The Centre said that a total of 7,86,842 healthcare workers have been vaccinated against the coronavirus till Wednesday 6 pm. Among these, 82 adverse events were reported, it added.
India registered 13,823 new cases on Wednesday, taking the overall count to 1,05,95,660. This is 37.3% higher than Tuesday’s count. The country’s toll rose by 162 to 1,52,718. India’s active cases stood at 1,97,201, below 2 lakh after nearly seven months, while the number of recoveries reached 1,02,45,741.
The World Health Organization said that the United Kingdom coronavirus strain has been found in at least 60 countries.
Globally, the coronavirus has infected more than 9.61 crore people and killed over 20.56 lakh, according to John Hopkins University. Over 5.29 crore people have recovered from the infection in the world.
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Here are the top updates of the day:
9.05 pm: The Centre also says 82 adverse events have been reported till 6 pm on the fifth day of the vaccination drive.
9.02 pm: The health ministry says 1,12,007 beneficiaries vaccinated till 6 pm on fifth day of vaccination drive across 20 states/Union Territories.
8.58 pm: Manohar Agnani, additional secretary in the health ministry, says a total of 7,86,842 beneficiaries have been vaccinated till 6 pm today as per the provisional reports, according to ANI. He adds that no case of severe/serious adverse events have been attributed to vaccination till date.
8.52 pm: Delhi reports 228 new coronavirus cases today, taking its tally to 6,33,049, according to ANI. With 10 more deaths, the toll stands at 10,774. As many as 6,20,128 people have recovered from the infection in the city.
7.06 pm: Uttarakhand receives its second consignment of over 90,000 Covishield vaccines from the Centre, reports PTI.
7.04 pm: Andhra Pradesh records 173 new coronavirus cases on Wednesday, taking the state’s tally of infections to 8,86,418, reports PTI. The number of deaths remain unchanged at 7,142 as no new fatality was recorded in 24 hours.
7 pm: Kerala registers 6,185 new coronavirus cases in 24 hours, reports ANI.
6.58 pm: Karnataka registers 501 new coronavirus cases, taking the state’s total to 9,33,578, reports ANI. The toll goes up by four to 12,185.
5.05 pm: A 42-year-old health worker in Telangana has died today, a day after he was vaccinated against the coronavirus, reports The Indian Express. The state government says the death is not linked to the vaccine shot, without the postmortem report.
“Preliminary findings suggest that the dead seems to be unrelated to the vaccination,” says a statement issued by the Director of Public Health and Welfare. “As per the guidelines, postmortem will be conducted by a team of doctors.”
3.57 pm: External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar says the dispatch of vaccines to the neighbouring countries reflects “our special friendship”.
1.48 pm: India’s active cases fall below 2 lakh after nearly seven months, the Union health ministry says.
1.45 pm: Tamil Nadu Congress President KS Alagiri requests Prime Minister Narendra Modi to get inoculated and clear citizens’ doubts about the safety of the doses, India Today reports.
12.34 pm: The World Health Organization says the United Kingdom coronavirus strain has been found in at least 60 countries, AFP reports.
12.26 pm: The United Nations says it is working closely with India as it undertakes the world’s largest coronavirus vaccination drive, PTI reports.
“We are also providing technical assistance, including helping to ensure cold-chain equipment for the vaccines,” Stephane Dujarric, the spokesperson for UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres adds.
11.31 am: The Dominican Republic, in urgent need of vaccines, requests India to provide it 70,000 doses, Hindustan Times reports.
“As we enter 2021 and persevere in our fight against Covid-19, Dominica’s population of 72,100 is in urgent need of enough doses of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine,” the country’s Prime Minister Roosevelt Skerrit writes in his letter to his Indian counterpart Narendra Modi. “I, therefore, request, with great humility and respect, that you assist us by donating the doses we need to make our population safe (optimally 70,000 first and second doses).”
10.58 am: As many as 1,597 health workers got inoculated in Mumbai on Tuesday as the vaccination drive resumed after certain technical glitches, Hindustan Times reports.
10.56 am: Germany extends lockdown till February 14 amid concerns over mutant coronavirus strains, Reuters reports.
10.51 am: Around 1,000 doses of the Covishield vaccine have been found to be damaged or frozen at a cold storage at the Silchar Medical College and Hospital in Assam’s Cachar district, India Today reports. The health department asks the hospital for a report.
10.48 am: Britain on Tuesday registered a record 1,610 coronavirus deaths, though the number of new cases declined, AFP reports.
10.44 am: Delhi health officials on Tuesday said that 1,000 vaccine doses had been wasted so far, Hindustan Times reports.
“As per the guidelines, vials of both Covishield or Covaxin have to be used and discarded within four hours of being opened,” an unidentified official told the newspaper. “Each Covishield vial has 10 doses, and the low turnout is only adding to the wastage.”
10.39 am: The Indian Council of Medical Research says vaccine recipients will be followed up with for three months after they get the second dose, ANI reports.
9.53 am: The health ministry allows on-spot registration of beneficiaries for vaccination, Hindustan Times reports. This has been done to address the problem of low turnout for vaccination.
9.38 am: India registers 13,823 new cases on Wednesday, taking the overall count to 1,05,95,660. The new cases are 37.3% higher than Tuesday’s count. The country’s toll rises by 162 to 1,52,718. India’s active cases stand at 1,97,201, while the number of recoveries reach 1,02,45,741.
9.23 am: Karnataka Health Minister K Sudhakar says healthcare workers in the state will not be allowed to choose between coronavirus vaccines, NDTV reports. Resident doctors had expressed doubts about the safety and efficacy of Covaxin and demanded that they be allowed a choice between it and Serum Institute’s Covishield.
9.19 am: The Serum Institute of India on Tuesday responded to a lawsuit filed against it by a pharmaceutical company over the vaccine brand name Covishield, PTI reports. Serum Institute said that both the companies dealt with different categories of products and there was no scope for confusion over the trademark.
9.15 am: India begins exporting coronavirus vaccines on Wednesday. Apart from Bhutan, Maldives and Bangladesh will be among the first neighbouring countries to receive the inoculations, according to Hindustan Times. The vaccines will also be sent to Nepal, Myanmar and Seychelles.
Here are the top updates from Tuesday:
- India reported 10,064 new cases, taking its tally to 1,05,81,837. This was the lowest daily count in seven months. The country’s toll rose by 137 to 1,52,556. The daily death count was the lowest in about eight months. India’s active cases stood at 2,00,528, while the number of recoveries reached 1,02,28,753.
- The Centre expressed concern about “vaccine hesitancy” among healthcare workers, with NITI Aayog Member (Health) VK Paul saying that doctors, nurses and other frontline workers should fulfil their “social responsibility” by getting inoculated. The government added that 6,31,417 people had been vaccinated so far.
- The number of coronavirus cases in Lakshadweep Islands rose to 14 on Tuesday, a day after the Union Territory reported its first coronavirus case.
- Bharat Biotech advised people not to take the coronavirus vaccine if they have allergies, fever or bleeding disorder or are on blood thinners. In a fact sheet about the process involved and who should avoid taking the vaccine, the Hyderabad-based pharmaceutical firm added pregnant and breastfeeding women to the list of people who should avoid taking Covaxin shots.
- The Tamil Nadu government reopened schools for classes 10 and 12 after a gap of over nine months.