Coronavirus live updates | India’s recovery rate is one of the highest in the world: Health Ministry

The COVID Vaccine Intelligence Network (Co-WIN) system, a digitised platform, will be used to track the enlisted beneficiaries and the COVID-19 vaccines on a real-time basis, according to the COVID-operational guidelines released by the Health Ministry recently.

The guidelines said the latest electoral roll for Lok Sabha and Legislative Assembly elections will be used to identify the priority population over the age of 50. The guidelines added that at the vaccination site, only pre-registered beneficiaries will be vaccinated in accordance with the prioritisation, and there will be no provision for on-the-spot registrations.

You can track coronavirus cases, deaths and testing rates at the national and State levels here. A list of State Helpline numbers is available as well.

Here are the latest updates:

New Delhi

‘India’s recovery rate is one of the highest in the world’

At the weekly press briefing, Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan said India continues to be amongst the lowest case per million population. India’s recovery rate is one of the highest in the world for countries with high caseload. This includes USA, Italy, Russia and Brazil.

Case fatality rate of India stands at 1.45%. It is 3.47 per cent in the UK.

India had 10 lakh active cases in September. Today, it is below 3 lakh. Kerala, Maharashtra, Rajasthan, West Bengal and Delhi are the top 5 states contributing to new cases on a week by week basis.

All 36 states have concluded meeting State steering committee as well as State task force. 633 districts have concluded meeting of district task force.

United Nations

Collaboration is the best response to pandemic, India tells U.N.

India has said its vaccine production and delivery capacity will be used to help all humanity in fighting the COVID-19 crisis, which has highlighted gaps in global cooperation and underlined the need for the international community to respond to the pandemic with collaboration and not confusion.

Addressing the UN General Assembly special session on COVID-19, Secretary (West) in India’s Ministry of External Affairs, Vikas Swarup said on Monday the ongoing coronavirus crisis had “laid bare” the gaps that exist in global cooperation and governance structures of multilateral organisations.

“It is important that we make reformed multilateralism our guiding principle. It is imperative that we must join hands to show leadership, solidarity and collaboration to deal with the pandemic. We can respond best by collaboration, not confusion; preparation, not panic and coming together, not growing apart,” he said.

“As a responsible member of the international community, I want to reiterate that India’s vaccine production and delivery capacity will be used to help all humanity in fighting this crisis. India will also help all the countries in enhancing their cold chain and storage capabilities for the delivery of vaccines,” Swarup said at the resumed special session.

 

Telangana

Telangana Transport Minister tests positive

Transport Minister Puvvada Ajay Kumar has tested positive for Covid-19. The Minister tweeted that he had been tested Covid-19 positive during the RTPCR tests and had gone into home isolation. He advised those who met him in the recent past to go for checkups.

Asking his friends and well-wishers not to try to contact him, he exuded confidence that he would recover soon and come out of home isolation.

Eswatini PM Ambrose Dlamini dies

Eswatini PM Ambrose Dlamini succumbs to of COVID-19

Eswatini Prime Minister Ambrose Dlamini, who was undergoing treatment for coronavirus in neighbouring South Africa, has died. He was 52.

The Prime Minister of Africa’s last absolute monarchy Eswatini, formerly known as Swaziland, was moved to South Africa on December 1, a fortnight after testing positive for COVID-19.

 

Delhi

Delhi begins training of doctors for vaccination drive

 

The Delhi government has started training more than 400 doctors from different hospitals in the city for the COVID-19 vaccination drive.

“The government has started training more than 400 doctors since yesterday (Sunday). Doctors who were trained by the Central government last week are heading the training and it will be completed in three days,” a Delhi government official told The Hindu.

 

Tamil Nadu

Doctors keep a close watch on post-COVID-19 symptoms

Fresh coronavirus infections may be on the decline but doctors continue to keep a close watch on post-COVID-19 sequelae in Chennai. From the commonest symptom of fatigue to the rarest complication involving the eyes, a cross-section of doctors is of the view that patients who had COVID-19 need follow-up for at least a year.

One of the first institutions to start a post-COVID Outpatient Ward (OP), the Rajiv Gandhi Government General Hospital (RGGGH), has so far received 1,074 patients since August. Of this, 292 persons were in the age group of 51 to 60 years and 255 aged 41 to 50 years.

 

Kerala

Strict COVID regulations at Sabarimala

Taking a serious note of the sharp spike in COVID-19 cases at the Sabarimala Sannidhanam, a high-level committee has decided to intensify the activities to check the outbreak of the disease among employees of various departments including the Travancore Devaswom Board (TDB).

A meeting of the committee, held against the backdrop of 36 out of the 239 people on duty at the Sannidhanam testing positive the other day, decided to withdraw all primary contacts of the positive cases from the pilgrimage zone on an emergency basis and a list prepared by the Health Department will be handed over to the various departments. Steps have been initiated to ensure accurate reporting of the primary contacts to the health authorities.

 

Pact on swab test

Firm signs pact with CCMB for dry swab RT-PCR test

CSIR-Cellular and Molecular Biology (CCMB) revolutionary dry swab direct Real-Time Polymerase Chain Reaction (RT-PCR) test, which allows for faster testing of COVID-19, is gaining fast acceptance.

SpiceHealth, a healthcare company founded by the promoters of SpiceJet, became the second lab to tie up with CCMB after Apollo Hospitals for conducting these tests in its mobile testing laboratories, on Monday.