Omicron variant: TN lifts curbs, allows schools, colleges to reopen on Feb 1, withdraws Sunday lockdown

Goa reported 955 new coronavirus cases and 15 deaths linked to the infection on Thursday, the state health department said, while the positivity rate stood at 28.07 per cent. With new additions, Goa's coronavirus caseload rose to 2,35,039 and the death increased to 3,645, the department said in a bulletin. Goa's positivity rate stood at 28.07 per cent, marking a decline after hovering over more than 30 per cent for several days in January. The rate indicates the percentage of people who test positive for the virus of those overall who have been tested.

Face coverings will no longer be a legal requirement in indoor spaces from Thursday as England reverts to Plan A coronavirus lockdown measures, amid a continued fall in the Omicron variant infection rate. Under plans announced by the UK government earlier this month, mandatory COVID-19 vaccination certification will also end but venues may choose to use the NHS COVID Pass showing vaccination status or a negative COVID test voluntarily.

The work from home where possible guidance had been withdrawn last week as part of a staggered rollback of all Plan B measures, which came into force on December 8, 2021. “Our vaccines, testing and antivirals ensure we have some of the strongest defences in Europe and are allowing us to cautiously return to Plan A, restoring more freedoms to this country,” said UK Health Secretary Sajid Javid.

The Omicron variant of coronavirus has been found in 79 per cent of the samples from Delhi sequenced between January 1 and January 23, according to government data.  The Delta variant, which drove the ferocious second wave of COVID-19 infections in April and May last year, was found in 13.70 per cent of the 2,503 samples sequenced during the period.  The data showed that of the 863 samples sequenced between December 25 and December 31, around 50 per cent (433) carried Omicron, while 34 per cent (293) had the Delta variant.  Across India, Omicron accounted for 75 per cent of the total samples sequenced in January, according to the National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC). Delhi had reported the first case of Omicron on December 5 -- a 37-year-old fully vaccinated man who had arrived from Tanzania. 

West Bengal's COVID-19 tally rose to 19,82,862 on Thursday as 3,608 people tested positive for the infection, 1,361 less than the previous day, a health bulletin said. Thirty-six more people succumbed to the infection, pushing the state's death toll to 20,481. North 24 Parganas district recorded the highest number of new cases at 524, followed by 423 in Kolkata. Fourteen fatalities were reported in North 24 Parganas, followed by eight in Kolkata and four in South 24 Parganas. The number of active cases dipped by 11,644 to 55,725. A total of 19,06,656 people have recovered from the disease so far, including 15,216 in the last 24 hours. The recovery rate has improved to 96.16 per cent from 95.56 per cent on the previous day.

The European Medicines Agency has recommended that Pfizer's coronavirus antiviral drug be authorised for use in the 27-nation European Union, the first time the agency has recommended a pill for treating COVID-19. In a statement on Thursday, the EU drug regulator said giving the green light to Pfizer's Paxlovoid could help people infected with COVID-19 avoid more serious disease and being hospitalised. EMA's expert committee recommended the pill be given to adults who don't require oxygen and who are at higher risk of severe disease.

The drug was cleared by regulators in the US and Britain in late December, although authorities noted that supplies would be extremely limited. An antiviral pill from Merck also is expected to soon be authorised. But Pfizer's drug is all but certain to be the preferred option because of its mild side effects and superior effectiveness as suggested by studies, including a nearly 90% reduction in hospitalizations and deaths among patients most likely to get severely ill.

With the addition of 4,696 new COVID-19 cases over the last two days, the tally of infections in Maharashtra Nashik district has reached 4,59,328, an official said on Thursday. At least seven patients died of the infection in the last 48 hours, raising the toll to 8792, he said. As many as 5,385 patients have been discharged from hospitals since Wednesday, taking the count of recoveries to 4,33,215, leaving the district with 17,321 active cases, the official said. Of the total number of cases reported so far, 2,63,554 were from Nashik city, 1,70,357 from other parts of the district, 13,685 from Malegaon and 7,816 from outside the district, the administration said.

