Dr Reddy’s in a statement Wednesday said that the soft launch of Sputnik V vaccine in India, which was initiated in Hyderabad, has been scaled up to many cities including Bengaluru, Mumbai, Kolkata, Delhi, Chennai, among others. It added that registration on CoWIN was not open to public yet, but will be open at the time of commercial launch.
Meanwhile, drugs such as ivermectin, hydroxychloroquine, favipiravir and antibiotics like doxycycline and azithromycin prescribed for adult Covid patients are not recommended for treating children, stated a government guideline issued on Wednesday. The guidelines by the Union Health Ministry said the decision has been taken since most of these drugs used in adults are have not been tested on children for prevention or treatment of Covid infection among them.
India recorded 62,224 new Covid-19 cases and 2,542 deaths on Tuesday. With this, the country's overall caseload rose to 2.96 crore, while the death toll surged to 3.62 lakh. Kerala is the top contributor, adding 12,246 new cases to the country's caseload. The number of fresh cases reported in the last 24 hours are 212 in Delhi, 830 in Mumbai, 1,611 in Bengaluru, 377 in Kolkata and 689 in Chennai.
Meanwhile, in a statement, the government said that its decision to increase the gap between two shots of Covishield from 4-6 weeks to 12-16 weeks lies in "fundamental scientific reason regarding behaviour of adenovector vaccines", according to the National Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation (NTAGI).
Indian pharmaceutical major Zydus Cadila is likely to apply to the central drugs regulator asking for emergency use authorisation for its Covid vaccine ZyCoV-D next week, PTI quoted official sources as saying on Friday. If approved, it will be the world’s first DNA vaccine against the virus and the fourth to be available in the country. “The analysis of the phase-three trial data is almost ready and the company has informed the government that it could apply for emergency use licensure for its COVID-19 vaccine next week,” PTI quoted an official source as saying. Read full story
After considerably relaxing restrictions since Monday, the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) has decided to get cautious by announcing that all non-essential shops will remain shut during the weekends.
monthly limit of free stories.
with an Express account.
Although the city has seen improvement in the pandemic situation, PMC Commissioner Vikram Kumar issued an order on Friday evening declaring with immediate effect the closure of all stalls selling non-essential items, malls, saloon, beauty parlours, spa, wellness centers, bars and food courts on weekends alongwith the non-essential category stores.
The PMC has also decided to continue with the prohibitory orders restricting gathering of five or more people and no free movement of public without valid reason will be allowed after 10 pm.
In his order, municipal commissioner Kumar said the decision would be applicable with immediate effect till further orders in the jurisdiction of PMC, Pune Cantonment Board and Kirkee Cantonment Board. -- Ajay Jadhav reports from Pune
“The essential category shops will be allowed to be open all days of the week till 7 pm. All other shops except those in essential category, Malls, Saloon, Beauty Parlour, Spa and Wellness centers along with non-essential category shops will not be permitted to operate on Saturday and Sunday,” he said.
Maharashtra reports 9,798 new Covid cases, 14,347 patient discharges, and 198 deaths in the past 24 hours.
Tamil Nadu reports 8,633 new Covid-19 cases, 19,860 recoveries, and 287 deaths in the last 24 hours; active cases at 89,009.
"Assam cancels class 10, 12 board exams due to prevailing Covid-19 situation," said Education Minister Ranoj Pegu. --PTI
Uttarakhand reports 222 COVID19 new cases, 4 deaths and 451 recoveries today; the number of active cases in the State is 3,231. Recovery rate at 95.26%.
"Studies show after vaccination, chances of hospitalisation reduce by 75-80 per cent after contracting Covid; Oxygen requirement comes down to 8 per cent," said Health Ministry
Delhi recorded 165 new COVID-19 cases and 14 deaths on Friday, while its positivity rate stood at 0.22 per cent, data shared by the Health department here showed. These new fatalities have pushed the death toll in the city to 24,900. The national capital had on April 3 recorded 10 deaths due to COVID-19. On Wednesday, Delhi recorded 212 cases and 25 deaths with a positivity rate of 0.27 per cent. It had on the previous day registered 228 cases with a 0.32 per cent positivity rate and 12 deaths. On Thursday, the city logged 158 cases, with a positivity rate of 0.20 per cent, and 10 deaths, indicating a significant fall in the count of daily fatalities due to the coronavirus infection. On June 14, the city had registered 131 cases and 16 deaths. Earlier, on March 8, it had witnessed 239 cases, while on February 22, 128 cases of COVID-19 were reported, as per official figures. --PTI
"Sharp decline of 81 per cent in weekly Covid-19 case positivity rate; it was highest at 21.6 pc between April 30-May 6," said Centre.
