"The unvaccinated population is still vulnerable and needs to follow Covid-appropriate behaviour," he added.
Coronavirus India Highlights: Prime Minister Narendra Modi, while reviewing the progress of the country’s Covid-19 vaccination drive, said that vaccine wastage numbers are still on a higher side and that steps need to be taken to bring them down.
The prime minister also took stock of the status of vaccination coverage in healthcare workers as well as frontline workers, besides those in 45-plus and 18-44 years age groups, the PMO said. “Government of India is actively working with vaccine manufacturers ad helping them in terms of facilitating more production units, financing and supply of raw materials,” it added.
Earlier today, the health ministry said that data sharing is going on with WHO to give recognition to Covaxin. “We have been working with both Bharat Biotech and the WHO to make it happen. There is data sharing going on and we are very keen that this milestone is achieved as soon as possible. We are pursuing it,” NITI Aayog Member (Health) V K Paul said in response to a question during a press briefing.
The WHO approval holds importance as there is a discussion about granting vaccine passports only to those given WHO-approved vaccines.
India recorded over 1.32 lakh new covid-19 cases in the last 24 hours ending 8 am Friday, taking the country’s total infections to over 2.85 crore. Out of the total cases, active cases further declined to over 16 lakh and the total number of recoveries went up to over 2.65 crore. With 2,713 new deaths, the toll is now at 3,40,702.
A health worker administers a dose of the Covid-19 vaccine in New Delhi on Wednesday. (Express Photo: Amit Mehra)
Prime Minister Narendra Modi, while reviewing the progress of the country’s Covid-19 vaccination drive, said that vaccine wastage numbers are still on a higher side and that steps need to be taken to bring them down.
The prime minister also took stock of the status of vaccination coverage in healthcare workers as well as frontline workers, besides those in 45-plus and 18-44 years age groups, the PMO said. “Government of India is actively working with vaccine manufacturers ad helping them in terms of facilitating more production units, financing and supply of raw materials,” it added.
The DCGI has granted permission to the Serum Institute of India (SII) to manufacture the Sputnik Covid-19 vaccine in India for examination, test and analysis with certain conditions, news agency PTI reported citing official sources.
"The DCGI has granted permission to the Serum Institute to manufacture the Sputnik COVID-19 vaccine in India for examination, test and analysis at its licensed Hadapsar facility with certain conditions," an official source said.
The Pune-based firm has collaborated with Gamaleya Research Institute of Epidemiology and Microbiology, Moscow in Russia for developing Sputnik V at its licensed Hadapsar facility. The company had submitted an application to the DCGI in this regard on Thursday.
Data sharing is going on with WHO to give recognition to Bharat Biotech's Covaxin, the government said, noting that it wants to achieve this "milestone" as soon as possible.
Responding to a question on recognition of Covaxin by the WHO, NITI Aayog Member (Health) V K Paul said the government is pursuing it.
"We have been working with both Bharat Biotech and the WHO to make it happen. There is data sharing going on and we are very keen that this milestone is achieved as soon as possible. We are pursuing it," he said.
On May 24, Hyderabad-based Bharat Biotech International Limited (BBIL) conveyed to the government that it has already submitted 90 per cent of the documents to the WHO for obtaining emergency use listing (EUL) for the Covaxin vaccine. (PTI)
Vietnam has often been held up as a leading example in containing the coronavirus outbreak thanks to an aggressive strategy of early screening of passengers at airports and a strict quarantine and monitoring programme.
It was able to better manage the crisis than its larger neighbours despite sharing a long border with China, where the outbreak was first reported. However, luck might be running out for Vietnam as a troubling new variant has led to the country recording half of its caseload in the past one month. Read our explainer for more details.
When the Covid-19 crisis in India worsened in April this year, like others in the diaspora, the Indian community in South Korea could only watch in despair. By the first week of May, the community began having serious discussions on what they could do, both individually and collectively, for their homeland. Read the full report here.
The Union Health Ministry Friday said that almost 68 per cent decline has been noted in Covid-19 cases since the highest reported peak of cases on May 7. There has been a decrease in active cases by more than 21 lakh since the peak of active cases on May 10, it said, adding that 377 districts are reporting less than 5 per cent case positivity rate.
