Coronavirus live | Tamil Nadu’s population estimate for COVID-19 vaccination revised

India’s COVID-19 vaccination coverage has crossed the 90 crore mark with over 65 lakh vaccine doses administered on October 2, the Union Health Ministry said

Pharmaceutical major Merck and Ridgeback Biotherapeutics announced via a press release on October 1 the early results from Phase-3 trials that its anti-viral drug molnupiravir halved the chances of hospitalisation in COVID-19 patients with mild or moderate disease.

Read | The story of how a mystifying novel coronavirus variant, Delta, has India and the globe in its grip

Considering that children below 11 years rarely suffer from severe disease and death, is it necessary to vaccinate young children? Read here.

You can track coronavirus cases, deaths and testing rates at the national and State levels here. A list of State Helpline numbers is available as well.

Here are the latest updates:

Tamil Nadu’s population estimate for COVID-19 vaccination revised

Tamil Nadu’s estimated population aged above 18 for COVID-19 vaccination coverage has been revised to 5,78,91,000. Earlier, it was 6.06 crore.

In a letter to Health Secretary J. Radhakrishnan in September, Additional Secretary of the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare Manohar Agnani said the Ministry had been reviewing the vaccination drive and sharing the feedback with the States and the Union Territories. During these reviews, some of the States and the Union Territories had raised the issue of difference in the estimated target population communicated by the Government of India and those of the States and the Union Territories.

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U.K. to open up more travel by scrapping hotel quarantine for dozens of countries -Telegraph

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson will open up more countries for hotel quarantine-free travel later this week, The Sunday Telegraph reported, saying that the UK’s "red list" of destinations would be slashed to nine from 54.

Fully vaccinated arrivals from countries including South Africa, Brazil, Mexico and Indonesia will no longer have to quarantine in a government-designated hotel for 10 days when they get to England from later in October, the newspaper said. -Reuters

Protesters in Romania reject coronavirus restrictions

More than 5,000 people protested October 2 in Romania’s capital of Bucharest to reject upcoming measures used by authorities to combat an alarming surge of COVID-19 infections.

Daily COVID-19 infections in the European Union nation of 19 million have skyrocketed from around 1,000 daily cases a month ago to 12,590 new cases on October 2. That was Romania’s highest daily number of infections since the pandemic started. -AP

Nicaragua authorises two COVID-19 vaccines from Cuba, Cuban firm says

Nicaragua has authorised two Cuban-made coronavirus vaccines to be used in the Central American nation, the Cuban state-run pharmaceutical corporation BioCubaFarma said on October 2.

Cuban scientists have developed three vaccines against COVID-19, all of which are waiting to receive official recognition from the World Health Organization. -Reuters

Russia sees no hurdles for WHO approval of Sputnik V vaccine

All the barriers to register Russia’s Sputnik V COVID-19 vaccine with the World Health Organization (WHO) have been cleared and only some paperwork remains to be completed, Russian Health Minister Mikhail Murashko said on October 2.

The Sputnik V shot, widely used in Russia and approved for use in over 70 countries, is undergoing a review by the WHO and the European Medicines Agency (EMA). Their approval could open up new markets for the shot, especially in Europe. -Reuters

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