India on Saturday delivered 300 oxygen concentrators and 100 metric tons of liquid medical oxygen to Indonesia to help the country fight rising cases of coronavirus infection, officials said. (Express file photo by Pawan Khengre)Coronavirus India Highlights: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday spoke to US President Joe Biden and thanked him for all the support his country is providing India in its battle against the Covid. Taking to Twitter, Had a fruitful conversation with Joe Biden today. We discussed the evolving COVID situation in both countries in detail. I thanked President Biden for the support being provided by the United States to India.” Their discussion also underscored the importance of smooth and efficient supply chains of vaccine raw materials and medicines, Modi added. “India-US healthcare partnership can address the global challenge of COVID-19,” he said.
Earlier in the day, the US Ambassador to the UN said the US will “work around the clock” to help India as it fights a “devastating” spike in COVID-19 cases and Washington is doing everything it can to help, including sending across raw materials for vaccines, ventilators, oxygen generation supplies and financial support for vaccine expansion.
Amid demands for medical oxygen coming in from various states, the Ministry of Home Affairs on Monday claimed that India has enough oxygen stock but the issue is its transportation. Assuring that there is absolutely no need to panic for oxygen, MHA Additional Secretary Piyush Goyal said, “We are trying to resolve issue of its transportation. The government is monitoring oxygen-carrying tankers on real-time basis through GPS, making them available to hospitals as early as possible.”
Karnataka Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa on Sunday announced 14-day lockdown in the state that will come into force from 9 pm on Tuesday to curb the spread of Covid-19 among its residents. During the period no public transport will be allowed to ply on the roads, but the shops of essential commodities will remain open from 6 am to 10 am every day, Yediyurappa said.
India recorded over 3.52 lakh new Covid-19 cases in the 24 hours ending 8 am Monday, taking the country’s total infections to over 1.73 crore. Out of these, over 28 lakh cases are currently active while 1.43 crore people have recovered after testing positive. With 2,812 new fatalities, the death toll is now over 1.95 lakh.
At a crematorium in New Delhi amid the second wave of Covid-19. (Express Photo: Tashi Tobgyal)
US President Joe Biden on Monday expressed solidarity with India in its fight against COVID-19 and asserted that his country was determined to support its efforts by quickly deploying resources like therapeutics, ventilators and identifying sources of raw materials to be made available for the manufacture of Covishield vaccine, according to a statement here.
Biden expressed the support of the US to India in a telephonic conversation with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, during which the two leaders discussed the pandemic situation in their countries, including India’s ongoing efforts to contain a second wave of COVID-19 through expedited vaccination efforts, and ensuring supply of critical medicines, therapeutics and medical equipment. Read more
The U.S. will begin sharing its entire pipeline of vaccines from AstraZeneca once the COVID-19 vaccine clear federal safety reviews, the White House told The Associated Press on Monday, with as many as 60 million doses expected to be available for export in the coming months. The White House is increasingly assured about the supply of the three vaccines being administered in the U.S., particularly following the restart of the single-dose Johnson & Johnson shot over the weekend. The U.S. has also been under mounting pressure in recent weeks to share more of its vaccine supply with the world, as nations like India experience devastating surges of the virus and others struggle to access doses needed to protect their most vulnerable populations. AP
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday spoke to US President Joe Biden and thanked him for all the support his country is providing India in its battle against the Covid. Taking to Twitter, Had a fruitful conversation with Joe Biden today. We discussed the evolving COVID situation in both countries in detail. I thanked President Biden for the support being provided by the United States to India.” Their discussion also underscored the importance of smooth and efficient supply chains of vaccine raw materials and medicines, Modi added. “India-US healthcare partnership can address the global challenge of COVID-19,” he said.
The situation in India, where COVID-19 cases have surged, is 'beyond heartbreaking', and the World Health Organization is sending extra staff and supplies there to help fight the pandemic, WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said on Monday.
