Prime Minister Narendra Modi will be interacting with the district magistrates of 100 districts having high Covid-19 caseload during two meetings on May 18 and 20, news agency PTI reported while quoting government sources. This will be the first such interaction that the prime minister will have with the top district-level administrative officers on the Covid-19 situation.
Vaccine inequity deepens in young: 85% of those jabbed are in just seven states
As India grapples to contain the second wave of Covid-19, records analysed by The Indian Express show a pattern of vaccine inequality, with seven states accounting for a staggering 85 per cent of all doses administered to those in the 18-44 age group so far.
How phase 2/3 trials for Covaxin in 2-18 age group will be conducted
India’s top drug regulatory body has given Bharat Biotech permission to conduct Phase II/III clinical trials of Covaxin among children between the ages of 2 and 18. This is an important milestone in the Covid-19 vaccine’s development.
Mumbai civic body’s global tender for 1 crore shots keeps China out
The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has issued a global Expression of Interest (EoI) for procurement of one crore doses of vaccines for Mumbai. The EoI includes a condition that bids from companies in countries that share land borders with India will not be considered, which effectively bars any company from China.
Interested companies are required to respond by May 18. The company finalised will have to deliver the vaccines within three weeks of the issue of work order, according to the EoI.
From vaccine plan to compensation: Allahabad HC wants answers from Uttar Pradesh
Hearing a PIL on Uttar Pradesh’s handling of the Covid pandemic, the Allahabad High Court on Tuesday issued a string of directions to the state government — from giving 48 hours to set up a three-member grievance committee in each district, to seeking a roadmap from the state and central government on how they plan to vaccinate “illiterate labours and other villagers” in the 18+ category “if they are not able to register online for vaccination”.
A two-judge bench of Justices Siddhartha Varma and Ajit Kumar also took note of discrepancies in death figures submitted by the government in its affidavit to court, saying they don’t match with what the court-appointed judicial officers have submitted.
Night ‘horror’: Patients, doctors all had raised alarms on Goa oxygen crisis
Saligaon resident Ashley Delaney’s former teacher Avito was among the 26 Covid-19 patients who died Tuesday at Goa Medical College and Hospital (GMCH), the state’s largest Covid facility, of suspected oxygen shortage. Delaney, whose father-in-law is admitted in the same ward of GMCH, has been going to the hospital every day since April 21. He said he has been flagging the drop in oxygen levels at night to the administration for days.
“I used to keep pointing it out. At one point my father-in-law survived only because he got the cylinder of someone who didn’t make it,” said Delaney.
The Covid-19 death toll in Bihar reached 3670 on Friday on account of 77 fresh casualties, even though the recovery rate continued to look up with the number of people testing positive in a day dropping further. According to the state health department, 7,494 fresh cases were reported in the state where, till recently, more than 10,000 people were testing positive for the dreaded coronavirus on a daily basis.
Patna, the worst-affected of the state's 40 districts, reported 967 fresh cases, days after its tally rose by four- digit figures every day. The district has so far reported 1.32 lakh cases, more than one-fifth of the states aggregate of 6.37 lakhs. The number of people who have recovered is 5.44 lakh and the active caseload, which had crossed one lakh about a week ago, has now come down to 89,563. (PTI)
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Punjab on Friday recorded 8,068 fresh Covid-19 cases that took its tally to 4,83,984 while 180 more fatalities pushed the death toll to 11,477, according to a medical bulletin. The number of active cases in the state dropped to 79,359 from 79,950 on Thursday. Of the latest deaths, 23 were reported from Amritsar, 19 from Ludhiana, 18 from Bathinda and 13 each from Jalandhar and Patiala, the bulletin stated.
Ludhiana reported the maximum number of fresh cases at 1,320, followed by 988 in Bathinda, 661 in Mohali and 570 in Patiala, it said. As many as 8,446 coronavirus patients were discharged after they recovered from the infection, taking the total number of cured persons to 3,93,148, it added. There are 421 critical patients who are on ventilator support while 9,820 are on oxygen support, the bulletin said. (PTI)
Head of Delhi University's Political Science Department Veena Kukreja, who was undergoing treatment for COVID-19 at a hospital here, died in the early hours of Friday after suffering a cardiac arrest. She was 64. Kukreja's colleagues condoled her demise while her department held a virtual prayer meeting in her memory.
