The BKC vaccination centre in Mumbai was damaged as heavy winds from cyclone Tauktar lashed the city Monday (Express Photo: Pradip Das)
India reported 2.63 lakh cases of the novel coronavirus on Monday. The biggest contributor was Karnataka, which added 38,603 cases, followed by Tamil Nadu with 33,075 cases. Maharashtra registered 26,616 cases. At least 4,329 deaths were reported on the same day, the highest daily toll so far. Maharashtra reported more than 1,000 deaths, while Karnataka had 476. In the biggest drop ever, India's active cases fell by about 1.65 lakh on Monday to 33.52 lakh.
Two key decisions to aid India's battle against Covid-19 were announced on Monday: the government will add 14 regional languages to the CoWIN portal, through which slots are booked for vaccination; and 17 additional laboratories will be added to the INSACOG network to conduct genome surveillance and monitor variants of Covid-19.
Amid the second wave, states along the west coast have been battered by an extremely severe cyclonic storm, Tauktae (pronounced Tau'Te), which made landfall in the Saurashtra region of Gujarat last night. At least three people died in Gujarat, 12 in Maharashtra, and eight in Karnataka. Goa was also badly hit by the storm.
Bharat Biotech on Sunday said its Covid-19 vaccine 'Covaxin' has been found to be effective against coronavirus strains found in India and the UK. Citing a study published in peer-reviewed medical journal Clinical Infectious Diseases, the Hyderabad-based vaccine major noted that vaccination with Covaxin produced neutralising titres against all key emerging variants tested, including B.1.617 and B.1.1.7, first identified in India and the UK, respectively.
With at least 516 districts returning a positivity rate of more than 10 per cent, and increased mortality being reported in rural India, the Centre on Sunday directed states to set up a three-tier health infrastructure to manage the epidemic in the hinterland, including makeshift 30-bed Covid Care Centres (CCCs) in villages, each equipped with at least two oxygen cylinders.
The Health Ministry said that schools, community halls, and panchayat buildings should be turned into CCCs to manage mild cases of the disease.
Primary Health Centres (PHCs), Community Health Centres (CHCs), and Sub-district Hospitals — which constitute the backbone of India’s rural health infrastructure — shall be designated as 30 oxygen-bed facilities to handle moderate cases of the disease, where the oxygen saturation level has fallen below 94, the Ministry said.
In Ayoudhya, the lockdown has gained a grudging acceptance, in sharp contrast with several other smaller towns and rural districts in UP where the second wave has breached the barricades.
During the first wave, the daily case peak was 143 on August 25, with the death toll peaking at four on September 9 and active cases at 1,154 on September 12. In the second wave, cases peaked at 357 on April 18, deaths at five on April 22, and the active caseload at 2,661 on April 27.
As such, in the lanes of Ayodhya, there is an eerie silence. The temple town is in lockdown — and it is showing. There are policemen manning turns and entry points every few metres, shops are boarded up, and there are no crowds near vegetable carts.
Virologist Shahid Jameel, one of the most prominent scientific voices of the pandemic, has resigned as the head of the Indian SARS-COV-2 Genomics Consortia (INSACOG), the scientific advisory group coordinating the country’s genome sequencing work.
INSACOG had come into being in January this year as a scientific body to promote and expedite genome sequencing of the SARS-CoV2 virus and its multiple variants. The consortium had established a network of ten leading laboratories to carry out gene sequencing of virus samples from across the country. The consortium was initially given a tenure of six months, but later got an extension. The genome sequencing work, which had been progressing at a very slow pace, gathered momentum only after the constitution of INSACOG.
The Centre has said that a total of 199 districts in the country are showing a continued decline in cases and positivity since the last three weeks (Express Photo by Amit Chakravarty)
Uttarakhand government releases SOP for issue of anti-fungal drug, Amphotericin B, used for Mucormycosis (black fungus) treatment. “Medicine to only be issued to medical colleges & institutions of state, and no other private or individual prescription will be entertained,” the order states.