The Union Health Ministry Friday said that the country needs to buy time to ensure that high coverage of vaccination against Covid is achieved. If the containment measures, Covid-19 appropriate behaviour or vaccination pace slackens, cases can rise again, it said.
The Union Health Ministry Friday said that 377 districts in the country are reporting a less than five per cent positivity rate. “There has been a continuous decrease in districts reporting more than 100 average daily new cases, 257 districts reporting more than 100 daily cases,” Lav Agrawal, Joint Secretary, Health Ministry said on the Covid-19 situation.
The Union Health Ministry Friday said that there has been a consistent increase in recovery rate which currently stands at 93.1 per cent. "There has been a continuous decrease in districts reporting more than 100 average daily new cases," Lav Agrawal, Joint Secretary, Health Ministry said during a briefing on the Covid-19 situation.
Britain’s medicines regulator said on Friday it had extended approval of the Covid-19 vaccine developed by Pfizer and BioNTech so it can be used on 12- to 15-year-olds.
“We have carefully reviewed clinical trial data in children aged 12 to 15 years and have concluded that the Pfizer/BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine is safe and effective in this age group and that the benefits of this vaccine outweigh any risk,” June Raine, chief executive of the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency, said. Read the full report here.
People fully vaccinated with the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine are likely to have more than five times lower levels of neutralising antibodies against the Delta variant first identified in India compared to the original strain, according to research published in The Lancet journal.
The study also shows that levels of these antibodies that are able to recognise and fight the virus are lower with increasing age, and that levels decline over time, providing additional evidence in support of plans to deliver a booster dose to vulnerable people. More details here.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday spoke to legendary sprinter Milkha Singh, who has been ailing, to enquire about his health.
Modi expressed hope that Singh, who was on Thursday admitted to a Chandigarh hospital, will be back soon to bless and inspire athletes, who will be participating in the Tokyo Olympics, government sources said. Fondly called “flying Sikh”, Singh, who recently contracted COVID-19 infection, was admitted to the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) of the hospital due to dipping levels of oxygen. The 91-year-old is in a stable condition.
Prime Minister Narendra modi on Friday lauded scientists at Council of Scientific & Industrial Research Society for making a made-in-India Covid vaccine in just an year. "India used to wait for years to get hold of innovations achieved outside, now our scientists working at same quick pace," Modi said.
The Delhi government has formed a four-member expert committee to look into the deaths due to the shortage of oxygen during the second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic and is awaiting the lieutenant governor's approval, Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia said on Friday. During the second wave of coronavirus, there was an oxygen crisis and there were reports that the oxygen shortage led to deaths at some hospitals, Sisodia said in an online briefing.
"We took the issue seriously and took a decision to form a four-member committee to look into the matter. It is a committee comprising medical experts. We have sent the file for the L-G's approval," he said.
The Delhi High Court on Friday sought the stand of the Centre and the city government on a plea seeking a CBI probe into the death of 21 Covid patients at the Jaipur Golden Hospital here last month allegedly due to oxygen shortage. Justice Rekha Palli issued a notice to the Union ministries of home and health and the Delhi government seeking their response by August 20 on the plea filed by the families of some patients who died on the intervening night of April 23 and 24. (With PTI)
The decision to book 30 crore doses of Biological E’s Covid-19 vaccine before it has launched marks a major shift in the government’s stance on procurement for mass immunisation against the coronavirus. The advance order, which includes Rs 1,500 crore in monetary assistance to help the company stockpile doses, is the government’s first at-risk investment on vaccines so far.
It is significant that the government has put its money on a novel platform for a Covid-19 vaccine that is yet to receive regulatory approval.Bio E’s two-dose vaccine, known as Corbevax, is likely to be among the cheapest Covid-19 vaccines that will be available in India; it is also expected that it will be easy to scale up production.
