Factory workers wearing masks on their way to work places after unlock process in the ongoing Covid-19 lockdown begins, at Dundahera-Kapashera Delhi border, in Gurugram, Wednesday, June 02, 2021. (PTI)Coronavirus India Highlights: Karnataka on Wednesday recorded 16,387 new Covid cases and 463 deaths in the last 24 hours. The test positivity rate dropped further to 11.22% as recoveries (21,199) continued to outnumber new infections across the state. In capital Bengaluru, 307 more deaths were confirmed, while 4095 new infections were reported in the last 24 hours.
Meanwhile, Delhi reported 576 new cases, 103 deaths, and 1,287 recoveries in the last 24 hours. At 0.78 per cent, the positivity rate in the city remained below 1 per cent for the third day.
India recorded 1,32,788 new coronavirus cases and 3,207 deaths in the last 24 hours. With over 26,500 cases, Tamil Nadu was the biggest contributor to the country’s daily caseload. Active cases reduced by more than a lakh. The total number of active cases stands at about 17.93 lakh right now.
For gradual lifting of lockdown or curfew restrictions in districts, the Centre said it rests on “three pillars”: positivity rate below 5 per cent for a week, vaccination of 70 per cent of the vulnerable population, and community ownership of Covid-appropriate behaviour and care. While nearly half of India’s 718 districts now report seven-day positivity of less than 5 per cent, only 32 per cent of those in the 45+ age group have got their first dose.
Sanitization drive being carried out in industrial areas prior to unlocking at Anand Parbat Industrial Area, New Delhi. (Express photo by Amit Mehra)
Senior BJD leader Bijayshree Routray died of post-Covid complications at the age of 67, says his family. (PTI)
Today’s Covid numbers: Delhi (576 cases), Mumbai (925 cases), Kolkata (1,040 cases), Bengaluru (4,095 cases), Chennai (2,217 cases)
Karnataka on Wednesday registered 16,387 new cases and 463 deaths. The test positivity rate dropped further to 11.22% as recoveries (21,199) continued to outnumber the new cases.
Tamil Nadu on Wednesday reported 25,317 new Covid cases and 483 deaths taking the cumulative number of cases to 21,48,346 and fatalities to 25,205. As many as 32,263 patients recovered from the infection today.
West Bengal on Wednesday registered 8,923 new Covid-19 cases and 135 fatalities taking the total number of infections to 13,94,724 and the death toll to 15,813. The recovery rate in the state is 93.85%.
Maharashtra reported 15,169 new Covid cases, 285 deaths and 29,270 recoveries in the last 24 hours. The recovery rate in the state is 94.54%. With today's addition, the state's caseload rose to 57,76,184, while the fatality count increased to 96,483.
Delhi reported 576 new Covid-19 cases and 103 deaths on Wednesday. The positivity rate has dropped to 0.78%.
The 576 fresh cases took Delhi's COVID-19 tally to 14,27,439, while the death toll climbed to 24,402. The case fatality rate is 1.71 per cent. A total of 13,93,673 patients have either recovered, been discharged or migrated out.
As many as 594 doctors have died due to COVID-19 in the ongoing second wave with Delhi recording the maximum 107 fatalities, the Indian Medical Association (IMA) has said.
According to the IMA, 748 doctors died of the infection across the country in the first wave of the pandemic.
Delhi recorded 107 deaths in the second wave, followed by Bihar 96, Uttar Pradesh 67, Rajasthan 43, Jhakhand 39 and Andhra Pradesh and Telangana 32 each, according to data compiled at the IMA's COVID-19 registry. (PTI)
Union Steel Minister Dharmendra Pradhan on Wednesday dedicated to the nation a 100-bed COVID care facility at SAIL's Rourkela Steel Plant (RSP) in Odisha. The capacity of the facility will be scaled up to 500 beds, the Ministry of Steel said in a statement.
"Minister of Petroleum and Natural Gas & Steel Dharmendra Pradhan today dedicated to the nation, Ispat Nidaan Kendra, a 100-bedded jumbo COVID care facility at Rourkela Steel Plant," it added.
All beds at the centre have the provision of gaseous oxygen directly through a dedicated line drawn from the oxygen unit of the steel plant. (PTI)
If any ventilators supplied by the Centre to Maharashtra are found to be defective, then these devices should be replaced, the Bombay High Court said on Wednesday, while asserting that it will not allow experiments to be carried out on COVID-19 patients as majorly repaired ventilators may lead to loss of life.
