Vaccination drive underway at a centre in Mumbai (Express photo by Amit Chakravarty)Coronavirus India Highlights: Holding a press briefing, Lav Agarwal, Joint Secretary of Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, on Tuesday said there are less than 5 lakh active cases in the country now but the positivity rate is still high in some places. “In states like Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Odisha, Andhra Pradesh, Arunachal Pradesh, Tripura, Meghalaya, Sikkim, the positivity rate is more than 10%. The second wave is still existent in a limited way, in some areas,” he said.
India recorded 34,703 new cases in the 24 hours ending 8 am Tuesday, taking the country’s total infections to over 3.06 crore. This is the lowest spike of daily cases in 111 days. Out of these, active cases further declined to 4.64 lakh while recovery rate rose to 97.17%. Among the fresh cases, 79 were in Delhi, 453 in Mumbai, 715 in Bengaluru, 209 in Chennai and 59 in Kolkata.
Assam on Tuesday declared a total lockdown in seven of its districts — Goalpara, Golaghat, Jorhat, Lakhimpur, Sonitpur, Biswanath and Morigaon — as they are showing a high positivity rate of Covid infections in the recent days. The lockdown will start from 5 am on Wednesday and remain in place until further notice. All restaurants, shops and offices will remain closed and there will be a complete ban on the movement of public and private transport.
Meanwhile, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Tuesday launched a social security scheme and a portal for Covid-affected families. After a deadly second wave in Delhi, families who have lost their breadwinners, children who have lost their parents to the virus will be provided monthly financial assistance, he highlighted.
Beneficiaries at Asha Samaj Hall in Deonar for Covid-19 vaccination. (Express photo by Amit Chakravarty)
Assam reports 2,433 new positive cases, 34 deaths and 1,745 recoveries.
The Manipur government plans to use the popular ‘Shumang Leela’ form of theatre to reach out to people and spread awareness against Covid-19. Plans are underway to stage a play titled ‘Keidoubagi Kidoino’ (There is no need to fear) directed by Sangeet Natak Akademi award winner Sougrakpam Hemanta to dispel misinformation on the virus.
Balkrishna, Director of Information & Public Relations (IPR), said the play is produced by his department under the advice of Chief Minister N. Biren Singh. Read full report by Jimmy Leivon
Jodhpur administration officials go door-to-door to convince people to get vaccinated against Covid as people are shying away from being inoculated. (ANI)
Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma inaugurated a 200-bedded ICU complex at Guwahati Medical College & Hospital, earlier today. "With 200 more beds, we now have 591 ICU beds here. While before pandemic there were just 68 beds." he said. (ANI)
West Bengal reports 962 fresh cases and 17 deaths. Out of the fresh infections, 59 were from Kolkata.
Karnataka reports 3,104 new cases and 92 deaths. Bengaluru recorded 715 new cases and 15 more deaths.
Mumbai reports 453 fresh cases and 482 patient discharges. The recovery rate is at 96%.
Tamil Nadu reported 3,479 fresh cases, out of which 209 were from Chennai. The sate also witnessed 73 more deaths.
According to official reports, Rajasthan recorded 47 new Covid-19 cases on Tuesday, taking its infection tally to 9,52,836. It also reported one death. (PTI)
Stating they had 'learnt a lesson from the second wave', Mangal Pandey, Bihar Health Minister said Tuesday that 119 oxygen plants are being set up in hospitals, health centers and medical college hospitals. While, 850 nurses have been administered through National Health Mission, they have also ensured that units for better treatment of children are available.
"Vaccination process is going to be completed quickly. Our aim of vaccinating 6 crore in 6 months is based on the studies done on the production and availability of the vaccine," he added. (ANI)
In an order on Tuesday, Chandigarh adminstration increased the number of guests for special gatherings like weddings to 100 or 50 per cent capacity of banquet hall, whichever is less. It also made it mandatory for the guests and staff to have at least one dose of vaccine or a negative RT-PCR test report.
