Delhi Reports 4,483 New Covid-19 Cases, 28 Deaths; Positivity Rate Dips to 7.41%

Gujarat reports 11,794 fresh Covid-19 cases, 21,655 recoveries, and 33 deaths in the last 24 hours. Active cases at 98,021 and death toll at 10,408.

Dr Gagandeep Kang, a leading virologist and NTAGI member, on Saturday said that even though there is now consistent evidence that Omicron spreads significantly faster than the Delta variant, it did not increase in severity like Delta due to a phenomenon called epistasis where the background of mutations influences how genes actually work. READ MORE

Karnataka records 33,337 fresh COVID cases, 69,902 recoveries, and 70 deaths in the last 24 hours. Active cases are at 2,52,132 and positivity rate at 19.37%.

Tamil Nadu reported 24,418 fresh Covid-19 cases, 27,885 recoveries, and 46 deaths in the last 24 hours. Active cases is at 2,08,350.

Union Health Minister Dr Mansukh Mandaviya virtually held a meeting with eastern states on the Covid-19 situation.

Delhi reports 4,483 new Covid-19 cases and 28 deaths in the last 24 hours. Positivity rate is at 7.41 per cent.

Tripura allows all schools and Madrassas in the State (pre-primary to class 12) to function normally with strict maintenance of Covid-19 from January 31.

Austria will begin easing Covid-19 related restrictions next week, Chancellor Karl Nehammer told a news conference on Saturday, as the Omicron variant leads to reduced hospitalisations despite high infection numbers. From February 5, Austria will extend the opening hours of restaurants and shops until midnight, Nehammer said, while it will increase the number of people able to participate in events to 50 people from 25.

Liquor sales in West Bengal have reached an all-time high and have surpassed all previous records since the Covid-19 pandemic struck. Data from the excise department shows that sale of liquor shot up, especially in the last 18 months. READ MORE

The Karnataka government on Saturday relaxed a few Covid-19 curbs, which were introduced in the first week of January as cases soaring, and announced that night curfew will be withdrawn in the state from Monday (January 31). Offline classes will also resume from Monday in the state. Read the full story here.

An elderly COVID-19 patient was killed after fire broke out at the Burdwan Medical College and Hospital in West Bengal on Saturday morning, officials said. The deceased, Sandhya Mondal (60), was admitted to a Covid ward of the hospital, where the blaze erupted around 4 am, they said. Other patients in the ward were safe as they were moved to another wing in time, hospital sources said. Hospital authorities doused the blaze before fire brigade personnel arrived, the sources said.

A five-member team has been constituted to investigate the cause of the fire, Hospital Superintendent Tapas Kumar Ghosh said.

During an election rally in Uttar Pradesh’s Baghpat, Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath said, “Coronavirus is under control and there is no need to be scared of it at this point. In Baghpat, almost 98% people have taken the first dose and more than 80% of people have taken the second one.”

As Covishield and Covaxin have been cleared by India’s drugs regulator for sale in the market, an Assam firm is all set to launch their herbal medicine to treat the SARS-COV2 virus. The herbal drug has been certified by the Bio Inoculation Centre of the Indian Institute of Life Science, an autonomous institute of the Central government’s Department of Biotechnology at Bhubaneshwar, as 98% effective against coronavirus. Read the full story here.

Single-day recoveries outnumbered fresh COVID19 cases in Arunachal Pradesh as 515 more people recuperated from the disease in the last 24 hours, while 380 new infections were reported, a health department official said on Saturday. The fresh cases pushed the COVID19 tally in the northeastern state to 61,627, he said.

Odisha reported 15 more COVID19 fatalities on Saturday, the highest in nearly five months, while singleday infections dipped to 4,842, the health department said in a bulletin. The death toll mounted to 8,575 and the coronavirus tally rose to 12,41,068, it said.

Schools and colleges will reopen in Pune district from February 1. For classes 1 to 8, the school timings will be half of the regular timings, but for classes 9 to 10, the school will run as per the regular schedule. Colleges will also function as per regular time: Maharashtra Deputy CM

Thane district of Maharashtra reported 1,079 new coronavirus positive cases, which took its infection count to 6,99,961, while the death of eight patients pushed to toll to 11,759, an official said on Saturday. These cases and fatalities were reported on Friday, he said.

India reports 2,35,532 new COVID-19 cases, 871 deaths and 3,35,939 recoveries in the last 24 hours

Active case: 20,04,333 (4.91%) Daily positivity rate: 13.39%

Total Vaccination : 1,65,04,87,260

India reports 2,35,532 new COVID-19 cases, 871 deaths and 3,35,939 recoveries in the last 24 hours

Active case: 20,04,333 (4.91%) Daily positivity rate: 13.39%

Total Vaccination : 1,65,04,87,260