Coronavirus: Delhi reports 306 new cases, lowest since May

11 pm: Chhattisgarh Health Minister TS Singh Deo says the vaccines should arrive in the state by January 13, ANI reports. “If the drive has to begin on 16th January & stock needs to be sent everywhere, it should arrive two days before,” he says. “[The] Government has to decide which vaccine to be given.”

21.49 pm: American pharmaceutical firm Pfizer says it has not been able to present vaccine efficacy data to experts in India due to extremely “short notice” and the time difference, NDTV reports. The firm’s vaccine is yet to be cleared in India.

21.46 pm: Maharashtra registers 2438 new cases on Monday, taking its tally to 19,71,552. The state’s toll rises by 40 to 50,101.

20.27 pm: Delhi registers 306 new coronavirus cases on Monday, taking its overall count to 6,30,506. The Capital’s toll rises by 13 to 10,691. The daily rise in cases is the lowest since May, according to NDTV.

20.21 pm: The Serum Institute of India signs an agreement with the Centre for 11 million [1.1 crore] doses of its coronavirus vaccine, The Indian Express reports. The vaccine will be priced at Rs 200 per dose, the company’s Chairperson Cyrus Poonawalla tells the newspaper.

18.08 pm: PM Modi says the countrywide vaccine dry run is a massive achievement. “We’ve to combine the new SOPs with our old experiences,” he adds.

18.06 pm: Prime Minister Narendra Modi says the discussion and cooperation between states and Centre has immensely helped efforts to combat the coronavirus. “We’ve presented a good example of federalism,” he says.

18.03 pm: The prime minister says that one crore healthcare workers and two crore frontline workers will be the first ones to get the vaccine. The cost of their inoculation will be borne by the government. He adds that people above the age of 50 and those with comorbid conditions will receive the vaccine after that.

17.59 pm: Prime Minister Narendra Modi says India is equipped to handle side-effects to the vaccines, if any. “We already have a mechanism under the Universal Immunization Programme for situations such as these,” he says. “We’ve strengthened it specifically for COVID vaccination.”

17.51: Modi says that four more vaccines are in India’s pipeline, apart from the two cleared for emergency use. “It will help us plan the future better,” he says. “Our experts have taken all precautions to provide the countrymen with effective vaccines.”

17.49 pm: The prime minister adds: “India is entering a decisive phase of vaccination in the fight against COVID. We’re starting the world’s largest vaccination programme from 16th January.”

17.45 pm: Prime Minister Narendra Modi says India’s coronavirus vaccines are more cost-effective than others in the world as he concludes his meeting with the chief ministers, PTI reports.

4.37 pm: Karnataka Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa participates in the meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi where they are discussing about the Covid-19 situation and vaccine rollout with chief ministers of all states, reports ANI.

2.12 pm: Cases with mutant strain of coronavirus rises to 96, reports IANS, quoting health ministry.

12.44 pm: East Khasi Hills district administration in Meghalaya imposes night curfew from Monday till January between 11 pm and 5 am, reports ANI.

12.41 pm: Genestrings Genetic Laboratory Director Dr Gauri Agarwal says that four of the 186 passengers, who arrived at the Delhi airport on Monday, have tested positive for the coronavirus, according to ANI.

12.37 pm: Union Home Minister Amit Shah says the coronavirus pandemic might slow down Centre’s aspirations to become a $5 trillion economy but asserts that it will be achieved, reports ANI. He adds that the government has made reforms in many areas, including the pharmaceutical, infrastructure and space sectors, during the pandemic.

12.34 pm: Puducherry reports 22 new coronavirus cases and 34 recoveries, reports ANI. The overall infection count in the Union Territory is now 38,478, including 305 active cases, 37,535 discharges and 638 deaths.

11.13 pm: Indian Council of Medical Research says it has conducted 18,17,55,831 tests till Sunday. It conducted 6,59,209 tests on January 10.

11.10 am: Ahmedabad District Educational Officer says schools opened throughout Gujarat while adhering to standard operating procedure laid down by the state government, reports ANI. He says that only students of class 10-12 will attend, adding 10-15 teams have been formed to conduct inspection drives in schools to check for upkeep of Covid-19 protocols.

11.06 am: The Shree Jagannath Temple Administration on Sunday said that the devotees will not be required to produce a coronavirus negative report for entering the shrine in Puri from January 21, reports PTI. The decision will remain in force till February 21, said the administration chief.

11.03 am: The South African government will store the coronavirus vaccine that it will receive from India in the next few weeks at a secret place because of the risk of theft for sale at black market prices, reports PTI, citing media reports.

“There’s a security issue too because countries which have already begun rolling out the vaccines have warned us that there is a huge theft of it, so we may not even disclose where it is being centrally stored,” Department of Health spokesperson Popo Maja tells the weekly City Press.

10.53 am: Russia confirms the first case of the new coronavirus strain, despite suspending flights with the United Kingdom, where the variant was first discovered, reports AFP.

9.45 am: Prime Minister Narendra Modi will hold a meeting today with chief ministers of all the states on the vaccine roll out.

9.37 am: Delhi Health Minister Satyendar Jain on Sunday said the government has finalised 89 sites for the vaccination drive against the coronavirus, and the first batch of jabs is expected to arrive in the Capital between January 12 and January 14, reports the Hindustan Times. “Each centre will be managed by 8 to 10 staff,” he added. “Cold storage facilities are ready and security arrangements are in place.”

9.30 am: India registers 16,311 new coronavirus cases, taking the overall count to 1,04,66,595. The toll rises by 161 to 1,51,160. Its active cases stand at 2,22,526, while the number of recoveries reach 1,00,92,909.

9.20 am: Coronavirus infections on Monday surpassed 9 crore cases around the world, as more countries braced for wider spread of more virulent strains of the disease that has now killed 19.3 lakh globally, according to a tally by John Hopkins University. The number of infections worldwide has doubled in just 10 weeks on Sunday, reports AP.

9.15 am: Here are the top updates from Sunday

• Pharmaceutical company Bharat Biotech said that the death of a 45-year-old volunteer in Bhopal during the clinical trials of its coronavirus vaccine was not related to the jab. “The volunteer passed away nine days after the dosing and preliminary reviews by the site indicate that the death is unrelated to the study dosing,” the company said in a statement. “We cannot confirm if the volunteer received the study vaccine or a placebo as the study is blinded.” 
• Four organisations of survivors of 1984 Bhopal gas tragedy wrote to the prime minister and Union health minister asking them to stop the ongoing trial of Bharat Biotech’s coronavirus vaccine Covaxin in the Madhya Pradesh capital.  
• Jharkhand Health Minister Banna Gupta said that people should not be made “lab rats” in order to administer the coronavirus vaccine. 
• The Union health ministry held a virtual meeting with all states and Union Territories to apprise them of the use of the CoWIN software, the digital platform designed to administer the coronavirus vaccination drive in the country scheduled to begin on January 16. The ministry said that the states were asked to make use of the Aadhaar platform to register beneficiaries for vaccination and for consequent communication with them. The states were also asked to capture real-time data of vaccination on CoWIN.