Health workers outside Covid-19 test center at AIIMS Hospital in New Delhi on Friday.
With over 2.46 lakh cases, India surpassed Spain, becoming the fifth worst-hit nation by the COVID-19 pandemic. As per the latest numbers released by the Health Ministry, the total number of confirmed cases in India stands at 2,46,628 as opposed to Spain’s figures of 2.41 lakh. Now, only the US, Brazil, Russia, and the UK have more cases than India. The death toll in India stands at 6929. There are 1.2 lakh active cases, while 1.19 have recovered.
Meanwhile, COVID fatalities in the country have moved to 6,642 in seven weeks with almost half of them (3,059) occurring in the last fortnight. These deaths remain concentrated — over 80 per cent in 26 districts, the Covid hotspots. But India’s case fatality ratio (CFR, number of deaths per 100 cases) still remains low — 2.8 per cent. Globally, the CFR is 5.8 per cent. In the US, it is 5.7 per cent, in Brazil it is 5.5 per cent, and in Russia it is 1.2 per cent. Contrary to fears, the national growth rate of the infection, has been going down steadily. For the last three days, between 9,000 and 10,000 new cases are being detected. And yet, the national growth rate has slowed down by more than half a percentage point during this time.
On the global front, over 6.8 million people have been infected. The death toll has neared the 4 lakh-mark, while 30 lakh have recovered.
Shops open as part of phase one of unlock
Workers line up for medical workers to take swabs for the coronavirus test at a large factory in Wuhan in central China's Hubei province (Chinatopix Via AP)
Home Minister Amit Shah will today address party workers at approximately 72,000 booths to reach out to its cadres and workers through a virtual rally on Sunday. The event is being touted as a formal launch of the electoral process in Bihar, which is scheduled to go to the Assembly polls in October-November this year.
Opposition RJD and Congress, however, took on the saffron party for going in “election mode” at a time the battle against coronavirus is yet to be won in a state where cases are still rising – as of Saturday evening, more than 4,500 positive cases.
The faultlines between the Delhi government and Sir Ganga Ram Hospital deepened on Saturday as an FIR was filed against the hospital’s Medical Superintendent for allegedly violating directions issued under the Epidemic Diseases Act. The FIR, filed on June 5, was based on a complaint by Deputy Secretary (Health) Amit Kumar Pamasi. The FIR drew a sharp reaction from the Delhi Medical Association (DMA) which said the action was "highly condemnable and demoralising for the entire medical fraternity.”
The development came on a day Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal took aim at “some private hospitals” in the Capital without naming any particular facility, saying they were “lying” about not having vacant beds, and indulging in “black marketeering”.
The 675-bed hospital had been recently converted into a Covid facility, with 80 per cent of its beds to be set aside for coronavirus patients.
China has issued an alert, warning its citizens not to travel to Australia in the latest sign of deteriorating relations. The Chinese Ministry of Culture and Tourism published a statement on its website on Friday night saying that discrimination and violent behavior against Chinese and Asians are on the rise due to the Covid-19 epidemic. The ministry told Chinese tourists to be on alert for their safety and not travel to Australia.
Brazil removed from public view months of data on its COVID-19 epidemic on Saturday, as President Jair Bolsonaro defended delays and changes to official record-keeping of the world’s second-largest coronavirus outbreak. Brazil’s Health Ministry removed the data from a website that had documented the epidemic over time and by state and municipality. “The cumulative data … does not reflect the moment the country is in,” Bolsonaro said on Twitter, citing a note from the ministry. “Other actions are underway to improve the reporting of cases and confirmation of diagnoses.”
Neither Bolsonaro nor the ministry gave a reason for erasing most of the data on the covid.saude.gov.br website, which had been a key public resource for tracking the pandemic. The page was taken down on Friday and reloaded Saturday with a new layout and just a fraction of the data, reflecting only deaths, cases and recoveries within the last 24 hours.
Since the first death in the middle of March, Covid fatalities in the country have moved to 6,642 in seven weeks with almost half of them (3,059) occurring in the last fortnight. These deaths remain concentrated — over 80 per cent in 26 districts, the Covid hotspots. Indeed, Mumbai, Delhi, Ahmedabad, Thane, Pune, and Chennai were the only districts with more than 100 deaths these past two weeks. They saw 1,964 deaths over this period, almost half of their total 4,055 Covid deaths. Even though cases and deaths are mostly concentrated, they are spreading. In the last fortnight, districts reporting at least one death have risen from roughly 230 to about 320.
But India’s case fatality ratio (CFR, number of deaths per 100 cases) still remains low — 2.8 per cent. Globally, the CFR is 5.8 per cent. In the US, it is 5.7 per cent, in Brazil it is 5.5 per cent, and in Russia it is 1.2 percent.
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson is planning to relax rules on outdoor dining and weddings, as well as speeding up government investment plans in a bid to limit the economic damage from the coronavirus, newspapers reported on Saturday. The Sunday Times said Johnson wanted to relax planning restrictions that stop many pubs, cafes and restaurants from using outside areas, and also to make it legal to hold weddings outside - something currently limited to Jews and Quakers. Indoor weddings and funerals with up to 10 people attending would also be permitted from early July, while places of worship would be allowed to reopen for private prayer from June 15, as part of plans to be announced in the coming week, the newspaper said.