"About 78.6 per cent decline in total active Covid-19 cases recorded since peak on May 10," said Health Ministry
"Almost 85 per cent decline noted in daily new cases of Covid since highest reported peak on May 7," Health Ministry said.
The Tamil Nadu government announced more relaxations in 27 districts where the spread of Covid-19 is declining and public transportation is likely to resume from next week.
The decision was taken after a meeting between Chief Minister MK Stalin and Transport Minister RS Rajakanappan at the Secretariat on Wednesday. According to sources, the government is planning to operate 50 per cent of the town buses.
Speaking to indianexpress.com, a senior official from the Villupuram State Transport Corporation said: “We are hoping that from June 21 (Monday), buses will be allowed to ply within districts initially and after assessing the situation, it will be open for inter-districts as well,” he said. Read more
The World health Organisation (WHO) has accepted Bharat Biotech’s Expression of Interest (EoI) for Covid-19 vaccine Covaxin and scheduled a pre-submission meeting on June 23. Though the meeting will not be a detailed review on the vaccine, the manufacturer will have an opportunity to put forth a summary on overall quality of the jab. The information was uploaded in the WHO website in the Status of Covid-19 Vaccines within WHO EUL-PQ evaluation process document.
As part of a nationwide stir against attack on doctors, medical practitioners protest outside IMA building in Chandigarh.
The Covid curfew in Andhra Pradesh has been further extended till June 30 but with a four-hour additional relaxation in timings. Accordingly, curfew will be in force from 6 pm to 6 am daily from June 21. Chief Minister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy announced this at a high-level review meeting on Covid-19 here on Friday.
The Covid curfew, first imposed on May 5 this year, has so far been extended in phases till June 20. A CMO release said all shops and business establishments will have tobe shut by 5 pm daily. In East Godavari district, which has still been reporting a higher number of coronavirus cases, the curfew will be in force from 2 pm to 6 am. Government offices will function normally from June 21 and staff have been directed to attend work as per the revised schedule. (PTI)
The Tripura government has decided to extend the ongoing curfew in areas under Agartala Municipal Corporation (AMC) for seven more days till June 25 as the positivity rate of the state continues to remain between 3 per cent and 5 per cent. A notification issued by Chief Secretary Kumar Alok informed that the situation was reviewed in detail and it was decided that it is necessary to extend the curfew in 12 urban local bodies. The ongoing curfew was limited to only six urban bodies. (Read Debraj Deb's report)
The Covid-19 caseload in Andaman and Nicobar Islands rose to 7,335 as 29 more people tested positive for the disease in the Union Territory, a health department official said on Friday. All the new patients were detected during contact tracing, he said. The death toll remained at 127 as no new fatality due to the infection was reported in the last 24 hours, the official said. At least 25 more people were cured of the disease during the period, taking the total number of recoveries in the archipelago to 7,104. The Union Territory now has 104 active cases. South Andaman is the worst-affected district as it currently has 101 active cases. In view of the detection of several Covid-19 cases in Little Andaman, several areas are brought under containment zones, the official said. (PTI)
Odisha reported 3,806 new Covid-19 cases on Friday, taking the tally to 8,70,498, a Health Department official said. Thirty-seven more fatalities pushed the toll to 3,508, he said. There are 43,338 active cases in the state at present, and 8,23,599 people have recovered.
