Highlights: Coronavirus cases in Europe surpass 25 million

The Czech Republic has confirmed 17,668 new daily Covid-19 cases, hitting the second successive record, the health ministry said on Thursday. On Wednesday, the republic reported its first record spike in coronavirus cases since December 30, with 17,278 new infections having been registered.

Abu Dhabi has started Phase III clinical trials of Russia's Sputnik V COVID-19 vaccine amid a surge in infections in the United Arab Emirates, Abu Dhabi's media office said on Thursday. The human trial, announced in October before the recent rise in cases, is initially seeking up to 500 volunteers to be vaccinated at a hospital in the emirate of Abu Dhabi.Two doses of the vaccine will be given, 20 days apart, to volunteers, the statement said.The UAE is also conducting Phase III trials of a vaccine developed by China National Pharmaceutical Group (Sinopharm). The UAE has approved the vaccine and it is available for free to anybody who wants it, with priority given to more vulnerable individuals, according to the health ministry.

Odisha reported 230 Covid-19 cases, 230 discharges and one death on Thursday.

The State Health Department said the total count of cases stands at 3,31,151 and includes 3,27,008 recovered cases. Of 230 new recovered cases, the maximum recoveries were reported from Sundargarh (31) and Anugul (30).

Covid-19 cases added up to 8,84,171 in Andhra Pradesh as 295 were reported afresh in the state on Thursday. In the 24 hours ending 9 AM on Thursday, 368 patients had recovered while only one succumbed in the state, the latest bulletin said. The total recoveries touched 8,74,223 and deaths 7,125, leaving an active caseload of 2,822.

Sweden registered 12,536 new coronavirus cases since Jan. 5, Health Agency statistics showed on Thursday. The country registered 277 new deaths, taking the total to 9,262. The deaths registered have typically occurred over several days and sometimes weeks. The Health Agency has said statistics over the Christmas period are less reliable than usual due to less testing and delays in reporting of deaths. Sweden's death rate per capita is several times higher than that of its Nordic neighbours but lower than several European countries that opted for lockdowns.

With the addition of 119 new cases of coronavirus, the count of infections in Goa reached 51,626 on Thursday, an official from the health department said.

While no new casualties were reported during the day, 90 patients were discharged from various treatment facilities, the official said. With this, the death toll in the state stands at 744 and the number of recoveries has risen to 49,983, he said. There are currently 899 active cases in the coastal state, the official said.

South Africa says it will import 1.5 million doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine to inoculate the country's health workers. This is South Africa’s first announcement of the purchase of a Covid-19 vaccine as its cases soar. The first 1 million doses will be delivered later this month from the Serum Institute of India, followed by an additional 500,000 doses in February, Health Minister Zwelini Mkhize announced Thursday.

Kerala BJP president K. Surendran tested positive for the coronavirus on Thursday. He has been admitted to a private hospital in Kozhikode and is under observation. Reportedly, he had only recently returned from Delhi after meeting national BJP leaders.

Kenya has ordered 24 million doses of the Covid-19 vaccine developed by AstraZeneca and expects them to start arriving in the second week of February, its health minister said. The East African nation of around 47 million people has so far reported 97,398 cases of Covid-19 and 1,694 deaths. Its economy is also reeling from pandemic-related disruptions.

As many as nine consignments containing medical supplies and Personal Protection Equipment (PPE) were handed over during March-December 2020 to Bhutan by India as assistance for the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic, said the Indian Embassy in Thimphu on Thursday.

Malaysia reported its biggest daily rise in coronavirus cases on Thursday as the government considered imposing restrictions in some areas, while businesses warned that another nationwide lockdown would further batter the economy.

A jump in infections has spooked investors, with the Kuala Lumpur stock index falling as much as 1.2% on Thursday, a day after authorities said the rise in cases was straining the health system. The government was considering targeted lockdowns in parts of the country in response, Director-General of Health Noor Hisham Abdullah had said on Wednesday.

Nagaland reported six new Covid-19 cases and seven recoveries in the last 24 hours, state health minister S Pangnyu Phom informed on Thursday.

Out of the new cases, three were reported from Dimapur, two from Kohima and one from Peren. The total number of positive cases in the state now stands at 11,960, including 129 active cases and 11,610 recoveries.

The World Health Organization's European branch on Thursday said more needed to be done to deal with the alarming situation brought on by a recently discovered variant of the novel coronavirus. Speaking at a press conference, the WHO's regional director for Europe Hans Kluge, called the current situation "a tipping-point in the course of the pandemic," as Europe was both challenged by surging cases and new strains of the virus causing Covid-19.

Delhi recorded 486 fresh Covid-19 cases and 19 new fatalities on Thursday, while the positivity rate dipped to 0.63 per cent, authorities said. The infection tally in the city stood at 6.28 lakh and the death toll mounted to 10,644, they said. The active cases tally on Thursday dropped to 4,168 from 4,481 the previous day. Delhi had recorded 654 cases on Wednesday with a positivity rate of 0.88 per cent. Delhi health minister Satyendar Jain on Saturday had tweeted that the positivity rate had been below one per cent for the past 11 days, and fresh cases were the lowest since May 17. From December 21-23, the daily cases count had been below the 1000-mark. On December 21, 803 cases were reported; 939 on December 22 and 871 on December 23.

Afghanistan's Public Health Ministry reported 120 new Covid-19 cases on Thursday, raising the total nationwide infections to 53,327. The pandemic has so far claimed 2,260 lives in Afghanistan since February, up by seven in the past 24 hours, the ministry said in a statement. According to the ministry, 210,910 tests for the virus have been carried out in Afghanistan as of Thursday.