Haryana govt allows opening of cinema halls, theatres, multiplexes with 50 pc seating capacity

Nagaland on Friday logged 130 new COVID-19 cases, 19 more than the previous day, with the tally rising to 34,189, a health official said. The death toll rose to 713 as four more patients in Dimapur district succumbed to the disease, the highest single-day count for the current year, he said. At least 63 people recuperated from the disease in the last 24 hours, taking the total number of recoveries to 31,193. The recovery rate among coronavirus patients stood at 91.23 per cent.

Tamil Nadu on Friday added 26,533 new Covid-19 infections, pushing the caseload to 32,79,284, while 48 more deaths took the death toll to 37,460, the health department said. Recoveries eclipsed new infections with 28,156 people getting discharged in the last 24 hours, aggregating to 30,29,961 leaving 2,11,863 active infections, a medical bulletin said. Chennai accounted for the majority of new coronavirus infections with 5,246 followed by Coimbatore 3,448, Tiruppur 1,779, Chengalpet 1,662, Salem 1,387, Erode 1,261, while the remaining was spread across other districts. A total of 1,45,376 samples were tested in the last 24 hours, pushing the cumulative number of specimens examined to 6,13,46,285, the bulletin said.

Telangana on Friday reported 3,877 new COVID-19 cases, pushing the tally to 7,54,976, while the death toll rose to 4,083 with two more fatalities. The Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) accounted for the most cases with 1,189, followed by Medchal Malkajgiri (348) and Ranga Reddy (241) districts, the bulletin said, providing details as of 5.30 PM today. It said 2,981 people recovered from the infection on Friday. The cumulative number of recoveries till date was 7,10,479. Active cases stood at 40,414, the bulletin said. It said 1,01,812 samples were examined today and the total number tested till date was 3,18,77,830. The samples tested per million population were 8,56,470. 

Rajasthan on Friday logged 8,125 fresh coronavirus cases and 21 more deaths, according to health department data. Of the fresh cases, Jaipur reported 2,300, Jodhpur 707, Udaipur 657, Bharatpur 478, Kota 458 and Alwar 408, the data showed.

31198 new cases of COVID19,death of 50 patients,71092 discharges & 197361 vaccinated in Karnataka today.Out of 31198,15199 cases are from Bengaluru.Till date,3723694 positive cases have been confirmed in the state,it includes 3396093 discharges & 38804 deaths+29 deaths due to  non covid cause. Among 288767 active cases in the state,160178 are from Bengaluru.

The COVID-19 tally in Nashik in Maharashtra reached 4,61,984 on Friday after 2,696 cases were detected, while the death of five patients took the toll to 8,797, an official said. So far, 4,36,115 people have recovered, including 2,900 during the day, leaving the district with an active tally of 17,972, he said. 

The COVID-19 tally in Madhya Pradesh touched 9,41,456 on Friday after the detection of 7,763 cases, while the toll increased to 10,602 after five patients died in the last 24 hours, a health department official said. The positivity rate dipped to 10.8 per cent on Friday from 11.9 per cent the previous day, he said. The recovery count stood at 8,62,909 after 11,016 people recovered during the day, leaving the state with an active caseload of 67,945, he said.
Bhopal and Indore, the two worst coronavirus-hit cities of Madhya Pradesh, registered 1,498 and 1,857 cases, respectively, during the past 24 hours, he added.

Mumbai on Friday reported 1,312 new coronavirus infections and ten fatalities, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) said in a release.
It took the caseload in the country's financial capital to 10,43,059, and death toll to 16,591. New cases declined for the tenth straight day. On Thursday, 1,384 new COVID-19 cases and 12 deaths had been reported in Mumbai. Also, the Dharavi area, one of the largest slum sprawls in Asia, recorded zero new cases on Friday after a gap of over a month, officials said. The city's positivity rate, however, increased to 4.47 per cent from 3.32 per cent the day before.

 Three petitions seeking resumption of physical classes in educational institutions of West Bengal were taken up by the Calcutta High Court on Thursday.
The state government told the division bench presided by Chief Justice Prakash Shrivastava that it was willing to reopen schools and colleges, but a call would be taken once the COVID-19 situation is properly analysed. Hearing of the petitions, filed by a teacher, a student and a lawyer, were adjourned till February 14, when the state will be informing the court on its plan to reopen the educational institutions.

