India has conducted more than 23 crore Covid-19 tests in which the cumulative positivity rate stands at 4.93 per cent, according to the Ministry of Health.Coronavirus Highlights: Maharashtra CM Uddhav Thackeray on Friday said he trusts people to follow COVID norms on their own even if lockdown is an option to curb the spike. He urged the public to take the Covid vaccine without fear. The state had reported the highest one day spike on Thursday after September last year. Maharashtra reported 25,681 new COVID-19 cases and 70 deaths reported in the last 24 hours.
The Maharashtra govt on Friday imposed restrictions on theatres and auditoriums in the state, asking them to operate only at 50 per cent of their capacity till March 31.
Similarly, with Covid-19 cases increasing, the Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation on Friday decided to shut malls and multiplexes on weekends. The latest measure comes a day after the civic body increased the curfew in the city by one hour from 9 pm to 6 am.
India reported 39,726 in the last 24 hours ending 8 am Friday, taking the country’s total to over 1.15 crore. Out of this, over 2.71 lakh are active while over 1.10 crore people have recovered. With 154 news deaths, the death toll is now at over 1.59 lakh. Over 3.39 crore people have been vaccinated till now.
After a gap of over 80 days, Tamil Nadu logged above 1,000 COVID-19 cases on Friday, pushing the total caseload to nearly 8.65 lakh, while nine fatalities took the toll to 12,582.
The state recorded 1,087 cases on Friday. Tamil Nadu last reported over 1,000 cases in December 28, 2020. (PTI)
The Centre has asked Serum Institute of India (SII) to manufacture another 100 million doses of the Covishield vaccine for it as it plans to ramp up vaccination across the country.
Officials from SII said so far, the institute had sent 66 million doses of Covishield to the government. They added that sixty million doses had been sent to other countries via Covax. Read More
In the wake of the rising Covid-19 cases, Section 144 of CrPC imposed in Rajasthan has been extended till April 21.
Over 29,000 beneficiaries received COVID-19 vaccine shots in the national capital on Friday, as per official data.
In the age bracket, 45-59 years, 2,540 beneficiaries received the jabs, while 12,683 senior citizens also got their first shots, a senior official said, adding that a total of 29,499 people were vaccinated across 385 sites.
Delhi reported 716 new coronavirus cases, which is the highest in over 2.5 months, and 4 deaths in the last 24 hours. (PTI)
MP Home Department issued lockdown in Indore, Bhopal, and Jabalpur every Saturday from 10 pm to Monday 6 am. Eduational institutes in these cities will be closed till March 31, ANI reported.
Mumbai reported the highest spike of 3,062 new COVID-19 cases on Friday, taking its caseload to 3,55,897, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) said.
With 10 deaths since Thursday evening, the death toll increased to 11,565. (PTI)
A day after Maharashtra witnessed the highest one-day spike of 25,833 COVID-19 cases, Chie Minister Uddhav Thackeray on Friday said lockdown is an option but he trusts people to follow the norms on their own.
Talking to reporters in Nandurbar, Thackeray also appealed people to get vaccinated against the virus without fear. (PTI)
Kerala reported 1984 fresh COVID-19 cases on Friday, including a UK returnee, pushing the total caseload to over 11 lakh as the active cases come down to 25,158, the state government said.
As many as 1,965 people have been cured of the infection taking the total recoveriesso far to 10,70,343, Health minister, K K Shailaja said. (PTI)
Madhya Pradesh on Friday reported 1,140 COVID-19 cases, taking its tally to 2,73,097, while seven deaths increased the toll to 3,901, an official said.
He said 556 people were discharged from hospitals in the last 24 hours, taking the count of recoveries in Madhya Pradesh to 2,62,587.
Four of 52 districts in the state did not report a new COVID-19 case in the last 24 hours, the official pointed out. (PTI)
The state's total COVID-19 tally reached 24,22,021 today.
A day after warning that he won’t “go easy on people” if they don’t follow Covid appropriate behaviour, Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh on Friday ordered a slew of restrictions which include closing of all educational institutions till month-end, curbs on cinema and mall capacities and a ban on social gatherings in 11 districts worst affected by the fresh surge in cases.
While curbs across state will be enforced from Saturday, the ban on social gatherings, except for funerals and weddings, which will be allowed with only 20 persons in attendance in the 11 worst affected districts, will come in force from Sunday. Read More
The State has 12,067 active covid cases.
Nagpur District in Maharashtra reported 3235 new Covid-19 cases, 1245 recoveries, and 35 deaths in the last 24 hours according to the Nagpur Civil Surgeon.
Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh on Friday asked all private and government hospitals to offer hassle-free vaccination services for at least eight hours daily till March 31.
There should be no requirement of a separate certificate if an eligible person aged 45 and above brings a medical record regarding co-morbidities, he directed.
The directions were given at a review meeting chaired by the chief minister, in which he took note of the low vaccination numbers in the state. (PTI)
Stelis Biopharma, the biopharmaceutical arm of Bengaluru-headquartered Strides Pharma Science, will be making and supplying at least 200 million doses of Sputnik V, the Russian Covid-19 vaccine currently awaiting emergency authorisation in India.
The latest agreement is expected to increase India’s capacity to make this vaccine to around 550 million doses a year. Read More
With Maharashtra witnessing a possible second wave of the novel coronavirus, the state government has ordered theatres, auditoriums and offices to take in only 50 per cent of their capacity till March 31.
“All private offices except related to health and other essential services to function at 50% capacity,” the order said. It allowed government and semi-government offices to take a call on staff attendance. Read More
Analysis shows that children in the age group of 0-14 years are less affected by COVID-19, Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan informed the Lok Sabha on Friday.
He said in a written reply that infection among children is mild and most of them remain asymptomatic. "Hence no specific action plan has been formulated in the current response phase to minimise the adverse effects of COVID-19 on such children," he said. (PTI)
Rajya Sabha Chairman M Venkaiah Naidu urged the Members of Parliament on Friday to remain extra careful and strictly follow the coronavirus-related guidelines in the wake of rise in the number of cases in some states.
During the morning session, Naidu said while the severity has come down, reports are coming from certain states that the pandemic is spreading.
"...all the members of Parliament, who are here, who are there in their respective fields, to be extra careful. I know that you are all public representatives, you can't live in isolation. But at the same time, while dealing with people, meeting them, or going to the constituencies or areas, be careful, follow strictly the advice given by the Health Ministry and Home Ministry, central government, as well as the guidelines issued by the state governments concerned from time to time and see to it that they are implemented," he said. (PTI)
Telangana continued to witness an upward trend in COVID-19 cases with 313 new infections being reported, pushing the tally to 3,02,360 while the death toll rose to 1,664 with two more fatalities.
The Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) accounted for the most number of cases with 47 followed by Rangareddy and Nirmal districts with 29 and 25 respectively, a bulletin said on Friday providing details as of 8 PM on March 18. (PTI)
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi Friday alleged that lakhs of families have suffered pain due to the government's "incompetence and myopia" as the unplanned lockdown continues to haunt the country.
Taking to Twitter Gandhi said,“The unplanned lockdown disaster continues to haunt the country.Condolences to the lakhs of families being punished with indescribable pain for GOI’s incompetence & myopia.”