Highlights: India 'pharmacy of the world', says Harsh Vardhan

Iran registered a daily record high of 13,843 new cases on Wednesday, the health ministry said, pushing the national tally to 894,385 in the Middle East's worst-hit country.

Amid rising number of Covid-19 cases in state and country, Uttarakhand has increased the testing facilities at the border checkposts and railway stations to tests people coming from other states, said chief minister Trivendra Singh Rawat on Wednesday. CM Rawat said, "Due to the surge in Covid-19 cases, the state has increased testing facilities at the border checkposts and railway station. It is to curb the virus spread and take required steps for people testing positive at these places while entering state."

Germany reported a record 410 Covid-19 deaths over 24 hours just before federal state leaders and Chancellor Angela Merkel were due to discuss an extension of pandemic-related restrictions into December and for the Christmas and New Year holidays. The number of confirmed coronavirus cases increased by 18,633 to 961,320, data from the Robert Koch Institute (RKI) for infectious diseases showed on Wednesday.

Daily US deaths from Covid-19 surpassed 2,000 for the first time since May and with hospitals across the country already full, portending a surge in mortalities to come as the coronavirus pandemic casts a shadow over the holiday season.

The death toll reached 2,157 on Tuesday - one person every 40 seconds - with another 170,000 people infected, numbers that experts say could grow with millions of Americans defying official warnings and traveling for Thursday's Thanksgiving holiday.

Jammu and Kashmir recorded 12 deaths and 489 fresh coronavirus infections on Wednesday, taking the total Covid count to 1,07,819 and death toll to 1,663. Officials said 225 people tested positive in Kashmir and 264 in Jammu. Six persons succumbed to the disease each in Jammu and Kashmir divisions.

The officials also said that 100,892 people so far have recovered in the UT, taking the recovery rate to 93.57%, the highest so far.

With the rising number of Covid-19 positive cases being reported from Dehradun, the district administration has ordered traders from different markets to strictly follow the weekly closure of markets. Ashish Srivastava, district magistrate of Dehradun said the decision was taken after it was noticed that many markets were not keeping their shops closed on the weekly closure days as decided earlier.

Department of Health (DOH) of the Philippines on Wednesday reported 1,202 new confirmed cases of Covid-19, bringing the national tally to 422,915.

The DOH said that 183 more patients recovered, raising the total number of recoveries to 386,955, while the death toll rose to 8,215 with 31 new deaths from the Covid-19 pandemic. The Philippines has been reporting less than 2,000 daily spike of Covid-19 cases since November 10.

The Afghan Ministry of Public Health on Wednesday reported 212 new confirmed Covid-19 cases, bringing the national tally to 45,490, including 7,617 active cases. A total of 1,476 new tests for the coronavirus were conducted, with 212 confirmed infections reported in 16 provinces out of the 34 provinces in Afghanistan, the ministry said in a statement.

Puducherry saw no Covid-19 related deaths for the sixth day in a row while 51 more people were infected by the virus taking the overall tally to 36,820.

Telangana has reported 993 fresh coronavirus cases, taking the total infection count to over 2.66 lakh while four fatalities pushed the toll to 1,441.

The Union Health Ministry asked state governments to initiate steps for reopening of medical colleges from December 1 or before it, but with strict adherence to all Covid-19 related guidelines. Educational institutions in the country have been closed since March in view of the coronavirus pandemic.

For containment zones, the ministry has only allowed essential activities along with intensive house-to-house surveillance. The ministry has allowed conduction of all other non-essential activities outside containment zones. However, certain activities are only allowed with restrictions. These are:

1. International air travel of passengers, as permitted by the Union home ministry (MHA)

2. Cinema halls and theatres, with up to 50 per cent capacity

3. Swimming pools, only for training of athletes

4. Exhibition halls, only for business to business (B2B) purposes

5. Social, religious, sports, entertainment, educational, cultural, religious gatherings with up to a maximum of 50 percent of the hall capacity, with a ceiling of 200 people in closed spaces; and keeping of the size of the premises in view, in case of open spaces. States and UTs may reduce the ceiling to 100 people or less, in closed spaces.

MHA said in the order that there shall be no restriction on inter-state and intra-state movement of persons and goods, including those for cross land-border trade under treaties with neighbouring countries. No separate permission/approval/e-permit will be required for such movements.

For observance of social distancing in crowded places, especially in markets, weekly bazars and public transport, MHA said that the health ministry will issue a SOP soon.

The MHA gave freedom to the state governments to take administrative action against people not following the basic Covid safety measures. It said, “State/UT governments shall take all necessary measures to promote Covid-19 appropriate behavior and to ensure strict enforcement of wearing of face masks, hand hygiene and social distancing.”