Omicron variant: New Covid cases decreasing in Bihar for 4 days

The Assam government on Friday banned all cultural programmes, award functions and participation of school children in the ensuing Republic Day celebrations in the state in view of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Issuing an order, Chief Secretary Jishnu Barua said the Republic Day programme will be limited to National Flag hoisting, speech by the guest of honour and ceremonial parade only.

Hit by the third wave of the pandemic that led to massive cancellations of domestic flights and extension of the ban on scheduled international flights till the end of the next month, the airports are set to see a 10-percentage-point fall in their revenue recovery this fiscal to 52 per cent of the pre-pandemic level, according to a report.
"Given the massive disruptions to domestic passenger traffic and the extension of the ban on regular international flights, we moderate our revenue recovery estimates for airports to 52 per cent of pre-COVID-19 level as against 62 per cent earlier for the current fiscal," ICRA said in a note without offering absolute revenue numbers.

Continuing to register a surge in cases, Karnataka on Friday logged 48,049 new cases of COVID-19, and 22 fatalities, taking the tally to 34,25,002 and the death toll to 38,537.
The state had recorded 47,754 fresh infections on Thursday.
Of the new cases today, 29,068 were from Bengaluru Urban that saw 7,196 people being discharged and 6 virus-related deaths.
The total number of active cases across the state is now at 3,23,143.
There were 18,115 discharges, taking the total number of recoveries to 30,63,292, a health department bulletin said.

Gujarat reported 21,225 new COVID-19 cases on Friday, a drop from its all-time high recorded a day ago, taking the tally to 10,22,788, while 16 more patients succumbed to the infection, the state health department said.
The tally was lower than the all-time high of 24,485 cases reported on Thursday but still the second highest spike since the outbreak of the pandemic in March 2020.
A total of 16 COVID-19 patients died during the day - eight in Ahmedabad, two in Vadodara, four in Surat, one each in Kheda and Bhavnagar -- increasing the tally of fatalities to 10,215, said the department in a release.

Rajasthan on Friday recorded 16,878 fresh COVID-19 cases, the sharpest single-day rise in eight months, and 15 deaths due to the viral disease, according to a health department bulletin. While Jaipur reported 4,035 fresh cases, Jodhpur logged 2,222, Alwar 1,371, Bharatpur 898, Udaipur 857, Chittorgarh 682, Ajmer 657, Kota 594 and Pali 504, the bulletin stated.

Of the latest deaths, three were reported from Jaipur, two each from Ajmer and Bikaner, and one each from Barmer, Bharatpur, Dausa, Nagaur, Pali, Rajsamand, Sikar and Tonk, it said. So far, 9,059 people have succumbed to COVID-19 in Rajasthan. According to the bulletin, 84,787 COVID-19 patients are undergoing treatment in the state. As many as 10,175 more people have recovered from the viral disease.

A day after the Kerala government imposed fresh restrictions to contain rising COVID-19 cases in the State, Health Minister Veena George on Friday said 100 per cent of the targeted population above the age of 18 years have been given the first dose of vaccine and 83 per cent of the total population given both doses.Over five crore doses have been given to people belonging to various categories and it was significant to achieve this feat at a time when the pandemic is surging, she told reporters here. "The goal was achieved through a special vaccination drive keeping in focus the third wave of the pandemic. The vaccine doses have been allotted by the Centre after calculating the population above the age of 18 to be 2,67,09,000," George said.

Authorities on Friday afternoon imposed restrictions on the non-essential movement of people across Kashmir as a 64-hour lockdown began in the union territory in view of an exponential rise in the number of coronavirus cases since the beginning of the new year, officials said. Jammu and Kashmir on Thursday recorded 5992 fresh cases of coronavirus -- the highest single day spike since the pandemic began. There are 31,044 active cases in the UT
Police vehicles fitted with public address systems announced the restrictions at several places across the valley in the afternoon after the government ordered complete restriction on non-essential movement during from 2 pm on Friday till 6 am on Monday in the entire Jammu and Kashmir, the officials said.

