Addressing the nation using his monthly radio address 'Mann ki Baat,' Prime Minister Narendra Modi said while India is in a better position when compared to other countries, there is no room for ignorance. "Today, the COVID19 recovery rate in our country is better than others. Our fatality rate is much less than most of the other countries. We managed to save the lives of lakhs of people, but the threat of coronavirus is not over yet. It is spreading fast in many areas, we need to remain vigilant. Whenever you feel like taking off your masks, think of frontline soldiers."
Meanwhile, Madhya Pradesh Cheif Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan Saturday became the first CM to test positive for the novel coronavirus. He is likely to get admitted to Chirayu hospital in capital city Bhopal. His reports came days after Cabinet Minister Arvind Bhadoria, who had attended a Cabinet meeting and had travelled with the CM to Lucknow to attend the funeral of Governor Lalji Tandon earlier this week. tested positive for the disease.
Rigorous implementation of pandemic lessons, systematic containment, and proper planning and procurement to plug the gaps in health infrastructure are key, the Centre has told nine states that are currently facing a surge in novel coronavirus infections. At a high-level review meeting that went on for three hours over a video link on Friday, the Centre emphasised six main issues to the governments of Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Telangana, Odisha, West Bengal, Assam, Karnataka, Jharkhand, and Uttar Pradesh, top sources told The Indian Express.
Meanwhile, AIIMS Delhi on Friday administered first dose of Bharat Biotech’s Covaxin to a 30-year-old male. The subject will be monitored for two weeks after which he will be given the second dose.
Beijing partially reopened movie theatres Friday as the threat from the coronavirus continues to recede in China's capital. Cinemas in parts of the city deemed at low risk of cross-infection began admitting moviegoers under social distancing rules. Tickets must be booked in advance, attendance is capped at 30% of capacity and no eating or drinking is allowed during the show.
In India, Andhra Pradesh, which is in a midst of a big surge, reported almost 8,000 new cases of novel Coronavirus, pushing India within touching distance of 50,000-cases-a-day mark.
Odisha, meanwhile, has been contributing over 1,000 cases for the last two days, but is yet to report its daily numbers. For the last few days now, India has been more Coronavirus patients than any other country in the world except the United States. Brazil’s daily numbers have fallen in the last week, while India has risen from the level of about 35,000 to almost 50,000 now.
For the last two days, even Tamil Nadu seems to be searching for a new level. For more than a week, the state reported almost identical number of new cases, around the 4,500-mark. But it showed a jump on Wednesday with more than 5,800 new infections, and on Thursday, this went even further to 6,400.
These numbers have suddenly made Karnataka look much better. Karnataka was the fastest growing state till about a week ago, before Andhra Pradesh took over. It had surged past many states to become the state with the fourth-largest caseload. Even on Thursday, Karnataka added 5,000 cases, which till two days back, could have been the highest outside if Maharashtra. But because of the surge seen in Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka’s numbers look much more modest.
Explained: CDC’s new guidelines on when to end isolation for Covid-19 patients
On Wednesday, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) updated its guidelines for ending isolation and precautions for Covid-19 patients. With these new guidelines, the CDC is now focussing on a “symptom-based” strategy for ending isolation rather than a test-based strategy.
What are the new recommendations?
The CDC now says that for most persons with Covid-19, isolation and precautions can be discontinued after a period of 10 days from symptom onset and resolution of fever for at least 24 hours, without the use of fever-reducing medications.
Exceptions to this include those patients that have severe illness due to which they may produce replication-competent virus even after 10 days. For such patients, the duration of isolation and the period for taking precautions may be extended to 20 days after symptom onset.
PGIMER has ordered ICMR-validated rapid antigen test kits made by Indo-European company S D Biosensor to check their efficacy and sensitivity on non-COVID patients such as patients scheduled for surgery at the hospital or patients admitted to other departments or visiting for an OPD consultation in the future. Read More
A 65-year-old man from Sector-38 died of Covid-19 at the civil hospital in Sector 48, which was recently opened up for Covid-19 patients. The hospital had only two patients as of Friday. Read More
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Twenty-two people were arrested and owners of more than 2,000 vehicles penalised across Noida and Greater Noida on Sunday for allegedly violating curbs imposed due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Gautam Buddh Nagar police said.