Professor Bipin Tiwary, Kukreja's colleague from the department said she was admitted to Saroj Hospital in Rohini on April 24 after she tested positive for coronavirus. She was recovering well and had been moved out of the ICU to the Covid ward. "I was in constant touch with her and I used to call her at 6-6.30 pm every day. I was monitoring things like whether her bed is clean, washroom is okay and whether she is being looked after. Yesterday also I spoke to her and she seemed quite jovial and was on the road to recovery. But around 2.30 am her BP and pulse dropped and she passed away," he said. (PTI)
Tamil Nadu government on Friday issued a fresh set of guidelines to curb the spread of Covid-19 in the state.
According to the new rules, E-pass registration, which was mandatory for inter-state and international passengers, is now mandatory for inter-district passengers as well from May 17. Only for essential activities such as marriages, funeral, medical treatment, elderly care people will be allowed to travel after filling the forms on the state government’s dedicated website. Read more
The number of people cremated or buried at dedicated Covid crematoriums or graveyards from April 20 to May 2 is over one and a half times the number of coronavirus deaths reported by the Uttarakhand Health Department, official data revealed.
According to the Urban Development Department, 1,523 "Covid-infected people" were cremated or buried during those 13 days, whereas the number of fatalities reported by the state Health Department during the period was 910. This is 613 less than the number of cremations and burials recorded by the Urban Development Department. (PTI)
Vaccination drive in Mumbai will be suspended for Saturday and Sunday, says Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation.
Union Minister Nitin Gadkari inaugurated a drive-in Covid-19 vaccination facility in Nagpur earlier today, for people above 60 years of age. The facility has begun at Glocal Square Mall in Sitabuldi. (ANI)
Gujarat reported 9,995 Covid-19 cases and 104 deaths from the infection in the last 24 hours, taking the state's tally and toll to 7,35,348 and 8,944 respectively, an official said on Friday. The daily addition of cases went below the 10000-mark after 27 days, when 9,541 people were detected with the infection on April 17, he pointed out.
"Of the 104 deaths, 16 occurred in Ahmedabad district, 13 in Surat, 10 in Vadodara and 10 in Rajkot district. Of the new cases, Ahmedabad city led with 2,764, followed by 639 in Vadodara city, 631 in Surat district, 429 in Vadodara district, 338 in Mehsana, 316 in Rajkot city and 306 in Rajkot district," he said. The official said 15,365 people were discharged during the day, taking the recovery count to 6,09,031, which is 82.82 per cent of the caseload. (PTI)
Haryana on Friday reported 164 Covid-19 related deaths, taking the toll to 6,402, while 10,608 fresh infections pushed the case count to 6,75,636. According to the health department's daily bulletin, the latest deaths included 16 from Rohtak, 15 from Gurgaon, 12 from Jind, 11 each from Hisar, Panipat and Bhiwani and 10 from Ambala district.
Among the districts which continued to report a big spike in cases included Gurgaon (2,144), Hisar (1,146) and Faridabad (8,26). After a gap of a few weeks, the total number of active cases in the state dropped below 1-lakh mark to 99,007. (PTI)
Maharashtra records 39,923 fresh Covid-19 cases, 53,249 discharges and 695 deaths in the last 24 hours. The state currently has 5,19,254 active cases while the death toll stands at 79,552. (ANI)
Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan said his government will provide a monthly aid of Rs 5,000 to all children who have lost the sole bead earner of their families till they become self-sufficient. (ANI)
Jammu and Kashmir on Friday recorded 3,027 fresh Covid-19 cases that took its tally to 2,36,790 while 60 more fatalities pushed the death toll to 3,027, officials said. Of the fresh cases, 1,511 were from the Jammu division and 1,516 from the Kashmir division of the union territory, they said. Jammu district recorded the highest number of fresh cases at 534, followed by 379 in Srinagar and 308 in Budgam. (PTI)
As people continue their struggle to look for hospital beds with oxygen supply for Covid-19 patients, a city-based NGO is lending a helping hand to the needy by providing medical oxygen inside their customised autos.
City-based Kadamai Educational and Social Welfare Trust is operating these auto ambulances dubbed as “emergency ambulances” in north Chennai, but it is fast turning out to be a much sought after service in other parts of the city as well.
