The lack of transparency over the schedule for vaccinations at these private hospitals makes it difficult for senior citizens and persons with co-morbidities in the priority group to schedule appointments, said Sharma, who also heads the empowered committee for the administration of Covid-19 vaccines.
According to him, “every” hospital that is participating in the government’s mass vaccination programme against Covid has access to a facility management dashboard. The hospitals are expected to use this dashboard to make vaccination timetables and declare vacant slots for jabs. Hospitals are supposed to prioritise those who schedule appointments for vaccinations over walk-in appointments, he said.
India's COVID-19 tally had crossed the 20-lakh mark on August 7 last year, the 30-lakh mark on August 23, the 40-lakh mark on September 5 and the 50-lakh mark on September 16.
It went past 60 lakh on September 28, 70 lakh on October 11, 80 lakh on October 29, 90 lakh on November 20 and the one-crore mark on December 19.
According to the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), 21,99,40,742 samples have so far been tested for the viral disease in the country, including 7,61,834 on Thursday.
The 113 new fatalities include 60 from Maharashtra, 15 from Punjab and 14 from Kerala.
Of the total 1,57,548 COVID-19 deaths reported so far in the country, Maharashtra accounts for 52,340, followed by Tamil Nadu (12,508), Karnataka (12,350), Delhi (10,915), West Bengal (10,273), Uttar Pradesh (8,729) and Andhra Pradesh (7,171). The health ministry stressed that more than 70 per cent of the COVID-19 deaths in the country occurred due to comorbidities.
"Our figures are being reconciled with the Indian Council of Medical Research," the ministry said on its website, adding that a state-wise distribution of the figures is subject to further verification and reconciliation.
The surge in COVID-19 cases in Maharashtra could be due to lack of fear of the disease among people and pandemic fatigue, the Centre said on Saturday while asking the state to not let its guard down. The observations were shared by the central government after a team of experts visited the state on March 1 and 2.
According to Health Ministry data, there are over 90,000 active coronavirus cases in Maharashtra.
"While the exact causes of surge are not known -- since laxity in COVID-19 behaviour is not specific to the state -- the possible factors are COVID-inappropriate behaviour due to lack of fear of disease, pandemic fatigue; miss outs and super spreaders; and enhanced aggregations due to recent gram panchayat elections, marriage season and opening of schools, crowded public transport, etc.," according to a report shared by the government. (PTI)
The Union Health Ministry has approved administration of Covid-19 vaccine to dependents of armed forces personnel as well as veterans in service hospitals, the Indian Army said on Saturday.
"The process is likely to commence next week after completion of registration of armed forces medical facilities on Co-WIN Platform. Guidelines for the same will be issued in a few days," the Army said on Twitter.
The government had announced last month that everyone above 60 years of age and those over 45 years with comorbidities will be able to get Covid-19 vaccine from March 1 for free at government facilities and for a charge at many private hospitals. (PTI)
The virus swept through a nursery school and an adjacent elementary school in the Milan suburb of Bollate with amazing speed. In a matter of just days, 45 children and 14 staff members had tested positive.
Genetic analysis confirmed what officials already suspected: The highly contagious coronavirus variant first identified in England was racing through the community, a densely packed city of nearly 40,000 with a chemical plant and Pirelli bicycle tire factory a 15-minute drive from the heart of Milan.
"This is the demonstration that the virus has a sort of intelligence. ... We can put up all the barriers in the world and imagine that they work, but in the end, it adapts and penetrates them,'' lamented Bollate Mayor Francesco Vassallo. (AP)
Europe recorded 1 million new coronavirus cases last week, an increase of 9 per cent from the previous week and a reversal that ended a six-week decline, according to the World Health Organisation.
Among the hard-hit places is the Milan suburb of Bollate, where the virus swept through a nursery school and an adjacent elementary school with alarming speed. In a matter of just days, 45 children and 14 staff members tested positive.