Liquor vendors along with bars, restaurants and eateries will be allowed to function from 10 am to 10:30 pm. The order will come into force from Wednesday, July 7. (ANI)
Kerala reported 14,373 new Covid cases on Tuesday, bringing its total active cases to 1,04,105. It also reported 10,751 recoveries and 142 deaths. (ANI)
“The future challenge is not the third wave, but how we act on it. Instead of highlighting the wave aspect, we should focus on Covid-appropriate behaviour/restrictions to contain the spread,” says Dr Balram Bhargava, DG, ICMR.
On the possibility of a Covaxin booster dose availability, he adds, “It's in the scientific ideation stage, efficacy not known yet.” (ANI)
Referring to the massive footfall in hill stations, Lav Agarwal says, “People travelling to hill stations are not following Covid-appropriate behaviour. We can nullify the ease in restrictions again if protocols not complied with.” (ANI)
Uttarakhand DGP Ashok Kumar says, “We held a meeting with the cops of eight states. Just like in 2020, Uttarakhand govt has cancelled Kanwar Yatra this year too due to Covid. So, we appeal to everyone to cooperate with us and offer prayers at their local temples and not come to Haridwar.” (ANI)
Lav Agarwal, Joint Secretary of Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, says, “There are less than 5 lakh active cases in the country now and there is a reduction in number of Covid cases by 30%. But in states like Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Odisha, Andhra Pradesh, Arunachal Pradesh, Tripura, Meghalaya, Sikkim, the positivity rate is more than 10%. The second wave is still existent in a limited way, in some areas. (ANI)
Traders and shopkeepers hold a demonstration in Kerala’s Malappuram demanding permission to open shops throughout the day.
Besides imposing a total lockdown in seven districts, Assam has also notified the restrictions which will be in place for districts that have a moderate case positivity rate and where cases are going down. Read our full report here
The Kerala government on Tuesday decided to maximise the testing, quarantine and contact tracing procedures in six districts of the state where the COVID test positivity rate (TPR) is yet to come down despite lockdown curbs.
As per the official figures, the TPR is recorded high in Thrissur, Kozhikode, Malappuram, Wayanad, Kannur and Kasaragod. The decision was taken in an emergency meeting of medical officials and collectors of respective districts convened by Health Minister Veena George as directed by Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan. (PTI)
Delhi reports 79 new Covid cases, 154 recoveries and four deaths in the last 24 hours.
Odisha's Covid-19 tally mounted to 9,27,186 on Tuesday as 2,487 more people tested positive for the infection, while 51 fresh fatalities pushed the death toll to 4,299, a health department official said. Of the new cases, 1,428 were reported from quarantine centres and the remaining 1,059 detected during contact tracing. (PTI)
Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF) and Morepen Laboratories have announced the production of a test batch of Sputnik V in an exclusive facility in Himachal Pradesh. (ANI)
Assam on Tuesday declared a total covid-19 lockdown in seven of its districts -- Goalpara, Golaghat, Jorhat, Lakhimpur, Sonitpur, Biswanath and Morigaon -- as they are showing high positivity rate of covid infections in the recent days. The lockdown will start from 5 am Wednesday and remain in place until further notice. All restaurants, shops, public and private transport are banned.
Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Tuesday launched a social security scheme and a portal for COVID-19 affected families. After a deadly second wave in Delhi, families who have lost their breadwinners, children who have lost their parents to the virus will be provided monthly financial assistance, he highlighted.
Due to a shortage of vaccines, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) and state-run centres will administer shots only for three hours on Tuesday. According to officials, the vaccination process will take place from 2 pm to 5 pm, during which time 50 per cent of beneficiaries can walk in and get jabbed, while the rest will be inoculated after making an online appointment.
The BMC has published a list of 241 centres which will administer Covishield for people above the age of 18. At 30 of these centres, the second dose of Covaxin will also be administered to those above 18 years.
