Highlights: Punjab logs 818 new cases, 11 more deaths

Calls for an independent investigation into the origin of Covid-19 grew as a group of scientists called for a probe to consider all hypotheses and nail down whether the virus came from an animal.

In India, the surge in number of daily infections has triggered fears of a second wave. Bloomberg

Global cases of Covid-19 rose past 115.5 million as the virus continues to spread across the world. The death toll exceeded 2.5 million, as per the Bloomberg report. Meanwhile, countries inoculated more than 279 million against the Covid-19, it also reported....Read More

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• 5 Mar 2021, 11:01:53 PM IST

  Punjab logs 818 new cases, 11 more deaths

  Punjab on Friday recorded 818 fresh coronavirus disease cases and 11 more deaths and 400 recoveries. The caseload has climbed to 186,189 while the recoveries stand at 173,630, according to the state health department's bulletin.

• 5 Mar 2021, 10:12:38 PM IST

  Italy reports 24,036 new Covid-19 cases, 297 more deaths

  Italy on Friday registered 24,036 fresh Covid-19 disease cases and 297 more deaths which pushed the caseload to 3.02 million. The health ministry said that 378,463 tests were carried out on Thursday, compared to the 339,635 tests on Wednesday.

• 5 Mar 2021, 08:40:02 PM IST

  Nearly 1.4 million vaccinated in India on Thursday, highest in a day so far: Report

  Official sources told news agency PTI on Friday that nearly 1.4 million people were vaccinated against the coronavirus disease (Covid-19) on Thursday, the highest in a day so far, taking the total number of vaccine doses administered in the country to over 1.8 crore.

• 5 Mar 2021, 08:21:26 PM IST

  Maharashtra registers highest single day spike of 10,216 Covid-19 cases since beginning of 2021.

  Maharashtra on Friday added 10,216 fresh coronavirus disease (Covid-19) cases and 53 more related deaths which pushed the overall tally and death toll to 2,198,399 and 52,393 respectively. Friday's tally has been the highest ever since the mid-October last year.

• 5 Mar 2021, 07:28:24 PM IST

  Delhi reports 312 new Covid-19 cases, 3 deaths

  Delhi reported 312 new Covid-19 cases and three deaths, taking the tally to 640,494 cases and 10,918 deaths, reports ANI.

• 5 Mar 2021, 07:20:04 PM IST

  Goa reports 79 new Covid-19 cases in last 24 hours

  Goa's coronavirus caseload went up by 79 and reached 55,291 on Friday, while the day also saw one death from the infection and 42 people recovering, an official said, reports PTI.

• 5 Mar 2021, 06:52:46 PM IST

  Andhra Pradesh reports 124 new coronavirus cases

  Active coronavirus cases in Andhra Pradesh rose to 900 as 124 were added afresh in 24 hours ending 9 am on Friday as the caseload now touched 8,90,441, reports PTI.

• 5 Mar 2021, 05:48:47 PM IST

  Japan extends Covid emergency in Tokyo

  Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga announced that his government is extending a state of emergency in the Tokyo region for another two weeks because its medical systems are still strained by Covid-19 patients, reports AP.

• 5 Mar 2021, 05:24:06 PM IST

  Odisha reports 91 new Covid-19 cases

  Odisha's Covid-19 tally mounted to 3,37,620 on Friday as 91 more people tested positive for the infection, a health department official said, reports PTI.

• 5 Mar 2021, 05:13:48 PM IST

  South Africa to miss Covid vaccination target due to shortfall

  South Africa expects to miss its target of inoculating 1.5 million people by the end of this month because sufficient shots aren’t available, reports Bloomberg.

• 5 Mar 2021, 04:36:05 PM IST

  Mumbai: 10 employees in restaurant test Covid-19 positive

  Ten out of 35 employees of a restaurant in Andheri area of Mumbai have tested positive for coronavirus and were shifted to the mega Covid care centre in Bandra Kurla Complex, a civic official said on Friday, reports PTI.

• 5 Mar 2021, 04:11:34 PM IST

  Punjab CM Amarinder Singh gets first dose of Covid-19 vaccine

• 5 Mar 2021, 03:45:51 PM IST

  Made in India Covid vaccine supplied to 50 countries: PM Modi

  Made in India vaccine was given to 50 countries, and in coming days, we will supply Covid-19 vaccines to many other countries, said PM Modi while addressing the India-Sweden virtual summit.

• 5 Mar 2021, 03:32:18 PM IST

  Australia asks EU not to ban AstraZeneca Covid vaccine exports

  Australia is seeking assurances from the European Union's executive arm that future shipments of vaccines will not be blocked, after Italy banned a large export of the AstraZeneca coronavirus shots, reports AP.

• 5 Mar 2021, 02:48:27 PM IST

  Romania reports first case of South African Covid-19 variant

  Romania has reported its first two cases of the coronavirus variant first identified in South Africa, online news publication HotNews said on Friday, citing data by private clinic MedLife, reports Reuters.

• 5 Mar 2021, 02:14:04 PM IST

  Moldova in Europe first to receive Covid vaccines from COVAX

  Moldova became the first European country to receive Covid-19 vaccines from the global COVAX scheme, Moldovan President Maia Sandu said on Friday, reports Reuters.

• 5 Mar 2021, 12:16:52 PM IST

  Prakash Javadekar inoculated with first dose of Covid-19 vaccine

  Union Minister Prakash Javadekar inoculated with first dose of Covid-19 jab at Deenanath Mangeshkar Hospital in Pune

• 5 Mar 2021, 11:40:15 AM IST

  18 states, UTs report no death in last 24 hours: Govt

  Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Chandigarh, Daman and Diu, Dadra and Nagar Haveli, Gujarat, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Ladakh, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Odisha, Puducherry, Sikkim, Tripura and Uttarakhand have not reported any Covid-19 deaths in the last 24 hours: Government of India

• 5 Mar 2021, 10:41:12 AM IST

  Union minister Giriraj Singh inoculated with first dose of Covid-19 vaccine

  Union minister Giriraj Singh receives the first dose of Covid-19 vaccine at Sadar Hospital in Begusarai, Bihar.

• 5 Mar 2021, 09:23:56 AM IST

  India's Covid-19 tally rise by 16,838

  India's Covid-19 tally rise by 16,838 fresh cases. The caseload now stands at 11,17,3761.

• 5 Mar 2021, 08:15:43 AM IST

  Japan to extend state of emergency

  The Japanese government plans to extend a state of emergency to combat Covid-19 for Tokyo and three neighbouring prefectures until March 21, says economy minister Yasutoshi Nishimura on Friday.

• 5 Mar 2021, 07:33:29 AM IST

  China's Covid-19 tally rises by 9 fresh cases

  China reported 9 new coronavirus cases in the mainland for March 4, compared with 10 cases a day earlier, the country's health commission said on Friday.

• 5 Mar 2021, 07:30:48 AM IST

  India's phase 2 of vaccination drive stuck in first gear

  Rajasthan is the runaway leader in the first three days of the second phase of India’s Covid-19 vaccination drive, having given doses to 5,187 per million residents, although an HT analysis of data from the first three days of the expanded drive indicates a slow start across the country. Read more