Topics Coronavirus | World Health Organization | Lockdown
Mexico's president said Thursday he plans to give the military a role in distributing coronavirus vaccines, which he says U.S. President Donald Trump helped him get. President Andrs Manuel Lpez Obrador said that on his visit to Washington in July he spoke with Trump and Vice President Mike Pence and they helped facilitate so that Mexico was taken into account and could get the vaccine. Lpez Obrador suggested Mexico will probably wait until U.S. regulators approve the Pfizer vaccine later this month before giving it the go-ahead in Mexico.
On Wednesday, Mexico's Health Department signed a contract for 34.4 million doses of that vaccine, and said it hoped to receive 250,000 doses in December. Each person requires two doses. The president said the government is discussing with the army and the navy, and we are defining the whole operation to distribute the vaccine. Lpez Obrador has given the military an unprecedented array of responsibilities in his two years in office, including distributing medical supplies and guarding hospitals.
Dr Anthony Fauci, the top US infectious disease expert, on Thursday said the UK was not as rigorous as the US health authorities in its COVID-19 vaccine approval process. The UK on Wednesday became the first country in the world to approve the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine for the coronavirus. "The UK did not do it as carefully," he told Fox News. "If you go quickly and you do it superficially, people are not going to want to get vaccinated." "We really scrutinise the data very carefully to guarantee to the American public that this is a safe and efficacious vaccine," he said.
We have the gold standard of a regulatory approach with the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA). The UK did not do it as carefully and they got a couple of days ahead," the 79-year-old expert said. The Pfizer/BioNTech is the fastest ever vaccine to go from concept to reality, taking only 10 months to follow the same developmental steps that normally span a decade. The UK has defended its approval process, and said the jab is safe and effective.
Dr June Raine, the head of the UK medicines regulator, on Wednesday said that "no corners had been cut" in vetting the jab. The Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) reviewed preliminary data on the vaccine trials dating back to June. "No vaccine would be authorised for supply in the UK unless the expected standards of safety, quality and efficacy are met," the regulator said.
Andhra Pradesh reported 664 new Covid positive cases, increasing the state's tally to 8.7 lakh, even as 835 more patients recovered from the virus to outnumber infections on Thursday. Chittoor and Krishna districts accounted for the highest number infections in the past 24 hours, 105 each, followed by Visakhapatnam (73), Guntur (72) and West Godavari (70). Among other places, East Godavari (67), Prakasam (40), Nellore (34), Anantapur (29), Kadapa (21), Kurnool and Vizianagaram (19 each) and Srikakulam (10).
With the new additions, East Godavari continues to shoulder the highest number of cases at 1.22 lakh. On Wednesday, 835 more patients recovered from the disease to increase the total number of recoveries to 8.56 lakh, narrowing the gap between total number of infections and recoveries. Of the 8.7 lakh cases, active cases have plummeted to 6,742. With 63,049 more Covid tests, the total number of tests crossed the one crore mark to reach 1.02 crore.
Karnataka registered 1,446 new Covid cases while 894 recovered in a day, taking its Covid tally to 8,89,113, including 24,689 active cases on Wednesday, said the state health bulletin on Thursday. "With 894 patients discharged during the day, 8,52,584 recovered across the southern state so far, while 11,821 died of the infection, including 13 in the last 24 hours," said the bulletin.
As the epicentre of the pandemic, Bengaluru reported 758 fresh cases, taking its tally to 3,71,962, including 18,938 active cases, while 3,48,861 recovered, with 208 during the day. With six succumbing to the infection, the city's death toll rose to 4,162 since the pandemic broke in the state on March 8. Of the 299 patients in the intensive care units (ICUs), 163 are in Bengaluru Urban hospitals, 14 in Hassan, 12 each in Mysuru and Tumakuru, 11 in Gadag and 10 in Mandya district.
Out of 1,08,685 tests conducted in the day, 18,683 were through rapid-antigen detection and 90,002 through RT-PCR method. "Positivity rate was 1.33 per cent and case fatality rate 0.89 per cent for the day across the state," added the bulletin.
Assam reported 165 new #COVID19 cases and 177 discharges on December 3, says Govt. of Assam
— ANI (@ANI) &7
Total cases: 2,13,336
Total discharges: 2,08,843
Deaths: 985
Active cases: 3,505 pic.twitter.com/7WD3b0sPZF
Jharkhand reported 233 #COVID19 cases, 208 recoveries and 6 deaths today.
— ANI (@ANI) &7
Total cases 1,09,771
Total recoveries 1,06,868
Death toll 977
Active cases 1926 pic.twitter.com/aaAK43as81
Chhattisgarh on Thursday reported 1,555 fresh coronavirus positive cases and 22 fatalities, taking the total count to 2,42,418 and toll to 2,941, a health official said. The number of recoveries reached 2,20,177 after 174 people were discharged from hospitals, while 1,599 others completed their home isolation during the day. This took the number of active cases in the state to 19,300, he said.
Raipur district reported 229 new cases, taking its total count to 47,177, including 667 deaths. Durg district recorded 117 new cases, Korba 112, Raigarh 112, Bilaspur 109 and Rajnandgaon 101, among other districts, he said. "Of the latest fatalities, eight took place on Thursday, nine on Wednesday while five had taken place earlier but were added to the tally on Thursday," he added. Chhattisgarh's coronavirus figures are as follows: Positive cases 2,42,418, new cases 1,555, deaths 2,941, recovered 2,20,177, active cases 19,300, people tested so far 26,67,762.
Jammu and Kashmir on Thursday recorded 582 fresh COVID-19 cases which took its tally to 1,11,712, while 10 more fatalities pushed the union territory's death toll to 1,718, officials said. Of the fresh cases, 310 were from the Jammu division and 272 from the Kashmir division, they said. Jammu district recorded the maximum fresh cases at 142, followed by 126 in Srinagar, according to the officials.
The number of active cases in the union territory stands at 5,104, while 419 more patients recovered from the infection. So far, 1,04,890 patients have recovered, the officials said. Of the 10 fresh deaths, five each were reported from Jammu and Kashmir regions, they said.
West Bengal reports 3,246 new COVID-19 cases, 3,257 recoveries, and 49 deaths in the last 24 hours, as per State Health Department
— ANI (@ANI) &7
Total cases: 4,93,316
Total recoveries: 4,60,634
Active cases: 24,106
Death toll: 8,576 pic.twitter.com/IpYjoLI4cl
Maharashtra reports 5182 new #COVID19 cases, 8066 discharges and 115 deaths today.
— ANI (@ANI) &7
Total cases 18,37,358
Total recoveries 17,03,274
Death toll 47,472
Active cases 85,535 pic.twitter.com/MnEtCzAv2j
Delhi reports 3734 new #COVID19 cases, 4834 recoveries and 82 deaths in the last 24 hours.
— ANI (@ANI) &7
Total cases 5,82,058
Total recoveries 5,43,514
Death toll 9424
Active cases 29,120 pic.twitter.com/4x5i3qPgL5
Press Coucil of India asks Centre to treat journalists who died due to coronavirus as 'COVID warriors' and provide them with same benefits as given to doctors and other essential health staff
— Press Trust of India (@PTI_News) &7
#IndiaFightsCorona:
— #IndiaFightsCorona (@COVIDNewsByMIB) &7
79.28% of the 526 case fatalities that have been reported in the past 24 hours are from Ten States/UTs.#Unite2FightCorona #StaySafe
Details: https://t.co/50DV3nbM91 pic.twitter.com/1z1jcC5CcT
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