A healthcare worker wearing PPE collects a swab sample from a man amidst the spread of the coronavirus disease. (Reuters)Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal reviewed Covid-19 situation with officials on Thursday and said that cases have increased due to festival season and pollution. The government decided to ban crackers in Delhi, ramp up medical infrastructure and add ICU beds among other measures, he tweeted.
A total of 262 students and about 160 teachers tested positive for coronavirus in Andhra Pradesh in the past three days after schools were reopened on November 2 for classes 9 and 10, PTI reported a senior official of the school education saying on Thursday. Commissioner of School Education V Chinna Veerabhadrudu said the figure is not alarming when compared to the total number of students attending the schools and every care is being taken to ensure COVID-19 safety protocols are in place in every institution.
The detection of more than 50,000 cases within a span of 24 hours, after a 10-day gap, on Thursday took the Covid-19 tally to 8.3 million. The number of fatalities also increased to 124,315 after over 700 deaths were registered within the same period.
A total of 27.3 per cent of Karnataka’s population was exposed to Covid-19 by mid-September, according to the findings of the sero survey conducted by the State Department of Health and Family Welfare Services. Further, the study estimates that 16.4 per cent of the 15,624 samples studied during the survey had developed antibodies against COVID-19 as of September 16.
Globally, over 48 million cases have been recorded so far. The number of fatalities stood at 1.2 million. The United States continued to remain the worst-affected followed by India and Brazil.
A woman passenger, wearing a protective suit, waits for train at New Delhi Railway Station on Monday, November 2, 2020. (Express Photo: Amit Mehra)
Himachal Pradesh's COVID-19 tally at 23,809 including 3,668 active cases, 19,755 recoveries and 355 deaths: State Government
Karnataka reported 3,156 new #COVID19 cases, 5,723 discharges, and 31 deaths in the last 24 hours. Total number of cases now at 8,38,929 including 33,095 active cases, 7,94,503 discharges and 11,312 deaths: State Health Department.
Delhi govt imposes a complete ban on crackers, including on green crackers, in the city from Nov 7 - 30. This will include green crackers. Env minister Gopal Rai had done a spot check of markets to assess the sale and availability of green crackers recently.
Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal reviewed Covid-19 situation with officials on Thursday. He said cases have increased due to festival season and pollution. The government decided to ban crackers in Delhi and ramp up medical infrastructure' among other measures.
Delirium or mental confusion accompanied by fever could be an early symptom of COVID-19, particularly in elderly patients, according to a review of studies. The research, published in the Journal of Clinical Immunology and Immunotherapy, suggests that together with the loss of the senses of taste and smell, and headaches that occur in the days prior to the manifestation of coughing and breathing difficulties, some patients also develop delirium. -- PTI
A total of 262 students and about 160 teachers tested positive for coronavirus in Andhra Pradesh in the past three days after schools were reopened on November 2 for classes 9 and 10, PTI reported a senior official of the school education saying on Thursday. Commissioner of School Education V Chinna Veerabhadrudu said the figure is not alarming when compared to the total number of students attending the schools and every care is being taken to ensure COVID-19 safety protocols are in place in every institution.
Collection and entry of data in the state for a future coronavirus vaccine for the priority beneficiaries — health workers and other health institution staff — for a national database is expected to be completed in the next five days, state health department’s immunisation officer said Tuesday. More than three lakh personnel have already been registered, while another one lakh is estimated to be included in the database, the official added. An approximate 2 to 2.10 lakh people who have been registered for the central vaccine database, state immunisation officer Dr Nayan Jani said, are affiliated to government facilities while another 90,000 are registered with private facilities. Click here to read more.
Another journalist succumbed to the virus in Odisha on Thursday, news agency PTI reported. Prabir Pradhan, a senior reporter of an Odia news channel, died at a hospital in Bhubaneswar, his family said. He was 35. He was admitted to a Covid Hospital last week and had to be put on ventilator support on Wednesday. "Saddened to learn of untimely demise of young and promising journalist Prabir Pradhan, who used to cover crime n police. Recently his father, a retired police officer, had left us all. Talked to his sister to convey condolence. May he attain Sadgati," Director-General of Police Abhay posted on Twitter.
Officials of the state government and the Eastern and Southern Railways met again in Nabanna on Wednesday to firm up plans for the resumption of suburban rail services in Kolkata. According to sources, it was decided that 210 local trains will be in service during office hours (morning and evening) daily. The number of trains will be minimised during the rest of the day. The local trains will not stop at every station. They will be “galloping trains” and will stop only at the “important and big stations”, the sources said. The final schedule and other related decisions will be announced on Thursday. During the meeting on Wednesday, it was decided that standing would not be allowed in the local trains. Hawkers will not be allowed inside the trains and “unnecessary gatherings” will not be allowed at the stations and platforms, the sources said. Click here to read more.