Genetic analysis confirmed it was the highly contagious variant first identified in England late last year. The surge is leading to new restrictions across the continent. (AP)
The Centre has asked states and union territories witnessing surge in new COVID-19 cases and high active caseload to continue with the strategy of "test, track and treat" that had yielded rich dividends at the height of the pandemic and accelerate vaccination for priority population groups in districts reporting higher infections on mission mode.
In a meeting held on Saturday, they have been asked to collaborate with private hospitals to open up vaccination time-table for a minimum of 15 days and maximum of 28 days at a time.
They have been asked to increase the share of RT-PCR tests in districts dependent on high levels of antigen testing, refocus on surveillance and stringent containment of those areas in selected districts which are seeing cluster of cases and carry out an average close contact tracing of minimum of 20 persons per positive case. Read More
In view of the rising coronavirus cases, Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan has instructed the state authorities to make it mandatory for the travellers coming from Maharashtra to carry a negative Covid-19 test report.
Chouhan issued the directives in this regard during a meeting held on Friday, an official statement said.
"It will be mandatory for the travellers coming from Maharashtra to carry a negative report for coronavirus infection. The responsibility for this will be with the bus operators, who will allow passengers to board the bus only on the basis of the report," Chouhan said. Adequate arrangements should be made for checking along the the state's border areas, he said. (PTI)
Amid rise in coronavirus cases in Maharashtra's Aurangabad, the district authorities have decided to hold a meeting on Sunday to discuss if lockdown should be imposed or not, a senior official said on Saturday. The district reported 459 coronavirus cases on Friday, which took its overall infection count to 52,103.
Talking to PTI, district collector Sunil Chavan said, "A meeting will be held on Sunday evening, in which the way ahead for lockdown will be decided. Police Commissioner, Municipal Commissioner, Superintendent of Police and other officials would be present for it. After a review of cases and overall coronavirus situation in the district, a decision about lockdown will be taken."
"Lockdown can be imposed, but ample time will be given to people to prepare themselves for it. The number of patients is growing. If cases keep growing at this speed, there will be paucity of beds in hospitals...Officials will discuss all this tomorrow," he added. (PTI)
UK Vaccine Deployment Minister Nadhim Zahawi has defended a shipment of 10 million doses of Covishield en route from India amid some concerns that it would impact supplies of COVID-19 vaccines for poorer nations.
The minister in charge of overseeing the UK's vaccination programme said the vaccine doses developed by the Serum Institute of India, in collaboration with Oxford/AstraZeneca, were always intended for Britain and that assurances have been sought that the delivery would not impact other supplies.
"We, of course, sought assurances from AstraZeneca and from Serum that our doses will not impact their commitment to the low-income and middle-income countries of the world," Zahawi told the Associated Press in an interview on Friday. (PTI)
With the national capital registering an upsurge in COVID-19 cases, there has been a rise of over 37 per cent in the number of people under home isolation here and a steady increase in the count of containment zones in the last seven days.
The positivity rate also rose to 0.53 per cent on March 5 from 0.36 per cent on February 27, according to official figures, which also showed that the number of containment on March 5 stood at 591 an increase of 46 from 545 on February 27.
Delhi recorded 312 COVID-19 cases on Friday, the highest number of daily incidences in nearly one-and-a-half months, while three more fatalities pushed the death toll in the city to 10,918. It was also a significant jump from 261 cases registered on Thursday. (PTI)
Some mutations in the novel coronavirus may not only enable it to evade antibodies, but also make the virus unrecognisable to the immune system's T-killer cells, says a new study which could aid in the further development of vaccines.
While antibodies dock directly onto viruses to neutralise them, the scientists, including those from the Medical University of Vienna in Austria, said the T-killer cells recognise viral protein fragments on infected cells and subsequently kill them to stop virus production.