Recoveries eclipsed new infections in Tamil Nadu on Thursday as the COVID graph continued to register a downward tick with the State reporting 28,515 Covid-19 fresh cases, taking the caseload to 32,52,751.
The new infections included three returnees from Bangladesh and Odisha, the health department said.
As many as 53 people succumbed to the virus in the last 24 hours pushing the toll to 37,412, a medical bulletin said here.
The bulletin said with 28,620 people getting discharged, recoveries rose to 30,01,805, leaving 2,13,534 active infections.

Jammu and Kashmir on Thursday recorded 4,959 fresh cases of coronavirus, taking the infected number of persons to 4,19,131 while seven deaths due to the virus were reported in the past 24 hours, officials said. There are 46,657 active cases in the Union Territory, while the number of recovered patients was 3,68,432, the officials said. Out of the fresh cases, 1,394 were from the Jammu division and 3,565 from the Kashmir division of the UT, the officials said.

Telangana on Thursday recorded 3,944 new COVID-19 cases taking the tally to 7,51,099, while the death toll rose to 4,081 with three more fatalities. Telangana on Wednesday reported 3,801 new COVID-19 cases. The Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) accounted for the highest number of fresh cases with 1,372, followed by 288 in Medchal Malkajgiri and 259 in Ranga Reddy districts, a state government bulletin said, providing details as of 5.30 PM today.

 Rajasthan recorded 20 coronavirus deaths and 9,227 fresh cases on Thursday, according to a Health Department bulletin. So far, 9,181 people have died from the infection in the state. Of the 20 deaths, eight took place in Jaipur, two in Jhunjhunu, one each in Alwar, Bhilwara, Dungarpur, Hanumangarh, Jaisalmer, Jodhpur, Karauli, Kota, Nagaur and Sikar. According to the bulletin, the maximum 2,075 cases were reported in Jaipur, 1,192 in Alwar, 719 in Sri Ganganagar, 641 in Jodhpur, 437 in Bhilwara and 386 in Dungarpur. As many as 16,087 people recovered from the infection in the state on Thursday. At present, 87,268 people are under treatment in the state.

Recoveries outnumbered fresh cases, which dipped to 38,083 in Karnataka on Thursday taking the tally to 36,92,496, The death toll climbed to 38,754, with 49 more deaths recorded. The state had yesterday reported 48,905 new infections. There were 67,236 discharges, taking the total number of recoveries to 33,25,001, a bulletin said. Of the new cases, 17,717 were from Bengaluru Urban that saw 43,997 people being discharged and 12 virus-related deaths.

Odisha's COVID-19 tally rose to 12,31,169 on Thursday as 5,901 people tested positive for the infection, 1,515 less than the previous day, a health bulletin said. Eight more people succumbed to the infection, pushing the state's coronavirus death toll to 8,550, it said. The test positivity rate (TPR) dipped to 9.34 per cent as 63,209 samples were examined in the last 24 hours. The infections dropped by 43 per cent from 10,368 a week ago. The state had logged 7,416 cases and 10 deaths on Wednesday.

 About 64 per cent deaths in Delhi due to Covid have been witnessed among the unvaccinated people and those with comorbidities, the government said, calling vaccination one of the most important weapons against coronavirus. Addressing a press conference, NCDC Director Dr S K Singh said the unvaccinated and the comorbid people form a very high risk group. "As per today's data of Delhi only, 64 per cent of deaths that we have seen are among the unvaccinated and those with comorbidities. Hence, those who are unvaccinated and comorbid form a very high risk group," he said.
ICMR Director General Dr Balram Bhargava called vaccination one of the most important weapons against COVID-19.

Karnataka Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai on Thursday said the state government will review the COVID-19 situation soon, and take decisions regarding the curbs that are in place, after obtaining the experts' committee report in this connection.

He said the government is coming out with a book on its achievements so far, as it completes six months in office, tomorrow

"We (Ministers) have discussed several issues including COVID situation, how to manage it in the days to come, representations given by various organisations (for relaxations), regarding the functioning of schools and colleges among others. We have referred it to the experts' committee," Bommai said.

 Kerala logged 51,739 fresh COVID-19 cases on Thursday taking the caseload to 58,26,596, while the death toll rose to 52,343 with 68 COVID-19-related deaths being registered. On Wednesday, the state had recorded 49,771. The state on Tuesday had registered 55,475 cases, the highest ever single day spike in the infection since the outbreak of the pandemic in 2020. The previous highest ever in a single day was recorded on January 20- 46,387.
The state Health department said 1,16,003 samples were tested in the last 24 hours. There are 4,68,717 people under observation of which 11,227 are in isolation wards of various hospitals, a department release said.