The trust has been functioning for the past seven years. They started out as an institution offering tuition to underprivileged students and slowly became a social welfare organisation. They had been actively involved in mitigation efforts due to natural disasters such as floods, cyclone, etc., which had affected the city in the recent past. (Read Janardhan Koushik's report)
Telangana on Friday registered 4,305 fresh Covid-19 cases, pushing the infection count to 5,20,709, a government bulletin said. Total recoveries were at 4,62,981,with 6,361being cured, while the toll rose to 2,896 with 29 more deaths. Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) accounted for the most number of cases with 607, followed by Rangareddy (293) and Medchal Malkajgiri (291). The state has 54,832 active cases and over 57,000 samples were tested. (PTI)
Uttarakhand reports 5,775 new Covid-19 cases, 4,483 recoveries and 116 deaths in the last 24 hours. (ANI)
Three men were arrested here for allegedly black-marketing Remdesivir, an anti-viral drug used in the treatment of Covid-19 patients, police said on Friday. The accused were identified as Ankit Saluja (36), Dilpreet Saluja (26) and Akarsh Saxena (25), they police. "Based on a tip-off, we found a stationary car in Kolar area of the city on Thursday evening. Five vials of Remdesivir were recovered from the trio, who were inside the vehicle," police inspector Chandrakant Patel said. The accused told the police that they got the vials from one Akash Dubey, who works with a city-based private hospital, three days ago at Rs 16,000 each, he said.
They also told the police that they had earlier bought six Remdisivir injections from Dubey for black-marketing, Patel added. (PTI)
The total lockdown imposed in Aizawl and other district headquarters from May 10 has been extended for another 7 days to flatten the Covid-19 transmission curve. The government order issued on Friday said that the existing complete lockdown, which was scheduled to be lifted on May 17 (4 am) has been extended till 4 am of May 24.
"As Covid-19 positive cases continue to surge inspite of the stringent measures taken, the competent authority has decided to continue with the total lockdown with an anticipation of flattening the curve of the disease transmission thereby preventing probable overburdening of healthcare facilities," the order said. The second corona wave continues to trouble the northeastern state. (PTI)
Karnataka reports 41,779 new Covid-19 cases, 35,879 recoveries and 373 deaths in the last 24 hours. (ANI)
Rajasthan recorded 14,289 fresh coronavirus cases and 155 deaths on Friday, taking the infection tally to 8,35,814, officials said. The Covid-19 death toll in the state stands at 6,472, they said. Capital city Jaipur reported the highest number of 58 deaths followed by Jodhpur where as many as 14 people died of the disease, according to an official report. Bikaner and Udaipur reported 12 deaths each followed by seven deaths each in Bharatpur and Sikar, it said.
Of the latest positive cases, a maximum of 2,823 cases were reported from Jaipur, while 1,368 cases and 708 cases were seen in Alwar and Jodhpur, respectively. A total of 6,16,589 people have recovered from the infection and the number of active cases stands at 2,12,753 in Rajasthan. (PTI)
Mumbai, in the last 24 hours, reported 1,657 new Covid-19 cases, 2,572 recoveries and 62 deaths. (ANI)
Uttar Pradesh logs 15,747 fresh Covid-19 cases, 26,179 discharges and 312 deaths in the last 24 hours. (ANI)
Kerala on Friday reported 34,694 fresh Covid-19 cases, taking the overall tally to 20,55,528 while 93 deaths pushed the toll to 6,243, state government said here. While 31,319 people were cured of the infection, taking the total recoveries to 16,36,790, as many as 4,42,194 people are currently being treated for the infection in the state.
In the last 24 hours, 1,31,375 samples were tested and the positivity rate stood at 26.41 per cent. Thiruvananthapuram district accounted for the highest number of cases today — 4,567 followed by Malappuram 3,997, Ernakulam 3,855 and Thrissur 3,162. (PTI)
Even as hospitals in Goa see a surge in Covid-19 cases, the scenes at crematoriums in the coastal state are equally grim, as bodies continue to line up for last rites. One of the oldest crematoriums in Goa located in Margao city had to construct four additional platforms and dedicate three of its existing ones to cater to people who died of Covid-19. The century-old crematorium, managed by Mathagramasth Hindu Sabha, opened its doors to deceased Covid-19 patients after it was found that they were not being entertained by other facilities.
