Omicron Variant updates: Kerala's fresh Covid tally rises to 13,468, 117 deaths reported today

Maharashtra Health Minister Rajesh tope on Thursday said the state has sought additional stocks of Covaxin for providing precautionary or booster dose to co-morbid people aged above 60, health and frontline workers.

Tope, who participated in a virtual meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the prevailing COVID-19 situation in the country, later told reporters that the state has sought 40 lakh doses of Covaxin.

As per the Centre's guidelines, the home-grown vaccine manufactured by Bharat Biotech is the only one which is to be administered to teenagers in the 15 to 18 age group.

The minister said Maharashtra has also sought 50 lakh doses of Covishield for administering the precautionary dose. He said feedback from district authorities was that there was a shortage of Covaxin for the booster dose. Tope said the Centre should take steps to tackle vaccine hesitancy among people.

The minister said pharmacies have been asked to keep a record of people purchasing coronavirus home testing kits and provide information about the same to government authorities.

Six people succumbed to COVID-19 in Punjab on Thursday, while 6,083 fresh cases took the infection tally to 6,42,182, according to a medical bulletin.
A death each was reported from Patiala, Amritsar, Hoshiarpur, Ludhiana, Pathankot and Mohali, raising the the toll due to the pandemic to 16,708 in the state.

The number of active cases climbed to 30,384 from 26,781 on Wednesday. The state's positivity rate was 17.02 per cent. Of the fresh cases, 914 was recorded in Mohali, followed by 776 in Patiala, 731 in Amritsar, 670 in Ludhiana and 514 in Jalandhar.

All shopkeepers and their staff at Delhi's popular Sarojini Market have been administered both does of COVID-19 vaccine, making the shopping hub a "fully vaccinated" market, officials said on Thursday. 

The Chanakyapuri sub-divisional magistrate (SDM) on Thursday distributed certificates of "fully vaccinated market" to its five market associations.
Officials said that all the registered street vendors in the market have also been vaccinated. There are around 100 registered vendors authorised by the New Delhi Municipal Council. 

MP logs 4,031 new cases, three deaths; active tally at 17,652

Odisha recorded 10,059 fresh COVID-19 cases on Thursday, 14.6 per cent higher than the previous day and the biggest daily spike in over seven months, the state health department said. The toll mounted to 8,472 with three more fatalities - one each in Angul, Kendrapara and Nayagarh districts, a bulletin of the department said.

The daily test positivity rate (TPR) on Thursday increased to 12.41 per cent from 11.77 on the previous day, it said. The state had reported 11,623 coronavirus cases on May 26 last year and 8,778 on Wednesday. The new infections shot up by more than five-fold from 1,897 a week ago.

The caseload rose to 11.02 lakh, including 10.49 lakh recoveries as 949 patients recuperated in the last 24 hours, the bulletin said. As many as 872 children were among those who were found positive out of 81,065 samples tested in the past 24 hours, the bulletin said.

Over 56,000 eligible teenagers received their first COVID-19 vaccine doses in Delhi on Thursday, while more than 24,000 precaution shots were also administered, according to official figures.

The countrywide inoculation drive for the 15-18 age group started on January 3 while precaution shots rolled out on January 10. On January 13, a total of 56,389 children in the age bracket of 15-17 years were vaccinated across Delhi till 5.30 pm, the daily bulletin said. The North West district scored the highest number of inoculations till 5.30 pm on Thursday with 10,230 jabs, followed by the Southwest district with 6,629. Central Delhi district administered the lowest number of 2,879 vaccine doses to the eligible teenagers on Thursday, the data showed.

Goa reported 3,728 new coronavirus cases and four deaths on Thursday, the state health department said, while the positivity rate rose to more than 39 per cent.

With fresh additions, Goa's overall COVID-19 count rose to 2,00,824, while the death toll increased to 3,543, said a health department bulletin.
The positivity rate shot up to 39.41 per cent from 31.84 per cent on Wednesday.

Sunil Kumar (name changed) and his wife can't stop grieving the loss of their one-month-old girl to Covid.

