Highlights: Fresh set of Covid-19 restrictions imposed in UK

Uttarakhand reported 584 new coronavirus infections, taking the state's tally to 85,853 including 6,074 active cases. The death toll after nine new fatalities rose to 1,408 while the total number of recoveries rose to 77,326 after 556 new ones.

Kerala reported 6,293 new coronavirus infections, taking the state's active caseload to 60,396. 29 deaths meant the the death toll rose to 2,786 while 4,749 new recoveries took the total number of recoveries to 6,36,814.

Andhra Pradesh reported 479 fresh coronavirus infections, taking the state's tally to 8,78,285 including 4,355 active cases. The death toll after four new fatalities stands at 7,074. Total number of recoveries rose to 8,66,856 after 497 new ones.

Tripura reported 26 new coronavirus infections, taking the state's tally to 33,145 including 269 active cases.

Thailand has nine new local coronavirus infections, the biggest one-day rise in local transmissions in more than seven months. The cases are connected to a shrimp market in Samut Sakhon province, near Bangkok, where four infections were reported on Friday.

Georgia reported 2,904 new Covid-19 cases taking the country's caseload to 206,907. The death toll is 2,055.

Swiss drugs regulator Swissmedic has authorized the Pfizer-BioNTech coronavirus vaccine, it said on Saturday, calling it the world’s first such approval under a standard procedure.

At the 22nd Group of Ministers (GoM) meeting on Covid-19, Union health Minister said the country's scientists and health experts have worked on an indigenous vaccine which will help the government inoculate 30 crore people in the next 6-7 months. "Our scientists and health experts have worked on the development of a vaccine by genome sequencing and isolation of the coronavirus and developed an indigenous vaccine. In 6-7 months, we will have the capacity to inoculate about 30 crore people" he stated in the video conference.

Health minister Harsh Vardhan today chaired the 22nd meeting of the High-level Group of Ministers on Covid-19 via video conferencing on Saturday. The union minister expressed the need for an expeditious vaccination drive to cover all the target populations estimated to be around 30 crores.

Chaired the 22nd GoM meeting to review the current #COVID19 situation.

Progress of #vaccine development efforts & preparedness for its distribution were discussed in detail.@PMOIndia @MoHFW_INDIA pic.twitter.com/fV04k10p9J

— Dr Harsh Vardhan (@drharshvardhan) December 19, 2020

The Philippines' caseload rose to 458,044 after recording 1,491 new cases. Death toll after 36 new fatalities stands at 8,911.

Russia's coronavirus death toll crossed 50,000 after 585 new fatalities. The country also reported 28,209 new infections which took the country's tally to 2,819,429.

Malaysia will receive the first batch of coronavirus vaccines in February jointly developed by Pfizer and BioNTech.

Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal said on Saturday that the third wave of coronavirus in the national capital seems to be under control. Delhi, said Kejriwal, has a positivity rate of less than 1.5 per cent, one of the lowest in Delhi and nationally, and is recording a total of 1,133 new cases. The total number of active cases have also fallen from 45,000 in November to 12,000, Kejriwal told news agency ANI.

Portugal added a total of 4,336 coronavirus cases, taking its existing tally to 366,952. 75 fatalities were also recorded during the same time period, pushing the death toll to 5,977, said the country's Directorate-General for Health.

Ladakh recorded 9 fresh cases of coronavirus on Saturday, taking the total number of cases to 9252. One individual also succumbed to the infection pushing the death toll to 124. 32 patients were also discharged in the last 24 hours, taking the tally of total recoveries to 8,654.