A total of 1.78 lakh cases were seen in November. (Express photo by Praveen Khanna)Coronavirus India News HIGHLIGHTS: The national capital recorded 5,664 new Covid-19 cases on Sunday, taking the infection tally to over 3.92 lakh, even as the positivity rate jumped to nearly 13 per cent, authorities said.
According to the Delhi government’s latest health bulletin, the death toll has risen to 6,562 with 51 more fatalities. This is the fifth day on the trot that the city has reported over 5,000 new cases amid festivities and rising pollution in the city. A total of 5,062 new cases were reported on Saturday, 5,891 on Friday — the highest so far — 5,739 on Thursday and 5,673 on Wednesday.
The number of deaths reported on Sunday was the highest in the last five days. The city reported 41 deaths on Saturday, 47 on Friday, 27 on Thursday, 40 on Wednesday, 44 on Tuesday and 54 on Monday. Of the 3,92,370 cases reported in Delhi so far, 3,51,635 have either recovered, been discharged or migrated out, the bulletin said.
Crowded Sarojini Nagar market ahead of festivals in New Delhi on Saturday. (Express photo by Praveen Khanna)
High rises and residential complexes in Mumbai’s northern suburbs — Borivli, Kandivali and Malad — continue to pose a challenge to the civic body in managing Covid-19 situation. According to the BMC data, the highest number of sealed buildings are located in R Central ward, which covers Borivli and Gorai areas, which have recorded the highest active Covid-19 cases. Read More
Gujarat reported fewer than 900 fresh coronavirus cases Sunday, indicating a further dip in the number of daily cases reported over the past few days. A total of 860 new cases were reported in the state on the day, down from 935 cases reported Saturday and 969 a day earlier. Read More
Compare with September, October recorded a staggering 70 per cent drop in Covid-19 cases in Pimpri-Chinchwad. The civic administration, however, reiterated that it is too early to say the situation is fully under control. Read More
Sikkim's COVID-19 tally rose to 3,958 as 18 more persons tested positive for the virus while one more fatality pushed the death toll to 73, an official said on Sunday. Of the 18 new cases, East Sikkim district reported 16 cases and South Sikkim two, state Information Education and Communication (IEC) member Sonam Bhutia said.
Sikkim presently has 234 active COVID-19 cases, while 3,569 patients have recovered from the disease and 82 others have migrated to other states, Bhutia said. The Himalayan state has so far reported 73 deaths due to COVID-19.
East Sikkim district has the highest number of COVID-19 cases at 2,947. A total of 56,699 samples have been tested so far for COVID-19 including 133 samples in the last-24-hours, the official added.
The national capital recorded 5,664 new COVID-19 cases on Sunday, taking the infection tally to over 3.92 lakh, even as the positivity rate jumped to nearly 13 per cent, authorities said. According to the Delhi government's latest health bulletin, the death toll has risen to 6,562 with 51 more fatalities. This is the fifth day on the trot that the city has reported over 5,000 new cases amid festivities and rising pollution in the city.
A total of 5,062 new cases were reported on Saturday, 5,891 on Friday -- the highest so far -- 5,739 on Thursday and 5,673 on Wednesday. The number of deaths reported on Sunday was the highest in the last five days. The city reported 41 deaths on Saturday, 47 on Friday, 27 on Thursday, 40 on Wednesday, 44 on Tuesday and 54 on Monday.
Of the 3,92,370 cases reported in Delhi so far, 3,51,635 have either recovered, been discharged or migrated out, the bulletin said.
Punjab recorded 325 fresh Covid cases and 12 deaths on Sunday. The total infections reached 1,33,975 and the toll climbed to 4,214. Among 12 deaths reported as per the state bulletin released by the health department, two each were reported from Jalandhar, Patiala and Tarn Taran; and one each from Ludhiana, Sangrur, Fazilka and Moga.
The maximum fresh cases were recorded in Ludhiana (68), followed by Jalandhar (61), Mohali (32), Patiala (28) and Amritsar (23). Just one fresh case was recorded in Fatehgarh Sahib district while the number stood at zero for Tarn Taran. As many as 368 patients recovered on Sunday while 16 patients continue to be 'critical and on ventilator support' and 99 are on oxygen support.
