A day after IIT-Madras campus was placed under a temporary lockdown, 79 more students, staff members tested positive for Covid-19 Tuesday, taking the total number of infections in the hotspot institution to 183
IIT-Madras has emerged as one of the biggest clusters of coronavirus infections in Chennai after education institutions were allowed to open on December 7 Tamil Nadu health secretary J Radhakrishnan said that the institution failed to adhere to the safety precautions resulting in a spike

India recorded 22,065 new Covid-19 cases in the 24 hours ending 8 am Tuesday, the lowest single day case spike since July. With this, India’s total tally breached the 99 lakh mark. Out of the total cases, over 3.39 cases are active while over 94.2 lakh people have recovered after testing positive. With 354 new fatalities, the death toll now stands at 1,43709.

For administering Covid-19 vaccines in India, the Centre has asked states to identify and prioritize those below the age of 50 with comorbidities, top government sources said. In a high level meeting last week, co-chaired by Dr V K Paul, Member, NITI Aayog, and Union Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan, three groups — 2 crore frontline workers, including police and armed forces; and, about 27 crore above the age of 50 and those less than 50 years with comorbidities — were asked to be prioritised.

On the global front, the biggest vaccination drive in American history commenced Monday with a critical care nurse becoming the first person to get vaccinated for Covid-19 in the country. Canada too administered its first dosage by vaccinating five front line workers in Ontario.