Ten more cases of the Omicron variant of the coronavirus have been reported in Himachal Pradesh, taking the total count to 25, a health official said on Friday. Initially, Omicron cases were reported only from international arrivals, but now they are being recorded in the community, he said.
The senior official said that 127 whole genome sequencing (WGS) reports were received from the National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC), Delhi, on Friday. Of these WGS samples, mutations were found in 10 samples and all these samples have been found positive for Omicron, he added.
Nine Omicron cases are from Kangra district and one from Mandi district, he added.

The number of COVID-19 cases in Kerala continued to rise unabated, with the state reporting 54,537 cases on Friday taking the infection count to 58,81,133. According to the health department, 352 deaths were reported, pushing the death toll to 52,786. Among the latest fatalities, 94 were recorded over the last few days, while 258 were designated as COVID-19 deaths after receiving appeals based on the new guidelines of the Centre and the directions of the Supreme Court.

The body of a 24-year-old trainee engineer was found inside the bathroom of the National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC) hostel in Greater Noida, police said on Friday. According to officials, it appeared to be a case of suicide as there was no visible wound mark on the body, but the cause of death was yet to be ascertained.

“The incident took place late Thursday night at the NTPC hostel under the Jarcha police station limits,” a police spokesperson said.

“The deceased has been identified as a native of Odisha. He was trainee engineer and was found positive for COVID-19 during a medical test,” the spokesperson said.

The relatives of the deceased have been informed and the body sent for post-mortem, police said, adding further legal proceedings were being carried out.

Daily COVID-19 cases continued to dip in Odisha, where 5,057 more people tested positive on Friday, 844 less than the previous day, the health department said. 

As many as 667 children are among the newly infected, it said in a bulletin. The coronavirus tally stood at 12,36,226, while 10 fresh fatalities pushed the death toll to 8,560. Fifth-three coronavirus patients have died of comorbidities in the past, the bulletin said. The state had logged 5,901 single-day cases and eight deaths on Thursday. A week ago, it had reported 9,833 fresh infections.

Russian authorities on Friday reported over 98,000 new confirmed coronavirus cases, but according to the Kremlin, the actual number is likely to be much higher as the highly contagious omicron variant continues to rage through the vast country.
Russia's state coronavirus task force on Friday registered 98,040 new infections tallied over the past 24 hours — another all-time high for the country that in recent weeks has faced its biggest surge of contagions in the pandemic.

Thai health authorities approved new guidelines Friday outlining the parameters for declaring the coronavirus pandemic an endemic disease.
Official figures show that the country already meets the three criteria, but Ministry of Public Health spokesman Rungrueng Kitphati said it would still be between six months and a year before the government would be able to make the decision to start treating COVID-19 as an illness that is here to stay, like the flu or measles.

Among other things, he said data from all of Thailand's provinces need to be checked, and authorities need to be sure that the figures remain at the current levels or improve before it can be declared endemic.

The guidelines drawn up by the ministry's National Communicable Disease Committee are made up of three criteria: that there are fewer than 10,000 new cases per day; that the fatality rate is no higher than 0.1 per cent of those who are admitted to the hospital with an infection; and that more than 80 per cent of at-risk people have had at least two vaccinations.

Currently, Thailand's daily new cases range between 7,000-9,000, and the fatality rate, which was more than 3 per cent in the beginning of the pandemic, has declined to 0.1 per cent, and more than 80 per cent of at-risk people have been fully vaccinated, Rungrueng said.

South Korea plans next month to add hundreds of small neighbourhood hospitals and clinics to treat the thousands more people expected to get COVID-19 during a developing omicron surge. Health officials announced the plans Friday as South Korea's daily cases reached a new high for a fourth straight day. The 16,096 new infections were double the number reported Monday. Experts say an omicron-driven surge could continue for five to eight weeks and push daily cases to over 100,000. Officials have scrambled to reshape the country's pandemic response, including increasing at-home treatments, reducing quarantine periods and expanding the use of rapid testing kits while mostly saving lab tests for high-risk groups.

Chennai police commissioner Shankar Jiwal on Friday tested positive for COVID-19, police said. Following the test result, he has isolated himself at his residence, police sources said.

Delhi has vaccinated more than 76 percent of the teenagers aged between 15 and 18 against COVID-19, with northwest district inoculating the maximum number of beneficiaries in this cohort. According to data from the Centre's CoWIN dashboard, 7.74 lakh beneficiaries in this age group received their first dose of Covid vaccine by January 26. There are around 10.18 lakh teenagers aged between 15 and 18 in Delhi. The central government had rolled out vaccinations for adolescents on January 3. Southwest Delhi has administered first dose to 1,03,921 adolescents. As many as 1,02,425 have taken jabs in northwest Delhi, 78,107 in northeast Delhi, 77,532 in west Delhi and 73,070 in Southeast Delhi. Authorities in east Delhi have inoculated 68,887 teenagers, while 66,228 have taken their first dose in north Delhi, 55,324 in Shahdara, 54,385 in South Delhi, 48,940 in Central Delhi and 45,646 in New Delhi.