Corbevax uses a recombinant protein platform, which is not used by any other vaccine in India currently. The recombinant protein vaccine is expected to target the specific part of the SARS-CoV-2 virus that can help the body trigger an immune response, in this case, the spike protein on its surface.
he risk of being infected with SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, is substantially reduced for up to 10 months following the first infection with the virus, according to a study. The research, published in the journal Lancet Healthy Longevity on Tuesday, looked at rates of COVID-19 infections between October lat years, and February this year among over 2,000 care home residents and staff in England.
The researchers from the University College London (UCL) in the UK compared people who had evidence of a previous infection up to 10 months earlier, as determined by antibody testing, with those who had not been previously infected. They found that residents with a previous infection were 85 per cent less likely to be infected during this four-month period than those who had never been infected.
A Covid-19 stimulus package worth Rs 20,000 crore; allocation of Rs 1,000 crore for free distribution of vaccines for all above 18 years; Rs 1,500 crore for first-phase conservation of fragile coastal areas; a scheme to reduce extreme poverty; and no new tax proposals — these are some of the important announcements in the revised budget presented by Kerala Finance Minister K N Balagopal Friday for FY 2021-22.
As Balagopal’s predecessor T M Thomas Isaac had presented a full budget in February, and with the LDF government returning to power in the state in the recent elections, the budget was merely a continuation of Isaac’s proposals. (With Vishnu Varma)
Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal has called two meetings on Friday to discuss preparations for the possible third wave of coronavirus. “The CM will meet the expert committee at 11 and the preparation committee at 3,” the CM’s office said in a tweet. On May 27, the Delhi government had set up a 13-member committee to prepare an action plan for a possible third wave.
This committee is tasked with assessing the current situation and future requirements of infrastructure such as hospitals, oxygen plants, drug supplies in the capital.
The new Delta or B.1.617 variant, primarily responsible for the explosive surge in Covid-19 infections in India has 50 per cent more transmissibility than the Alpha variant or B.1.1.7 variant, as per study by INSACOG (Indian SARS-CoV-2 Genome Sequencing Consortia ) & National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC). (With ANI)
The Delta variant or the B.1.617.2 strain is the primary reason behind India’s second wave, a new study conducted by National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) and INSACOG (the consortium of labs undertaking genome sequencing in India) has found out.(With ANI)
With more than 650 deaths reported on Thursday, the coronavirus-related death toll in Maharashtra has now crossed the one-lakh mark. This includes more than 2,800 deaths that the state has classified as those having been caused by other diseases.
As on Thursday, at least 100,233 people with coronavirus infection are known to have died in the state. Almost half of these deaths have happened after February 15, during the second wave which is still going strong.
Maharashtra continues to contribute to more than 20 per cent of deaths being reported from across the country. Overall, the state accounts for close to 30 per cent of the over 3.4 lakh coronavirus-related deaths in India to date. This proportion has remained almost constant throughout the pandemic.
April 4 was the first time India’s daily Covid case count crossed 1 lakh setting off the most explosive phase of the pandemic during which the daily count of new infections reached as high as 4.14 lakh on May 6.
Two months since that milestone, the Covid curve, after claiming a devastating toll of at least 1.76 lakh lives, is finally falling into a zone where the disease, experts say, could be handled by existing health infrastructure.
The number of active cases in the country is less than half that of the peak; the case count has begun to decline in almost every state; and, for the first time in more than two months, the weekly positivity rate has fallen below overall positivity. (Read Amitabh Sinha's explainer here)
India recorded over 1.32 lakh new covid-19 cases in the last 24 hours ending 8 am Friday, taking the country’s total infections to over 2.85 crore. Out of the total cases, active cases further declined to over 16 lakh and the total number of recoveries went up to over 2.65 crore. With 2,713 new deaths, the toll is now at 3,40,702.