Of the new infections, 2,172 were detected at quarantine centres, while the rest 1,634 were local contact cases. Khurda district, where state capital Bhubaneswar is located, reported the highest 617 new cases, followed by Cuttack (393) and Jajpur (346). As per the data released by the Health Department, Khurda, Cuttack, Jajpur and Balasore districts were in the 'Red Zone' with over 2,500 active cases and a positivity rate of more than 7.5 per cent. The state positivity rate on Friday was 5.86 per cent, the official said. (PTI)
Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) chief Mayawati on Friday asked the governments to make preparations in advance, especially in rural areas, to effectively deal with a possible third wave of Covid-19. "Public participation in the coronavirus vaccination can be ensured only when the vaccine is available easily to everyone everywhere. Like the second wave of the coronavirus, preparations should completed at every level, especially in the rural areas, to save people from a possible third wave," she said in a tweet in Hindi. "This is the demand of the BSP from all state governments," Mayawati added. (PTI)
More than half a crore people in Maharashtra have become fully vaccinated against coronavirus over the last five months as they have been administered both the doses of vaccines, a report by the state health department has revealed. A total of 53,72,219 people have got both the doses till now, it said. As per the Election Commission of India's data shared ahead of 2019 Assembly polls, there are a total of nine crore people in Maharashtra who are above 18 years of age. Considering that, the state has been able to vaccinate slightly over five per cent population in the last five months. (PTI)
Although areas under Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) have been witnessing a gradual dip in the Covid-19 cases for the last two months, the overall case fatality rate (CFR) has, however, slightly increased from 1.66 per cent to 1.79 per cent during the same period.
However, the number of deaths has halved in the last month when compared to the month prior to it. On April 18, PMC had recorded its peak during the second wave with 56,636 active cases. The death toll then stood at 6,109. Thereafter, a gradual slowdown in the spread resulted in a sharp decline in active cases to 18,440 on May 17. During this period, 1,640 deaths were reported. (Read Ajay Jadhav's report)
At least 302 more people tested positive for Covid-19 in Mizoram, taking the tally in the state to 16,437, an official said on Friday. Aizawl district reported the highest number of fresh cases at 224, followed by Lawngtlai district (33) and Lunglei district (20), he said. The remaining cases were registered in Mamit, Hnahthial, Khawzawl and Kolasib districts. Sixty-two children are among the new patients, the official said.
The fresh cases were detected from 4,395 sample tests for Covid-19, and the single-day positivity ratio stood at 6.87 per cent. Nine new patients have travel history, he said. Of the 302 coronavirus-positive patients, 174 have developed symptoms of the infection. Mizoram now has 3,732, active cases, while 12,630 people have recovered from the disease and 75 died. The northeastern state has so far conducted 4,46,415 sample tests for Covid-19. (PTI)
Exposure to the rhinovirus, the most frequent cause of the common cold, can protect against infection by the virus which causes Covid-19, researchers have found.
In a new study, published in the the Journal of Experimental Medicine, researchers from Yale University found that the common respiratory virus jump-starts the activity of interferon-stimulated genes. These are molecules in the immune system whose early response can halt replication of the SARS-CoV-2 virus within airway tissues infected with the cold. Read our Explainer
Arunachal Pradesh reported 295 new Covid-19 cases on Friday, taking the tally to 32,483, a senior health official said. The toll rose to 158 as three women succumbed to the disease in the past two days, the official said. The women, who had comorbidities, were from Capital Complex Region and Changlang, State Surveillance Officer (SSO) Dr Lobsang Jampa said. Capital Complex Region reported the highest number of fresh cases at 37, followed by Changlang (36), West Kameng and Kurung Kumey (27 each), he said. The new cases were detected after testing 6,469 samples. While 283 cases were detected through rapid antigen tests, nine were found through RT-PCR and three via TrueNat method, the official said. (PTI)
The Delhi High Court Friday took cognisance of the violation of Covid-19 protocols in various markets in the national capital and observed that such breaches will only hasten the third wave which cannot be permitted at all. The high court asked the Centre and Delhi government to take strict measures, sensitise shopkeepers and hold meetings with markets and vendors associations in this regard. A vacation bench of Justices Navin Chawla and Asha Menon took note of certain photographs sent to one of the judges of the high court by an AIIMS doctor showing scant regard for Covid-19 protocols by street vendors in markets. (PTI)
Prime Minister Narendra Modi launches six customized crash course programmes for Covid-19 frontline workers under the Skill India initiative. (ANI)
The Delhi High Court, while taking suo motu cognizance of various images of marketplaces circulating on WhatsApp where people are seen not wearing masks and not following Covid-19 protocols, said: “There is a need for strict measures to prevent further spread of Covid-19 infection.” It also asks the Centre and Delhi government to file a status report on the same. (ANI)
The Jharkhand government is on high alert to contain any possible third wave of the Covid-19 pandemic, following suggestions of experts that any laxity may lead to serious consequences, officials said on Friday. The state government issued a detailed document to deal with the possibility of the third wave, which may lead to an increased number of infections among children.
