Coronavirus India Updates: Tally Tops 12.8 Lakh With Nearly 50,000 New Cases

The phase-I human clinical trial of India's first indigenously-developed vaccine against novel coronavirus, Covaxin, began at the AIIMS New Delhi on Friday with the first dose of the injection given to a man, who is in his 30s.

Already, over 3,500 volunteers have registered themselves for the trial at AIIMS since last Saturday, of whom the screening of at least 22 people is underway, said Dr Sanjay Rai, Professor at the Centre for Community Medicine at AIIMS and the principal investigator of the study.

Few more participants would be given the vaccine on Saturday after their screening reports come.

Source: PTI

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Over 44$ of the 984 prisoners in the Guwahati Central Jail, including peasant leader Akhil Gogoi and student activist Sharjeel Imam, have tested positive for Covid-19, a senior official said on Thursday.

The Gauhati High Court has ordered the Assam government to provide the best treatment to prisoners who have tested positive for Covid-19 after suo motu cognisance of the rising number of cases inside the jails.

Total 535 inmates have been infected by coronavirus in 10 jails across the state, and of the highest 435 were from Guwahati, Assam Inspector General of Prisons Dasarath Das told PTI.

After creating a 200-bed Covid Care Centre inside the Guwahati Central Jail to treat the asymptomatic patients, authorities are creating a second such facility inside the Nagaon Special Jail.

A total of 376 inmates of different jails, including 111 from the one in Guwahati, will be released in the next few days to decongest the prisons in view of the Covid-19 outbreak.

"We have completed testing of all prisoners inside the Guwahati jail and found that 435 tested positive. Out of them, 197 have recovered and returned from the hospitals. On a state-wide level, we have detected 535 positive cases from 10 jails so far," Das said.

The worst affected Guwahati Central Jail currently has 984 inmates against its capacity to house 1,000 prisoners, he added.

Source: PTI

People not wearing masks or flouting other Covid-19 protocols in Jharkhand can end up in jail for a term of up to two years and attract a penalty of up to Rs 1 lakh, a senior official said Thursday.

The decision was taken on Wednesday by the state cabinet, which had approved the Jharkhand Contagious Disease Ordinance 2020 to implement the new rule, the official said.

The ordinance aims to punish those violating the directives issued by the government to check the spread of the deadly virus. A total of 6,682 Covid-19 cases have been recorded in the state. Sixty four people have succumbed to the disease so far.

Source: PTI

Global Update

U.S. coronavirus cases surpassed 4 million, doubling over a span of six weeks after infections surged in Sun Belt states. President Donald Trump cancelled the Republican presidential convention in Jacksonville due to virus concerns. South Korea reported 41 more cases, while Mexico confirmed record daily rise of 8,438 cases.

Globally, over 15.3 million Covid-19 cases have been confirmed.

Track all updates around the Covid-19 virus outbreak in India, here.