Coronavirus live updates: Covid-19 vaccination phase 2 to cover 60% of people

Pfizer and BioNTech will deliver the first doses of their Covid-19 vaccine to Canada this month, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced

Covid-19: India records 26,208 new cases, lowest in 152 days

India’s daily Covid-19 count fell steeply on Monday, with fresh cases dipping to a 152-day low and the death toll of 389 the lowest in 158 days. There were just 26,208 new cases of the virus detected in the country, a 21% fall from Sunday’s tally of 33,231. This was the lowest number of new cases recorded in a single day since July 8, when the count was 25,641.

Vaccination phase 2 to cover 60% of people

In the second phase of vaccination against Covid-19, the government plans to significantly scale up operations to cover around 80 crore people — 60% of the country’s population — in an exercise aimed at achieving herd immunity.

Sikkim reports six new Covid-19 cases, two more deaths

Sikkim's Covid-19 caseload rose to 5,203 as six more people tested positive for the disease, while two fresh fatalities pushed the toll to 117, an official said on Monday.

WHO against mandatory Covid-19 vaccines

The World Health Organization said Monday that persuading people on the merits of a Covid-19 vaccine would be far better than trying to make the jabs mandatory. The WHO said it would be down to individual countries as to how they want to conduct their vaccination campaigns against the coronavirus pandemic. But the UN health agency insisted making it mandatory to get immunised against the disease would be the wrong road to take.

39 new cases take Nagaland's Covid-19 tally to 11,418

At least 39 more people tested positive for Covid-19 in Nagaland on Monday, pushing the tally in the state to 11,418, Health Minister S Pangnyu Phom said. Of the fresh cases, 23 were reported from Kohima, nine from Tuensang, six from Dimapur and one from Kiphire.

US CDC reports 281,253 deaths from coronavirus

The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on Monday reported 14,636,914 cases of the new coronavirus, an increase of 174,387 from its previous count, and said that the number of deaths had risen by 1,118 to 281,253.

An expert committee of the Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation (CDSCO) will meet on Wednesday to review applications of Pfizer, Serum Institute of India and Bharat Biotech seeking emergency use authorisation for their Covid-19 vaccine candidates, official sources said on Monday night.

Uttar Pradesh reports 1,515 new cases as infection tally rises to 5,56,397; death toll climbs to 7,944 with 20 more fatalities

19 more coronavirus deaths in Punjab pushes toll to 4,934

620 new cases take infection tally to 1,56,839

US AstraZeneca vaccine trial will clear confusion on how well it works: US scientist

"We feel very comfortable that we designed a really good trial in the United States, where everybody's getting boosted in a uniform time, and we know what the dose is," said Dr. Larry Corey, co-leader of the U.S. Coronavirus Vaccine Prevention Network, who helped design and is overseeing trials for the U.S. government Operation Warp Speed program. The dosing in the British trial "wasn't done correctly," Corey maintains. Still, the dosing difference does not fully explain the variation in effectiveness seen in the UK and Brazilian trials, he said.

J&K reports 280 new cases, 9 deaths in 24 hours

Phase 3 human trial for Covaxin starts at Chennai hospital

The SRM Medical College Hospital and Research Centre here on Monday announced the launch of the third phase of human trials for Covaxin - a vaccine for Covid-19 developed by Bharat Biotech. In a statement issued here, the SRM Medical College Hospital said the vaccine in the third phase will be tested on about 1,000-1,500 volunteers.

Night curfew extended in Ahmedabad till further notice

Amid resistance, California imposes strict stay-at-home orders

California compelled much of the state to close shop and stay at home on Monday, when some of the harshest coronavirus restrictions in the United States came into effect one day after the state set a record with more than 30,000 new Covid-19 cases. The new order, which will last at least three weeks, bans private gatherings of any size, shuts all but critical infrastructure and retail operations, and requires everyone to wear a mask and maintain physical distancing.

Kerala reports 3,272 fresh cases and 4,705 recoveries

The total numbers of active cases and recovered cases are 59,467 and 5,77,616 respectively