• As on 27th Jan, there are 22,02,472 active cases in India. The case positivity rate is at 17.75% (in last one week). 11 States have more than 50,000 active cases. Maharashtra, Karnataka and Kerala have more than 3 lakh active cases

185 new Omicron cases are confirmed in Bengaluru today, taking the overall tally in Karnataka to 1,115: State Health Minister Dr K Sudhakar

Meghalaya's COVID-19 tally rises to 89,839 with 288 fresh cases, death toll climbs to 1,509 with six more fatalities: Senior health official

Mongolia registered 2,273 new infections of Covid-19 in the last 24 hours, bringing the national tally to 437,008, the country's health ministry said on Thursday. The ministry said the latest confirmed cases were all locally transmitted and that currently, there are a total of 70,992 active Covid-19 cases across the country, Xinhua news agency reported. Meanwhile, the country's Covid death toll rose to 2,029 after two more patients died in the past day. Omicron cases currently account for over 90 per cent of the daily total in the country, according to the National Center for Communicable Diseases. So far, 66.7 per cent of the country's total population of 3.4 million have received two Covid vaccine doses, while 1,002,623 people have received a third dose. More than 76,100 Mongolians have received a fourth dose, which the country started to administer on January 7 on a voluntary basis.

The union territory of Puducherry registered a decline in number of fresh coronavirus cases with 940 being reported in the last 24 hours, a senior Health department official said on Thursday. One more person- a 80-year old woman - succumbed to the virus in Yanam, an enclave of Puducherry in Andhra Pradesh pushing the toll to 1,916, Director of Health G Sriramulu said in a release. The 940 new cases were identified at the end of the examination of 2,217 samples and were spread over Puducherry (635), Karaikal (234), Yanam (57) and Mahe (14). The overall tally rose to 1,57,698, he said.

A new study has found the drugs behind the new pills to treat COVID-19 remain very effective against the Omicron variant of the virus in lab tests.The research has been published in the 'New England Journal of Medicine'. However, lab tests also showed that the available antibody therapies- typically given intravenously in hospitals- are substantially less effective against omicron than against earlier variants of the virus. Some antibodies have entirely lost their ability to neutralize omicron at realistic dosages.If the ability of the antiviral pills to combat omicron is confirmed in human patients, it would be welcome news. Public health officials expect the pills to become an increasingly common treatment for COVID-19 that will reduce the severity of the disease in at-risk patients and decrease the burden of the pandemic.For now, the pills remain in short supply during the current omicron wave, which has broken case records in the U.S. and other countries.The findings corroborated other studies that showed that most available antibody treatments are less effective against omicron. Drug makers could design, test and produce new antibody drugs targeted at the omicron variant to overcome the limitations of current therapies, but this process would take months."The bottom line is we have countermeasures to treat omicron. That's good news," says Yoshihiro Kawaoka, the University of Wisconsin-Madison lead of the study and virologist at the UW School of Veterinary Medicine and the University of Tokyo."However, this is all in laboratory studies. Whether this translates into humans, we don't know yet," Kawaoka added.The clinically available pills and antibodies were designed and tested before researchers identified the omicron variant, which differs significantly from earlier versions of the virus. When omicron was identified, scientists feared that these differences, caused by mutations in the viral genome, might reduce the effectiveness of drugs designed to treat the original version of the virus.

The Delhi Disaster Management Authority in its meeting on Thursday decided to lift the COVID-19 restriction of weekend curfew and odd-even rule for non-essential commercial establishment in the national capital, sources said. According to sources, weddings can be held in the national capital with 200 people or at 50 per cent capacity of the premises. Cinema halls, bars and restaurants can also operate at 50 per cent capacity, said sources. Delhi government offices will also operate with 50 per cent capacity. However, the decision on the reopening of schools will be taken up in the next DDMA meeting. Lieutenant Governor Anil Baijal chaired the DDMA meet which was also attended by Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal. The meeting was held virtually. Last week, the Delhi government allowed all private offices in the National Capital Territory of Delhi, outside of Containment Zones, to function with upto 50 per cent attendance. The DDMA had, however, advised the private offices to stagger office timing, presence and quantum of staff. Earlier in the month, DDMA decided to impose a curfew in Delhi on Saturdays and Sundays to curb the COVID-19 surge. Meanwhile, Delhi reported 7,498 new COVID-19 cases during the last 24 hours, said the state government on Wednesday.