"WHO is doing everything we can, providing critical equipment and supplies, including thousands of oxygen concentrators, prefabricated mobile field hospitals and laboratory supplies," Tedros told a briefing.
He said he had already announced 2,600 extra WHO staff members were going to India to help support the effort to fight the disease. --Reuters
PharmEasy, India’s leading digital healthcare platform has launched the biggest COVID-19 vaccination drive in the country. With this drive, the company aims to vaccinate over 3 crore people via camps and vaccine centres. Individuals, companies, RWAs, Old Age Homes etc. can register for vaccines that will be administered.
India has witnessed a record rise in COVID-19 cases due to the second wave, surpassing the worst of last year. Given the current situation, the Government of India has invited the participation of private companies to accelerate vaccination across the country. From 1st May 2021, wherein all legal adults (above the age of 18) will be eligible to get vaccinated against COVID-19.
PharmEasy has extended its support in furthering the clarion call of “Teeka Utsav” given by the Hon’ble Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi. Leveraging its presence across India, with over 80,000 partner retailers, 5,000 doctors and a state-of-the-art pharma supply chain facility enabling last-mile delivery of cold chain products, the company aims to vaccinate over 3 crore families via 5,000 partner centres, pan-India in the next few quarters. Basis the availability of vaccines and guidelines provided by GOI (to be released soon), PharmEasy will release the timelines for the start of the vaccination drive. As soon as the vaccines doses are available, the company will reach out to registered individuals and assist them with vaccination slots at camps set-up in their vicinity.
Thai prime minister fined $190 for not wearing face mask
Maharashtra's daily vaccination crossed 5 lakh -- highest single day count -- on Monday.
"Government asks Serum Institute, Bharat Biotech to lower price of COVID vaccines as India gears up to inoculate all aged above 18," PTI quoted official sources.
In 15 out of 36 districts in Maharashtra, the number of people getting discharged is much higher than patients getting admitted in hospital for COVID- 19, which is a "satisfactory and comforting indication", state medical education minister Amit Deshmukh said here on Monday. He said the state government had set up jumbo treatment facilities, ramped up testing and ensured effective home isolation to tackle the second wave of the infection, which was "unprecedented and four times stronger than the first one". On the drop in numbers and the recovery rate climbing up steadily, the minister told reporters, "This is a satisfactory and comforting indication. I feel restrictions are working and the second wave numbers will soon come down if all of us adhere to COVID-19 norms." The state government was planning to get vaccines from the international market to carry out a massive drive covering as many people as possible in a short period of time, the minister added. --PTI
For the fifth day in a row, Gurgaon recorded over 3,000 new cases of coronavirus on Monday, with 3,555 people testing positive for the infection. Seven people also succumbed to the infection. According to the district health bulletin, Gurgaon now has 27, 318 active cases of Coronavirus, of which 26, 137 are in home isolation.
Since the pandemic first broke out, Gurgaon has recorded 1,06,839 cases of Coronavirus, of which 79,085 people have recovered from the infection and 436 have succumbed to it. Of those who died due to Coronavirus, 326 had comorbidities while 110 were people without any comorbidities.