Over 2,800 prisoners have been released on interim bail or emergency parole from three Delhi jails, including Tihar, to decongest the prisons during the second wave of the coronavirus infection, officials said on Thursday. These include inmates who were released last year and then surrendered with no adverse report and also new prisoners who were eligible for such interim bail or emergency parole in view of the pandemic under the criteria laid down by a high-powered committee in its meetings on May 4 and 11. On March 16, 2020, the Supreme Court had taken suo motu cognisance of overcrowding in prisons across the country and had said it is difficult for jail inmates to maintain social distance to prevent the spread of coronavirus. It had directed all states and union territories to constitute high-level committees to consider giving parole or interim bail to prisoners and undertrials for offences entailing up to a seven-year jail term. --PTI
Appreciate US' assurance of vaccine supplies to India
United States Vice President Kamala Harris on Thursday spoke with Prime Minister Narendra Modi and conveyed that the US will begin sharing vaccines with India, along with other countries by end of June. The White House unveiled President Joe Biden’s plans to share COVID-19 vaccines with the world, including its intent to direct 75% of excess doses through the UN-backed COVAX global vaccine sharing program.
Maharashtra government, meanwhile, made a u-turn on its announcement regarding unlocking the state and clarified that the existing restrictions on account of COVID-19 have not been lifted anywhere, contrary to the announcement made by minister Vijay Wadettiwar. Relaxation of restrictions as per the situation in different areas is only under consideration and no decision has been taken, a statement from the Chief Minister's Office (CMO) said. Earlier in the day, Wadettiwar had said the state will lift the lockdown-like restrictions in 18 out of 36 districts from Friday.
Wadettiwar, minister for Disaster Management, later said only "in principle" approval to phasing out of restrictions was given, but no decision has been taken.
As the demand for COVID-19 vaccines rises globally, India on Thursday said it would not be right to talk about the supply of jabs to other countries at the moment as it is currently ramping up domestic production for its own inoculation programme. Elaborating the steps taken by the government to augment vaccine supply for domestic use, Spokesperson at the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) Arindam Bagchi said India remains engaged with US vaccine manufacturers like Pfizer, Johnson & Johnson, and Moderna as part of this effort. "I just responded to a series of questions on what steps the government has taken to ensure adequate supply of vaccines from abroad. I think you will appreciate that against this background, it would not be right to talk about supply of vaccines abroad just now as we have repeatedly conveyed," he said. "We are currently purposing domestic vaccine production for our own vaccination programme," Bagchi. After it started its own inoculation programme in January, India also supplied vaccine to other countries. In response to a question in Lok Sabha on March 23, Minister of State for External Affairs V Muraleedharan said India has supplied 600 million doses to 76 countries under the 'Vaccine-Maitri' initiative. --PTI
Karnataka Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa Thursday announced extension of lockdown for a week from June 7 to June 14 to arrest the spread of COVID-19. “We had earlier announced stringent restrictions from May 24 to June 7 to contain the spread of coronavirus. Though the infections have reduced, the spread of the disease is still on,” PTI quoted Yediyurappa as saying.
Beginning Friday, lockdown-like restrictions will be lifted from 18 out of 36 Maharashtra districts where the Covid positivity rate and occupancy of oxygen beds have come down considerably, the state government said.
“A five-level unlock plan has been prepared on the basis of Covid positivity rate and occupancy of oxygen beds in the districts,” said Vijay Wadettiwar, the State Relief and Rehabilitation Minister.
This was decided in the State Disaster Management Authority (SDMA) meeting chaired by Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray. Read more
Coronavirus-induced restrictions will be lifted from Friday in 18 out of 36 Maharashtra districts where the positivity rate and oxygen bed occupancy have dipped considerably, the state government said. Disaster ManagementMinister Vijay Wadettiwar made the announcement after a meeting of the State Disaster Management Authority here on Thursday. The lockdown-like restrictions, imposed in April this year when the second wave of the pandemic intensified, would be lifted in 18 districts where the positivity rate is 5 percent or less and the occupancy of oxygen beds in hospitals is less than 25 percent, he said. These 18 districts are Aurangabad, Bhandara, Buldhana, Chandrapur, Dhule, Gadchiroli, Gondia, Jalgaon, Jalna, Latur, Nagpur, Nanded, Nashik, Yavatmal, Washim, Wardha, Parbhani and Thane. --PTI
Lockdown-like restrictions to be lifted from tomorrow in 18 out of 36 Maharashtra districts, said the state government.
