Covid Cases News LIVE: South Korea’s new Covid cases fall below 30,000

Thane records 2 new COVID-19 cases; active tally at 8

Maharashtra’s Thane district has reported two new COVID-19 cases, raising its infection count to 7,47,393, a health official said on Monday. There are currently eight active COVID-19 cases in Thane, which is part of the Mumbai Metropolitan Region.

1.2 lakh Covaxin doses are set to expire by January-end

Amid fears of Covid-19 resurgence and renewed efforts by the authorities to administer booster shots, the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) has said that 1. 2 lakh doses of Covaxin in its stocks are set to expire by January-end. While stating that only 20% of the eligible persons in the city had taken the booster dose, the civic body said that it is planning to place orders for more Covaxin and Covishield doses.

Less than 0.5% of international arrivals tested at Delhi airport return positive report

Less than 0.5% of the 345 international arrivals screened at Delhi’s IGIA till Sunday evening had tested positive for Covid. The low percentage of positive cases so far had brought relief to authorities, as IGIA saw a peak of 5-6% last summer at the height of the Delta wave, officials of Genestrings Diagnostic Centre’s lab, which has been conducting tests at Delhi airport during the pandemic.

BF.7 boosters still in lab stage, Bharat Biotech to begin incubation

As India and the world grapple with the fear of another Covid surge triggered by BF.7 sub-variant of Omicron virus, work is underway to develop vaccines targeting the newer variants as existing vaccines are based on the Wuhan or original strain of SARS-CoV. -2.

China’s current Covid problem: Here’s what led to it

3,000 vaccine doses a day as West Bengal records 3-fold jump

Covid vaccination in Bengal, which had been happening at a snail’s pace for several weeks as elsewhere in the country, jumped almost three-fold on Saturday. The current surge in some countries, especially China, and health experts’ advice on completing vaccination have made people come back to CVCs. Sources in the health department said the rise in vaccination footfall so far is mostly seen in private CVCs. Before Saturday, Bengal had been administering around 1,000 doses daily for more than a month while the number dipped to three-digit figures occasionally. With 3,088 doses dispensed on Saturday, the state recorded highest Covid-19 inoculation in about seven weeks. The number of recipients is expected to go up in the days to come.

Here’s why you don’t need to panic about the new omicron variant BF.7

Leaving nothing to chance, Delhi sets out to ramp up Covid infrastructure

Amid a resurgence in Covid-19 cases globally, Delhi government’s health department has asked district officials to conduct an inspection of hospitals for their preparedness to meet any emergency-like situation.At a meeting chaired by state health secretary Amit Singla and attended by district collectors and magistrates, officials were instructed to physically visit all government hospitals as well as the private ones that were earlier marked to cater to Covid patients.

Chinese cities see Covid peaking in January

Maharashtra logs 32 new cases, zero death

Maharashtra recorded 32 new coronavirus positive cases on Sunday, taking its overall infection tally to 81,36,511, a health department official said. The death toll remained unchanged at 1,48,414.

UP govt gives Rs 10 lakh each to kind of journalists who died of Covid

Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Sunday gave Rs 10 lakh each to the families of 53 journalists who died of COVID-19 and saluted their courage. Adityanath said that the manner in which journalists spread awareness and exposed the shortcomings of the system with a positive spirit, even in the middle of a severe pandemic, is commendable.Adityanath disbursed Rs 5.30 crore in all to the families of 53 journalists who died during the pandemic. In July last year, families of 50 other journalists were provided an assistance of Rs 10 lakh each, the UP government said in a statement.

Delhi airport: Some test positive after random Covid test

At the Delhi airport, as many as 455 passengers have been subjected to random coronavirus testing, starting from 10 am on Saturday till 7 pm on Sunday. Out of them, less than half per cent are positive cases, an official at Genestrings Diagnostic Center said. In a statement earlier in the day, Genestrings said that by the end of Saturday, it had conducted approximately 110 tests. On an average, 25,000 travelers arrive at the Indira Gandhi International Airport (IGIA) here and out of them, 500 random passengers are being tested, it added. The company is also ramping up manpower for sample collection and testing at the airport.

Follow Covid protocol as cases rising in many nations, says PM Modi

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday asked people to take precautions against Covid-19, as he noted that the infection is spreading in many countries. In his last ‘Mann ki Baat’ broadcast of the year, Modi said many people are on a vacation or will go on one during Christmas and New Year and urged them to follow protocols like wearing masks and washing hands.

China’s Covid surge is infecting 37 million people a day, says report

Some 37 million people in China may have been infected with Covid-19 on a single day this week, UK-based Financial Times (FT) reported, as Beijing discontinued restrictions that had contained the virus since the start of the pandemic. Chinese officials estimate about 250 million people were infected with Covid-19 in the first 20 days of December, the Financial Times reported citing people familiar with the matter.

Telangana sees 400% rise in booster jabs, Odisha 8-fold jump

Within 72 hours of the detection of the BF. 7 Omicron variant in India, there has been a 400% jump in precautionary jabs across Telangana and almost eight-fold rise in Odisha. In Telangana, on December 21, a day before the sub-variant surfaced in India, only 646 beneficiaries had taken the booster shots. But this figure spiraled to 3,380 within three days (December 24) as people were jolted by the fear of another Covid wave that’s already taking a debilitating toll on neighboring China.