As the district has seen a surge in Covid cases and consequently in the demand for hospital beds, the administration has started working towards increasing the number of beds for Covid patients. Last week, directions were give to hospitals to increase the number of beds reserved for Covid patients to 60 percent of total bed capacity under the general category and 75 percent of total bed capacity in terms of ventilator and ICU beds. Despite this, however, the web portal where data regarding bed availability is being maintained in real time indicated that as of 6.30 pm on Monday, three ICU beds and only one ventilator bed were vacant in the district. --Sakshi Dayal reports from Gurgaon
Amid coronavirus surge and experts prediction that cases may further increase in the coming days, Chief Minister Nitish Kumar Monday held a high-level review meeting on COVID situation and issued order to further ramp up test of samples and ensure timely delivery of reports so that treatment of the infected can start at the earliest. Kumar also instructed officials to take all steps to meet the requirment of medical oxygen for critically ill patients in the government as well as private COVID designated hospitals. "If the requirement of medical oxygen is more than what the Centre has alloted to Bihar than the state government will arrange it at its own expense," he said, according to an official statement. --PTI
Committed to making entire production capability available to produce medical oxygen: Sterlite Oxygen plant
The Delhi government has directed all district magistrates to constitute a 'Special Task Force' to take strict action against those involved in hoarding and black-marketing of life-saving drugs which are used for treating coronavirus patients. Chief Secretary Vijay Dev, in an order, said drugs controllers will also constitute sufficient number of teams on urgent basis for inspecting, checking, raiding and stopping the manufacturing and supply of spurious drugs. Dev, who is also the chairman of DDMA's state executive committee, directed officers concerned to submit a daily action-taken report. On Sunday, Delhi recorded 350 COVID-19 deaths and 22,933 cases with a positivity rate of 30.21 per cent. This was the fourth day on the trot that the city had recorded over 300 fatalities due to coronavirus. It had reported 357 fatalities, the highest so far since the pandemic began a year ago, on Saturday, 348 on Friday and 306 on Thursday, according to government data. --PTI
The Centre has decided to set up 13 oxygen generation plants in five Northeastern states to boost availability of the life-saving gas amid its shortage in several states of the country when COVID-19 cases are surging, an official said here on Monday. "Meghalaya, Nagaland and Mizoram will get three oxygen plants each while Arunachal Pradesh and Manipur will get two units each," the official told PTI. These 13 are among the 551 dedicated Pressure Swing Adsorption (PSA) medical oxygen generation plants to be set up inside public health facilities across the country, he said. The PM Cares Fund has given in-principle approval for allocation of funds for the installation of the plants. There is no mention of the three other Northeastern states - Sikkim, Tripura and Assam - in the approved plans, the official said. --PTI
Japanese PM Yoshihide Suga on Monday confirmed that it will work together with India to contain Covid pandemic
"Just had a phone call with Narendra Modi. We confirmed that we will work in close collaboration to contain the COVID-19 pandemic and had fruitful discussions on regional issues and Japan-India cooperation in order to realize a Free and Open Indo-Pacific," he tweeted.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday discussed with his Japanese counterpart Yoshihide Suga the COVID-19 situation as the two leaders underscored the importance of close cooperation between their countries to overcome the challenges posed by the pandemic. They spoke of working together to create resilient, diversified and trustworthy supply chains, ensuring reliable supply of critical materials and technologies, and developing new partnerships in manufacturing and skill development to deal with the crisis, a statement said. During their telephonic talks, the two leaders discussed the COVID-19 situation in their countries and exchanged views on various regional and global challenges posed by the pandemic, it added. "Spoke to PM @sugawitter of Japan on phone. We reviewed the progress in various ongoing bilateral initiatives. We also discussed our cooperation in diverse areas including high technology, skill development and in fighting the COVID-19 pandemic together," Modi tweeted. --PTI
Air India on Monday brought 328 oxygen concentrators to India in its New York-Delhi flight, Civil Aviation Minister Hardeep Singh Puri said. "All efforts to strengthen India's fight against the pandemic are on. 318 Philips oxygen concentrators on @airindiain flight from JFK airport land at @DelhiAirport," Puri tweeted on Monday.
In a bid to manage the surge in COVID-19 cases, the Greater Chennai Corporation has planned to set up temporary vaccine centres in 15 zones across the city. Though centres will have both Covishield and Covaxin vaccines, due to the shortage, Covaxin will be administered to only those whose second dose is due. As per the latest reports, a total of 13,24,904 people have been vaccinated in Chennai.
The corporation has also released a list of government and private hospitals where Covaxin shot would be available.