Drugs Controller General of India (DCGI) gives permission to Bharat Biotech for intranasal booster dose trials. 

Parental vaccination against COVID-19 confers substantial protection to children residing in the same household, according to a study that reinforces the importance of immunisation to curb the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic, and protect those who cannot be vaccinated. A team of researchers from Harvard University, US, Clalit Research Institute and Tel-Aviv University in Israel, analysed one of the world’s largest integrated health record databases to examine the indirect protection provided to unvaccinated children. The study, published in the journal Science on Thursday, shows that not only is a vaccinated parent less likely to experience a documented infection, they are also less likely to transmit the infection to other household members if infected. "Vaccination not only provides direct protection, it also provides indirect protection to unvaccinated individuals living with the vaccinated individuals in the same household," said Samah Hayek, senior researcher at Clalit Research Institute. "This study highlights the indirect protection provided by vaccinated parents to their unvaccinated children, irrespective of household size or the child's age, for both the Alpha and the Delta variants,” Hayek said. Between June and October 2021, a wave of infections dominated by the Delta variant swept through Israel.

US drug maker Moderna has started trial of a Covid booster vaccine that specifically targets the Omicron variant, the company has announced. This is after Pfizer began an Omicron-specific trial early this week. The company expect to have the shots ready by March. Moderna, in a statement, said that the first participant in the phase two trial has already received a dose of the omicron-specific booster shot. The company expects to enroll about 600 adult participants ages 18 and over split equally between two groups. Participants in the first group will have previously received two-doses of Moderna's original vaccine, and participants in the second group will have previously received the two-dose vaccine and the currently authorised booster shot. Participants in both groups will receive a single dose of the omicron specific booster. The US drug maker also announced the publication of neutralising antibody data against the Omicron variant six months following a booster dose in The New England Journal of Medicine. While Omicron neutralisation had declined 6.3-fold from peak titers at day 29 post-boost, levels remained detectable in all participants. Neutralising titers against Omicron declined more rapidly than titers against the ancestral strain of the virus (D614G) which declined 2.3-fold over the same time period, the company said. The company is reassured that the neutralising antibodies against Omicron remain detectable after half a year, said CEO Stephane Bancel, in the statement.

Over 1 crore precaution doses have been administered to the eligible population in just 19 days: Union Health Minister Dr Mansukh Mandaviya.

Ladakh reported 133 fresh Covid cases, taking the tally to 25,348, while the active cases in the union territory came down to 1,250 with 191 more people recovering from the disease, officials said Friday. The union territory has recorded 223 Covid-related deaths- 164 in Leh and 59 in Kargil- since the outbreak of the pandemic nearly two years ago, they said. No fresh death was reported from the union territory, they said. As many as 191 patients recovered from the disease and were discharged from hospitals, they said. With this, the total number of recoveries has reached 23,875, they said. With this, the total number of COVID-19 active cases in Ladakh has come down to 1,250 including 953 in Leh and 297 in Kargil district.

COVID situation is normal. There are fewer deaths and hospitalization. We will take stricter action in the coming days including barring the entry of unvaccinated people into government offices; will take a decision soon on reopening of schools: Rajasthan Health Minister Parsadi Lal Meena.

Arunachal Pradesh's COVID-19 tally rose to 61,247 on Friday as 455 people tested positive for the infection, 261 more than the previous day, a senior health official said here. The northeastern state had recorded 194 cases on Thursday, the official said. The death toll increased to 285 as a 60-year-old woman patient succumbed to the infection at a health facility here, State Surveillance Officer (SSO) Dr Lobsang Jampa said. The Capital Complex region registered the highest number of 142 new cases, followed by 33 in Lohit and 31 in East Siang district, he said. The state now has 3,332 active cases, while 57,630 people have recovered from the disease so far, including 431 on Thursday, the SSO said, adding that the recovery rate stood at 94.09 per cent. The administration has thus far tested over 12.33 lakh samples for COVID-19, including 2,062 on Thursday, the official said, adding that the positivity rate stood at 22.06 per cent.

