With 12,885 people testing positive for coronavirus in a day, India's total tally of COVID-19 cases rose to 3,43,21,025, while the active cases were recorded at 1,48,579, according to the Union Health Ministry data updated on Thursday.
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.
Here are the latest updates :
South Korea buys 30 million doses of Pfizer's COVID-19 vaccine for 2022
South Korea on Friday purchased an additional 30 million doses of Pfizer/BioNTech's COVID-19 vaccine for 2022, the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency said in a statement. - Reuters
White House says it is still committed to finding COVID's origin
The White House said on Thursday that understanding the origins of COVID-19 remains a key focus of Biden administration and that they will continue pushing for answers.
"It's incredibly important for us to get to the bottom of this," said spokesperson Karine Jean-Pierre. "Time is of the essence" and the U.S. and its partners will continue to fight for transparency from China. - Reuters
Novavax completes process for WHO emergency use approval of COVID-19 vaccine
Vaccine developer Novavax Inc said on Thursday it has completed the submission process for emergency use listing of its COVID-19 vaccine candidate with the World Health Organization.
The company submitted to the health agency all modules required for the evaluation of NVX-CoV2373, its protein-based COVID-19 vaccine, days after receiving its first emergency use authorization from Indonesia.
The company is also expecting regulators in countries including India and the Philippines to decide on its vaccine within weeks. - Reuters
Former U.S. Rep. Collins dies at 82 after contracting COVID-19
Barbara-Rose Collins, who represented Detroit in Congress and served on its City Council, has died after contracting COVID-19. She was 82.
Collins’ family confirmed her death Thursday to The Detroit News, the newspaper reported.
Christopher Collins, 51, said his mother died around 2 a.m. Thursday. She had been vaccinated against the coronavirus, but still fell ill and was hospitalized before her death, he said. - AP
Moderna lowers forecast for 2021 COVID-19 vaccine deliveries
Moderna is scaling back expectations for the number of COVID-19 vaccine deliveries it expects to make this year and the revenue it will record from them.
The drugmaker said on Thursday that longer delivery lead times for exports and a temporary impact from expanding its fill-finish capacity may shift some deliveries to early 2022.
The company now expects full-year, 2021 product sales of between $15 billion and $18 billion.
That's down from a prediction for $20 billion in sales that it made in August. - AP
U.S. mandates vaccines or tests for big companies by January 4
Tens of millions of Americans who work at companies with 100 or more employees will need to be fully vaccinated against COVID-19 by January 4 or get tested for the virus weekly under the government rules issued on Thursday.
The new requirements, which were first previewed by President Joe Biden in September, will apply to about 84 million workers at medium and large businesses, although it is not clear how many of those employees are unvaccinated.
The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) regulations will force the companies to require that unvaccinated workers test negative for COVID-19 at least once a week and wear a mask while in the workplace. - AP
