Coronavirus: India’s COVID-19 vaccination coverage crosses 158.74 Crore

Amid concerns about COVID-19 vaccines not reaching all parts of the world, especially to poor countries, a top WHO official on Tuesday said vaccination must be central to any strategy to fight the pandemic and equitable distribution is a must.

Mumbai reports 6,149 COVID-19 cases in a day. The city has also registered its first case of Mucormycosis also known as Black Fungus on Tuesday.

Ministry of Health & Family Welfare asks all States/UTs "to immediately increase testing in a strategic manner keeping in view the trend of case positivity in specific areas in the States/UTs"

The latest International Labour Organization (ILO) report, released on January 17, predicts that global labour market recovery will be delayed as the COVID-19 pandemic continues to wreak havoc. In its flagship World Employment and Social Outlook Trends (WESO Trends) 2022, the ILO has lowered its labour market recovery prediction for 2022, predicting a continuing large deficit in the number of working hours compared to pre-pandemic levels.

Japan's government is preparing social restrictions in Tokyo and other regions as the omicron variant of the coronavirus infects more people.

Japan has never had a lockdown during the pandemic but has focused instead on asking restaurants and bars to close early. Crowds are back in many parts of Japan, with people packing stores and events, while COVID-19 cases jump.

Delhi reported 12,527 fresh COVID-19 cases and 24 more deaths due to the viral disease on Monday, while the positivity rate stood at 27.99 percent, according to data shared by the city health department.

However, only 44,762 tests were conducted to detect the infection a day ago, which coincided with a weekend curfew. The number of tests was the lowest since November 30 last year, when the corresponding figure was 46,800.

Telangana Health Minister Harish Rao has written to Union Health Minister Manusuk Mandaviya, asking to reduce the gap between second dose and precautionary dose from 9 months to 6 months 

Further, examine the feasibility of reducing the gap of the second dose and precautionary dose to 3 months for the health care workers. He also asked the Centre to consider Booster Dose for all citizens above 18 years and to include all citizens above 60 years of age for precautionary dose irrespective of comorbidities.

Punjab's COVID-19 caseload surged to 6,70,460 on Monday as 6,656 more people tested positive for the viral disease, while the death toll climbed to 16,790 with 20 more fatalities, according to a medical bulletin. Jalandhar reported 1,279 fresh cases, followed by 1,041 in Ludhiana and 702 in Mohali, the bulletin stated.

The number of West Bengal's daily Covid-19 cases came down to less than 10,000 after 12 days on Monday, when 9,385 new infections were recorded, according to the health department data.

The number of fresh cases on Monday is 5,553 less than Sunday's as the tally went up to 19,07,084. Altogether 33 fresh fatalities, down from the previous day's 36, took the death toll to 20,121, the health department said in a bulletin.

With the addition of 4,583 fresh coronavirus positive cases, the tally of infections in Thane district of Maharashtra rose to 6,73,659, an official said on Tuesday. These new cases were reported on Monday, he said.

As the virus claimed the life of six more persons, the death toll in the district has gone up to 11,664. The mortality rate is 1.73 per cent, he added.

 The Maharashtra government on Monday issued a letter to the district, civic administrations, and health departments in the state asking them to use oral anti-viral drug 'Molnupiravir' for treatment of symptomatic, adult COVID-19 patients with "abundant caution and in certain conditions".

Dr. Pradeep Vyas, additional chief secretary (health), in the letter, requested district and civic authorities to use Molnupiravir with "abundant caution and in certain conditions and in the full advised dose".

India’s cumulative COVID-19 vaccination coverage exceeded 158.04 crores on Tuesday as nearly 80 lakh vaccine doses were administered in the last 24 hours, as per the data shared by the Union Health Ministry.

The Union Health Ministry is yet to take a decision on the vaccination of children aged between 12-14 years, according to ANI sources. The Centre has rolled out vaccines for the 15-18 age group. 

India reported 2,38,018 fresh COVID-19 cases and 1,57,421 Recoveries in the past 24 hours. The total number of Omicron cases detected so far stands at 8,891 with an increase of 8.31% than yesterday. There are 17,36,628 active Coronavirus Cases in India, with a daily positivity rate of 14.43% and weekly positivity rate of 14.92%

Former Chief Minister and current Leader of Opposition in Andhra Pradesh, N Chandrababu Naidu has tested positive for COVID-19 with mild symptoms.

Over 400 doctors and other medical staff tested COVID-19 positive in the past 48 hours in Government Medical College Jammu and its associate hospitals. Staff from other hospitals and final year MBBS students diverted to ensure smooth functioning of operations.