Coronavirus in India: Maharashtra reports 9,844 Covid cases, Delhi 109

The Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine is highly effective against the Delta variant of Covid-19, a Pfizer official in Israel said on Thursday.First identified in India, Delta is becoming the globally dominant version of the coronavirus, according to the World Health Organization.

The Covid-19 death toll in Uttar Pradesh rose to 22,368 on Thursday with 32 more fatalities, while 229 new cases pushed the infection tally to 17,05,012, an official said.

Congress President Sonia Gandhi on Thursday said the party must continue its Covid-relief work and play an active role in ensuring full Covid-19 vaccination coverage and ensure vaccine hesitancy wherever evident is overcome.

Coronavirus infections continue to soar in Russia, with the authorities reporting 20,182 new cases on Thursday and 568 further deaths. Both tallies are the highest since late January.

Allocation of Covid-19 vaccines to a state is done based on its population, caseload, utilisation efficiency and wastage factors, the Union Health Ministry on Thursday said and dismissed media reports alleging non-transparent distribution of the jabs. The ministry said the allegations of non-transparent distribution of vaccines among states are "completely without any basis, and not fully informed". It clarified that the Government of India continues to allocate Covid-19 vaccines to states and union territories in a transparent manner based on the population of a state, caseload, its utilisation efficiency and wastage factors.

The All India Institute of Medical Sciences here is imparting special training to its nursing staff and creating a separate 100-bed Covid ward for children in view of the possibility of the third wave of coronavirus. "With experts warning that the third wave may affect children more than others, we are leaving nothing to chance," AIIMS Director Ravi Kant said on Thursday. The focus is on increasing the number of beds, equipment and trained manpower especially for children, he said.

REUTERS/OVR BACT, CMPNY, COVID, EPMICS, GEN, GENHLT, HEA, HECA, HUMDIS, INFDIS, INTAG, MEDST, OMS, PHAG08, PHAR, PHAR08, PHAR1, PHMR, PXP, REGS, SCI, UK, UN1, VACCIN, SASIA, GB, WEU, IL, AMERS, IN, SWASIA, SCANDV, US, EUROP, SE, NORD, MEAST, NAMER, ASXPAC, PS, EMRG, 2021-06-24T091329Z_414154614_L5N2O61UK_RTRMADT_0_HEALTH-CORONAVIRUS-ISRAEL-PFIZE6/24/2021 14:44:16HEALTH; CORONAVIRUSPfizer says COVID vaccine highly effective against Delta variantHEALTH-CORONAVIRUS/ISRAEL-PFIZER (TV, PIX)By Maayan LubellJERUSALEM, June 24 (Reuters) - The Pfizer-BioNTech >PFE.N< vaccine is highly effective against the Delta variant of COVID-19, a Pfizer official in Israel said on Thursday.First identified in India, Delta is becoming the globally dominant version of the coronavirus, according to the World Health Organization."The data we have today, accumulating from research we are conducting at the lab and including data from those places where the Indian variant, Delta, has replaced the British variant as the common variant, point to our vaccine being very effective, around 90%, in preventing the coronavirus disease, Covid-19," Alon Rappaport, Pfizer's medical director in Israel, told local broadcaster Army Radio.

More than 1.89 crore balance and unutilised Covid-19 vaccine doses are still available with the states and Union territories, the Union health ministry said on Thursday. Two crore vaccine doses have been administered in the first 72 hours of the implementation of the new revised guidelines of the National COVID-19 Vaccination Programme, the ministry said. More than 30 crore (30,33,27,440) vaccine doses have been provided by the Centre to states/UTs so far, through Government of India (free of cost channel) and direct state procurement category.