COVID test in progress at a center in wanawadi. (Express Photo by Arul Horizon) Coronavirus India News Live Updates: The Ministry of Home Affairs on Friday directed states to not restrict inter-state movement of medical oxygen supply as it is “critical to fighting Covid-19 virus.” “Some states trying to curb inter-state movement of oxygen supplies from manufacturing units, such curbs should be ended,” the MHA said in a statement adding that the consumption of oxygen is expected to increase as the the number of cases are rising.
Days after the Union Health Ministry permitted reopening of schools from September 21, the Delhi government on Friday announced that schools shall remain closed till October 5 for all students. “All government and private schools will remain closed for all students till October 5. However, online teaching and learning activities will continue as usual,” an official order issued by the Directorate of Education (DoE) said.
India’s coronavirus tally crossed the 52-lakh mark today after 96,424 fresh cases were reported in the span of 24 hours, and stood at 52,14,678. With 1,174 deaths, the death toll now stands at 84,372. There are 10,17,754 active cases and at least 41,12,552 people have been cured/discharged from hospitals.
Meanwhile, India’s coronavirus mortality rate at 1.64 per cent is lowest in the world and the Centre is making efforts to reduce it down to less than 1 per cent, Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan told the Rajya Sabha on Thursday. While the total cases may have crossed 50 million, active cases are less than 20 per cent, he added.
The total number of coronavirus cases across the world crossed the 30 million mark to reach 30,071,368 on Friday, while the death toll rose to 944,887. As many as 20,439,652 people have recovered as of now. Of the total caseload, the United States has recorded 6,674,458 infections and 1,97,633 deaths followed by India, which has over five million cases.
A health worker takes swab sample at a mohalla clinic in New Delhi on Wednesday
Total number of COVID-19 infections in Karnataka breached the five lakh mark on Friday, as the state reported 8,626 new cases and 179 related fatalities, taking the death toll to 7,808, the Health department said. The day also saw the number of recoveries outnumbering new infections, with 10,949 patients getting discharged after recovery. Out of 8,626 fresh cases reported on Friday, 3,623 cases were from Bengaluru Urban alone. As of September 18 evening, cumulatively 5,02,982 COVID-19 positive cases have been confirmed in the state, which includes 7,808 deaths and 3,94,026 discharges, the Health department said in its bulletin.
The MHA on Friday directed states to not restrict inter-state movement of medical oxygen supply as it is critical to fighting Covid-19 virus. "Some states trying to curb inter-state movement of oxygen supplies from manufacturing units, such curbs should be ended," the MHA said in a statement.
COVID test in progress at a center in wanawadi, Pune Pune city added 1,875 COVID-19 cases, which took its tally to 1,38,268, while 28 deaths pushed toll to 3,165.. Express photograph by Arul Horizon.
Uttar Pradesh reported 98 fatalities due to COVID-19 on Friday, taking the death toll to 4,869, while 6,584 fresh cases pushed the infection tally to 3,42,788. The maximum 16 deaths were reported from Lucknow, followed by 13 Kanpur, seven in Gorakhpur, five in Meerut among other districts, a health bulletin issued here said. Lucknow reported the maximum 1,244 cases. Kanpur reported 407 infections, Allahabad 336, Ghaziabad 191 and Varanasi 239, it said, adding that 6,584 fresh cases were detected in the past 24 hours. Lucknow has so far recorded the highest 576 deaths in the state. Kanpur comes a close second with 569 fatalities, followed by 232 in Allahabad and 220 in Varanasi, according to the bulletin.
