The Shree Jagannath Temple Administration (SJTA) Sunday announced that devotees need not produce their Covid negative certificate to enter the 12th century shrine in Puri from January 21. The decision was taken at a meeting attended by SJTA chief Krishan Kumar, Puri district magistrate-cum collector Samarth Verma and Superintendent of Police K B Singh.
Modi lauded India’s fight against COVID-19 and said we are among the countries with the lowest fatality rate and the highest recovery rate. He also said the way the country stood together during the pandemic was unparalleled. “Being the pharmacy of the world, India has supplied important medicines to all those in need in the world and continues to do so”, he said.
The first consignment of Covishield vaccines left the Serum Institute of India in the wee hours on Tuesday ahead of the January 16 nationwide inoculation drive launch, marking a decisive phase in anti-coronavirus fight.
Three temperature-controlled trucks rolled out of the Serum Institute's gates shortly before 5 am and left for Pune airport, from where the vaccines will be flown across India. A 'puja' was performed before the vehicles left the facility.
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The 13 locations where Covishield vaccines will be flown from Pune include Delhi, Ahmedabad, Kolkata, Chennai, Bengaluru, Karnal, Hyderabad, Vijayawada, Guwahati, Lucknow, Chandigarh and Bhubaneswar, a source closely involved in the transport arrangements told PTI.
The Central government on Monday placed firm orders in advanced commitments for over 6 crore doses of COVID vaccine from Serum Institute and Bharat Biotech for inoculating three crore healthcare and frontline workers in the first phase of the vaccination drive scheduled to start from January 16. (PTI)
Maharashtra Director of Health Dr Archana Patil on Monday said the state was expecting vaccine doses from Tuesday, and arrangements are being made to transport the doses to regional centres in the state.
A total of 511 vaccination sites have been readied in Maharashtra as part of the preparation for the rollout of the Covid-19 vaccine. As many as 7.5 lakh healthcare workers across the state, of whom 40 per cent are in the private sector, have been enrolled on the CoWIN software.At least 16,500 vaccinators have been trained. “We have trained state, district and block-level officers,” said Dr Patil. (Read Anuradha Mascarenhas's report here)
The tribal district of Dangs that had been reporting just one or two fresh Covid-19 cases per day on an average, saw 12 policemen testing positive on Sunday. Out of 250 Rapid Antigen Tests (RAT) done on police officers at Dangs Police Bhavan and police headquarters, 12 officers, including a deputy superintendent of police, tested positive, out of which four are admitted to a hospital in Ahwa and others are in home isolation.
The district so far recorded 168 cases of coronavirus and as per the Gujarat government dashboard, it reported no deaths and has 27 active cases at present. As per the dashboard, 239 people are under quarantine in the district. Police department sources said that a few days ago, a head constable serving with the district police control department reported that his daughter who works in a private hospital had tested positive for Covid. On learning this, superintendent of police Ravirajsinh Jadeja co-ordinated with the district collector and organised RAT tests for the personnel. (With inputs from Express News Service)
Delhi recorded 306 new COVID-19 cases on Monday, the lowest in over seven months, and a positivity rate much below one per cent. This is also the eighth time the count of daily cases stood below the 500-mark in January. The infection tally in the city stood at 6.3 lakh and the death toll mounted to 10,666 with 13 more fatalities, they said.
This month, 585 cases were reported on January 1, 494 on January 2, 424 on January 3, 384 on January 4, 442 on January 5, 654 on January 6, 486 on January 7, 444 on January 8, 519 on January 9 and 399 on January 10. The active cases tally on Monday stood at 3,354, while the positivity rate was recorded at 0.54 per cent.
The government on Monday placed a purchase order with Serum Institute of India (SII) for 11 million doses of Oxford Covid-19 vaccine, Covishield, each costing Rs 210, including the GST, official sources said.
Dispatch of the vaccine is likely to start by late Monday evening, they said. According to the order, each dose of the vaccine has been priced at Rs 200 and with GST of Rs 10 it would cost Rs 210.
The HLL Lifecare Limited, a public sector undertaking, issued the supply order on behalf of the Union Health Ministry in the name of Prakash Kumar Singh, Additional Director, Government and Regulatory Affairs at Serum Institute of India (SII).
Worldwide coronavirus cases surpassed 90 million on Monday, according to Reuters tally, as nations around the globe scramble to procure vaccines and continue to extend or reinstate lockdowns to fight new coronavirus variants.
The new COVID-19 variants discovered initially in the United Kingdom and South Africa are rapidly spreading globally.