Also, 11 vehicles were impounded for similar violation during a 24-hour period till Sunday night in Gautam Buddh Nagar as restrictions continued in the district, like the rest of places in Uttar Pradesh, due to lockdown-like curbs imposed on weekends. The restrictions have been imposed as part of the state government's concerted efforts for screening and testing people for COVID-19 and to check the spread of other vector-borne diseases. PTI
Eid-ul-Adha will be a low-key affair in Pune this year with the state government’s guidelines to avoid festivities, and with most localities in the city being in containment zones. Financial constraints brought about by the lockdown have also limited a large section of the community from buying sacrificial animals. Eid-ul-Adha, popularly called Bakrid in South Asia, is one of the two major annual festivals of Muslims — the other being Eid-ul-Fitr.
Two more coronavirus patients died in Tripura on Sunday, raising the state's COVID-19 casualty to 13. Chief Minister Biplab Kumar Deb tweeted: "Unfortunately 2 ( West 1, Gomati 1) COVID-19 POSITIVE patients died today." Earlier, 11 more people including a 72 year old woman were claimed by the COVID pandemic in the state. Kin of those who died of COVID-19 are given Rs10 lakh compensation by the state government as per a previously announced package for corona fatalities.
Meanwhile, the state detected 37 more COVID-19 cases on Sunday, raising the state's total corona tally to 3,919. However, 2210 of them have recovered and were discharged from hospital. 'Alert! 37 People found COVID-19 POSITIVE out of 2567 ( RT-PCR Test 882 all Negative and Antigen Test 1685 found 37 Positive ) samples tested,' CM Deb wrote in his tweet.
The national capital has recorded a 44 per cent decline in the number of COVID-19 deaths in early July as compared to early June, the Delhi government said on Sunday. The city recorded 605 deaths due to the viral disease between July 1 and 12 as against 1,089 fatalities during the same period in June, according to an analysis carried out by the Health Department.
An eight-day total lockdown began in Dimapur, the commercial hub of Nagaland, from Sunday to stem the spread of COVID-19, district task force officials said. Out of the 1,339 coronavirus positive cases in the State, Dimapur district with 527 has the highest number of people infected by the virus followed by Kohima with 334 confirmed cases, health officials said. The Kohima district administration had already announced a seven-day lockdown starting from July 25 in the state capital. Dimapur wore a deserted look with streets empty and shops closed. (PTI)
Vadodara's Covid-19 tally now 4,194 with 92 new cases from 617 samples.
Puducherry Chief Minister V Narayanasamy, his cabinet colleagues, the territorial Assembly Speaker V P Sivakolundhu and all the legislators would undergo COVID-19 test after an AINRC MLA who attended the budget session tested positive for the virus. The tests would be done for all 32 MLAs on Monday and Tuesday at the assembly premises and the nearby Health Department office, a spokesman of the Assembly Secretariat told PTI on Sunday.
This has become necessary after an opposition AINRC legislator N S J Jayabal had tested positive on Saturday and was admitted to a private hospital, the spokesman said adding a watch and ward staff had also tested positive and was admitted to the government medical college hospital Saturday. (PTI)
Delhi's recovery rate among corona patients reached nearly 88 per cent on Sunday, with CM Arvind Kejriwal saying the national capital is now at the 10th rank among the states and union territories as the number of active cases are "steadily" declining. The number of active cases is 11,904 now, against 12,657 on Saturday, 13,681 on Friday, 14,554 on Thursday and 14,954 on Wednesday, according to health department bulletins. The recovery rate in Delhi has climbed to 87.95 per cent from Saturday's figure of 87.29 per cent, while the positivity rate rose to 6.13 per cent from 5.56 per cent on Saturday, the department said in its latest bulletin.