Justices R V Ghuge and B U Debadwar of the Aurangabad bench of the high court was hearing a bunch of petitions on issues related to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The court was last week informed by prosecutor D R Kale, appearing for the state government, that more than 100 ventilators supplied by the Centre to hospitals in the Marathwada region were found to be defective and hence, were not being used. (PTI)
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee Wednesday dubbed as "hoax" the Centre's claim of vaccinating the entire population above the age of 18 years by 2021, and asserted that the union government must provide jabs free of cost to states.
"That claim is just a hoax. The Centre says things like these. Before the Bihar elections, they had promised to inoculate its population after the elections, but nothing happened," she told reporters at the state secretariat.
Banerjee said considering the gap between doses, the process to vaccinate the entire eligible age group should take six months to a year to complete. (PTI)
The Supreme Court has asked the Centre to furnish detailed data on the purchase history till date of all Covid vaccines including Covaxin, Covishield and Sputnik V. It also asked the Centre to place on record all relevant documents and file notings reflecting its thinking culminating in the vaccination policy. More details here.
Mizoram Chief Minister Zoramthanga Monday wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi requesting the Centre to procure Covid-19 vaccines and distribute them to states, free of cost. The chief minister highlighted Mizoram’s special category status and cited “stressed economic resources” as a reason for his request. More details here.
Delhi on Wednesday reported 576 new cases, 103 deaths, and 1,287 recoveries in the last 24 hours. At 0.78 per cent, the positivity rate in the city remained below 1 per cent for the third day.
A growing number of countries are looking at switching to different Covid-19 vaccines for second doses amid supply delays and safety concerns that have slowed their vaccination campaigns. Several medical studies to test the efficacy of switching Covid-19 vaccines are under way. Click here to know about the countries that are weighing, or have decided to adopt, such a solution.
The Goa government will go through decisions taken by other states and also consult the Union Education Ministry before taking a call on Class 12 Goa board exams by Wednesday evening, Chief Minister Pramod Sawant said. Notably, the Centre on Tuesday cancelled the CBSE Class 12 board exams in view of the COVID-19 situation.
After the government's decision, the Council for the Indian School Certificate Examinations (CISCE) also decided to cancel its Class 12 board examinations this year.
On Wednesday, Sawant held a meeting with officials of the Goa Board of Secondary and Higher Secondary Education (GBSHSE) and the state education department to decide on the pending Class 12 state board exams. (PTI)
The Delhi High Court Wednesday said if the Delhi government could not ensure that people will get both the doses of COVAXIN within the stipulated time, then it should not have started so many vaccination centres with "much pomp and splendour". Justice Rekha Palli issued notice to the Delhi government and sought its stand on whether it can provide the second dose of COVAXIN to those who got the first jab, before expiry of the incubation period of six weeks between the two doses. (PTI)
In a letter addressed to Union Health Minister Dr Harsh Vardhan, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin stressed on the need to "immediately operationalise" the Intergrated Vaccine Complex in Chengalpattu, which was established by HLL Biotech Ltd.
A day after CBSE cancelled board exams, Gujarat's secondary and higher secondary board cancelled the class 12 examination, State Education Minister Bhupendrasinh Chudasama announced.
Addressing the acute shortage of vaccines, the Delhi High Court said, "We should not be found wanting. We need crores and crores of vaccines everyday. We have to have it now. There is a public emergency."
Rapping the centre for its "odd approach" to Delhi-based Panacea Biotec manufacturing Russia's Sputnik V vaccine, the Delhi High Court said, "If Sputnik-V vaccine has been permitted for import and use in India, you only have to see if the vaccine being manufactured by Panacea Biotec is same. Why do you need a trial? It's the same product which is being imported by Dr Reddy's."
A group of doctors at Guwahati Medical College and Hospital (GMCH) staged a protest demanding an inquiry into the recent attack on a doctor in the Hojai district following the death of a Covid patient. (ANI)
The COVID-19 death toll in Ladakh has climbed to 190 following a fatality in Kargil, while 88 fresh cases pushed the overall tally to 18,750 in the union territory, officials said on Wednesday. The number of active cases in Ladakh stand at 1,581 which includes 1,386 cases in Leh district and 213 cases in Kargil district, they said. While 136 people died because of coronavirus in Leh, 54 died in Kargil.Of the new cases reported in the past 24 hours, the officials said 71 were detected in Leh and 17 in Kargil. (PTI)
Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said on Wednesday that 24 people have been arrested for allegedly assaulting a doctor at a medical facility in Hojai district following the death of a COVID-19 patient there.