In the current study, published in the journal Cell Immunology, the researchers sequenced 750 genomes of the novel coronavirus from infected individuals and analysed mutations for their potential to alter T cell epitopes. These are regions on the virus recognised by the body's T cells. (PTI)
Punjab's Jalandhar administration imposed a night curfew from Saturday to tackle the recent surge in coronavirus cases in the district. The night curfew will remain in place in the district from 11 pm to 5 am, said Deputy Commissioner Ghanshyam Thori. He said the order will be effective from Saturday till further directions.
Jalandhar on Friday had reported the maximum 134 fresh cases in the state. There are a total of 856 active cases in Jalandhar as of now, according to a medical bulletin.
Punjab has been witnessing a surge in the number of COVID-19 cases for nearly four weeks. Last month, the Punjab government had authorised deputy commissioners (DCs) to impose night curfew in coronavirus hotspots in their districts if needed. (PTI)
After registering no Covid death on February 6, the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC), which was rejoicing the slowdown of the viral infection a month ago, is now back on containing the spread as the active cases have increased by over three times registering 107 deaths and 13,401 newly infected patients in the last one month.
The positivity rate has been consistently above 10 per cent since the last few days. Read More
Union Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar was administered with his first Covid-19 vaccine dose at the RML hospital in the national Capital on Saturday.
Union Minister Nitin Gadkari on Saturday administered his first dose of Covid-19 vaccine at AIIMS in Nagpur. Gadkari received the shot along with his wife.
"Took the first shot of COVID-19 vaccine today along with my wife at AIIMS, Nagpur. This is safe," the senior BJP leader said after taking the jab.
He urged people to get inoculated in order to make the country free from COVID-19. "I appeal people to come forward for vaccination and contribute towards saving the country from corona," Gadkari, 63, said.
Delhi recorded 312 new Covid cases on Friday — the highest in nearly one-and-a-half months — and three deaths. The daily positivity rate was recorded at 0.53% after authorities conducted 59,122 tests.
Total cases are at 6,40,494 while the death toll touched 10,918. The number of active cases increased to 1,779 as of Friday from 1,701 on Thursday, while the daily positivity rate rose to 0.53% from 0.39% the previous day.
Earlier this week, the Union Health Ministry had flagged surge in new cases in Maharashtra, Kerala, Punjab, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Gujarat.
Delhi recorded 312 new Covid cases on Friday — the highest in nearly one-and-a-half months — and three deaths. The daily positivity rate was recorded at 0.53% after authorities conducted 59,122 tests.
Total cases are at 6,40,494 while the death toll touched 10,918. The number of active cases increased to 1,779 as of Friday from 1,701 on Thursday, while the daily positivity rate rose to 0.53% from 0.39% the previous day.
Earlier this week, the Union Health Ministry had flagged surge in new cases in Maharashtra, Kerala, Punjab, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Gujarat.
India reported 18,327 fresh Covid-19 cases in the 24 hours ending 8 am Saturday, taking the total number of infections to over 1.11 crore. With 108 deaths reported on Friday, the country's death toll is now over 1.57 lakh. Out of the total cases, over 1.80 lakh are active while 1.08 crore have recovered after testing positive.
Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh on Friday took his first dose of an anti-Covid vaccine at the Mohali Civil Hospital. While urging everyone eligible to get inoculated, the CM also hit out at the BJP for alleging that non-BJP ruled states were rejecting Covaxin. Amarinder dismissed BJP’s claim as “a complete lie and part of the ruling party’s false and politically motivated propaganda”.
Punjab health officials, however, spoke of hesitancy to sign consent forms among the beneficiaries in getting Covaxin jab, but added that even then the state has already administered at least 2,780 doses of the indigenously developed vaccine against Covid-19 by Bharat Biotech.
On Thursday, BJP spokesperson Sambit Patra had said that “opposition ruled states such as Punjab, Kerala, Jharkhand, West Bengal have questioned the efficacy of indigenously developed Covaxin” and have “refused”.
