Influx of Covid-19 patients, mostly in critical condition, from outside Vadodara district has led to a steep rise in demand for beds in the city, officials said. (Express file photo)Delhi Health Minister Satyendar Jain Sunday said over 400 ICU beds have been added for Covid-19 patients in the city, which is witnessing a third wave of coronavirus infection, over the past few days.
Jain said the number will be increased further in the coming days as these 400 beds are part of a total of 1,650 ICU beds being set up in the city –250 in private hospitals, 650 in Delhi government facilities and 750 in those run by the Centre, PTI reported. Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal had recently issued directions in this regard.
With 45,209 new cases of coronavirus recorded on Saturday, new cases exceeded recoveries for the second time in three days, leading to a rise in active cases. So far, more than 90.95 lakh people have been found infected with the disease, the data updated by the Health Ministry at 8 am on Sunday said. Of these, about 4.4 lakh are currently active. A total of 501 fatalities were reported, taking the total death count is 1.33 lakh.
In the last 24 hours, 2508 patients recovered in Haryana taking the total number of recovered patients (till date) to 190067 and recovery rate to 89.50 per cent. (Representational)
Teaching-learning activities in several schools in Delhi have been disrupted as thousands of teachers have been roped in for the Delhi government’s mega survey to identify and isolate suspected Covid-19 patients.
Since November 20, three-member teams have been fanning out across the city’s containment zones and high caseload areas in a door-to-door survey to identify people showing symptoms of the infection and those who have come in contact with Covid positive patients.
Teachers of municipal corporation and Delhi government schools are being engaged as members of the three-member teams, supervisors of these teams, and also as ‘sector magistrates’ coordinating the supervisors. (Read more here)
Uddhav Thackeray in address to state says politics should not be brought into the opening of places during Covid-19. “There are those who keep urging us to open up everything. But the responsibility of the people is on my government and me, not on those who are urging us to open up. Politics should not be brought into this.” The Chief Minister also said the ‘Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj's Maharashtra is used to doing what it wants to’, but he requests them with “great affection” to wear masks, keep washing hands, not go out unnecessarily, and keep distance from each other.
After Haryana, Rajasthan, Gujarat and Manipur, the Centre has deputed high-level central teams to Uttar Pradesh, Punjab and Himachal Pradesh in view of the spike in Covid-19 cases in these states. The development comes in the backdrop of several states in north and central India deciding to bring back night curfews in districts witnessing a spike in infections amid the festive season even as the country reported less than 50,000 fresh daily cases for the 15th consecutive day, taking its tally to 90.95 lakh. Read the full report here.
Uttarakhand Governor Baby Rani Maurya Sunday tested positive for Covid-19. Maurya is asymptomatic and has isolated herself under medical supervision. The governor has also asked people who came in contact with her to get themselves tested. She had recently met Maharashtra Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari at the Rajbhavan in Dehradun.
Health Minister Satyendar Jain Sunday said over 400 ICU beds have been added for Coronavirus patients in Delhi, which is witnessing a third wave of coronavirus infection, over the past few days.
Jain said the number will be increased further in the coming days as these 400 beds are part of a total of 1,650 ICU beds being set up in the city --250 in private hospitals, 650 in Delhi government facilities and 750 in those run by the Centre, PTI reported. Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal had recently issued directions in this regard.
Shi Zhengli, a Chinese virologist renowned for her work on viruses in bats, provided new evidence that her laboratory wasn’t the source of the global pandemic in research published in a scientific journal.
The deputy director of the Wuhan Institute of Virology said the latest blood tests on miners, who became sick with a mysterious respiratory disease eight years ago after clearing bat faeces, showed they didn’t have the virus that caused Covid-19, according to the South China Morning Post. The paper cited Shi’s findings that were published in the Nature journal this week. Read the full report here.
Uttar Pradesh recorded 2,588 fresh coronavirus cases on Sunday, pushing the tally to 5,26,780, while the death toll rose to 7,559 with 35 more fatalities.
The fresh cases were reported from Lucknow (351), Meerut (283), Ghaziabad (189), Gautam Buddh Nagar (171), Kanpur (118), Allahabad (110) and Varanasi (102), a health department bulletin said.