The police said that it will submit a "strong chargesheet" in the case in a short period of time to punish the people involved in the alleged attack on Dr Seuj Kumar Senapati at the Udali Care Centre on Tuesday.
"Twenty-four culprits involved in this barbaric attack have been arrested and the chargesheet will be filed at the earliest. I am personally monitoring this investigation and I promise that justice will be served," Sarma said on Twitter. (PTI)
Mizoram on Wednesday reported 235 new COVID-19 cases, taking the state's tally to 12,634, official sources said.
The state also reported four more COVID-19 deaths on Tuesday, which took the death toll to 44 on Wednesday, the state information and public relations department said in its official Twitter handle.
At least 3,752 new samples were tested for COVID-19 in the last 24 hours and 6.26 per cent of them came out positive for COVID-19, the department said. (PTI)
Addressing the loss of jobs during the second wave of the coronavirus pandemic, Mahesh Vyas, Chief of Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy said, "We lost 22.7 million jobs in April & May during second wave. Total number of jobs in the country is of the order of 400 million. Of these 400 million people who were employed, 22.7 million lost their jobs in past 2 months." (ANI)
A day after CBSE cancelled class 12 board examinations, the Vice Chancellor of Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) said that entrance exams would be conducted once it was safe for students to write exams. "If entrance is delayed due to COVID and if admission happens at later date, we'll surely adjust our academic calendar to take care of lost time without compromising academic rigor," he told ANI.
In the wake of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s announcement cancelling Class XII exams, some states Tuesday said they would reconsider conducting their respective state Board exams. Others said they would take a final call soon.
UTTAR PRADESH
Uttar Pradesh Tuesday said that it will reconsider its decision to hold the Class XII Board examinations. Deputy Chief Minister Dinesh Sharma said a decision will be taken after a meeting under Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath. On May 29, the state had announced the cancellation of the Class X exams and had said the Class XII examinations would likely be held in the second week of July
MAHARASHTRA
Welcoming the move to cancel the CBSE Class XII examination, state Education Minister Varsha Gaikwad Tuesday hinted at a decision on similar lines for the state board exams. Gaikwad said, “The state government believes health and safety of children are above everything else. After consulting Education Department officials, we will soon announce the decision for Maharashtra State Board for Higher and Secondary School Class XII exams.” The HSC exams in the state had been postponed twice due to the steep rise in Covid-19 cases. Read the full report here.
The government is likely to grant a concessional request of legal protection to American pharmaceutical companies Moderna and Pfizer, to protect them from any claims against the use of their Covid-19 vaccines in India, ANI reported.
As many people have lost their jobs due to the COVID-19 pandemic and are finding it difficult to purchase food items, Mizoram Sports minister Robert Romawia Royte and former minister C Vulluaia are bearing the ration expenses of the poor people of their area.
Royte, who was elected from Aizawl East-II constituency in the 2018 assembly polls, has announced that he will bear the ration expenses of over 11,000 people poor of his constituency for eight months through his own savings and not from government funds.
There are 11,087 beneficiaries from several families, who hold Antyodaya Anna Yojana (AAY) or 'poorest of poor' and Priority Household (PHH) or Below Poverty Line ration cards in seven localities within Aizawl East-II constituency for availing subsidized food grains from public distribution system under the National Food Security Act (NFSA). (PTI)
The WHO said Tuesday that only one strain of the Covid-19 Delta variant first detected in India was now considered "of concern", while two other strains had been downgraded.
The B.1.617 variant of the virus, which has in part been blamed for India's explosive outbreak, has been dubbed a triple mutant variant since it is split into three lineages.
The UN health agency last month declared the entire strain a "variant of concern", or VOC, but on Tuesday, it said only one of the sub-lineages deserved that label.
"It has become evident that greater public health risks are currently associated with B.1.617.2, while lower rates of transmission of other lineages have been observed," the World Health Organization said in its weekly epidemiological update on the pandemic. (PTI)
In a little breather for Punjab which has been grappling with highest case fatality rate (CFR) in the country, the state recorded less than hundred Covid deaths on Tuesday.
Punjab recorded 94 deaths and 2,184 fresh Covid cases in past 24 hours, as per the state bulletin. Except Ludhiana, all other districts recorded less than 200 new cases.
Since April 27 when the second Covid wave started peaking, Punjab has been recording over a hundred deaths daily. The highest toll of 231 deaths in a day was recorded on May 18. Punjab’s CFR of 2.5% is still the highest in the country. Read the full report here.