On regular days, the vaccination drive is held from 10 am to 5 pm.
Amid fears that a third wave of Coronavirus is likely to hit the country in the coming months, the Palwal health department has stepped up efforts to augment its health facilities, most significantly working towards setting up an oxygen production plant at the district’s Civil Hospital.
According to officials, an oxygen supply plant has already been set up at the hospital, while an oxygen production plant is expected to be ready by the end of next month. At present, the Palwal Civil Hospital is receiving oxygen from a Panipat-based plant.
“An oxygen plant has been started in the district following the directions of the Chief Minister to create oxygen plants in all the districts and keeping in mind the alert due to the Delta Plus variant. Apart from the already established oxygen supply plant, work has also been started to set up an oxygen production plant,” said Civil Surgeon Dr Brahmdeep Singh. (With Sakshi Dayal)
The active cases have further declined to 4,64,357, the lowest in 101 days, and comprise 1.52 per cent of the total infections.
India's COVID-19 tally had crossed the 20-lakh mark on August 7, 30 lakh on August 23, 40 lakh on September 5 and 50 lakh on September 16. It went past 60 lakh on September 28, 70 lakh on October 11, crossed 80 lakh on October 29, 90 lakh on November 20 and surpassed the one-crore mark on December 19.
The Centre on Tuesday said that over 37.7 crore covid-19 vaccines have been provided to states and union territories , and 23,80,000 doses are in the pipeline. The Centre also highlighted that states still house over 1.66 crore unutilised jabs.
Months after witnessing a rise in COVID-19 cases, Andaman and Nicobar Islands did not record a single fresh infection in the last 24 hours, a health department official said on Tuesday. The coronavirus tally in the Union Territory remained at 7,482, he said. Six people were cured of the disease on Monday, taking the total number of recoveries in the archipelago to 7,339. The death toll remained at 128 as no fresh fatality due to the contagion was reported in the last 24 hours, the official said.
Germany is easing strict restrictions on travel from India and some other countries that were imposed because of the rise of the more contagious delta virus variant.
Germany’s national disease control centre, the Robert Koch Institute, said late Monday that Britain, Portugal, Russia, India and Nepal will be removed from the country’s highest risk category of “virus variant areas” effective Wednesday. They will move into the second-highest category of “high-incidence areas.” (With AP)
India recorded 34,703 new cases in the 24 hours ending 8 am Tuesday, taking the country’s total infections to over 3.05 crore. This is the lowest spike of daily cases in 111 days. Out of these, active cases further declined to 4.64 lakh while recovery rate rose to 97.17%
Gujarat has added 17 lakh beneficiaries in the last one year under the Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana (PMGKAY), a central scheme launched to provide free ration to the poor and needy people affected by the coronavirus outbreak, according to Food Corporation of India (FCI) data.
The scheme was launched in March last year to lessen the hardships faced by poor people due to economic disruption caused by the coronavirus, said a release by FCI's Gujarat office on Monday. As against 3.24 crore eligible persons who received free ration last year under this scheme (when it was launched) in Gujarat, as many as 3.41 crore beneficiaries received foodgrains this year in Gujarat, said Aseem Chhabra, General Manager, FCI, Gujarat region. (With PTI)
An analysis of vaccine breakthrough infections in more than 100 healthcare workers across three Delhi hospitals shows that the Delta variant of Covid is the most prevalent in such infections after receiving the vaccine.
Breakthrough infections refer to infections contracted after receiving at least one dose of a vaccine. “Mathematical modelling indicates that the growth advantage is most likely explained by a combination of increased transmissibility and immune evasion. Indeed in vitro, the Delta variant is less sensitive to neutralising antibodies in sera from recovered individuals, with higher replication efficiency as compared to the Alpha variant,” stated the collaborative study — not yet peer reviewed — from India with scientists from Cambridge Institute of Therapeutic Immunology & Infectious Disease. (With Sukrita Baruah)
The Delta variant of coronavirus is eight times less sensitive to antibodies generated by vaccines as compared to the original strain that came from China’s Wuhan, according to a new study.