Assam reports 5,835 new cases, 4,311 recoveries and 73 deaths.
Telangana reports 3,982 new cases, 5,186 recoveries and 27 fatalities till 5:30 pm on Tuesday.
Punjab registers 7,143 fresh cases, 231 fatalities and 8,174 discharges in the last 24 hours.
Bihar reports 6,286 fresh cases and 11,174 recoveries.
West Bengal reports 19,428 new cases, 19,050 recoveries and 145 deaths.
Mumbai reports 953 cases and 44 deaths.
Maharashtra reports 28,438 new Covid cases, 52,898 discharges and 679 deaths.
Tamil Nadu on Tuesday reported 33,059 positive cases of Covid-19 taking the overall tally to 16,64,350. With 364 causalities in the past 24 hours, the death toll reached 18,369. As many as 21,362 people got discharged following treatment and there are still 2,42,929 active cases in Tamil Nadu.
Among the 37 districts in the state, Chennai recorded 6,016 cases and 85 deaths. The city has 48455 active cases. (PTI)
Gujarat reports 6447 new cases, 67 deaths and 9,557 discharges.
Uttar Pradesh reported 8,737 new cases, 21,108 recoveries and 255 deaths in the last 24 hours.
Delhi's Covishield stock for 18-44 group will last only 3 days, we might have to stop vaccination for them from next week, says AAP MLA Atishi. She adds, “Centre has sent over 60,000 Covaxin doses for 45-plus age group. Now we have two days' stock of this vaccine” (PTI)
Karnataka reports 30,309 new cases, 525 deaths and 58,395 discharges. The positivity rate is at 32.50%.
In a recently released media statement, Serum Institute of India has stated that it has never exported vaccines at the cost of people in India and remains committed to supporting the vaccination drive in the country.
Kerala on Tuesday reported 31,337 fresh COVID-19 cases, pushing the caseload to 21,70,651, while the toll mounted to 6,612 with 97 more deaths, the state government said. As many as 45,926 persons have been cured, taking the recoveries to 18,46,105 and the active cases to 3,47,626. (PTI)
Covaxin has been approved by the Drugs Controller General of India (DCGI) for Phase II/III clinical trials in the age group of 2 to 18 years, says Dr. VK Paul, Member-Health, Niti Aayog. “I have been told that trials will begin in the next 10-12 days,” he adds. (ANI)
Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal Tuesday said a variant of the novel coronavirus found in Singapore could usher in a third wave in the country, and appealed to the Centre to immediately halt air services with Singapore.
He said the new variant could be especially dangerous for children.
In a tweet, Kejriwal said, “A new variant of coronavirus found in Singapore is being said to be very dangerous for children. This can usher in the third wave (of COVID-19) in India. I appeal to the Central government to immediately halt air services with Singapore, and work on developing a vaccine for children on a priority basis.” Read more
Sydney businessman Govind Kant has died in India after contracting Covid-19. Kant, 47, who was considered to be a pioneer of solar industry in Australia, died in a hospital in Delhi on Sunday.
He had arrived in India in April for family reasons and was stranded here after a temporary travel ban was imposed by Australia on those travelling from India amid the second wave of the Covid-19 pandemic. Read more
Children orphaned by Covid-19 will get Rs 2,500 each till age of 25, their education will be free, says Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal. (PTI)
Every family that has had a death due to Covid among them will be given Rs 50,000 each as ex-gratia, says Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal. (A NI)
Lav Aggarwal, Joint Secretary, Ministry of Health, on Covid-19, says, “Eight states have more than 1 lakh active cases. 10 states have more than 50,000-1,00,00 active cases and 18 states have less than 50,000 active cases. Case positivity rate is at 14.10% in the country today.”
