Coronavirus news highlights: Karnataka reports 1,325 new Covid-19 cases, 12 deaths

India reports 36,652 new Covid-19 infections, 512 deaths on Saturday taking the tally to 96.08 lakh. The death toll stands at 1,39,700. Total discharged cases at 90,58.22. The virus has globally claimed over 1.5 million lives. The United States alone saw 2.25 lakh cases over the past 24 hours. Stay tuned for more updates.

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Bihar reports 573 new Covid-19 cases, 5 fresh fatalities

Bihar's Covid-19 tally rose to 2.38 lakh on Saturday as 573 more people tested positive for the infection, a health bulletin said.

Five more patients succumbed to the infection, pushing the state'scoronavirusdeath toll to 1,292, it said.

As many as 758 more people have been cured of the disease, pushing the state's recovery count to 2.31 lakh, the bulletin said, adding that the recovery rate among thecoronaviruspatients in the state has improved to 97.20 per cent.

1,325 new Covid-19 cases in Karnataka, 12 deaths

Karnataka on Saturday reported 1,325 new cases of Covid-19 and 12 related fatalities, taking the total number of infections to 8,91,685 and the death toll to 11,846, as it tested over a lakh samples. A total of over 1,16,13,924 samples have been tested so far, out of which 1,04,032 were tested today alone, and 18,367 among them were rapid antigen tests.

The day also saw 1,400 patients getting discharged after recovery. Out of 1,325 fresh cases reported on Saturday, 709 cases were from Bengaluru urban alone.

WHO warns Covd-19 crisis not over as vaccine rollout starts

The World Health Organization warned that vaccines were no magic bullet for thecoronaviruscrisis, as Russia started vaccinating its high-risk workers Saturday and other countries geared up for similar programmes.

The WHO warned about what it said was an erroneous belief that the Covid-19 crisis is over with jabs on the horizon, nearly a year after the start of the pandemic that has killed 1.5 million people worldwide.

All districts in Andhra Pradesh reported less than 100 fresh Covid-19 cases each on Saturday while adding 630 to take the states gross to 8,71,305.

AI, machine learning to play key role in fight against Covid, say experts

Artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning are helping analyse massive amounts of data around the human genome and drug molecules, and these new-age technologies can play an important role in the fight against Covid-19, industry experts said on Saturday.

Speaking at KnowDis Machine Learning Day, Avantika Lal - Senior Scientist (Deep Learning and Genomics) at NVIDIA - said larger data sets on genome sequences (DNA arrangement) are being acquired, and this data is being studied for multiple parameters.

Madhya Pradesh schools for Classes 1 to 8 to remain shut till March 31

Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan has said that schools for Classes 1 to 8 in the state will remain shut till March 31 next year in view of thecoronaviruspandemic.

He also said that no test would be conducted for the students of these classes this academic year and they would be evaluated on the basis of their project work.

100 cops in Ahmedabad found coronavirus positive in a special drive

About 100 police personnel have tested positive for coronavirus in a special drive in Ahmedabad in the last four days, a senior officer said on Saturday.

Among the infected police personnel, two constables have been hospitalised while others are in home isolation, Joint Commissioner of Police (Admin) Ajay Chaudhary told PTI.

"We started a drive from Tuesday (December 1) to test all 14,000 police personnel in Ahmedabad. Nearly, 1,000 police personnel are being tested everyday. About 100 personnel have tested positive for the virus so far," Chaudhary said, adding that this is the second drive to test the police personnel in the city.

German court upholds ban on coronavirus demonstration

Germany's highest court upheld on Saturday a ban on a demonstration in the northern city of Bremen planned by opponents of lockdown measures aimed at containing the spread of thecoronavirus.

Lower courts had already denied permission for the protest, planned for Saturday afternoon, at which 20,000 demonstrators were due to convene in the city centre of Bremen.

Last month, German police unleashed water cannon and pepper spray in an effort to scatter thousands of protesters in Berlin angry aboutcoronavirusrestrictions.

First time since March, Mumbai's test positivity falls to 5%

Mumbai's coronavirus test positivity rate has fallen to five per cent for the first time since March, municipal commissioner I S chahal said on Saturday.When the virus outbreak began, this rate was 35 to 36 per cent (which means 35 to 36 per cent of tested samples were positive for the infection).

'Hug bubble' lets seniors feel the magic of touch

The "hug bubble" allows care home residents, isolated from the outside world to protect them the virus, to hold hands and embrace visiting relatives, because at all times they are separated by a hermetically-sealed plastic film.

Read more

Iran's total death toll from coronavirus surpassed 50,000

Iran's total death toll fromcoronavirussurpassed 50,000 on Saturday with 321 new fatalities recorded in the past 24 hours, the health ministry said, as the number of cases in the Middle East's worst-affected country reached 1,028,986.

Ministry spokeswoman Sima Sadat Lari told state TV that 12,181 people had been infected with thecoronavirussince Friday. The death toll now stands at 50,016.

Covaxin a 2-dose anti-coronavirus vaccine, Anil Vij got only 1st dose, says Union health ministry

Covaxin is a two-dose anti-coronavirusvaccine and Haryana Health minister Anil Vij, who had volunteered for its phase-three trial, was given only the first dose, the Union Health Ministry clarified on Saturday hours after the minister announced that he has tested positive for Covid-19.