The study, which was conducted on more than 100 healthcare workers (HCWs) at three centres in India including Sir Ganga Ram Hospital (SGRH) here, found that the B.1.617.2 Delta variant not only dominates vaccine-breakthrough infections with higher respiratory viral loads compared to non-Delta infections (Ct value of 16.5 versus 19) but also generates greater transmission among the fully vaccinated HCWs. Read more
Early trials of Russia's Sputnik V vaccine among children ages 12 to 17 have started in Moscow, city officials said Monday. Deputy Mayor Anastasia Rakova said 100 volunteers have been recruited who haven't been previously infected with the coronavirus and don't have health issues that would prevent them from getting the shots. Rakova said the youths will receive a small dose of Sputnik V than what is usually administered for adults. The new trial comes as Russia faces a sharp surge in coronavirus infections and struggles to ramp up its low vaccine uptake. As of last week, only 23 million people, or just over 15% of the country's 146-million population, have received at least one shot of a coronavirus vaccine. --PTI
Delhi records 54 new Covid cases.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday said the government is preparing its Covid vaccination platform -- CoWIN -- as an open source and soon it will be available to all countries.
"Indian civilization considers the whole world as one family. This pandemic has made many people realize the fundamental truth of this philosophy. That's why, our technology platform for Covid vaccination -- the platform we call CoWIN -- is being prepared to be made open source," he said while addressing Global CoWin Conclave via video conference. Read more
Right from the beginning of the pandemic, India has been committed to sharing all our experiences, expertise and resources with the global community in this battle. Despite all our constraints, we have tried to share as much as possible with the world: PM
"Indian civilization considers the whole world as one family. This pandemic has made many people realize the fundamental truth of this philosophy. That's why, our technology platform for Covid vaccination - the platform we call CoWin- is being prepared to be made open source," says PM Modi.
"Vaccination is the best hope for humanity to emerge successfully from the pandemic. And right from the beginning, we in India decided to adopt a completely digital approach while planning our vaccination strategy," PM Modi said.
"Technology is integral to our fight against COVID-19. Luckily, software is one area in which there are no resource constraints. That's why we made our Covid tracing and tracking App open source as soon as it was technically feasible," PM Modi said.
PM Modi on Monday said that experience shows no nation can solve challenge of Covid-19 in isolation. Expressing condolences toward all those who lost their lives during the pandemic, he said, "There is no parallel to such a pandemic in a hundred years. Experience shows that no nation, however powerful that nation is, can solve a challenge like this in isolation.
Uttarakhand government Monday extended the ongoing Covid-19-curfew extended till 6 am of July 13, 2021.
Malls have been allowed to reopen at 50 per cent capacity and markets have been ordered to remain closed on weekends, Uttarakhand government spokesperson Subodh Uniyal told news agency ANI.
Covid-19 vaccination in Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) has picked up since June 1 with as many as 7,95,136 jabs administered in its jurisdiction since June 1. This is 43 per cent of the total 18,67,652 doses administered since the start of inoculation drive in the city.
About two-third of the doses administered in this period are those in the 18-44 age bracket. The Centre opened vaccines for all adults from May 1.
On July 3, the PMC registered the largest inoculation of 54,136 in a single day since the launch of India’s inoculation drive in January. Though the PMC is struggling to keep its tempo high on vaccinations due to inadequate supply, paid jabs at private hospitals are adding up the numbers.
Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar Monday said a decision to open all governement and non government offices has been taken after reviewing the coronavirus situation in the state. Only those who have been vaccinated will be allowed in the offices, he said in a tweet.
All universities, colleges, technical education institutes, government training institutes and schools up to classes 11 and 12 will open with 50 per cent capacity. And special provision will be made for students, teachers and staff of educational institutions.