The UAE has delivered 1 million Sputnik V vaccine doses to the Gaza Strip through the Rafah border crossing, an official said. "It is the largest shipment of vaccine doses that are shipped to the Gaza Strip which will help combat the current wave of Covid-19 that had significantly increased in the last couple of days," Gaza Health Ministry official Mahmoud Hammad told reporters on Wednesday at the crossing point between southern Gaza and Egypt. Up to 7,750 new cases were registered in the Palestinian territories in the past 24 hours, noting it is the highest figure of daily infections since the first case was recorded in March 2020, Xinhua news agency reported citing the Palestinian Ministry of Health in the West Bank. A total of 905 recoveries had been recorded in both the West Bank and the Gaza Strip on Wednesday, and two related fatalities happened in the West Bank, the statement said. So far, around half a million Covid cases and more than 5,000 deaths were recorded in the Palestinian territories, the ministry said.

Delhi: Weekend curfew, odd-even for shops to go. Night curfew to continue. Schools' opening to be taken up in next DDMA meet. Weddings to be held with maximum 200 people or 50% capacity. 50% capacity for bars, restaurants and cinema halls. Government offices to operate with 50% capacity, says Sources.

Odisha recorded 5,901 fresh coronavirus cases on Thursday, 1,515 less than the previous day, raising the tally to 12,31,169, the health department said in a bulletin. The death toll mounted to 8,550 with eight more fatalities- three deaths in Sundargarh, and one each in Bhubaneswar, Balasore, Keonjhar, Koraput and Rayagada. The coastal state now has 70,327 active cases, while 11,52,239 patients have so far recovered from the disease, including 10,078 since Wednesday, it said. Khurda district reported 1,430 new infections, followed by 545 in Sundargarh and 402 in Cuttack. Odisha had logged 7,416 cases and 10 deaths on Wednesday. The state tested 63,209 samples for COVID-19 in the past 24 hours, the bulletin added.

Ladakh has reported 179 fresh COVID-19 cases, taking the tally to 25,215 while the active cases in the union territory climbed to 1,308, officials said on Thursday. The union territory has recorded 223 Covid-related deaths- 164 in Leh and 59 in Kargil- since the outbreak of the pandemic last year, they said. There was no death reported from union territory on Wednesday, they said. As many as 188 patients were cured and discharged from hospitals in Ladakh. Of these, 164 were discharged in Leh and 24 in Kargil, they said. With these, the total number of cured patients is 23,684, they said. Of the total of 179 fresh cases from Union territory, 131 such cases were reported from Leh district and 48 from Kargil district, they said. A total of 758 sample reports in Ladakh were found negative, they said.

A meeting of the Delhi Disaster Management Authority (DDMA) is currently underway to review the COVID-19 situation and relaxation of restrictions in the national capital. Lieutenant Governor Anil Baijal is chairing the meeting being held virtually in which Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal is participating. According to sources, a decision may be taken to lift restrictions like weekend curfew and the odd-even system in the markets in view of the decreasing COVID cases in Delhi. Last week, the Delhi government allowed all private offices in the National Capital Territory of Delhi, outside of Containment Zones, to function with upto 50 per cent attendance. The DDMA had, however, advised the private offices to stagger office timing, presence and quantum of staff. Earlier in the month, DDMA decided to impose a curfew in Delhi on Saturdays and Sundays to curb the COVID-19 surge. Meanwhile, Delhi reported 7,498 new COVID-19 cases during the last 24 hours, said the state government on Wednesday. As per the bulletin provided by the Health Department, the positivity rate for the day has gone to 10.59 per cent. A total of 70,804 samples were tested in the last 24 hours. During the last 24 hours, 11,164 patients recovered from the infection, taking the total recoveries in the national capital to 17,46,972. As many as 29 people lost their lives to the deadly virus during the last 24 hours. The death toll in Delhi due to the disease currently stands at 25,710. The covid death rate stands at 1.42 per cent. There are currently 38,315 active COVID-19 cases in Delhi.