"Experts suggest that the Coronavirus is mutating at a fast pace and any kind of lethargy may lead to serious complications. With the inputs received from the experts, the state government of Jharkhand is on high alert regarding this matter. Efforts are being undertaken to enhance and up-grade the existing medical infrastructure," an offficial statement said. Claiming that the dedication and commitment of the Hemant Soren government have resulted in containing the second wave, it said that with few restrictions in place, the state is moving towards lifting all the curbs. (PTI)
With one more patient succumbing to Covid-19, Ladakh's overall death toll due to the disease has reached 200, officials said Friday, as 22 new infections pushed the case tally to 19,704.
However, the number of active cases in the region dropped to 482 — 348 in Leh and 134 in Kargil — as 77 more patients recovered during a 24-hour period, the officials said this morning. The new death was reported from Kargil on Thursday, taking the district's tally to 57. The rest of the Covid fatalities, 143, have been reported from Leh, the officials said. Of the new cases, 11 each were detected in Leh and Kargil, taking the individual district's tally to 16,254 and 3,450, respectively. The officials said 63 patients were discharged in Leh and 14 in Kargil after treatment. With this, the number of such patients has gone up to 19,022, or 96.54 per cent of the total caseload. (PTI)
The government on Wednesday issued a clarification stating that Covaxin, the Covid-19 vaccine developed by Hyderabad-based Bharat Biotech, did not contain the serum of a newborn calf. This was in response to discussions on the social media about the presence of calf serum in Covaxin.
In the clarification, the government reiterated the well-known use of calf serum, as also serum extracted from other animals, in the development of vaccines. These are needed to grow the disease-causing virus, bacteria or other pathogens in the laboratory, but do not themselves become an ingredient of the vaccine. Read our Explainer
India on Friday registered 62,480 cases and 1,587 deaths due to the coronavirus disease, taking the caseload and death toll to 29,762,793 and 383,490 respectively, according to the Union health ministry. Nearly 89,000 people recovered in the last 24 hours and the cumulative figures of recoveries have climbed to 28,580,647 while the active cases have come down to 798,656 and constitute 2.78 per cent of the caseload.
With the addition of 469 coronavirus positive cases, the infection count in Thane district of Maharashtra mounted to 5,26,945, an official said on Friday. These cases were reported on Thursday, he said. The virus claimed the lives of 37 patients during the day, taking the death toll in the district to 10,427. Thane's Covid-19 mortality rate is 1.97 per cent at present, he added. In neighbouring Palghar district, the coronavirus case count has gone up to 1,14,408, while the death toll stood at 2,456, another official said. (PTI)
Coronavirus-related deaths worldwide passed a grim milestone of 4 million on Thursday, according to a Reuters tally, as many countries struggle to procure enough vaccines to inoculate their populations.
While the number of new cases and deaths have abated in countries like the United States and Britain, several nations have vaccine shortages as the Delta variant becomes the dominant strain around the world.
It took over a year for the Covid-19 death toll to hit 2 million, while the next 2 million were recorded in just 166 days, according to a Reuters analysis. Read more
In a reassurance to many who have received the Covid-19 vaccination, an evidence-based study released by Fortis Healthcare highlights that 92 per cent of fully vaccinated healthcare workers, amongst those who acquired Covid-19 infection post-vaccination, developed only mild Covid-19 infection, largely recovering under home care, despite a surge in serious infections during the second wave of the pandemic. (Read full report)
Serum Institute of India (SII) is likely to begin clinical trials of Novavax’s Covid-19 vaccine candidate on children in July, sources at the Pune-based vaccine manufacturer said.
The recombinant nanoparticle protein-based vaccine — NVX-CoV2373 — developed by the American biotechnology firm has been branded Covovax in India. SII, which is partnering with Novavax, expects to launch Covovax in India by September.
