Coronavirus News Live Updates: Even as the Health Ministry on Thursday said the overall Covid-19 situation in the country was very optimistic, it cautioned the people against lowering their guard as some states including Kerala, Mizoram and Himachal Pradesh are still reporting many infections. Addressing a briefing, Union Health Ministry Joint Secretary Luv Aggarwal said four states — Kerala, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, and Karnataka — have more than 50,000 active cases of Covid-19, while 11 states have active cases between 10,000 and 50,000. Further stating that the rate of infection spread has come down significantly, Aggarwal said the daily positivity rate of 20.75 per cent recorded on January 24 has now decreased to 4.44 per cent.
India reported 67,084 new Covid-19 cases and 1,241 related deaths in the last 24 hours ending 8 am, Thursday. The active caseload in the country dipped to 7,90,789, from Wednesday’s 8.92 lakh. The daily positivity rate also saw a slight decrease from 4.54% to 4.44% on Thursday. Issuing new guidelines for international travelers, the Ministry of Health Thursday scrapped the mandatory seven-day home quarantine. The new guidelines, which come into effect from February 14, require passengers to self-monitor their health for 14 days after arrival and isolate in case they develop symptoms of Covid-19. All passengers will undergo thermal screening on arrival and be isolated at a medical facility if found symptomatic. If they test positive, their contacts will be identified as per protocol. The ‘at-risk’ tag for countries has also been removed. Moreover, passengers from 82 countries are allowed to upload a certificate of full vaccination instead of a negative RT-PCR report obtained 72 hours prior to boarding. These countries include those which have an agreement with India on mutual recognition of vaccination certificates of nationally recognized or WHO recognized vaccines, or those which provide quarantine-free entry to Indians. New inhaled vaccine provides broad protection against Covid variants: Study An inhaled form of Covid-19 vaccine developed by scientists at McMaster University in Canada can provide broad, long-lasting protection against the SARS-CoV-2 variants of concern, a preclinical study has found. The research, published recently in the journal Cell, shows the immune mechanisms and significant benefits of vaccines being delivered directly into the respiratory tract, rather than by traditional injection. Because inhaled vaccines target the lungs and upper airways where respiratory viruses first enter the body, they are far more effective at inducing a protective immune response, the researchers said. The study, which was conducted on animal models, has provided the critical proof of concept to enable a Phase 1 clinical trial that is currently under way to evaluate inhaled aerosol vaccines in healthy adults who had already received two doses of a Covid-19 mRNA vaccine. The strategy was built upon a robust tuberculosis vaccine research program established by Zhou Xing, a co-lead author of the study. (PTI) 141 districts have Covid positivity rate over 10%, 160 between 5-10%: Govt Early decline in Covid-19 cases noted globally; consistent decrease in cases reported in India too, says Health ministry. Decline in Covid-19 infections, positivity across all states noted; Kerala, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu and Karnataka have over 50,000 active cases, says govt. Presently, 141 districts have Covid positivity rate over 10%; 160 districts have positivity rate between 5-10% in India, informs government. Nearly 40 districts still reporting increase in weekly cases and Covid-19 positivity rate, govt added. 69% of adolescents aged 15-18 yrs have been administered 1st dose of Covid-19 vaccine; 14% given both doses, it said. Overall Covid-19 pandemic scenario is optimistic, its contraction is consistent, and we are moving towards improvement, the govt says.
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