Delhi Lt Governor Anil Baijal chairing DDMA meeting over COVID-19 situation in the national capital. Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal is also present in the virtual meeting. 

A new study has found that when COVID-19 disrupts homes with two or more children, one sibling is affected more than the other. The study has been published in the 'Developmental Psychology Journal'.When caregivers are experiencing stress associated with the pandemic, many other areas of family life are disrupted--often with higher levels of the mental-health struggle for children, including anger, anxiety, and depression. Researchers found that one sibling tends to present greater mental-health problems. That, in turn, elicits more negative parenting. "Our study shows that parents tend to be most reactive and least positive to the child showing the highest levels of mental health difficulties," said Dillon Browne, the study's lead author and a professor of clinical psychology at the University of Waterloo. "Struggles with mental health among family members exacerbate each other in a feedback loop," Browne said."Our study suggests that the direction of influence appears to go from the child's mental health to parenting, not parenting to child mental health," he added. To conduct the study, the research team collected and analyzed data from more than 500 caregivers and 1,000 siblings. Caregivers with two children between five and 18 years old completed questionnaires on COVID stress, family functioning and mental health at repeated times throughout a two-month period during the COVID-19 pandemic."Understanding children's mental health difficulties during COVID-19 requires a family system lens because of the numerous ways the pandemic affects the family as a unit. Comprehensive interventions for children's mental health require an examination of caregiver, sibling, and whole-family dynamics," said Browne, who holds the Canada Research Chair in Child and Family Clinical Psychology.

The drugs behind the new pills to treat Covid-19 remain very effective against the Omicron variant of the virus in lab tests, according to a new study. However, lab tests also showed that the available antibody therapies -- typically given intravenously in hospitals -- are substantially less effective against Omicron than against earlier variants of the virus. Some antibodies have entirely lost their ability to neutralise Omicron at realistic dosage, found researchers from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. The findings corroborate other studies that show most available antibody treatments are less effective against Omicron. Drug makers could design, test and produce new antibody drugs targeted at the omicron variant to overcome the limitations of current therapies, but this process would take months. "The bottom line is we have countermeasures to treat Omicron. That's good news," said Yoshihiro Kawaoka, the lead of the study and virologist at the UW School of Veterinary Medicine and the University of Tokyo.

The COVID situation is in control. Today, Delhi will report less than 5,000 cases and the positivity rate will also come down from the existing 10%: Delhi Health Minister Satyendar Jain. 

Amid the spread of the Omicron variant, Pakistan's active COVID-19 case count crossed the 90,000 mark, local media reported citing National Command and Operation Center (NCOC) on Thursday. Geo tv reported that the coronavirus positivity rate, meanwhile, is still over 10 per cent for the eighth day in a row despite a slight decline recorded in daily numbers during the last few days, data by the NCOC showed. The statistics issued by the NCOC suggested that 7,539 new infections were detected overnight after 63,272 diagnostic tests were conducted countrywide, which placed the country's positivity rate at 11.91 per cent.

Jharkhand reported 1,009 new COVID-19 cases, 481 less than the previous day, with the tally mounting to 4,24,337, a health department bulletin said on Thursday. The death toll rose to 5,286 as five more people - two from East Singhbhum district and one each from Bokaro, Dhanbad and Saraikela- succumbed to the disease in the last 24 hours, it said. At least 2,921 people recuperated from the infection during the period, taking the total number of recoveries to 4,05,143. The state capital Ranchi reported the highest number of new cases at 289, followed by Godda at 180, and West Singhbhum at 107. Jharkhand now has 13,908 active cases, the bulletin said.

Single-day recoveries outnumbered fresh COVID-19 cases in Arunachal Pradesh as 348 more people recuperated from the disease in the last 24 hours, while 194 new infections were reported, a health department official said on Thursday. The fresh cases pushed the tally in the northeastern state to 60,792, he said. Altogether, 57,199 people have recovered from the disease so far, State Surveillance Officer Dr Lobsang Jampa said. The recovery rate among coronavirus patients is currently at 94.09 per cent, he said. The death toll in the frontier state remained at 284 as no fresh fatality due to the infection was reported in the last 24 hours, the SSO said. Of the 194 new cases, 114 were registered in the Capital Complex Region, 18 in Papumpare district and 10 in Lower Subansiri, the official said. An army jawan, two healthcare workers and 10 inmates of the Central Jail here were among the new patients, Jampa said. The northeastern state had on Wednesday registered 526 fresh infections. Arunachal Pradesh currently has 3,309 active cases.