After the Pimpri-Chinchwad Municipal Corporation (PCMC) came under fire for distributing poor-quality masks in slums and low-income areas, Municipal Commissioner Shravan Hardikar on Saturday set up a three-member committee to probe the matter.
“…We will take strict action against those responsible for this. No one will be spared,” Hardikar told The Indian Express. Read more here
Fifty five more people were tested positive with coronavirus in Tripura on Saturday. Most of these new patients had recent travel history or were in touch with COVID-19 patients.
Chief Minister Biplab Kumar Deb tweeted about the new cases late evening, saying, 'Alert. 55 people found COVID-19 #POSITIVE cases in Tripura today out of 1125 samples tested. Majority of the POSITIVE patients have travel history and others were in contact of COVID-19 patient. Stay Cautious & Safe! #TripuraCOVID19Count'.
With these new cases, Tripura's corona tally rose to 750, out of which 173 have 'recovered' and discharged from hospital. All others are under treatment at GB Panth Hospital and COVID care centers set up at Bhagat Singh Youth Hostel, Tripura Medical College and other places.
According to the latest reports, 24,826 out of 37,761 persons placed under surveillance for coronavirus have completed their 14 days observation period and were discharged. However, 542 others are still being admitted in different quarantine centers and 12,093 others are under home quarantine.
The state has tested 33,276 people for COVID-19 to date.
Bengaluru now has 49 containment zones. There are total 162 cases in city.
As cases in India exceeded 2,44,000. Fresh numbers have come for states:
Delhi
1,320 fresh coronavirus cases were reported taking tally to over 27,ooo while the death toll climbs to 761.
Goa
Highest single-day spike of 71 new COVID-1919 cases were reported in Goa taking the tally to 267.
Karnataka
Tally breached 5,000 mark in with 378 new cases, active cases 3,184 while toll rises to 59 with 2 more deaths
West Bengal
COVID-19 death toll crosses 300-mark with 17 more deaths; highest daily spike of 435 cases takes state tally to 7,738
Gujarat
With 498 new patients, tally of coronavirus cases rises to 19,617 in Gujarat while death toll reaches 1,219 with 29 patients dying
Maharashtra
Cases spike by 2,739 to 82,968; death toll up by 120 to 2,969
India on Saturday went past Spain, becoming the fifth worst-hit nation by the COVID-19 pandemic. According to data compiled by John Hopkins University, the total number of confirmed cases in India stands at 243,733 as opposed to Spain’s figures of 240,978.
The number of coronavirus positive cases in Uttar Pradesh crossed the 10,000-mark with 370 fresh cases reported on Saturday even as the number of casualties rose to 268. The number of COVID-19 cases in the state now stands at 10,103 as on Saturday. Principal secretary, health, Amit Mohan Prasad said the number of active cases in the state was 3,927 and the number of those who have recovered and been discharged from hospitals was 5,908.
Restaurants in Punjab will continue to remain shut for dine-in customers even beyond June 8 when the state government has allowed opening of malls, where you can shop for clothes but without trying them on, and from when you can visit places of worship but where you won’t be served ‘prasad’ or langar. According to the guidelines issued by the Punjab government Saturday, restaurants or food courts in malls will not operate except for take away or home delivery. Guests in hotels will have to be served food in their rooms. The decision will be reviewed on June 15.
As states across country prepare to open shopping malls Monday onwards, Haryana Deputy Chief Minister Dushyant Chautala on Saturday said that malls will remain shut in Faridabad and Gurugram, adding that it is optional in rest of the districts of the state.
JUST IN | Maharashtra COVID-19 cases spiked by 2,739 to 82,968. The death toll is also up by 120 to 2,969.
Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal issued a warning to a few private hospitals for “lying” about the number of beds available and refusing treatment to coronavirus patients. In a stern warning to the medical facilities, he said that no hospital can deny treatment to patients. While addressing a virtual press briefing on Saturday, Kejriwal said, “You will not be spared. You will have to take coronavirus patient who is coming to the hospital for the treatment. Denying treatment to any patient is non-negotiable.”
As the government has approved openning of malls for the first time after a lockdown of over two months, sanitizing and cleaning was in progress at Elante the biggest Mall of the city at Industrial Area phase 1 Chandigarh.
As India continues to see a surge in coronavirus cases, at least five states have recorded more than 10,000 cases. Maharashtra tops the list with 80,229 cases, followed by Tamil Nadu with 28,694 cases. Delhi stands third with 26,334 cases. Gujarat at 19094 and Rajasthan at 10084. Uttar Pradesh is on the verge of becoming the sixth state with 9733 cases, so far.
Meanwhile, the Congress took a dig at the AAP government in Delhi and asked what the UT has done to protect the citizens of Delhi and to equipe the capital's hospital.
A five-member panel constituted by the Delhi government has suggested that the health infrastructure of the city should be used only for treating residents of the national capital, in view of the raging COVID-19 crisis, sources said on Saturday. The suggestion comes in the backdrop of Delhi recording over 1,000 coronavirus cases daily for the past few days and the AAP government fending itself against allegations of lack of hospital beds and other facilities. The panel, headed by Indraprastha University vice-chancellor Dr Mahesh Verma,?has submitted its report to the government in which it has said that if Delhi health infrastructure is open for non-residents, all beds will be occupied within just three days, according to the the sources. An official said that the government will soon take a decision on the report of the panel, constituted earlier this week.