Highlights: Maharashtra reports 23,179 new Covid-19 cases

Ahmedabad Municipal Transport Service (AMTS) and Ahmedabad Bus Rapid Transit System buses to suspend operation starting Thursday as Covid-19 cases surge, reports ANI.

Union minister of state for health and family welfare Ashwini Choubey tweeted that over 36 million Covid-19 vaccine doses have been administered in India so far. Of this, more than 1.4 million doses were administered on Wednesday.

With 23,179 new Covid-19 cases and 84 related deaths, Maharashtra's Covid-19 tally reached 2,370,507 cases and death toll climbed to 53,080. Also, Mumbai reported 2,377 new cases and eight new deaths.

Delhi reports over 500 new Covid-19 cases and three related deaths in the past 24 hours, taking the city's tally to 645,025 cases and 10,948 deaths, according to the health department.

Nagpur in Maharashtra reported 3,370 new Covid-19 cases and 16 deaths in the last 24 hours, taking the district's tally to 178,756 cases and 4,505 deaths, reports ANI.

Kerala recorded 2,098 new Covid-19 cases and 13 deaths, as active cases reached 25,934, reports ANI.

When asked about the suspension of AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine in some European countries, Dr VK Paul said that the it has only been done as a precautionary measure. He also said that the WHO has advised to go ahead with the vaccination program.

He also said that the government is mindful of the issue, but the vaccination program will continue as planned for now.

• Efficient implementation of "Test, Track and Treat" strategy
• Significantly increase testing in all districts. RT PCR tests a minimum of 70 per cent
• Ensure all contacts [approx. 30] traced, isolated, tested in 72 hours
• Identify clusters, focus on surveillance and stringent implementation of containment zone approach
• Undertaking priority vaccination of identified groups in districts reporting higher cases

Covid-19 vaccine wastage in five states, namely, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Karnataka and Jammu and Kashmir, higher than 6.5 per cent, which is the national average, said Rajesh Bhushan.

Of the 8.34 million Covid-19 vaccine doses administered in the world on March 15, India alone accounted for 3.04 million doses, says health secretary Bhushan.

Between March 1 and 15, 70 districts in 16 states witnessed Covid-19 cases increase by over 150 per cent, said Union health secretary Rajesh Bhushan.

Poland reported 25,052 daily coronavirus cases on Wednesday, according to health ministry data, the highest number so far this year.

In total, the country of 38 million has reported 1,956,974 cases and 48,032 deaths.

We should urge local administration to set up micro-containment zones, says PM Modi at meet with CMs. He also said that more than 96% of the cases have recovered. India is one of those countries where the fatality rate is one of the lowest

Russia on Wednesday reported 8,998 new Covid-19 cases, including 1,201 in Moscow, pushing the national infection tally to 4,418,436 since the pandemic began. The government coronavirus task force also said that 427 people had died in the last 24 hours, taking Russia's death toll to 93,364.

With the addition of 1,271 new cases of coronavirus, the tally in Maharashtra's Aurangabad district has gone up to 60,100, an official said on Wednesday.

Besides these new cases reported on Tuesday, seven more people also succumbed to the viral infection, raising the death toll in the district to 1,351, he said.

Odisha's Covid-19 caseload on Wednesday mounted to 3,38,405 after 82 more people tested positive for the infection, a health department official said.

The new cases were detected in 20 of the state's 30 districts, with 48 reported from different quarantine centres and the remaining 34 local contact cases.

Ukraine registered a record daily high of 289 coronavirus-related deaths over the past 24 hours, the health minister Maksym Stepanov said on Wednesday.

Andaman and Nicobar Islands Covid-19 tally rose to 5,032 as one more person tested positive for the virus in the union territory in the last 24- hours, a health department official said on Wednesday. The archipelago now has three active Covid-19 cases and all the three patients are in South Andaman district, he said.

One more person recovered from Covid-19 on Tuesday, taking the total number of recoveries to 4,967.

Thane has added 1,359 new cases of coronavirus, raising the infection count in the Maharashtra district to 2,78,928,an official said on Wednesday. These new cases were reported on Tuesday, he said. The virus also claimed the lives of six more persons, pushing the death toll in the district to 6,349, he said.

The US government issued simplified rules for developers of coronavirus tests to promote serial screening, a process in which the same individual is tested multiple times within a few days, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) said.

"Today, we are providing information for test developers about a streamlined path to emergency use authorization," the FDA said in a press release on Tuesday. "This [path] applies to developers of molecular and antigen tests, for use in serial testing programs, as well as at-home tests for use in a serial manner outside of a testing program."

Australia on Wednesday asked AstraZeneca and the European Union for urgent access to one million vaccines to deal with an alarming Covid-19 surge in neighbouring Papua New Guinea. Prime Minister Scott Morrison said he wanted to divert doses that Australia had already ordered and paid for "as soon as possible", to address a coronavirus explosion beyond Australia's porous northern border.