Coronavirus Omicron variant India live updates: At 678, India sees 3rd wave’s highest daily toll

Turkey has reported 107,530 new Covid-19 cases, raising the tally of infections in the country to 11,940,695. The death toll from the virus in Turkey on Thursday rose by 233 to 88,064, while 88,014 more people recovered in the last 24 hours, Xinhua news agency reported, citing the Turkish Health Ministry. A total of 455,463 tests were conducted over the past day, it said. Turkey started mass Covid-19 vaccination on Jan. 14, 2021. It has so far administered over 142.52 million doses including the third booster jabs.

Only 10% deaths were recorded among fully vaccinated people who were hospitalised with Omicron infection, compared with nearly 22% fatalities among the unvaccinated or partially-vaccinated, Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) director general Balram Bhargava said on Thursday, citing a study based on data from the national clinical registry of Covid-19, to stress that increase in vaccination has significantly helped reduce deaths during the present surge.

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Thursday a military response to the ongoing Ottawa protest against COVID-19 measures is ``not in the cards right now.'' Ottawa police Chief Peter Sloly said this week that all options are on the table, including calling in the military, to end the ongoing demonstration that was being called an ``occupation'' by some on the city council. Thousands of protesters railing against vaccine mandates and other COVID-19 restrictions descended on the capital last weekend, deliberately blocking traffic around Parliament Hill. Police estimate about 250 remain.

In order to ensure continuum of learning and mitigate the impact of the Covid pandemic, the ministry of education has written to states and Union territories about is plan ensure learning recovery. The plan includes financial support to students, funds for primary school teachers to purchase tablets and Rs 20 lakh per state/UT to conduct oral reading fluency (ORF) study.

India became the third country in the world to officially record more than 5 lakh deaths from the Covid-19 pandemic, reaching the grim milestone on Thursday

The cumulative number of confirmed Covid-19 cases since the start of the epidemic rose above 20 million, health ministry data showed on Thursday. The health ministry registered 274,352 new infections on Thursday, pushing the total to 20.15 million.

Bihar on Thursday registered 655 fresh Covid-19 cases, 144 less than the previous day's figure, and four fresh fatalities, a bulletin issued by the state health department stated. The state's overall infection tally jumped to 8,26,078, while the death toll increased to 12,230, The bulletin said the number of active cases is 3,390 now.

Mizoram on Thursday registered 2,145 fresh coronavirus cases, 428 less than the previous day's figure, pushing the total infection count to 1,79,740, an official said. The North-eastern state had registered the highest single-day spike of 2,573 cases on Wednesday. He said 1,887 people recovered from the infection in the last 24 hours, taking the total number of cured people to 1,65,447.The death toll rose to 617 during the day as two more persons succumbed to the Covid-19, the official said.

Africa must boost the vaccination rate against Covid-19 "six times" to reach the target of 70 percent vaccine coverage set for the end of the first half of 2022, the World Health Organization (WHO) said Thursday.Africa has received "more than 587 million vaccine doses" but it "is still struggling to expand rollout, with only 11 percent of the population fully vaccinated", explained the WHO regional office for Africa."The world has finally heard our calls. Africa is now accessing the vaccines it has demanded for far too long. This is a dose of hope for this year," said Matshidiso Moeti, WHO Regional Director for Africa.

The subvariant of the Omicron strain of the coronavirus dubbed BA.2 requires further study to understand to what extent it is distinct from its original - the Omicron - regarding contagiousness and other factors, Marco Cavaleri, the head of Biological Health Threats and Vaccines Strategy at the European Medicines Agency (EMA), said on Thursday.

The Gujarat government on Thursday extend the night curfew effective across 27 cities till 11 February.A core committee meeting headed by Gujarat Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel also decided on Thursday to allow more persons in wedding functions organised in open places.Looking at the prevailing Covid situation in the state, the meeting decided to continue the presently effective night curfew in 8 municipal corporations and 19 municipalities. The curfew will be in place from 10 pm to 6 am.

The Centre on Thursday issued revised Covid guidelines for reopening of schools amid declining trends of Covid cases across the country. The guidelines have been prepared after consultation with states.The guidelines are advisory in nature and it is on states to decide whether schools are required to ask for consent from parents for physical classes. The school reopening guidelines will include precaution, timetable, assessment, emotional, and mental health.