"We opened our doors to cremate people who died due to Covid-19, as we realised that they were not being taken in by others. This was in June last year when the first death was reported," the president of the facility, Bhai Naik told PTI. The institution is open to cremating deceased Covid-19 patients from all religions, he said. (PTI)
Odisha on Friday registered its highest single-day spike of 12,390 new Covid-19 cases, which pushed the tally to 5,88,687, while a record number of 22 fatalities raised the toll to 2,273, a senior health department official said. Accordingly, the number of active cases climbed to 1,04,016, the official said.
Of the 12,390 new cases, 6,938 were reported from various quarantine centres, and the rest detected during contact tracing, he stated. Khurda district, of which state capital Bhubaneswar is a part, accounted for 2,201 new cases, followed by Sundergarh at 882, Cuttack at 719, Sambalpur at 677 and Angul at 532. Taking to Twitter, the health department said, "Regret to inform about the demise of twenty two Covid positive patients while under treatment in hospitals." (PTI)
Goa recorded 2,455 new Covid-19 cases, 2,960 recoveries and 61 deaths in the last 24 hours. (ANI)
Citing recommendations made by vaccination experts, the Karnataka government Friday officially notified a revision in the interval between receiving two doses of Covishield vaccine to 12-16 weeks.
“The earlier interval of 6 to 8 weeks of time for Covishield vaccination between 2 doses is revised to 12 to 16 weeks. Citizens are requested not to come to Vaccination centres if they have not completed 12 weeks after the first dose of Covishield vaccine,” an official note from the Health Department read.
However, it clarified that the revised time interval is applicable only to Covishield and not Covaxin. (Read Ralph Alex Arakal's report)
The positivity rate remains high, so the state government has decided to extend the present complete lockdown in Kerala till May 23: Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan
Andhra Pradesh reports 22,018 new Covid-19 cases, 19,177 recoveries, and 96 deaths in last 24 hours. (ANI)
A day after Jharkhand saw the number of fresh Covid-19 fatalities drop below 100 for the second time in May, it again rose to 108 on Friday, taking the death toll 4,290, the Health Department said in a bulletin. The tally of coronavirus patients also climbed to 3,06,248 with 4,991 new cases. The state now has 48,468 active cases, while the total number of recovered cases currently stands at 2,53,490, the bulletin said. Ranchi district again recorded the maximum number of new fatalities at 40.
On Thursday, it had reported 19 and 36 the day before. East Singhbhum recorded 16 fatalities, followed by 10 each in Hazaribag and Bokaro. The remaining deaths were reported from several other districts. The state had recorded 97 fatalities each on May 13 and May 10. To date this month, the highest number of 159 deaths was reported on May 2. (PTI)
First oxygen express train for Tamil Nadu arrived in Chennai with about 80 metric tonnes of medical oxygen from Durgapur, West Bengal, officials said. (PTI)
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Saturday wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi over allocation of Pressure Swing Adsorption (PSA) plants to the state. 'We were told that we shall get 70 PSA Plants. Now we are told that we will get 4 in the first phase with no clarity on the remaining," the letter read. (ANI)
The death toll from Covid-19 rose to 2,156 in Himachal Pradesh on Friday with 38 more fatalities, while 924 fresh cases pushed the infection tally to 1,51,597, a senior official said. The number of active cases in the state stands at 37,789, according to data updated till 2 pm. The recovery count increased to 1,11,621 with 3,105 more people recovering from the infection, the official said. (PTI)
Four cases of Mucormycosis, a rare but dangerous fungal infection now affecting coronavirus patients, have been reported in Damoh district of Madhya Pradesh in the last two days, a health official said on Friday. Four patients with complaints of black fungus infection approached us.
These are confirmed cases of black fungus, Dr Rakesh Rai, an ophthalmologist with the district hospital, said. These patients have been sent to Nagpur, Jabalpur, Bhopal and Indore for treatment, he said. District chief medical and health officer Dr Sangeeta Trivedi said that Amphotericin B 50 mg injection is needed to treat the black fungus injection, which is not available in Damoh right now. "Therefore, these four patients have been sent outside the district for treatment," she added.
According to doctors, Mucormycosis is mostly found among Covid-19 patients who have diabetes. Its symptoms include headache, fever, pain under the eyes, nasal or sinus congestion and partial loss of vision. (PTI)
Uttar Pradesh on Friday recorded 15,747 fresh Covid-19 cases that took the infection count to 15,96,628 while 312 more fatalities pushed the death toll to 16,958, officials said. In the past 13 days, the number of active cases in the state has come down by over 1.17 lakh.