According to the district-wise data for total cases, Ludhiana is leading the tally with 20,360 total cases, 339 active cases and 840 deaths. It is followed by Jalandhar with 15,195 total cases, 608 active cases and 470 deaths. Patiala has recorded 12,837 total cases, 290 active cases and 380 deaths. At the bottom of the tally is Mansa district with 1,925 total cases, 75 active cases and 36 deaths. The total tally in Punjab stands at 1,33,975 total cases, 4,195 active cases, 1,25,566 recoveries and 4,214 deaths.
Manipur health department issued a new standard operating procedure (SOP) for COVID Appropriate Behaviour to be enforced at local, village and community level.
Manipur Chief Secretary Rajesh Kumar, in a notification issued late Saturday evening, stated that the new SOP was introduced to check the continued local spread of COVID-19 in different parts of the state owing to the failure of the people not following existing SOPs.
“The local spread of COVID-19 continues in different parts of the state. As such, there is need to implement a comprehensive set of public heatlh measures that are adapted to the local context and epidemiology of the disease”, said Rajesh Kumar.
As per the new SOP, it has not only restricted selling of tobacco products in all localities but also consumption of alcoholic drinks.
It said that local shops that do not enforce physical distancing by their customers may be forcibly closed for a week. Restriction has been put in place in the entry and exit of non-locals in any locality at night.
Social and customary ceremonies, rituals and funerals have been limited for the family members only. In case of where other persons are required to attend such functions, the size of the gathering should be limited to 20 or less, it said.
It maintained that get-togethers, mingling with neighbours, friends or relatives, playing cards/ ludos, gathering in tea shops, occupying public places/ spaces in groups should be avoided. Besides, restrictions may be made in the entry and exit of non-locals during night, it said.
To organised gathering of large people for social, sports, cultural event among others is permitted if there is concrete justification after obtaining permission of the DC concerned and 50 per cent limit of the hall by maintaining strict safety protocols.
The notification stated that the enforcement of the guidelines will be looked after by Covid Awareness cum Enforcement Committees at the state level, assembly level, district level and local level.
(By Jimmy Leivon)
Uttar Pradesh's Gautam Buddh Nagar recorded 173 new COVID-19 cases on Sunday, pushing the district's infection tally to 18,012, official data showed. The number of active cases reached 1,261 from 1,225 on Saturday, according to the data released by the state health department for a 24-hour period.
On the brighter side, 137 more patients got discharged during the period and the overall number of recoveries in the district reached 16,683, sixth highest in the state, it showed.
The district's death toll stood at 68 with a mortality rate of 0.37 per cent. The recovery rate of patients dropped to 92.62 per cent from 92.75 per cent the previous day, the statistics showed. Meanwhile, the number of active cases in the state came down to 23,323 from 23,768 on Saturday. It was 27,317 on last Sunday, the data showed.
The overall recoveries in the state reached 4,53,458 as the death toll linked to COVID-19 climbed to 7,051 on Sunday. So far, 4,83,832 people have tested positive for the infection in Uttar Pradesh, according to government officials.
Tripura's COVID-19 tally rose to 30,794 on Sunday as 77 more people tested positive for the infection, a health department official said.
Tripura at present has 1,403 active COVID-19 cases, while 29,025 people have recovered from the disease and 23 patients have migrated to other states, he said.
The state has so far reported 343 COVID-19 deaths, the official said. As many as 4,59,894 samples have been tested for COVID-19 in the state so far, he said, adding that 2,72,711 samples were tested by Rapid Antigen Test (RAT) and 1,87,183 by RTPCR method.
The wife and daughter of the district magistrate of Shahjahanpur have tested positive for COVID-19, the senior official said on Sunday. The city magistrate of Shahjahanpur too has tested positive for the virus and is under home quarantine.
District magistrate of Shahjahanpur Indra Vikram Singh said his wife was feeling feverish since the last few days and got herself tested along with their daughter. Singh said he has tested negative but quarantined himself at his official residence while his wife and daughter are undergoing treatment at a private hospital in Ghaziabad, he said.
The number of COVID-19 patients under home isolation in Delhi has jumped by a margin of over 5,800 in the last ten days, even as crowding due to festivities, rise in pollution and other factors have led to a massive surge in daily cases lately.
The count of home quarantined cases on October 19 was 14,164 which fell marginally on October 20 to 14,046. However, since then, these cases showed an upward trend, and on October 31 the figures stood at 20,093, according to official data.