The Himachal Pradesh government has decided to reopen schools from Classes 9 to 12 from Monday, almost six months after remaining shut due to the coronavirus pandemic. The decision in this regard was taken in a Cabinet meeting chaired by Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur on Friday evening, an official spokesperson said. Educational institutions in the state were closed in March after the outbreak of the deadly virus. The Cabinet gave its nod to open educational institutions outside the containment zones in the state from September 21 as per the standard operating procedure (SOP) of the Union Ministry of Home Affairs and the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, the spokesperson said. These schools will be opened with 50 per cent teaching and non-teaching staff in attendance for students from Class 9 to Class 12, provided the students are willing to take guidance from the teachers, he said
Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Friday appealed to gym owners and people coming for workouts at these establishments to follow preventive measures against COVID-19. Representatives of the gym associations met the chief minister and thanked him for allowing these establishments to reopen in the city. "I appeal to all gym operators of Delhi and people coming for workouts at these centres to follow safety rules. We also have to stop the spread of coronavirus and stay healthy as well," Kejriwal said in a tweet in Hindi. According to the Chief Minister's Office, during the meeting,? the CM also assured support to the gym operators in future.
All schools in the national capital will continue to remain closed till October 5 in view of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Delhi government announced on Friday. "All government and private schools will remain closed for all students till October 5. However, online teaching and learning activities will continue as usual," an official order issued by the Directorate of Education (DoE) said. School principals are authorised to call "staff as per requirement for smooth conduct of online classes or any other work", it said. Universities and schools across the country have been closed since March 16 when the Centre announced a countrywide classroom shutdown as part of measures to contain the spread of the novel coronavirus.
A new small-boxed COVID-19 rapid test device, which gives results within 90 minutes, has been found to have a high level of accuracy and produced very few false negatives and no false positives in a UK study. The Lab-in-Cartridge tests can be performed in cartridges smaller than a mobile phone and do not require a laboratory.
The study, led by Imperial College London scientists and published in The Lancet Microbe' this week, involved high-speed tests on 386 National Health Service (NHS) staff and patients and were found to have over 94 per cent sensitivity and 100 per cent specificity. These results suggest the test, which can be performed at a patient's bedside without the need to handle any sample material, has comparable accuracy to standard laboratory testing, said Professor Graham Cooke, lead author of the study from the Department of Infectious Disease at Imperial College London.
With Jammu reporting a rise in COVID-19 cases, the health ministry has decided to depute a high-level Central team to the district to assist in strengthening containment, surveillance, testing and efficient clinical management of positive cases. Jammu has so far reported 9,428 infections and has 6,115 active cases of coronavirus infection, the ministry said, adding the total cases one week ago were 6,878. Jammu has been reporting doubling time of 15.4 days, recovery rate of 33.9 per cent and case fatality rate of 1.24 per cent.
The team comprises Dr S K Singh, Director, National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) and Dr Vijay Hadda, Professor, Department of Pulmonary Critical Care, AIIMS, New Delhi, the ministry said. A special team had visited the Srinagar valley recently. The two-member high-level team was led by Dr V K Paul, Member (Health), NITI Aayog and Dr S K Singh, Director, NCDC was its member. The team had reviewed the status of preparedness for COVID management with district collectors of the valley. (PTI)
The COVID-19 pandemic could cause a short-term decline in life expectancy in the severely affected areas of the world, unless the spread of the disease is contained, according to a study. The research, published in the journal PLOS ONE, examined the impact of COVID-19-related deaths on life expectancy for four broad world regions across multiple rates of infection and age groups. “Our study provides the first assessment of the potential impact of COVID-19 on period life expectancies according to a range of scenarios of prevalence rates over a one-year period,” said Guillaume Marois, from the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA) in Austria, who led the study. Read more about the study here
Former Gujarat Chief Minister Keshubhai Patel on Friday tested positive for the novel coronavirus infection. Patel’s close family members said that the his Rapid Antigen Test (RAT) has returned positive following which he has undergone CT Scan and also given samples for RTPCR test, results of which are awaited. Patel, 92, has previously undergone bypass surgery and is also suffering from Prostate Cancer. The former chief minister’s son Bharat confirmed the news, and added that two of Keshubhai’s personal staff members have also tested positive.
