number of active cases stood at 3,96,729 while more than 91 lakh people have recovered from the disease in the country so far.

9.28 am: The Serum Institute of India on Sunday became the first indigenous company to apply to the Drugs Controller General of India for emergency use authorisation of its Covishield vaccine against the coronavirus in the country, PTI quoted unidentified officials as saying.

9.24 am: Telangana reported 517 new coronavirus cases on Sunday, pushing the state’s tally to 2,73,858. The toll rises by two to 1,474.

9.22 am: Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to ensure priority allocation of Covid-19 vaccine to Punjab on account of its higher mortality rate and high levels of co-morbidities in the state, reports PTI.

In a letter to Modi, the chief minister said despite its relatively low caseload, Punjab has a higher fatality rate, therefore, it needs special attention in the allocation of the vaccine once available. Punjab has so far reported over 1.55 lakh coronavirus cases and 4,905 deaths.

9.15 am: Here are the top updates from Sunday

• Nearly 11% of 32,903 coronavirus patients in Delhi, who tested negative through rapid antigen tests, were found to be infected with Covid-19 when they took a real-time reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction, or an RT-PCR test, between September 1 and November 7. The Centre had in September asked all states and Union Territories to mandatorily retest all symptomatic cases, who were found to be Covid-19 negative in rapid antigen tests, through RT-PCR, so that no positive case is missed. Antigen tests have a high rate of false negative results.   
• Pharmaceutical company Pfizer has sought approval from India’s drug regulator, the Drugs Controller General of India, for emergency use authorisation of its coronavirus vaccine, PTI reported quoting sources. The application was reportedly submitted on December 4. There is, however, no official confirmation from the company so far. 
• The United Kingdom is preparing to become the first country to roll out Pfizer’s coronavirus vaccine this week, initially making the shot available at hospitals before distributing stocks to doctors’ clinics. The first doses are set to be administered on Tuesday, December 8, with the National Health Service giving top priority to vaccinating those above the age of 80, frontline healthcare workers and care home staff and residents.