A woman gets vaccinated in Navi Mumbai on Wednesday (Express photo by Amit Chakravarty)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 in the last 24 hours. 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).
Parents buying textbooks and other study material for their kids at a stationery shop in Appa Balvant Chowk, Pune on June 11, 2021. (Express Photo by Pavan Khengre)
Sikkim has reported 147 new Covid-19 cases on Wednesday pushing the caseload to 18,806, a health department bulletin said.
The Himalayan state reported one more death due to the infection, taking the death toll to 285.
Sikkim now has 2,965 active cases, while 249 others have migrated to other states and 15,307 patients have recovered from the disease, the bulletin said. PTI
The Congress on Wednesday said party chief Sonia Gandhi has taken both doses of COVID-19 vaccine while Rahul Gandhi could not take the jabs yet as he had contracted the virus in May. A senior party functionary said Rahul Gandhi was scheduled to take the vaccine on May 16, but he tested positive for the coronavirus a day before.
"Congress president Sonia Gandhi has taken both doses of the vaccine. Rahul Gandhi will take the vaccine after his mandatory wait period ends," a senior leader told PTI. (PTI)
Even as the second wave of the Covid-19 pandemic is on the wane, vaccine shortages continue to be reported from across the country.
The Union Health Ministry on Wednesday said that the total number of Covid vaccine doses administered in the country has gone past 26.53 crore, including more than 4.81 crore doses administered to people in the 18-44 age group. Cumulatively, 4,72,06,953 people in the 18-44 age group have received the first dose and 9,68,098 have been given the second dose since the start of the third phase of the vaccination drive across the country. Read full report
The total number of COVID-19 vaccine doses administered in the country has gone past 26.53 crore, including more than 4.81 crore doses administered to people in the 18-44 age group, the health ministry said on Wednesday. It said 20,67,085 beneficiaries in the 18-44 age group received the first dose and 67,447 got the second dose of the vaccine on Wednesday.
Cumulatively, 4,72,06,953 people in the said age group have received the first dose and 9,68,098 have been given the second dose since the start of the third phase of the vaccination drive across the country.
Bihar, Delhi, Gujarat, Haryana, Jharkhand, Karnataka, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, Telangana, Odisha, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal have administered the first dose of the vaccine to more than 10 lakh beneficiaries each in the 18-44 age group. (PTI)
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday saluted the doctors who succumbed to COVID-19 while risking their lives in treating coronavirus patients during the pandemic. He said this after the Indian Medical Association (IMA) released a list of 730 doctors who lost their lives during the second wave of the pandemic, with the maximum of 115 from Bihar and another 109 from Delhi.
"I salute each one of these doctors for risking their lives to save our nation from Corona crisis. These martyrs braved adversities and hardships but never gave up. My condolences to those who have the honour of calling them their family and friends," he said, sharing the state-wise list of the doctors given by the IMA. (PTI)
Uttarakhand govt orders Haridwar district administration to register an FIR in the alleged Covid testing scam during Kumbh. An order has been issued to file case against labs from Delhi and Haryana which conducted testing at 5 places in Haridwar during Kumbh Mela (ANI)
Punjab records 688 new cases, 46 deaths and 1383 discharges.
Shin Bong-kil, outgoing South Korean envoy to India, has said no quarantine is required for Indians in South Korea if they have been vaccinated with Covishield. But quarantine is mandatory for Covaxin recipients, he said. (ANI)
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, states Dr Reddy’s. It adds that registration on CoWIN not open to public yet, will be open at the time of commercial launch. (ANI)
The Supreme Court has said that non-listing of plea for regular bail impinges upon liberty of the person in custody and advocated that under the prevailing Covid-19 pandemic, at least half of the judges should sit on alternate days so that hearing is accorded to those in distress.
Expressing “shock” that a bail plea filed in the Punjab and Haryana High Court was not listed for hearing for over a year, the apex court said denial of hearing is an infringement of right and liberty assured to an accused.