With the administration of over 57 lakh vaccine doses in the last 24 hours, India's cumulative COVID-19 vaccination coverage has exceeded 164.44 crore, Union Health Ministry said on Friday. The Ministry, in a press release, said, "More than 57 lakh doses (57,35,692) vaccine doses in the last 24 hours, India's COVID-19 vaccination coverage has exceeded 164.44 crore (1,64,44,73,216) as per provisional reports till 7 am today."This has been achieved through 1,79,63,318 sessions. As per the Ministry, 4,43,89,137 doses of vaccines have been administered to beneficiaries of age group 15-18 years, and 1,03,41,442 as precaution doses.Further, the release informed that 3,47,443 patients have recovered in the last 24 hours, and the cumulative tally of recovered patients, since the beginning of the pandemic, is now at 3,80,24,771.2,51,209 also new COVID cases were reported in the last 24 hours, taking India's active caseload to 21,05,611."While testing capacity has been enhanced across the country, weekly positivity rate in the country currently stands at 17.47 per cent and the daily positivity rate is also reported to be 15.88 per cent," the Ministry said.The last 24 hours saw a total of 15,82,307 COVID tests. India has so far conducted over 72.37 crore (72,37,48,555) cumulative COVID tests.

India on Friday reported a marginal decline with 2,51,209 new Covid cases registered in the last 24 hours, the Union Health Ministry said on Friday. In the same time span, 627 additional fatalities were also reported which increased the nationwide death toll to 4,92,327. Meanwhile, the active caseload stood at 21,05,611, accounting for 5.18 per cent of the country's total positive cases. The recovery of 3,47,443 patients in the last 24 hours has increased the cumulative tally to 3,80,24,771. Consequently, the country's recovery rate stands at 93.60 per cent. Also in the same period, a total of 15,82,307 tests were conducted across the country, taking the total to 72.37 crore. The weekly positivity rate currently stands at 17.47 per cent, while the daily positivity rate has come down to 15.88 per cent. With the administration of over 57 lakh vaccine doses in the last 24 hours, India's Covid inoculation coverage reached 164.44 crore as of Friday morning.

New Zealand reported 105 new COVID-19 cases in the community on Friday, including 15 infections with the Omicron variant of the virus, bringing the total tally in the country's current community outbreak to 11,713.The newly reported community cases of COVID-19 included confirmed infections with the Omicron variant and those linked to a previously reported Omicron case, according to the Ministry of Health."The number of cases and contacts are expected to grow given the highly transmissible nature of Omicron and as we learn more from case interviews," the ministry said in a statement.The 105 new COVID-19 infections reported on Friday included 76 recorded in the largest city Auckland, five in nearby Waikato, nine in Bay of Plenty, and seven in the Lakes region, according to the ministry.

With the addition of 1,245 coronavirus positive cases, the infection count in Thane district of Maharashtra grew to 6,98,882 and the death of eight patients took the toll to 11,751, an official said on Friday. These new cases and fatalities were reported on Thursday, he said. Thane's COVID-19 mortality rate is 1.68 per cent. In neighbouring Palghar district, the caseload is now 1,61,360, while the death toll stood at 3,364, another official said.

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Amid an ongoing resurgence across the world, the global coronavirus caseload has topped 365.6 million, while the deaths have surged to more than 5.63 million and vaccinations to over 9.89 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 365,609,893 and 5,635,890, respectively, while the total number of vaccine doses administered has increased to 9,892,070,039. The US continues to be the worst-hit country with the world's highest number of cases and deaths at 73,401,269 and 878,335, according to the CSSE. The second worst hit country in terms of cases is India (40,371,500 infections and 491,700 deaths), followed by Brazil (24,789,795 infections and 625,390 deaths). The other countries with over 5 million cases are France (18,241,439), the UK (16,357,684), Turkey (11,250,107), Russia (11,217,423), Italy (10,539,601), Spain (9,660,208), Germany (9,335,854), Argentina (8,207,752), Iran (6,293,695) and Colombia (5,816,462), the CSSE figures showed.

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Mizoram reported 2,064 new COVID-19 cases in the last 24 hours, taking the total active cases in the state to 13,721, stated the state health bulletin on Friday.Currently, the positivity rate in the state is 27.32 per cent. Till now, the state has seen 591 deaths.Mizoram has seen a total of 1,67,725 COVID cases, stated the official release from the Department of Information and Public Relation, Mizoram.Meanwhile, India logged 2,86,384 new COVID-19 cases and 573 deaths in the last 24 hours, stated the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare on Thursday.