In this period, the number of containment zones have also increased from 2,724 on October 21 to 3,274 on October 31.
Delhi recorded 5,062 fresh COVID-19 cases on Saturday, taking the infection tally to over 3.86 lakh, even as the positivity rate jumped to nearly 11.5 per cent. This was the fourth consecutive day when over 5,000 cases were reported in a day. The highest single-day spike till date -- 5,891 cases -- was recorded on Friday.
Comedian and YouTube personality Bhuvan Bam has tested positive for coronavirus. The artiste announced the news through a series of Instagram stories on Sunday.
Sharing that he had been unwell for the past few days, the YouTuber wrote, “Beetey kuch dino se tabiyat kharaab chal rahi hai (I’ve been unwell for the last few days). Test results have come and I’m Covid positive.”
Bam added, “Iss virus ko lightly mat lena (don’t take this virus lightly). Mask lagaao (wear a mask). Keep sanitising yourself. And social distancing maintain karo. Sab theek raha toh mil jaaunga yahin pe (You will find me here if everything goes well).” READ MORE
The wife and daughter of Shahjahanpur district magistrate have tested positive for COVID-19, a senior official said on Sunday, reported PTI.
The city magistrate of Shahjahanpur has also tested positive for coronavirus and is under home quarantine.
Indra Vikram Singh, District magistrate of Shahjahanpur, said his wife was feeling feverish since the last few days and got herself tested along with their daughter. Singh said he has tested negative but quarantined himself at his official residence while his wife and daughter are undergoing treatment at a private hospital in Ghaziabad.
Bharat Biotech is planning to launch its vaccine for COVID-19 in the second quarter next year if it gets the requisite approvals from the Indian regulatory authorities, a top company official said.
It said its immediate focus is to conduct the Phase 3 trials successfully across sites in the country.
The company’s vaccine candidate -Covaxin- has been developed in collaboration with the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) – National Institute of Virology (NIV) using inactivated Sars-Cov-2, the virus that causes COVID-19. The virus was isolated in an ICMR lab.
A large number of elderly citizens with co-morbidities, a high population density and negligence towards hospitalisation were among the reasons for rising Covid-related death and positivity rates in West Bengal, said health officials on Saturday.
At 1.86 per cent, West Bengal has the second highest death rate (proportion of fatality to Covid-19 cases) in the country after Maharashtra’s 2.6 per cent while the national average hovers around 1.5 per cent. In the initial phase of the pandemic, West Bengal’s Covid death rate was a whopping 12.5 per cent.
In the last one month, the positivity rate has jumped from 7.23 per cent to 9.33 per cent in West Bengal.
Telangana's Covid-19 tally rose to 2,40,048, with 1,416 new cases while five fatalities pushed the death toll to 1,341, PTI quoted the state government as saying.
There are 18,241 active cases in the state while as many as 15,388 people were in home isolation, a bulletin said on October 31.
The case fatality rate in the state was 0.55 per cent, as compared to the national average of 1.5 per cent.
Doctors at Gokuldas Tejpal (GT) hospital have now started pushing the state government to consider converting GT hospital back into a non-Covid facility, as routine non-Covid procedures have been on hold since March. Read More
An observational study conducted by an Ahmedabad-based private hospital among 549 Covid-19 patients has found that those admitted in intensive care unit (ICU) often have higher prevalence of comorbidities and a greater predisposition of developing complications, even as age affected the disease course adversely, resulting in poorer outcomes in the elderly. Read More
Gujarat saw a further decline in daily Covid-19 cases with 935 fresh cases reported Saturday which took the state’s total virus count to over 1.73 lakh. In October, the state had added over 35,600 cases, a drop from September when it had reported around 41,000 cases. Read More
Tamil Nadu Agriculture Minister R Doraikkannu died Saturday owing to COVID-19-related complications.
The 72-year-old AIADMK leader had been hospitalised in the second week of October. Late on October 31, Kauvery Hospital in Chennai released a statement saying he had passed away. Doraikkannu was a three-term MLA.
After witnessing a drop in the number of active Covid-19 patients for over a month, the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) on Saturday registered a slight increase as the number of new patients was higher than those who recovered, for the first time since September 25. Read More
Manipur government on Saturday extended the unlock guidelines issued on October 1 till November 30. An order to this effect was issued by Manipur chief secretary Rajesh Kumar. The development comes a day after Manipur Chief Minister N Biren Singh announced that a new SOP would be issued for the state.