Sikkim's COVID-19 tally rose to 36,421 on Friday as 323 more people tested positive for the infection, 45 less than the previous day, a health bulletin said.
The Himalayan state's coronavirus death toll rose to 419 as two more patients succumbed to the infection. East Sikkim district recorded the highest number of 243 new cases, followed by 42 in West Sikkim, 31 in South Sikkim and seven in North Sikkim, it said.

Sikkim now has 2,457 active cases, while 33,023 people have recovered from the disease, and 522 patients have migrated to other states so far. The state has tested 2,99,001 samples for COVID-19 so far, including 1,223 in the last 24 hours. The daily positivity rate stood at 26.4 per cent, while the recovery rate was at 92 per cent, it added. 

Nepal's capital shut schools, ordered citizens to carry vaccination cards in public, banned religious festivals and instructed hotel guests to be tested every three days as it battles its biggest COVID-19 outbreak. The chief government administrator of Kathmandu issued a notice on Friday saying all people must carry their vaccination cards when they are in public areas or shop in stores.

Nepal, however, has only fully vaccinated 41 per cent of its population. The notice did not say how unvaccinated people will be able to pay utility bills or shop for groceries. The government says it has enough vaccines in stock, but a new wave of COVID-19 cases propelled by the omicron variant has created long lines at vaccination centers, with many people unable to receive shots.

Poland's deputy health minister said Friday the nation hit a COVID-19 pandemic record of 36,665 new infections reported in 24 hours.
Waldemar Kraska said that 1,390 among the new cases were confirmed as caused by the highly contagious omicron variant. Health care authorities are expecting up to 50,000 new daily infections next week, saying the fifth wave will be a tough challenge to the system, which has some 31,000 hospital beds prepared for coronavirus patients.

Many medics are saying the already overloaded system is not prepared to handle so many cases, especially under staff shortages and exhaustion.
There were 248 deaths among coronavirus patients reported Friday, a significant drop from almost 800 daily in late December. The have been over 103,000 deaths in Poland since the start of the pandemic.
The vaccination rate is almost 57% in this nation of some 38 million, and some 9 million people have received booster shots.

Pakistan on Friday recorded its highest single-day increase in COVID-19 cases since the start of the pandemic with 7,678 new patients, showing a worrying spike as the country struggles to contain the fifth wave of the contagion. The country has reported 23 fatalities, taking the death toll to 29,065, according to the Ministry of National Health Services. At the same time, the number of positive cases surged to 13,53,479, it said.

The previous highest of 6,825 was reported on June 13, 2020, the ministry data showed. The first coronavirus patient was detected in February, 2020.
The COVID-19 positivity ratio has reached 12.93 per cent, the ministry reported, adding that 12,65,665 patients have recovered whereas 961 are in a critical condition.

A team of researchers has identified several factors that can be measured at the initial point of COVID-19 diagnosis that anticipate if a patient is likely to develop long COVID.The study has been published in the 'Cell Journal'.A significant portion of people who contract the SARS-CoV-2 virus - some estimates suggest more than 40 per cent - suffer chronic effects known as Post Acute Sequelae of COVID-19 (PASC), commonly referred to as long COVID. PASC symptoms include fatigue, brain fog, loss of taste and smell, shortness of breath, and more.These "PASC factors" are the presence of certain autoantibodies, pre-existing Type 2 diabetes, SARS-CoV-2 RNA levels in the blood, and Epstein-Barr virus DNA levels in the blood.

As he starts his second term as U.N. secretary-general, Antonio Guterres said Thursday the world is worse in many ways than it was five years ago because of the COVID-19 pandemic,the climate crisis and geopolitical tensions that have sparked conflicts everywhere- but unlike US President Joe Biden he thinks Russia will not invade Ukraine. Guterres said in an interview with The Associated Press that the appeal for peace he issued on his first day in the U.N.'s top job on Jan. 1, 2017 and his priorities in his first term of trying to prevent conflicts and tackle global inequalities, the COVID-19 crisis and a warming planet haven't changed.