The baby is among 97 people who lost the battle to coronavirus in the last four days. Of them, seven were aged below 18, including three who had not even turned a year old.

One of the babies was aged three months and the other seven months.

"We don't know how our little one contracted the infection. Neither me nor my wife had Covid," Kumar told PTI over phone. The names of the parents have been changed to protect the privacy of the families. 

Kumar is a resident of Wazirabad and had taken his daughter to Sant Parmanand Hospital for a check-up where she tested positive on January 7 and was admitted to LNJP Hospital the next day. She passed away on January 9.

Gujarat reported 11,176 fresh COVID cases, 4,285 recoveries and 5 deaths in the last 24 hours

Maharashtra | 329 police personnel tested positive for COVID in the last 48 hours. Total 126 personnel died so far; Active cases 1,102: Mumbai Police

Mumbai reported 13,702 fresh Covid-19 cases on Thursday and 6 deaths, according to an official statement by the city's municipal corporation. The active cases tally in the financial capital was recorded at 95,123. 

READ MORE | Mumbai logs 13,702 fresh cases today

Denmark will offer fourth coronavirus vaccination shots to risk groups and vulnerable citizens as the pandemic situation in the country has worsened due to the rapid spread of the omicron variant.

Danish Health Minister Magnus Heunicke said Wednesday that health authorities would offer fourth vaccine jabs to the “most vulnerable groups” such as those with weakened immune systems. Heunicke didn't say when the rollout of the fourth jab would begin in the country of 5.8 million. 

He stressed that while the omicron variant appears to be less dangerous than the previously dominant delta variant, it is not harmless. Effective January 16, Denmark will ease some of coronavirus restrictions as lawmakers agreed to reopen cinemas, entertainment parks, museums and theaters among other venues. Also, limited numbers of spectators will be allowed at indoor and outdoor sports events.

 Andhra Pradesh reported 4,348 fresh Covid-19 cases, taking the tally to 20,92,227 and the number of active cases to 14,204 on Thursday.
The day’s infection positivity rate was over 9 per cent as the state scaled up testing, with 47,884 samples screened in 24 hours.
The state had recorded 3,205 fresh cases yesterday.
The latest bulletin said, the total recoveries climbed to 20,63,516 as 261 more infected persons got cured in the last 24 hours ending 9 am on Thursday.
The overall Covid-19 toll increased to 14,507 with two fresh fatalities.
Chittoor district topped the daily chart with 932 fresh infections, followed by Visakhapatnam with 823.
Only West Godavari district reported less than 100 new cases while the remaining 10 added between 100 and 400 in 24 hours.
Krishna and Srikakulam districts had one fresh fatality each in a day

India's battle with the biggest pandemic of 100 years has now entered its third year. Hard work is our only path and victory is our only option. We 130 crore people of India, will surely emerge victorious from Corona with our efforts: PM 

The earlier skepticism about Omicron is now slowly getting cleared. The Omicron variant is infecting the general population several times faster than the previous variant: PM 

It is very important to keep in mind while making any strategy, there should be minimum damage to the livelihood of the common people, economic activities, the momentum of the economy should be maintained. So it would be better to focus more on local containment. The sooner the precautionary dose is applied to the frontline workers and senior citizens, the more the capacity of our healthcare system will increase. We have to intensify the Har Ghar Dastak campaign for 100% vaccination. Within 10 days, India has also vaccinated about 30 million of its youth. This shows India's potential, shows our preparedness to deal with this challenge: PM

Vaccines made in India are proving their superiority all over the world.  It is a matter of pride for every Indian that today India has given the first dose to about 92 percent of the adult population. The coverage of the second dose has also reached around 70 percent in the country. The way the central and state governments have adopted pre-emptive, pro-active and collective approach, the same is the mantra of victory this time as well. The more we can limit the corona infection, the less the problem will be. We have to be alert, be careful, but we also have to take care that there is no panic situation. We have to see that in this festive season, the alertness of the people and the administration does not fall short: PM Modi after meeting vitual meet with CMs

Just weeks before hosting the Beijing Winter Olympics, China is battling multiple coronavirus outbreaks in half a dozen cities, with the one closest to the capital driven by the highly transmissible omicron variant.