A pastor in the US state of Idaho, who was criticised for holding in-person services and expressing doubts about the efficacy of mask-wearing during his sermons, is in the ICU after contracting the coronavirus infection, CNN reported. Paul Van Noy, a senior pastor at Candlelight Church in Coeur d’Alene, has spent the last two weeks in hospital after testing positive for Covid-19, ministry coordinator Eric Reade told CNN. Read more here
For the last two weeks, the number of recoveries in Andhra Pradesh has been consistently higher than the number of daily detections of new infections of the novel coronavirus. That has led to a gradual decrease in the number of active cases in the state, which has dropped from a high of 1.04 lakh to well below 90,000 now. Andhra Pradesh has the second-highest coronavirus caseload in the country. On Thursday, the total number of confirmed infections in the state crossed the six-lakh mark. But there are fewer detections of new cases happening now compared to two weeks earlier. For the last one week, the daily new infections have remained below 10,000. Andhra Pradesh was the only state which had been contributing more than 10,000 cases every day, apart from Maharashtra, which has been reporting more than 20,000 infections every day for two weeks now. Read the analysis here
Abdul Aziz (56), popularly known as the ‘Statue Man’, is a popular figure in Tamil Nadu. Standing stationary at the entrance of the VGP theme park, he has attracted the attention of lakhs of visitors over the past 35 years. He is one among many entertainers struggling without a regular income ever since the lockdown was imposed in March. Having started his career as early as 1985 at the VGP Universal Kingdom Theme Park in Chennai, Aziz is now thinking of quitting and looking for other sources of income.
“Owing to the lockdown, the company is closed. I am still employed there, but I am not going to work since February. When I enquired with the management, they said they are likely to reopen the park from October 1. That is not confirmed, though. The last payment I received was in March. In April, I was given half the salary, but for the last five months, there has been no payment. I am forced to sell things to survive. None of the old staff working there have been paid in this lockdown period,” he said. Read more about the statue man here
With rising cases of the novel coronavirus infection among MPs, reporters and parliamentary staff entering the Parliament complex will have to undergo mandatory antigen test on a daily basis, according to a new protocol put in place. Members of both Houses are undergoing RT-PCR test on regular intervals on a voluntary basis, news agency PTI reported quoting a senior Parliament official. Journalists covering the Monsoon session from press galleries of Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha also have the option to undergo the RT-PCR test which is valid for 72 hours.
Passing slips in examination halls is not allowed but is permitted in Rajya Sabha to communicate with other members in view of COVID-19 safety measures, Chairman M Venkaiah Naidu said on Friday. Before the proceedings started for Zero Hour, Naidu advised members not to go to each other's seats or come to the Table House when the House is in session for any clarification and send slips, if the issue was urgent.
"No member is expected to come to Table office when House is in session...Members are requested not to go to other member's seat and bend and whisper in their ears....Please avoid. If you have something to communicate send slips. It is not allowed in examination halls but is allowed here," Naidu said, prompting laughter in the House.
He also advised all parliamentarians not to come to the Chairman's office and added that while he enjoyed meeting people, under the present circumstances safety norms should be followed. (PTI)
Dr Nitin Raut, Maharashtra's Minister for Energy, tested positive for Covid-19. In a statement Friday, he said, "I have tested positive for Covid-19 today. I would like to request to all those who came in contact with me over the past few days to get themselves tested as a precautionary measure. Stay safe everyone and takecare."
Raut joins a list of ministers who have contracted the disease, including Housing Minister Jitendra Awadh, Public Works Department Minister Ashok Chavan, Coorperation and Marketing Minister Balasaheb Patil, Social Justice Minister Dhananjay Munde and Textiles Minister Aslam Sheikh.
Dubai suspended all Air India Express operations to its country's airports till October 2 after a passenger travelling onboard a Jaipur-Dubai flight tested positive on September 4. SA Kankazar, Air Transport & Int'l Affairs Sector, Dubai Civil Aviation Authority, while announcing this, said that this was the second instance.
Telangana recorded 2,043 fresh coronavirus cases and 11 fatalities, taking the tally of infections in the state to 1.67 lakh. Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) accounted for the most number of cases with 314, followed by Rangareddy 174 and Medchal Malkajgiri 144, a government bulletin said on Friday, providing data as of 8 PM on September 17. The cumulative recovered cases stood at 1.35 lakh while 30,673 are under treatment.