A bar body has urged the central and state governments to provide financial assistance to lawyers considering their loss of income due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The bar body also urged the central government to direct nationalised banks to provide loans to lawyers at a concessional rate of interest. "The central government shall allot and transfer sufficient amount to the Bar Council of India for providing financial assistance to the needy lawyers. Those state governments which have not provided any money to state bar councils till today for the financial assistance of lawyers should immediately disburse sufficient amount to the respective bar councils," Akhil Bharatiya Adhivakta Parishad (ABAP) said in a resolution. (PTI)
Karnataka Forest Minister Anand Singh has tested positive for COVID-19, sources close to him said on Sunday. Anand Singh, whose swab was collected on Friday, was found infected with the coronavirus on Saturday night. However, he is asymptomatic, his close aides told PTI. "He has been tested positive but he is asymptomatic and is quarantined," his confidante said requesting anonymity. He also said that a few days ago, the minister's driver tested positive. (PTI)
Civil Aviation Min Hardeep Singh Puri Sunday said 814,000 stranded Indians have returned through various means under Vande Bharat Mission since 6 May 2020, of which more than 270,000 returned on flights from 53 countries. "Now we prepare to dovetail Phase-4 of #VandeBharatMission into Phase-5 from 1 Aug," he added.
The Mayor of Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC), Bonthu Rammohan, Sunday said he had tested positive for the novel coronavirus, and was under self-isolation. He said he has no symptoms. The Mayor and his family members undertook rapid antigen tests the previous day, and all his family members have tested negative. In a home video shared with the media, the Mayor appealed to people to stay safe and take all necessary precautions. He asked all those who have been infected with the virus to “stay strong mentally” to come out of it.
Even as Phase I human trials of Bharat Biotech’s Covaxin, India’s first indigenous Covid-19 vaccine candidate, are on at most of the 12 sites selected by ICMR across the country, the Post-Graduate Institute (PGI) of Medical Sciences, Rohtak, has claimed “encouraging” results from first part of the tests. Earlier this week, AIIMS, Delhi, administered the first dose of Covaxin to a 30-year-old man. According to CTRI, the Covaxin phase I and II trials are expected to take one year and three months.
Rohtak PGIMS, which had commenced the first part of Phase-1 trials of Covaxin on July 17 on 50 volunteers, reported “encouraging” results, according to ANI. Principal investigator of the vaccine trial team, Dr Savita Verma, said six people have already been administered the vaccine under the second part of phase-1. Follow latest vaccine updates
Himachal Pradesh's COVID-19 case tally rises to 2,136. There are 929 active cases, 1,178 recovered cases and 12 deaths, the state health department said.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi will on Monday launch "high throughput" COVID-19 testing facilities in Noida, Mumbai and Kolkata, which will boost the testing capacity and strengthen early detection and treatment in the country, the Prime Minister's Office said. Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan, along with the chief ministers of Maharashtra, West Bengal and Uttar Pradesh -- Uddhav Thackeray, Mamata Banerjee and Yogi Adityanath respectively, will be attend the virtual launch event.
The three high throughput testing facilities have already been set up strategically at ICMR institutions — National Institute of Cancer Prevention and Research in Noida, National Institute for Research in Reproductive Health in Mumbai and National Institute of Cholera and Enteric Diseases in Kolkata. These have the capacity to test over 10,000 samples per day, a statement from the Prime Minister's Office said.
The Karnataka government has allowed Eid-ul-Azha prayers in the mosques only and that too with a maximum of 50 attendies at a time and said mass prayers at Eidgah and other places are prohibited in view of the coronavirus pandemic. People visiting the mosques for prayers will have to wear face masks and maintain the required social distancing, Minority Welfare and Wakf Department Secretary A B Ibrahim said in an order issued on Friday. It said the Hilal committee has decided that the Eid-ul-Azha, also known as Bakrid, would be celebrated on July 31 in Udupi, Dakshina Kannada and Kodagu districts while it would be on August 1 in the rest of the state.
Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan, who was admitted to hospital on Saturday after testing positive for Covid-19, shared he is fine now. In a video, which he posted on his Twitter handle, Chouhan spoke from his hospital ward apprising public about his health status.
After Sikkim reported its first Covid-19 casualty, lockdown in the state was extended till August 1. On Sunday, a 74-year-old man with comorbidities from Rongli, East Sikkim, passed away in Covid-19 wing of STNM hospital. The state had been under lockdown from July 21.
At least 3,338 people who have tested positive for the novel coronavirus, which accounts for about 7 per cent of the cities’ total caseload, are “untraceable”, state health authorities have said. A search is currently underway to locate them.
According to the city’s civic body Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP), many Covid-19 patients ‘disappeared’ after testing positive. They provided incorrect phone numbers and addresses, making it difficult for the police to find them. On Saturday, Karnataka reported over 5 lakh new cases, bringing the state’s total caseload to well over 90,000. Bengaluru reported 2,036 fresh cases, pushing its tally to 43,503.
Though there still seems to be a great reluctance to admit the fact that the novel Coronavirus epidemic in India was well into the stage of community transmission, more and more states seem to be realising that it was becoming increasingly untenable to outrightly deny the possibility.
In the last one week, at least three states have hinted that community transmission was going on. Kerala was the most forthright, with the chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan himself saying that community transmission could be happening, though only in a few coastal areas. A few days ago, Telangana, which has seen rapid rise in its number of cases in recent weeks, also hinted at the same, though it too was guarded in its statement.
And now, the Maharashtra health secretary also seems to be dropping hints. In an interview with this newspaper, the official did not deny community transmission, but said it was not in the domain of the state government to decide on this, that this was within the “purview” of the Indian Council of Medical Research, and that everyone was just following the ICMR guidelines.
On Sunday, Sikkim reported its first Covid-19 death — a 74-year-old with comorbidities from East Sikkim. “A 74-year-old male from Rongli, East Sikkim passed away this morning, in the Covid-19 wing of STNM hospital. He had comorbidities & was suffering from hypertension & diabetes.The funeral will be performed by GMC as per SOP of @MoHFW_INDIA” said a tweet from the official account of the Sikkim government’s Information & Public Relations Department. Sikkim currently has 357 active cases and has been under lockdown from July 21.
A 101-year-old woman has recovered from COVID-19 and was discharged from the Sri Venkateswara Institute of Medical Sciences in Tirupati, with hospital authorities attributing the recovery to her mental strength. Speaking to indianexpress.com, hospital superintendent Dr R Ram said that P Mangamma was mildly symptomatic and complained of cough at the time of admission on July 14 and that all her family members had tested negative for viral infection. She was admitted into the general isolation ward for COVID care at the hospital.
Though she was frail and wheel-chair bound, she did not have any comorbidities. Asked about her mental condition, doctors at the hospital said Mangamma herself directed the ambulance driver to her house at Yerramitta in Tirupati after they couldn’t contact her family members due to incorrect details.
As mainland China reported 46 new infections Saturday, up from 34 a day earlier, Xinjaing has 22 out of the new infections, China’s Health Commission said on Sunday. Thirteen were in the northeastern province of Liaoning, while the remaining 11 were imported cases. Xinjaing has been reporting new infections consistently since the past week after it experienced a new surge on 18 July. As of Saturday, mainland China had 83,830 confirmed coronavirus cases, the health authority said. The COVID-19 death toll remained at 4,634.
The UK has imposed a two-week quarantine for travellers coming from Spain with effect from Saturday midnight. Britain is also advising people not to travel to Spain and has removed the country from the list of safe places to visit following a surge of COVID19 cases. Britain’s Department for Transport issued a statement late Saturday warning that as of midnight anyone returning from Spain would have to self isolate. “Protecting public health is our absolute priority and we have taken this decision to limit any potential spread to the UK” the government said.
