Chennai, Oct 23 (IANS) Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M.K. Stalin on Saturday further relaxed the Covid-19 lockdown restrictions allowing shops, restaurants and other establishments to function beyond 11 p.m. and also allowed contact and non-contact sporting events from immediate effect.

New Delhi, Oct 23 (IANS) Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday credited domestic vaccine manufacturers for their role in the "success story of India".

Moscow, Oct 23 (IANS) Russia has reported 37,678 Covid-19 infections over the past 24 hours, the highest daily count, taking the national tally to 8,205,983, the official monitoring and response center said on Saturday.

New Delhi, Oct 23 (IANS) Serum Institute of India CEO Adar Poonawalla said that he and other vaccine manufacturers on Saturday discussed with Prime Minister Narendra Modi on how to take the industry forward to prepare for the future pandemics.

New Delhi, Oct 23 (IANS) The Centre on Saturday asked the states and UTs to speed up the Covid vaccination programme, with focus on the second dose, across the nation.

Mumbai, Oct 23 (IANS) Maharashtra Navnirman Sena President Raj Thackeray - who never wore a face mask - has tested Covid-19 positive and has been taken to Lilavati Hospital for treatment, party officials said on Saturday.

Thiruvananthapuram, Oct 23 (IANS) Kerala on Saturday registered 8,909 new Covid cases was registered after 86,111 samples were tested in the past 24 hours and the test positivity rate was 10.34 per cent, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan said in a statement.

Chennai, Oct 23 (IANS) Quoting a couplet from Thirukkural in Tamil, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday thanked all healthcare and frontline workers for their selfless service during the Covid-19 pandemic, the state BJP unit said.

Belagavi, Oct 23 (IANS) Unable to bear the pain of his wife's death due to black fungus, a man in Belagavi district of Karnataka, consumed poison along with his four children on Saturday.

Gandhinagar, Oct 23 (IANS) The Gujarat government will be helped by the Agha Khan Rural Support Programme (AKRSP) in getting the state vaccinated against Covid-19 through 'Project Pratiraksha'.

Panaji, Oct 23 (IANS) India's achievement of completing 100 crore Covid vaccinations earlier this week will boost confidence among domestic and international tourists, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Saturday, while adding that Goa's tourism sector would benefit from the feat.

New York, Oct 23 (IANS) People vaccinated against Covid-19 may have a lower non-Covid-19 death rates than people who are not inoculated, according to a new research.

New Delhi, Oct 23 (IANS) India on Saturday registered 16,326 fresh Covid cases and 666 deaths, according to the latest data from the Union Health Ministry.

Washington, Oct 23 (IANS) Pfizer and its partner BioNTech said their Covid-19 vaccine is safe and 90.7 per cent effective against symptomatic coronavirus in children aged 5 to 11.

Washington, Oct 23 (IANS) The global coronavirus caseload has topped 242.9 million, while the deaths have surged to more than 4.93 million and vaccinations soared to over 6.76 billion, according to the Johns Hopkins University.

New Delhi, Oct 22 (IANS) India could have vaccinated 100 crore of its population against Covid-19 if the Central government had not sent vaccines to foreign countries and worked efficiently, Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia said.

Gurugram, Oct 22 (IANS) As the Covid vaccination drive in the country has crossed 100 crore, Gurugram became the first district in Haryana in administering the vaccines with 34,56,378 doses, of which 21,52,399 people have received the first vaccine dose and 12,83,462 have been given the second dose.

New Delhi, Oct 22 (IANS) The national capital reported 38 fresh cases of Covid on Friday, taking its tally to 14,39,526, while there was one more death in the last 24 hours, according to the latest bulletin issued by the Delhi Health Department.

New Delhi, Oct 22 (IANS) Even as India celebrates reaching a milestone of 100 crore Covid vaccine doses, Snapdeal co-founder and COO Rohit Bansal on Friday lauded a man who facilitated 64 registrations for the vaccine on the CoWin portal.

Thiruvananthapuram, Oct 22 (IANS) The daily new Covid cases in Kerala continued to fluctuate as on Friday 9,361 people turned positive after 80,393 samples were tested in the past 24 hours, and the test positivity rate was 11.64 per cent, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan said in a statement.

Washington, Oct 22 (IANS) The US National Institutes of Health (NIH) has finally accepted that they have given in funding for gain-of-function research on bat coronaviruses at China's Wuhan lab, the media reported.

Hyderabad, Oct 22 (IANS) Anti-viral drug Molnupiravir may emerge as the game changer in the fight against Covid-19 as studies suggest it can reduce the risk of hospitalisation or death in newly-diagnosed patients, an expert says.

Geneva, Oct 22 (IANS) The Covid-19 pandemic has killed an estimated 80,000 to 180,000 healthcare workers from January 2020 till May this year, the World Health Organization (WHO) said.

Washington, Oct 22 (IANS) The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has recommended Moderna and Johnson & Johnson's Covid booster doses and has given the freedom for people to mix and match the third shot.

Bengaluru, Oct 22 (IANS) The Karnataka government has undertaken a special vaccination drive 'lasika mela' on Friday in the state capital to identify those who have not been jabbed and vaccinate them.