“Even during the pandemic, when all courts are making attempts to hear and decide all matter, non-listing of such an application for bail defeats the administration of justice,” said a vacation bench of Justices Hemant Gupta and V Ramasubramanian. (PTI) Read more
Karnataka reports 7,345 fresh cases and 148 deaths, Out of the new cases, 1611 were from Bengaluru.
The Bombay High Court on Wednesday asked the Maharashtra government to inform the court of the steps it can take to protect cigarette smokers, who as per the state, were more vulnerable to contracting COVID-19.
A bench of Justices SP Deshmukh and GS Kulkarni asked Maharashtra Advocate General Ashutosh Kumbhakoni to file an affidavit listing such steps by next week.
It was hearing a bunch of public interest litigations on the management of drugs and resources related to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The HC's direction came after Kumbhakoni told the bench that experts at the Tata Memorial Centre, that works under the Union government's Atomic Energy Department, had submitted their opinion before the state government on June 15 referring to various global studies "indicating that smokers were more vulnerable" to contracting COVID-19.
Kumbhakoni said a majority of the studies the experts had referred to, stated that smokers were more vulnerable to contracting the deadly viral infection and also that the degree of severity of the disease was higher in people who smoked cigarettes. (PTI)
Tamil Nadu reports 10,448 new cases, 21,058 recoveries and 270 deaths. Chennai recorded 689 new cases and 42 deaths.
Mumbai has reported 830 fresh cases in the last 24 hours. There are 14,907 active cases and the recovery rate is at 95%.
West Bengal reports 3,187 new cases, 2,012 discharges and 69 deaths in the last 24 hours. Kolkata recorded 377 fresh cases and 13 deaths.
Total number of maternal deaths during both the waves of pandemic were 2%, out of which majority were due to Covid-induced pneumonia and respiratory failure, states ICMR.
It adds that adds per comparative analysis of data from pregnant women and postpartum women during the first and second waves of the pandemic, symptomatic cases were significantly higher at 28.7% in 2nd wave compared to 1st wave (14.2%). Case fatality rate (CFR) was 5.7% during 2nd wave than 0.7% in 1st wave. (ANI)
Madhya Pradesh records 160 fresh cases, 34 deaths and 463 recoveries.
A study of over 31,000 vaccinated healthcare workers at Apollo Hospital units across the country has found that less than 5% were infected with Covid, with a small percentage of hospitalisation and no mortalities.
The study, covering the period from the start of the vaccine drive on January 16 to May 31, covered 31,621 healthcare workers (HCWs) from 43 units of Apollo Hospitals in 24 cities. Among the HCWs, 25,907 or 81.9% were fully vaccinated while 5,714 or 18.1% had received only the first dose. Read more
Uttarakhand reports 353 new cases, 398 recoveries, and six deaths in the last 24 hours.
Indian Medical Association (IMA) says 730 doctors have died during second wave of Covid-19 pandemic — most doctors lost their lives in Bihar (115), followed by Delhi (109).
Andhra Pradesh reports 6617 new cases, 57 deaths, and 10,228 recoveries in the last 24 hours.
Speaking at the VivaTech conference, PM Narendra Modi on Wednesday said, “Two Covid vaccines are made in India and more are in development, trial stage.” He also said that Aadhaar helped provide timely support to people during pandemic. (PTI)
Drugs such as ivermectin, hydroxychloroquine, favipiravir and antibiotics like doxycycline and azithromycin prescribed for adult COVID-19 patients have not been recommended for treating children, according to a government guideline issued on Wednesday.
In anticipation of likely intermittent surges in the number of COVID-19 cases, the government has come out with guidelines for operationalising Covid-care services for children. The recommendations include augmenting existing Covid care facilities to provide care to children with acute coronavirus infection.
According to it, once vaccines are approved for children, those with comorbid conditions having more severe manifestations of COVID-19 and poorer outcomes should be a priority group for immunisation.
