'We were lucky, in many ways, that we got the disease late.'
Of the 23.9 million vaccinators who provide vaccination under the universal immunisation programme, 15.4 million will be used for Covid vaccination.
The four states and the UT registered a total of 20,701 cases on Thursday.
A 55-year-old from Hubei province could have been the first person to have contracted the viral infection on November 17 last year and cases rapidly began piling up since then, it said, without revealing the gender of the individual.
The body of Sehrai, 77, was handed over to his family on Wednesday evening and taken in a police escort to Kupwara in north Kashmir, at least 350 km from Jammu, where he would be buried at his ancestral graveyard in accordance with the COVID-19 guidelines.
All Delhi government, aided, private and schools run by civic bodies will remain shut, said Sisodia.
We knew from the moment the pandemic took hold that this would be a long haul -- at least 12 to 18 months. Nothing should have changed that assessment, says Mihir S Sharma.
'We will need more than 21 days of lockdown for sure.'
A group of public health experts, including doctors from All India Institute of Medical Sciences and members from the national taskforce on COVID-19, have said that mass, indiscriminate and incomplete vaccination can trigger emergence of mutant strains and recommended that there is no need to inoculate those who had documented coronavirus infection.
Most coronavirus infections are not severe and do not need hospitalisation, the office of the Principal Scientific Adviser said on Friday, prescribing home-care tips for patients.
'Most vaccines do target the Spike protein, in which there are changes in the variants but vaccines stimulate our immune system to produce a wide range of protective antibodies'
'In the second wave, probably due to the mutants, probably due to COVID-19-inappropriate behaviour, we are seeing it coming in the younger population, say from ages 30 to 50.' 'Also, we've seen that sometimes they deteriorate pretty rapidly and therefore we may need to keep a closer watch on the symptoms and on the oxygen levels at home.'
The UK prime minister stressed that a complete lockdown was the only answer to prevent the overrunning of the country's state-funded National Health Service, which would be a "medical and moral disaster" beyond the raw loss of life.
'I was told to go to the next room and strip -- that's when it really hits you for the first time... that you are a criminal and you are being treated like one.' 'It comes as a shock when, instead of your name, you hear, "Yeh naya Maowadi aaya hai (A new Maoist has arrived)".'
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'Scientists around the world are focused on very quickly doing work to help us better understand what we are facing.' 'I am inspired by what scientists have found in such a short amount of time since the virus emerged.'
'The only way to contain this is to see that a lesser number of people are affected.'
Over 5 million alumni from the Indian Institutes of Technology, Mumbai University and Institute of Chemical Technology, Mumbai, plan to raise Rs 21,000 crore to start the world's largest infection testing lab in Mumbai.
The results show they induced strong antibody and T-cell immune responses for up to 56 days after they were given. T-cells are crucial for maintaining protection against the virus for years.
Over 20,400 foreign nationals have been evacuated from India amid the coronavirus crisis and any decision on bringing Indians from abroad will be taken at a later stage after reviewing the situation, the government said on Friday.
As the virus continued to spread at an alarming rate, Chinese President Xi Jinping on Monday warned officials of punishment if they shirked responsibility in tackling the virus outbreak.
India's COVID-19 tally climbed to 6,48,315 on Saturday, while the death toll rose to 18,655 with 442 new fatalities.
The COVID-19 caseload zoomed to 5,08,953, while 384 fresh fatalities were recorded in the last 24 hours. The number of active cases stands at 1,97,387, while 2,95,880 people have recovered and one patient has migrated, according to the updated figure at 8 am.
Gita Ramjee has become the first Indian-origin South African to have died after contracting the novel coronavirus. Ramjee, a stellar vaccine scientist and an HIV prevention research leader, had returned from London a week ago but reportedly showed no symptoms of COVID-19.
'Most of the cases in Mumbai are asymptomatic -- 85 per cent you can say.' 'Only 10 to 15 per cent are symptomatic.'
'We are in close touch with Indian officials at all levels. We are also closely coordinating with our allies, friends, and Quad partners about how we can collectively support India in its hour of need,' a senior Biden administration official told reporters
Addressing his council of ministers in a video conference, Modi asked them to prepare business continuity plans to fight the economic impact of COVID-19 on a war footing, but also asserted that this crisis is an opportunity to boost the 'Make-in-India' initiative and reduce dependence on other countries.
'In our country, there is a lot of checks and balances, the figures cannot go wrong.' 'Because they are being checked by not only the governments, but by doctors themselves.'
''We had three positive cases, but our success was the three not going up to 30 or 100.' 'Also, all the three survived the virus,' says Kerala's Health Minister K K Shailaja.
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It took 110 days for the COVID-19 cases in the country to reach one lakh and just 59 days more to go past the nine-lakh mark.
The first part of the study conducted by the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) revealed that 0.73 per cent of the population surveyed showed evidence of past exposure to SARS-CoV-2, and that urban slum population was the most vulnerable to the infection, ICMR Director General Balram Bhargava said at a press conference.
Talking about the Tablighi Jamaat congregation, Agarwal said, "If the Tablighi Jamaat incident had not taken place and we compare the rate of doubling -- that is in how many days the cases have doubled, we will see that currently it is 4.1 days (including Jamaat cases) and if the incident had not taken place and additional cases had not come then the doubling rate would have been 7.4 days."
'I want to play as much cricket as I can moving forward while looking after my body. My England career is No.1 but if opportunities come up, I'd still like to play in them.'
"Lockdown and containment (measures) have been successful in keeping it low and preventing rapid spread," ICMR Director General Balram Bhargava said, citing the sero-survey on COVID-19 spread.
The chief minister said the Delhi government was implementing from November 19 its decision to reserve 80 per cent of ICU beds in private hospitals for COVID-19 patients.
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The number of recoveries also surged with 2,48,189 patients cured so far, while there were 1,78,014 active cases, according to the updated official figures at 8 am.
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The pandemic is set to become even more challenging, with migrant workers returning home, relaxations in lockdown rules, and the approaching monsoon. However, states are looking at community participation to ramp up testing and home treatment of patients
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