The civic body is also planning to open a 500-bed COVID care centre with oxygen facility. The officials said the preparatory works have begun but they are still awaiting the approval of state government as it involves a lot of process. As per IANS, the corporation is looking to open centre at Guindy trade centre, Kilpauk Indoor Stadium or KP Park.
On Sunday, the total number of COVID cases surpassed the 15,000 mark in Tamil Nadu. With 82 deaths, the toll reached 13,557. The overall tally in the state increased to 10,81,988 with 15,659 fresh cases on Sunday. Chennai recorded 4,206 new cases and 30 deaths. Following Chennai, Chengalpattu recorded 1242 cases, while Coimbatore and Tiruvallur reported 1038 and 885 cases.
Karnataka Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa on Sunday announced 14-day lockdown in the state that will come into force from 9 pm on Tuesday to curb the spread of Covid-19 among its residents.
During the period no public transport will be allowed to ply on the roads, but the shops of essential commodities will remain open from 6 am to 10 am every day, Yediyurappa said.
Separate guidelines for the lockdown will be issued by the government later in the day. Since the Covid cases were increasing in Karnataka and Bengaluru city, few members of the Technical Advisory Committee (TAC), which held a meeting on April 24, had advised the government to impose a two-week lockdown.
Resolution passed in the all party meeting convened by Tamil Nadu CM Edappadi K Palaniswami to allow the reopening of the Sterlite copper smelter plant at Thoothukudi to manufacture oxygen for a period of four months.For this, a committee will also be set up under the district collector to monitor manufacturing activities.
The Jaipur Golden Hospital on Monday blamed the Delhi government for shortage and uncertainty in the oxygen supply in hospitals. “Supply chain stands disrupted. There is shortage and uncertainty. Uncertainty is because of Delhi. It doesn't understand supply chain but it's waded in, representative of the hospital told Delhi High Court. “The bureaucratic machinery of Delhi has completely failed,” Senior Advocate, Sachin Datta said.
At least 20 Covid patients in the critical care unit of Jaipur Golden Hospital died late Friday night following a dip in oxygen pressure at the facility. (With inputs from Sofi Ahsan on Delhi HC's hearing of Covid situation in the capital)
The Delhi High Court on Monday told the Centre that it won’t accept Centre’s position that there's no shortage of medical oxygen in the country. “We have seen the situation,” HC said. The court also said that once the oxygen reaches the national capital, it is for the Delhi government to decide its course. (With inputs from Sofi Ahsan on Delhi HC's hearing of Covid situation in the capital)
Raising objection against Delhi government’s request for oxygen,Centre on Monday told the Delhi High Court that states can only procure tankers and not oxygen. “Oxygen procurement has to be done at central level,” it added. (With inputs from Sofi Ahsan on Delhi HC's hearing of Covid situation in the capital)
Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Monday said that Covid-19 vaccines should not be priced at different rates as this is "not the time for profiteering." Kejriwal also announced that a detailed plan to carry out vaccination drive on a large scale in Delhi was in making.
The division bench of Justices Vipin Sanghi and Rekha Palli on Monday morning resumed hearing in the cases in which it has been monitoring the COVID-19 situation concerning the shortage of oxygen in Delhi hospitals. (With inputs from Sofi Ahsan)
As Delhi continues to grapple with the ongoing Covid surge, the Delhi High Court on Monday asked the state government to set up more virus testing centres and expand its sample collection infrastructure. (With PTI)
* Four temporary hospitals in Delhi, set up last year, were dismantled in February, as cases fell to less than 200 a day. Now, these are having to be revived.
* During the first wave, Uttar Pradesh claimed to have set up 503 Covid hospitals, with about 1.5 lakh beds. By February first week, just 83 hospitals, with 17,000 beds, were treating Covid patients. Now there’s a scramble.
* Karnataka, with the second highest case load in the first wave, added only 18 ICU beds with ventilators during the first and second waves.