On April 30, there were about 3.10 lakh active cases and the number currently stands at 1,93,815, said Additional Chief Secretary, Health, Amit Mohan Prasad. As many as 1,57,257 patients are in home isolation, he said. While the state reported 15,747 fresh cases the previous day, 26,174 Covid-19 patients recovered from the disease. So far, 13,85,855 patients have recovered in Uttar Pradesh and the recovery rate stands at 86.8 per cent, Prasad said. (PTI)
The Goa Congress on Saturday said they will file criminal cases against Chief Minister Pramod Sawant and Health Minister Viswajit Rane over the deaths caused by alleged shortage of oxygen at Goa Medical College and Hospital.
In a statement, Goa Pradesh Congress Committee president Girish Chodankar said the candid admission that there is a substantial deficit of oxygen supply by the BJP government in Goa shows that it is “irresponsible, insensitive and run by an incompetent and defective Chief Minister’.
“The Congress party is going to file a criminal complaint against both for culpable homicide,” Chodankar said. "If the health minister admits on camera that he was aware that patients were dying between 2 and 6 am on a daily basis and that the death toll in Goa would be around 200-300 per day, why did he not act upon it? What action did the chief minister and health minister take to avert the crisis?” he asked.
Calling it a genocide, the Goa Congress president said, “If needed, will move the court to get justice for those who were killed by the Chief Minister and Health Minister.”
A 70-year-old Covid-19 patient died by suicide at the district hospital in Haveri, police said on Friday. CCTV footage, which went viral, showed the man taking the extreme step after everyone else in the ward went to sleep, the police said. The man from the Lamani tribe from Ranebennuru had tested positive for Covid-19 on May 3 and was admitted to a local hospital, a senior police officer said. (PTI)
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday said the coronavirus pandemic is rapidly spreading in rural areas, as he urged citizens to take precautions, wear masks and maintain social distance to check spread of the disease that has claimed at least 2.6 lakh lives to date.
The government, he said, is working on "war footing" to control the second wave of infections and is setting up new hospitals and oxygen generating plants while augmenting supplies of medicines and vaccines. He asked states to crack down on black marketing of medicines and other essential items.
"I want to warn you about corona. This pandemic is spreading fast in rural villages. Every government is taking efforts to stop this. Awareness about this among rural people and cooperation of the panchayat institutes are equally important "You have never disappointed the nation. We hope this time too, to protect yourself and family from Covid, all necessary precautions are taken. Wearing mask properly and regularly is important," Modi said. (PTI)
Thirteen more Covid-19 patients died at the Goa Medical College and Hospital (GMCH) in the early hours of Friday, a senior health department official said, taking to 75 the number of people who have succumbed at the government-run facility here in the last four days.
The horror at the GMCH is continuing even as the Goa bench of the Bombay High Court is hearing petitions related to deaths during the “dark hours” at the premier hospital.
While the state government has not revealed the exact cause of recent deaths at the GMCH, it has told the HC that there were “logistic issues” related to supply of medical oxygen to patients. (PTI)
A national tracking platform will be established soon to determine the impact of the jabs against Covid-19 and the breakthrough infections that are likely to occur among those with complete and partial immunisation, official sources said. The recommendation of the National Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation (NTAGI) to establish such a platform has been accepted by the National Expert Group on Vaccine Administration for Covid-19 and the Union Health Ministry, they said.
The vaccine tracker will be particularly important to monitor the impact of increasing the dosing schedule of Covishield, he said, as the government on Thursday accepted the working group's recommendation to extend the gap between the two doses of the Covishield vaccine from 6-8 weeks to 12-16 weeks. (PTI)
All India Power Engineers Federation (AIPEF) on Friday said as many as 1,000 power sector employees have succumbed to Covid-19 and more than 15,000 have been infected from the virus.
In Maharashtra, a total of more than 7,100 power employees are Covid positive and about 210 have died. While, in Uttar Pradesh, more than 4,000 power sector employees are suffering from coronavirus and there have been 140 casualties. "Amid a record surge in Covid-19 cases in the country, around 1,000 employees working in the power sector have died and more than 15,000 employees have tested positive for the virus," AIPEF Spokesperson V K Gupta said in a statement. (PTI)
Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan on Friday announced that the state government will provide free medical treatment to all media persons, whether they are accredited or not, and their family members, if they are infected with coronavirus. Earlier this week, Chouhan had also declared accredited journalists as frontline workers (Corona warriors). "We have seen that while performing their duties and in the process of disseminating news, many journalists got infected with Covid-19 and some of them even unfortunately died," the chief minister said in a media statement. (PTI)
Central government will supply 1 crore 92 lakh Covid-19 vaccines to states and Union Territories free of cost by May 31, says Union Minister Prakash Javadekar. (ANI)
Former AAP MLA Jarnail Singh passed away in New Delhi on Friday due to Covid-related complications, his family said. He was 48. Singh was admitted in the Rajiv Gandhi Super Speciality Hospital for the past 12-13 days, his brother Karnail said.
