1. An expert panel of India’s central drug authority on Saturday recommended granting permission for restricted emergency use of the indigenously developed COVID-19 vaccine Covaxin with certain conditions, a day after giving similar direction for the Oxford COVID-19 vaccine, sources told news agency ANI.
2. A dry run to check the best way to administer COVID-19 vaccine and plug loopholes in logistics and training was held across all states on Saturday.
3. Meanwhile, Union Health Minister Dr Harsh Vardhan Saturday said vaccines would be administered free of cost to priority groups in the first phase on India’s inoculation drive.
4. He also said that the vaccination drive has been based on election process planned down to the booth level. Over 57,000 participants across 719 districts have completed training. 96,000 vaccinators have been trained so far.
5. Union Civil Aviation Minister Hardeep Singh Puri on Saturday announced that flights between the United Kingdom and India will restart from January 6 with a limit of 30 carriers operational between the countries every week.
Resumption of flights between India & UK:
India to UK from 6 Jan 2021.
UK to India from 8 Jan 2021.
30 flights will operate every week. 15 each by Indian & UK carriers.This schedule is valid till 23 Jan 2021. Further frequency will be determined after review.
— Hardeep Singh Puri (@HardeepSPuri) January 2, 2021
6. Rajasthan government on Saturday imposed night curfew from 8 pm to 6 am in 13 districts in the state. Curfew has been imposed within the urban limits of district headquarter towns in 13 districts – Kota, Jaipur, Jodhpur, Bikaner, Udaipur, Ajmer, Alwar, Bhilwara, Nagore, Pali, Tonk, Sikar & Ganganagar, news agency ANI said.
7. All shops and commercial establishments in Karnataka employing ten or more persons are permitted to remain open on 24*7 basis on all days of the year for a period of 3 years: State Government
8. India successfully cultures the new viral strain on the horizon (UK-variant of SARS-CoV-2): Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR)
India successfully cultures the new viral strain on the horizon (UK-variant of SARS-CoV-2): Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR)@ICMRDELHI #CoronaVirusStrain pic.twitter.com/l8oFFIYBnz
— NewsMobile (@NewsMobileIndia) January 2, 2021
9. Maharashtra reported 3,218 new COVID-19 cases, 2,110 discharges, and 51 deaths on Saturday, as per State Health Department. The total cases number of confirmed cases climbed to 19,38,854, including, 18,34,935 recoveries, 53,137 active cases and 49,631 deaths.
10. Andhra Pradesh reported 238 new COVID-19 cases, taking the total number of cases to 8,82,850 as per the State Health Department. Recovered Cases: 8,72,545; active cases: 3,194, total deaths: 7,111.