Highlights: South African variant of Covid-19 found in US

US state of South Carolina reported two cases of the South African variant of Covid-19 virus. Both individuals had no contact with each other and have no recent history of foreign travel, reported Bloomberg.

The European Medicines Agency on Thursday asked EU countries to administer the second jab of Covid-19 vaccine after a gap of three weeks instead of two, in a bid to deal with long supply gaps, reported Reuters.

Paris has decided to suspend Covid-19 inoculation drive for the first dose of the vaccine following an order by French authorities, owing to the lack of proper vaccine supply, reported Reuters. However, the second dose for those who had been vaccinated before will be administered as decided before.

Rajasthan on Thursday recorded 85 new cases of Covid-19, pushing the current toll of active cases to 2559. 2 fatalities were also reported in the state, the increased death toll now stands at 2559, reported ANI.

Tamil Nadu on Thursday reported 503 new cases of coronavirus in the state. The current tally stands at 8,36,818. 6 fatalities have also been registered in the state, the death toll as of Thursday stands at 12,339. reported ANI.

Odisha maintained its streak of zero Covid-19 fatalities for the second day straight. The state reported 113 new cases of Covid-19, taking the statewide toll to 3,34,780. The death toll has stayed put at 1,906, reported news agency PTI.

Union health secretary Rajesh Bhushan told news agency ANI on Thursday that India achieved the remarkable feat of inoculating 1 million people in just 6 days, taking much less time than countries like US, UK, Germany, Israel, UAE, Italy, and Spain.

After Germany asked for Taiwan's help in easing shortage of automobile semiconductor chips Taiwan requested Berlin's help in easing vaccine worries, reported Reuters. Taiwan has signed deals to buy 20 million doses of vaccine, including 10 million doses of the Oxford vaccine, and is also slated to receive 4.76 million doses from COVAX alliance.

The number of people who have tested positive for the UK variant of SARS-CoV-2 in the country has climbed to 165, the Union Health Ministry said on Thursday.

Britain's supply of vaccines from AstraZeneca must not be interrupted, Minister for the Cabinet Office Michael Gove said on Thursday, when asked if the government would allow shots to be diverted to the European Union.

Russia reported 19,138 new Covid-19 cases on Thursday, including 2,897 in Moscow, taking the national tally to 3,793,810 since the pandemic began.

China on Thursday warned the United States against 'politicising' WHO virus probe.

Pfizer-BioNTech say their Covid-19 vaccine effective against UK, South Africa variants, reports AFP.

A World Health Organization team emerged from quarantine in the Chinese city of Wuhan on Thursday to start field work in a fact-finding mission on the origins of the virus that caused the Covid-19 pandemic.

Puducherry clocked 39 fresh cases of Covid-19 and one related death on Thursday, taking the aggregate to 38,973.

A dependable partner, a reliable friend. Made in India vaccines reach Sri Lanka now: External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar.

The Philippine Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has authorised the emergency use of the vaccine against the coronavirus developed by the AstraZeneca company, media reported on Thursday.

The tests conducted on two different variants of the coronavirus show that one of the two monoclonal antibodies in Regeneron's cocktail therapy can neutralize both, despite the mutations, researchers reported.

With a consistent rise in cumulative recoveries, India’s recovery rate has reached nearly 97%. India’s recovery rate is one of the highest globally. 1,03,73,606 people have recovered and 14,301 patients have recovered and discharged in the last 24 hours: Ministry of Health

78% of the active cases are concentrated in five states —Kerala, Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh, Karnataka and West Bengal. 77.84% of the new recovered cases are observed to be concentrated in 7 States/UTs: Ministry of Health

South Korea reported 497 more cases of Covid-19 as of midnight Wednesday compared to 24 hours ago, raising the total number of infections to 76,926.

Telangana posted 186 fresh cases of coronavirus, taking the total positives to nearly 2.94 lakh while one related fatality pushed the toll to 1,594.