"His high-resolution CT of the chest score was 14/25 which was a little above moderate in terms of infection. But then his condition deteriorated," Karnail added. Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and his deputy Manish Sisodia condoled the demise of Jarnail Singh. "Deeply saddened by the untimely demise of former Delhi MLA Sh Jarnail Singh ji. May God bless his soul. He will always be fondly remembered for his contributions to society," Kejriwal said in a tweet.
Sisodia remembered Singh as someone who fought for justice for the victims of 1984 anti-Sikh riots. (PTI)
Global investment banking major JP Morgan Chase has increased its Covid-19 support to the country manifold, taking the total planned aid to close to USD 16 million, of which USD 3.8 million is for supporting its over 35,000 employees in India. The head of the Wall Street major Jamie Dimon had on April 30 had committed an upfront USD 2 million financial aid along with an appeal to its over 2.5 lakh employees globally to chip in which would be matched by an equal amount by the company.
In an internal communication on Thursday, which PTI has seen, Filippo Gori, the chief executive of JP Morgan Asia Pacific, said the bank has set aside USD 3.8 million for the care of its over 35,000 India employees, and an additional USD 10 million is being earmarked in phases to support the needy in their pandemic recovery phase. (PTI)
On Friday, around 8,500 cases have been recorded in Delhi. This is the first time since April 10 that the case count has dipped below 10,000. Delhi saw over 28,000 cases on April 20. The positivity rate on Friday also dropped to 12%, the lowest in a month.
The Delhi government will bear the cost of educating and upbringing children who have lost both their parents to Covid-19, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said Friday. Over the past month, children welfare bodies and helplines have come across several cases where children have been left orphaned. In many other cases, the earning member of the family has died.
Addressing a webcast, Kejriwal said, “We have seen very painful days recently. Many families saw more than one death. Many children lost both parents. I want to tell them that I understand their pain and am standing in support. Every child who has lost their parents will be educated. The cost of their education and upbringing will be borne by the government. I ask neighbours and families to take care of them too. There are parents who have lost children, and families who have lost their earning member. We will take care of them. Main hoon na.” Read Mallica Joshi's report
Gujarat has stopped vaccinating people in the age group of 45 and above for three days starting Friday. This decision has been taken a day after the Centre increased the gap between Covishield doses to 12-16 weeks. In these three days, beneficiaries between the ages of 18 and 44 can be vaccinated, the state government said.
The vaccination for those above 45 will resume on May 17.
Following complaints of large crowds at Government Kilpauk Medical College hoping to buy the anti-viral drug Remdesivir, the Tamil Nadu government Thursday informed the Madras High Court that it is planning to shift the sale of the vials to Nehru Indoor Stadium at Periyampet. The government said it was planning to sell 20,000 vials per day and will be operating additional counters. Read more here
Dr Reddy’s on Friday administered the first shot of Russia’s Sputnik V vaccine for Covid-19 in Hyderabad. The company said the vaccines would be priced at Rs 995.40 (Rs 948 + 5 per cent GST).
The company, in a statement, said the first dose was administered as part of a limited pilot. “Further consignments of imported doses are expected over the upcoming months. Subsequently, supply of Sputnik V vaccine will commence from indian manufacturing partners,” it said. Read more here
The government has received three quotations for the supply of a total 3,500 metric tonnes of liquid medical oxygen (LMO), against its global tender for procurement of 50,000 MT imported LMO amid the surge in Covid-19 cases, The Indian Express has learnt. Sources said while two of the companies that have sent quotations are foreign, one is domestic, and they have offered to deliver the medical oxygen over three months, rather than the government’s hope of three weeks.