The novel coronavirus has picked up pace in the past few months with about one-third of total cases registered in the last 48 days, according to a Reuters tally.
South Africa is struggling to cope with a spike in COVID-19 cases that has already overwhelmed some hospitals, as people returning from widespread holiday travel along the coast spread the country's more infectious coronavirus variant. Of particular concern is Gauteng province, the country's most populous, which includes the cities of Johannesburg and Pretoria. Authorities say it is already seeing a spike in new infections after people traveled to coastal areas, where the variant is dominant.
"We expect that Gauteng is going to be hit very soon and very hard," said Professor Willem Hanekom, director of the Africa Health Research Institute. "It is anticipated Gauteng will have a steep curve of increased cases and hospitalizations."
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday interacted with chief ministers of all states to discuss the COVID-19 situation and the vaccination roll-out in the country, kicking off on January 16. This is Modi's first interaction with chief ministers following the recent approval of two coronavirus vaccines for restricted emergency use by India's drug regulator and the announcement of January 16 as the date for the rollout.
The prime minister has often spoken with state chief ministers following the pandemic's outbreak in the country. India's drugs regulator has approved Oxford vaccine Covishield, being manufactured by the Serum Institute, and indigenously developed Covaxin of Bharat Biotech for restricted emergency use in the country. (PTI)
Nepal reported 488 new COVID-19 cases on Monday, bringing its total infection tally to 265,268. The country also reported ten more coronavirus-related fatalities, pushing the death toll to 1,927. The overall infection tally has reached 265,268 with 4,373 active cases.
Ending the confusion over the fate of Paris Fashion Week, French fashion's regulatory body has said that this month's Paris men's and haute couture shows will be strictly audience-free over coronavirus fears.
The Federation de la Haute Couture et de la Mode has told luxury houses they will not be allowed to invite guests this season, after instruction by police.
In a statement to the AP, the federation said Monday that "we confirm that there can be no public gatherings" at Paris Fashion Week adding that houses can still organize 'real' runway shows with models broadcast live, provided that their events take place behind closed doors. Although Paris is technically not in a lockdown, stringent restrictions limiting movements are in place nationwide, including a 6 p.m. or 8 p.m. curfew. Repeated failure to obey rules can lead to a six-month prison sentence.
A declining number of fresh COVID-19 cases and a high rate of recovery have resulted in a continuous fall in the country's active caseload, which accounts for only 2.13 per cent of the total infections, the health ministry said on Monday.
The number of daily new fatalities has also declined substantially in the country. On Monday, less than 170 such deaths were recorded after 229 days, the ministry said. "Declining new cases and high rate of recovery have in tandem resulted in continuous fall in the country's active caseload on a sustained basis," the ministry said.
India's total active caseload has fallen to 2.25 lakh, which accounts for just 2.13 per cent of the total number of coronavirus cases in the country. A total of 16,959 COVID-19 patients have recovered in a span of 24 hours. This has led to a net decline of 809 from the active caseload, the ministry said. (PTI)
The number of people who have tested positive for the new UK variant of SARS-CoV-2 in India has climbed to 96, the health ministry said on Monday. Till Saturday, the number of such people was 90. "The total number of persons found infected with the mutant UK strain of COVID-19 is 96," the ministry said. All these people were kept in single-room isolation at designated healthcare facilities by the respective state governments, it had earlier said. Their close contacts have also been put under quarantine and a comprehensive contact-tracing exercise has been initiated for the co-travellers, family members and others, the ministry said, adding that the genome sequencing of other specimens is going on.
China said Monday that a group of experts from the World Health Organization are due to arrive this week for an investigation into the origins of the coronavirus pandemic. A one-sentence announcement from the National Health Commission said the experts would arrive on Thursday and meet with Chinese counterparts, but it gave no other details. It wasn’t immediately clear whether they would be traveling to the central Chinese city of Wuhan, where the coronavirus was first detected in late 2019.
In the last four months, Kerala has recorded more than 7 lakh coronavirus infections, more than any other state in India. For the last 45 days, it has consistently been the top contributor of new cases. The state now has the highest number of active cases in the country, comprising almost 30 per cent of India’s total.
But while Kerala is the worst hotspot of the epidemic in the country now, what is remarkable is that the rise in cases has not resulted in a similar increase in the number of deaths. In fact, Kerala has one of the lowest death counts among the major states.
