Coronavirus news highlights: India's Covid-19 tally inches closer to the 98-lakh mark; toll rises to 142,178

India's Covid-19 tally on Thursday inched closer to the 98-lakh mark with the total number of cases rising to 97,96,749. The country's toll climbed to 142,178, with the fatality rate standing at 1.45 per cent. The total number of recoveries touched 92.53 lakh, pushing the national recovery rate to 94.74 per cent. On the vaccine front, India's homegrown mRNA vaccine received approval for human trials. The Union home secretary discussed the possible Coivd-19 vaccines roll-out with states. Globally, the United States registers more than 3,000 deaths in 24 hours -- the highest daily toll since April. The novel coronavirus has killed at least 1,570,398 people since the outbreak emerged in China last December.

Thank you for following this liveblog on the Covid-19 pandemic.

For more updates on the Covid-19 pandemic here

Covid-19: India's mRNA vaccine receives approval for human trial

The Indian drug regulator, Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation, permitted Pune-based Gennova Biopharmaceuticals to conduct a phase-1/2 clinical trial of its mRNA vaccine on Wednesday with the condition that on completion of the first phase examining the vaccine’s safety, the company would submit its data for a review before starting the phase-2 to evaluate the vaccine’s immune response.

Read more

Union home secretary Ajay Kumar Bhalla discusses with states possible Covid-19 vaccine roll-out

The union home secretary reviewed the arrangements for Covid-19 vaccine roll-out and asked the state and UTs to prepare a database of the frontline workers who will receive the vaccine during the initial stages, a home ministry official said.

Read more

India, Australia researchers to study future health effects Covid-19

The Australia-India Strategic Research Fund (AISRF) has funded six new projects, including one to develop Covid-19 diagnostic technologies and another to study the longer-term effects on the hearts and lungs of patients who have recovered.

Read more

Karnataka reports 1,238 new Covid-19 cases, 5,076 discharges, and 12 deaths today. Total cases: 8,97,801 Total discharges: 8,66,664 Death toll: 11,912 Active cases: 19,206

4,470 new Covid-19 cases reported in Kerala today. The total numbers of active cases and recovered cases are 59,517 and 5,91,845 respectively

A robot dispenses sanitizer as a preventive measure against the Covid-19 coronavirus to a voter at a polling station during the second phase of the local state body elections in Kochi on December 10, 2020. Credit: AFP Photo

Tamil Nadu reported 1,220 new Covid-19 cases, 1,302 discharges, and 17 deaths in the last 24 hours: State Health Department

Total positive cases: 7,95,240

Total discharges: 7,72,995

Death toll: 11,853

Active cases: 10,392

Credit: AFP Photo

Govt & private schools across Haryana will re-open from 14th December for the students of 10th & 12th class for 3 hours daily (10:00 am-1:00 pm), following #COVID19 norms. Classes will resume for students of class 9th & 11th on 21st December: Directorate

ANI

Andhra Pradesh reports 538 new Covid-19 cases in the last 24 hours taking the total number of cases in the State to 8,73,995 as per State Health Department Total active cases stand at 5,237

India hits 15-crore Covid-19 testing milestone

The country has also reportedless than 40,000 new daily cases of Covid-19 for eleven continuous days, the Health Ministry underscored.

Read more

Not without India: World's pharmacy gears up for Covid-19 vaccine race

Indian companies are set to produce eight, more affordable vaccines designed to fight Covid-19, including AstraZeneca's Covishield, called the "vaccine for the world" by its developers.

Read more

There are 18,800 Covid-19 beds in Delhi of which over 13,000 are vacant. There is no other city in the country that has so many vacant beds. Covid numbers fluctuate, so it is important that trend gets stabilized: Delhi Health Minister Satyendar Jain

US sets new grim record with over 3,000 Covid-19 deaths in single day

The US has set a new grim record of more than 3,000 Covid-19 related deaths in a single day, reflecting a bleak reminder of the pandemic’s devastating toll, even as two coronavirus vaccine candidates appear to be on the verge of clearing the country’s final regulatory hurdles.

According to The Covid Tracking Project, the US on Wednesday reported as many 3,054 reported deaths -- the highest single-day total to date.

The previous single-day record was on May 7 at 2,769 deaths, it said.