The UN children's fund (UNICEF) has kicked off an eight-week campaign to help boost Covid-19 vaccinations across Africa. UNICEF on Wednesday said the first ever U-Report Challenge which comes a week after COVAX delivered its billionth dose in Rwanda, calls on all 13.3 million U-Reporters in Africa to help get vaccines to the unvaccinated, Xinhua news agency reported. "Through improving access and confidence in Covid vaccines, the #GiveItAShot challenge aims to activate young people in motivating those eligible in their community to get vaccinated," it said in a statement issued in the Kenyan capital, Nairobi. U-Report is a messaging tool that empowers young people around the world to engage with and speak out on issues that matter to them. The U-Report is currently active in 88 countries worldwide, with 19.3 million U-Reporters all over the world, and works with SMS, Facebook Messenger, Viber, Telegram, and WhatsApp.

India reported 2,86,384 fresh Covid cases and 573 new deaths in a span of 24 hours, said the Union health ministry on Thursday morning. With the addition of fresh new Covid fatalities, the toll has climbed to 4,91,700. The active caseload has reported a marginal decline at 22,02,472 which constitute 5.46 per cent of the country's total positive cases. The recovery of 3,06,357 patients in the last 24 hours has increased the cumulative tally to 3,76,77,328. Consequently, India's recovery rate stands at 93.33 per cent. Also in the same period, a total of 14,62,261 tests were conducted across the country. India has so far conducted over 72.21 crore cumulative tests. Meanwhile, the weekly positivity rate has climbed to 17.75 per cent while daily positivity rate has also risen to 19.59 per cent.

Japan has extended anti-COVID measures from Thursday to another 18 prefectures, which have seen a record increase in new infections in recent days. The day before, the number of people infected with coronavirus per day across the country for the first time since the beginning of the epidemic exceeded 70,000 and amounted to 71,633. A total of 34 people died during the day. The largest rise in infections has been seen in the Japanese capital Tokyo, where 14,086 new cases were confirmed on Wednesday, and Osaka Prefecture, where 9,813 cases were detected.

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Amid an ongoing resurgence across the world, the global coronavirus caseload has topped 361.8 million, while the deaths have surged to more than 5.62 million and vaccinations to over 9.87 billion, according to Johns Hopkins University. In its latest update on Thursday morning, the University's Center for Systems Science and Engineering (CSSE) revealed that the current global caseload and the death toll stood at 361,819,327 and 5,625,717, respectively, while the total number of vaccine doses administered has increased to 9,873,273,690. The US continues to be the worst-hit country with the world's highest number of cases and deaths at 72,906,511 and 876,052, according to the CSSE. The second worst hit country in terms of cases is India (40,085,116 infections and 491,127 deaths), followed by Brazil (24,560,093 infections and 624,717 deaths). The other countries with over 5 million cases are France (17,848,291), the UK (16,260,768), Turkey (11,167,927), Russia (11,129,318), Italy (10,383,561), Spain (9,529,320), Germany (9,145,836), Argentina (8,130,023), Iran (6,279,410) and Colombia (5,798,799), the CSSE figures showed. The nations with a death toll of over 100,000 are Russia (321,484), Mexico (303,776), Peru (204,587), the UK (155,221), Indonesia (144,254), Italy (144,770), Colombia (133,019), Iran (132,303), France (130,739), Argentina (120,019), Germany (117,166), Ukraine (106,205) and Poland (104,373).

Kerala reported 49,771 new COVID-19 cases during the last 24 hours. A state Health Department bulletin said 34,439 people have recovered from the infection in the last 24 hours and the state has 3,00,556 active COVID-19 cases. The bulletin said 63 more people lost their lives to the virus. Additionally, 77 more deaths were reported as per the new COVID guidelines of the central government. The death toll in the state due to the disease stands at 52,281. A total of 1,03,553 samples were tested during the last 24 hours.