With the success of the Games and China's national dignity at stake, Beijing is doubling down on its “zero-tolerance" COVID-19 policy.
Across China, more than 20 million people are in some form of lockdown, with many prevented from leaving their homes. Tianjin, only about an hour from Beijing, is on high alert, although it has refrained from imposing a complete lockdown such as that in Xi'an, a city of 14 million.

Instead, it has sealed off several residential communities and universities, cancelled almost all flights, suspended high speed train service and closed highways. People leaving the city are required to present negative COVID-19 tests and receive special permission.

The authorities have ordered the closure of Kali Ghata Market in West Karawal Nagar Road in northeast Delhi due to overcrowding and violation of COVID-19 norms amid a surge in coronavirus cases across the national capital, according to an official order.

According to the order issued on Wednesday, the market will remain closed from 4 pm Thursday till 10 am Friday or till further orders, whichever is earlier.

The action was taken after it was found that shopkeepers, vendors and general public were not following COVID-19-appropriate behaviour, it said.
Shops, establishments and offices in the market were asked to display signboards encouraging people to wear mask, follow social distancing and use sanitiser. They were also asked to open shops on odd-even basis.

In the last meeting of the Delhi Disaster Management Authority (DDMA), strict compliance of the order was made mandatory to contain further spread of the coronavirus.

Goa may witness 10,000 to 15,000 cases per day when the third Covid wave will peak around January 20, according to Dr Shekhar Salkar, a member of the Goa government's expert committee on Covid management.

Speaking to reporters here, Salkar also took positives in the plateauing of new infections in Maharashtra, saying that in terms of trends and patterns, Goa was 10 to 15 days behind the Mumbai infection cycle.

"Goa has not reached its peak yet vis a vis infections. Positivity is at around 30 per cent. The Omicron wave in Goa is going to be three to four times more than the Delta wave. Infectivity is high. Expectation is that over the next 10 days, maybe by January 20, we will be seeing around 10 to 15000 cases per day. After that new cases will come down," Salkar said.

"Cases in Mumbai are plateauing over the last three days. The numbers there have not increased. We are around 10-15 days after Mumbai. by January 23-24 our cases may also climb down. But we will see a peak around 20thA(Jan). We may see 10 to 15000 new cases everyday," Salkar said, describing the next "seven to 10 day" period as a critical one.

"The next seven to ten-day period is most important for us. Even though it (third wave) is less lethal, there could still be pressure on admissions because doctors and sisters are getting infected. We need to take precautions, wear masks, maintain social distancing, sanitisation, etc," he said.

Goa currently has 14,134 active cases, while the state reported 3,539 new cases on Wednesday.

Agri-commerce firm WayCool Foods has raised USD 117 million (about Rs 864 crore) from investors to strengthen its technology and future growth.
The company said that the fund has been raised in series D round which saw participation from new and existing investors such as LightRock, LightBox, FMO, Lightsmith, World Bank Group's- IFC, Redwood Equity Partners and Gawa Capital. 

"WayCool Foods will use the fresh capital to accelerate and leverage deep tech and automation to enhance its efficiency multi-fold," the company said in a statement.

Karthik Jayaraman, Chief Executive Officer and Co-Founder, WayCool Foods said, “We have raised a total of USD 117 million as a part of our Series D as a combination of equity (80 per cent) and debt (20 per cent). " The deployment of funds has already begun, he added.

Madhya Pradesh currently has more than 14,400 active COVID-19 cases and out of them, 13,862 patients are undergoing medical treatment in home isolation, according to state health officials.

During a meeting with health officials on Wednesday to review the COVID-19 situation in MP, Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan directed the authorities to ensure best possible treatment for the patients in home isolation and to immediately shift them to hospital by ambulance in case of an emergency, a public relations department official said on Thursday.

In the meeting, officials informed that out of 14,413 active cases in the state, 13,862 patients were in home isolation and they were provided with medical kits and tele-consultation facilities, he said.

