Coronavirus LIVE: Japan Declares State Of Emergency In Tokyo & Other Regions Amid Spike In COVID Cases

Coronavirus LIVE Saturday, July 31: Kerala touched the 20,000 fresh COVID cases mark for the fourth day in a row. A full lockdown was announced to be imposed in the state over the weekend.

Background

Coronavirus LIVE Saturday, July 31: Maharashtra on Friday reported 6,600 new coronavirus cases and 231 fatalities while 7,431 patients were discharged from hospitals, a health official informed.The caseload in the state rose to 62,96,756 and death toll reached 1,32,566. The tally of recovered patients rose to 60,83,319.The number of active cases decreased to 77,494 from 78,562 the day before.There are 4,79,553 people in home quarantine and 3,289 in institutional quarantine.Maharashtra's case recovery rate now stands at 96.61 per cent while the fatality rate is 2.01 per cent.The number of coronavirus tests conducted so far climbed to 4,75,59,938 with 2,00,924 samples tested since Thursday evening.Meanwhile, the national capital recorded 63 fresh COVID-19 cases and three deaths due to the disease on Friday, while the positivity rate stood at 0.09 per cent, according to data shared by the health department here.The three fatalities have pushed the death toll in the city to 25,052, according to the latest bulletin. No death due to COVID-19 was recorded in Delhi on Thursday, while 51 fresh cases were reported with a positivity rate of 0.08 per cent, according to official data.On the other hand, COVID-19 cases in Kerala were recorded at 20,772 in the last 24 hours. It touched the 20,000 fresh COVID cases mark for the fourth day in a row. According to the government's press release, Kerala's caseload touched 33,70,137 while fatalities hit 16,701.The worst-affected districts were - Malappuram with 3,670 cases, Kozhikode with 2,470, Ernakulam with 2,306, Thrissur with 2,287, Palakkad with 2,070, Kollam with 1,415, Alappuzha with 1,214, Kannur with 1,123, Thiruvananthapuram with 1,082, and Kottayam with 1030 cases.The total number of people that were cured was 14,651, taking the total recoveries to 31,92,104.  Seeing the surge, a full lockdown was announced to be imposed in the state over the weekend.

31/07/2021 15:05:51

Japan declares state of emergency in Tokyo & other regions amid spike in COVID cases

Govt of Japan applies the declaration of a state of emergency to Tokyo, Saitama, Chiba, Kanagawa, Osaka, and Okinawa Prefectures and applies priority measures to prevent the spread of COVID19 to Hokkaido, Ishikawa, Kyoto, Hyogo, and Fukuoka Prefectures till August 31st.

From now, we will focus on administering vaccines to people in the younger generation, with the aim of having more than 40 percent of the public finish receiving their second dose by roughly the last week of August: Prime Minister of Japan, Yoshihide Suga said.

31/07/2021 12:32:24

15% of 'Emergency COVID Response Package' sent to states: Health Minister

"Rs 1,827.80 crore (15% of the total amount of 'Emergency COVID Response Package') fixed by the Central Government to fight against COVID19 has been sent to the states and UTs," Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya informed.

31/07/2021 11:37:15

COVID Vaccination Drive

More than 48.78 crore vaccine doses have been provided to States/UTs so far, and a further 68,57,590 doses are in pipeline. Of this, total consumption including wastages is 45,82,60,052 doses: Union Health Ministry. 

31/07/2021 08:50:16

Vaccinated People Can Carry As Much COVID Virus As Unvaccinated, New US CDC Study Reveals

New York: US health officials Friday released details of an alarming new study that could totally muddle current thinking on how the coronavirus spreads in society.

Latest research from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) shows that vaccinated people who got infected with Covid-19 or the so-called breakthrough infections carry about the same amount of the coronavirus as those who are unvaccinated.

The study, published in CDC's flagship weekly report, is the basis for recent recommendations that vaccinated people wear masks indoors in places with high transmission rates - driven now by the delta variant.

The report's authors suggest the CDC's new guidance should include masking in indoor public settings "regardless of vaccination status".

The study in question derives its insights from an outbreak in Provincetown, a popular tourist hotspot in Cape Cod, Massachusetts. After multiple large public events, 469 Covid-19 cases were identified among Massachusetts residents who had travelled to the town during July 3�17.

Three fourths (74 per cent) of the cases were among fully vaccinated people.

"Testing identified the Delta variant in 90 per cent of specimens from 133 patients," the report adds. "Cycle threshold values were similar among specimens from patients who were fully vaccinated and those who were not." The upshot: "Among persons with breakthrough infection, four (1.2 per cent) were hospitalised, and no deaths were reported."

The release of this CDC report coincides with a Washington Post scoop of internal CDC documents that paint a grim picture of how the "war has changed" on Covid-19, after the delta variant seeped into America.

Speaking to reporters at the White House, US president Joe Biden indicated that new Covid-19 guidelines could be dropping soon. (IANS)

31/07/2021 08:49:07

Global Covid-19 Caseload Tops 197.2 Million

Washington: The overall global Covid-19 caseload has topped 197.2 million, while the deaths have surged to more than 4.20 million and vaccinations soared to over 4.04 billion, according to the Johns Hopkins University.

In its latest update on Saturday morning, the University's Center for Systems Science and Engineering (CSSE) revealed that the current global caseload, death toll stood and vaccination tally stood at 197,276,917, 4,207,236 and 4,042,614,173, respectively.

The US continues to be the worst-hit country with the world's highest number of cases and deaths at 34,943,203 and 613,006, respectively, according to the CSSE.

In terms of infections, India follows in the second place with 31,572,344 cases.

The other worst countries with over 3 million cases are Brazil (19,880,273), France (6,166,592), Russia (6,161,985), the UK (5,857,558), Turkey (5,704,713), Argentina (4,919,408), Colombia (4,776,291), Spain (4,447,044), Italy (4,343,519), Iran (3,851,162), Germany (3,774,918) and Indonesia (3,372,374), the CSSE figures showed.

In terms of deaths, Brazil comes second with 555,460 fatalities.

Nations with a death toll of over 100,000 are India (423,217), Mexico (239,997), Peru (196,214), Russia (155,180), the UK (129,877), Italy (128,047), Colombia (120,432), France (112,011) and Argentina (105,586). (IANS)