About the treatment of children, the guidelines by the Union Health Ministry said most drugs used in adults such as ivermectin, hydroxychloroquine, favipiravir and antibiotics such as doxycycline or azithromycin have not been tested on children for prevention or treatment of Covid infection among them. "Therefore, these are not recommended in children." (PTI)
The Moderna COVID-19 vaccine and an experimental protein-based preventive proved to be safe and showed good antibody response against SARS-CoV-2 in a trial on baby rhesus macaques, scientists say.
The research, published on Tuesday in the journal Science Immunology, suggests that vaccines for young children are likely important, safe tools to curtail the pandemic. "Safe and effective vaccines for young children will help limit the spread of COVID-19 because we know children can transmit the virus to others, whether they get sick from SARS-CoV-2 infection or remain asymptomatic," said Sallie Permar from New York-Presbyterian Komansky Children's Hospital, US.
"Moreover, many children have become sick and even died from the infection, with many more negatively impacted by the measures put in place to curb the spread. Thus, young children deserve protection from COVID," Permer said. (PTI)
Prime Minister Narendra Modi has hailed a mother of a six-year-old boy for her courage and positive thinking as she isolated herself from her son after contracting COVID-19.
Pooja Verma, who lives in Sector-6 of Ghaziabad, tested positive for the coronavirus along with her husband, Gagan Kaushik. Verma, her husband and their six-year-old son live in a three-bedroom apartment and after contracting COVID-19 in April, the couple made a tough decision and decided that all three would be isolated in separate rooms.
This was not easy for the six-year-old who longed for his parent's love while unable to understand what the coronavirus was or what Covid-related norms meant and what was the need for this isolation, Verma said.
In a letter to the prime minister, she narrated her ordeal as a mother who had to stay away from her child, through a poem she had penned. The prime minister wrote back to her and while asking about the wellbeing of her family, said, "I am happy that even in difficult circumstances, you and your family have fought this disease by adopting Covid-compliant behaviour with courage." (PTI)
Hundreds of thousands of Americans have sought medical care for post-Covid health problems that they had not been diagnosed with before becoming infected with the coronavirus, according to the largest study to date of long-term symptoms in Covid-19 patients.
The study, tracking the health insurance records of nearly 2 million people in the United States who contracted the coronavirus last year, found that one month or more after their infection, almost one-quarter — 23% — of them sought medical treatment for new conditions. Read more
Delhi reports 212 new Covid-19 cases, 516 recoveries and 25 deaths in the last 24 hours.
THE CAPITAL district of Thiruvananthapuram accounts for 21 per cent of total Covid-19 deaths in Kerala, which officials in the state health department attribute primarily to more transparent reporting of deaths and high prevalence of co-morbidity factors among the district’s aged population.
As on June 14, of the total 11,340 Covid deaths in Kerala, 2,401 deaths were reported from Thiruvananthapuram. The district accounts for 10 per cent of the state’s more than 27.35 lakh positive cases. In contrast, Thrissur, which accounts for 9 per cent of the state’s positive cases, has only 10 per cent of the total Covid deaths.
The decision regarding enhancing interval between two doses of Covishield was based on scientific evidence and taken in a transparent manner, NTAGI Chair N K Arora said on Tuesday.
There was no dissenting voice among the members of the National Technical Advisory Group on Immunization (NTAGI ), he said, according to a tweet by the Union Health Ministry.
The government had on May 13 said it has accepted the COVID-19 Working Group’s recommendation and extended the gap between the two doses of the Covishield vaccine from 6-8 weeks to 12-16 weeks.
New findings from the UK show that vaccines are effective against Delta variant, a major contributor to the second wave of Covid-19 in India, and which has replaced the Alpha variant as the dominant strain in the UK.
What are the new findings?
A new scientific analysis, published by Public Health England, has found that two doses of Covid-19 vaccines are highly effective in preventing hospitalisation due to B.1.617.2, now known as the Delta variant. Importantly, it showed no deaths among those vaccinated.