Earlier this week, Novavax announced excellent results from its PREVENT-19 phase 3 trials at 119 sites in the United States and Mexico, reporting an overall efficacy of 90.4 per cent — on a par with Pfizer-BioNTech’s and Moderna’s mRNA shots, and better than both Oxford-AstraZeneca (Covishield) and Johnson & Johnson’s one-dose vaccine. (Read Kaunain Sheriff M’s report)
Former US President Donald Trump on Thursday said that India has been devastated by the coronavirus pandemic, insisting that China should pay USD 10 trillion to the US for allegedly being responsible for the spread of Covid-19 globally. Read the full report here.
Russian made Covid-19 vaccine Sputnik V will soon offer a booster shot, adjusted to work against the Delta variant of coronavirus to other vaccine manufacturers. The booster shot will be offered to other vaccine manufacturers, RDIF stated in a tweet.
The United States is devoting $3.2 billion to advance the development of antiviral pills for Covid-19 and other dangerous viruses that could turn into pandemics.
Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation's top infectious disease expert, announced the investment Thursday at a White House briefing as part of a new "antiviral program for pandemics" to develop drugs to address symptoms caused by potentially dangerous viruses like the coronavirus.
The pills for Covi-19, which would be used to minimize symptoms after infection, are in development and could begin arriving by year's end, pending the completion of clinical trials. The funding will speed those clinical trials and provide additional support to private sector research, development and manufacturing. More details here.
Amid the ongoing global debate on “vaccine passports”, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) Thursday stated that it needs to be linked with vaccine equity as many developing countries have not been able to vaccinate a large percentage of their population.
In a daily press briefing, MEA Spokesperson Arindam Bagchi asserted that India “would favour discussions on the subject of vaccine passport with greater focus on vaccine equity,” while responding to a query on Japan’s decision to issue “vaccine passports” to Japanese travellers from next month. Read the full report here.
Delhi currently has sufficient stock of coronavirus vaccines for inoculation of beneficiaries in the 45-plus as well as 18-44 age groups for over a week, AAP MLA Atishi said on Wednesday. The remarks come on a day when the national capital recorded 10 more deaths due to Covid-19 and 158 fresh cases of the disease. The city's positivity rate dipped to 0.20 per cent, according to data shared by the health department here on Thursday.
Delhi currently has sufficient stock of coronavirus vaccines for inoculation of beneficiaries in the 45-plus as well as 18-44 age groups for over a week, AAP MLA Atishi said on Wednesday. The remarks come on a day when the national capital recorded 10 more deaths due to Covid-19 and 158 fresh cases of the disease. The city's positivity rate dipped to 0.20 per cent, according to data shared by the health department here on Thursday.
The Haryana government on Thursday announced a one-time payment of Rs 5,000 each to small shopkeepers, construction workers, auto-rickshaw drivers and unorganised labourers who have faced financial hardship due to the Covid-19 pandemic and lockdown, news agency PTI reported.
BPL families who have lost a family member in the 18-50 age group to COVID-19 will be given an ex gratia of Rs 2 lakh each, Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar announced at a media briefing here on the occasion of his government completing 600 days in office.
The chief minister also announced a host of other benefits, including waiver of property tax and reduction in electricity bill in the first quarter of 2021-22.
People infected with Covid-19 are said to develop antibodies which are “generally considered to be a guarantee of not getting infected by the virus again,” said Dr Navneet Sood, pulmonary consultant, Dharamshila Narayana Superspeciality Hospital. But there have been certain cases where people may not have developed adequate antibodies after recovery. Is that because it depends on the severity of the infection? Read the full report here.
Delhi on Thursday recorded 10 more deaths due to Covid-19 and 158 fresh cases of the disease while the positivity rate has dipped to 0.20 per cent, according to data shared by the health department on Thursday. The death toll in the city is now at 24,886.
The number of people infected with the coronavirus is increasing rapidly in England, doubling every 11 days, which coincides with the Delta variant of COVID-19 becoming dominant in the country, a new study reports on Thursday.