Is dressing up and going out a thing of the past? In today’s Sunday Eye, we discuss the irony that COVID-19 has been the great equaliser between the good-looking and the not-so good looking, and between the shabby and trendy. However liberal one’s notions of beauty and sophistication, COVID, in one fell swoop, has relegated everyone equally unappealing, masked.
Vietnam reintroduced social distancing measures in the central city of Danang on Sunday after a second locally transmitted novel coronavirus case was detected there, more than three months after any cases were reported in the country. The Southeast Asian country was back on high alert after the government on Saturday confirmed its first community infection since April, and another case early on Sunday, both in Danang, a tourist hot spot. Authorities gave no more details about how the two infections were contracted and did not say if they were believed to be linked. The city's social distancing measures would come into force until further notice, the government said in a statement on its website.
Addressing the nation using his monthly radio address 'Mann ki Baat,' Prime Minister Narendra Modi said while India is in a better position when compared to other countries, there is no room for ignorance. "Today, the COVID19 recovery rate in our country is better than others. Our fatality rate is much less than most of the other countries. We managed to save the lives of lakhs of people, but the threat of coronavirus is not over yet. It is spreading fast in many areas, we need to remain vigilant. Whenever you feel like taking off your masks, think of frontline soldiers."
“All these thoughts of how I would take care of the baby never came to me, for some reason. I just knew that his parents are Covid-positive and that it would not be safe for him to continue in their care,” Kerala doctor who cared for the baby for a month said. Dr Anitha, a clinical psychologist based in Kochi, has worked extensively with children, but her words hinted that her recent one-month quarantine stay with Unni, aka Elvin, is likely to remain an unforgettable chapter of her life. Read more
On June 20, the number of fresh Covid-19 positive cases in one day in West Bengal stood at 441, while that of patients discharged was 562. The dedicated number of Covid-19 beds in both state-run and private hospitals stood at 10,340. A month later on July 20, the daily new positive cases stood at 2,282 and the daily discharge 1,535. The dedicated Covid beds increased to 11,239. While the gap between new positive cases and discharged patients hovered over 700 per day, the state government in an entire month only managed to increase 899 dedicated Covid beds in hospitals across the state, according to the data released by the state government in the health bulletins.
The ongoing Covid-19 pandemic has brought the world to a grinding halt and ushered in a “wave of silence” as high frequency noise generated by industrial plants, traffic and other human activities fell sharply during a period marked by lockdowns and social isolation. A team of seismologists from universities around the world including the Imperial College, London, studied the impact of the coronavirus pandemic on noise-levels worldwide and found that high frequency noise caused by human activities dropped by as much as 50 per cent between March and May, this year. The period of quiet induced by this global health crisis is the longest and most prominent noise reduction on record, the scientists said.
With nearly 50,000 cases (48,661) for the third consecutive day, the total number of coronavirus infections in India rose to 13,85,522 on Sunday. The toll rose to 32,063 with 705 deaths in the last 24 hours. Currently, India has over 4.6 lakh active cases, while 8.8 lakh people have recovered. Globally, nearly 16 million people have been infected and 6.4 lakh people have succumbed to the virus.
An ambulance driver allegedly forced two boys, who are COVID positive, and their mother to get off the vehicle as they could not pay the exorbitant fare he demanded for a six-km journey between two hospitals in the city. However, after the intervention of doctors, the driver settled for Rs 2,000, the father of the boys said.
The two brothers — one of them nine months old and the other aged nine-and-a-half years — both undergoing treatment at the Institute of Child Health (ICH), tested positive for COVID-19 on Friday, after which their father tried hiring an ambulance to take them to a state-run hospital.
The father of the boys alleged that the driver demanded Rs 9,200 to take them to the Kolkata Medical College and Hospital in the College Street area from ICH, which is located at Park Circus.
BJP MP Pragya Singh Thakur on Saturday appealed people to recite the Hanuman Chalisa five times a day till August 5, which she believes will rid the world of the coronavirus pandemic. `Bhoomi pujan' or the ground-breaking ceremony for the construction of Ram temple at Ayodhya is to take place on August 5. "Let us all of us together make a spiritual effort to wish people good health and end the coronavirus epidemic. Recite 'Hanuman Chalisa' five times a day at your home from July 25 to August 5," the Bhopal MP tweeted. "Conclude this ritual by lighting lamps on August 5 and offering 'aarti' to Lord Ram at home," she added.