At present, 50,873 beds are available for the treatment of COVID-19 patients at various hospitals in Madhya Pradesh. These include 10,055 general beds, 27,901 beds with oxygen facility and 12,917 beds in ICUs/HDUs (high dependency units), state Health Minister Dr Prabhuram Choudhary informed in the meeting.

The union territory of Puducherry continued to witness a spike in the number of fresh coronavirus cases with 1,107 infections being added in the last 24 hours as the overall tally rose to 1,33,866, a senior Health department official said on Thursday.

Director of Health and Family Welfare Services G Sriramulu said in a release that the 1,107 new cases were identified at the end of the examination of 4,187 samples and were spread over Puducherry (956), Karaikal (126), Mahe (18) and Yanam (seven).

He said the test positivity rate was 26.44 per cent while the fatality and recovery rates were 1.41 per cent and 95.40 per cent respectively. As many as 40 patients recovered and were discharged during the last 24 hours ending 10 AM Thursday as the overall recoveries climbed to 1,27,713.The Health Department has so far tested 20,83,360 samples and has found 17,68,424 out of them to be negative, he said.

Sriramulu said the number of active cases stood at 4,270 which included 167 patients in hospitals and 4,103 in home isolation.

59 more Omicron cases confirmed in Kerala. Out of 59 confirmed cases today- 42 from low-risk countries, 5 from high-risk countries and 9 through contact, and 3 from other states; total Omicron tally 480 : Kerala Health Department

Gangster Suresh Pujari hospitalized after testing positive for COVID. He is currently in Mumbai Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) custody in connection with an extortion case: Mumbai ATS

The AstraZeneca Vaxzevaria vaccine showed an increased antibody response to the Omicron variant of COVID-19 after a third booster dose, preliminary data released by the Anglo-Swedish biopharma major said on Thursday. 

In an ongoing safety and immunogenicity trial of the vaccine, a formulation developed by Oxford University and administered in India as Covishield, it was found that given as a third dose increased the body’s immune response to Beta, Delta, Alpha and Gamma SARS-CoV-2 variants.

A separate analysis of samples from the trial showed increased antibody response to the Omicron variant. The results were observed among individuals previously vaccinated with either Vaxzevria or an mRNA vaccine.

The company said it is submitting this additional data to health authorities around the world given the urgent need for third dose boosters. 

The Tokyo metropolitan government on Thursday raised its Covid-19 alert level to the second highest on its four-tier scale owing to the rampant spread of the Omicron variant in the Japanese capital.

The scale was lifted one notch by the Tokyo metropolitan government, reports Xinhua news agency.

The alert hasn't reached this level since September last year.

The move by the local Tokyo government follows the city logging more than 2,000 Covid-19 cases a day earlier.

Wednesday's figure was the first time the daily infection count surpassed the 2,000-mark in four months.

Cases are increasing, people are getting serious diseases but the number of ICU admissions, oxygen requirement and death is not as frantic and as psychologically daunting as it was in the second wave last year till now, Dr Arvind Kumar, Senior Surgeon, Medanta Hospital said. Delta variant had a higher incidence of involving the lungs & causing oxygen problems. Until now, the data shows that Omicron is more infectious than Delta but also milder as compared to it. Omicron shows higher vaccine unresponsiveness and vaccine failure, he added.

Passengers will be allowed entry to Srinagar Airport only three hours before their flight departure as part of the measures to curb the spread of COVID-19 infection, officials said on Thursday. The regulation of the entry of passengers comes in view of some of the passengers entering the airport seven to eight hours before the flight departure time which leads to an increase in the crowd at the aerodrome.

“Passengers are requested to please come to the airport only up to three hours before flight departure time,” Director, Airport Authority of India (AAI), Srinagar airport, Kuldeep Singh said here.

He said the entry to the airport shall be given only up to three hours before flight from Thursday. “The time of entry to the airport is maximum three hours before flight departure. This is necessary to control the congestion at the airport because we want to reduce the chance of infection,” he said.
Singh asked the passengers to cooperate with the security staff in maintaining the access control at the airport.