The analysis gives effectiveness data of two vaccines. Pfizer-BioNTech’s mRNA vaccine was found 96% effective in preventing hospitalisation after two doses. The Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine was found 92% effective after two doses. The Indian version of this vaccine, Covishield from Serum Institute, is among the vaccines being administered in the country. Read more
The US embassy on Tuesday said thousands of Indian students have secured visa appointments for July and August since June 14. According to a senior American diplomat, the US mission in India is “actively working” to accommodate as many student visa applicants as possible in July and August, and facilitating their legitimate travel remained a top priority for it.
“Since June 14, thousands of students have secured visa appointments for July and August. Thousands of appointments remain available and we will open thousands more in coming weeks,” the American embassy said in a tweet. “We appreciate your patience as we diligently work to resolve the technical issues you have encountered,” it said.
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.
Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma has asked the deputy commissioners not to slacken the vaccination drive and also conduct vulnerability mapping at the block level in view of the spread of COVID-19 to rural and semi-urban areas of the state.
The number of fresh cases in the state has shown a gradual decline, Sarma said, while virtually reviewing the COVID situation with DCs and Superintendents of Police on Tuesday night.
The chief minister asked the DCs and SPs not to lower their guard and ensure strict adherence to the restrictions imposed to curtail the spread of the disease. (PTI)
Ocugen Inc, Bharat Biotech's US and Canada partner for its COVID-19 vaccine Covaxin, said it has chosen Jubilant HollisterStier of Spokane, Washington as its manufacturing partner for the vaccine for the North American countries.
"We are fully committed to bringing Covaxin to the US and Canadian markets because we believe it has the potential to save lives by adding a weapon to the arsenal in the fight against emerging variants, J P Gabriel, Ocugen's Senior Vice President, Manufacturing and Supply Chain said in a release on Tuesday.
Bharat Biotech has entered into a definitive agreement with OcugenInc, a US-based biopharmaceutical company, to co-develop, supply, and commercialise, its Covaxin for the American and Canadian markets. (PTI)
Punjab Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh on Friday directed the health authorities to start vaccination of teachers, non-teaching staff and students in the 18-45 age group from all schools and colleges from June 21, to enable educational institutions in the state to open safely.
The CM directed the department to ensure that all persons with co-morbidities as well as disabilities, and government employees, are vaccinated on priority. Staff in hospitality industry, parlours, service outlets including shops, restaurants, gyms etc should also be vaccinated at the earliest, he said, at the Covid review meeting.
Judicial officers and Lawyers should also be prioritized so that normal court functioning can safely resume, directed Captain Amarinder, while asking the health department to reach out proactively to nursing mothers, who have been clarified to be eligible for vaccination. Expressing concern over the gender gap in vaccination, he directed the health experts to identified the reasons and rectify the situation.
The Chief Minister also ordered ward wise and village wise campaigns in cities/towns/rural areas that saw higher positivity/ mortality, in order to prioritise them for vaccination. (Express News Service)
Pointing out that Punjab was perhaps the only state in the country to have put in place a vaccination strategy for the 18-45 age group that prioritises the poor and the vulnerable, the Chief Minister expressed satisfaction that almost 1 lakh co-morbid youth and 3.5 lakh young construction and other workers, had been vaccinated free of cost by the state government. Over 70,000 young family members of healthcare workers have been prioritised, while rehriwalas, bus drivers, shop workers and other deserving categories are also receiving vaccination from the state supplies, he noted.
Health Secretary Hussan Lal disclosed that the number of Covishield doses received by the state so far for the 18-45 age group stood at 5.86 lakh of which 5.30 have been used and the state has balance stock of 55,390 doses. Covaxin doses received were 150850 of which 66040 have been utilised.