Australia's Victoria state has recorded 10 deaths overnight from COVID-19, its highest daily toll amid a continuing surge in coronavirus cases. State Premier Daniel Andrews said the deaths included seven men and three women. A man in his 40s became one of the youngest COVID-19 fatalities in Australia. There are 459 new infections, the 21st straight day of triple-figure increases.
The fatalities bring Victoria's toll to 71 and Australia's national tally to 155. A total of 228 people are hospitalized in Victoria, 42 in intensive care. Victoria processed 42,973 tests on Saturday, Andrews said, “far and away the biggest testing result that we've seen on a single day.” He said he is not currently planning to extend the lockdown in Melbourne, Australia's second-largest city.
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un placed the city of Kaesong near the border with South Korea under total lockdown after a person was found with suspected COVID-19 symptoms, saying he believes “the vicious virus” may have entered the country, state media reported Sunday.
If the person is officially declared a virus patient, he or she would be the North’s first confirmed coronavirus case. North Korea has steadfastly said it has no single virus case on its territory, a claim questioned by outside experts. The lockdown was declared Friday afternoon. The Korean Central News Agency said the suspected case is a runaway who had fled to South Korea years ago before illegally crossing the border into the North early last week.
Maharashtra Home Minister Anil Deshmukh Saturday met Shantabai Pawar, an 85-year-old woman whose stick-fighting video went viral on social media and drew widespread praise from netizens. In the video, Pawar was displaying seen her stick-fighting skills on the streets of Pune during lockdown to earn living for her family, which includes orphaned children she has taken under her care. “I had the privilege to meet 85yrs old Shantabai Pawar, the #WarriorAaji from #Pune, at her home. I heard from many people about the way she has been exercising for her livelihood. Felt inspired & refreshed upon meeting her & gifted her Nawari Saree & Rs 1 Lakh on Party’s behalf,” tweeted Deshmukh.
Addressing people in a televised speech, Chief Minister Biplab Kumar Deb said Saturday that coronavirus cases are increasing in Tripura, mainly among people who came from outside the state and those who came in close contact with them. “I want to thank people for maintaining rules and regulation of government properly. That’s why Tripura is safe so far. Meanwhile, the Prime Minister has announced many packages to help the people. But it’s not possible to solve everything. Currently, we have a fatality rate of 0.29 percent against a national average of 8 per cent. But the scenario of coming three months will be clear in these three days (of lockdown). This lockdown is necessary so that we can be prepared,” Deb said in his appeal.
South Western Railway operates Shramik Special train after 19 days. The train that left KSR, Bengaluru, with 1,540 passengers at 6.40 pm (July 25) is operated to Guwahati (with stoppages at Nirgundi, Howrah, and New Jalpaiguri), officials confirmed.
Tripura government announced three-day total lockdown in the state starting Monday, to break the chain of spreading coronavirus. One more person succumbed to the virus in the northeastern state, taking the toll to 11, while 106 fresh infections pushed its caseload to 3,778, a health official said on Saturday.
A 53-year-old head constable working with Delhi Police died of COVID-19 at a city hospital, officials said on Saturday. Head Constable Satya Narayan was posted at the Madhu Vihar police station, they said. Narayan tested positive for COVID-19 on July 13 and was sent to the COVID Care Centre in Akshardham. Later that day, he was shifted to LNJP Hospital. He had health issues like high BP, diabetes and had two stents in his heart, reported PTI.
Jammu and Kashmir's Covid tally crossed 17,000-mark on Saturday as 523 more people tested positive for the virus, while nine people succumbed to the disease in the last 24 hours, raising the COVID-19 death toll to 305, officials said.