Mizoram on Thursday reported 1,054 new COVID-19 cases on -- 174 more than the previous day -- taking the state's tally to 1,49,492, a health department official said. This is the second time after three months the state reported over 1,000 cases in a single day. On Tuesday, the northeastern state had recorded 1,513 cases. The toll remained unchanged at 564 as no new fatality was reported in the last 24 hours, the official said. The single-day positivity rate dipped to 15 per cent from 20.36 per cent the previous day, he said. Aizawl district reported the maximum number of fresh cases at 299, followed by Khawzawl at 178 and Serchhip at 160, he said. Mizoram currently has 7,397 active cases. At least 296 people have recuperated from the infection in the last 24 hours, taking the total number of recoveries to 1,41,531, the official said. The recovery rate stands at 94.67 per cent and the death rate at 0.37 per cent.

Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya said on Thursday that over 3 crore teenagers between the age limit of 15 and 18 years have received the first dose of COVID-19 vaccine.Mandaviya tweeted, "Great sense of responsibility & enthusiasm among Young India over 3 crore youngsters between the 15-18 age group have received 1st dose of the COVID-19 vaccine I appeal to all my eligible young friends to get vaccinated at the earliest. #SabkoVaccineMuftVaccine." The vaccination drive for teenagers was started on January 3. 

Iraqi authorities have decided to ramp up health restrictions on arriving travellers and all domestic institutions amid the spread of the Omicron Covid-19 variant globally. The Higher Committee for Health and National Safety decided that all Iraqi and foreign travellers who enter the country must present a Covid-19 vaccination card to prove the holder has been fully vaccinated, and a negative nucleic acid test result conducted within 72 hours, said a statement by Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi's media office. All Iraqi governmental and non-governmental institutions should follow up their employees' vaccination process and prevent any citizen who comes without a vaccination card to enter their facilities, Xinhua news agency quoted the statement as saying.

Cases are increasing, people are getting serious diseases but the number of ICU admissions, oxygen requirement and death is not as frantic and as psychologically daunting as it was in the second wave last year till now. Delta variant had a higher incidence of involving the lungs & causing oxygen problems. Until now, the data shows that Omicron is more infectious than Delta but also milder as compared to it. Omicron shows higher vaccine unresponsiveness and vaccine failure: Dr Arvind Kumar, Senior Surgeon, Medanta Hospital. 

Assam and Nagaland Governor Prof. Jagdish Mukhi tests positive for COVID-19.

COVID-19: Karnataka Congress announces to suspend Mekedatu Padayatra. "Once the number of COVID cases comes down, we will start the padayatra again from Ramanagara which will continue for 7 days," says former CM and LoP Siddaramaiah.

The Omicron variant of Covid is driving a huge spike in Covid infections across countries but the death rate is stable, World Health Organization (WHO) Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus has said. Last week, more than 15 million new cases of Covid-19 were reported to WHO from around the world - by far the most cases reported in a single week. While these are official estimates, the actual numbers could be really high. "This huge spike in infections is being driven by the Omicron variant, which is rapidly replacing Delta in almost all countries," said Ghebreyesus at his press address on Wednesday. "However, the number of weekly reported deaths has remained stable since October last year, at an average of 48 thousand deaths a week," he added. This could be due to the reduced severity of Omicron, and widespread immunity from vaccination or previous infection, he noted. But for those who are unvaccinated "Omicron remains a dangerous virus", the WHO chief said "Almost 50 thousand deaths a week is 50 thousand deaths too many", Ghebreyesus said. "Learning to live with this virus does not mean we can, or should, accept this number of deaths." He stated that the world cannot "allow this virus a free ride" when so many people around the world remain unvaccinated.

