COVID-19 Updates: PM Modi chairs review meeting amid COVID-19 spike

Tripura government has decided to impose a night curfew across the state from Monday in a bid to curb the spread of COVID-19, the official order said.

Maharashtra reported 44,388 new COVID cases, 15,351 recoveries, and 12 deaths on Sunday. The active cases stand at 2,02,259 while the death toll is at 1,41,639. The total cases of Omicron have reached 1,216.

Punjab on Sunday reported 3,922 new COVID-19 cases, 145 recoveries and 9 death. The active cases are stood at 16,343.

During the review meeting, PM Modi stressed the need to ensure adequate health infrastructure at the district level. He asked officials to maintain coordination regarding this with the states, the Prime Minister's Office said.

"PM urged to further accelerate vaccine drive for adolescents in mission mode. PM directed that intensive containment & active surveillance should continue in clusters reporting higher cases & required technical support be provided to states reporting higher cases presently," the PMO added.

Nagaland government on Saturday re-imposed night curfew, restricted mass gatherings and directed schools not to hold classes up to class eight till January 31 to check the spread of coronavirus. 

Mumbai reports 9,474 new novel coronavirus cases and 7 deaths in the past 24 hours. 

Four Supreme Court judges and almost five per cent of its staff have tested positive for COVID-19, official sources said on Sunday, as the national capital witnesses a sharp spike in coronavirus cases.

Kerala has reported 6,238 new COVID cases, 2390 recoveries, and 30 deaths on Sunday, The active cases stand at 34,902 while the death toll is at 49,591.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi chairs a meeting to review the COVID-19 situation in the country, through a video conference.

Himachal Pradesh Govt has imposed more COVID-19 restrictions. All government offices to remain closed on weekends, to work on weekdays at 50% staff presence. All social/religious gatherings to be banned. DMs are allowed to decide the timing of shops/markets.

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Sunday said there is no plan to impose a lockdown as of now in the city, and that there will be no need for it if people wear masks. He said that on Sunday, the city is likely to report 22,000 COVID-19 cases in 24 hours. He appealed to the public to wear masks and not panic.

 TV star Hina Khan said her entire family -- except her -- has tested positive for COVID-19. The 34-year-old actor took to Instagram on Saturday and shared a note writing about the "harsh reality" of taking care of the family while also navigating the anxiety of COVID-19.

Tamil actor and producer Vishnu Vishal revealed on Sunday that he has tested positive for the novel coronavirus. Taking to Twitter, he complained of severe symptoms ranging from body pain, itchy throat, mild fever, and nose blockage.

A total of 1,59,632 new coronavirus infections were reported in a day, the highest in 224 days, while the active cases increased to 5,90,611, the highest in around 197 days, according to the data updated at 8 am. The death toll climbed to 4,83,790 with 327 fresh fatalities, the data stated.

The active cases comprise 1.66% of the total infections, while the recovery rate has come down to 96.98 percent. 

Health researchers in Cyprus on Saturday identified a new strain of the COVID-19 virus that combines at least 10 mutations of the Delta and Omicron variants. The new variant dubbed as 'Deltacron' was detected in patients hospitalised for Coronavirus, a professor who was part of the team that discovered the virus told Bloomberg. 

In a major relief, Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal on Sunday announced that he has recovered from COVID and is 'ready to serve people again'. The AAP convenor is set to address a press conference virtually at 12 PM on Sunday. Kejriwal had tested positive for COVID mere five days ago, leading to AAP cancelling all its rallies in poll-bound Uttar Pradesh.

Seven more fatalities were recorded in Delhi on Saturday due to COVID-19 as the city clocked 20,181 infections in a single day, while the positivity rate rose to 19.60 percent, according to data by the health department. The national capital had reported 407 COVID-19 fatalities and 20,394 cases with a positivity rate of 28.33 percent on May 2.

Arunachal Pradesh reported 59 new COVID-19 cases on Sunday, which is 33 more than the previous day, taking the Northeastern state's active tally to 186, a senior health official said.  The state did not report any recovery in the last 24 hours, the official said.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will chair a meeting on Sunday to review the COVID-19 situation in the country as the Omicron variant of the virus fuels a surge in the infection. Government sources said the meeting is scheduled for around 4:30 PM.

Mumbai Mayor Kishori Pednekar on Saturday informed that the administration will not be imposing weekend lockdown in the city. The city Mayor informed that the decision has been taken to not place a lockdown as of now. Pednekar said that the city was well equipped to handle the hike in fresh coronavirus cases.

Maharashtra on Saturday, January 8, reported 41,434 new COVID-19 cases, 9,671 recoveries, and 13 deaths in the last 24 hours. The state currently has 1,73,238 active cases while the death tally has reached 1,41,627.  As many as 133 patients with Omicron variant were reported on Saturday, taking the total case tally of the Variant of Concern in the state to 1009

Punjab reported 3,643 fresh infections on Saturday, while two more people succumbed to COVID-19, taking the case count to 6,17,536 and the death toll to 16,665 in the state, according to a medical bulletin. The state had witnessed 2,901 infections on Friday. The number of active cases jumped to 12,614 from 9,425.

Registration for the 'precaution dose' of COVID-19 vaccine for healthcare workers, frontline workers, and those aged 60 and above with co-morbidities started on the CoWIN portal on Saturday evening. The exercise of administering the precaution dose to this category of beneficiaries will begin from January 10.

Fifteen people in the Jharkhand chief minister's Ranchi residence, including Hemant Soren's wife and his two children, have tested positive for coronavirus on Saturday. Ranchi chief medical officer Vinod Kumar said that 62 people were tested at the CM's residence.

Hemant Soren's wife Kalpana Soren, their two sons Nitin and Vishwajit, sister-in-law Sarla Murmu and a bodyguard were among the 15 affected. Soren himself, his media adviser Abhishek Prasad and assistant Sunil Srivastava have, however, tested negative.

Several celebrities in the film industry also contracted the virus in the last few days. As Bollywood is not away from the virus, renowned singer Arijit Singh and his wife, Koel Roy, recently tested positive. Taking to his official Facebook handle, Arijit Singh recently informed his fans he and his wife have tested positive.