N Biren Singh said the government was taking up several developmental works despite hindrances due to the pandemic. The government had been coordinating with various civil society organisations to raise awareness among the citizens on Covid-19.
Although the government had allowed opening of schools, colleges, education institutions and coaching institutions, separate guidelines and SOP would be issued soon. All hotels and restaurants have been allowed to open. Cinemas/ theatres/ multiplexes will be allowed to open with upto 50 per cent of their seating capacity. Opening of all financial institutes, private banks, insurance companies among others have also been permitted.
The government further said the number of persons allowed to gather in open spaces will depend on the size of the ground and wearing of face masks, social distancing, provision for thermal screening was mandatory. Local retails shops dealing with essential commodities have been permitted to open in all districts from 7am to 6pm on all days except Sunday.
(Reported by Jimmy Leivon from Manipur)
As per a latest bulletin, Tamil Nadu Agriculture Minister R Doraikkannu, battling Covid-19 and on life support, is extremely critical. The 72-year-old minister's health has "suffered a significant deterioration in vital functions and he is extremely critical despite being on maximal life support," Kauvery Hospital's Executive Director Dr Aravindan Selvaraj said in a bulletin. The hospital had said earlier this week that the minister was being treated for severe Covid-19 pneumonia and its complications and maintained the functions of his vital organs was challenging, considering his multiple comorbidities.
Meanwhile, coming to the UK, Prime Minister Boris Johnson is considering imposing new national lockdown measures next week, amid concerns that hospitals across the country are overwhelmed by a resurgence in COVID-19 cases, The Times newspaper reported. The new restrictions could be introduced on Wednesday and remain in place until December 1, the Times said. Johnson is expected to hold a news conference on Monday to announce the new measures, under which everything could be closed except essential shops and “educational settings,” the newspaper said.
In a bid to prevent the spread of coronavirus, the Rajasthan government on Saturday introduced an amendment bill in the state assembly to make wearing a face mask or cover mandatory, PTI reported. The Rajasthan Epidemic Diseases (Amendment) Bill, 2020 was introduced by state Parliamentary Affairs Minister Shanti Dhariwal. A new clause in the Section 4 of the Rajasthan Epidemic Diseases Act, 2020 has been inserted, which proposes to prohibit the movement of people at public places without properly covering mouth and nose with a face mask or cover.
COVID-19 patients who were administered a novel antibody had fewer symptoms and were less likely to require hospitalisation or emergency medical care than those who did not receive the therapy, according to a new study.
The ongoing Phase II clinical trial, whose interim results were published in The New England Journal of Medicine, tested three different doses of LY-CoV555, a monoclonal antibody derived from the blood of a recovered COVID-19 patient.
The analysis indicated a reduced viral load in outpatients with mild to moderate cases of COVID-19 at the 2,800-milligram dosage level, along with reduced rates of hospitalisation and emergency medical care among patients at all dosage levels.
West Bengal continued to register a record number of recoveries from the coronavirus. More than 4,000 patients were declared recovered from the virus on Friday — the highest single day increase.
This has taken the total number of recoveries to 3,25,888, including 4,015 recorded in the last 24 hours, and improved the recovery rate to 88.16 per cent. The number of active cases dropped to 36,999 compared to 37,094 the previous day.
The trend of falling active cases and rising recoveries has been constant since October 21.
Johnson & Johnson plans to start testing its experimental COVID-19 vaccine in youths aged 12 to 18 as soon as possible, and the company’s previous experience with the same technology in a vaccine successfully used in children could give it a leg up with regulators.
“We plan to go into children as soon as we possibly can, but very carefully in terms of safety,” J&J’s Dr. Jerry Sadoff told a virtual meeting of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices on Friday.
Depending on safety and other factors, the company plans to test in even younger children afterwards, said Sadoff, a vaccine research scientist at J&J’s Janssen unit, without giving a timeline.
The Covid-19 tally of Andaman and Nicobar Islands rose to 4,317 on Saturday with the detection of 12 new cases, PTI quoted a health official as saying.
Seven of the new cases have a travel history, while five infections were reported during contact tracing, the official said.
The Union Territory now has 182 active coronavirus cases, while 4,076 people have recovered from the disease.