The Indian Institute of Technology Hyderabad (IITH) has witnessed a spurt in Covid-19 cases with as many as 120 students and staff testing positive during the last one week. An official from IITH told IANS that the online classes, which were being conducted since last week, have been suspended till further notice. Some students who returned to the campus located in Kandi, Sangareddy district, earlier this month after the semester-end break, have reportedly showed symptoms of Covid-19. A total of 120 cases were detected over the last one week. As many as 107 students tested positive, while the remaining were faculty or other staff members. Those tested positive have been kept in isolation. Meanwhile, 130 Covid cases were reported in the office of Director General of Police (DGP) during the last few days. Over 40 cases were also detected in the Hyderabad police commissioner's office. Hospitals are also getting affected by the spike in Covid cases in Telangana. Five doctors and 15 other employees at a government hospital at Ramakrishnapur in the Mancherial district have tested positive.

More than 300 Parliament staffers tested positive for Covid-19 between January 9 and 12, according to sources. Earlier till January 9, more than 400 of them had tested positive during random testing. "Till now, about 718 Parliament staffers have fallen prey to the virus. Of the total, 204 are from the Rajya Sabha secretariat while the remaining are from the Lok Sabha secretariat and allied services," the sources said. During random testing in the first week of this month, over 400 staff members were found infected. On Tuesday, Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla inspected the Parliament House Complex (PHC) to take stock of the health safety-related measures in light of the recent spike in Covid-19 cases in the country. Birla visited the Covid-19 testing facility set up in Parliament House Annexe for the Members of Parliament, officers and staff of the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha Secretariats and reviewed the preparations there. On Monday, concerned over the surge, Rajya Sabha Chairman and the Lok Sabha Speaker directed Secretaries-Generals of both the houses to suggest measures for safe conduct of the upcoming budget session. "Both the Rajya Sabha chairman and the Lok Sabha speaker have directed the secretary generals to review the adequacy of the Covid protocol followed during last winter session in the current situation and submit a proposal in this regard at the earliest," the sources said.

An estimated 4.3 million people in private households across the UK had Covid-19 last week, up from 3.7 million in the previous week, setting a new record, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) said. Prevalence of the virus continues to be highest in England, where around one in 15 people are estimated to have had the virus in the week to January 6, according to ONS figures published on Wednesday. In Wales, around one in 20 is estimated to have infected with the disease last week, or 169,100 people, up from 157,900, Xinhua news agency quoted the ONS as saying. For Scotland the latest estimate is one in 20, or 297,400 people, up from 238,000. In Northern Ireland, the estimate is 99,200 people, up from 72,900, in a week. "Covid-19 infections continued to increase across all regions of England except the East of England, and London," said ONS.

The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare on Tuesday stated that more than 157.36 crore COVID-19 vaccine doses have been supplied to States and Union Territories so far through the Centre's free of cost channel and through direct state procurement category."1,57,36,18,605 vaccine doses have been provided to States/UTs so far through the Government of India (free of cost channel) and through direct state procurement category," the Ministry informed.

Hospitalisation rate due to coronavirus infection in the city has remained stable but the cases and the positivity rate have seen an increase, Delhi Health Minister Satyendar Jain said on Thursday. The minister said the death audit committee, which met on Wednesday, found that the fatalities have mostly occurred among those with comorbid conditions. The national capital has already recorded 133 fatalities in the first 12 days of the month. It had logged 54 fatalities in the last five months with nine in December, seven in November, four in October, five in September and 29 in August. In July, the virus had claimed 76 lives in Delhi. Jain said the cases might start declining soon. "Hospital admissions have stabilised over the last four days. Cases are increasing but the hospital admission rate has not increased in the same proportion.The hospital admission rate when 27,000 cases are being reported is the same as the time when 10,000 cases were logged. The stable hospital admission rate is an indication that the wave has plateaued," he told reporters. 

India logged 2,47,417 new coronavirus infections, the highest in 236 days, taking the total tally of COVID-19 cases to 3,63,17,927  which includes 5,488 cases of the Omicron variant, according to the Union Health Ministry data updated on Thursday. The country saw a single day jump of 620 cases of the Omicron variant, the highest so far, taking the total tally of such cases to 5,488, out of which 2,162 people have recovered or migrated so far. The active cases have increased to 11,17,531, the highest in 216  days, while the death toll has climbed to 4,85,035 with 380 fresh fatalities, the data updated at 8 am stated.