Arunachal Pradesh registered 449 fresh COVID-19 cases on Friday, its highest single-day spike for January so far, as the tally climbed to 58,271, a senior health department official said. The death toll remained at 282 as no fresh fatality was reported in the past 24 hours, State Surveillance Officer (SSO) Lobsang Jampa said. The northeastern state had on Thursday logged 435 infections. It has been witnessing a spurt in coronavirus cases since January 4, with 2,919 new cases reported since then. Out of Friday’s count, 172 cases were registered in the Capital Complex Region, 47 from Namsai, Papumpare (40), West Kameng (35), Changlang (29), Lohit (28), East Siang (22) and West Siang (18), the official said.

Director-General of the World Health Organization (WHO) Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus has issued a warning to world leaders that the Covid-19 pandemic "is nowhere near over". The WHO chief cautioned against the assumption that the newly dominant Omicron variant is significantly milder and has eliminated the threat posed by the virus, the BBC reported. The intervention comes as some European nations saw record new case numbers. Speaking during a news conference at the WHO headquarters in Geneva, Tedros told reporters that the Omicron variant had led to 18 million new infections across the world over the past week. While the variant may prove to be less severe on average, "the narrative that it is a mild disease is misleading", he said. "Make no mistake, Omicron is causing hospitalisations and deaths, and even the less severe cases are inundating health facilities."

Weekly Covid-19 cases in Africa have dropped significantly and deaths dipped for the first time since the peak of the fourth wave of the pandemic propelled by the Omicron variant, said the World Health Organization (WHO). New cases fell by 20 per cent in the week ending on January 16, while deaths dropped by 8 per cent, Xinhua news agency quoted a statement issued by the WHO's Regional Office for Africa here. According to the WHO, South Africa, where Omicron was first sequenced, has recorded a downward trend over the past four weeks, while only north Africa reported an increase in cases over the past week, with a 55 per cent spike. The Omicron-fuelled pandemic wave has resulted in the lowest cumulative average case fatality ratio, the proportion of deaths among confirmed cases, to date in Africa, standing at 0.68 per cent compared with the three previous waves during which the case fatality ratio was above 2.4 per cent.

Puducherry witnessed a dip in number of daily cases of coronavirus with 2,528 infections being reported in the last twenty-four hours ending 10 am on Friday while the active cases increased. The new cases were identified at the end of examination of 6,093 samples. The active cases however shot up to 14,122 against 13,053 cases on Thursday. While 139 of the 14,122 active cases were in hospitals the remaining 13,983 cases were in home isolation.

The Delhi government has proposed lifting the weekend curfew, end odd-even system for opening of shops, and allow private offices to run with 50 per cent staff in the city, an official source said on Friday. The proposal approved by Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal has been sent to Lt Governor Anil Baijal for approval, they said. The decision to ease the restrictions was taken in view of declining number of COVID cases in the city, they said. Traders in many parts of the city have demanded lifting of the curbs including those imposed on shops selling non-essential items on alternate days based on odd-even system. The weekend curfew will be in place from 10 pm Friday and continue till Monday 5 am.

India's cumulative COVID-19 vaccination coverage has exceeded 160.43 crores after over 70 lakh vaccine doses were administered in the last 24 hours, said the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare on Friday.As per government data, 70,49,779 vaccine doses were administered in the last 24 hours. Consequently, the total vaccines administered have gone up to 1,60,43,70,484 as per provisional reports till 7 am today.This has been achieved through 1,72,80,628 sessions, the ministry said.The ministry also informed that 68,61,926 precautionary doses have been administered so far.

Karnataka Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai will chair a high-level meeting on Friday to take crucial decisions on easing the weekend and night curfews, as well as reopening of schools. In the last 24 hours, 47,754 new Covid cases were reported in Karnataka, of which Bengaluru logged the highest of 30,540 infections. However, the discharge of 22,143 patients in the state, 13,195 in Bengaluru and the lack of severity of the disease has influenced the decision makers to announce lifting of curbs. On January 18 and 19, 8,353 and 23,209 patients were discharged, respectively. Bommai and state Health Minister Sudhakar K said that pro-people decisions would be taken in the meeting and avoiding deaths is their only concern as pressure is mounting on the government from the business community, private school managements to ease restrictions. The private school managements are demanding reopening of schools in Bengaluru. In the rest of the state, schools are running and discretion is given to the concerned district commissioners to take calls.