Arunachal Pradesh's COVID-19 tally rose to 6,851 on Friday as 159 more people, including 15 security personnel, tested positive for the infection, a senior health official said. The Capital Complex region reported the highest number of new cases at 88, followed by West Kameng (11) and Lower Subansiri (11), he said. Twelve personnel of the Border Roads Organisation (BRO) and one of the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) have also contracted the disease, he said. As many as 180 more people have recovered from the disease and were discharged from hospitals on Thursday, the official said. (PTI)
India's coronavirus tally crossed the 52-lakh mark on Friday after 96,424 fresh cases were reported in the span of 24 hours, and stood at 52,14,678. With 1,174 deaths, the death toll now stands at 84,372. There are 10,17,754 active cases and at least 41,12,552 people have been cured/discharged from hospitals.
Jharkhand's COVID-19 tally rose to 67,100 on Friday as 1,026 more people tested positive for the infection, while 11 fresh fatalities pushed the state's coronavirus death toll to 590, a health official said. The fresh infections have taken the number of active cases in the state to 13,703, while 52,807 people have been cured of the disease so far, he said. The state has tested 20,431 samples for COVID-19 in the last 24 hours, the official added. (PTI)
Kerala Govt has issued revised instructions for quarantine norms for guest workers, specialized workers visiting Kerala from other states, and SOPs for registration in the Covid-19 Jagratha portal to ensure proper quarantine. Employees who reach Kerala will remain in quarantine for 14 days. "If the guest workers are found positive, he shall be segregated and shall not be allowed to work till he recovers," the instruction issued added.
The Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) said it tested 6,15,72,343 samples till Thursday, while 10,06,615 samples were tested on Thursday.
After Kerala reported India’s first Covid infection on January 30, in a medical student who had returned from China, the state focused on expatriates and international travellers but the subsequent outbreak originated mainly from three other states, a new genome sequencing study has suggested. Most of the later cases could be traced to Maharashtra, Odisha and Karnataka, according to the study conducted jointly by the Government Medical College in Kozhikode and two of India’s premier science institutes — CSIR-Institute of Genomics and Integrative Biology, and Academy of Scientific and Innovative Research. Read the study here
Odisha's COVID-19 tally rose to 1,67,161 on Thursday as 4,241 more people, including a BJP MLA, tested positive for the infection, while 13 fresh fatalities took the state's coronavirus death toll to 669, a health official said. The state had reported its highest single-day spike of 4,270 coronavirus cases on Wednesday. Odisha also registered recovery of as many as 3,607 patients taking the number of people cured of the disease to 1,33,466 which is 79.84 per cent of the state's total caseload.
As the number of Covid-19 cases in UP continued to increase and reached over 3.36 lakh, the government on Thursday said that five districts — Lucknow, Kanpur Nagar, Prayagraj, Muzaffarnagar and Meerut – have highest test-positivity ratio, an indicator of the spread of disease. The government, however, did not reveal the positivity rate of these five districts. The state’s test-positivity rate as on Thursday stood a little over 4%. Notably, all the five districts have active cases in four digits with Lucknow and Kanpur Nagar being the worst-hit: 9,775 and 4,693, respectively.
In the past 24 hours, Lucknow recorded 908 new cases and six deaths – once again the highest in the state – followed by Kanpur Nagar (413 and 6) and Prayagraj (367 and 2). While Meerut recorded 254 new cases and three deaths in the past 24 hours, Muzaffarnagar 107 new cases and two deaths. Read more here
US biotechnology company Moderna has said it would know about the effectiveness of its coronavirus vaccine by November. Moderna’s vaccine candidate is one of the three undergoing large-scale phase-3 clinical trials in the United States, in which 30,000 participants are being enrolled. Company CEO Stephane Bancel has said if the vaccine candidate was found to be at least 50 per cent effective, the minimum bar set by the US Food and Drug Administration for approving a vaccine, it would immediately move to apply for an emergency use authorisation.
