COVID-19 news from across the nation

India has recorded 94,62,809 confirmed COVID-19 cases, including 1,37,621 deaths. A total of 88,89,585 people have recuperated from COVID-19 so far. Maharashtra reported the maximum daily new cases with 3,837 recorded in the last 24 hours, while Delhi reported 3,726 cases and Kerala recorded 3,382 cases. As many as 482 fatalities were reported in the last 24 hours, out of which 81.12 per cent were from ten states/Union Territories.

Hyderabad:The cumulative Covid-19 positivity rate has decreased in India from 7.15 per cent to 6.69 per cent from November 11 to December 1 period, the Union Health Ministry said on Tuesday.

Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan addressing a press briefing here said that cumulative positivity rate in the country dipped from 7.15 per cent to 6.69 per cent during November 11 to December 1 period.

"In November this year, the number of recoveries has been more than the number of new Covid-19 cases," Bhushan said.

With 31,118 new Covid-19 infections in the last 24 hours, India's active cases stand at 4,35,603, much below the five-lakh mark, the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW) informed on Tuesday.

COVID-19 news from across the nation

The share of active cases in the total positive cases has further shrunk to 4.60 per cent. While the Covid-19 case tally stood at 94,62,809, a net decline of 11,349 cases has been recorded in the total active cases in the last 24 hours. As many as 41,985 new recoveries were reported in the last 24 hours.

The total number of people who have recovered in the country now stands at 88,89,585 translating to a recovery rate of 93.94 per cent. The gap between recovered cases and active cases continues to grow and presently stands at 84,53,982, the health ministry said.

About 76.82 per cent of the new recovered cases are concentrated in 10 states/ Union Territories.

The maximum number of single-day recoveries was reported from Kerala with 6,055 recoveries, followed by Delhi with 5,824 recoveries. Maharashtra reported the maximum daily new cases with 3,837 recorded in the last 24 hours, while Delhi reported 3,726 cases and Kerala recorded 3,382 cases. As many as 482 fatalities were reported in the last 24 hours, out of which 81.12 per cent were from ten states/Union Territories.

Meanwhile, Phase 2/3 clinical trials for Sputnik V, the first registered Covid-19 vaccine from Russia commenced in India on Tuesday.

Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF) and Dr Reddy’s Laboratories today said they have commenced adaptive Phase 2/3 clinical trials for the vaccine. Russia became the first country to register the world's first Covid-19 vaccine on August 11.

Sputnik V was developed by the Gamaleya National Research Centre for Epidemiology and Microbiology of the Russian Healthcare Ministry.

The Sputnik V vaccine is based on a well-studied human adenoviral vector platform that had proven safe and effective with no long-term side effects in more than 250 clinical trials globally conducted during the past two decades (while the history of use of human adenoviruses in vaccine development started in 1953).

More than 100,000 people have received approved and registered drugs based on the human adenoviral vectors. Last month, Russia on Wednesday said that its vaccine Sputnik V is 92 per cent effective at protecting people from COVID-19 according to the first interim analysis.

"The Sputnik V vaccine efficacy amounted to 92 per cent (calculation based on the 20 confirmed Covid-19 cases split between vaccinated individuals and those who received the placebo)," the RDIF said in a statement read.

Sputnik V vaccine against Covid-19 will be tested in India on 100 volunteers, the Indian Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation's Drug Controller General (DCGI) told Sputnik in October. DCGI has granted permission to pharmaceutical giant Dr Reddy's Laboratories for conducting tests.

Referring to erroneous claims about vaccine distribution, the Union Health Ministry on Tuesday said that the government had never spoken about vaccinating the entire country for the coronavirus pandemic.

At a press briefing, Union health secretary Rajesh Bhushan said that there might not even be a need to vaccinate the entire population and that it is important to discuss such scientific issues, based on factual information only.

"I just want to make this clear that the government has never spoken about vaccinating the entire country. It's important that we discuss such scientific issues, based on factual information only," Rajesh Bhushan said when asked about a timeline for inoculating the entire country.

ICMR DG Balram Bhargava also said: "It would depend on the efficacy of the vaccine and our purpose is to break the chain of virus transmission and if we are able to vaccinate critical mass of people and break that transmission then we may not have to vaccinate the entire population."

The ICMR DG also added that role of masks in curbing the spread of the virus is vitally important and will continue even after the vaccination. "Role of the mask is vitally important and that will continue even after the vaccination because we are starting with a small population at a time. Therefore mask will be protective and continue to be used so as to help in breaking the chain of viral transmission," he said.

Responding to a question about the adverse event reported at the Covid-19 vaccine trial at the Serum Institute of India, the health secretary said: "Adverse event will not affect the timeline in any manner whatsoever." "Data Safety Monitoring Board also monitors clinical trial from day to day basis and keeps an eye on adverse events and report it. Drug Controller General analyses all reports and finds out whether there's a one-to-one co-relation between adverse event and vaccination," he said.

The ICMR DG also said that adverse events do occur with drugs or vaccines or any other health intervention. "It is the role of the regulator after collating all data to ascertain or refute whether there is a causal link between the event and intervention," he said. The Union Health ministry secretary also said that India has the lowest per million cases of coronavirus in the world and the average daily positivity rate stood at 3.72 last week.

Karnataka

Bengaluru:As many as 1,330 new Covid-19 cases were reported in Karnataka on Tuesday, pushing the state's tally to 8,86,227.

According to the state's Department of Health and Family Welfare, 14 deaths related to the novel coronavirus and 886 people recovered from the virus on the same day.

While 8,50,707 people have recovered from the infection, 11,792 have lost their lives due to the deadly virus here so far.

The state reported 23,709 active cases of coronavirus as of Tuesday, its health department said.

Delhi

New Delhi: Delhi on Tuesday reported 4,006 new COVID-19 cases, taking the total count of cases in the national capital to 5,74,380.

According to the Delhi Health Department, the death toll due to COVID-19 has gone to 9,260 with 86 persons succumbing to the virus in the last 24 hours. The city saw 5,036 recoveries on Monday taking the total number of recovered patients to 5,33,351. Delhi has 31,769 active cases.

The department said that 58,456 COVID-19 tests were conducted in the city in the last 24 hours. The cumulative positivity rate in the national capital is 9.05 per cent.

Telangana

Hyderabad: As many as 502 new COVID-19 cases and three deaths were reported in Telangana in the last 24 hours, the state health department informed on Tuesday.

With this, the total number of positive cases in the state now stands at 2,70,318, including 9,627 active cases, and 2,59,230 discharges.

Telangana recorded three deaths in the last 24 hours, taking the death toll to 1,461.