Of the fresh deaths, six were reported from Lucknow, four from Meerut, three from Jalaun, two each from Bahraich and Mathura, it stated.
Union Minister of State for AYUSH Shripad Naik has said Ayurveda, Yoga and other systems will be greatly helpful for the entire world in dealing with the post-COVID-19 difficulties.
In a series of tweets on Saturday, Naik said a new model of healthcare delivery with more emphasis on preventive measures is needed for effectively countering such a crisis in future.
"I am sure that Ayurveda, Yoga and other systems will be greatly helpful for the entire world in dealing with the Post Covid difficulties," tweeted Naik, who himself recovered from the coronavirus infection in September. (PTI)
The daily tally of confirmed coronavirus cases in Japan hit a record for the fourth straight day at 2,508, the Health Ministry said on Sunday. Japan has had fewer than 2,000 coronavirus-related deaths so far, avoiding the toll of harder hit nations. But fears are growing about another surge.
A flurry of criticism from opposition legislators and the public has slammed the government for being too slow in halting its "GoTo" tourism campaign, which encouraged travel and dining out with discounts. Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga on Saturday scrapped the campaign, but only after many people had already made travel reservations for a three-day Thanksgiving weekend in Japan. (AP)
Uttar Pradesh Chief Secretary RK Tiwari Sunday said that the administration will begin testing people coming from Delhi via flight, bus or train, in the wake of surge in Covid-19 cases in the national capital. "We are also discussing the number of people allowed to attend wedding or event," Tiwari was quoted as saying by ANI.
High-level central teams have been deputed to Uttar Pradesh, Punjab and Himachal Pradesh to support them in Covid-19 response and management.
These states have been either reporting a rise in the number of active cases -- those who are hospitalised or are in home isolation under medical supervision, or demonstrating a rise in the daily new cases of coronavirus infections, news agency PTI reported citing the Union Health Ministry on Sunday.
Markets and shops remain shut in Shimla following district administration's order to close markets on Sundays until further orders. Shops selling groceries, milk, fruits, vegetables, meat, medicines, & restaurants exempted.
Ladakh has recorded two more coronavirus-related deaths and 79 fresh cases, taking the fatality figure to 98 and the virus tally to 7,866, officials said on Sunday. Both the deaths and new cases were reported from Leh district, which has witnessed a surge in the COVID-19 cases over the past one month, the officials said, as a civil society group called for a voluntary week-long lockdown from Monday to break the chain. The latest deaths took the virus toll in Ladakh to 98 -- 57 in Leh and 41 in Kargil -- district, they said, adding that 113 patients were discharged after successful treatment, taking the total number of recovered patients to 6,856, which is 87 per cent of the total cases. --PTI
Jharkhand's COVID-19 tally mounted to 1,07,332 on Sunday as 175 more people tested positive for the infection, a health department official said. Six more persons succumbed to the infection in the last 24-hours, pushing the COVID-19 death toll in the state to 945, he said. Two deaths were reported from Ranchi district and one each from Jamtara, East Singhbhum, Hazaribagh and Godda districts, the official said. --PTI
With 45,209 new cases of coronavirus recorded on Saturday, new cases exceeded recoveries for the second time in three days, leading to a rise in active cases. So far, more than 90.95 lakh people have been found infected with the disease. Of these, about 4.4 lakh are currently active. A total of 501 fatalities were reported on Saturday, taking the total death count is 1.33 lakh.
The Rajasthan government on Saturday announced night curfew in eight district headquarters with immediate effect. A government release said markets, restaurants, shopping malls and other commercial establishments in urban areas of Jaipur, Jodhpur, Kota, Bikaner, Udaipur, Ajmer, Alwar and Bhilwara will remain open till 7 pm, while night curfew will be imposed from 8 pm till 6 am.
Those going to attend weddings, people associated with essential services and medicines and those travelling by bus, train and flights will be exempted. The fine for not wearing masks has been increased from Rs 200 to Rs 500, said the release.
