As the number of Covid-19 cases increase in Mumbai, the state government is arranging new quarantine facilities on war footing. (Express Photo: Amit Chakravarty)
Advising against stigmatising COVID-19 patients and health workers, the Health Ministry Friday said that the fight against the virus is fight of the society as a whole. Stating that those who have recovered from the disease are not infectious, Lav Agarwal, Joint Secretary, Ministry of Health and Family Welfare said the stigma keeps people with symptoms away from treatment for longer time.
The health ministry said a record number of 60 COVID-19 patients had died in India in the last 24 hours. With 1,396 new coronavirus cases reported in the same span, India’s tally stands at 28,380 and toll at 886, Agarwal said. Out of the total, 21,132 are active, 6,362 patients have recovered. Sixteen districts, which earlier had COVID-19 cases, have not reported any fresh case in the last 28 days, Agarwal added.
Following Monday’s meeting of Chief Ministers with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, sources have told The Indian Express that the lockdown will be extended in the hotspots, while restrictions will be eased in districts not affected by the infection. Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik wanted the lockdown to be extended by one more month. According to sources, Patnaik who led the chorus for extension of lockdown said it has to be extended on May 3 to June 3. Sources said at least two states backed him.
The official death toll from the virus hit 206,000 worldwide, with over 2.9 million reported infections
Vadodara ABVP workers took to art to urge residents to stay home to contain the spread of Covid-19. (Express photo/Bhupendra Rana)
The districts of Ahmedabad, Surat and Vadodara together account for around 89 per cent of the total COVID-19 cases in Gujarat till April 26, according to the state health department, even as 249 new cases took the state tally to 3,567.
Death toll too rose to 163 with 11 more deaths, including three who were less than 60 years of age at SVP Hospital in Ahmedabad without any co-morbid conditions. Thirty-one persons were on ventilator, according to the state government. Read More
The Supreme Court on Monday issued a notice to the Centre on a plea seeking direction to domestic and international flight operators to refund the full fare of tickets booked for flights that had to be cancelled due to the lockdown.
A bench of Justices N V Ramana, S K Kaul and B R Gavai issued the notice on the plea filed by NGO Pravasi Legal Cell.
The petition requested that the non-refund of the amount be declared illegal and violative of the Civil Aviation Requirement issued by the Director General of Civil Aviation. Read more here
After the number of cases of police personnel testing positive for coronavirus reached nine as on Monday, at least 100 personnel from Pune Police were placed under quarantine.
Initially, a constable attached to a police station and his wife tested positive on April 17, following which 14 personnel, who were primary contacts of the constable, were quarantined and their samples collected. Of them, two tested positive on April 20. Subsequently, more staff from the police station was placed under quarantine. Read More
Even as the Madhya Pradesh government claimed the inter-ministerial central team was happy with its handling of the coronavirus challenge, Indore reportedly nearly 200 new positive cases Monday, taking its total count to 1,372.
Late on Monday night, Indore CMHO Dr Praveen Jadia said of the latest lot of 820 samples,165 had tested positive. A report released earlier by the Bhopal-based directorate of health services had put the number of positive cases at 1,207, an increase of 31 over its last report.
The CMHO also released details of three more deaths, including two 60-year-olds and a 63-year-old. The new deaths took the death toll in the biggest city of the state to 63, and the state's tally to 113. Eleven patients were discharged on Monday from Indore hospitals. So far, 134 people have recovered in Indore. -- By Milind Ghatwai
A resident of Pune district not covered under any health insurance scheme can now avail benefits under the newly introduced Dr Rakmabai Raut health insurance scheme.
District Collector Naval Kishore Ram told The Indian Express that a health insurance scheme of Rs 5 crore had been approved under the District Planning and Development Committee funds. Read More
Four deaths were reported due to coronavirus-related complications in Pune on Monday. While three deaths took place on Monday, one was reported late on Sunday evening. By Monday evening, 84 new COVID-19 were reported, taking the tally in Pune to 1,348 patients, said Dr Bhagwan Pawar, district health officer.
At Sassoon General Hospital, a 64-year-old woman from Ghorpadi gaon, who was symptomatic since April 18 and was admitted to the hospital on April 23, succumbed to the infection late on Sunday. She had co-morbid conditions like diabetes and hypertension. Read More
In major relief for residents of Pimpri-Chinchwad, the municipal corporation on Monday decided to do away with its containment plan for the entire industrial city, and instead restricted it to 16 pockets in some suburbs.
The containment plan for the entire city was imposed from April 20 to 27.
Municipal Commissioner Shravan Hardikar said since Pimpri-Chinchwad had not seen a rapid rise in coronavirus cases, there was no need for the containment plan to stretch across the whole city. Read more here
Farmer Producer Companies (FPC) and farmer groups have emerged as silent heroes during the nationwide lockdown by keeping the supply of fresh fruits and vegetables running in urban areas. Buoyed by the success of the direct market intervention by growers, the state agriculture department is now planning to make it permanent with the help of application-based delivery platforms.
