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:

Lancet study finds Covaxin is 77.8% effecctive against symptomatic cases

Two doses of Covaxin, India’s indigenous COVID-19 vaccine, offer 77.8 per cent protection against symptomatic disease and present no serious safety concerns, according to an interim analysis of its phase 3 trial published in The Lancet on Friday.

Covaxin, an inactivated whole virus vaccine developed by Hyderabad-based Bharat Biotech, recently received emergency use approval from the World Health Organization (WHO) for people aged 18 and above.

The phase 3 trial findings indicate that Covaxin induces a robust antibody response with no severe vaccine-related adverse events or deaths reported among the trial participants, the authors of the study said.

The majority of the adverse events, including headache, fatigue, fever, and pain at the injection site, were mild and occurred within seven days of vaccination, they explained.

Beijing

Two foreign athletes test positive for COVID-19 in run-up to Beijing Winter Olympics

Two foreign athletes have tested positive for COVID-19 during test events for the Beijing 2022 Winter Games, Huang Chun, an official of the Games organising committee, said on Friday.

Both are lugers of the same nationality and have been transferred to quarantine hotels, he told a news briefing in the Chinese capital.- Reuters

Netherlands

Netherlands to impose partial lockdown to halt COVID-19 surge

The Netherlands will impose Western Europe’s first partial lockdown since the summer this weekend, in a bid to stop a surge in COVID-19 cases, Dutch broadcaster NOS said on Friday.

Bars, restaurants and non-essential stores will be ordered to close at 7 P.M. for at least three weeks starting Saturday, NOS said, citing government sources.- Reuters

National

Active COVID-19 cases in country lowest in 267 days

India logged 12,516 new coronavirus infections, taking the country’s total tally of COVID-19 cases to 3,44,14,186, while the active cases declined to 1,37,416, the lowest in 267 days, according to the Union Health Ministry data updated on Friday.

The death toll climbed to 4,62,690 with 501 fresh fatalities, according to the data updated at 8 am.

The daily rise in new coronavirus infections has been below 20,000 for 35 straight days and less than 50,000 daily new cases have been reported for 138 consecutive days now.- PTI

National

Don’t want to rush, need to tread with caution: Mandaviya on giving COVID-19 vaccine to children

Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya on Thursday said the government does not want to make haste about administering COVID-19 vaccine to children and any decision in this regard will be taken based on expert opinion.

On when vaccination for children could start as Zydus Cadila’s Covid vaccine has been granted emergency use authorisation for those 12-year-old and above, he said children were not being inoculated against COVID-19 on a large scale anywhere in the world though it has been initiated in some countries in a limited manner.

“We do not want to rush this thing. Since this is a matter related to children, the expert group is carrying out further studies,” he said.

All the vaccines which have currently received emergency use authorisation will be granted full authorisation only after a detailed study and based on the data of four to five years, he said.- PTI

International

EU authorizes 2 medicines for people at risk of severe COVID

The European Medicines Agency has recommended the authorization of two new medicines against the coronavirus for people at risk of severe disease.

In a statement on Thursday, the EU drug regulator said it had concluded that the monoclonal antibody treatments — a combination of casirivimab and imdevimab, and the drug regdanvimab — have both been proven to significantly reduce the risk of hospitalization and death in patients vulnerable to serious COVID-19.

The EMA said both regdanvimab and the casirivimab and imdevimab combination should be offered to people over age 12 who don’t yet require oxygen support, but are at risk of worsening COVID-19. It said the combination drug can also be used preventatively. Both drugs must be administered intravenously.- AP