An early easing of the lockdown in Karnataka seems unlikely with Covid-19numbers in much of the state not in line with parameters prescribed by a state technical advisory committee on Monday for such a measure. The lockdown in the state, imposed on May 10, is as of now scheduled to continue till June 7.
“Our priority is health, life and livelihood. Keeping this in mind our recourse is to continue the lockdown till the following is achieved — the test positivity rate (TPR) is below 5% in the state, daily new cases are less than 5,000 and case fatality rate (CFR) is less than 1%,” said head of the technical advisory committee and public health expert Dr M K Sudarshan.
While daily new cases numbers in Karnataka have fallen from the peak of 50,000 in early May to around 15,000 now, 24 of 30 districts have a TPR above 10%, with 10 districts at more than 20% TPR. The seven-day state average of TPR is 14%, with the five-day average daily cases at over 15.000. Read the report here.
On May 26, US President Joe Biden announced that he had tasked the country’s “intelligence community to redouble their efforts to collect and analyse information that would bring us closest to a definitive conclusion” on whether the virus that causes Covid-19 originated from human contact with an infected animal, or from a “laboratory accident”. A report will be submitted to him in 90 days.
The lab leak theory
Biden’s announcement that US intelligence agencies were divided on the question of the virus’s origin has given wings and new respectability to the “Wuhan lab leak” theory, earlier dismissed as a right wing, racist conspiracy theory propagated by President Donald Trump and his fellow travellers.
That the theory had been under serious consideration since at least September 2020 emerged on January 15 this year, a fortnight before the Trump Administration stepped down, when the US State Department made public a “fact sheet” that included “previously undisclosed information”, combined with open source information. Read the full report here.
Positivity rate of less than 5 per cent for a week, vaccination of 70 per cent of the vulnerable population, and community ownership of Covid-appropriate behaviour and care — the Centre on Tuesday laid down key un-lockdown criteria for districts to ward off a possible third wave.
On Tuesday, Dr Balram Bhargava, ICMR Director General and a member of India’s Covid-19 task force, underlined that while “gradual lifting [of restrictions] will not witness a massive surge”, districts have to “ensure that vaccination has to be prioritised…” Read the report here.
India’s apex drug regulator Tuesday waived the requirement for foreign companies to conduct post-launch bridging trials and test the quality and stability of their Covid-19 vaccines here if they have approvals from specific countries or health bodies. The move, which would make it easier for companies to bring their vaccines to India, follows similar demands raised by, among others, Pfizer and Cipla during negotiations to supply imported vaccines to the country.
The requirement of conducting post-approval bridging clinical trials “can be exempted” for Covid-19 vaccines with restricted use permissions from regulators like the USFDA, EMA (European Medicines Agency), the UK’s MHRA (Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency), Japan’s PMDA (Pharmaceutical and Medical Devices Agency) or those with a WHO Emergency Use Listing, a June 1 notice by Drug Controller General of India (DCGI) Dr V G Somani says. Read the report here.
Haffkine Bio-Pharmaceutical Corporation Limited (HBPCL), a Maharashtra government undertaking, is preparing to produce Bharat Biotech's Covaxin vaccine in the next eight months, ANI reported. Once the requisite facilities are put in place, the company aims to produce over 22 crore doses of the vaccine every year.
The company has been given permission by the Department of Biotechnology under Project Sulekha.
"We've received approval for Covaxin production & are in talks with Bharat Biotech for further process. We'll be initiating production in 8 months," HBPCL MD Sandeep Rathod said.
India recorded 1,32,788 new coronavirus cases and 3,207 deaths in the last 24 hours. With over 26,500 cases, Tamil Nadu was the biggest contributor to the country’s daily caseload. Active cases reduced by more than a lakh. The total number of active cases stands at about 17.93 lakh right now.
With 179 fresh Covid-19 fatalities reported in Uttar Pradesh, the death toll in the state rose to 20,672 while the total cases in UP touched 16,92,709 with as many as 1,317 fresh cases on Tuesday.
Of the fresh deaths, 28 were reported from Lucknow, followed by 19 from Lakhimpur Kheri and 13 from Gorakhpur, a Health department release issued here said.
Of the new cases, 68 have been reported from Gautam Buddh Nagar, 61 from Lakhimpur Kheri, 59 from Varanasi, 55 from Saharanpur, 54 from Lucknow and 53 from Muzaffarnagar, it said.
