LIVE: Karnataka reports 413 new Covid-19 cases, two more deaths

Karnataka on Sunday added 413 fresh Covid-19 cases and two deaths, taking the total caseload and fatalities to 948,149 and 12,294 respectively, the health department said.

Deaths reported due to the novel coronavirus disease (Covid-19) are nearing the 500,000-mark in the United States.

Rajasthan on Sunday saw no deaths but added 82 Covid-19 cases which pushed the overall tally to 319,543. As per the health department bulletin, 315,513 people have recovered till now

Maharashtra chief minisiter Uddhav Thackeray said on Sunday that nobody liked to be placed under lockdown but some restrictions had to be imposed in order to curb the spread of the virus. Read more here

Kerala on Sunday added 4,070 new coronavirus disease cases and 4,345 more recoveries, according to the state government's update. The total recoveries are nearing 972,000 while active cases have gone up to 58,313.

Andhra Pradesh on Sunday witnessed 88 new coronavirus disease cases which took the caseload to 889,298. The state's Covid nodal officer told news agency PTI that there had been 72 recoveries in the last 24 hours adding that no death was added during this period.

A one week lockdown has been imposed in Maharashtra's Amravati district amid the sharp surge in coronavirus (Covid-19) disease cases.

The national capital on Sunday added 145 fresh coronavirus disease cases and two related deaths, which pushed the caseload and death toll to 637,900 and 10,900 respectively, according to the health department's bulletin. A total of 63,813 tests were conducted in the last 24 hours out of which 44,673 were RT-PCR tests and the remaining 19,140 were rapid antigen tests. The bulletin added.

Nepal on Sunday became the latest country to receive coronavirus disease (Covid-19) vaccines from India. One million doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine arrived at the Tribhuvan International Airport in the capital city of Kathmandu.

Odisha on Sunday added 58 fresh Covid-19 disease cases which pushed the overall tally to 336,636, according to a health department official. Out of the new cases, 34 from quarantine centres while the remaining 24 were local contact cases, he added.

Gujarat chief minister Vijay Rupani on Sunday tested negative for the (Covid-19) coronavirus disease after he had tested positive on February 15 and was admitted to to the UN Mehta Hospital.

The Japanese government has found that nearly 5,800 students left school between April-December, 2020 due to the ongoing coronavirus disease (Covid-19) pandemic, according to NHK World. The education ministry conducted a survey of four-year universities and colleges, junior colleges and technical colleges across the country. Around 1,009 schools had responded to the survey. Out of the 5,800 students, 1,367 students left school permanently while the remaining 4,434 took some time off due to the overall Covid-19 situation.

Puducherry recorded 23 new Covid-19 disease cases and one more related death in the last 24 hours which pushed the overall tally and death toll to 39,592 and 663 respectively. S Mohan Kumar- the director of health and family welfare stated in a release that the new infections were identified 1,273 samples had been tested.

Russia on Sunday reported 12,742 new coronavirus cases in the last 24 hours, including 1,602 in Moscow, taking the national tally to 4,164,726. Authorities also reported another 417 deaths, raising the official toll to 83,293.

Israel reopened swathes of its economy on Sunday, with the government saying the start of a return to routine was enabled by a Covid-19 vaccination drive that has reached almost half the population. Shops were open to all. But access to leisure sites like gyms, hotels and theatres was limited to people who have had both doses of the vaccine more than a week prior, or recovered from the disease with presumed immunity. Those people get "Green Pass" status displayed on a Health Ministry app. Mask-wearing and social-distancing were still in force. Dancing was barred at banquet halls. Synagogues, mosques or churches were required to halve their normal congregation sizes.

Taiwan's government said on Sunday that it had confirmed three cases of the Covid-19 variant first discovered in Brazil, and that all arrivals from that country would undergo centralised quarantine from this week. Health minister Chen Shih-chung said the three people, whose initial infections officials announced last month and are being treated in the hospital, had been confirmed on Saturday to have what is known as the P1 Brazil variant. Chen added that starting at midnight on Wednesday, anyone arriving in Taiwan from Brazil or who had been in Brazil the previous 14 days must quarantine at a centralised facility for two weeks, as arrivals from Britain and South Africa also must to prevent the spread of separate variants found there.

Pune-based Serum Institute of India CEO Adar Poonawalla requested the countries to 'be patient' as they await the Covishield supplies, adding that SII is trying to maintain a balance between the needs of India and the world.

"Dear countries and governments, as you await Covishield supplies, I humbly request you to please be patient, Serum Institute of India has been directed to prioritise the huge needs of India and along with that balance the needs of the rest of the world. We are trying our best," Poonawalla said. SII has been asked to prioritise India's vaccine needs and balance it out with the supplies to the rest of the world who are procuring Covid vaccine doses from India.

Mexico reported a daily rise of 832 Covid-19 deaths, bringing the total to 179,797, according to data released by the Health Ministry. Cases rose 7,785 to 2,038,276. Deputy Health Minister Hugo Lopez-Gatell, known as the nation’s coronavirus czar, has tested positive for Covid-19, according to a tweet. Lopez-Gatell says he’s dealing with mild symptoms that began Friday, and he plans to continue working from home for now.

Telangana clocked 163 new coronavirus cases and one related death, taking the aggregate to 2.97 lakh and the toll to 1,624 respectively, the government said on Sunday. A total of 1,731 patients were under treatment, a health bulletin said, providing data as of 8pm on February 20.

Israel reopened swathes of its economy on Sunday in what it called the start of a return to routine enabled by a Covid-19 vaccination drive that has reached almost half the population. While shops were open to all, access to leisure sites like gyms and theatres was limited to vaccinees or those who have recovered from the disease with presumed immunity, a so-called "Green Pass" status displayed on a special Health Ministry app.

The United States has administered 61,289,500 doses of Covid-19 vaccines as of Saturday morning and delivered 79,128,495 doses, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said. The tally of vaccine doses are for both Moderna and Pfizer/BioNTech, vaccines as of 6:00 a.m. ET on Saturday, the agency said.

Malaysia moved up its Covid-19 inoculation drive by two days as the first batch of vaccines arrived in the Southeast Asian nation on Sunday. Malaysia aims to vaccinate at least 80% of its 32 million people within a year as it pushes to revive an economy that, slammed by coronavirus-related curbs, recorded its worst slump in over two decades in 2020. It has imposed more lockdowns this year amid a fresh wave of coronavirus infections. The country has recorded 280,272 cases and 1,051 deaths.

Andaman and Nicobar Islands did not report any new Covid-19 case in the last three days, an official said on Sunday. The coronavirus tally in the union territory remained at 5,014, the official said. The archipelago now has only three active Covid-19 cases and all the patients are in South Andaman district, he said.

Thane has added 508 new cases of coronavirus, raising the infection count in the Maharashtra district to 2,60,176, an official said on Sunday. Apart from these new cases reported on Saturday, the virus has claimed the life of eight more persons, taking the death toll in the district rose to 6,235, he said.

The Covid-19 fatality rate in the district is 2.40 per cent, he said. So far, 2,49,910 patients have recovered from the infection in the district, reflecting a recovery rate of 96.05 per cent.

The UK will significantly accelerate its vaccination program, offering shots to all adults by the end of July and everyone over 50 by mid-April as the government beefs up efforts to contain one of the world’s worst outbreaks of the coronavirus. Prime Minister Boris Johnson will set out the new targets on Monday when he reveals his “roadmap” to easing lockdown restrictions. It is the first time the government has given a firm target for when it expects to offer all adults their initial dose, having previously said it hoped to do so by autumn. The previous target set for over-50s was the end of May. Read more