Kerala Health Minister Veena George on Thursday said that most of the positive COVID-19 samples, sent for the genome sequencing, are being tested positive for the Omicron variant of the virus while there are fewer Delta variant samples.Speaking to the reporters here, George said, "Continuous sequencing of Covid positive samples is being done. Almost 94 per cent of samples test positive for Omicron and 6 per cent for delta."George said: "It is now clear that the third wave in Kerala is the Omicron wave."

The number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in Brazil has increased by record 228,954 to more than 24.7 million within the past 24 hours, the National Ministry of Health said on late Thursday.

Kerala is witnessing a wave of Omicron infections, with cases of the highly contagious variant now on the rise, state Health Minister Veena George said on Thursday. "It is now clear that the third wave in Kerala is the Omicron wave," she told reporters here. The Minister said that the Omicron variant was found in 94 percent of samples of COVID-19 patients tested as part of surveillance in the state. Delta strain was detected in 6 per cent. As Kerala recorded 51,739 coronavirus cases on Thursday, she said sequencing of the COVID-19 samples of infected persons who came to Kerala from other places has revealed that 80 per cent of them have been affected by Omicron variant while 20 per cent were infected with Delta variant of the virus. The state logged 51,739 fresh COVID-19 cases on Thursday taking the caseload to 58.26 lakh. The state on Tuesday had registered 55,475 cases, the highest ever single day spike in the infection since the outbreak of the pandemic in 2020. The previous highest ever in a single day was recorded on January 20- 46,387. George said a COVID monitoring cell has been opened at her office to coordinate activities of various departments in their fight against the infection.

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has announced that he has been exposed to Covid-19 and will be self-isolating for five days, following guidance from Ottawa Public Health. In a tweet on Thursday, Trudeau said he learned about the exposure on Wednesday night. Noting that he took a rapid test and the result was negative, the Prime Minister said he is feeling fine and will be working from home. Trudeau's announcement came after he wrapped up a virtual cabinet retreat, but TV showed some ministers standing alongside Trudeau during an in-person press conference on Parliament Hill Wednesday night, Xinhua news agency reported. The ministers who appeared with the Prime Minister for the event were Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland, Foreign Affairs Minister Melanie Joly, and Defence Minister Anita Anand. So far, none of these ministers have indicated they are also in isolation. Trudeau will remain in self-isolation over the weekend when the so-called "freedom convoy" of truckers is set to arrive in the nation's capital city Ottawa. Trudeau decried the "fringe" views among those who are supporting the trucker convoy making its way to Parliament Hill to protest Covid-19 vaccine mandates and other policies that they feel infringe on their freedom. "The small fringe minority of people who are on their way to Ottawa who are holding unacceptable views that they are expressing do not represent the views of Canadians who have been there for each other, who know of that following the science and stepping up to protect each other is the best way to continue to ensure our freedoms, our rights, our values, as a country," Trudeau said Wednesday night.

Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik reviewed the COVID-19 situation and its management in the state with senior government officials via video conferencing, on January 27. 

Turkey's Health Ministry confirmed 82,180 new Covid-19 cases on Thursday, the highest daily figure on record, bringing the total number of infections in the country to 11,250,107. The death toll from the virus in Turkey rose by 174 to 86,661, while 83,225 more people recovered in the last 24 hours, Xinhua news agency quoted the ministry as saying. Turkey began its mass Covid-19 inoculation on January 14, 2021. More than 57.38 million people in Turkey have received their first doses of the vaccine, while more than 52.33 million have received their second doses. Turkey has so far administered more than 141.41 million doses, including the third booster jabs.

The Omicron variant of coronavirus has been found in 79 per cent of the samples from Delhi sequenced between January 1 and January 23, according to government data. The Delta variant, which drove the ferocious second wave of COVID-19 infections in April and May last year, was found in 13.70 per cent of the 2,503 samples sequenced during the period. The data showed that of the 863 samples sequenced between December 25 and December 31, around 50 per cent (433) carried Omicron, while 34 per cent (293) had the Delta variant. Across India, Omicron accounted for 75 per cent of the total samples sequenced in January, according to the National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC). Delhi had reported the first case of Omicron on December 5 -- a 37-year-old fully vaccinated man who had arrived from Tanzania. According to experts, mild symptoms, faster recovery and fewer fatalities typified the Omicron-driven third wave of the pandemic in the country and fewer patients needed medical care in hospitals. Also, unlike the Delta-driven second wave, Covid has not been the primary reason for most of the deaths this time.