Uttarakhand: 30 BSF personnel, deployed on election duty in Kotdwar Assembly constituency, have tested positive for COVID-19 and have been quarantined, says Kotdwar Circle Officer.

READ FULL DATA IN THE TABLE:

READ FULL STORY HERE

Uttar Pradesh has achieved another milestone after it crossed 22 crore Covid-19 vaccinations by administering the fastest one crore doses in just five days. According to official data, 22.03 crore doses have been administered in state, which include over 20.1 lakh vaccinations on Wednesday. Health officials said that the 21-crore dose mark was achieved on January 7 which means that over one crore doses were administered in just five days. Lucknow tops the list with 64. 5 lakh doses followed by Prayagraj, Azamgarh, Jaunpur and Kanpur Nagar with over 50 lakh doses each. At least 13.82 crore people have taken the first dose of the vaccine, while 8.18 crore are fully inoculated against the virus. Considering the adult eligible population of 14.74 crore, the numbers indicate that nearly 95 per cent and 56 per cent coverage in both the categories.

Maharashtra: Amid an increase in Covid cases, Pune district administration has issued an order to restart Shivaneri Jumbo Covid Care Centre and Avsari Covid Care Centre from today.

Nearly 40 students of the Institute of Engineering and Technology (IET) in Lucknow have tested positive for Covid-19. All the 12 hostels were vacated on Wednesday and the examinations have been postponed. As many as 14 hostellers have been quarantined in four hostels while 26 others left with their guardians for home isolation. The remaining 660 hostellers are either staying behind or are in the process of leaving as a precautionary measure. A senior health official from the Chief Medical Officer's (CMO) office confirmed that samples of 700 hostel inmates in the institute were collected of which 40 are positive. IET Director Prof Vineet Kansal, said, "Examination has been postponed with immediate effect after our students tested positive. We have quarantined 14 students in three boys' hostels and one girls' hostel. Other students who tested positive were allowed to go with their parents for home isolation on the guardians' request."

There is a shortage of Covaxin in Maharashtra. We are getting calls from district authorities in this regard. In the Video Conferencing with Union health minister, we demanded 50 lakh doses of Covishield and 40 lakh doses of Covaxin to ramp up vaccination: State Health Minister Rajesh Tope. 

Maharashtra Police says 265 of its personnel lost their lives to COVID-19 so far, with the highest number of deaths being in Mumbai Police at 126. There are 2,145 active cases of COVID-19 in the State Police. 

A whopping 1,700 Delhi Police personnel have tested positive for the coronavirus infection since January 1, officials said on Wednesday, adding that a special camp has been organised to administer booster doses to staffers of the police headquarters. The Delhi Police force comprises over 80,000 personnel, police said. "A total of 1,700 personnel of the force have tested positive for the infection from January 1 to January 12. All of them are doing fine and are under quarantine. They will be joining duty after recovery," a senior police officer said.

The United States is monitoring the lockdowns imposed in the central Chinese city of Anyang and assesses that they are likely to have an impact isolated to the Chinese market, US National Economic Council Director Brian Deese said during a White House press briefing."With respect to China specifically and the current moment, we're monitoring it very closely. As we assess the issue today, the lockdowns are most likely to have an effect isolated in China, because the production facilities in those geographies are principally suppliers to the Chinese market," Deese said on Wednesday.

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz reiterated his support for mandatory Covid-19 vaccination in the country during his first briefing to the Bundestag (lower house of Parliament). Scholz on Wednesday said that he hoped for a swift discussion in the Bundestag on a general Covid-19 vaccination obligation, stressing that "I, for one, believe it is necessary and will actively campaign for it." Not getting vaccinated is not just a personal decision but has consequences for the entire country, he added. "There is no decision that you make just for yourself, and that is why mandatory vaccination is right."

