COVID-19 News Updates

Covaxin, one of the main vaccines administered to adults, is currently being administered to children in the age group of 15-18 years.

The US continues to be the worst-hit country with the world's highest number of cases and deaths at 81,042,367 and 991,572, respectively, according to the CSSE.

"These results demonstrate that S-217622 rapidly eliminates SARS-CoV-2 in patients versus placebo, marking its potential, if approved, as an effective treatment option for Covid-19," said Isao Teshirogi, President and CEO at Shionogi, in a statement.

While cases have seen a rapid increase, the number of containment zones has more or less remained constant and has not seen any significant increase, the official data shows. The number of such zones has declined from 741 on April 11 to 656 on April 24.

Earlier, Karnataka Health Minister K. Sudhakar had said that some studies have shown that the fourth wave of Covid-19 may start in June-July and last till September, and the state is prepared to face it.

The development has brought some relief to the medical personnel even as Delhi and several states are reporting a spike in COVID-19 cases.

In the last 24 hours, India reported 2,527 new Covid-19 cases, a marginal increase against the 2,451 infections registered the previous day, the Union Health Ministry said on Saturday.

The oral antiviral drug, which is a combination of nirmatrelvir and ritonavir tablets, "is the best therapeutic choice for high-risk patients to date", according to the global health body.

At their last follow-up in early 2022, the patient with ongoing infection had been infected for more than one year (412 days).

As Covid-19 infection is on an upward surge in the country, the trend can’t be discarded in the State fully, said State Health Director Bijay Mohapatra

The Weekly Positivity Rate in the country currently stands at 0.43 per cent, while the Daily Positivity rate has reported considerable rise at 0.53 per cent. However, Delhi's positivity rate stands at 5.70 per cent as per the health bulletin issued on Wednesday.

India began administering precaution doses of vaccines to healthcare and frontline workers and those aged 60 and above with comorbidities from January 10.

Women were found to be less prone to develop a severe disease than men, but few studies have assessed sex-differences in Long-COVID syndrome, they said.

While the weekly positivity rate currently stood at 0.43 per cent, the daily positivity rate has reported a considerable rise to 0.53 per cent.

US continues to be the worst-hit country with the world's highest number of cases and deaths at 80,801,505 and 990,206, respectively, according to the CSSE.