With more than 8 lakh confirmed infections so far, Kerala has the fifth highest caseload in the country. But there are 11 states that have recorded more deaths than Kerala, including states like Chhattisgarh, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, and Punjab, that have three to five times fewer cases. Read Amitabh Sinha and Liz Matthew's report here
With 16,311 new Covid cases in the last 24 hours, India has recorded the lowest single day case spike since June 23. The virus testing on Sunday at 6.59 lakh was also the lowest since the third week of August. Active cases further dropped to 2.2 lakh. A total of 161 deaths were reported on Sunday, this is the first time since the end of May that the country reported less than 200 fatalities.
Punjab reports 304 new Covid cases, 312 recoveries and 6 deaths today. Total cases 1,69,033 Total recoveries 1,60,655 Death toll 5,445 Active cases 2,933.
After two successful trial runs, states across the country are gearing up for the Covid vaccination drive scheduled to kick off on January 16. Delhi Health Minister Satyendar Jain said the city government has shortlisted 89 sites to roll out the drive in the national capital from January 16. “The Centre has finalised around 5,000 sites across the country. As per the directions of the central government, we have finalised 89 hospitals as vaccination sites. The first phase of vaccination will start from January 16,” PTI quoted him as saying.
Jain said 40 government and 49 private hospitals will have a vaccination site each. “The first batch of vaccines will arrive by Tuesday or Wednesday. In the first phase, healthcare workers will be vaccinated. Thereafter, frontline workers and those aged above 50 will be given the doses,” Jain said. The Delhi Prisons Department has also asked around 3,600 staff members, including security personnel, to enroll for the shots.
Gujarat has created a database of 1.2 crore people under four priority groups, who will be administered the vaccine as per the Centre’s guidelines. Nearly 11 lakh people engaged in COVID-19 duties, including healthcare and frontline personnel, will be vaccinated on priority in Gujarat, Chief Minister Vijay Rupani said, adding that 16,000 personnel have been trained for administering the shots.
Goa government has also identified eight hospitals for the first phase of vaccination in the state, where around 18,000 healthcare workers will receive the shots, an official told PTI on Sunday. As many as 100 vaccinations would be done at each of these eight facilities every day, amounting to a total of 800 inoculations per day, state immunisation officer Dr Rajendra Borkar told PTI.
India recorded 18,645 new Covid cases in the 24 hours ending 8 am Sunday, taking the total number of infections to over 1 crore and 4.5 lakh. Active cases dropped to 2.33 lakh while recoveries continued to rise to stand at 1,00,75,950. A total of 201 deaths were reported on Saturday, the pushing the toll to over 1.51 lakh. Here are today's top developments on Covid-19 from across India.
Following his recovery from Covid-19 and discharge from a private hospital in Mohali Sunday, former Himachal Pradesh chief minister Shanta Kumar said he has raised the issue of quality in government hospitals during a conversation with Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
“Bring quality to government hospitals, bring quality, I told the PM,” Kumar told a small gathering after his discharge. He was earlier being treated at Tanda Medical College in Kangra, one of Himachal's premier government hospitals. His entire family was infected, and his wife Santosh Shailja suffered a Covid-related death while at Tanda. Kumar had later shifted to a private hospital in the Tricity.
Earlier during his hospitalisation, Kumar had said the PM called him to enquire about his health. -- ENS, Shimla
Japan discovers new strain of coronavirus, which has some similarities to those discovered in the UK and South Africa, The Spectator Index reported.
The Delhi Prisons Department has asked around 3,600 staff members including security personnel to enrol themselves to receive coronavirus vaccine shots, officials said on Sunday, as the authorities gear up for the inoculation drive. According to a senior jails official, around 1,600 jail staff, 1,000 Tamil Nadu Special Police personnel who carry out security duty at Tihar Jail and 1,000 paramilitary personnel are being enrolled. The date, time and place of vaccination for each person will be intimated to him/her on their mobile number, they said, adding, however, that no inmate will get the shot in the first phase as it has been reserved for frontline workers. --PTI
The COVID-19 fatality rate in India has been showing a sustained decline and has further dropped to 1.44 per cent due to focused efforts of the Centre, states and Union Territories on effective clinical management of the hospitalised cases, the Union Health Ministry said on Sunday. With effective containment strategy, aggressive testing and standardised clinical management protocols based on holistic standard of care protocol across government and private hospitals, the number of new deaths have dipped, it stated. "Less than 300 new COVID-19 deaths are being recorded in the country for the last 16 days," the ministry said. --PTI
Puri temple darshan will no more require COVID-19 negative certificate from January 21, which was mandatory earlier for entry into the temple premise, informs temple's chief administrator. Temple will remain closed once a week for sanitisation.
Doctors and nurses at a South African hospital group noticed an odd spike in the number of COVID-19 patients in their wards in late October. The government had slackened its lockdown grip, and springtime had brought more parties. But the numbers were growing too quickly to easily explain, prompting a distressing question.
