Read today’s top updates

10.33 pm: Mumbai reports 557 new cases in the last 24 hours, reports ANI. Total active cases now stand at 8,178.

10.28 pm: Union home secretary writes to states and Union Territories asking to instruct concerned authorities for their support to the health ministry in identification, preparation of database, vaccine delivery, storage, security, shipment and vaccination of beneficiaries, reports ANI.

10.24 pm: Haryana records 351 new cases, as tally goes up to 2,61,258, reports ANI. Eight new deaths take toll up to 2,882.

10.22 pm: Uttar Pradesh reports 945 new cases, taking the tally up to 5,82,920, reports PTI. Toll stands at 8,322 with 16 new deaths.

10.19 pm: Pfizer to complete supply of Covid-19 vaccines to European Union by September, reports Reuters.

8.08 pm: Maharashtra reports 2,498 new coronavirus cases, taking its tally to 19,22,048. Meanwhile, as many as 18,14,449 people have recovered from the infection in the state.

7.58 pm: Delhi records 564 new coronavirus cases today, the lowest since July 27, according to PTI. With this, the national Capital has 6,23,415 total cases. The toll jumps by 21 to 10,474.

Authorities say that the positivity rate has fallen to 0.98% now.

6.55 pm: The Centre says the previous guidelines for coronavirus surveillance will remain in force up to January 31, 2021, reports ANI.

“While there has been a continuous decline in the active and new Covid-19 cases, there is need to maintain surveillance, containment and caution, keeping in view the surge in cases globally, and the emergence of a new variant of the virus in the United Kingdom,” says the Ministry of Home Affairs. “Containment zones to continue to be demarcated carefully; prescribed containment measures strictly followed within these zones; Covid-19-appropriate behaviour promoted and strictly enforced.”

6.52 pm: Minister of State for Health Ashwini Choubey tests positive for the coronavirus.

6.50 pm: The SII chief also says that due to India’s large population, they will probably end up giving the majority of the 50 million vaccine doses to the country first, reports ANI.

6.48 pm: Poonawalla says the first six months of 2021 will witness a vaccine shortage globally, according to ANI. “Nobody can help that,” he says. “But we will see easing off by August-September 2021 as other vaccine manufactures also being able to supply.”

6.44 pm: Serum Institute of India’s Chief Executive Officer Adar Poonawalla says that the company has 40 to 50 million doses of its coronavirus vaccine, Covishield, stockpiled, reports ANI. “Once we get regulatory approvals in a few days, it’ll be down to the government to decide how much they can take and how fast,” he adds. “We will be producing around 300 million doses by July 2021.”

The Pune-based Serum Institute of India, which is the world’s largest vaccine manufacturer, has tied up with the University of Oxford and the British-Swedish company AstraZeneca to commercially produce and market this vaccine in India if and when it is approved. On December 8, the company applied for the emergency use authorisation of its vaccine.

6.40 pm: The Arvind Kejriwal government tells the Delhi High Court that it has decided to reduce ICU beds reservation to treat coronavirus patients in 33 private hospitals from 80% to 60%, reports PTI. The matter will be heard next on January 8.

The Delhi government, represented by Additional Solicitor General Sanjay Jain and Additional standing counsel Sanjoy Ghose, said that the reservation would be revisited on January 5.

6.38 pm: Kerala records 3,047 new coronavirus cases, taking the tally of active infections in the state to 64,028, according to ANI. Meanwhile, as many as 6,76,368 people have recovered from the disease so far.

6.35 pm: The Tamil Nadu government stresses on the use of face masks amid fears over the new virus strain, saying it has turned out to be an effective preventive mechanism against the infection, reports PTI.

Chief Minister K Palaniswami says that the blood samples of 13 UK returnees, who had tested positive for coronavirus upon their return to the state, have been sent for analysis to a Pune lab. “Medical experts say the mutated coronavirus infection also spreads by not wearing a mask,” he adds.

5.21 pm: Karnataka will resume classes for the students to grades 10 and 12 from January 1, ANI reports.

5.17 pm: British Cabinet Office Minister Michael Gove says regulatory approval to Oxford University and AstraZeneca’s vaccine could speed up the lifting of coronavirus restrictions in the country, according to Reuters.

5.14 pm: Indonesia bans international visitors for two weeks over fears of the new coronavirus strain, Reuters reports.

5.10 pm: Some soldiers and cabinet ministers in the Philippines get coronavirus vaccines even before regulatory approval, Reuters reports.

5.08 pm: Eleven United Kingdom returnees have tested positive for the coronavirus in Mumbai since November 25, PTI reports.

3.17 pm: Punjab Health Minister Balbir Singh Sidhu says that the vaccine dry run received good response in the state, ANI reports. “We have data of nearly 1.5 lakh healthcare workers that will be uploaded on [the] government portal,” he says. “They will get priority in vaccination.”

3.13 pm: The Election Commission says that it is preparing to organise polls in other states after the successful Assembly elections in Bihar amid the coronavirus crisis, PTI reports.

3.09 pm: Karnataka Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa says that the people of the state do not need to panic over the UK coronavirus strain, ANI reports. He adds that the government will discuss the reopening of schools in the state on Monday.