Cinema halls, drama theatres, multiplexes, swimming pools and yoga institutes will reopen from November 5 after the Uddhav Thackeray-led state government allowed resumption of indoor activities outside containment zones only, and by observing Covid-19 safety guidelines. Chief Secretary Sanjay Kumar issued an order as part of ‘Mission Begin Again’ stating that cinema halls, multiplexes and drama theatres will be allowed to operate with 50 per cent seating capacity in areas outside containment zones. No eatables will be allowed inside, said the order, adding that a separate standard operating procedure (SOP) will be issued by the cultural affairs department and local authorities. Click here to read more.
Not just health and safety but Indian employees also raised concerns over their emotional well-being as the working practices changed due to the pandemic. The recent study, Hindsight 2020: COVID-19 Concerns into 2021, commissioned by The Workforce Institute at UKG, reveals that more than half (55 per cent) of Indian employees are concerned about their organisation’s ability to help balance workloads in order to prevent fatigue/burnout. While 72 per cent of Indian employees and business leaders said their organisations have taken at least some measures to guard against burnout, 36 per cent wished organisations would act with more empathy, as per the report. Click here to read more.
Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal today said that the rising air pollution was worsening the Covid situation in the national capital. He appealed to everyone to avoid bursting crackers during Diwali.
Arunachal Pradesh's Covid-19 tally rose to 15,160 on Thursday as 77 more people tested positive for the infection, a senior health official said, PTI reported. A coronavirus patient succumbed to the infection, pushing the state's virus death toll to 43, the official added.
The Supreme Court today asked the Centre to ban installation and use of disinfectant tunnels, fumigation, etc on humans as well as the use of ultra violet rays in view of health risks associated with it. It gave the government a month's time to implement it.
At least 975 fresh coronavirus cases were recorded across the state Wednesday even as four districts reported zero infections, a bulletin released by the state health department said. The state now has a total of 1.76 lakh cases. Sixty-nine inmates and two staffers at an Aravalli sub-district jail in Modasa town, meanwhile, tested positive for the infection, officials said. The cases, however, did not reflect in the state’s record of daily new cases on Wednesday. DG (prisons) K L N Rao confirmed that 71 from the Aravalli sub-district jail had tested Covid-19 positive. “All are asymptomatic and are under hospital treatment as per standard operating procedure,” he said. The cases were detected after approximately 150 rapid antigen tests were conducted in the prison. Click here to read more.
Even as healthcare workers (HCW) have been donning appropriate personal protective equipment (PPE) while on duty, the country’s Covid-19 caseload continues to grow exponentially in closed spaces such as intensive care units (ICUs) and wards designated for Covid patients, increasing the risk of infection to those working in the area. Oxygen delivery strategies such as non-invasive ventilation and high-flow nasal cannula for managing patients also generate large amounts of viral-laden aerosols. The same has led to an urgent need to develop a solution for reducing the contagious aerosol imprint in hospitals, thereby minimising the risks to HCW as well as patients. To address this issue amidst the ongoing pandemic, the Armed Forces Medical College (AFMC) in Pune has come up with ‘Raksha Kawach’, a patient isolation device to protect HCW from infectious aerosols. It was developed by a team led by Lt Col (Dr) Shamik Kr Paul, a neuro-anaesthesiologist and an assistant professor at AFMC’s department of anaesthesia and critical care, and Dr Ajay Suryavanshi, a biomedical engineer and an alumnus of IIT Bombay. The device is not merely Covid-specific — it is also intended to minimise the contagion load in a hospital’s atmosphere housing patients with other airborne diseases. Click here to read more.
As Covid-19 cases fall in the city ahead of Diwali, Pune will have the smallest area under containment zones since the pandemic broke out in March. Usually, area, localities and even buildings that have five or more Covid-19 patients in close proximity are declared as containment zones. The list of such zones is revised by the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) every 15 days, and Pune currently has 13 of them. On Wednesday, the PMC revised its list of containment zones by dropping 20 zones from its earlier list of 33 (declared on October 17), and keeping only 13 in it. At the end of September and beginning of October, the city had as many as 71 containment zones in the civic jurisdiction. Click here to read more.
West Bengal’s Covid-19 discharge rate neared 89 per cent on Wednesday as a record 4,129 recoveries pushed it up to 88.88 per cent despite the addition of 3,987 new infections. The recovery surge over the past week and a half has pushed down the active caseload, which dropped to 36,246 on Wednesday. The toll, meanwhile, rose to 7,068 following 55 deaths. Keeping with the trend, a bulk of the latest cases (62.75 per cent) and deaths (43) were recorded in the South Bengal pandemic epicentre comprising Kolkata, its three neighbouring districts, and Hooghly. Click here to read more.