Vij had offered to be the first volunteer in the phase three trials for Covaxin, an indigenous potential vaccine against Covid-19 being developed by Bharat Biotech in collaboration with the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR).

573 fresh Covid positive cases reported in Bihar today, taking the total count of active cases in the state to 6,145.

Moscow starts mass Covid-19 vaccination with its Sputnik V shot

Moscow began distributing the Sputnik V Covid-19 shot via 70 clinics on Saturday, marking Russia's first mass vaccination against the disease, the city's coronavirus task force said.

The task force said the Russian-made vaccine would first be made available to doctors and other medical workers, teachers and social workers because they ran the highest risk of exposure to the disease.

"You are working at an educational institution and have top-priority for the Covid-19 vaccine, free of charge," read a phone text message received by one Muscovite, an elementary school teacher, early on Saturday and seen by Reuters.

Odisha's Covid-19 death toll rises to 1,765, tally at 3,20,803

Odisha's Covid-19 caseload mounted to 3,20,803 on Saturday after 409 people tested positive for the virus, while five more fatalities pushed the death toll to 1,765, a health department official said.

The fresh cases were detected in 27 of the state's 30 districts, of which 234 came from quarantine centres and the remaining were local-contact infections.

Sundergarh district recorded the highest of 53 positive cases, followed by Khurda (44) and Angul (35). Three districts - Gajapati, Kandhamal and Subarnapur - did not register any fresh coronavirus case during the last 24 hours, he said.

Visitors wait to watch the screening of a movie at a cinema hall after it reopened, amid the coronavirus pandemic, in Hyderabad. Credit: PTI Photo

Arunachal Pradesh reports 18 new Covid-19 cases

Arunachal Pradesh's Covid-19 caseload rose to 16,367 as 18 more people tested positive for the virus, a health department official said here on Saturday.

One more person succumbed to the infection on Thursday, pushing the number of fatalities in the northeastern state to 55, State Surveillance Officer (SSO) Dr Lobsang Jampa said.

The 80-year-old man died due to septic shock at the Dedicated Covid Hospital (DCH) at Chimpu near here. He was suffering from diabetes mellitus with hypertension, the official said.

Of the 18 fresh cases, six were reported from the Capital Complex region, three each from Papumpare and West Kameng and one each from West Siang, Lohit, East Siang, Upper Siang, Changlang and Lower Dibang Valley district respectively, the SSO said.

Haryana Health and Home Minister Anil Vij tests positive for Covid-19. He was given a dose of COVAXIN as part of phase 3 trials on November 20

Covid-19: 596 new cases, 3 deaths in Telangana

Telangana recorded 596 fresh coronavirus cases, taking the tally to over 2.72 lakh while three related fatalities pushed the toll to 1,470. Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) accounted for the most number of cases with 102, followed by Medchal Malkajgiri 47 and Rangareddy 46, a government bulletin said on Saturday providing details as of 8 pm on December 4.

As many as 8,498 patients are under treatment and59,471 samples were tested on Friday. Cumulatively, over 57.22 lakh samples have been tested. The samples tested per million population was over 1.53 lakh, the bulletin said. The case fatality rate in the state was 0.53 per cent, while it was 1.5 per cent at the national level.

The recovery rate in Telangana was 96.34 per cent, while it was 94.3 per cent in the country.

India's Covid-19 caseload rose to 96.08 lakh with 36,652 new cases in a day, while 90,58,822 people have recuperated from the disease so far pushing the national recovery rate to 94.28 per cent on Saturday, according to the Union Health Ministry data.

The total coronavirus cases mounted to 96,08,211 and the death toll climbed to 1,39,700 with the coronavirus virus claiming512 lives in a span of 24 hours in the country, the data updated at 8 am showed.

The Covid-19 case fatality rate was recorded at 1.45 per cent.

There are 4,09,689 active cases of coronavirus infection in the country which comprises 4.26 per cent of the total caseload, the data stated.

India reports 36,652 new Covid-19 cases, taking the tally to 96,08,211. With 512 new deaths, toll mounts to 1,39,700. Total active cases at 4,09,689 Total discharged cases at 90,58,822 with 42,533 new discharges in the last 24 hours.

Mizoram reported 25 new Covid-19 cases

Total cases: 3,913

Total discharged: 3,690

Death toll: 6

Active cases: 217

Here is DH's Covid-19 India Tracker

South Korea reports 583 coronavirus cases, off 9-month high

South Korea reported 583 new coronavirus infections on Saturday, down from the previous day's 629, which was the highest since a first wave peaked in February and early March.

Cases have been found largely in the capital Seoul and surrounding regions, where over half of the country's 52 million people live. Of the new cases, Seoul alone reported 235 infections.

The spike prompted Seoul to announce unprecedented curfews starting on Saturday, shuttering most establishments and shops at 9 p.m. (1200 GMT) and cutting back public transportation operations by 30% in the evenings.

Tighter restrictions would be a blow to Asia's fourth-largest economy, which reported a seasonally adjusted unemployment rate of 4.2% in October, the highest since July.

Boxes are seen as an American Airlines cargo plane is unloaded at Philadelphia International Airport in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, US. Credit: Reuters Photo

Congress slams Modi govt over Covid-19 vaccine distribution plans

India biggest buyer of Covid-19 vaccine with 1.6 billion doses, experts say this could cover 60% population