LIVE: United States sets another record with over 4,300 coronavirus deaths

Germany's defence minister on Wednesday offered up to 10,000 soldiers to assist in conducting Covid-19 tests in care homes amid a surge in cases. "The Bundeswehr is ready to assist at short notice with up to 10,000 men and women in old people's homes and nursing homes if we are called upon," a spokesman for Defence Minister Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer told AFP.

UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson said on Wednesday that the coronavirus (Covid-19) vaccination program would operate around the clock seven days a week "as soon as we can" as authorities are working towards administering doses to the most vulnerable people against the disease.

Russian President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday instructed officials with launching mass vaccinations from next week as he lauded homemade Sputnik V vaccine as the world's best. "I ask you to begin the mass vaccination of the entire population next week," Putin told officials at a televised government meeting, according to news agency AFP.

Ninety-five per cent of the 1.1 crore Covishield doses purchased by the Centre had been delivered across India a day after the transportation of the vaccine began, sources told news agency PTI. "So far 95 per cent of the doses of the total purchase order (of 1.1 crore doses) have been delivered. Remaining over one lakh doses will be delivered shortly," the sourced added.

Haryana on Wednesday registered 225 fresh coronavirus cases and two more related deaths which pushed the overall tally and death toll to 265,616 and 2,966 respectively. The active cases currently stand at 2,414 while over 260,000 people have been discharged so far, reports PTI.

The Union health ministry said on Wednesday that the entire intial procurement of Covishield and Covaxin doses had been allocated across all states and Union Territories (UTs) in the proportion of healthcare workers' database. The ministry pointed out there was no discrimination against any state regarding the provision of doses.

UK PM Boris Johnson said on Wednesday that tougher restrictions introduced last week in the UK started to have an effect in some areas but cautioned that it was still the early days. Johnson added that he did not rule out bringing in even tougher restrictions to limit spread of coronavirus, which has been largely driven by a fresh variant, reports Reuters.

Thirteen people tested positive for coronavirus in Ladakh, where one person died of the infection, taking the fatalities in the Union territory to 128 and the virus caseload to 9,634, officials said on Wednesday. The latest Covid-related death was reported from Kargil district on Tuesday, they said. Of the 128 deaths so far, Leh district has accounted for the highest 84 deaths and Kargil 44. According to officials, 12 people tested positive for Covid-19 in Leh and one more in Kargil, while 15 patients were discharged after successful treatment, bringing down the active cases to 180 – 175 in Leh and five in Kargil.

Italy will extend a state of emergency imposed to curb the spread of the coronavirus until the end of April as infections currently show no sign of abating, Health Minister Roberto Speranza said on Wednesday. The state of emergency, first introduced in January 2020, had been set to expire at the end of this month. It gives greater powers to central government, making it easier for officials to bypass the bureaucracy that smothers much decision-making in Italy. "In the past week there has been a generalised worsening of the epidemic, we are back to an expansionary phase," Speranza told the lower house of parliament. "With indicators worsening... the government sees it appropriate to extend the state of emergency to April 30."

Italy has registered 79,819 Covid-19 deaths since the pandemic first erupted last February, the second-highest toll in Europe and the sixth-highest in the world.

Goa's coronavirus caseload rose to 52,079, after 96 persons tested positive for the infection on Wednesday, an official from the health department said.

At least 78 patients were discharged from various hospitals, while one died of the infection during the day, the official said. This has taken the number of recoveries in the coastal state to 50,515 and the toll has reached 750, he said.

There are currently 814 active cases in the state, the official said. With the addition of 1,942 samples tested in the day, the total number of tests conducted in the state has gone up to 4,21,490, he added.

The cumulative Covid-19 cases in Andhra Pradesh rose to 8,85,437 with the addition of 203 in 24 hours ending 9 am on Wednesday. A health department bulletin said 231 patients got cured and one more succumbed to coronavirus in a day. The total recoveries have touched 8,75,921 and deaths 7,134, leaving 2,382 active Covid-19 cases in the state, the bulletin said.

Uttar Pradesh recorded 487 fresh Covid-19 cases on Wednesday which took its tally to 5,94,641 while 15 more fatalities pushed the death toll to 8,529.

This is the first time in almost seven months that the state has reported less than 500 infections in a day, said Additional Chief Secretary, Health, Amit Mohan Prasad. The number of active cases in the state stands at 10,132. Of these, 3,746 are in home isolation, 1,010 are undergoing treatment in private hospitals, and the remaining are being treated in government facilities, he said.