Even as strategies are being worked out towards the preparation of Covid-19 vaccine, a massive exercise is underway by the state health department to collate data of total number of healthcare workers in government and private hospitals, and nursing homes. “We are in the process of preparing a database of beneficiaries that will be uploaded to the vaccine beneficiary management system for individualised tracking of all recipients,” Dr D N Patil, state immunisation officer told The Indian Express. A Covid-19 vaccine beneficiary management system has been developed and government and private health care facilities have been told to submit data of their workers who will be among the first to receive the vaccine against the virus. Click here to read more.
With 50,210 fresh cases in a single day, the Covid-19 tally in India surged past 8.3 million while the death toll stood at 124,315 on Thursday, according to latest data released by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.
Delhi government will approach the Supreme Court to seek a go-ahead to reserve 80% ICU beds in private hospitals for Covid-19 patients. The decision to reserve these beds was first taken in September, when cases had risen suddenly, which was stayed by the Delhi High Court. On Wednesday, 6,842 cases were recorded in the city, the highest to date and the second time in as many days that the case count has been over 6,000. Active cases — 37,369 on Wednesday — are also at their highest mark. “The Delhi government had increased the number of ICU beds in the city but, unfortunately, the Delhi High Court stayed our decision. We are moving the Supreme Court to urge it to vacate the stay,” Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said. Click here to read more.
Indian airlines can operate maximum 60 per cent of their pre-COVID domestic passenger flights till February 24 next year due to the prevailing coronavirus situation, the Civil Aviation Ministry has said. The ministry had informed the airlines about the 60 per cent limit through an official order on September 2 but it had not told them the period for which the cap would remain in place. On October 29, the ministry issued a new order clarifying that the September 2 order "shall remain in force until 2359 hrs on February 24, 2021 or until further orders" due to the "prevailing situation of COVID-19". On June 26, the ministry had allowed the airlines to operate a maximum of 45 per cent of their pre-COVID domestic flights.
The Karnataka government has not yet decided to re-open schools, state Education Minister S Suresh Kumar said on Wednesday. The Education Department would give a report to the Chief Minister in the next four or five days to take a call, he said. "Today, we had a discussion with the officials and gathered information on opening of the schools...Our department has not taken any decision yet," Kumar told reporters after a meeting with the officials and office- bearers of teachers' associations. The department would hold more meetings with the officials of the social welfare department, Bengaluru civic agency, health department and representatives of school development and monitoring committees.
Terming the sudden spike in coronavirus cases in Delhi as the "third wave" of the pandemic, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Wednesday assured the people that there is no need to panic as the AAP government is closely monitoring the COVID-19 situation in the city. Kejriwal said that while there are adequate beds for COVID-19 patients in the city, there is a shortage of ICU beds with ventilators in a few private hospitals which will be addressed in the next one or two days. The national capital has been witnessing a fresh surge in coronavirus cases. On Tuesday, Delhi recorded over 6,000 fresh COVID-19 cases for the first time. The city recorded over 5,000 daily cases for five days on the trot, ending Sunday when the count stood at 5,664.
— India reported 46,253 new Covid-19 cases, 514 deaths; total caseload now at 83,13,876
— Third wave of COVID-19 cases in Delhi, says Arvind Kejriwal
— Two-month-old baby among 101 new COVID-19 patients in Mizoram
— Demand for Remdesivir, oxygen falls as new cases decline in Gujarat
— Karnataka yet to decide on reopening of schools, says Education Minister
— More than 47.4 million people infected by Covid-19 worldwide; death toll at 1.2 million
— US election exit polls showed the choice came down to the pandemic versus the economy
— Italy readies national curfew, movement bans for risk areas
— Danish PM isolates after minister tests positive
— Canada’s Ontario unveils color-coded system for Covid-19
Denmark’s prime minister, Mette Frederiksen, is self-isolating after her justice minister tested positive for the coronavirus, exposing several cabinet members to the disease. The finance minister and foreign minister will also self-isolate after attending meetings with Justice Minister Nick Haekkerup last week. He revealed via a Facebook post that he had the virus.
In all, 13 out of 20 government ministers are now in self-quarantine awaiting test results, the government said in a statement on Wednesday. A number of opposition lawmakers have also been hit, with one sent to hospital.