One of the many stories 37-year-old doctors Dhruv Joshi and Dileep Raman like to recount is how their ‘smart ICU’ technology picked up early signs of oxygen levels plummeting in the ICU of a district hospital in Karnataka.
Cloudphysician, the start-up firm founded by the two doctors in 2017, uses IT to relay visuals and data from the ICU to a manned command centre, where intensivists and other specialists make swift decisions on treatment protocol.
Talking of the oxygen crisis in the hospital ICU in April, during the second wave of Covid-19, Joshi says, “Oxygen pressure at the ICU had fallen to a critical level, which our command centre team picked up by monitoring the ventilators. The oxygen being delivered to the patient was much below the level that had been set.” The sounding of an early alarm by Cloudphysician “averted a possible mass fatality event”. Read the full report here.
India recorded 62,224 new Covid-19 cases and 2,542 deaths in the last 24 hours. 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.
A fact-check released by the PIB on Tuesday said "pre-registration for vaccination through online registration and prior booking of appointment is not mandatory to avail of vaccination services."
Clarifying that registering on the CoWIN app is "one of the many modes of registration", the PIB release said, "Anyone, aged 18 years or more, can directly go to the nearest vaccination Center where vaccinator performs the on-site registration and provides vaccination in the same visit.This is also popularly known as “walk-ins”. The facilitators such as health workers or ASHAs, also mobilize beneficiaries in rural areas and those residing in urban slums, for on-site registration and vaccination directly at the nearest vaccination centers. The facility for assisted registrations through the 1075 Help Line has also been operationalized."
Union Health Ministry Tuesday said the efficacy data of Novavax vaccine against Covid-19 is promising and encouraging and its clinical trials are in an advanced stage of completion in India.
Addressing a press conference, NITI Aayog Member (Health) V K Paul said the data available in public domain also indicates the vaccine is safe and highly effective. "What we are learning from the available data is that this vaccine is very safe and it is highly effective but what makes this vaccine relevant for today is the fact that this vaccine will be produced in India by Serum Institute," he was quoted as saying by PTI.
There is preparatory work already accomplished by the Serum Institute and they are also conducting a bridging trial which is in advanced stages of completion, he added.
Novavax Inc on Monday annnounced that its vaccine was highly effective with 90.4 per cent efficacy overall and also showed high efficacy against predominantly circulating variants.
As Class 12 board exams have been cancelled, and students will be graded as per a new method, the focus is now shifting to university admissions. In a post-Covid world, factors influencing a student’s decision of choosing an institute seem to have taken a 360-degree shift.
“We have been rudely thrust into the digital age without much time for preparation. Now, we expect the universities to keep up with the changing trends, and ensure that the quality of education is not diluted by infrastructure, or a lack thereof. All institutes must have their learning management systems (LMS) in place as it is necessary for successful remote learning,” said Sarthak Vedant Mohanty, Class 12 student, KIIT International School, Bhubaneshwar. Read the full report here.
The Union Health Ministry on Tuesday said the risk of dying following vaccination is negligible as compared to the known risk of dying due to Covid-19.
The ministry also termed as “incomplete” and of “limited understanding” media reports which stated that 488 deaths between January 16 and June 7 following vaccination were linked to post-Covid complications, and highlighted that the vaccination coverage during this period was 23.5 crore, PTI reported.
The Kerala government Tuesday decided to further relax some of the curbs imposed because of the Covid-19 pandemic. Here are the details.
*Shops selling essential items can operate from 7 am to 7 pm.
*Sale of liquor allowed through app, sale of lottery tickets allowed, banks to open 3 days a week, public transport in a restricted manner, nod for public exams.
*Central and state govt bodies, corporations can operate with 25% staff on rotation.
*Statewide lockdown on Saturday, Sunday.
*No green light for tourism activities and opening of malls and other indoor spaces.
*Public gatherings remain banned.
*No in-dining services at restaurants. Only takeaway and home-delivery allowed.