More than 159.91 crore #COVID19 vaccine doses have been provided to States/UTs so far; over 12.73 crore balance & unutilized vaccine doses are still available with States/UTs to be administered: Union Health Ministry.

READ FULL STORY HERE:

Scientists in the Central Drug Research Institute (CDRI) in Lucknow are trying to develop another drug for Covid treatment without any side-effects. A team led by chief scientist Ravi Shankar, is working on two combinations to provide the safest medication to coronavirus patients. "Experts say that a combination of antivirals with different mechanisms can be more effective to counter the viral pandemic. We are working on two combinations - Umifenovir with Molnupiravir (an antiviral) and Umifenovir with Niclosamide (anti-parasitic)," he said. Molnupiravur drug has received only Emergency Use Authorisation in India and abroad. Though its usage showed reduced hospitalisation during clinical trials, its biggest drawback are the side-effects, he added.

Uttar Pradesh has crossed the 24-crore vaccination-mark with 24.27 crore doses having been administered till Thursday (January 20). The health officials said more than four crore doses have been administered in the 20 days of this year. This means that an average of 20 lakh doses were administered every day. On the national scale, the nearest contender to Uttar Pradesh is Maharashtra where 14.52 crore doses have been administered, followed by West Bengal (11.66 crore), Bihar (10.87 crore) and Madhya Pradesh (10.83 crore). Among all districts, Lucknow tops with 68.17 lakh doses while Prayagraj, Azamgarh, Jaunpur, Bareilly, Gorakhpur, Kanpur Nagar, Agra, Varanasi, and Ghaziabad have also administered over 50 lakh doses. Health officials said that 14.92 crore people in the state have taken the first dose of the vaccine. This includes over 70 lakh adolescents in addition to the 18 plus population. The total administered doses also include 6.50 lakh precaution doses given to health and frontline workers and elderly persons with comorbid conditions.

Amid an ongoing resurgence across the world, the global coronavirus caseload has topped 340.4 million, while the deaths have surged to more than 5.57 million and vaccinations to over 9.73 billion, according to Johns Hopkins University. In its latest update on Friday morning, the University's Center for Systems Science and Engineering (CSSE) revealed that the current global caseload and the death toll stood at 340,436,494 and 5,573,087, respectively, while the total number of vaccine doses administered has increased to 9,739,772,480. The US continues to be the worst-hit country with the world's highest number of cases and deaths at 69,270,650 and 860,145, according to the CSSE. The second worst hit country in terms of cases is India (38,218,773 infections and 487,693 deaths), followed by Brazil (23,595,178 infections and 622,476 deaths). The other countries with over 5 million cases are the UK (15,716,908), France (14,285,306), Russia (10,754,905), Turkey (10,736,215), Italy (9,418,256), Spain (8,834,363), Germany (8,397,340), Argentina (7,576,335) Iran (6,236,567) and Colombia (5,655,026), the CSSE figures showed. The nations with a death toll of over 100,000 are Russia (317,523), Mexico (302,112), Peru (203,750), the UK (153,708), Indonesia (144,199), Italy (142,590), Iran (132,152), Colombia (131,627), France (129,105), Argentina (118,809), Germany (116,372), Ukraine (105,380) and Poland (103,378).

Restaurants and bars will close early in Tokyo and a dozen other areas across Japan beginning Friday as Japan widens COVID-19 restrictions due to the omicron variant causing cases to surge to new highs in metropolitan areas. The restraint, which is something of a pre-state of emergency, is the first since September and is scheduled to last through February 13. With three other prefectures- Okinawa, Hiroshima and Yamaguchi- under similar measures since early January, the state of restraint now covers 16 areas, or one-third, of the country. While many Japanese adults are fully vaccinated against COVID-19, few have gotten a booster shot, which has been a vital protection from the highly contagious omicron variant of the coronavirus.