The Imperial College London led Real-time Assessment of Community Transmission (REACT-1) analysis, based on over 100,000 home swab tests taken between May 20 and June 7, estimates that 0.15 per cent of people have the deadly virus, or roughly 1 in 670.
It found that the link between infections, hospitalisations and deaths had been weakening since February, but since late April, the trend has been reversing for hospitalisations. Full report here.
The Union Health Ministry Thursday said that more than 2.18 Covid-19 vaccine doses are available with states and union territories, and over 56,70,350 more are in the pipeline and will be received by them in the next three days, PTI reported.
More than 27.28 crore (27,28,31,900) vaccine doses have been provided to the states and UTs so far by the government of India (free of cost channel) and through direct state procurement category, it said.
Of this, the total consumption, including wastage, is 25,10,03,417 doses (as per data available at 8 am on Thursday), the ministry said, adding, "2,18,28,483 COVID-19 vaccine doses are still available with the states and UTs to be administered."
Corticosteroids, a class of drugs that lowers inflammation, may be an effective treatment for children who develop a rare but serious condition after COVID-19 infection, according to a study.
All the 614 children in the study, published in the New England Journal of Medicine on Wednesday, developed a serious disorder following COVID-19 infection. The disorder, called multi-system inflammatory syndrome in children (MIS-C), is thought to affect one in 50,000 children infected with SARS-CoV-2 virus.
The illness generally occurs two to six weeks after the infection. It affects children of all ages but is more common in older children and teenagers. The researchers from Imperial College London, UK, noted that the disorder is characterised by persistent high fever, often accompanied by abdominal pain, vomiting, red eyes and red rash. According to the researchers, most global reports suggest a fatality of 2-4 per cent associated with the disorder. (PTI)
Sonia Gandhi has taken both doses of the Covishield vaccine, the Congress said on Thursday following questions from the BJP and asked the government to follow the 'raj dharma' of vaccinating all Indians instead of creating non-issues.
The Congress president's daughter Priyanka Gandhi Vadra has taken her first dose of the vaccine and her son and Rahul Gandhi will take his shot post Covid recovery as advised by doctors, party chief spokesperson Randeep Surjewala said while hitting out at the BJP for raising doubts on whether the Gandhis had got their jabs.
Several BJP leaders have raised questions over the Gandhis' vaccinations and accused them and the party of creating "vaccine hesitancy" in the country. (PTI)
Weeks after announcing the cancellation of Class 12 Boards, CBSE submitted before the Supreme Court its evaluation criteria for awarding marks for Class XII exams. The Class XII results will be decided on the basis of performance in Class 10 (30% weightage), Class 11 (30% weightage) and Class 12 (40% weightage) collectively, CBSE told the apex court.
Meanwhile, for classes X and XI, marks in best of three from five papers in term exams will be considered, ANI reported.
Weeks after announcing the cancellation of Class 12 Boards, CBSE submitted before the Supreme Court its evaluation criteria for awarding marks for Class XII exams. The Class XII results will be decided on the basis of performance in Class 10 (30% weightage), Class 11 (30% weightage) and Class 12 (40% weightage) collectively, CBSE told the apex court.
Meanwhile, for classes X and XI, marks in best of three from five papers in term exams will be considered, ANI reported.
The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has classified the Delta, a highly transmissible COVID-19 variant first identified in India, as a "variant of concern." "The B.1.1.7 (Alpha), B.1.351 (Beta), P.1 (Gamma), B.1.427 (Epsilon), B.1.429 (Epsilon), and B.1.617.2 (Delta) variants circulating in the United States are classified as variants of concern.
To date, no variants of high consequence have been identified in the United States," the CDC said in a statement on Tuesday. The CDC said the Delta variant shows increased transmissibility, potential reduction in neutralisation by some monoclonal antibody treatments under emergency authorisation and potential reduction in neutralization from sera after vaccination in lab tests.
The variant of concern designation is given to strains of the virus that scientists believe are more transmissible or can cause more severe disease. Vaccines, treatments and tests that detect the virus may also be less effective against a variant of concern. (PTI)
Kerala is set to gradually ease lockdown restrictions from today onwards following a decline in daily reported cases. However, a complete lockdown will continue in the state during the weekend. Shop selling essential good will remain open between 7 AM and 7 PM, while public transport will be permitted to partially operate.