Moderna has never made a vaccine that has been approved. For coronavirus, it is using a genetic approach that has never produced a successful vaccine for any disease. But the company enjoys the confidence and backing of the US government which has pumped in more than a billion dollars to help the company accelerate the vaccine development, and pre-booked hundreds of millions of doses, when it becomes available. Track vaccine updates here
Wishing people on the occasion of Mahalaya, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Thursday urged people to help those in need during the current Covid-induced crisis. Though the pandemic had changed everyone’s lives, it should not dampen festivities, she added. “On the auspicious occasion of Mahalaya, I extend my warm regards to one and all. Although #COVID19 has restricted how we celebrate festivals, we shall not allow it to dampen the spirit of this Durga Puja. To this end and to lighten up every home, I undertake #MahalayaProtishruti [Mahalaya Pledge],” she tweeted.
Newly elected Rajya Sabha member Ashok Gasti, who was admitted to a private hospital after testing positive for the novel coronavirus, died on Thursday night, the hospital said. Fifty-five-year-old Gasti, who was admitted to Manipal Hospital on Old Airport Road on September 2 and diagnosed with severe COVID-19 pneumonia, passed away at 10.31 pm, hospital director Manish Rai said in a statement.
Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah condoled the demise of Gasti. "Rajya Sabha MP Shri Ashok Gasti was a dedicated Karyakarta who worked hard to strengthen the Party in Karnataka. He was passionate about empowering the poor and marginalised sections of society. Anguished by his passing away. Condolences to his family and friends. Om Shanti," Modi tweeted.
India now accounts for 1 in every 6 confirmed cases of coronavirus infection in the world, which is roughly the same as India’s share in the global population. The silver lining is that India is so far contributing only 1 in 12 coronavirus-related deaths in the world. This, of course, is likely to change as more people get infected; the daily numbers are now almost 1 lakh. With a lag of two to three weeks, a proportionate increase in the number of deaths can be expected. Already, more than 1,000 deaths are being reported every day from across the country.
As normal activities resume despite the rising number of infections, the biggest challenge is to prevent the number of deaths from spiralling upward. A rise in the fatality rate can seriously jeopardise the move towards normalcy, and slow down the recovery process. That is why local administrators and healthcare workers are being constantly instructed to make every effort to prevent as many deaths as possible. Read the analysis here
With over 500 people testing positive for the novel coronavirus, Tripura's Covid-19 tally on Thursday reached 20,699. With six more fatalities, the death toll in the states has also risen to 228. The state's COVID fatality rate has also shot up to 1.10 per cent, one of the highest fatality rates in North-East India.
Aiming at bringing down the coronavirus death rate to below one per cent in West Bengal, it's health department will deploy medical specialists at a number of COVID-19 hospitals in the state, news agency PTI reported. Teams of specialists in general medicine, chest medicine, anesthesiology, nephrology, cardiology, and neurology from different medical colleges will be visiting nearby COVID-19 hospitals.
Union Home Minister Amit Shah, who recently recovered from COVID-19 and was admitted to AIIMS for a complete medical checkup, was discharged on Thursday evening, officials said.
He was admitted to the premier hospital on September 12. Earlier in the day, Shah had addressed an event in his constituency Gandhinagar in Gujarat through video conference.
On August 2, Shah, 55, had said on Twitter that he had tested positive for COVID-19. He had undergone treatment at Medanta Hospital and was discharged after he recovered from the disease.
Daily wearers of eyeglasses might be less likely to be infected with the novel coronavirus, say scientists who call for further, large-scale studies to assess the relationship between eye protection and the risk of contracting COVID-19.
The single-centre study, published in the journal JAMA Ophthalmology, assessed 276 hospitalised COVID-19 patients at Suizhou Zengdu Hospital in China, and observed that those who wore eyeglasses for an extended period of time were relatively uncommon among the study participants.
Based on this observation, the researchers, including those from The Second Affiliated Hospital of Nanchang University in China, speculated that wearing eyeglasses for more than eight hours per day may be protective against the novel coronavirus infection.
They hypothesised that this may be due to eyeglasses acting as a barrier that reduces the frequency with which people touch their eyes.