An 800-bed jumbo hospital in Pune, one of the worst-affected cities, folded up in January. It had to be restarted in March. (Read full express report here)
Millions of Americans are not getting the second doses of their COVID-19 vaccines, and their ranks are growing.
More than 5 million people, or nearly 8% of those who got a first shot of the Pfizer or Moderna vaccines, have missed their second doses, according to the most recent data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. That is more than double the rate among people who got inoculated in the first several weeks of the nationwide vaccine campaign.
Even as the country wrestles with the problem of millions of people who are wary about getting vaccinated at all, health authorities are confronting an emerging challenge of ensuring that those who do get inoculated are doing so fully.
The reasons vary for why people are missing their second shots. In interviews, some said they feared the side effects, which can include flulike symptoms. Others said they felt that they were sufficiently protected with a single shot.
Those attitudes were expected, but another hurdle has been surprisingly prevalent. A number of vaccine providers have canceled second-dose appointments because they ran out of supply or did not have the right brand in stock.
For the second week in a row, active cases in Gurgaon more than doubled, jumping from 12,196 on April 28 to over 25,000 on Sunday.
This is after the caseload surged from 5,549 on April 10 to 12,196 on April 18.
According to data compiled from the health bulletins issued daily by the district health department, Gurgaon, this week, recorded 21, 559 new Covid cases, taking the number of active Covid cases to 25,086 on Sunday. In the preceding week, the district had recorded 11,584 new Covid cases. (With Sakshi Dayal)
Tamil Nadu Chief Minister CM Edappadi K Palaniswami chaired an all party meeting to discuss the issue of allowing the Thoothukudi Sterlite copper to reopen to produce oxygen.
In light of India’s devastating covid-19 second wave, Google will be providing Rs 135 crore funding for medical supplies and other forms of grants, Google CEO Sundar Pichai announced on Monday. Pichai will also be giving an additional Rs 5 crore in his personal capacity, according to a Google spokesperson.
As India continues to struggle with the ongoing Covid crisis, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadela said that he was “heartbroken” by the situation and that his company would help in relief efforts. Taking to Twitter, Nadela said, “I’m grateful the U.S. government is mobilizing to help. Microsoft will continue to use its voice, resources, and technology to aid relief efforts, and support the purchase of critical oxygen concentration devices.”
India recorded over 3.52 lakh new Covid-19 cases in the 24 hours ending 8 am Monday, taking the country’s total infections to over 1.73 crore. Out of these, over 28 lakh cases are currently active while 1.43 crore people have recovered after testing positive. With 2,812 new deaths, the toll is now over 1.95 lakh.
West Bengal on Sunday registered its highest single-day spike of 15,889 COVID-19 cases pushing the tally to 7,43,950, the bulletin issued by the state health department said. The death toll rose to 10,941 as 57 more people succumbed to the disease, it said. Of the fresh fatalities, 18 were reported from Kolkata, 15 from North 24 Parganas and 5 from Howrah. The remaining deaths were registered in several other districts.
Voting for the seventh phase of the West Bengal Assembly elections started at 7 am on Monday, with polling set to take place in a total of 34 seats. (Follow Election Live Updates here)
JUST TEN days ago, an Empowered Group of Officers under Niti Aayog Member Dr V K Paul, had told authorities, including the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoH&FW), to take urgent measures for oxygen provision to meet a surge of 3 lakh new cases a day by April 20, and a surge of 5 lakh new cases a day by end of April.
This Empowered Group-1 on ‘medical infrastructure and Covid management plan’, under Dr Paul, who is a member of the government’s core team responding to the pandemic, had also recommended “extraordinary measures to ramp up oxygen provision” under a ‘Plan B’ to meet a surge of 6 lakh new cases a day. (Read Harikishan Sharm's report here)
The United States has identified sources of specific raw material urgently required for Indian manufacture of the Covishield vaccine that will immediately be made available for India, the US NSA said in athe statement.
