India reported 10,256 new coronavirus cases in the last 24 hours, taking the overall Covid tally to 4,43,89,176. According to the Union Health Ministry, the country also reported 68 deaths in the last 24 hours due to Covid, bringing the total number of Covid-related fatalities to 5,27,556.
The active cases comprise 0.22 per cent of the total infections, while the national COVID-19 recovery rate stands at 98.59 per cent, the ministry said.
The daily positivity rate was recorded at 4.15 per cent and the weekly positivity rate at 3.59 per cent, the ministry said.
31,60,292 Covid vaccine doses administered in the last 24 hours
211.13 crore total vaccine doses (94.12 crore second dose and 14.76 crore booster dose) have been administered so far under the nationwide vaccination drive.
The COVID-19 tally in Madhya Pradesh reached 10,53,192 on Friday after the detection of 58 cases, while the death toll increased by one to touch 10,770, a health official said.
The positivity rate, or cases detected per 100 tests, stood at 0.8 per cent, the official added.
The recovery count increased by 134 and reached 10,41,938, leaving the state with 484 active cases, he informed.
With 8,801 samples examined during the day, the number of coronavirus tests in MP went up to 2,98,70,935, he added.
Maharashtra on Friday reported 1,846 new COVID-19 cases and four deaths linked to the infection, which took the overall tally in the state to 80,93,122 and the toll to 1,48,218, a health department official said.
The addition to the tally and the toll was less than the 1,887 cases and six fatalities reported a day earlier.
Two of the deaths took place in Mumbai, while Vasai-Virar in Palghar district and Raigad witnessed one fatality each, he said.
Odisha’s COVID-19 tally rose to 13,26,383 on Friday as 262 more people, including 47 children, tested positive for the virus, a health department bulletin said.
The state’s death toll due to the infection mounted to 9,170, with one fatality each in Bhubaneswar and Keonjhar, it said.
Odisha had recorded 355 new cases and one fatality on Thursday.
The state now has 1,987 active cases, while 13,15,173 patients have recovered from the disease.
It tested 16,863 samples for coronavirus since Thursday at a positivity rate of 1.55 per cent.
Meanwhile, Moderna said Friday it is suing rival vaccine makers Pfizer and BioNTech, alleging the partners infringed on its patents in developing their Covid-19 shot administered to hundreds of millions around the world.
The lawsuits set up a high-stakes showdown between the leading manufacturers of Covid-19 shots that are a key tool in the fight against the disease.
“Moderna believes that Pfizer and BioNTech’s Covid-19 vaccine Comirnaty infringes patents Moderna filed between 2010 and 2016 covering Moderna’s foundational mRNA technology,” the US-based biotech firm said in a statement.
“Pfizer and BioNTech copied this technology, without Moderna’s permission, to make Comirnaty,” Moderna said.
Pfizer and BioNTech said they have not fully reviewed the complaint, but expressed surprise over the litigation.
“The Pfizer/BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine was based on BioNTech’s proprietary mRNA technology,” a statement said. “We will vigorously defend against the allegations of the lawsuit.”
The mRNA technology used in the Moderna and Pfizer-BioNTech shots differs from that in traditional vaccines, which rely on injecting weakened or dead forms of a virus to allow the immune system to recognize it and build antibodies.
Instead, mRNA vaccines deliver instructions to cells to build a harmless piece of the spike protein found on the surface of the virus that causes Covid-19.
After creating this spike protein, cells can recognize and fight the real virus, hailed as a major advancement in development of vaccines.
The shots have repeatedly been the subject of inaccurate claims that they are dangerous, but health authorities say they are both safe and effective.
The lawsuits — in US district court in Massachusetts, and in regional court in Dusseldorf, Germany — are not seeking the removal of the rival vaccine or an injunction on future sales.
Moderna said it had begun building up the technology in 2010 and patented work on coronaviruses in 2015 and 2016, which allowed for rollout of its shots in “record time” after the pandemic struck.
The virus has killed at least 6.48 million people worldwide since 2020 and made nearly 600 million ill, according to a Johns Hopkins University tracker.
In addition to death and suffering, the disease has led to a re-shaping of life ranging from a change in norms on working from home to a scrambling of supply chains and workforces.
Moderna said it pledged in October 2020 not to enforce its Covid-19-related patents while the pandemic continued, but less than two years later changed that stance as the fight shifted gears.
“Moderna expected companies such as Pfizer and BioNTech to respect its intellectual property rights and would consider a commercially reasonable license should they request one for other markets,” it said.
“Pfizer and BioNTech have failed to do so,” the firm added.
These types of lawsuits are not unheard of in the pharmaceutical industry, where patents can be worth billions of dollars, and can take years to resolve.
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