A purported video showing nursing and security staff slapping a patient after pinning him down to the ground in the Covid-19 wing of the state government-run Pandit Deendayal Upadhyay (PDU) Hospital in Rajkot went viral on Thursday. However, the hospital administration claimed that the staff was merely restraining an unruly patient.
In the 55-second video, a paramedic is seen pressing the patient to the ground with his knee even as others hold him down and security guards, one of them weilding a baton, look on. “Didn’t I tell you not to do it,” the paramedic wearing a white-coloured PPE kit is heard telling the pleading patient. Full report here.
Drugmaker Dr Reddy's Laboratories (DRL) announced on Wednesday (September 16) that it will distribute 100 million (10 crore) doses of Russia’s Sputnik V Covid-19 vaccine in India after conducting final-stage human trials and receiving regulatory clearances here.
Should India’s top drug regulatory body sign off on phase 3 trials in the country, Sputnik V will replace Serum Institute of India’s (SII's) ‘Covishield’ as the frontrunner in the race to produce a Covid-19 vaccine for India. Click here to read our explainer.
The key to slowing the spread of COVID-19 infection is to stay at home and stay clean at all times. Home hygiene is being focused on now more than ever. While some people may think that because they are home, they may be safe from the virus, it may not always be the case, since any kind of exposure to any potentially-infected person may risk transmission.
Dr. Manjeet Singh Arora, Sr General Physician, Fortis Hospital, Mulund says the COVID-19 virus has created the need for emergency health structures across the world; most people who have fallen sick with COVID-19 have experienced mild to moderate symptoms and have successfully recovered without special treatment.
“It is understood that the virus that causes COVID-19 is mainly transmitted through droplets generated when an infected person coughs, sneezes, or exhales. These droplets are too heavy to hang in the air, and quickly drop to the floor and other surfaces. You can be infected by breathing in the virus if you are within close proximity of someone who has COVID-19, or by touching a contaminated surface and then your eyes, nose or mouth. The goal of the self-quarantine is to prevent transmission,” he says. Read the full report here.
At least 364 Maharashtra Police personnel tested positive for coronavirus and four died of the disease in the last 24 hours across the state, news agency PTI reported citing an official on Thursday. With this, 20,367 state police personnel, including 2,218 officers, have so far contracted COVID-19, while 208 have succumbed to the viral infection, the official said. The deceased police personnel includes 21 officers. As of now, there are 3,796 active Covid-19 cases in the state police force while 16,363 personnel have recovered from the infection, the official said.
Seven more people died from the novel coronavirus in Rajasthan, taking the toll to 1,286 on Thursday, while the number of infections rose to 1.08 lakh with 814 new cases, the Heath Department announced. There are 17,838 active cases of the coronavirus disease and 87,849 people have recovered, according to a health bulletin. Out of the 814 new coronavirus cases, 134 were Jaipur, 119 in Jodhpur, 73 in Kota, 48 in Alwar and 49 in Ajmer districts, among others. The total number of people infected with the virus rose to 1,08,494, it said.
The Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation (AMC) sealed 32 tea stalls for violating Covid-19 guidelines, while 1,124 units voluntarily shut down during an inspection drive conducted by the solid waste management department on Wednesday. Taking action against tea stalls and vendors over violations of social distancing and face masks across 48 wards of seven zones of the AMC, 32 tea stalls were sealed while 1,124 closed down on their own. Declining any order being issued by the AMC of closing down all tea vendors across the city, Additional Chief Secretary (Forests and Environment) Rajeev Kumar Gupta said, “There is no directive for (all) tea stalls to remain closed from Thursday. Only those violating social distancing and face masks are being closed down.”
The Covid-19 tally of Andaman and Nicobar Islands rose to 3,593 on Thursday as 19 more people tested positive for the infection, a health official told PTI on Thursday. Seven new patients have travel history, while 12 infections were detected during contact tracing, the official added. Twenty-seven more people have been cured of the disease, the official said. The Union territory now has 196 active cases, while 3,345 people have recovered from the disease and 52 patients have succumbed to the infection so far, he said.