He adds, “On May 3, recovery rate was 81.7%, which has increased to 85.6% now. 4,22,436 recoveries were reported in the last 24 hours, the highest-ever for the country. A clear positive trend can be observed in the recoveries. A total of 199 districts in the country showing continued decline in cases and positivity since last 3 weeks. 1.8% of total population of India has been affected by the disease so far. We have been able to contain the spread of the infection to under 2% of the population.” (ANI)
Punjab Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh announces a special development grant of Rs 10 lakh for every village that achieves 100% vaccination target under the state government’s 'Corona Mukt Pind Abhiyan'. (ANI)
PM Modi interacted with state and district officials on the Covid-19 situation today. The officials informed the Prime Minister about efforts being undertaken to augment medical infrastructure and capacity building in rural areas.
The PM asked officials to compile the best practices and innovative steps so that these may be used in other districts of the country. He commended the officials who were working without taking any leave in spite of contracting Covid-19.
PM Modi remarked that local containment zones, aggressive testing and correct and complete information to the people are the weapons against the virus. He also stressed on the need to be more vigilant in the face of decreasing infections.
Modi informed that work is being done rapidly to install oxygen plants in hospitals in every district of the country through PM-CARES Fund and these plants have already started functioning in many hospitals.
PM said continuous efforts are being made to increase the supply of vaccines on a very large scale. He added that the Health Ministry is streamlining the system and process of vaccination. Attempts are being made to give a schedule of the next 15 days to the states in advance. (ANI)
PM Modi interacted with state and district officials on the Covid-19 situation today. The officials informed the Prime Minister about efforts being undertaken to augment medical infrastructure and capacity building in rural areas.
The PM asked officials to compile the best practices and innovative steps so that these may be used in other districts of the country. He commended the officials who were working without taking any leave in spite of contracting Covid-19.
PM Modi remarked that local containment zones, aggressive testing and correct and complete information to the people are the weapons against the virus. He also stressed on the need to be more vigilant in the face of decreasing infections.
Modi informed that work is being done rapidly to install oxygen plants in hospitals in every district of the country through PM-CARES Fund and these plants have already started functioning in many hospitals.
PM said continuous efforts are being made to increase the supply of vaccines on a very large scale. He added that the Health Ministry is streamlining the system and process of vaccination. Attempts are being made to give a schedule of the next 15 days to the states in advance. (ANI)
Delhi reports 4,482 new cases, 9403 recoveries and 265 deaths in the last 24 hours.
On Monday, the daily count of coronavirus-related deaths in India touched a new high of 4,329. This was higher than the count of 4,205 deaths recorded a week earlier on May 11. Meanwhile, it has been 12 days since the daily count of cases peaked. The cases have been on a decline since then.
Since the death curve usually has a two-week lag, it is expected that the death count would also begin to come down in a few days' time. In the period, however, it is possible that this count goes up further, because lots of states are reporting deaths that happened a few days to a couple of weeks earlier. Amitabh Sinha writes
The Odisha government has extended by two more weeks the ongoing lockdown to curb Covid-19. The restrictions will be enforce till 5 am on June 1. The relaxations on weekdays have been reduced to four hours, from 6 am to 11 am. The shutdown will continue on weekends.
Several roads in Chennai saw traffic jams on Tuesday as the Greater Chennai Police made e-pass mandatory for movement between police station limits during the 6 am to 10 am window, when restrictions are eased for the public to buy essentials.
Based on the orders of the new City Commissioner Shankar Jiwal, the police have divided the city into 12 districts and 348 sectors. There will be 13 vehicle checkpoints at the district border area and an additional 153 checkpoints will cover all important junctions and police limits. Read more here
Rejecting a petition seeking delivery of Covid-19 vaccines on a priority basis, the Delhi High Court said today it has become a “fashion in Delhi” that every now and then petitioners are rushing to court demanding first preference in vaccination. “Priority cannot be given. The government has its own priority,” the court said.
“Everybody is seeking priority. Everybody will be number 1? Who will be number 2? If we analyse, we will realise what a hopeless prayer this is?” the division bench of Chief Justice D N Patel and Justice Jyoti Singh further said. Read Sofi Ahsan's report
"A dip in the cases doesn't mean that we become careless. Your inputs can help us reduce vaccine wastage. There is a need to focus on the rural areas and all of us should share ideas on steps that can be taken," PM Modi added.
