Highlights: Europe to begin mass Covid-19 vaccination program on Sunday

Europe's cross-border Covid-19 vaccination program would be launched on the December 27 (Sunday), as announced by European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen earlier.

The group has secured more than two billion doses of vaccine from various manufacturers via contracts and aims to vaccinate its adult population in 2021, reports Reuters.

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Punjab reported 307 new Covid-19 cases and 12 deaths taking the state's tally to 165,126 overall cases and 5,281 deaths, according to a medical bulletin.

The state also reported 564 new recoveries taking the total recoveries to 155,409 patients. A total of 3,802,080 samples have been tested for Covid-19 in Punjab, news agency PTI reports.

With growing concerns about the new strain of Covid-19 detected in the UK, 90 people who returned from the UK were tested in Indore.

Officials have received the reports of 68 people so far and two people have tested positive for Covid-19, reports news agency ANI.

With 655 new cases and 23 deaths in the last 24 hours, Delhi's Covid-19 tally reached 622,094 cases and 10,437 deaths, according to Delhi Health Department

Delhi also reported 988 more recoveries taking the total recoveries to 604,746 patients. The city currently has 6,911 active cases, reports news agency ANI.

Delhi Police has planned to send Covid-19 vaccination details to its personnel via SMS. According to an order issues by special commissioner Muktesh Chander, the Delhi police has asked all its personnel to update contact details internally by January 3 to receive details such as date, place and time of vaccination by SMS.

Uttarakhand reported 374 new Covid-19 cases and 13 deaths taking the state's tally to 89,218 total cases and 1,476 deaths, according to a state health department bulletin, reports PTI.

With 3,527 new Covid-19 cases and 21 deaths in the last 24 hours, Kerala's tally reached 735,611 cases and 2,951 deaths, according to health minister K K Shailaja.

Also, the state reported 3,782 recoveries taking the overall recoveries to 668,733 patients.

A total of 7,649,001 samples have been tested of which 33,586 were tested in the last 24 hours, reports PTI.

Rajasthan reported 785 new #COVID19 cases, 7 deaths and 990 recoveries/discharges today.

Total cases: 3,04,517
Death toll: 2,664
Total recoveries/discharges: 2,90,365
Active cases: 11,488 pic.twitter.com/75ZWHkciIh

— ANI (@ANI) December 26, 2020

Tamil Nadu reported 1,019 new #COVID19 cases, 1,098 discharges, and 11 deaths in the last 24 hours: State Health Department, Govt of Tamil Nadu

Total positive cases: 8,13,161

Total discharges: 7,92,063

Death toll: 12,059

Active cases: 9,039 pic.twitter.com/GAtHHzDaOz

— ANI (@ANI) December 26, 2020

13 deaths and 374 new #COVID19 positive cases reported in Uttarakhand today.

Total number of cases: 89,218
Total active cases: 5,444
Total recovered cases: 81,154
Death toll: 1,476 pic.twitter.com/rXWBrAWM3o

— ANI (@ANI) December 26, 2020

A meeting of National Task Force on COVID-19 was convened today by ICMR to discuss evidence-based modifications in testing, treatment and surveillance strategies for SARS-CoV-2 in view of the recent reports of emergence of a new variant strain of the virus from UK: Govt of India

— ANI (@ANI) December 26, 2020

The first shipments of coronavirus vaccines have arrived across the European Union as authorities prepared to administer the first shots to the most vulnerable people in a coordinated effort on Sunday, reports AP.

With preparations underway for a possible vaccine-rollout by January, the Indian drug regulator is looking at the UK, which sources believe may give its nod to the Oxford Covid-19 vaccine next week, reports PTI.

1,638 out of 2,500 UK returnees have been tested & 14 of them been found positive for COVID-19. Their swab samples have been sent for gene sequencing to find out whether it is the new strain of the virus: Karnataka Health Minister Dr K Sudhakar

(file photo) pic.twitter.com/NwAeiJwyaV

— ANI (@ANI) December 26, 2020

Andhra Pradesh reports 282 new #COVID19 cases, taking the total number of cases to 8,80,712, as per State Health Department

Recovered cases: 8,69,920
Active cases: 3,700
Deaths: 7,092 pic.twitter.com/VIsc4kIcSz

— ANI (@ANI) December 26, 2020