The number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in Brazil has increased by record 224,567 to more than 24.53 million within the past 24 hours, the National Ministry of Health said on late Wednesday. The death toll has risen by 570 to 624,413 people within the same period of time. Like many other countries, Brazil is currently facing a new wave of the COVID-19 pandemic over the spread of the Omicron strain. The World Health Organization declared the COVID-19 outbreak a pandemic on March 11, 2020. To date, more than 361.26 million people have been infected with the coronavirus worldwide, with over 5.62 million fatalities, according to Johns Hopkins University.

Uttar Pradesh reported 10,937 fresh coronavirus cases on Wednesday that pushed its active infection tally to 80,342, while 23 more fatalities raised the death toll to 23,106, an official statement said. Lucknow recorded a maximum of 3,294 new cases, followed by 1,323 from Gautam Buddh Nagar, 902 from Meerut, 852 from Ghaziabad, and 594 cases from Varanasi, besides reporting cases from other districts, it said. Two deaths each were reported from Lucknow, Kanpur Nagar, Gautam Buddh Nagar and  Meerut, while one death each was reported from Ghaziabad, Varanasi, Meerut, Fatehpur and other districts. As many as 17,074 patients have recuperated from the viral infection, taking the total number of recoveries to 18,76,791, the statement said. In the past 24 hours, 2,14,992 Covid tests were done in the state and till date 9,85,09,932 tests have been conducted for detection of the disease in Uttar Pradesh, it said.

The Haryana government on Wednesday extended Covid-related restrictions in the state till February 10, but allowed malls and markets to remain open till 7 pm, extending the relaxation by one hour. Initially, various restrictions imposed by the January 5 order in some districts, which had witnessed a big spike in cases, were imposed in all districts, the Haryana State Disaster Management Authority (HSDMA) had said in an earlier order issued on January 13. Now, the guidelines released through orders on January 5, 10, 13 and 18 have been extended till February 10, as per the HSDMA order dated January 26. As per an earlier order, the restrictions which had been extended up to January 28, will now remain in force till 5 am of February 10. The malls and markets are allowed to open up to 7 pm as against 6 pm earlier. However, shops selling essential items like milk and medicine will be allowed to open at all times to enable them to serve the public at large. Earlier on January 10, the Haryana government had banned large gatherings of people such as rallies and protests. Cinema halls, theatres and multiplexes shall remain closed, the earlier order issued on January 5 had stated.

South Korea's daily Covid-19 cases hit over 14,000 on Thursday, breaking the record for a third consecutive day as the highly contagious omicron variant spreads across the country at an unprecedented speed. The country reported 14,518 Covid-19 infections, including 14,301 local infections, bringing the total to 777,497, Yonhap news agency reported, citing the figures released by the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA). South Korea posted the first five-digit daily tally of 13,012 on Wednesday, following the previous record high of 8,570 on Tuesday. The per day counts have nearly quadrupled since early last week, when the figure had hovered around 3,800. The death toll from Covid-19 came to 6,654, up 34 from Wednesday. The fatality rate stood at 0.86 per cent. The number of critically ill Covid-19 patients was 350, down 35 from the previous day. Health authorities introduced a readjusted virus response system this week to better tackle the highly transmissible variant. Under the regime, rapid antigen self-tests replace polymerase chain reaction tests at testing sites, except for those aged over 60 or high-risk groups. Local hospitals and clinics will administer diagnostic tests and treat patients starting February 3.

Most coronavirus restrictions including mandatory face masks were lifted in England on Thursday, after Britain's government said its vaccine booster rollout successfully reduced serious illness and COVID-19 hospitalisations. From Thursday, face coverings are no longer required by law anywhere in England, and a legal requirement for COVID passes for entry into nightclubs and other large venues has been scrapped. The government last week dropped its advice for people to work from home as well as guidance for face coverings in classrooms. The so-called "Plan B" measures were introduced in early December to stop the rapid spread of the Omicron variant from overwhelming health services and to buy time for the population to get its booster vaccine shot. Health Secretary Sajid Javid said the government's vaccine rollout, testing and development of antiviral treatments combine to make "some of the strongest defences in Europe", allowing a "cautious return" to normalcy. But he added that "as we learn to live with COVID, we need to be clear-eyed that this virus is not going away". While infections continue to fall, health officials said that Omicron remained prevalent across the country, especially among children and the elderly. Officials said almost 84 per cent of people over 12 years old in the UK have had their second vaccine dose, and that of those eligible, 81 per cent have received their booster shot.