"It is important to share your experiences so that successful models can be emulated. We need to take care of all sections of the society during the pandemic and hence must devise strategies accordingly," the prime minister said, adding that the pandemic must be brought in control without any major troubles for the citizens
"It is important to share your experiences so that successful models can be emulated. We need to take care of all sections of the society during the pandemic and hence must devise strategies accordingly," the prime minister said, adding that the pandemic must be brought in control without any major troubles for the citizens
"Each district has its own challenges and we must aim to end the pandemic. Each one of you plays a crucial role in this fight. In a way, you are the field commander. The only weapons we have are aggressive testing, local containment zones and providing correct information to the general public. There is also a need to curb the practice of black marketing and hoarding of medical supplies," PM Modi said.
Interacting with field officials from states on their experience in handling the coronavirus pandemic, Prime Minister Narendra Modi asked them to share their learnings and findings with him
The Indian Medical Association (IMA) has said at least 270 doctors have died of Covid-19 across the country in the second wave. This includes former IMA president Dr K K Aggarwal, who succumbed to the disease on Monday. IMA says the most deaths happened in Bihar, where at least 78 medical practitioners have died, followed by Uttar Pradesh (37), Delhi (29) and Andhra Pradesh (22).
In the first wave, 748 doctors had died of the virus. "Last year, 748 doctors across India succumbed to Covid-19, while in the current wave, in a short period, we have lost 270 doctors. The second wave of the pandemic is turning out to be extremely fatal for all and especially for the healthcare workers who are at the forefront," IMA president Dr JA Jayalal said, according to PTI.
The Allahabad High Court Monday observed that the “entire medical system” of Uttar Pradesh “pertaining to the smaller cities and villages can only be taken to be like a famous Hindi saying, Ram Bharose (at the mercy of God)”.
During the hearing, over a PIL on the Covid situation in Uttar Pradesh, the court took into account submissions by the government over health infrastructure in districts, remarking that these were inadequate, and warned of a third wave. The Bench of Justices Siddhartha Varma and Ajit Kumar also asked why the government was not making vaccines on a large scale. Read Asad Rehman's report
Days before he resigned as head of the Indian SARS-COV-2 Genomics Consortium, virologist Shahid Jameel, one of the most prominent scientific voices on the pandemic, discussed what has led to the rise in India’s Covid numbers and when it can be expected to end. Read edited excerpts from the interaction or watch below:
In the past fortnight, active cases in Uttar Pradesh have declined 52 per cent to 1.49 lakh. The state reported 9,391 new cases and 285 deaths on Monday, down from 223 fatalities and record 38,055 infections registered on April 24. On May 7, the state reported 28,076 new cases and the highest single-day toll of 372 deaths. Read more here
The benchmark equity indices on the BSE and National Stock Exchange (NSE) opened around 1 per cent higher on Tuesday tracking the gains in the global market and a drop in fresh coronavirus (Covid-19) cases in the country.
The S&P BSE Sensex reclaimed the 50,000-mark in the opening deals while the Nifty 50 reclaimed 15,000-levels. At 9.29 am, the Sensex was up 640.42 points (1.29 per cent) at 50,221.15, while the Nifty was trading at 15,116.15, up by 193.00 points (1.29 per cent). Read more here
India reported 2.63 lakh cases of the novel coronavirus on Monday. The biggest contributor was Karnataka, which added 38,603 cases, followed by Tamil Nadu with 33,075 cases. Maharashtra registered 26,616 cases. At least 4,329 deaths were reported on the same day, the highest so far in a day. Maharashtra reported more than 1,000 deaths, while Karnataka had 476.
India saw its active cases drop by about 1.65 lakh on Monday, the biggest drop ever. There are now 33.52 lakh active cases in the country.