3.05 pm: West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee emphasises on the need to take precautions amid fears over the emergence of mutant coronavirus strains, ANI reports. “COVID-19 has changed its forms and become more dangerous,” she says. “Though the number of cases has decreased in West Bengal, we need to remain cautious. UK has imposed lockdown once again. Hence, we need to keep in mind the seriousness of the issue.”

3.03 pm: Andhra Pradesh’s Krishna district successfully conducts the vaccination dry run, News18 reports.

1.30 pm: Russia’s air traffic drops to around 48% year-on-year in November amid the pandemic, reports Reuters.

1.28 pm: Mexican soldiers are patrolling beaches in Acapulco to make sure tourists follow anti-coronavirus measures, according to AFP.

1.28 pm: South Africa registers a million coronavirus cases as the pandemic surges globally, reports AFP.

1.25 pm: Saudi Arabia has extended its temporary ban on commercial passenger flights by at least one week and possibly two weeks as concerns grew over a new variant of the coronavirus, reports AFP.

12.42 pm: Maharashtra minister Aslam Sheikh says the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation and the police have been instructed to remain vigilant on new year’s eve to ensure all Covid-19-related rules and restrictions are strictly implemented, reports ANI.

12.36 pm: A court in Shanghai sentences Chinese citizen journalist Zhang Zhan, who covered Wuhan’s coronavirus outbreak, to four years in prison, reports BBC. Zhang was found guilty of “picking quarrels and provoking trouble”. She was detained in May.

12.32 pm: Police personnel in Shanghai stop journalists outside a court where Chinese journalist Zhang Zhan, who was detained after reporting on the coronavirus outbreak in Wuhan, is set for trial.

12.30 pm: Russia approved its main Covid-19 vaccine, Sputnik V, for use by people over the age of 60, reports Reuters.

12.25 pm: Preparations for a dry run of the coronavirus vaccination drive are underway at the Dayanand Medical College in Ludhiana, Punjab.

12.22 pm: The health ministry says 72.99% of new recovered cases are concentrated in 10 states and Union Territories. Kerala has reported a maximum number of single-day recoveries with 3,463 recovered cases. Meanwhile, India’s cases per million, and death per million, remains one of the lowest in the world, the ministry adds.

12.18 pm: Puducherry logs 33 new Covid-19 cases, taking its tally of infections to 38,028, reports PTI.

10.48 am: Uttarakhand Chief Minister Trivendra Singh Rawat is being shifted to AIIMS in Delhi from a hospital in Dehradun, reports ANI, citing the Chief Minister’s Office.

10.45 am: Hundreds of tourists from the United Kingdom, who were forced to quarantine in a ski resort in Switzerland, have escaped, the local municipality said Sunday, according to .

10.43 am: Sydney has banned big gatherings on New Year’s Eve due to the pandemic, reports Reuters. It is among the world’s first major cities to welcome each New Year with a public countdown that features fireworks over Opera House.

10.42 am: Russian President Vladimir Putin will be administered the Sputnik V coronavirus vaccine, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told a Russian state TV channel on Sunday, reported Reuters.

10.39 am: A 55-year-old resident of Jammu went into a deep coma after contracting Covid-19, but recovered after one week in what doctors called a case of Covid Encephalitis, reported IANS.

10.36 am: A Nagaland government report noted how the stranded residents were subjected to “racism and harassment” during the nationwide lockdown, reported The Hindu.

10.34 am: Union Minister Ramdas Athawale, whose “Go Corona, Go” slogan became widely, on Sunday came up with a new one, “No Corona”, reported PTI. He said this was in response to the new strain of the novel coronavirus.

9.42 am: India’s coronavirus tally rises to 1,02,07,871 after 20,021 new cases emerge in 24 hours. The country’s toll goes up by 279 to 1,47,901. There are 2,77,301 active cases, and 97,82,669 people have recovered from the disease so far.

9.35 am: The winter session of the Madhya Pradesh Assembly, scheduled for Monday, was postponed due to the “COVID-19 situation”, an official said on Sunday. Sixty one employees of the Assembly secretariat, and five MLAs have tested positive for the coronavirus, reports PTI.

9.30 am: United States President Donald Trump has signed a $900 billion coronavirus relief package that will provide financial assistance to businesses and individuals, reports AP.

9.10 am: The new variant from the United Kingdom was found in three people who travelled to South Korea from London on December 22, the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency has said, according to .

9 am: A two-day dry run for coronavirus vaccine program starts today in Andhra Pradesh, Punjab, Gujarat and Assam. Focus on management of possible adverse events after immunisation, and dry runs that include checks on cold storage and transportation arrangements will be part of program that will be carried out in the chosen districts in each state.

Here are the updates from Sunday:

  1. India recorded 18,732 new coronavirus cases, taking its total to 1,01,87,850. This was the lowest daily count in nearly six months. As many as 97,61,538 people have recovered from the infection so far.
  2. The Bihar government’s initiative to transfer financial aid directly to beneficiaries has made its departments winners of the Centre’s Digital India Awards for innovative steps in e-governance.
  3. Sweden, Canada and Spainbecame the latest countries to report cases of the more contagious and genetically distinct variant of the coronavirus that was first discovered in Britain.
  4. Uttarakhand Chief Minister Trivendra Singh Rawat was admitted to Doon Hospital in Dehradun for Covid-19 treatment.