Discussions are underway with major pharma companies about sourcing and possibly manufacturing their COVID-19 jabs locally while India is looking forward to WHO’s nod for Bharat Biotech’s indigenously developed vaccine, Foreign Secretary Harsh Vardhan Shringla said on Thursday.
Addressing the World Health Organisation’s South-East Asia Regional Health Partners’ Forum on COVID-19 he also said the government has worked with key partners to ease regulatory disruptions to vaccine supply chains through diplomatic interventions.
India is fighting an “exceptionally severe” second wave of the contagion and it will participate in the process of creating global scale capacities that are needed to deal with pandemic-scale challenges, Shringla said. Read more
Discussions are underway with major pharma companies about sourcing and possibly manufacturing their COVID-19 jabs locally while India is looking forward to WHO's nod for Bharat Biotech's indigenously developed vaccine, Foreign Secretary Harsh Vardhan Shringla said on Thursday. Addressing the World Health Organisation's South-East Asia Regional Health Partners' Forum on COVID-19 he also said the government has worked with key partners to ease regulatory disruptions to vaccine supply chains through diplomatic interventions. India is fighting an "exceptionally severe" second wave of the contagion and it will participate in the process of creating global scale capacities that are needed to deal with pandemic-scale challenges, Shringla said. He said a number of serious global conversations are underway on this in platforms such as the G7, G20, QUAD, BRICS, the United Nations and WHO itself. --PTI
Delhi on Thursday recorded 487 fresh COVID-19 cases –– lowest in over 2.5 months, and 45 deaths. Positivity rate slipped to 0.61 per cent.
Delhi has had more than 1000 cases of mucormycosis during the COVID second wave, said Health Minister Satyendar Jain on Thursday.
Jain had stated that till Wednesday, the city had recorded 1044 cases of the otherwise rare fungal disease, a spike in which strong links have been drawn between COVID, the use of immunosuppressants such as steroids in its treatment and diabetes. The disease is known to have a high mortality rate. Of those who have been affected by the disease so far, 92 patients have recovered fully but 89 have died.
Speaking about vaccine supply shortage in the city, Jain said, “I understand that many people who have taken the first jab of Covaxin are not getting the scheduled second jab in Delhi. The situation has become like this because of the mismanagement on the behalf of the central government." Read more
Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Thursday said India under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi successfully fought the battle against Covid-19 and managed to bring disease curve down with the help of 135 crore citizens.
"Now, the cases are dipping, the number of patients is decreasing. The oxygen requirement has come down to 3,500 MT from 10,000 MT. This indicates that the Covid-19 curve is going down," Shah said. He also said the speed of India's vaccination drive is the fastest in the world and it will further gain momentum in future to cover maximum number of people in the shortest possible time, as envisioned by the PM. Shah was speaking via video conference after virtually inaugurating nine medical oxygen plants set up at government- run hospitals in different parts of Gujarat. (PTI)
We are in touch with major vaccine manufacturers like Pfizer, Johnson & Johnson, and Moderna about sourcing and possible local manufacturing of their vaccines in India. We have also helped to expedite the introduction of Sputnik-V vaccines: MEA Spokesperson Arindam Bagchi. (ANI)
Odisha on Thursday registered its highest single-day spike of 42 Covid-19 fatalities, raising the toll to 2,873, while 8,839 fresh cases pushed the tally to 7,90,970, a health department official said. The fatality rate in the coastal state stands at 0.36 per cent, which is still one of the lowest in the country, and the positivity rate at 6.61 per cent, the official said.
Taking to Twitter, the health department said, "Regret to inform about the demise of forty two Covid positive patients while under treatment in hospitals." Of the 42 fatalities, five were reported from Sundergarh, followed by four each from Cuttack and Kalahandi, three each from Boudh, Jharsuguda and Khurda, and two each from Angul, Balasore, Bolangir, Deogarh, Gajapati, Kendrapara, Nabarangpur and Rayagada. One each succumbed to the infection in Bargah, Bhadrak, Ganjam, and Puri. This apart, 53 other COVID-19 patients in the state have died due to comorbidities. (PTI)
The government has come out with guidelines for the care and protection of the children affected by Covid-19 and fixed responsibilities for the states, district magistrates, police, Panchayati Raj institutions and urban local bodies. In a letter to the chief secretaries of all the states and Union territories, Women and Child Development Ministry Secretary Ram Mohan Mishra on Wednesday said in order to streamline and facilitate the actions being taken, the major responsibilities of the primary duty holders have been enlisted to ensure the best interest of children during the pandemic.