Dalai Lama on Saturday morning took his first shot of the Covid-19 vaccine at the Zonal Hospital in Dharamshala.
Delhi recorded 312 new Covid cases on Friday — the highest in nearly one-and-a-half months — and three deaths. The daily positivity rate was recorded at 0.53% after authorities conducted 59,122 tests.
Total cases are at 6,40,494 while the death toll touched 10,918. The number of active cases increased to 1,779 as of Friday from 1,701 on Thursday, while the daily positivity rate rose to 0.53% from 0.39% the previous day. Read More
Over 27,000 people, including 14,874 senior citizens, received COVID-19 vaccine shots in the national capital on Friday, according to data shared by officials.
In the 45-59 years age group, 2,020 beneficiaries received the jabs, a senior official said.
Over 5,100 senior citizens in Delhi had received their first shots of the vaccine on Monday when the second phase of the vaccination drive began in the national capital.
"Today, 27,057 people were vaccinated, out of which 14,874 were citizens in the age group of 60 and above," the official said.
On Thursday, a total of 27,959 beneficiaries, including 14,328 senior citizens and 2,175 people in the age group of 45-59, had received the shots.
In the first phase, starting January 16, over 3.6 lakh beneficiaries comprising healthcare workers and frontline workers, have been vaccinated in Delhi. (PTI)
West Bengal on Friday reported 255 fresh cases of COVID-19, pushing the coronavirus tally to 5,76,176, while the death mounted to 10,275 with two more fatalities, the health department said.
The state now has 3,226 active cases, while 5,62,675 people have recovered from the disease so far, it said.
Out of the two deaths - from North 24 Parganas district - one was due to comorbidities where COVID-19 was incidental, it added.
The maximum of 78 new cases was reported from Kolkata, the bulletin said. (PTI)
Punjab on Friday reported over 818 new coronavirus cases, pushing the tally to 1,86,189 on Friday.
A total of 11 more fatalities pushed the death toll to 5,898 in the state, according to a medical bulletin.
Punjab has been witnessing a surge in the number of fresh COVID-19 cases for nearly four weeks.
The number of active cases also jumped from 6,264 on Thursday to 6661, as of now.
Jalandhar reported a maximum of 134 cases, Ludhiana 105, Patiala 104, among the new cases that surfaced in the state.
A total of 400 patients were discharged after recovering from the infection, taking the number of those recoevered to 1,73,630, as per the bulletin. (PTI)
Mumbai reported 1,173 new COVID-19 cases, the highest one-day spike since October, on Friday which took its case tally to 3,31,016, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation said.
The death toll in the city rose to 11,490 with three new fatalities being reported.
Since October 28, when the city had reported 1,345 new cases, this is the first time Mumbai has witnessed such a high number of COVID-19 cases.
On February 24, the metropolis had reported 1,167 new COVID-19 cases.
With 1,151 patients recovering, the number of recoveries jumped to 3,08,178, while the number of active patients also increased to 10,469 from 10,452 the day before. (PTI)
Uttar Pradesh's Gautam Buddh Nagar recorded nine new cases of COVID-19 on Friday that pushed the district's infection tally to 25,577, official data showed.
The active cases in the district reached 74 from 69 from the previous day, according to data released by the Uttar Pradesh Health Department for a 24-hour period.
Another four patients got discharged during the period with the overall recoveries reaching 25,412, the fifth highest in the state.
Gautam Buddh Nagar has a death toll of 91 with a mortality rate of 0.35 per cent. The recovery rate of patients reached 99.35 per cent, the statistics showed. (PTI)
Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh on Friday took his first dose of an anti-coronavirus vaccine at the civil hospital here and appealed to all those who are eligible to get inoculated.
"I got my first shot of #Covid 19 vaccine today. I urge all above 60 years of age or above 45 years with co-morbidities to get the vaccination dose as soon as possible. We all need to come together to defeat #Covid 19 and I'm sure we will.#MissionFateh," the chief minister tweeted.