The US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan on Sunday dialed NSA Ajit Doval, and expressed "deep sympathy for the people of India following the recent spike in COVID-19 cases". "Mr. Sullivan affirmed America’s solidarity with India, the two countries with the greatest number of COVID-19 cases in the world. Building on the seven-decade health partnership between the United States and India —including battles against smallpox, polio, and HIV — they resolved that India and the United States will continue to fight the global COVID-19 pandemic together. Just as India sent assistance to the United States as our hospitals were strained early in the pandemic, the United States is determined to help India in its time of need," a statement released by NSC spokesperson read.
The Centre liberalised the Covid vaccination strategy to allow states, private hospitals and industrial establishments on requests from almost all states and to unleash the “combined effort of Team India” to immunise every adult at the earliest, Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan said on Sunday. In a four-page statement shared on his Twitter handle, the minister defended the new strategy under which everyone above 18 years of age will be vaccinated against COVID-19 from May 1 and lashed out at political leaders those who are indulging in “needless politics” on the matter and spreading misinformation.
Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik announces free Covid vaccines for all persons above 18 years of age in the state. The state government has ordered 10.34 lakh doses Covaxin and 377 lakh doses Covishield for phase 3 of the vaccination drive. Nearly 2 crore people aged 18-44 years will be vaccinated for free. The government is expected to spend around Rs 2,000 crore for the purpose.
A day after Max Hospital and Mayom Hospital in Gurgaon put out SOS tweets seeking help following a shortage of liquid oxygen, Metro Hospital took to Twitter appealing for help for “around 70” patients admitted there.
“Gurugram’s Metro Hospital Tweets SOS on Oxygen shortage, seeks urgent help. Metro Hospital, Palam Vihar, by Park Group of Hospitals is in its last leg of medical oxygen,” stated the first of three tweets put out from the Park Group of Hospitals handle.
“INOX commitment to replenish liquid medical oxygen remain unfulfilled. Only 1.5 hours to go. Please help us urgently,” stated the second message, followed by a third seeking help “in Saving Lives”. Read more
Centre on Sunday directed states to ensure that use of liquid oxygen is not allowed for any non-medical purpose, amid surge in COVID-19 infections. It also asked oxygen plants to maximise production and make oxygen available to it for medical use only with immediate effect, amid COVID surge. "Entire stock of liquid oxygen should be used for medical purposes, no exception to any industry," said Central government.
Former JNU student Umar Khalid, arrested last year in connection with a Delhi riots case, has tested positive for COVID-19 in Tihar jail. DG (Tihar), Sandeep Goel has confirmed.
Single-day Covid-19 cases crossed 15,000 mark in Tamil Nadu today. With 82 fatalities, the death toll reached 13,557. The overall tally increased to 10,81,988 with 15,659 cases. Chennai recorded 4,206 new cases and 30 deaths. There are 1,05,180 active cases in Tamil Nadu.
Karnataka recorded 34,804 new Covid-19 cases (20,733 in Bengaluru) today as test positivity rate shoots up to 19.7%. 143 more deaths linked to the pandemic, of which 77 are in BLR Urban, 16 in Ballari, 9 in Mysuru, and 6 each are in Tumakuru, and Dharwad.
The first Oxygen Express train for Delhi carrying around 70 tonnes of the public health commodity will depart from Jindal Steel Works plant in Chhattisgarh’s Raigarh on Sunday night, a senior Railway official said. The train will reach Delhi with four tankers by Monday night, Railway Board Chairman Suneet Sharma said. He said that the railways has planned to transport medical oxygen from Angul, Kalingnagar, Rourkela and Raigarh to Delhi-NCR region, which is grappling with acute oxygen shortage amid rising Covid cases. The Delhi government has been asked to get road tankers ready to obtain the oxygen, he added.