The National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR), in an affidavit to the Supreme Court, said 9,346 children have lost at least one of the parents to the deadly virus, including over 1,700 who have lost both their parents, according to data received from the states. Defining the roles of the states, district magistrates (DMs), police, Panchayati Raj institutions and urban local bodies, Mishra issued detailed guidelines.
The states need to identify the children in distress through outreach and surveys and prepare a database with a profile of each child, along with the details of their specific needs and requirements, and ensure that the data is uploaded on the Track Child portal. (PTI)
As many as 35 districts in Madhya Pradesh are now reporting less than 10 Covid-19 cases in a day, state Home Minister Narottam Mishra said on Thursday. Talking to reporters here, he said the Covid-19 recovery rate in the state has now improved to 97.13 per cent. As per the state health department, the recovery rate was 96.3 per cent on June 1.
"There are 35 districts where less than 10 cases of Covid-19 are being reported now and even the infection rate has come down to one per cent in the state," Mishra said. The minister, who is also the state government's spokesman, however, did not name those districts. The Covid-19 infection rate in the state was 1.54 per cent on June 1, as per government data. The number of active cases has also now come down to 14,186, Mishra said. (PTI)
A bus was turned into a Covid vaccination centre, which will travel to different markets of Kolkata to vaccinate priority groups, including vegetable and fish sellers, who cannot go for inoculation leaving their businesses for hours. The "vaccination on wheels" initiative was launched by the Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) on Thursday in cooperation with the Health and Transport departments of the West Bengal government, minister Firhad Hakim said.
An air-conditioned bus was provided by the Transport Department for vaccinating priority groups at the different markets. "Since these people cannot go to a vaccination centre leaving their business for several hours, we decided to bring the facility to their doorsteps," Hakim told reporters after the inauguration of the programme at Posta Bazaar, the largest wholesale market of vegetables and groceries in the city. He said that the number of buses used for the purpose will be increased soon. "There are several buses available and using these, we can vaccinate the people at the markets itself," he said. (PTI)
Mumbai is expected to get a supply of 87,000 doses of Covishield vaccine against Covid-19 on Friday and the inoculation drive would resume in the city the next day, Mayor Kishori Pednekar said on Thursday. Due to the unavailability of enough number of vaccine doses, the Covid-19 vaccination drive in Mumbai was suspended on Thursday at centres run by the city civic body and the Maharashtra government, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) earlier said.
Of the total 342 active Covid-19 vaccination centres in Mumbai, 243 are managed by the BMC and 20 by the state government. Talking to reporters here, Pednekar said they are expecting a supply of 87,000 doses of the Covishield vaccine on Friday, following which the vaccination drive would resume the next day. (PTI)
Jharkhand reported 532 new Covid-19 cases on Thursday and 11 more deaths, a Health Department bulletin said. The state has so far reported 3,38,915 cases and 5,011 deaths. The new cases were detected after testing 59,510 samples. Twenty of the 24 districts reported zero fatalities during the last 24 hours, while a door-to-door campaign in the rural areas is on to detect and treat cases. Ranchi reported the highest number of deaths at seven. Two deaths were reported from East Singhbhum and one each from Deoghar and Dhanbad. Jharkhand now has 7,307 active cases, while 3,26,597 patients have recovered. (PTI)
The Uttar Pradesh Board on Thursday cancelled the Class 12 examination. The decision was taken at a meeting chaired by Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath in which Deputy Chief Minister Dinesh Sharma, who holds charge of Secondary Education department, was also present.