Myanmar has reported no deaths from Covid-19 for three days in a row, according to a release from the Ministry of Health. The total number of Covid-19 infections in the country has increased to 534,503 after 120 new confirmed cases with a daily positivity rate of 1.17 per cent were reported on Wednesday, Xinhua news agency reported, citing figures mentioned in the release. Another 110 patients have been discharged from hospitals, bringing the number of recoveries to 512,581. The Southeast Asian country has recorded 19,310 deaths from Covid-19 in total since the beginning of the pandemic in the country in March 2020, said the release. Over 18.5 million people have been fully vaccinated as of Tuesday, the ministry's data showed.

Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen has announced that most restrictions introduced to combat Covid-19 will be lifted from February 1. "We are through the critical phase," Frederiksen said at a press conference on Wednesday evening, after meeting with the Epidemic Committee in the Parliament. "Today we can say that we are ready to step out of the shadow of corona. We can say goodbye to restrictions and hello to the life we knew before coronavirus," she was quoted as saying by Xinhua news agency. As of next Tuesday, it will no longer be required to wear a mask when entering a supermarket or taking public transport, and customers in restaurants and bars will not have to present a corona passport unless the establishment specifically requests it. Although the first month of 2022 saw record-breaking daily infection rates in the country, Frederiksen said that Wednesday's decision meant "coronavirus should no longer be considered a socially critical disease." She added: "The high adherence to vaccines turned out to be ... our super weapon, and it has given us a strong protection against the infection that is still in our society." However, the government will maintain testing and isolation requirements for certain people when entering Denmark, namely those who have not been vaccinated or previously infected.

The next Covid-19 variant that will rise will be more contagious than Omicron, but there's no guarantee that the future strains will be milder, the World Health Organization said. According to Maria Van Kerkhove, WHO's Covid-19 technical lead, the real question scientists need to answer is whether or not it will be more deadly, CNBC reported. Last week, about 21 million Covid cases were reported to the WHO, setting a new global record for weekly cases from the rapidly spreading Omicron variant, Van Kerkhove said on Tuesday. While Omicron appears to be less virulent than previous strains of the virus, the sheer volume of cases is crushing hospital systems in many countries. "The next variant of concern will be more fit, and what we mean by that is it will be more transmissible because it will have to overtake what is currently circulating," Van Kerkhove said. "The big question is whether or not future variants will be more or less severe."

One of the biggest fears and doubts that makes people think twice before getting vaccinated is its impact on pregnancy and fertility. Now, a new study has found that vaccination against COVID-19 did not affect fertility outcomes in patients undergoing in-vitro fertilization (IVF).The findings, which were published in 'Obstetrics & Gynecology' (the Green Journal), added to the growing body of evidence providing reassurance that COVID-19 vaccination does not affect fertility. Investigators at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai (Icahn Mount Sinai), New York City, and Reproductive Medicine Associates of New York (RMA of New York) compared rates of fertilization, pregnancy, and early miscarriage in IVF patients who had received two doses of vaccines manufactured by Pfizer or Moderna with the same outcomes in nonvaccinated patients."This is one of the largest studies to review fertility and IVF cycle outcomes in patients who received COVID-19 vaccinations. The study found no significant differences in response to ovarian stimulation, egg quality, embryo development, or pregnancy outcomes between the vaccinated compared to unvaccinated patients," said Devora A. Aharon, MD, first author of the study.

Moderna has begun testing an omicron-specific COVID-19 booster in healthy adults. The company announced Wednesday that the first participant had received a dose. Earlier this week, competitor Pfizer began a similar study of its own reformulated shots. It’s not clear whether global health authorities will order a change to the vaccine recipe in the wake of the hugely contagious omicron variant. The original vaccines still offer good protection against death and severe illness. Studies in the U.S. and elsewhere show a booster dose strengthens that protection and improves the chances of avoiding even a milder infection. Moderna pointed to a small study published in the New England Journal of Medicine on Wednesday that showed antibodies able to target omicron persisted for six months after a booster dose, although the levels were dropping. Moderna’s new study will enroll about 600 people who already have received either two doses of the company’s original shots or two plus a booster dose. All the volunteers will receive a dose of the experimental omicron-matched version.