Irrespective of vaccination status, travellers from ‘countries at-risk’ will have to undergo post-arrival Covid testing at airport; several countries have enforced travel curbs due to emergence of Omicron, classified a variant of concern New Delhi: In wake of the concerns triggered globally by the emergence of Omicron, the Union Ministry of Health issued revised guidelines...

The Centre has informed the Supreme Court that the Ministry of Health and the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) have come up with guidelines for issuing “official document” for COVID-19 related deaths. The development comes following severe criticism by the Supreme Court over the framing of guidelines for issuing COVID-related death certificates. The Centre’s...

The Centre is going to provide around 2 crore additional COVID-19 doses to the states for vaccinating all school teachers on priority ahead of Teachers’ Day, which is celebrated on September 5. Notably, schools are shut since March last year to contain the spread of COVID-19 and to safeguard children from the deadly virus. While...

After facing severe criticism for the slow pace of vaccination, the Union health ministry on Sunday informed that nearly 12 crore vaccine doses will be available to states and Union Territories in June. It is over 50 per cent more than the number of doses made available in May. According to the ministry’s data, 7.94...

At a time when vaccine crunch has become a major issue in India’s battle against the COVID-19 pandemic, the Union government has decided to speed up the process to provide emergency use authorization to vaccines that have been approved by foreign regulators. The health ministry in a statement said that the first 100 beneficiaries of...

The Delhi High Court on Wednesday ruled that any vehicle is a public place where COVID-19 rules apply and even if a person is driving alone in a car, a mask is compulsory. The verdict came in response to petitions challenging the imposition of fines for not wearing a mask while driving alone. The high...

As COVID-19 cases and deaths continue to rise rapidly across India, the Union government has directed states to immunise all above 45 years of age within two weeks in districts with a significant surge in infections. The Centre has written to all states and Union Territories asking them to expedite vaccination and ensure 100 per...

Gujarat and seven other states alone account for 84.5 per cent of the new COVID-19 cases reported in the last 24 hours, according to the Union health ministry. The other states that have reported a significant number of new COVID-19 infections include— Maharashtra, Karnataka, Punjab, Madhya Pradesh, Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Chhattisgarh. Maharashtra has reported...

At a time when the entire world is witnessing a surge in COVID-19 cases amid virus mutations, the people of Arunachal Pradesh can stay relaxed. The northeastern state on Sunday became the only state in the country to have zero active cases of COVID-19. Arunachal Pradesh on Sunday became a coronavirus-free state after the three...

The tally of people infected with the mutated strain of coronavirus first detected in the UK is rising and has now touched 38. The development comes at a time when the daily surge of COVID-19 cases in India is hovering around 20,000 from the over 90,000 cases reported daily at the peak of the pandemic....

Before the actual rollout of the vaccine anytime soon, the Centre has directed all states and Union Territories to carry out a dry run for COVID-19 vaccination on January 2. The dry run will be conducted to test the planning and implementation of the vaccination process by the authorities. The test run will be conducted...

The tally of people infected with the new strain of coronavirus first detected in the UK is on the rise in India. Five fresh cases of the new strain of coronavirus have been detected in India. Following the surge, the total tally of people who returned from the UK and were found infected with the...