The Gujarat High Court has directed the state government to put all districts on “high alert” and start taking appropriate steps to curb the spread of Covid-19, making a note of the worsening situation in Rajkot and Jamnagar. The order dated September 9, when the court heard a bunch of public interest litigations concerning Covid-related grievances in the state, was made public on Wednesday. A division bench of Chief Justice Vikram Nath and Justice JB Pardiwala also told the state government to “stop playing on the back foot” and follow the “Ahmedabad model” in other districts. The order noted that the court is “constrained to observe that despite putting best of its efforts, the government has been getting caught unaware and gets into action only after the situation worsens”.
Speaking in the Rajya Sabha, Health Minister Harsh Vardhan on Thursday said India's coronavirus mortality rate at 1.64 per cent is lowest in the world and the government is targeting to bring it down to less than 1 per cent. Replying to a debate, he said India's recovery rate of 78-79 per cent is one of the highest in the world. He said though total cases may have crossed 50 million, active cases are less than 20 per cent. Deaths in India due to coronavirus pandemic are less than many nations in Europe, he said, adding the government was determined to cross the US in testing rate as well.
Union minister Prahlad Singh Patel on Thursday said he has tested positive for coronavirus The BJP MP from Damoh Lok Sabha seat in Madhya Pradesh said his test report was received on Wednesday night. "I have tested positive. Those who met me on Tuesday should take adequate precautions," the minister announced on Twitter. Patel's ministerial colleagues Amit Shah, Nitin Gadkari, Shripad Naik, Dharmendra Pradhan, Kailash Choudhary, Arjun Ram Meghwal, Gajendra Shekhawat and Suresh Angadi were also diagnosed with Covid-19 recently.
On the second day of discussion in Rajya Sabha on the Covid pandemic and steps taken by the Centre, Shiv Sena MP Sanjay Raut took exception to the criticism by some BJP leaders, including Rajya Sabha MP Vinay Sahasrabuddhe, of the measures taken by the Maharashtra government to control the pandemic. “More than 30,000 people have recovered from Covid in Maharashtra. How did it happen?,” he said. In an apparent dig at Union Minister Arjun Ram Meghwal, Raut said did those people recover by eating “Bhabhi Ji Ke Papad”. Meghwal had earlier claimed that the ingredients of a papad brand ‘Bhabhi Ji Papad’ helps in formation of antibodies needed to fight Covid-19.
The number of active cases of novel coronavirus in the country crossed the one million (ten lakh) mark on Wednesday. These are the people who are yet to recover from the disease, and thus require medical attention, and are also the ones who can spread the infection. Active cases now comprise less than 20 per cent of all confirmed infections in the country, but this figure varies widely in the states. That is because only the infections detected in the last two weeks are active, and the states which have been seeing high growth rates during these times, would have a higher proportion of active cases. Click here to read more.
Speaking in Rajya Sabha, Health Minister Harsh Vardhan said: "From January 8, the Prime Minister, the Ministers and State health ministers have been addressing the situation. All Chief Ministers have fought this battle with the PM. All types of advisories and details were given before the first case of Covid-19 in the country on January 30. Extensive contact-tracing was undertaken for that case. For the first case, 162 contacts were traced. That is how we started our history of contact tracing." He added: "History will remember Prime Minister Narendra Modi for meticulously monitoring the entire situation himself." Speaking on the vaccine, he said: "India is making efforts just like other countries. Under PM's guidance, an expert group is looking at it and we have advanced planning in place. We are hopeful that by the start of next year, vaccine will be available in India." He also said that the lockdown had prevented 14-29 lakh cases in the country.
Observing that the right to lead a dignified life extended to death too, the Calcutta High Court on Wednesday allowed families of Covid-19 victims to perform the last rites after taking precautions against the infection. A Division Bench of Chief Justice T B Radhakrishnan and Justice Arijit Banerjee was hearing a writ petition on the alleged poor handling of Covid victims’ bodies by the administration. As of now, the last rites of Covid-19 victims are being performed by municipal bodies. Since June, the state government has allowed families to see the body and pay their last respects.