The Chief Minister said restaurants and shops serving food can be operated woth 50 per cent seating capacity. However, caution is still needed, he said.
Pimpri-Chinchwad has recorded a sharp decline in coronavirus cases, with the numbers falling to 7,389 in June from 39,975 in May.
“Though the number of Covid cases continue to fall, we are on guard as experts have predicted a third wave. Since children are likely to be most affected in the third wave, we have made necessary arrangements for them like reserving hospitals, purchasing medicine and recruiting doctors and nurses, especially specialists in treating children,” said PCMC Additional Municipal Commissioner Vikas Dhakane.
PCMC has inaugurated two hospitals at Akurdi and Thergaon for Covid patients but they are yet to admit any patients.
Reopening places of worship across faith is one of the main highlights of several relaxations announced to the curbs that were in place in Karnataka to mitigate the spread of the Covid-19 since the beginning of the second wave.
“Religious places are allowed to open only for darshan. No sevas (rituals that involve devotees) will be allowed,” Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa announced as he spelt out revised guidelines to be in effect from Monday (July 5). Places of worship in the state have remained closed to pilgrims since the last week of April this year.
Delhi's Lajpat Nagar market has been closed for flouting Covid-19 norms, news agency ANI reported. The market will remain closed until further orders.
In an order issued by the DDMA on July 4, the Lajpat Nagar Market Traders Association has been asked to show cause why action should not be taken against them for violating Covid norms.
Pune, Kolhapur, Satara, Sangli and Raigad are the top five districts in Maharashtra that have a weekly Covid-19 positivity rate above the state average.
The state’s positivity rate last week (June 27-July 3) stood at 4.50 per cent whereas that of Kolhapur was 10.24 per cent. This was a slight increase from the 7.73 per cent that was recorded in the week before (June 20-26). Satara’s positivity rate, too, stood at 9.14 per cent, a rise from the 7.75 per cent seen in the week before.
Pune district, too, is no different where the figure rose from 7.20 per cent in the week from June 20-26 to 7.68 per cent last week.
Sangli and Raigad’s weekly positivity rate stood at 8.81 per cent and 7.88 per cent respectively. Other districts where the weekly positivity rate is higher than the state average include Ratnagiri (7.29 per cent), Sindhudurg (6.55 per cent) and Palghar (5.26 per cent).
The Noida and Ghaziabad administrations are planning to begin a cluster-wise mega vaccination drive, which had been delayed due to shortage of doses, this week.
Over the past week, 10,700 vaccines have been administered on an average per day in Noida. In Ghaziabad, approximately 8,300 shots were given daily, according to data from the Cowin portal.
Active Covid cases in the city dropped to under 1,000 for the first time in over a year in Delhi. On Sunday, the Delhi government said there were 992 active cases in the city. This is the lowest since April last year, officials said.
The last time that active cases were in this range (1,000-1,200) was in January and February this year, which was followed by a sudden spike in cases starting in March-end.
The number of cases being recorded per day has been below 100 for most parts of the last fortnight, and on Sunday, 94 new infections were reported out of the 75,000 tested. The positivity rate stood at 0.13% and 111 people have recovered. Seven deaths were recorded.
India on Monday recorded 39,796 new Covid-19 cases and 723 deaths, according to data from the Union Health Ministry.
There are 4.82 lakh active cases at present while the overall death toll has crossed 4.02 lakh. Kerala reported 12,000 new cases in the last 24 hours. Maharashtra and Kerala continue to have more than one lakh active cases. Out of the 723 deaths recorded on Sunday, Maharashtra reported over 300.
The Karnataka government said on Sunday that places of worship including temples, mosques, churches, gurudwaras, and other religious places are allowed to open only for prayers (darshan), strictly in adherence with Covid-19 appropriate behaviour, news agency ANI reported.
No seva/offering or other activities will be permitted, it said in a July 4 order.