Beneficiaries wait to receive a dose of Covid-19 vaccine, at a vaccination centre in Thiruvananthapuram, Tuesday, Sep 7, 2021. (PTI)Coronavirus pandemic live news update: Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Saturday said that dine-in at hotels and restaurants will be permitted in the state. The state has also decided to reopen bars. The entry will be permitted to those who are fully vaccinated with both doses of vaccines against Covid-19. The hotels and restaurants can permit 50 per cent of the seating capacity.
“The staff of the establishments should have received both doses of vaccination. Air conditioning must not be operated and only up to 50% of the seating capacity should be occupied,” said Chief Minister Vijayan. The state has also decided to allow functioning of indoor stadiums and swimming pools.
Kerala on Saturday reported 16,671 new cases and 120 deaths. With this the total death toll in the state touched 24,248 while the active cases stand at 1,65,154.
India recorded 29,616 new covid-19 cases in the 24 hours ending 8 am Saturday. With 290 new deaths, the country’s death toll now stands at over 4.46 lakh. Active cases stand at over 3.01 lakh while over 3.28 crore people have recovered after testing positive. Out of these, the highest cases were reported by Kerala at 17,983 along with 127 fatalities.
At a vaccination centre in Bengaluru. (File Photo)
The union health ministry on Saturday said that India’s Covid-19 vaccination coverage crossed 85 crore (85,54,78,279). More than 62 lakh (62,42,122) vaccine doses were administered on Saturday till 7 pm.
The Surat Municipal Corporation on Saturday made Covid-19 vaccination certificates compulsory for people going to the civic body offices, using BRTS or city bus services, or going to multiplexes, hotels and restaurants in the Surat city.
According to the health department, around 95 per cent of targeted citizens in Surat had been vaccinated with the first dose and 45 per cent with the second dose. Read More
Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Saturday said that dine-in at hotels and restaurants will be permitted in the state. The state has also decided to reopen bars. The entry will be permitted to those who are fully vaccinated with both doses of vaccines against Covid-19. The hotels and restaurants can permit 50 per cent of the seating capacity.
“The staff of the establishments should have received both doses of vaccination. Air conditioning must not be operated and only up to 50% of the seating capacity should be occupied,” said Chief Minister Vijayan. The state has also decided to allow functioning of indoor stadiums and swimming pools.
Kerala on Saturday reported 16,671 new cases and 120 deaths. With this the total death toll in the state touched 24,248 while the active cases stand at 1,65,154.
Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray on Saturday said cinema halls and drama theatres in the state will be permitted to operate from October 22 on the condition that they follow all the protocols required to prevent the spread of coronavirus. The state government will soon issue the standard operating procedure (SOPs) in this regard, he said.
Thackeray was speaking at a meeting of the Covid-19 task force, which was also attended by Shiv Sena's Rajya Sabha member Sanjay Raut, state chief secretary Sitaram Kunte, filmmakers Rohit Shetty and Kunal Kapoor, theatre personality Makarand Deshpande, Marathi actors Subodh Bhave, Aadesh Bandekar, among others. In the meeting, it was announced that cinema halls and drama theatres will be allowed to function from October 22, provided they follow all Covid-19- related health protocols. (PTI)
People who are fully inoculated and want to travel abroad will have a CoWin certificate with their full date of birth, official sources said on Saturday amid ongoing discussions between India and the UK over Covid vaccination certificates.
Currently, CoWin certificates mention the beneficiary's age based on the year of birth besides other details.
The new feature is being introduced in compliance with the WHO norms and likely to be available from next week. (PTI)
The active cases in the counrty now constitute 0.90 per cent of the total infections, while the nationwide COVID-19 recovery rate was recorded at 97.78 per cent, the highest since March 2020, the ministry said.
India faced a "dual information challenge" in the wake of the pandemic with inundation of misleading and fake information amid the urban population through social media and smartphone applications and last mile communication varying in rural and remote areas, as it asserted that flow of authentic information is crucial to addressing misinformation.
Speaking at the inaugural Ministerial Summit for Information and Democracy convened by French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian on Friday, Minister for Information and Broadcasting Anurag Thakur pointed out that while the world is battling the COVID-19 pandemic, the task of combating the equally damaging "Infodemic" also presents a challenge to countries, emphasising that it is important that the issue of Infodemic is addressed at the highest level.
Out of India's total cases on Saturday, Kerala recorded the highest at at 17,983 along with 127 fatalities.
India recorded 29,616 new covid-19 cases in the 24 hours ending 8 am Saturday. With 290 new deaths, the country’s death toll now stands at over 4.46 lakh. Active cases stand at over 3.01 lakh while over 3.28 crore people have recovered after testing positive.
Pune City Police have arrested two men from Gujarat for falsely claiming to be authorised distributors of a rapid self-test kit to diagnose Covid-19, manufactured by the Mylab Discovery Solutions Private Limited.
Mylab Discovery Solutions, a company based in Pune, is the manufacturer as well as distributor of the Coviself Covid-19 self-test kit.
But the accused and their accomplices allegedly set up a website with a similar name, a fraudulent email address as well as a fake Facebook page called ‘Paswan Import Export Private Limited’ through one Bhavesh Paswan, who is a wanted accused in the case.
Andhra Pradesh recorded 1,246 fresh COVID-19 cases in the 24 hours ending 9 am on Friday, taking the caseload to 20,44,490. A total of 2.79 crore samples have been tested till date and the overall infection positivity rate is 7.32 per cent, down from 7.42 per cent the previous week The total recoveries increased to 20,16,837 at the rate of 98.64 per cent (up from 98.59 per cent). During the period, 1,450 infected persons got cured of coronavirus.