The government also announced that in government and private offices where over 100 employees are engaged, during working days, the attendance of the staff shouldn’t be more than 75 per cent. Also, a maximum of 100 people can attend weddings and political, cultural and religious programmes, it added.
On-principle approval was given to allow acquisition of hospitals associated with private medical college as Covid dedicated hospitals. Colleges can start classes for medical students in third and fourth years and these students can also be deployed for Covid-19 duty, said the release. ENS
At least 57 officer trainees at the Lal Bahadur Shashtri National Academy of Administration in Mussoorie have tested positive for coronavirus. blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-partner="tweetdeck">
57 officer trainees @LBSNAA_Official at Mussoorie in Uttarakhand have tested positive to Covid-19. Out of them, 24 have tested positive today whereas 33 were tested positive on Friday. @IndianExpress
— Lalmani Verma (@LalmaniVerma838) November 21, 2020
Amid a spike in COVID-19 cases, the administration has directed all markets in Shimla district to be closed on Sundays. In an order issued on Saturday, Shimla district magistrate Apoorv Devgan said that all shops except those selling essential commodities including food items, medical stores, restaurants would remain closed on Sundays till further orders. The step has been taken as a preventive measure due to increasing number of COVID-19 cases in the district, an official said.
Southern Railway on Saturday said women passengers other than essential services staff would be allowed to travel in suburban train services during non-peak hours with effect from November 23. Southern Railway, in a press release said, it has scaled up the number of suburban services in Chennai to 244 trains per day which was 40 percent to the pre-COVID/-19 levels aimed at serving the essential services staff of both government and other organisations. Women passengers will now be allowed to travel in Chennai Suburban trains during non-peak hours from Monday to Saturdayand to travel throughout the day on Sundays,a press release said. They will be allowed to travel before 7 am and after 1030 am till 4.30pm and after 7.30 pm till 12 am Monday-Saturday.
As Covid death cases in Delhi rise, cremation grounds in the city is filling up fast. An MCD official told The Indian Express, “Over 100 bodies are being cremated here every day for the last two weeks, and roughly 20 a day are Covid patients.” A worker said that on November 18, when the Covid death was 131, over 30 cremations of patients took place here.
The Maharashtra government is toying with the idea of suspending train and flight operations to and from Delhi in view of the rising coronavirus cases in the national capital, a senior official said on Saturday. This is one of the steps being considered by the state government to curb the spread of the virus, he said. "Various measures are being discussed in order to curb the virus spread in the state, and suspension of train and flight operations to and from Delhi is one of them," Principal Secretary Sanjay Kumar told PTI. "However, no decision has been taken so far on this," he added. (PTI)
Gujarat records highest single-day spike of 1,515 coronavirus cases, tally rises to 1,95,917; death toll reaches 3,846 with nine new fatalities, says Health Department.
Pakistan has reported at least 42 new COVID-19 deaths and 2,843 fresh cases as the country struggled to contain the spread of coronavirus, the health ministry said on Saturday. The coronavirus deaths have reached 7,603 while the number of total reported cases rose to 371,508, the Ministry of National Health Services said. At least 328,931 people have recovered so far and some 1,613 are in critical condition. The ministry's data showed that the number of active coronavirus patients was 34,974. Sindh has reported 161,028 cases, Punjab 113,457, Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa 43,730, Islamabad 26,177, Balochistan 16,699, Pakistan-occupied Kashmir 5,911 and Gilgit-Baltistan 4,506.
See more photos here
Odisha's COVID-19 tally rose to 3,13,323 on Saturday as 778 more people tested positive for the infection, a health official said. Seventeen fresh fatalities pushed the coastal state's coronavirus death toll to 1,625, he said. As many as 446 new cases were reported in quarantine centres, while 332 fresh infections were detected during contact tracing, the official said. Angul district reported the highest number of new cases at 68, followed by Sundergarh (64) and Khurda and Balasore (61 each), he said.
Arunachal Pradesh for the seventh consecutive day reported more COVID-19 recoveries than fresh cases as 70 patients were cured of the disease while 25 new infections pushed the tally to 16,001, a health department official said on Saturday. A total of 14,870 people have been discharged from hospitals so far, implying a recovery rate of 92.93 per cent, State Surveillance Officer (SSO), Dr Lobsang Jampa said.