With the stabilisation of the Covid situation in Delhi after the surge of the last few months, AIIMS will be restarting its OPD services in a phased manner. In this phase, walk-in OPD registration will not be resumed in the hospital. It will be available only to patients with prior appointments. Walk-in OPD registrations had been suspended in the first week of May following the rise in the number of cases in the city.
The Jharkhand government on Tuesday extended Covid-related lockdown-like restrictions till June 24 with some relaxations, including opening of shopping malls and departmental stores till 4 pm,an official said.
Earlier, only shops were allowed till 4 pm and not the shopping malls and departmental stores.
Inter-state and Intra-state bus transport shall remain prohibited except for the buses specifically used by the district administration till June 24 morning, as per a statement from the state government.
E-passes will be mandatory for inter-state and inter-district movement in private vehicles but for movement within the district, no e-passes will be required.
But, religious places will remain closed for the devotees like earlier and so are the educational institutions. (PTI)
Delhi on Tuesday recorded 228 new Covid cases and 12 fatalities. The positivity rate in city is now at 0.32 per cent, a health bulletin released by the state government said.
*Restaurants to open at 50% capacity beginning tomorrow.
*State allows an increase in gathering of people, including for weddings and cremations, to 50 persons. Earlier only 20 persons were allowed to gather in these functions.
*Daily night curfew will be in place from 8 pm to 5 am, with a weekend curfew from 8.00 pm on Saturday up to 5.00 am on Monday, across the state.
*Bars, Pubs and ‘Ahatas’ shall, however, continue to remain closed. All educational institutions i.e. schools and colleges will also continue to be closed.
Due to the recent revisions of Covid death numbers in Maharashtra, Pune has emerged as the district with the highest death count in the state, overtaking Mumbai. In fact, Pune has now also overtaken Bengaluru to become the city with the second-highest death toll in the country, after Delhi.
As on June 14, Pune’s Covid-19 death toll stood at 15,464, and was set to rise even further since the data reconciliation exercise was still continuing. Delhi, which has recorded 24,838 deaths till now, has the highest death count for any city in the country. Read the full report here.
The Puducherry government has extended the lockdown to control the spread of coronavirus in the union territory till the midnight of June 21 with additional restrictions. The lockdown norms came into force from midnight on June 14.
As per the orders issued on Monday night announcing the extension of the lockdown, parks, gardens, cinema houses, multiplex, auditorium, museum and libraries would remain closed and gatherings and congregations in any form were also prohibited. (PTI)
"Almost 85 per cent decline has been seen in daily cases since the highest reported peak. We are witnessing this situation after 75 days, thus indicating an overall decline in infection rate," Lav Agarwal, Joint Secretary, Health Ministry said during a briefing on Covid-19 situation.
A government panel studying Covid-19 vaccine side effects has confirmed the first death due to anaphylaxis following vaccination.
The causality assessment of 31 reported Serious Adverse Events Following Immunisation (AEFI) cases following Covid-19 vaccination was carried out by the panel.
According to a report by the National AEFI Committee, a 68-year-old man died due to anaphylaxis (severe allergic reaction) after being vaccinated on March 8, 2021. More details here.
Bharat Biotech Tuesday said that the supply price of its Covid-19 vaccine Covaxin to the central government at Rs 150 per dose is not sustainable in the long run. "Hence a higher price in private markets is required to offset part of the costs," it said in a statement.
Bharat Biotech said that it has so far invested over Rs 500 crores at risk from its own resources for product development, clinical trials and setting up of manufacturing facilities for Covaxin, it added.
A special Covid-19 vaccination centre has been set up at Central Stadium in Thiruvananthapuram, news agency ANI reported.
“We are providing COVID vaccines to people of 18-44 age group, along with people travelling abroad, on priority basis. Covishield vaccine is available here,” said PRO Vigith V Nair.
The Tamil Nadu government will take a call on reopening schools in the state after assessing the situation following the relaxation of some curbs, School Education Minister Anbil Mahesh Poyyamozhi reaffirmed on Monday.