Four trial sites in Pune are waiting for a go-ahead from the Serum Institute of India (SII) to resume enrolment of volunteers for phase II and II clinical trials of the Oxford University Covid-19 vaccine candidate, or Covishield, in India. On Tuesday, the Drugs Controller General of India gave the go-ahead to the Serum Institute of India to restart clinical trials of the vaccine candidate. When contacted, DCGI Dr V G Somani said they have given the nod to SII to resume trials.
A person who was home quarantined after recovering from Covid-19 was found hanging at his residence in Padmavati area on Wednesday morning. Police suspect that the man, Sandip Bhosale (45), committed suicide due to depression after his father died of Covid-19 recently. Bhosale, who had also tested positive for the infection, recovered from it and was asked to quarantine himself. He had shifted his family members to another place and was living alone. When his brother went to his house to give him breakfast on Wednesday morning, he found that Sandip had hanged himself, said police.
Reiterating the need of preventive measures to contain the spread of coronavirus disease (Covid-19) in the city, the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) on Wednesday said it would strictly implement the decision of Rs 500 penalty against those violating mandatory use of masks and Rs 1,000 for spitting in public places. In a notification, Municipal Commissioner Vikram Kumar said the civic body was working towards containment of Covid-19 by taking decisions as per power entrusted under the Communicable Disease Act, 1897, Disaster Management Act, 2005, Maharashtra Covid-19 Preventive Measures Rules, 2020, and various resolutions of the state government. “It is being informed to residents that a fine of Rs 500 will be levied for not wearing masks in public place, government offices or private offices. Also, a fine of Rs 1,000 will be recovered from those spitting in public place,” he said.
Meanwhile, a fresh debate over the Covid management is underway in Parliament. Addressing the Rajya Sabha, Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad said: "The government has wasted the golden months to stop coronavirus. WHO had sounded a warning in December 2019. Keeping in mind China is our neighbouring country, we should have been alerted first. Congress's Rahul Gandhi had also alerted that an epidemic was looming over us." Follow more updates here.
A 100-year-old woman has won the battle against coronavirus in Assam, doctors told PTI on Thursday. Handique, Assam's oldest Covid patient, was discharged from the Mahendra Mohan Chowdhury Hospital in Guwahati on Wednesday, they added. The woman, a resident of the Mothers' Old Age Home, was admitted to the hospital ten days ago after testing positive. The doctors and nurses who were treating her held a small celebration before she was discharged.
With the number of cases rising in Delhi, the government has partially converted two more of its hospitals — Deen Dayal Upadhyay Hospital and Baba Sahab Ambedkar Hospital — into Covid facilities. Each hospital medical superintendent has been asked to set aside 100 beds each and turn them into Covid wards. On Wednesday, the city recorded 4,473 cases – the highest till date. As the city’s testing figures have gone up – over 62,000 people were tested on Tuesday – so have the number of cases. The overall positivity rate is around 10%, while the average positivity rate over the past week hovers around the 7% mark. Almost a fifth of the tests were conducted through the RT-PCR method, while the rest were done using Rapid Antigen Test kits.
Meanehile, Mumbai Police have managed to find a married man, who eloped with his lover to Indore in June after lying to his family that he had tested positive for the novel coronavirus, and that he would not survive the infection. According to police, on June 24, Manish Mishra, a supervisor, employed with a clearing agent at JNPT in Navi Mumbai, called his wife and told her that he had tested positive for the virus. He also told her that he would not survive and then switched off his phone, police said. Click here to read more.
Amid the pandemic, a large crowd gathers at Babughat in Howrah to offer tarpan on the occasion of Mahalaya, on Thursday morning.
Prachi Kadam is one of 319 ASHAs in 21 districts infected with Covid. After the Covid outbreak and surge in cases in rural areas, the state government had deployed ASHAs on screening duty and refer those symptomatic to quarantine centres. Apart from 71 health programmes for which they receive varying incentives, the government promised Rs 1,000 every month for Covid screening. With less than adequate safeguards, these workers have become prone to infection. Two workers have succumbed so far, one each in Pune and Solapur. Click here to read more.