Brihanmumbai Municipal Commissioner I S Chahal said the city received 1.5 lakh stock of Covishield on Sunday. "All vaccination centres in Mumbai shall be functional tommorrow. However, Covaxin will be available only at select centres for 2nd dose due to extremely limited existing stock," he added.
Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot Sunday announced the state government will provide free coronavirus vaccine to people above the 18 years of age, who will be inoculated beginning May 1. He said the state government will spend about Rs 3,000 crore on the exercise. "The state government will provide free coronavirus vaccine to all people above the 18 years of age in the state at the cost of about Rs 3000 crore," Gehlot said in a tweet in Hindi. He also said it would have been better if the Centre had agreed to incur the cost of vaccination for the 18-45 age category, as demanded by state governments. --PTI
In view of the "surge in the Covid cases" in Gurgaon, the District Magistrate has imposed Section 144, prohibiting gatherings of "more than four people", "unless specifically permitted".
With 28,469 new Covid-19 cases on Sunday, active caseload in Kerala is now at 2.18 lakh. Day's test positivity is up at 22.46 per cent.
The Rajasthan government on Sunday said the state had placed an order for purchase of 1.75 lakh Remdesivir injections from various drug manufacturers in April, but it has so far received only 28,350 of them. For the period from April 21 to April 30, a total of 26,500 Remdesivir injections have been allocated to Rajasthan by the Centre, Health Minister Raghu Sharma said in a statement. He said after efforts of the Rajasthan government, the Centre allocated another 67,000 injections to the state. The Health Minister said 250 metric tonne (MT) of oxygen is required per day in the state in view of the ongoing coronavirus situation. --PTI
Rajasthan Transport Minister Pratap Singh Kharchariyawas on Sunday accused the state BJP MLAs and MPs of "hiding" while people suffering from coronavirus need oxygen and medicines. The minister also gave Rs 1 crore from his MLALAD fund for arranging oxygen concentrators, medicines, injections and ration for people, according to a statement. He appealed to all Rajasthan legislators to release Rs 1 crore from their fund, saying that just three months ago, the state government had increased the amount under it from Rs 2.25 crore to 5 crore. --PTI
Karnataka reduces number of people allowed to attend cremations/funerals from 20 to 5. These are as part of the guidelines in place till 6 am on May 4,2021, government clarifies.
In light of Covid surge in Gurgaon, the DM has issued orders directing all IT/ITES units and corporate office to work from home till May 3. Gatherings further restricted -- maximum 30 persons in indoor spaces, 50 persons in open spaces, 20 people permitted for funerals.
All shops and business establishments remained shut at important shopping centres in Puducherry on Sunday after a 55-hour long weekend lockdown was imposed to check the spread of coronavirus. All major thoroughfares wore a deserted look as people stayed indoors. However, functioning of essential services was permitted till 2 pm to facilitate the availability of vegetables, groceries and other requirements. --PTI
Maharashtra: BKC jumbo COVID19 vaccination centre in Mumbai runs out of stock
Fours states ruled by the Congress and its allies Sunday accused the Centre of “hijacking” vaccine stocks from manufacturers, and expressed doubts they would be able to launch the inoculation drive to cover those between 18-45 years of age from May 1.
They also accused the Centre of meting out “step-motherly” treatment to them, and urged the Union government to provide them free vaccine doses to vaccinate all adults.
Addressing a virtual joint press conference, the health ministers of Chhattisgarh, Rajasthan, Punjab and Jharkhand (ruled by Congress-JMM alliance) asked as to how they will vaccinate all adults when the Centre has already “taken away the stocks” and shots are not available to them. Read more
In view of rising COVID cases, Jharkhand High Court has ordered all its benches to take up only 'extremely urgent matters' filed in 2021 only, through video conferencing from April 26.
There will be no restrictions on any cross-border movement in Delhi during the lockdown which has now been extended for one more week. Also, all courier services, service providers, shops of educational books, electric fans will be allowed to operate only on possession of e-passes.