Coronavirus HIGHLIGHTS: Delhi Logs 3,028 Fresh Covid Cases, 27 Deaths. Positivity Rate 4.73%
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Lt Governor Anil Baijal will chair a virtual meeting of the Delhi Disaster Management Authority (DDMA), on February 4. CM Arvind Kejriwal will also be present at the DDMA meeting.
Puducherry registers 742 COVID-19 cases, 6 fatalities. Infection tally rises to 1,62,633, death toll 1,941. Number of active cases stands at 6,852.
The world-famous Ajanta and Ellora caves and various other monuments reopened here in Maharashtra on Wednesday after being shut for about three weeks in the wake of a surge in COVID-19 cases, an official said.
Online purchase of tickets and full vaccination are mandatory for visitors, the Archaeological Survey of India’s (ASI) Aurangabad circle superintendent Dr Milan Kumar Chauley told PTI.
The monuments were closed on January 8 due to the rise in COVID-19 cases.
The district administration has now allowed the monuments to reopen.
While there is no restriction on the number of visitors as of now, physical tickets will not be available and only those who have taken both the doses of vaccine against COVID-19 will be allowed to enter the tourist sites, the ASI official said.
Apart from the Ajanta and Ellora caves, the other prominent tourist attractions here are the Daulatabad (Devgiri) Fort, Aurangabad caves and Bibi ka Maqbara.
India reports 1,61,386 fresh COVID cases and 2,81,109 recoveries in the last 24 hours
Active cases: 16,21,603
Total recoveries: 3,95,11,307
Daily positivity rate: 9.26%
Total vaccination: 167.29 crore
Tonga will go into Covid-19 lockdown on Wednesday after two men tested positive for the coronavirus, officials said -- a fresh blow to the Pacific kingdom as it struggles to recover from last month's devastating volcanic eruption.
Pfizer and BioNTech said they are seeking emergency authorization from US health regulators for use of their Covid vaccine for children aged over six months and under five years
Punjab on Tuesday reported 1,649 fresh COVID-19 cases that took its tally to 7,451,29, while 37 more fatalities pushed the death toll to 17,292, according to a medical bulletin.
Mohali reported 380 fresh cases, followed by 207 in Ludhiana and 144 in Amritsar, the bulletin said.
The latest deaths were reported from Amritsar, Faridkot, Gurdaspur, Hoshiarpur and Ludhiana, among other districts.
The number of active COVID-19 cases in Punjab stands at 20,937. A total of 983 patients are on oxygen support, while 92 critical patients are on ventilator support, the bulletin said.
As many as 4,247 more patients recovered from the viral disease, taking the total number of recoveries to 7,06,900, it said.
Chandigarh's COVID-19 caseload increased to 89,644 as 156 more people tested positive for the disease, while the death toll climbed to 1,125 with three more fatalities, the bulletin said.
Pfizer on Wednesday asked the US to authorize extra-low doses of its COVID-19 vaccine for children under 5, potentially opening the way for the very youngest Americans to start receiving shots as early as March.
In an extraordinary move, the Food and Drug Administration had urged Pfizer and its partner BioNTech to apply earlier than the companies had planned.
The nation's 19 million children under 5 are the only group not yet eligible for vaccination against the coronavirus. Many parents have been pushing for an expansion of shots to toddlers and preschoolers, especially as the omicron wave sent record numbers of youngsters to the hospital.
If the FDA agrees, Pfizer shots containing just one-tenth of the dose given to adults could be dispensed to children as young as 6 months. Pfizer said Wednesday it had started submitting its data to the FDA and expects to complete the process in a few days.
Background
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India's COVID-19 vaccination coverage has crossed 167.21 crore with more than 50 lakh vaccine doses being administered on Tuesday, the Union health ministry informed.
The ministry further said that cumulatively 94,33,81,379 first doses have been administered and 71,58,56,810 second doses have been given.
In the 15-18 age group, 4,71,44,423 first doses and 10,81,838 second doses have been administered.
More than 1,29,56,314 'precaution' doses have been administered to the identified categories of beneficiaries.
The vaccination exercise as a tool to protect the most vulnerable population groups in the country from COVID-19 continues to be regularly reviewed and monitored at the highest level, the ministry underlined.
Delhi on Tuesday reported 2,683 fresh COVID-19 cases with a positivity rate of 5.09 per cent, while 27 more people succumbed to the viral disease.
With this, the national capital's case count increased to 18,32,951 and the death toll climbed to 25,892, the latest health bulletin stated.
The number of daily cases in Delhi has been on the decline after touching the record high of 28,867 on January 13. The city had recorded a positivity rate of 30.6 per cent on January 14, the highest during the ongoing wave of the pandemic.
Active COVID-19 cases in Delhi came down to 16,548 from 18,729 on Monday. While 520 patients are on oxygen support, 108 serious patients are on ventilator support, it said.
Meanwhile, Maharashtra on Tuesday recorded 14,372 new COVID-19 cases, down from 15,410 the previous day, but deaths linked to the infection rose sharply to 94 from 39 the day ago.
With this, the state's COVID-19 caseload reached 77,35,481, while the death toll increased to 1,42,705, the department stated in a bulletin.
On Monday, the state had reported 15,410 cases on the back of 1,26,761 coronavirus tests and 39 fatalities.
No new case of the highly contagious Omicron variant of coronavirus was reported in the state and its tally remained unchanged at 3,221, the health department informed.
Mumbai reported 803 cases and seven fatalities, while Pune city recorded 2,091 new patients and one fatality.
30,093 patients were discharged in the last 24 hours, taking the number of recovered cases to 73,97,352.
With this, the tally of active cases dropped below the 2-lakh mark to stand at 1,91,524 in the state, where the coronavirus recovery rate is 95.63 per cent.
Notably, fresh COVID-19 cases in Kerala on Tuesday rose to 51,887 after dropping below the 50,000 mark for a day, raising the caseload to 60,77,556 in the state.
The southern state had reported 42,154 cases a day ago.
Kerala on Tuesday also reported 1,205 deaths which raised the total fatalities in the state to 55,600, according to a government release.
Of the deaths, 24 were reported in the last 24 hours, 118 were those which occurred in the last few days but were not recorded due to late receipt of documents, and 1,063 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 release said.
With 40,383 more people recovering from the virus since Sunday, the total recoveries reached 56,53,376.
However, as the number of recoveries was less than the new COVID-19 cases, the active cases in the state rose to 3,67,847.
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