South Korea's daily coronavirus cases stayed over 6,000 for a second straight day on Friday amid concerns over the spread of the omicron variant ahead of the Lunar New Year holiday. The country added 6,769 new Covid-19 infections, including 6,482 local infections, raising the total caseload to 719,269, according to the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA). Health authorities are on high alert over a possible spike in infections as many people travel for family reunions during the Lunar New Year holiday that begins late this month. The daily caseload jumped to over 6,000 for the first time in 27 days Thursday after staying below 6,000 since December 24, when it stood at 6,233. The number of critically ill Covid-19 patients stood at 431 on Friday.

Beginning with Mizoram, the Centre on Thursday launched a Mobile Covid testing facility -- a first of its kind Mobile Diagnostic Laboratory (I-LAB) capable of performing both RT-PCR and ELISA tests -- for Northeast India. The mobile lab has bio-safety facility and is capable of performing both RT-PCR and ELISA tests. It can also be utilised for testing other infectious diseases like TB, HIV, and therefore will remain relevant even in post-Covid times. The Mobile Lab Technology will be rolled out gradually in other states of the Northeast as the region has unique climatic and topographical conditions. It has been developed with support from the Department of Biotechnology (DBT) under the Ministry of Science & Technology, government of India, and is meant to provide Covid testing access to rural and remote parts of Northeast, a release from the Ministry said. Union Minister of State for Science & Technology, Jitendra Singh, launched the mobile testing facility with Mizoram Chief Minister Pu Zoramthanga joining the ceremony online.

Taking cognisance of the rising COVID-19 cases in the union territory, Chief Secretary Arun Kumar Mehta on Thursday impressed upon all departments to permit a suitable percentage of the workforce to work from home. Mehta gave this direction during a meeting of the COVID task force to review the rising coronavirus cases in Jammu and Kashmir. He directed the strict implementation of the CAB and set protocols to break the chain of transmission. The chief secretary appealed to the public to remain indoors and avoid visiting crowded places, besides urging them to voluntarily declare micro-containment zones in the areas that are seeing a large number of positive cases. He said symptomatic people can avail of medical assistance and testing information by dialling the COVID emergency helpline number 104.

Indonesia has confirmed 2,116 new Covid-19 cases, the highest single-day rise since August 7 last year, amid the spread of the Omicron variant in the archipelago. The increase of infections has brought the total tally in the country to 4,277,644, Xinhua news agency reported, citing country's Health Ministry. In the past 24 hours, the death toll from Covid-19 in the country rose by seven to 144,199, while 577 more people recovered from the disease, bringing the total number of recoveries to 4,121,117. As the Indonesian government is accelerating its national vaccination programs to curb the spread of the virus, the country has administered over 302.88 million doses, more than 179.15 million people have received their first dose of vaccines, while over 122.37 million have taken the second dose. Indonesia started mass Covid-19 vaccinations in January last year.

Germany's seven-day Covid-19 incidence rate exceeded 600 for the first time as 638.8 new infections per 100,000 inhabitants were recorded, the Robert Koch Institute (RKI) for infectious diseases has said. Due to the more contagious Omicron variant that is spreading across Europe, daily infections in Germany also climbed to a new record as 133,536 cases were registered within 24 hours, around 52,000 more than a week ago, Xinhua news agency reported, citing the RKI. Minister of Health Karl Lauterbach warned that the peak of the Omicron wave in Germany was not reached yet. "The wave will roughly peak in mid-February," Lauterbach told broadcaster ZDF on Wednesday, expecting "several 100,000 cases per day."

Himachal Pradesh reported eight more cases of the Omicron variant of coronavirus Thursday, taking the total number to 15, a senior health official said on Thursday. He said initially, the Omicron variant was reported only from international arrivals, but now it is being recorded among the community also. A total of 156 samples of the patients found COVID positive from December 15 to December 31 were sent for whole genome sequencing (WGS) to the National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) Delhi, he added. Of the 156 samples, 43 reports were received on Thursday confirming mutations in 29 samples, he added. Of the 29 mutations, eight WGS samples have been found positive for the Omicron variant and 21 for the delta variant, he added.