Top 10 coronavirus updates: UK to offer vaccine to children aged 12-15 from next week
A look at the biggest Covid-19 developments of the day.
Here are the top updates from Tuesday:
- The United Kingdom government on Tuesday announced that children aged between 12 and 15 will be given the first dose of the coronavirus vaccine developed by Pfizer and BioNTech from next week, reported PTI. This came after the country’s chief medical officers gave their approval to inoculate children against the infection.
- India registered 25,404 new coronavirus cases that pushed the country’s overall tally of infections since the outbreak of the pandemic in January last year to 3,32,89,579. The new cases were 6.78% lower than Monday’s count of 27,254. The country’s toll rose to 4,43,213 with 339 deaths.
- Mumbai recorded 367 new coronavirus cases, pushing the infection tally to 7,35,770 in the city, reported PTI. This is the fourth consecutive day when the city has registered less than 400 cases. The toll rose by five to 16,033.
- The United Kingdom’s expert advisory panel recommended that a third booster dose of Covid-19 vaccine would be beneficial for citizens aged over 50 and frontline healthcare workers to increase their protection against the infection during the winter, reported PTI. The country’s Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation said that a gap of six months after the second dose should be optimum time to administer the booster shot.
- The number of active cases in Kerala dropped below two lakh mark to 1,98,865 as the state recorded 15,876 new infections on Tuesday, reported the Hindustan Times. The infection tally in the state stood at 44,06,365 and the toll was at 22,779. The state had been registering close to or more than 30,000 cases in the first week of September.
- The International Federation of Pharmaceutical Manufacturers and Associations said that the global manufacturing output of Covid-19 vaccines will cross 750 crore by September, reported The Indian Express. The association also said that the monthly output of 150 crore shots is expected to keep rising.
- The Gujarat government announced that night curfew in the state will be in place between 11 pm and 6 am in eight cities from September 15 and September 25 in order to check the spread of the coronavirus disease, reported Mint. It was earlier from 12 am between September 9 to 19. The timings are extended in Junagadh, Ahmedabad, Jamnagar, Rajkot, Vadodara, Surat, Bhavnagar and Gandhinagar.
- China has allowed chartered flights from Italy, Germany and France to bring back employees stranded due to the coronavirus pandemic. However, Beijing has not yet taken a call on extending the facility to Indians stuck there, reported PTI. When asked about it, Foreign Ministry spokesperson Zhao Lijian said that China was dynamically adjusting to the pandemic situation to permit international travel.
- Bharat Biotech’s coronavirus vaccine, Covaxin, could receive approval for emergency use listing by the World Health Organization by the end of September, Niti Aayog member (Health) VK Paul said.
- The coronavirus has globally infected over 22.54 crore people and killed more than 46.43 lakh since the pandemic broke out in December 2019, according to Johns Hopkins University.