Singh was administered the vaccine by auxiliary nurse and midwife Manpreet at the hospital.
His media advisor Raveen Thukral in a tweet said, "Punjab CM got his first jab of #CovidVaccine at civil hospital Mohali."
The chief minister after being vaccinated said "it was painless and I am feeling fine", according to Thukral's tweet. (PTI)
Delhi Lieutenant Governor Anil Baijal has directed authorities to continue with the existing strategy against COVID-19, including cluster-based surveillance, testing and genome sequencing owing to the rise in the number of cases in the country, an official said on Friday.
Baijal, who chaired a meeting of the Delhi Disaster Management Authority, told officials that there is no need to lower the guard against the virus as the COVID-19 situation is under control with a "marginal increase", the official said.
"In view of the yet rising national trends in terms of new infections, it was decided to continue with the existing strategy of cluster based surveillance, testing and genome sequencing," an official said. (PTI)
Kumbh Mela 2021, to be celebrated “officially” on the ghats of Ganga in Haridwar next month, comes with an unprecedented challenge for the authorities — that of striking a balance between “aastha” (religious faith) and Covid-19 protocols.
Based on the Standard Operating Procedures (SOP) issued by the Centre, the state government has released a detailed SOP for pilgrims, hostels, restaurants, ashrams, ghats, parking areas, railway and bus stations.
An official said they are hopeful that these guidelines are likely to discourage people from visiting this year’s Kumbh Mela.
Halting points will be set up to control crowd at ghats and inside mela area that is spread over 156-sq km in three districts of Haridwar, Dehradun and Pauri Garhwal. Read this report by Lalmani Verma
After South superstar Kamal Haasan and veteran actor Satish Shah, Bollywood star Saif Ali Khan is the latest Indian celebrity to take a jab of the Covid-19 vaccine. According to media photographer Varinder Chawla’s social media post, the 50-year-old actor took the first shot of the coronavirus vaccine in Mumbai on Friday.
Dressed in beige-coloured Khaki pants and a blue short kurta, Saif was snapped while he stood in a queue, waiting his turn. Unlike Saif, who is not on social media, both Haasan and Shah had tweeted about their experience after getting the first dose of vaccine. Shah stated that he had stood three hours in the sun in order to receive his first jab of Covid-19 vaccine. See pics here
In North Dakota this week, health officials are sending their first Johnson & Johnson Covid-19 vaccines to pharmacies and urgent care clinics, where people who don’t necessarily have a regular doctor can get the single jab. In Missouri, doses are going to community health centers and rural hospitals. And in North Carolina, health providers are using it to inoculate meatpacking, farm and grocery workers.
Since Johnson & Johnson revealed data showing that its vaccine, while highly protective, had a slightly lower efficacy rate than the first shots produced by Moderna and Pfizer-BioNTech, health officials have feared the new shot might be viewed by some Americans as the inferior choice.
But the early days of its rollout suggest something different: Some people are eager to get it because they want the convenience of a single shot. And public health officials are enthusiastic about how much faster they could get a single shot distributed, particularly in vulnerable communities that might not otherwise have access to a vaccine. Read this report by The New York Times
Uttar Pradesh Health Minister Jai Pratap Singh taking first dose of Covid-19 vaccine at civil hospital in Lucknow on Friday. (Express photo by Vishal Srivastav)
A shipment of more than a quarter million AstraZeneca vaccines destined for Australia has been blocked from leaving the European Union, in the first use of an export control system instituted by the bloc to make sure big pharma companies would respect their contracts.
The move, affecting only a small number of vaccines, underscores a growing frustration within the 27-nation bloc about the slow rollout of its vaccine drive and the shortfall of promised vaccine deliveries, especially by Anglo-Swedish AstraZeneca.
