Coronavirus live updates: Goa extends corona curfew till June 28

The Odisha government on Friday directed officials to vaccinate those with HIV on priority. In accordance with the advise of the National AIDS Control Organisation, the additional chief secretary of health and family welfare, PK Mohapatra, in an official letter to the district authorities asked collectors, municipal commissioners, chief district medical and public health officers to vaccinate all eligible people living with HIV (irrespective of CD4 count and viral load). (ANI)

Canada's National Advisory Committee on Immunization said Thursday people who got the AstraZeneca vaccine as their first dose should get Pfizer-BioNTech or Moderna for their second shot. On June 1, committee had said AstraZeneca recipients "could" get Pfizer or Moderna for their second shot if they wanted, but Thursday went further to say an mRNA vaccine was the ''preferred" choice.

Vaccination has been increasing steadily, mainly driven by more people taking their first dose of the jabs as also number of daily sessions having increased in last10 days as compared to May, which witnessed a significant drop. The weekly daily average of vaccinations has increased to 33 lakh doses in the current week from 30 lakh doses during June 7-13 and 26.86 during May 31-June 6). Overall, 26.8 crore doses have been administered.

The US Embassy in Afghanistan has ordered a near-complete lockdown because of a massive spike in coronavirus cases among employees. Already on uncertain footing due to the imminent withdrawal of American forces from the country, the embassy in Kabul Thursday ordered remaining staffers into virtual isolation to prevent the spread of Covid-19, which has already killed at least one person, sent 114 into quarantine and forced several people to be medically evacuated.

Authorities say the first delta variant in the community has been detected in Sri Lanka. Dr Chandima Jeewandara, Director of immunology and molecular medicine of the Sri Jayewardenepra University says the delta variant has been detected in five samples collected from the capital Colombo.

Even as India’s second Covid-19 wave has been steadily declining since mid-May, more than 50,000 deaths from the virus have been reported in the first 16 days of June, making this month’s toll already the second highest after May’s.