A new ensemble forecast from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) predicted that more than 62,000 more people could die from Covid-19 over the next four weeks. The number of newly reported Covid-19 deaths will likely increase over the next four weeks, with 10,400 to 31,000 new deaths likely reported in the week ending February 5, according to the forecast published on Wednesday. "Current forecasts may not fully account for the emergence and rapid spread of the Omicron variant or changes in reporting during the holidays and should be interpreted with caution," said the CDC. The country reported nearly 3,000 new deaths from Covid-19 on Tuesday, a new high since mid February last year, CDC data showed. The daily Covid-19 deaths figure has been on the increase in recent weeks, as the new Omicron variant has spurred new surge in cases and hospitalisations since early December, Xinhua news agency reported. The country is witnessing more than 1,600 Covid-19 deaths each day, according to CDC data.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday will interact with chief ministers of all states on the COVID-19 situation in the country. According to the details, the meet which comes amid surging cases of coronavirus following the emergence of the Omicron variant will be held via video conferencing at 4:30 pm today. 

READ MORE HERE: PM Modi to take stock of COVID-19 situation; to hold virtual meet with CMs today

The Omicron variant of COVID-19 is a "dangerous virus" particularly for those who are unvaccinated, World Health Organization (WHO) director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said on Wednesday."While Omicron causes less severe disease than Delta, it remains a dangerous virus, particularly for those who are unvaccinated," Tedros said during a media briefing on COVID-19. This huge spike in infections is being driven by the Omicron variant, which is rapidly replacing Delta in almost all countries, he said.WHO chief also highlighted Africa's COVID-19 vaccination rate and said "in Africa, more than 85 per cent of people are yet to receive a single dose of vaccine. We cannot end the acute phase of the pandemic unless we close this gap." "We are making progress. In December, COVAX shipped more than double the number of doses it shipped in November, and in the coming days, we expect COVAX to ship its 1 billionth vaccine dose," he stated. He further stated that some of the supply constraints we faced last year are now starting to ease, but we still have a long way to go to reach our target of vaccinating 70 per cent of the population of every country by the middle of this year.90 countries have still not reached the 40 per cent target, and 36 of those countries have vaccinated less than 10 per cent of their populations, he added."WHO and our partners are actively supporting these countries to overcome the bottlenecks they face, in leadership and coordination, lack of supply visibility, short shelf-life of donated vaccines, limited cold chain capacity, vaccine confidence, health worker shortages, and competing priorities," he added.

Rajasthan recorded three deaths due to the coronavirus and 9,488 fresh infections on Wednesday, bringing the fatality count to 8,981 and the infection tally to 9,98,126, according to the state Medical and Health Department. As of Wednesday evening, a maximum of 3,659 fresh COVID-19 cases were registered in the state capital Jaipur, 755 in Alwar, 591 in Jodhpur, 495 in Bikaner, 423 in Udaipur, 406 in Kota, 364 in Bharatpur, 319 in Barmer, 287 in Ajmer. Rajasthan has 38,448 active cases of the novel coronavirus at present, official data showed. On Wednesday, 1,634 people recovered from the infection. According to the department, two patients died in Jaipur and one in Sikar due to the infection on Wednesday.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) has cautioned and urged for preparedness against concurrent outbreaks of Covid-19 and other respiratory diseases during the coming spring. Maria van Kerkhove from the WHO's Health Emergencies program, on Wednesday said at a press briefing that this could happen as population mixing increases, and as other respiratory pathogens such as influenza circulate in spring. More than 15 million new Covid-19 cases were reported to WHO from around the world last week, by far the most cases reported in a single week. This has been driven by "the Omicron variant rapidly replacing Delta in almost all countries," according to WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus. Meanwhile, the number of weekly reported deaths has remained stable since October 2021, at an average of 48,000, Xinhua news agency reported. While the number of patients being hospitalised is increasing in most countries, it is not at the level seen in previous waves. That is possibly due to the reduced severity of Omicron and widespread immunity from vaccination or previous infection, he said. "Let's be clear: while Omicron causes less severe disease than Delta, it remains a dangerous virus, particularly for those who are unvaccinated," said the WHO Chief.