“Is this a different strain?” one hospital official asked in a group email in early November, raising the possibility that the virus had developed a dangerous mutation.
That question touched off a high-stakes genetic investigation that began here in Durban on the Indian Ocean, tipped off researchers in Britain and is now taking place around the world. Scientists have discovered worrisome new variants of the virus, leading to border closures, quarantines and lockdowns, and dousing some of the enthusiasm that arrived with the vaccines.
Britain has been particularly overwhelmed. Infections and hospitalizations have skyrocketed in recent weeks since that country discovered its own variant of the virus, which is more contagious than previous forms. By one estimate, the mutated virus is already responsible for more than 60% of new infections in London and surrounding areas.Doctors and nurses at a South African hospital group noticed an odd spike in the number of COVID-19 patients in their wards in late October. The government had slackened its lockdown grip, and springtime had brought more parties. But the numbers were growing too quickly to easily explain, prompting a distressing question. (Read full story here)
The year was 1999. Officials and scientists at the Department of Biotechnology (DBT) were a little unsure about what to do next. They had invited offers from Indian firms to become partners in the development of a vaccine for rotavirus. And the only company to have shown interest was an inexperienced three-year-old upstart from Hyderabad with little track record to boast of.
The lack of enthusiasm was not entirely unexpected. Earlier that year, the only existing vaccine for rotavirus, one produced by an American company, had to be withdrawn after some recipients reported a rare type of bowel obstruction. The vaccine had been introduced in the market the previous year.
Rotaviruses are the most common cause of diarrhoea in infants worldwide. According to WHO, they were responsible for deaths of about 215,000 children below five years of age in 2013, a majority of them in India.(Read Amitabh Sinha's report here)
Every Indian should be administered the Covid-19 vaccine for free, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal appealed to the Centre on Saturday. “Corona is the biggest pandemic of the century. It is important to protect our people from it. I appeal to the Centre to vaccinate every citizen for free. The expenditure towards carrying this out will save a lot of lives,” he tweeted.
The Delhi government also announced that teachers will be considered frontline workers as part of the vaccination drive. Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia tweeted Saturday, “Delhi’s teachers have played a very significant role in supporting the government in fighting the pandemic. Quarantine centre, containment zone, surveys, duty to check face mask adherence, online teaching – they have taken the lead across sectors. Hence, the government has kept teachers in the category of frontline workers.”
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee Sunday announced the state government’s arrangements to make Covid-19 vaccines available to its citizens free of cost.”I am happy to announce that our government is making arrangements to facilitate the administration of covid-19 vaccine to all the people of the state without any cost,” ANI quoted Banerjee.
India recorded 18,645 new Covid cases in the 24 hours ending 8 am Sunday, taking the total number of infections to over 1 crore and 4.5 lakh. Active cases further dropped to 2.33 lakh, while recoveries continued to rise and stand at over 99.27 lakh. A total of 201 deaths were reported on Saturday, the toll currently stands at over 1.51 lakh.Kerala reported 5,528 new cases, while Maharashtra had 3,581 on Saturday.
A 45-year-old daily-wage worker, who participated in the Phase 3 trial for Bharat Biotech-ICMR’s Covaxin in Bhopal at the People’s Medical College and Hospital, died December 21, nine days after he got the first jab, according to hospital records.
The postmortem report of Deepak Marawi, a father of three, suspected “poisoning” as a cause. Bharat Biotech, in a statement, said that the “serious adverse reaction” had been “thoroughly investigated” and was found “not related to vaccine or placebo”. A state government panel, too, ruled out any “lapses.”
Bharat Biotech said it couldn’t confirm if Marawi received the vaccine or the placebo since it was a double-blind study. It added that the volunteer, at the time of enrolment, “had fulfilled all the inclusion and exclusion criteria” and was reported to be healthy in all the “site follow up calls post seven days of dosing.” Read Iram Siddique's report here
Noting India's image as the world's pharmacy, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said Saturday it is ready with two locally manufactured COVID-19 vaccines to "protect" humanity, and asserted the world is not only waiting for them but also watching as to how the nation runs the globe's biggest vaccination programme.
In his address at the inauguration of the 16th Pravasi Bharatiya Divas (PBD) Convention, Modi also said that if democracy is most strong, vibrant and lively anywhere in the world, it is in India despite the grim forecasts about its survival in the country at the time of independence. He urged Indian diaspora to use more and more made-in-India products, saying it will inspire confidence among those living around them to use these items as well. (PTI)