The country recorded 3,30,836 new Covid-19 cases on Saturday, a 23.6% increase compared to a week ago. The total number of infections has reached 3.89 crore, and the active cases have crossed the 21.1 lakh mark.
You can track coronavirus cases, deaths and testing rates at the national and State levels here . A list of State Helpline numbers is available as well.
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Vice President Naidu tests positive for the 2nd time
Vice President M. Venkaiah Naidu has tested positive for Covid.
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This is for the second time that Mr. Naidu has been infected with the virus.
"Vice President M. Venkaiah Naidu, who is in Hyderabad, tested COVID positive today. He has decided to remain in self-isolation for a week. He has advised all those who came in contact with him to isolate themselves and get tested," the Vice President Secretariat tweeted.
Karnataka achieves 100% first dose COVID vaccine coverage: Health minister
Karnataka on Sunday achieved 100% coverage of first dose of COVID-19 vaccine among its eligible population, Karnataka Health Minister Dr K Sudhakar said.
He also claimed that Karnataka became the first State in the country to achieve this feat.
"We made it! It took us exactly 1 year and 7 days to achieve 100% first dose coverage! Karnataka is the first state in the country (over 4 crore adult population) to achieve this feat! Kudos to all health workers and district administration on this stellar achievement!", Sudhakar tweeted.
According to the data shared by him, Gadag district achieved 105 per cent vaccination of its eligible population with the first dose whereas inoculation coverage in Bidar, Bagalkote and Vijayapura districts, was 104 per cent of the population. -- PTI
India's R-value further reduces, COVID-19 peak likely in next 14 days: IIT analysis
India's R-value which indicates the rate of spread of coronavirus has further reduced to 1.57 in the week from January 14-21 and the national peak of the third wave of the infection is expected to come in the next fortnight, according to a preliminary analysis by IIT Madras.
R-value indicates the number of people an infected person can spread the disease to. A pandemic is considered to end if this value goes below 1. -PTI
Lockdown in Tamil Nadu
Omicron in community transmission stage in India, dominant in multiple metros: INSACOG
The Omicron variant of COVID-19 is in the community transmission stage in India and has become dominant in multiple metros where new cases have been rising exponentially, the INSACOG has said in its latest bulletin.
It also said BA.2 lineage, an infectious sub-variant of Omicron, has been found in a substantial fraction in the country.
The INSACOG, in its January 10 bulletin that was released on Sunday, said while most Omicron cases so far have been asymptomatic or mild, hospitalisations and ICU cases have increased in the current wave and the threat level remains unchanged. -PTI
Sunday lockdown in Kerala, only emergency services allowed
The one-day lockdown to mitigate the rapid spread of the third wave of the COVID-19 pandemic in Kerala began on Sunday with only emergency services being operated in the state.
A high-level COVID review meeting had on Thursday decided that only essential services should be allowed on the two Sundays --January 23 and 30.
Shops selling essential items such as milk, newspaper, fish, meat, fruits and vegetables and provisions are allowed to function from 7 AM to 9 PM. -PTI
Bengal government to roll out open-air classes for primary school students
The West Bengal education department is all set to roll out a new initiative --'Paray Sikshalay' (neighborhood school) -- under which primary and pre-primary students of state-run schools will be given lessons in open spaces, an official here said on Sunday.
The project, having received the approval of state secretariat 'Nabanna', would be roping in para-teachers and primary school teachers to impart elementary education to students of classes 1 to 5. -PTI
COVID-19 death toll climbs to 4,89,409
India logged 3,33,533 new coronavirus infections, taking the total tally of COVID-19 cases to 3,92,37,264, according to the Union Health Ministry data updated on Sunday.
The active cases have increased to 21,87,205, while the death toll has climbed to 4,89,409 with 525 fresh fatalities, the data updated at 8 am stated.
The active cases comprise 5.57% per cent of the total infections, while the national COVID-19 recovery rate has decreased to 93.18%, the ministry said. -PTI
New Zealand adds new COVID restrictions as Omicron spreads
New Zealanders are set to face new COVID-19 restrictions after nine cases of the Omicron variant were detected in a single family that flew to Auckland for a wedding earlier this month, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern announced Sunday.
The so-called “red setting” of the country's pandemic response includes heightened measures such as required mask wearing and limits on gatherings, and the restrictions will go into effect on Monday. -AP
Kerala govt asks private hospitals to set aside 50% beds for COVID patients
Amid surging coronavirus cases in Kerala, the health department on Saturday instructed private hospitals in the state to set aside 50 per cent of beds for COVID-19 patients.
The department asked private hospitals to hand over details of daily admissions in the ICUs, use of ventilators and beds to the District Medical Officers.
"The private hospitals need to submit their daily admissions in hospitals including the number of occupants in the ICUs and use of ventilators to the DMOs concerned. Those hospitals which refuse to handover the data will face strict action," Health Minister Veena George said in a release. -PTI
COVID-19 casts shadow on three major events in Feb
The rapid rise in COVID-19 cases has cast a shadow on three major events that are scheduled to take place in February.
To begin with, there is the much-awaited T20 cricket match between India and the West Indies, to be played at Dr. Y.S Rajasekhara Reddy ACA-VDCA Stadium on February 18.
Stop random testing, focus on symptomatic persons: TAC
With the pandemic raging like wildfire across the country and the Indian Council of Medical research (ICMR) advising States on purposive testing for COVID-19, Karnataka’s Technical Advisory Committee (TAC) has recommended that the State should go slow on testing. The committee has also advised the State to stop random testing and focus only on symptomatic persons.
Although the TAC has advised that the daily number of tests should be around 1.5 lakh in the State (75,000 in Bengaluru and 75,000 in rest of Karnataka), over two lakh tests are being conducted daily from January 18 onwards. Sources in the TAC said increasing the daily tests at this stage when the transmission is very high is nothing but suicidal.
Police resume COVID campaign in remote villages
After a gap of six months, the police on Friday resumed the COVID-19 awareness campaign in Bangarupalem mandal, covering about 42 villages, mostly located in remote and forest-fringe areas.
COVID-19 vaccination linked with fewer deaths
Fresh data of deaths between October 2021 and January 16, 2022, indicate that just over 80% occurred in individuals who were not vaccinated at all or had only a single dose. Of this, the percentage of completely unvaccinated individuals is 68.1 among a total of 1,411 deaths in that period.
The greatest impact of no vaccination has been in the over 50 years age group with co-morbidities, as it was in data from August to October 2021. Nearly 811 deaths of the total belong to this age group. The next group most affected is the under 50 years age cohort, again with co-morbidities — with a count of 80 deaths. These two categories account for over 63% of the total deaths. Whereas, people of both age groups (over 50 - 40 and under 50 - 30) who did not have any co-morbidities have suffered deaths too, but significantly lower.
Markets witness usual crowd ahead of lockdown
Vegetable markets across the district on Saturday witnessed usual crowd ahead of the total lockdown on Sunday.
The State government has announced lockdown from 10 p.m. Saturday to 5 a.m. Monday, as a measure to contain the spread of COVID-19.
There was usual crowd at the Nethaji vegetable market and uzhavar sandhai on Saturday. Traders said that business was normal. Prices of vegetables have fallen by 40% to 50% when compared to the prices that prevailed during the first week of January. Traders said that only on January 7, the crowd was high as people purchased in bulk fearing extension of lockdown.