In the past 24 hours, as many as 5,625 Covid patients in the state have recovered from the disease, and have been discharged, taking the total number of recoveries to 16,39,572. (PTI)
Jharkhand extends lockdown-like restrictions till June 10, but some curbs have been eased. (PTI)
Indian Medical Association (IMA) writes to Union Home Minister Amit Shah, requesting him to approve an effective and strong Act to crack down on violence against healthcare professionals. This comes after a doctor was attacked by a group of people in Assam's Hojai district on Monday following a Covid patient's death.
Punjab records 2184 fresh cases, 94 deaths and 5,039 discharges.
Haryana records 1233 new cases, 3453 recoveries, and 80 fatalities in the last 24 hours.
Assam registers 4,682 new cases, 4,992 discharges, and 51 deaths in the past 24 hours.
Mumbai has reported 831 new cases and 23 deaths in the last 24 hours.
The World Health Organization (WHO) has approved a Covid-19 vaccine made by Sinovac Biotech for emergency use listing, the second Chinese-produced shot to get its endorsement, a WHO statement said on Tuesday.
WHO emergency listing is a signal to national regulators on a product’s safety and efficacy. It would also allow the shot to be included in COVAX, the global programme to provide vaccines mainly for poor countries, which currently faces major supply problems due to India’s suspension of vaccine exports. (PTI)
Tamil Nadu has reported 26,513 new cases, 490 fatalities and 31,673 discharges. Among the new cases, 2,467 fresh infections are from Chennai.
West Bengal reports 9,424 new cases and 137 deaths in the last 24 hours. A total of 1,032 fresh infections were reported from Kolkata.
Karnataka reports 14,304 new cases, 464 deaths, and 29,271 recoveries in the last 24 hours. Among the fresh infections, 3,418 were from Bengaluru.
In an open letter to the people of the country, the Indian Medical Association (IMA) has stated, “Mr. Ramdev thought it fit to launch his tirade against National COVID-19 treatment. People creating confusion regarding the National Treatment Protocols and National Vaccination Programme are traitors and anti-nationals. They deserve no mercy.”
IMA also stated that Ramdev has irreparably damaged the Indian government’s efforts to contain the pandemic.
In the review meeting chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday, it was decided that the Class XII CBSE Board examinations will not be held this year. It was also decided that CBSE will take steps to compile the results of class XII students as per a well-defined objective criteria in a time-bound manner.
The Prime Minister said that the decision on Class 12 CBSE Exams has been taken in the interest of students. He stated that Covid-19 has affected the academic calendar and the issue of Board exams has been causing immense anxiety among students, parents and teachers, which must be put to an end.
Russia is committed to helping our Indian friends in fighting this dangerous virus, says Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov. He added, “Today, we have sent another shipment of Sputnik V vaccine to India as a follow-up to massive steps we have made to provide assistance to India.” (ANI)
Netherlands lifts the ban on passenger flights from India, starting from today.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi chairs an important meeting regarding Class 12 board examinations.
Kerala records 19,760 new cases, 24,117 recoveries and 194 deaths. (ANI)
Nearly half of the number of Covid-linked fatalities in Haryana were recorded in May as the state also registered a sharp spike in the cases last month, state health department data showed.
On April 30, 2021, Haryana had a total 4,216 COVID-19 deaths, which climbed to 8,303, as on May 31. During the same period, the virus count rose from 4,87,978 to 7,56,635.
Gurugram, Faridabad and Hisar remained the districts hardest hit by the pandemic.
Between April 30 and May 31, coronavirus-related fatalities in Gurugram increased from 476 to 813, while the number of cases in the district, which falls in the National Capital Region, rose from 1,22,948 to 1,79,960. (PTI)
The Union Health Ministry said, “Mixing of vaccine is not the protocol yet, same vaccines (Covishield and Covaxin) will be administered for both doses. There's international research underway on the mixing of vaccines as the possibility of a positive effect is also plausible but a harmful reaction cannot be ruled out either. It is an unresolved scientific question, science will settle it.” (ANI)
Under ‘Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Package, Insurance Scheme for Health Workers Fighting COVID19’, a new system of processing of insurance claims has been introduced. The claims will be certified by the district collector and the insurance company will settle claims in 48 hours, says the Ministry of Health. (ANI)
Dr. V K Paul, Member (Health), NITI Aayog, says, “Our focus on Covid in children is gaining our attention. The pediatric population is generally asymptomatic. They often get infections but their symptoms are minimal or nil. The infection has not taken serious shape in children.” (ANI)
ICMR Director General Balram Bhargava says, “There is no shortage of vaccines. By mid-July or August, we will have enough doses to vaccinate 1 crore people per day. We are confident of vaccinating the whole population by December.” (ANI)