The overall mortality rate, after a total of 14,118 deaths, including 10 in a day, remained stable at 0.69 per cent. The state is now ranked fourth in the country with 13,535 active cases. Only three districts showed a considerable increase in Covid-19 positivity rate while the remaining 10 had seen a slide in Andhra Pradesh week-on-week. East Godavari topped the list with increase in positivity rate from 4.12 to 5.20 per cent, the only district in the state above the five per cent mark. --PTI
"All places of worship will reopen for devotees from the first day of Navaratri, that is, October 7, 2021, while observing all Covid safety protocols," announced Maharashtra CM Uddhav Thackeray on Friday.
Schools across Maharashtra would reopen from October 4, the state government said on Friday. "All the schools in rural areas will resume physical classes for standards 5th to 12th," PTI quoted school education minister Varsha Gaikwad as saying. Physical classes for standards 8th to 12th would resume in urban areas, she added. Until now physical classes were being conducted in schoold located only in those areas which were reporting relatively fewer Covid cases.
More than 81.39 crore Covid vaccine doses have been provided to states and Union Territories so far, while 85,92,550 doses are in the pipeline, the Union Health Ministry said on Friday.
Over 4.23 crore balance and unutilised vaccine doses are still available with the states and Union Territories for inoculation, it said.
The Union government is committed to accelerating the pace and expanding the scope of Covid vaccination throughout the country, the ministry said in a statement. --PTI
Bihar government decided to open Anganwadi centres and primary schools from November 15.
"Corona pandemic restrictions have yielded positive results. After reviewing the situation today, it has been decided to open all Anganwadi centers and schools for small children by November 15, 2021," Kumar tweeted in Hindi.
Ladakh has reported over five-fold increase in active Covid cases in the last 10 days, officials said on Friday. The Union Territory reported 21 new cases of COVID-19 on Thursday, taking the tally to 20,771, they said. On September 13, the number of active Covid cases in Ladakh was 30, including 28 in Leh and 2 in Kargil.
On Thursday, the active cases increased to 164, including 161 in Leh and 3 in Kargil, they said. All the 21 new cases were reported from Leh, they said. A total of 1,620 sample reports in Ladakh, including 618 from Leh and 979 from Kargil, were found negative, they said. --PTI
The cumulative doses administered in the country till Friday under the nationwide COVID-19 vaccination drive has exceeded 84.15 crore. doses administered in the country so far under the nationwide COVID-19 vaccination drive has exceeded 84.15 crore.
COVID-19 patients at high risk of hospitalisation or those with severe disease should be given a combination of two antibody treatments, according to latest World Health Organization guidelines published in The BMJ on Friday. The WHO Guideline Development Group (GDG) panel recommends treatment combining casirivimab and imdevimab for two specific groups of patients with COVID-19.
The first are patients with non-severe COVID-19 who are at highest risk of hospitalisation and the second are those with severe or critical COVID-19 who are seronegative, meaning they have not mounted their own antibody response to COVID-19. The first recommendation is based on new evidence from three trials that have not yet been peer reviewed.
At least 20 women and five children have tested positive for Covid-19 in Byculla women’s jail last week. A separate section for male inmates also witnessed 10 cases. A prison official said that those who tested positive have been shifted to a nearby school. One of the prisoners, who is a senior citizen, has been shifted to a civic hospital. There are over 450 prisoners in Byculla prison.
ALMOST EIGHT months after it rolled out the Covid-19 vaccination drive across the country, the Centre on Thursday announced the introduction of home vaccination for the those with restricted mobility, disability and special needs.
Also, in its first official statement over the UK’s new travel guidance not recognising Covid-19 vaccination certificates issued by India, the Union Health Ministry said that “both sides are in dialogue” and a “quick resolution” to the issue will be found.
Announcing the home vaccination provision, head of India’s Covid-19 task force Dr V K Paul said, “I am pleased to inform you that we have made new provisions. For those persons, whose mobility is such that they cannot be moved out of the house for vaccination, or those who have a disability, or if someone has special needs that they cannot go to a vaccination centre, we have made new provisions.”
The Centre on Thursday informed the Supreme Court that it has decided to include death by suicides happening within 30 days of a person testing Covid-19 positive too as Covid-19 death, thereby entitling their next of kin to get Rs 50,000 as ex-gratia.
In guidelines submitted earlier to court on what would constitute a Covid death, the government had said deaths occurring due to poisoning, suicide, homicide, accidents etc will not be treated as Covid-19 deaths. Even if the virus infection is an accompanying condition. The court had asked the government to reconsider this condition.
Appreciating Centre’s decision to provide ex-gratia assistance to the kin of people who died of Covid-19, the Supreme Court Thursday said it has to take judicial notice of the fact that “what India has done, no other country could do”.
A bench comprising Justice MR Shah and Justice AS Bopanna, hearing a batch of petitions filed by advocate Gaurav Kumar Bansal and some interveners who lost their family members to coronavirus, observed that the Union government’s step would bring some solace to the persons who have suffered.
“Today we are very happy. There will be some solace to the persons who have suffered. Everything the Govt is performing… We’re happy that something is being done to wipe out tears of the person who suffered,” Justice MR Shah was quoted as saying by Live Law. “We have to take judicial notice of the fact that what India has done, no other country could do,” he added.
The COVID-19 tally of Andaman and Nicobar Islands rose to 7,616 on Friday as one more person tested positive for the infection, a health bulletin said. The Union territory now has 17 active cases, while 7,470 people have recovered from the disease so far, including four in the last 24 hours, it said. The coronavirus death toll remained unchanged at 129 as no fresh fatality was recorded.
India recorded 31,382 new covid-19 cases in the 24 hours ending 8 am Friday. With 318 new deaths, the country's death toll now stands at over 4.46 lakh. Active cases stand at over 3 lakh while 3.28 crore people have recovered after testing positive.