What really makes the Prime Minister’s constituency stand apart from other districts in Uttar Pradesh, where functional infrastructure remains a challenge, is the one-of-its-kind Covid Integrated Command and Control Centre, just 3 km from the ghats. Read Dipankar Ghose's report from the Express series 'Covid in the Countryside'
On May 13, Gregory Raymond Raphael and wife Soja, both teachers at St Thomas School in Meerut, received a call saying their 24-year-old son Joefred Varghese Gregory had passed away due to Covid. Joefred’s twin Ralphred was at the same hospital battling for his life, and the parents say when they talked to him, Ralphred immediately sensed something was wrong.
The following day, Ralphred also succumbed to Covid.
Born three minutes apart, the two brothers—hard-working, devoted to the family—died within hours of each other. “Our family is broken. Covid took away my sons who had never harmed anyone in their entire lives,” says Raphael.
Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia Monday said that the Central government has communicated to the Delhi government that the city will not be receiving any more vaccines for the 18-44 age category for the month of May.
He stated that in a written communication from the Central government received on Sunday, the Delhi government was told that Delhi would be provided with 3.83 lakh more vaccines for May for the 45 plus age category, but that there would be no more vaccines provided for the 18-45 age category for the month. Read more
EVEN AS vulnerable communities suffered the impact of Covid-19 as well as extreme heat, additional stressors like cyclones needed to be handled with a concrete back-up plan, said Prof Dileep Mavalankar, Director, Indian Institute of Public Health.
He said there was a need to ensure that all Covid centres were safe, besides having a back-up plan for oxygen and other vital supplies during disruptions caused due to Cyclone Tauktae.
Prof Mavalankar said while the impact of a cyclone could lead to flooding and power disruptions, it was essential to ensure availability of oxygen and other essential medicine, food and clean water for Covid patients. Read more
AFTER a gap of two months, daily tally of Covid-19 cases in Pimpri-Chinchwad fell below the 1000-mark on Saturday, and remained there on Sunday and Monday. The PCMC administration said it expected the numbers to fall further after the “peak” of March-April.
On Sunday, the industrial city registered 959 cases and on Monday, 814 cases. Monday's number is lower than that of March 16, when Pimpri-Chinchwad had registered 894 cases but immediately the next day, the cases had crossed the 1000-mark. In some of the following days, the number of new cases daily had crossed 3,000.
Mayor Usha Dhore said tighter restrictions, especially the weekend lockdown, are yielding results and these should continue till cases fall further. Read more
Himachal Pradesh recorded 70 Covid deaths on Sunday and 35 deaths on Monday as of 2pm – a sharp spike from the 28 fatalities the state had recorded in the beginning of the money.
A total of 827 Covid patients have died in Himachal in May alone, as per government data.
The state currently has more than 34,000 active Covid cases, and as per the Central government’s latest bulletin, seven out of 12 districts in Himachal are currently recording a positivity rate of more than 20 per cent.
According to the state government, over 90 per cent of Covid patients are in home isolation. Read more
Pune City Police have detained 96 people for taking out a two-wheeler rally during the funeral of a 28-year-old history-sheeter, who was murdered in Bibvewadi area.
Madhav Hanumant Waghate was murdered, allegedly by a group of about 10 armed men, on Saturday. His friend Siddharth Palange had lodged the complaint of murder in this case at the Bibvewadi police station.
Also, Sachin Gawli (23) from the rival group also lodged an offence of attempt to murder against deceased Waghate. Gawli alleged that Waghate and his accomplices allegedly attacked him brutally, leaving him injured, during the brawl at around 1.30 am on Saturday.
The ongoing lockdown in Haryana — or Mahamari Alert/ Surakshit Haryana as the state government prefers to call it — has managed to contain the rapid spread of the virus, if numbers released by the administration is to be believed. The number of deaths due to the virus, however, continues to be a cause of concern for authorities.
Till May 2, there were 4486 fatalities due to the virus. That number increased to 6546 on May 15, further jumping to 6685 on May 16.