Additional Chief Secretary, Information, Navneet Sehgal told PTI that "examination for the UP board class 12 has been cancelled." Nearly 26 lakh candidates are registered for the class 12 board exams in the state. The state had last month cancelled class 10 UP Board exam following which nearly 30 lakh candidates, who had registered for it, were promoted to class 11. (PTI)
The Delhi High Court has issued a summon to Ramdev over Delhi Medical Association's suit to restrain him from giving false info on Patanjali's Coronil. The association has filed the suit for restraining Ramdev from 'disseminating false statement and false information' about Coronil.
Justice C Harishankar on Thursday told the association that it should be spending time in finding cure for the pandemic instead of taking court time. "I don't think you're allopathic profession is so fragile that you'll rush to the court," observed the court. (Inputs from Sofi Ahsan)
The Serum Institute of India (SII) has applied to the Drug Controller General of India (DCGI) seeking permission to manufacture COVID-19 vaccine Sputnik V in the country, sources said on Thursday. The Pune-based firm has also sought approval for test analysis and examination. Russia's Sputnik V vaccine is currently being manufactured in India by Dr Reddy's Laboratories.
"The Serum Institute of India (SII) put up an application to the Drugs Controller General of India (DCGI) on Wednesday seeking permission to manufacture the COVID-19 vaccine, Sputnik V, in India," a source said. The SII has already told the government that it will be able to manufacture and supply 10 crore Covishield doses in June, while it is also manufacturing the Novavax vaccine, the regulatory clearance for which is awaited from the United States. (PTI)
The Covid-19 caseload in Arunachal Pradesh rose to 28,018 as 376 more people tested positive for the infection, a senior health department official said here on Thursday. The death toll in the state increased to 118 with two more persons succumbing to the disease in the past two days, State Surveillance Officer Dr Lobsang Jampa said.
A 56-year-old woman from the Capital Complex region died at the Dedicated Covid Hospital (DCH) Chimpu near here, on Monday due to acute respiratory distress syndrome. Another woman aged 51-years from Lower Siang died at DCH Pasighat in East Siang district on Wednesday due to Covid Pneumonia, the official said. The Capital Complex region continued to witness highest spurt in fresh cases with 82, followed by Tawang (51), Lower Subansiri (36), Namsai, Changlang and West Kameng at 28 each, Lohit (19), Leparada (18), East Kameng (16) and Upper Siang at 12. (PTI)
The union territory of Puducherry witnessed a further dip in the number of fresh Covid-19 with 815 new infections being reported in the last 24 hours, a senior official of the Department of Health and Family Welfare Services said on Thursday. The overall tally rose to 1,07,114 with the 815 new cases while the number of active cases stood at 10,015 (1,389 in hospitals and 8,626 in home isolation), Director of Health and Family Welfare S Mohan Kumar said.
The Puducherry region added 650 of the 815 fresh cases followed by Karaikal (125), Yanam (29) and Mahe (11). The union territory recorded 16 deaths in the last 24 hours ending 10 am Thursday as the toll went up to 1,583. As many as 12 of the deceased were from Puducherry and 4 from Karaikal, Mohan Kumar said, adding six of them had no comorbidities. He said 950 patients recovered and were discharged during the last 24 hours while the total recoveries climbed to 95,516. (PTI)
Gautam Gambhir Foundation has been found not be entitled to exemption under Drugs and Cosmetics Act. They were not holding any drug license for the purpose of stocking and purchase. It was unauthorised purchase and procurement not permitted under law. It has contravened the Drugs and Cosmetics Act and committed an offence. The dealers have sold the medicine to the Foundation in contravention of the law. A notice to showcase has been issued to the firms (dealers) for suspension of their license and their reply is awaited: the Drug Controller, Delhi, informed the High Court.
The Bombay High Court has ordered the Goa government to provide adequate number of protective screens to ensure the privacy of Covid-19 patients at the state-run Goa Medical College and Hospital (GMCH). In an order passed on Wednesday, the HC's Goa bench of Justices M S Sonak and S C Gupte said it is necessary to protect the privacy of patients admitted in the hospital's super-speciality block. In case the hospital authorities are of the view that more screens are needed to protect the privacy of patients, they may make immediate arrangements for the same, it said.