Almost one in five patients with COVID-19 may only show gastrointestinal symptoms such as nausea, vomiting and diarrhoea, according to a review of studies. The findings suggest that abdominal radiologists need to remain vigilant during the pandemic while imaging patients, the researchers said. Gastrointestinal symptoms associated with COVID-19 vary widely but can include loss of appetite, nausea, vomiting, diarrhoea and generalized abdominal pain, they said. The study, published in the journal Abdominal Radiology, found that 18 per cent of patients presented with such symptoms, while 16 per cent of COVID-19 cases may only present with gastrointestinal symptoms. "There's a growing amount of literature showing that abdominal symptomatology is a common presentation for COVID-19," said Mitch Wilson, a radiologist and clinical lecturer at the University of Alberta in Canada. The researchers examined findings from 36 studies published through July 15 to reach their conclusions.
Ontario unveiled a new five-color system for deciding when to ramp up or relax Covid-19 restrictions and said it will allow restaurants, gyms and other businesses to reopen in some regions where they’re currently closed.
The Canadian province’s new system has five levels, ranging from the least-serious green “prevent” tier to the most restrictive “lockdown” grouping. Different business sectors will face specific restrictions and safety measures for each level.
Under the framework, some regions currently operating under tight rules, including Ottawa and Peel, will see restrictions ease to the middle tier on the scale -- orange “restrict” -- on Nov. 7. That will see the reopening of dining rooms, gyms, movie theaters and other activities, with capacity limits.
Activity in India’s dominant services industry, expanded for the first time in eight months in October as demand surged, but pandemic-hit firms continued to cut jobs, a private survey showed on Wednesday. The findings, coupled with a similar survey on Monday which found Indian manufacturing growth expanded at its fastest pace in over a decade, suggest a recovery in Asia’s third-largest economy is under way.
The Nikkei/IHS Markit Services Purchasing Managers’ Index climbed to 54.1 in October from September’s 49.8. It was the highest reading since February and comfortably above the 50-mark separating growth from contraction. “It’s encouraging to see the Indian service sector joining its manufacturing counterpart and posting a recovery in economic conditions from the steep deteriorations caused by the COVID-19 pandemic earlier in the year,” Pollyanna De Lima, economics associate director at IHS Markit, said in a release.
At least 101 more people, including a two-month-old baby, tested positive for COVID-19 in Mizoram on Wednesday, taking the tally in the northeastern state to 2,893, a health department official said. Of the new cases, 71 were reported from Aizawl district and 30 from Champhai, he said. "Fifty-nine fresh cases were detected through RT-PCR test at Zoram Medical College (ZMC), while 30 were found through TrueNat method in Champhai district hospital and 12 through rapid antigen test," the official said. Sixty-one new patients have travel history, and 40 were detected during contact tracing, he said. "A two-month-old baby and an Indian Army staffer are among fresh patients," he said.
As the country faces a dual national crisis — a monthslong pandemic and economic devastation — voters were deeply divided on what mattered more: containing the coronavirus or hustling to rebuild the economy, according early exit polls and voter surveys released Tuesday.
Their opinion of which was more important fell along starkly partisan lines, with those who viewed the pandemic as the most pressing issue favoring Joe Biden for president, while those who named the economy and jobs broke overwhelmingly toward reelecting President Donald Trump. READ MORE
The Italian government is set to ban people from leaving or entering cities and towns in designated high-risk areas, according to the draft of a new decree on coronavirus restrictions.
The decree would also impose a 10 p.m. to 5 a.m. curfew across the country, according to the draft seen by Bloomberg. Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte signed off on the new restrictions early on Tuesday, news agency Ansa reported.
Italians in the highest-risk zones will be told to stay within their city or town and will be allowed to leave only for specific business or health reasons, according to the draft. Provisions are subject to change as the government continues to discuss details.
Union Law Minister Delhi reported 6,725 Covid cases Tuesday, the highest single-day spike for any city in the country so far, taking the total number of cases in the National Capital to 4,03,096. Prior to this, Pune had recorded 5,939 cases in a day on September 10.
While Covid beds are available in government hospitals, many top private hospitals have observed a rise in demand over the last 10 days. Several small nursing homes with a bed capacity of 30 or more have started to run full, with no Covid beds available, said officials. “There has been a sudden rise in demand for Covid beds over the last one week. We are trying to accommodate every patient but it is getting difficult. Earlier, patients from neighbouring states were reaching out to us; this time, it’s the people of Delhi who are facing problems,” said Dr D S Rana, board chairman, Sir Ganga Ram hospital.
With 46,253 new cases, the tally in India currently stands at 83.13 lakh. This number remains below 50,000 for the tenth consecutive day. As many as 514 deaths were reported in the last 24 hours, pushing the toll to 1,23,611. The active cases continue to be below 5.5 lakh, while the recoveries stand at 76.56. Kerala continues to top the daily tally among all states.