As wholesale markets in urban areas of Pune and Mumbai suspended their operations in view of the growing number of coronavirus (COVID-19) cases, the onus of ensuring the supply of fresh fruits and vegetables fell on FPCs and farmer groups. Read More
The Pune City Police on Monday extended the conditional curfew imposed in its jurisdiction till May 3. The relaxation window for procurement of essential supplies will now be 10 am to 2 pm across Pune city, thus increasing the relaxation window in hotspot areas by two hours. Meanwhile, in Pimpri-Chinchwad, the conditional curfew has also been extended till May 3, barring some areas which have been excluded from the list of containment zones.
On April 20, following orders by Pune and Pimpri-Chinchwad municipal corporations, declaring their jurisdictions as containment zones to control COVID-19 cases, police commissionerates in both urban limits had imposed a conditional curfew till Monday midnight. These curfew orders are not applicable to essential and emergency services including police, defence forces, health and civic staff, personnel involved in COVID-19 response, and people involved in transportation and provision of essential commodities. Read More
At separate meetings on Monday, Divisional Commissioner Deepak Mhaisekar and District Collector Naval Kishore Ram cautioned doctors against denying treatment to patients as the number of coronavirus cases continues to rise.
“There have been cases where I get a call early in the morning that a particular hospital has not admitted a patient for delivery and then I have to intervene and ask another hospital to perform the operation. This should not be the case and so, we have urged hospitals to take a more humanitarian view while we are also working out the practical aspects,” Ram told The Indian Express. Read More
Himachal Pradesh has not reported any new positive case of novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in the last five days, even as several patients recovered from the infection in the state that has now only 10 active cases. This is the longest period without a new case since April 2. The reports of samples collected Monday were still awaited at the time of filing of this report.
The state had last reported a positive case on April 22, after a gap of three days. The biggest spike in cases in Himachal was observed on April 7, when nine cases were reported from Una. Read more
The Cyberabad Cyber Crime Police Monday registered a criminal case against a Twitter user who goes by the name Major Neelam Singh (retd) on charges of posting fake news on social media with the intention of disrupting communal harmony.
The accused, who goes by the handle, ‘theskindoctor13’, posted a forged image of a newspaper clipping mentioning that ‘Cyberabad police bans the sale of oranges in the city’. The image also carried a photograph of police officials, including Commissioner VC Sajjanar, addressing a media conference with oranges on his desk. The image also carried a forged mast head of a leading Hyderabad-based daily. Read more here
As per the directives of ICMR, Tamil Nadu govenment has returned 24,000 rapid test kits and cancelled all the outstanding orders. Health Minister C Vijayabaskar said the state's recovery rate of 56.8 per cent is the highest in the country and added that the mortality is only 1.2 per cent.
Odisha CM Naveen Patnaik announces compassionate assistance of ₹15 lakh for next of kin to any working journalist who dies from COVID infection. If any journalist dies due to Coronavirus, his/her family members will get ex gratia amount of ₹15lakh
On the 34th day of nationwide lockdown, the number of COVID-19 cases climbed to 28,380 and the death toll due to it rose to 886 in the country on Monday, registering a record increase of 60 deaths in 24 hours, according to the Union Health Ministry. There has been a spike of 1,463 cases since Sunday evening. The number of active COVID-19 cases stood at 21,132, while 6,361 people have recovered, the ministry said. Thus, around 22.41 per cent of patients have recovered in the country so far. From 5-year-old connecting with her mother via video calls to ‘Ambassadors of Hope’ contest for Punjab kids, here is a curated list of striking stories from across the country on the 34th day of the lockdown.
Over a month into the lockdown, Covid-19 cases in Jharkhand crossed 100-mark.Out of 8,757 samples, 103 tested positive. The total tally includes 83 active cases,17 recoveries and three deaths (1 after being tested negative). Ranchi's count highest with 75 cases (63 active). Total 11 districts affected.
Two days after a 32-year-old pregnant woman died in the Maternity and Child Hospital at Anantnag, the administration has begun tracing her contacts in her native village in the Kokernag area. The patient’s test reports for COVID-19 came back positive on Monday, a day after her death at the hospital on Sunday.
However, her body was returned to her family and several people from the village attended the funeral for her and her two stillborns. The Medical Superintendent of the maternity hospital, Dr G Andrabi, also said that on the directions of the District’s Covid nodal officer, the family “was instructed to take the body and bury it without the customary ablution, since her test reports were awaited”. Read full story by Naved Iqbal here
A class XI student from Bengal’s Purba (East) Bardhaman district has come up with a mask that may be a game-changer in the treatment of Covid-19 patients, and her design been shortlisted in a national competition.
Digantika Bose, a student of Vidyasagar Smriti Vidyamandir Branch 2 in Memari, has come up with a ‘Air Providing and Virus Destroying Mask’ that took her seven days to develop. After series of tests, the Ministry of Science and Technology has asked for the student’s permission to take forward her innovation in the war against the virus.