Jammu and Kashmir on Wednesday received the first consignment of 1.46 lakh doses of coronavirus vaccine from Pune-based Serum Institute of India (SII), officials said. While 79,000 doses were received here for vaccination of nearly 60,000 healthcare workers in the Kashmir valley, 67,500 vaccines have been received in the Jammu division, they said. The officials said the vaccination will begin on Saturday at 30 centres across the union territory.

Georgia reported 1,618 new Covid-19 cases on Wednesday, bringing its total to 243,255, said the National Center for Disease Control and Public Health.

Among the new cases, 750 were confirmed in the capital city of Tbilisi, the center said. As of Wednesday, 227,611 patients have recovered while 2,846 others have died. Georgia reported the first confirmed case on February 26.

AstraZeneca is scaling up releases of Covid-19 vaccine doses to the United Kingdom to the point where it expects to be providing 2 million a week by or before the middle of February, a top executive told lawmakers on Wednesday.

"We've released just over 1.1 million doses, to date, and we are scaling up as we've said very rapidly. And this will happen imminently, to releasing 2 million doses a week, we're absolutely on track to do that," said Tom Keith-Roach, president of AstraZeneca UK.

Odisha's total Covid-19 went up to 3,32,541 on Wednesday with 210 more people testing positive for coronavirus in the state. A total of 122 new cases were reported in quarantine centres and 88 among local contacts in the last 24 hours, according to the Information & Public Relations Dept. Govt. of Odisha.

The first consignment of 56,500 doses of Covid-19 vaccine arrived here on Wednesday in a cargo flight of a private carrier, an official said. The containers of the vaccine were shipped from Pune's Serum Institute and ferried to a special storage unit here from the city airport, he said. "The consignment of 56,500 doses of Covishield vaccine arrived at the Agartala airport in the morning. The vaccine containers were transported to a National Health Mission (NHM) storage facility at Gorkhabasti area," State Immunization Officer Kallol Roy told reporters here. The health department authorities have already started distribution of the vaccine doses to all the eight district headquarters of the state, he said.

The first consignment of 64,460 doses of Covishield vaccine reached the storage facility in Aurangabad in Marathwada region of Maharashtra on Wednesday, officials said. This storage facility will cater to districts of Jalna, Hingoli, and Parbhani, besides Aurangabad, an official told PTI. "We have received 64,460 doses of the vaccine from the SII in Pune. (Some) Doses were dispatched to Jalna, Hingoli and Parbhani from Aurangabad," he said, adding that a refrigerated van has left for Latur. The vaccine doses were stored at the Health and Family Welfare department's building in Aurangabad.

A unit of Sinovac Biotech could double annual production capacity of its CoronaVac Covid-19 vaccine to 1 billion doses by February, the group's chairman said on Wednesday. More than 7 million doses of CoronaVac vaccine, one of the three China has included in its emergency vaccination programme, have so far been supplied to regions including the city of Beijing and Guangdong province, Sinovac Biotech Chairman Yin Weidong told a news conference. Read here

The Bharat Biotech International Limited (BBIL) has announced the successful air-shipment of its Covid-19 vaccine 'Covaxin' to 11 cities in the country in the early hours of Wednesday. The firm said that it has donated 16.5 lakh doses to the Centre, according to an official statement by the company. After having received the government purchase order for 55 lakh doses, Bharat Biotech shipped the first batch of vaccines (each vial containing 20 doses) to Ganavaram, Guwahati, Patna, Delhi, Kurukshetra, Bangalore, Pune, Bhubaneswar, Jaipur, Chennai and Lucknow, it stated. While some shipments have arrived in the respective cities, others will be delivered later this evening.

The first consignment of Covishield vaccine from Pune-based Serum Insititute of India arrived at the Cochin international airport here on Wednesday morning to combat COVID-19, official sources said. The Go Air flight carrying the vaccine for Ernakulam and Kozhikode landed at the airport at 10.35 am, they said. Special refrigerated vans were arranged to transport the vaccine safely to the respective centres.

Either government shouldn't roll out Covaxin till its efficacy and reliability is completely established and phase 3 trials are over. It should act in a manner whereby there's complete confidence in people. You can't use rollout as phase 3 trial, Indians are not guinea pigs: Manish Tewari, Congress MP

Russia records 22,850 new Covid-19 cases and 566 deaths. Tally at 3,471,053 including 63,370 deaths.

Odisha records 210 new Covid-19 cases and one death. Tally reaches 332,488 including 1,895 deaths.

Goa has received 2,350 vials with 10 doses each, totaling 23,500 shots of Covid-19 vaccine, today morning. The vaccines are being stored appropriately by the authorities, and would be distributed to all centres 24 hours prior to vaccination day: CM Pramod Sawant