The Class XI admission in government and government-aided schools began in the state on Monday. The minister visited a school in Chennai to review the process. While addressing the reporters, he said apart the admission process is not taking place currently in 11 districts – Coimbatore, Nilgiris, Tiruppur, Erode, Salem, Karur, Namakkal, Thanjavur, Tiruvarur, Nagapattinam and Mayiladuthrurai which have a high caseload of Covid-19.
Serving alcohol at bars in hotels, clubs and restaurants in Delhi has not been allowed yet, the Excise Department has clarified, PTI reported.
With a significant improvement in the Covid-19 situation in the national capital, liquor shops and restaurants that were closed after the imposition of lockdown in April have reopened now.
"Bars in the hotels, clubs and restaurants are not allowed to open till further orders," stated a clarification issued by the Excise Department of Delhi government on Monday.
All liquor shops in markets, malls and market complexes (outside containment zones) are allowed to operate between 10 am and 8 pm, it said. The liquor vends in the city reopened in Delhi on June 6.
The clarification was issued in view of queries about bars in hotels, clubs and restaurants after Delhi government allowed restaurants to reopen from Monday, an official said.
Bihar CM Nitish Kumar Tuesday announced a relaxation in Covid-19 restrictions in the state for the next one week, from June 16 to June 22, news agency ANI reported.
Government and private offices will function till 5 pm now and shops can remain open till 6 pm. Night curfew will be in place from 8 pm to 5 am.
Panchkula district administration Tuesday set up a vaccination drive for shopkeepers and their attendants.
Civil Hospital CMO Jasjeet Kaur said, "All markets will be covered including the ones in congested areas in the next 10 days. We are vaccinating them on priority basis."
Sector 9 market president Surendra K Bansal said, "We thank admin for setting up vaccination drive at dispensaries in nearby areas. It has benefitted shopkeepers as they don't have time to visit vaccination centres.This will ensure everyone's safety &take away customers' apprehensions."
The third sero survey in Gurgaon is set to begin today, with officials from the health department revealing it will cover 400 people from across the district.
According to officials, for the purpose of the survey, the rural and urban parts of the district have been divided into 20 clusters, from which samples will be collected for IgG antibodies test to determine whether or not people have developed antibodies against Coronavirus.
“The survey will be carried out on people in 20 different clusters in Gurgaon, of which eight are clusters in urban areas while 12 are clusters in rural parts of the district,” said Civil Surgeon Dr Virender Yadav.
Delhi government Monday set up a Covid-19 testing camp at Okhla Mandi with both antigen and RT-PCR tests being conducted every day, news agency ANI reported.
Javed, a Delhi government employee said, 'We start at 6 am & collect 200 antigens & 100 RT-PCR tests every day. Scanning helps us in tracing contacts of positive cases.'
With the focus moving to delivering vaccines in difficult to reach areas, the Centre and state governments are taking the drone route to get to such terrains. On one hand, the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) has sought bids from drone operators to supply medicines and vaccines; on the other, the Telangana government has launched a project to check delivery feasibility of medical supplies. Companies with logistics experience including Flipkart and Dunzo have announced their consortia under Telangana’s drone delivery scheme to develop and execute drone deliveries there.
As per ICMR’s June 11 tender document, floated by HLL Infra Tech Services on its behalf, the aim is to develop a “feasible” model for vaccine delivery to ensure last-mile coverage of “difficult” terrains in “selected” locations. It was floated using the preliminary results of a “successfully” conducted feasibility study with IIT-Kanpur to deliver vaccines using unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs).
A Pune-based start-up has developed 3D-printed face masks, which have been specially coated with antiviral agents to offer additional filtration of viruses like SARS-nCov.
The project of developing these masks was taken up last year after Thincr Technologies India Pvt Ltd inked a memorandum-of-understanding (MoU) with the Technology Development Board (TDB) of the Department of Science and Technology (DST).