The ban came at the behest of Italy, and the EU did not raise objections to the tougher line Rome has adopted in dealing with vaccine shortages in the bloc since a new government led by Mario Draghi came into power February 13. Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison told reporters on Friday it had anticipated veto problems could arise in shipments from Europe, adding that Australia's inoculation schedule would continue as planned.
Two more persons have tested positive for COVID-19 in Andaman and Nicobar Islands, taking the tally in the Union Territory to 5,024, a health department official said on Friday. The fresh cases were detected during contact tracing, he said.
The death toll remained at 62 as no new fatality due to the infection was reported in the last 24 hours. One person was cured of the disease on Thursday, taking the total number of recoveries in the archipelago to 4,953, the official said.
The Union Territory now has nine active cases. Altogether, 7,779 health and frontline workers have been vaccinated, he said.
The overall COVID situation is under control in the archipelago as the local administration has been strict to ensure that health safety protocols are followed to contain the spread of the disease, the official said.
Mizoram reported just one new COVID-19 case in the last 24 hours, which took the state's tally to 4,428, an official said on Friday. A 23-year-old woman in Aizawl tested positive for the infection after she returned from Delhi, he said.
"The woman arrived at Lengpui airport on Thursday and was diagnosed with the disease there. She developed COVID-19 symptoms," the official said.
The northeastern state now has 18 active cases, while 4,400 people have recovered from the disease. Ten people have succumbed to the infection. Altogether, 2,36,334 samples have been tested for COVID-19 in the state so far.
Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot was administered the first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine at the Sawai Man Singh hospital here on Friday. Accompanied by state Health Minister Raghu Sharma, Gehlot reached the hospital and got the first dose of the vaccine, an official said.
COVID-19 antibody-based drugs and vaccines developed so far may become less effective as new variants of the novel coronavirus spread widely, according to a new study. The research, published in the journal Nature Medicine, noted that the three fast-spreading variants of the coronavirus first reported in South Africa, the UK and Brazil, can evade antibodies that work against the original form of the virus that sparked the pandemic.
According to the scientists, including those from the Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis in the US, more of antibodies produced in response to vaccination or natural infection, or purified antibodies intended for use as drugs, is needed to neutralise these novel coronavirus varieties, compared to the levels needed to counter the original virus lineage from Wuhan, China.
Against the backdrop of the latest seroprevalence survey, which revealed that more than half of Hyderabad’s population have antibodies against the novel coronavirus, Dr. Rakesh Mishra, the Director of CSIR-Center for Cellular and Molecular Biology (CCMB) stressed the importance of the ‘social vaccine’ — wearing masks, maintaining personal hygiene and social distancing. Read more
While the number of registrations for jabs against Covid-19 in India is on the rise, not all private hospitals are being transparent about the slots they have available for vaccinations, according to National Health Authority CEO RS Sharma. Terming it a “worrying” trend, he said the government is gearing up to take action against those who do not “rectify” this.
The lack of transparency over the schedule for vaccinations at these private hospitals makes it difficult for senior citizens and persons with co-morbidities in the priority group to schedule appointments, said Sharma, who also heads the empowered committee for the administration of Covid-19 vaccines.
Across the country, there are now 1.76 lakh active cases, nearly half of which, more than 86,000, are in Maharashtra. The number of active COVID-19 cases has increased to 1,76,319, accounting for 1.58 per cent of the total caseload, according to the data.
The number of people who have recuperated from the disease has gone up to 1,08,39,894, which translates to a national COVID-19 recovery rate of 97.01 per cent, while the case fatality rate stands at 1.41 per cent.
Punjab reported more than 1,000 cases for the first time since November 15. The state found 1,071 cases on Thursday, the highest since October 13. It is also the first state, other than Maharashtra and Kerala, to report more than 1,000 cases since January 10. Maharashtra reported 8,998 cases on Friday.
Hello and welcome to Coronavirus India Live blog. India reported as many as 16,838 fresh Covid-19 cases in the last 24 hours, taking the total number of infections in the country to 1,11,73,761 on Friday.