Among the two overseas suppliers, while Singapore-based SSB Cryogenic Equipment Pte Ltd offered to supply 200 MT oxygen, Abu Dhabi-based M/s Gulf Industrial Gases has said it can supply 1,800 MT. The third company, Gujarat-based Ultra Pure Gases Ltd, has offered 1,500 MT. Harikishan Sharma reports
Telangana’s Minister for Municipal Administration and Urban Development, Industries, and Information Technology, KT Rama Rao, took to Twitter Thursday evening for an #AskKTR session to gauge the public mood and address concerns over the 10-day lockdown imposed in the state to curb the second wave of Covid-19 infections.
From lockdown to vaccination, here's what transpired during the Q&A session. Rahul V Pisharody reports
A day after the government increased the gap between Covishield vaccine doses to 12-16 weeks, America's top infectious disease expert Dr Anthony Fauci tells ANI: "When you don't have enough vaccines, you have to try and get as many people vaccinated as you possibly can. For that reason, when you have a shortage of vaccine, extending the duration between the first and second dose, in order to get more people to at least get their first dose, is a reasonable approach."
"It is very unlikely it will have a negative effect on the efficacy of the vaccine," he adds.
After about 18 days of treatment at Gandhi hospital in Hyderabad, Ramananda Teertha has fully recovered from Covid-19. Sharing the information with the media, Dr Raja Rao, the superintendent of the state-run hospital, said he could probably be the oldest patient to recover from the disease. Teertha, according to the hospital authorities, is 110 years old. Read Rahul V Pisharody's report
India's count rose by 3.43 lakh cases on Thursday. Maharashtra contributed 42,582, while Kerala reported 39,955. Uttar Pradesh is no longer in the top five contributors. Andhra Pradesh has stepped in with more than 22,000 cases. Meanwhile, of the 4,000 deaths reported on Thursday, Maharashtra contributed 882, while 344 came from Karnataka.
India counted 3.43 lakh new cases of the novel coronavirus on Thursday, and 4,000 deaths. The country's caseload of 2,40,46,809 now includes 37,04,893 active cases, 2,00,79,599 recoveries and 2,62,317 deaths.
A day after the High Court of Bombay in Goa directed the state government to ensure there were no more deaths due to oxygen issues, Goa Medical College and Hospital (GMCH), the state’s largest Covid facility, reported 15 more deaths between 2 am and 6 am on Thursday as oxygen supply pressure dipped.
Relatives and resident doctors at GMCH made frantic calls through the night as the oxygen pressure started falling in the hospital’s Covid wards around 1 am. One of the petitioners in the PILs filed in the High Court over Covid management said that after she received an SOS call, she reached out to the authorities, and that officials of the Health Department and police rushed over. However, doctors said, oxygen pressure could be restored only in 20 minutes, which proved fatal for 15 patients. Mayura Janwalkar reports
Global tenders for Covid vaccines by the Mumbai civic body and the Uttar Pradesh government for 1 crore and 4 crore doses respectively, and plans of at least half-a-dozen other states to call for bids, may yield little to no results, unless Russia and China step in with supplies.
Such global tenders for vaccine supply by sub-national governments amid supply shortages are the first publicly known instances during this pandemic. The states may be going through the motions to publicly announce their intent to citizens, but most reckon the slim chances since they have to compete with advance orders by other countries and procurement efforts by a global Covid-19 vaccine facility. Prabha Raghavan reports
Amid a crippling shortage of vaccines across the country, the Centre has for the first time said that it has been in talks with three global manufacturers — Pfizer, Moderna, and Johnson & Johnson — to supply to India. However, the government said on Thursday, the three pharma giants have communicated that they would be able to open discussions only in “Q3, 2021”.
Even so, over 2 billion doses of Covid-19 vaccines could become available for India between August and December this year, according to estimates given by vaccine manufacturers, the government said. Kaunain Sheriff M reports
A plea was filed in the Supreme Court on Thursday seeking constitution of a special investigating team headed by a sitting or retired apex court judge to supervise the probe into the death of several persons whose bodies were recently found floating in river Ganga in Bihar and Uttar Pradesh.
The petition has sought directions to the Centre, authorities in states of Uttar Pradesh and Bihar to conduct post-mortem of the bodies which are found floating in river Ganga to ascertain the cause of death. The plea, filed by advocates Pradeep Kumar Yadav and Vishal Thakre, has claimed that recovery of these decomposed corpses raises issue of serious concern as the river acts as a source of water for many areas and if the bodies were infected by Covid-19, then it might spread in the villages in both the states. (PTI)