The Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation has granted restricted emergency use authorisation to two new vaccines and a drug for COVID-19, taking the number of preventives and treatments available in India to 12.
The death toll climbed to 4,63,852 with 197 fresh fatalities, including 127 from Kerala.
The remarks come amid suspected cases of COVID-19 reinfection being reported from abroad and from Indian states like Telangana, Karnataka, Gujarat, Punjab and Maharashtra.
According to Rajeev Jayadevan, co-chairman, national Indian Medical Association Covid Task Force, the current scenario qualifies as a wave.
'I am more worried about the rainy season from June.' 'If you don't bury the COVID-19 dead properly, then rainwater will seep into the dead bodies and it will come to our locality where I fear more than 2,000 people will be affected.'
Last year Dr Fauci had largely dismissed the theory that the deadly COVID-19 virus, due to which over 165 million people have been infected worldwide and over 3.5 million peope died so far, was genetically engineered and had leaked from a lab in Wuhan, China.
The ministry also said about 14 most affected countries with a cumulative population almost equal to that of India have reported 55.2 times more COVID-19 deaths and 22.5 times more cases.
Mumbai's slum colony of Dharavi, once a coronavirus hotspot and a challenge for municipal authorities in implementing containment measures, has become free of Covid-19, nearly two years after reporting the first case of the infection.
The active cases further increased to 1,68,627, which comprises 1.52 per cent of the total infections, as per the data.
Joint Secretary in the health ministry Lav Agarwal said it is wrong to just look at the total number of cases and state that India has the seventh highest number of cases as the population of countries also should be taken into account. About 14 countries with a cumulative population almost equal to that of India have reported 55.2 times more COVID-19 deaths, he said.
The benefits of modern medicine have led people to demand more from the State, and to value every life. Even a modest death toll caused by an epidemic today is unacceptable, says Dipankar Gupta.
The national recovery rate was recorded 93.68 per cent, while the COVID-19 case fatality rate stands at 1.46 per cent.
Robert O'Brien is the highest-ranking official in the Trump's administration known to have tested positive for COVID-19.
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This is the fifth consecutive day that COVID-19 cases have increased by more than 50,000 in the country.
The COVID-19 active caseload remained below 3 lakh for the third consecutive day.
The death toll has climbed to 4,29,179 with 497 fresh fatalities, the data updated at 8 am showed.
Rediff Labs analyses the data to map number of patients recovered in each state where positive cases have been found.
The number of people who have recuperated from the disease surged to 1,01,62,738 pushing the national COVID-19 recovery rate to 96.53 per cent.
He had on Tuesday isolated himself after some officials in his contact tested positive for coronavirus.
The number of fresh cases of the coronavirus infection has been recorded below 15,000 for the last 47 days now.
'Given the first-time healthcare emergency of this nature and scale, we don't have enough experienced hands to deal with the situation.' 'The models, policies and protocols keep changing everyday depending upon the evolving situation.' 'We are all in trial-and-error mode where we do some right things as well as wrong things.' 'We cannot have an ideal environment to fight this pandemic.'
It is the 16th Premier League game to be postponed due to COVID-19 cases and injuries this month.
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As part of the operation, C-17 and IL-76 aircraft of the IAF airlifted two empty cryogenic oxygen containers and one IL-76 aircraft airlifted one empty container to Panagarhon Thursday, said the IAF.
The number of people who have recuperated from the disease surged to 1,06,67,741 which translates to a national COVID-19 recovery rate of 97.30 per cent and the case fatality rate stands at 1.42 per cent.
The death toll climbed to 1,49,435 with the novel coronavirus virus claiming 217 lives in a span of 24 hours in the country.
The researchers discovered that just a 4.6 ppb reduction in long-term exposure to NO2 would have prevented 14,672 deaths among those who tested positive for the virus.
The board said the Mzansi Super League will be replaced by a domestic T20 Challenge tournament featuring eight first division teams.
Guterres gestured to make a victory sign as he was administered the shot.
A day after reporting 4,092 COVID-19 cases, highest single-day tally in more than a month, Maharashtra saw the daily count fall on Monday but it remained above 3,000 for the sixth straight day as the state government termed the situation as 'alarming' and warned of 'harsh decisions' after the recent spike.
Former India captain Sachin Tendulkar, who turned 48 on Saturday, said he has recovered from COVID-19 and will donate plasma when he is eligible.
'My beloved brother has passed on after a month of illness with pneumonia, a superbug contracted in hospital and then COVID-19 also contracted while he was being treated. He suffered a major cardiac arrest this evening.'
The Proteas speedster, a star performer for DC in the last edition, had tested positive for COVID-19 while in quarantine. But was retested and came out negative in three RT-PCR results.
The Scottish broadcaster said Murray was self-isolating and still had hopes of competing in the Australian Open next month.
Focused implementation of 'test, track, treat' strategy by the Union and state and Union Territory governments, ramped up hospital infrastructure and testing facilities, and emphasis on treatment of the hospitalised patients through the standard of care protocol advised by the Centre have effectively ensured that mortality of COVID-19 patients is contained, the ministry said.
The active cases comprise 0.89 per cent of the total infections, the lowest since March 2020, while the national COVID-19 recovery rate was recorded at 97.78 per cent, the highest since March 2020, the ministry said.
The Gujarat High Court has initiated suo motu contempt proceedings against a man for attending a virtual hearing while sitting on a toilet seat. The incident occurred on June 20 and a video of it went viral. The court has directed the registry to issue a notice to the man, identified as Abdul Samad, to explain why he should not be prosecuted for contempt of court.
A total 77,65,966 people have recuperated from COVID-19 so far, pushing the national recovery rate to 92.32 per cent, while the case fatality rate stands at 1.49 per cent.
The impact of a 'dengue-COVID-19' season would entail two different diagnostic tests and extract a huge toll on patients too, each disease making the other more complicated to deal with and perhaps more fatal.