Overall, there were 1.8 million tests reported on Wednesday, 210,000 cases, and a record 106,688 Covid-19 patients in US hospitals, it said.

The 7-day average for Covid-19 deaths are at an all-time high as deaths are rising throughout the country, it said.

Japan to buy 10,500 freezers for coronavirus vaccines

Japan will buy 10,500 deep freezers to store novel coronavirus vaccines and is considering purchasing dry ice in bulk as it prepares to protect its population from the virus, the Ministry of Health said on Thursday.

Japan has agreements to buy a total of 290 million doses of the vaccines from Pfizer Inc, AstraZeneca Plc and Moderna Inc, or enough for 145 million people if everyone gets two shots as required.

Pfizer's vaccines need to be kept at around minus 75 Celsius (minus 103 Fahrenheit, and Moderna's at about minus 20C, posing logistics problems.

Germany's confirmed coronavirus cases rise by 23,679

The number of confirmed coronavirus cases in Germany increased by 23,679 to 1,242,203, data from the Robert Koch Institute (RKI) for infectious diseases showed on Thursday. The reported death toll rose by 440 to 20,372, the tally showed.

Jharkhand reports 191 new Covid-19 cases, three more deaths

Jharkhand's Covid-19 tally mounted to 1,10,830 as 191 more people tested positive for the infection, a health department official said on Thursday.

The death toll rose to 991 after three more patients succumbed to the disease, he said.

Two new fatalities were reported from Ranchi and one from Dhanbad, the official said.

Ranchi district registered the maximum number of fresh cases at 97, followed by Dhanbad at 16 and Bokaro at 14.

DH Deciphers | Why hasn't there been a second Covid-19 wave so far?

It's been more than a month sincethe Dasara-Deepavali-Chhath festivities and the Bihar elections that were feared to trigger a second wave of the pandemic. The fear was so greatthat Prime Minister Narendra Modi had to address the nation to warn ofit. But the second wave hasn't yet arrived although there was barely any Covid-appropriate behaviour beyond the bigcities. Even scientists are puzzled. What went right?

Read more to find out

India's tally of Covid-19 cases rises to 97.67 lakh with 31,521 new cases reported today. Number of active cases drops to 3,72,293. Death toll rises by 412 to 1,41,722.

Four lions test positive for Covid-19 at Barcelona zoo

Four lions at Barcelona Zoo, three of them older females, caught Covid-19 last month but suffered only mild symptoms and have since recovered, the Catalan animal park said.

Read more

Mizoram reported 17 new Covid-19 cases in the last 24 hours, as per the state govt.

Total cases: 3,994

Active cases: 204

Discharges: 3,784

Deaths: 6

Covid-19 second wave not seen in most Indian states, but hotspots are yet to lower their guards fearing surge

India is yet to encounter the second wave of the Covid-19 epidemic but hotspots like Maharashtra, Karnataka and Kerala have not lowered their guards anticipating the return of such a wave in January-February, 2021.

Read more

Covid-19 testing rates revised again, seventh time since March

Karnataka on Wednesday fixed new rates for Covid-19 testing, after having fixed the rates six times since March. It was last changed on October 16. An order was released, formalising the prices, for the seventh time.

Read more

Covid-19 violation fine for hotels cut from Rs 1 lakh to Rs 10,000

The state government has drastically slashed the fine to be imposed on hotels, theatres, malls, marriage halls and event organisers who fail to ensure the use of masks and social-distancing.

Read more

South Africa enters second wave of Covid-19, says health minister

South Africa has officially entered a second wave of the new coronavirus as the number of infections per day exceeds 6,000, the health minister said on Wednesday, raising concerns that restrictions to limit the spread could be tightened.

Read more

DH Deciphers | Why hasn't there been a second Covid-19 wave so far?

It's been more than a month since the Dasara-Deepavali-Chhath festivities and the Bihar elections that were feared to trigger a second wave of the pandemic. The fear was so great that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had to address the nation to warn of it. But the second wave hasn't yet arrived although there was barely any Covid-appropriate behaviour beyond the big cities. Even scientists are puzzled. What went right?

Read more

Good morning readers, welcome to DH's live coverage of the coronavirus outbreak.