Kerala recorded 1,103 coronavirus cases in a single day
BCCI president and former Team India skipper Sourav Ganguly has tested negative for Covid-19 after he gave his samples as a precautionary measure. Ganguly has been in home quarantine for more than a week after his elder brother Snehasish Ganguly had tested positive for the disease.
Normal life came to a standstill in West Bengal on Saturday as a complete lockdown was imposed across the state to break the chain of surging novel coronavirus cases. All shops were shut and all modes of transport went off the streetes as part of the state government's bi-weekly lockdow plan.
Lucknow streets wore a deserted look on Saturday as most shops and businesses were closed and public transport went off the roads in view of the state's second weekend lockdown of the month to combat COVID-19. The Uttar Pradesh government has decided to impose a strict lockdown across the state on weekends to stop the spread of the virus. The restrictions will remain in place at least for July, officials had said earlier. Markets were closed in the city and only vehicles carrying essential goods were seen plying on Saturday. The markets in prominent areas of Lucknow such as Hazratganj, Aminabad, Chowk, Gomtinagar, Indiranagar, Latouche Road, Alambagh, Hewett Road, Aliganj and Gudumba remained shut. (PTI)
India's drug regulator has cancelled the rapid diagnostic kit import licenses of three firms and suspended that of 16 others saying the USFDA has removed the manufacturers from their list of coronavirus serology test kits with directions that they should not be distributed. The three firms are Cadila Healthcare, MDAAC International and N W Overseas while the 16 companies include Transasia Bio-Medicals, Cosmic Scientific, Inbios India, S D Biosensor, Accurex Biomedicals, Biohouse Solutions and Trivitron Healthcare among others. The companies were issued a show cause notices on July 17 asking why their import licenses shall not be cancelled since the diagnostic kits of the manufacturers have been removed by USFDA with direction that it should not be distributed from the list of product of serology test kits for COVID-19 disease, according to an official order by the Drug Controller General of India (DCGI). (PTI)
Slowly but steadily, India has ramped-up its testing capacity for COVID-19 and conducted over 4.20 lakh tests in a day, the highest ever, the Union Health Ministry said Saturday, crediting the rise in number of labs for the achievement. India had only one testing lab for Covid-19 in January but it has now increased the number to 1,301, including private labs. The Health Ministry said revised guidelines by ICMR and efforts put in by the states also helped in widespread testing. Till Friday, a total of 1,58,49,068 tests for COVID-19 had been done in the country. India did 3.50 lakh tests every day over the last one week, the ministry said. With 4,20,898 samples tested in the last 24 hours, the Tests Per Million (TPM) has increased to 11,485 and continue to maintain an upward trend.
Serum Institute of India (SII), which has partnered with AstraZeneca to manufacture the Oxford vaccine candidate for COVID-19, has sought permission from the Drugs Controller General of India (DCGI) for conducting phase 2/3 human clinical trials of the potential vaccine, highly-placed sources said on Saturday. The sources told PTI that the Pune-based drug firm submitted its application to the DCGI on Friday seeking permission for conducting the trials of 'Covidshield'. "According to the application, it would conduct an observer-blind, randomised controlled study to determine the safety and immunogenicity of 'Covishield' (COVID-19) in healthy Indian adults. The firm said that an around 1,600 participants of more than 18 years would be enrolled in the study," a source said. (PTI)
As Kolkata is observing a complete lockdown today, South Kolkata DCP took to Twitter to thanks the city dwellers for making this effort successful by staying home. The West Bengal government has announced a plan of bi-weekly lockdown in the state capital to break the chain of spread of coronavirus.
Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray on Saturday said that he is not considering the “complete lifting” of Covid-19 lockdown in the state only to address the economic concerns as he highlighted the need to strike a balance between issues related to health and economy amidst the ongoing crisis. Thackeray’s comments come after NCP chief and former Union Minister Sharad Pawar yesterday highlighted the importance of “economic revival” by resuming activities in Maharashtra’s industrial centres and said that the decision on extension of lockdown must be made after accessing the situation on ground. Follow Maharashtra Coronavirus LIVE Updates
BSP president Mayawati on Saturday asked the Yogi Adityanath-led government to pay proper attention on testing and cleanliness in hospitals as the number of coronavirus cases continue to surge.