The Aam Aadmi Party's Goa unit convener, Rahul Mahambrey, had filed a petition in the HC, saying there are no proper screens in wards at the hospital for patients when they are examined or during their daily ablutions. The petition had sought various directions for the convenience of Covid-19 patients admitted in the super- speciality block of the state-run GMCH, located near Panaji, and their relatives. (PTI)
Samajwadi Party supremo Akhilesh Yadav on Thursday demanded that the Centre should share Covid-19 vaccine data, saying many nations have shown that sharing the data saves lives. He raised the demand in a tweet and also tagged a UK newspaper report titled "How Modi's fraught relationship with pandemic data has harmed India" to attack the prime minister.
In a separate tweet, Yadav also demanded that the Uttar Pradesh government make public the data of free treatment provided to coronavirus patients and also sought free treatment for those suffering from black fungus. "The BJP government of UP had announced that it would pay for the treatment of coronavirus patients at private hospitals. Now the BJP government should tell how many bills of people have been paid so far. The BJP government should put the data in front of the public," he said. (PTI)
A total of 1,044 black fungus cases in Delhi; 92 people have recovered and 89 deaths so far: Delhi Health Minister Satyendar Jain. (ANI)
With 1,34,154 fresh cases, India's Covid-19 tally has climbed to 2,84,41,986, while the daily positivity rate has further dropped to 6.21 per cent, the health ministry said on Thursday. The weekly positivity rate has declined to 7.66 per cent.
The number of active cases has reduced to 17,13,413, accounting for 6.02 per cent of the total number of cases, while the national Covid-19 recovery rate has improved to 92.79 per cent. A net decline of 80,232 cases was recorded in the Covid-19 caseload in a span of 24 hours, the ministry said. Recoveries continued to outnumber the fresh cases for the 21st day in a row. The number of people who have recuperated from the disease has surged to 2,63,90,584, while the case fatality rate has gone up to 1.19 per cent, the data showed. (PTI)
Four people arrested from Bihar for cheating families of Covid-19 patients on the pretext of home delivery of oxygen cylinders. 15 mobile phones, 13 fake SIM cards, 4 fake Aadhaar cards, 5 bank account passbook, 3 ATM cards and 3 fake PAN cards were recovered, said Delhi Police. (ANI)
Ladakh recorded 91 fresh Covid-19 cases, taking the infection tally to 18,841 while the death toll reached 191 with one more fatality, officials said on Thursday.
Of the new cases, 73 were reported from Leh and 18 cases from Kargil. With the death of one more COVID-19 patient in Leh, the total number of fatalities in Ladakh has reached 191 with 137 in Leh and 54 in Kargil. As many as 140 people were discharged from hospitals after recuperating from the infection, pushing the total number of recoveries to 17,119, the officials said. With this, the total number of Covid active cases in Ladakh has come down to 1531 including 1320 in Leh and 211 in Kargil district. (PTI)
Aiming at a huge vaccination target, the government has booked 30 crore doses of Hyderabad-based Biological-E's Covid vaccine, which is still in clinical trials. The Health Ministry will make an advance payment of ? 1,500 crore to the company for what will be the second made-in-India vaccine to be used in the country after Bharat Biotech's Covaxin.
The doses will be manufactured and stockpiled by Biological-E from August to December 2021, says the ministry. (ANI)
With the addition of 568 new cases of coronavirus, the infection count in Maharashtra's Thane district has reached 5,18,831, an official said on Thursday. Besides these new cases reported on Wednesday, the virus also claimed the lives of 44more people, pushing the death toll in the district to 9,332. The Covid-19 mortality rate in Thane is 1.79 per cent, he added.
Details of recovered and under-treatment patients were not provided by the district administration. In neighbouring Palghar district, the Covid-19 case count has gone up to 1,10,708, while the death toll has reached 2,105, another official said. (PTI)
Delhi Sikh Gurdwara Management Committee says it donated more than 20 kg gold and silver from its reserves for setting up of 125-bed Covid-19 hospital in national capital. (PTI)