Concerned health department officials, however, maintain that the increase in fatalities is majorly due to patients, who were admitted to hospitals before the lockdown commenced on May 2, succumbing to the virus. Officials strongly believed that a decline in the number of Covid-related fatalities is likely to be witnessed in the coming few days. Read more
For the second consecutive day, there will be no Covid-19 vaccination in Pune city on Tuesday due to unavailability of either Covishield or Covaxin vaccine doses.
“The Pune Municipal Corporation has not received any supply of vaccines so all the vaccination centres will remain closed on May 18,” said Mayor Murlidhar Mohol.
There was no vaccination on Monday as well due to the unavailability of vaccines. Around 9.45 lakh vaccine doses have been administered in the city so far, with 2.5 lakh residents getting both the doses while 4.45 lakh residents have got the first dose. Read more
PUNJAB HEALTH Minister Balbir Singh Sidhu on Monday said that the government will take stringent action against hospitals which are overcharging for Covid treatment.
While presiding over a virtual meeting with the state-level committee of the Indian Medical Association (IMA), he said, "We are receiving complaints of private hospitals fleecing patients by charging above the rates fixed by the government. If any hospital does so they will not be spared.”
Sidhu said that if a hospital or a doctor exploits any patient, the government will be forced to take very stringent action against them under the Epidemic Diseases Act. The government is empowered to shut the hospital, or take control of the hospital, he added. Read more
Rajasthan reports 11,597 new cases, 29,459 recoveries and 157 deaths in the last 24 hours.
Gujarat continued to see a drop in the number of daily Covid-19 cases, with 7,135 new cases and 81 deaths due to the infection reported on Monday. The state at present has 99,620 active cases, of which 762 are on the ventilator.
However, the state’s district-wise tally of active cases does not match with the individual district’s hospital bed occupancy tally.
The Covid-19 vaccination drive is suspended in Gujarat until Tuesday.
Meanwhile, anticipating the impact of Cyclone Tauktae in areas of Ahmedabad district, the local administration has stationed 17 ambulances and two ICU ambulances. Ahmedabad city and rural parts combined have a total of 110 emergency ambulances in service at present.
Centre has dropped plasma therapy from Covid treatment protocol.
Maharashtra has vaccinated over 2 crore people now. According to data available from the CoWin dashboard, 2,00,90,103 have been given the jab. (ENS)
Maharashtra reported 26,616 new Covid-19 cases, 48,211 recoveries and 516 deaths in the last 24 hours. With this, the total number of cases has reached 54,05,068. The state has recorded 48,74,582 recoveries and 82,486 deaths till date. It now has 4,45,495 active cases.
West Bengal reports 19,003 new cases, 19,101 recoveries and 147 deaths.
Himachal Pradesh recorded 70 Covid deaths on Sunday and 35 deaths on Monday as of 2pm – a sharp spike from the 28 fatalities the state had recorded in the beginning of the money.
A total of 827 Covid patients have died in Himachal in May alone, as per government data.
The state currently has more than 34,000 active Covid cases, and as per the Central government’s latest bulletin, seven out of 12 districts in Himachal are currently recording a positivity rate of more than 20 per cent. Read more
The Pimpri-Chinchwad Municipal Corporation will not be conducting any vaccinations against Covid-19 on Tuesday, for the second consecutive day, as it has run out of vaccine doses. All vaccination centres in the twin city remained shut on Monday too.
“Local residents are urged not to crowd the vaccination centres as no centre will be open,” said a civic official.
Mayor Usha Dhore said the civic body was planning to float global tenders to purchase at least 15 lakh doses. “I have been told by the civic health department that we will need at least 15 lakh doses. I have urged the PCMC administration to explore the possibility of purchasing the doses directly,” she said. Read more
Assam has recorded 92 Covid fatalities, highest single-day jump of 6,394 new cases, says CM Himanta Biswa Sarma. (PTI)
Prime Minister Narendra Modi will on May 18 interact with field officials from states and districts to converse about their experience in handling the pandemic, says the PMO. Many of these districts have seen a huge surge in cases and widespread infection. (ANI)