Taking to Twitter, she said: “In view of the daily rise of corona epidemic in country’s largest state Uttar Pradesh, the government should immediately give proper attention to corona testing, facilities in hospitals and cleanliness in COVID centres. This is the demand of the BSP.”
The state recorded 50 deaths and 2,667 new infections on Friday, taking the toll to 1,348 and tally to 60,771.
Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray on Saturday said he was not in favour of lifting the lockdown entirely only to address economic concerns.
“I will never say that the lockdown will be lifted completely. But I have started reopening a few things gradually. Once reopened, it shouldn’t be shut again. Hence, I prefer taking steps in phases. You can’t just think about economy or health. There needs to be a balance between the two,” he said in an interview to Shiv Sena mouthpiece ‘Saamana’.
“This pandemic is a global war. It has affected the entire world. Those countries which had lifted the lockdown in haste thinking that it was over, were again forced to impose it to curb the spread. In Australia, they had to rope in the Army,” he added.
The state is observing a lockdown till July 31. From June onward, the government began lifting the restrictions in phase-wise manner under its ‘Mission Begin Again’ initiative.
There cannot be a uniform peak in COVID-19 cases in a large country like India and each state has its own trajectory based on when people there were exposed to the infection, a public health expert said. The peak could be witnessed in states like Delhi by this month end or early August while it may be around September in others such as Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra and Karnataka, Director of the Indian Institute of Public Health (IIPH) here Prof. G V S Murthy said. IIPH was set up under the aegis of the Public Health Foundation of India (PHFI).
Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Saturday said people of the city, his government and the Centre together have attained victory over COVID-19 but the fight is not yet over.
Speaking at the inauguration of a 450-bed Delhi government hospital in Burari via videoconferencing, he said in the last one month, coronavirus-related parameters have improved in the national capital. "Two crore people of Delhi, Delhi government and the Centre together have attained victory over coronavirus but it would not be correct to say that the fight is over," Kejriwal said.
He said in the past one month, the number of COVID-19 cases in Delhi has gone down, deaths have reduced, recovery rate has improved and positivity ratio has lowered.
Scientists, including those of Indian-origin, have identified 21 existing drugs that stop the replication of the novel coronavirus which causes COVID-19 in lab studies, an advance that may lead to the development of new therapeutic combinations against the disease. The researchers, including those from the Sanford Burnham Prebys Medical Discovery Institute in the US, analysed one of the world's largest collections of known drugs for their ability to block the replication of the novel coronavirus, and found 100 molecules with confirmed antiviral activity in laboratory tests.
According to the study, published in the journal Nature, 21 of these drugs are effective in blocking the reproduction of the virus at concentrations that could be safely achieved in patients.
In the last one week, Andhra Pradesh has contributed more number of novel Coronavirus cases than any other state in India, except Maharashtra. The state has added more than 40,000 new patients during this time, which is half of its entire caseload of about 81,000.
The explosion of infections in Andhra Pradesh is rather curious. The state was always one of the front-runners in testing, and that means it would have been possible to identify and isolate the infected patients quite early on. In fact, till the end of last month, the state seemed to have a reasonable control over the epidemic. It had tested as many as 8.9 lakh samples by that time, more than every state except Tamil Nadu and Maharashtra, and found 14,595 positive cases. That meant a positivity rate of just 1.6 per cent, one of the lowest in the country at the time.
Shuttering businesses, grounding airlines and ordering people to stay home was hard enough the first time. The thought of having to do it all over again is something world leaders don’t want to even contemplate.
From Italy to New Zealand, irrespective of how well the virus was contained, governments acknowledge that fresh waves of the deadly coronavirus are likely and that the policy tools to mitigate the damage are limited. The hope is that localizing quarantines to towns, cities and regions will be enough to snuff out bouts of infections as they come. Read More