Arunachal Pradesh now has 1,082 active cases with positivity rate at 7.07 per cent, while 49 people have succumbed to the infection so far with a fatality rate in the state at 0.30 per cent, he said. Of the 25 new COVID-19 cases, five were reported from West Kameng, four each from the Capital Complex region and West Siang and three from Changlang, the official said.
In view of the rising Covid-19 cases in the state that reported 1,420 fresh cases on Friday, the Gujarat government has decided to impose night curfew in Surat, Vadodara and Rajkot from Saturday.
People resorted to panic buying in Ahmedabad that will see a complete curfew from Friday night till Monday morning, leading the Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation (AMC) to seal a mart that saw overcrowding.
During the curfew, essential services such as medical shops, hospitals, clinics, dairy booths and petroleum/CNG pumps will remain open. Rail and air passengers as well as candidates appearing for various competitive exams will be allowed to commute during the curfew if they possess valid travel tickets and admit cards respectively.
Schools for Classes 10 and 12 in Goa reopened on Saturday after being shut for nearly eight months due to the COVID-19 pandemic, officials said. The state government has asked the schools to strictly observe the COVID-19 standard operating procedures (SOPs) like thermal screening of students, hand sanitising, wearing of masks, social distancing in classrooms, they said. The government had decided to allow the schools to reopen from November 21 onwards for Classes 10 and 12 in the initial phase. Chief Minister Pramod Sawant, who also holds the education portfolio, had announced on November 4 that all the COVID-19 safety protocols would have to be followed by these institutions.
South Korea has reported 386 new cases of the coronavirus in a resurgence that could force authorities to reimpose stronger social distancing restrictions after easing them in October to spur a faltering economy. The figures released by the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency on Saturday brought the national caseload to 30,403, including 503 deaths.
More than 270 of the new cases came from the densely populated Seoul metropolitan area, where health workers have struggled to track transmissions in schools, private tutoring academies and religious facilities.
Infections were also reported in other major cities including Busan, Daejeon, Gwangju and Asan. South Korea has so far managed to weather its COVID-19 epidemic without major lockdowns, relying instead on an aggressive test-and-quarantine campaign and mask-wearing.
With 46,232 new cases and 564 deaths reported in the last 24 hours, India’s Covid-19 tally now stands at 90.5 lakh. After a day’s break, India reported fewer new cases of coronavirus infection than those who were declared to have recovered from the disease. The active cases in the country have dipped to 4.39 lakh while the death toll stands at 1.32 lakh. After 47 days, India Thursday reported a total of 45,882 new cases, slightly higher than the 44,807 who were declared to have recovered.
Less than two months from now, the Maha Kumbh will return to Haridwar, bringing with it a sea of pilgrims and enormous logistics challenges in the middle of the novel coronavirus pandemic.
The last Maha Kumbh in Haridwar in 2010 was attended by 1.62 crore pilgrims according to estimates by the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO). Officials have ruled out the possibility of the mega-event — which will begin on January 14 and continue until the end of April — being cancelled on account of the Covid-19 outbreak.
“The Kumbh Mela in Haridwar takes place once every 12 years. In 2021 it’ll be taking place after 11 years, a phenomenon that is happening after 80 years. Of course, with the Covid-19 pandemic, the management of the Kumbh Mela is tricky, and we are planning according to the guidelines issued by the government,” Kumbh Mela Adhikari Deepak Rawat said.
Donald Trump Jr, the eldest son of US President Donald Trump, tested positive for COVID-19, his spokesperson said on Friday.
Trump Jr tested positive at the start of the week and has been "quarantining out at his cabin since the result", the spokesman said.
"He has been completely asymptomatic so far and is following all medically recommended COVID-19 guidelines," the spokesman added.
Trump Jr, 42, is the latest in the First Family to have been tested positive for coronavirus. In the middle of the election cycle, President Trump and First Lady Melania Trump had tested positive for COVID-19. Their son Barron had also tested positive.
Welcome to the Indian Express LIVE blog. Stay tuned to this space for the latest developments on Covid-19.