Delhi has recorded 14.4 lakh Covid cases since the first case was confirmed in March last year. Since then, the city has seen four waves of infections, of which the last was the deadliest. Over the past three weeks, however, the number of cases has been dipping.
Here is what the caseload analysis for the past month tells us:
* 40,470 people tested positive for Covid in Delhi between May 15 and June 15
* Over half — 51% — were in the 30 to 60 age group
* This was followed by the 15-30 age group, which constituted around 28% of the total caseload
* Those above the age of 60 constituted 17% of the caseload
Read the full report here.
Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal Wednesday said the Delhi government would train 5,000 youth as “health assistants” in the coming weeks to prepare for a possible third wave of Covid-19 infections in the city.
“In the last few days, preparations are being made to protect Delhi from a possible third wave of Covid. I have visited many hospitals. We are setting up oxygen plants and making arrangements for oxygen concentrators, cylinders and storage tanks as well. But if a third wave comes — as we saw in the first and second waves — we face shortage of medical and paramedical staff,” he said in a press conference.
“Keeping that in mind, the government has made a grand ambitious plan to prepare 5,000 health assistants. In technical terms, they are called ‘community nursing assistants’,” he said. Read the full report here.
With a state-appointed task force Wednesday expressing apprehension that a third wave of the pandemic could hit Maharashtra in a month or two if Covid-appropriate behaviour was not followed, Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray directed senior doctors and officers to ensure medicines and health equipment were available across urban and rural areas.
At a meeting to review the preparations for the possible third wave of the pandemic, the CM was informed that a highly virulent “Delta plus” variant of the coronavirus could stoke a third wave in Maharashtra.
The state health department officers also said while the number of patients during the second wave was much higher than the first due to the ‘Delta variant’ of the virus, the third wave may even see a higher volume of patients. The state recorded around 19 lakh patients in the first wave of the pandemic and nearly 40 lakh in the second. Health officials said the third wave could even see eight lakh active patients, of whom 10 per cent could be children. Read the full report here.
With the second wave of Covid-19 infections on a decline, footfall of passengers at the Pune airport has seen considerable rise over the last one week. This has led to airlines adding flights to their daily schedule. As a result, flight movement from the airport has gone up from 26 per day in the middle of May to about 46 per day in mid-June.
Airport officials said they expect that passenger activity will improve further in the coming weeks.
“As the severity of the infection spread will go down, more people will buy tickets to travel and the number of flights will go up. We are seeing increasing footfall and flight operations since the second wave of the Covid-19 pandemic has started receding and businesses are opening up,” said airport director Kuldeep Singh. Read the full report here.
Over the last month, several hospitals across Delhi have reported cases of multi inflammatory syndrome in children (MIS-C) as a post-Covid complication, though city pediatricians emphasise that affected children have responded well to treatment.
According to the Lancet, the factors that trigger the condition are not yet known but it is thought to be a rare immune overreaction that occurs approximately four to six weeks after a mild or asymptomatic SARS-CoV-2 infection. The symptoms include fever for three days, rash, eye infection and gastrointestinal symptoms like diarrhoea, stomach-ache and nausea. In very rare cases, the condition can lead to multi-organ failure. Read the full report here.
SCIENTISTS IN Karnataka are studying genomic sequences of the SARS-CoV-2 virus among children infected in the second wave in order to ascertain if infections are being caused by the existing variants of the virus or newer ones.
A technical advisory committee advising the state government on the Covid-19crisis has tasked the nodal officer for genome sequencing in the state, Prof V Ravi, a former professor of virology, to study gene sequences in samples of children who tested positive for Covid. “Samples are now being collected and they need to be processed. We should have data and information in about 15 days,” he said.
“We have discussed the issue of infections among children and some additional work is required to study the genomic sequencing of viruses from samples of children,” said Prof M K Sudarshan, a public health expert and chairman of the state technical advisory committee. Read the full report here.
India reported 67,208 new coronavirus cases and 2,330 deaths in the last 24 hours. With this, the country’s overall caseload rose to 2.97 crore, while the death toll surged to 3.81 lakh. The number of active cases dropped to 8.26 lakh, the lowest in 71 days.