A man views a mural depicting a nurse wearing scrubs and face mask in the Shoreditch area of east London, Thursday June 4, 2020. (Dominic Lipinski/ PA via AP)
Coronavirus India News Live Updates: The World Health Organization (WHO) Tuesday said the coronavirus pandemic was “worsening” across the world, two days after the highest global tally of 1,36,000 cases was reported. The Director-General of the global body, Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said there was a glimmer of hope as some countries were seeing positive results, but the biggest threat now could be “complacency”.
There are over seven million cases of the novel coronavirus infection in the world, the highest reported from the United States (1.9 million), followed by Brazil (7,07,412), Russia (4,76,043) and the United Kingdom (2,88,834). Over 400,000 people have succumbed to the disease, while more than 3.1 million have recovered.
India ranks fifth in the world in terms of Covid-19 cases with 2,66,598 infections. The country is treating 1,29,917 active cases, while nearly the same number of patients, 1,29,214, have been discharged. The toll stands at 7,466. Maharashtra, the worst affected state in the country, has 88528 cases, including 3,169 deaths.
With India relaxing restrictions, a surge in cases is expected to begin soon, with several states already showing upward deviations from their trendlines in the last few days.
A priest cleans temple bells in Lucknow on Sunday. (Express photo/Vishal Srivastava)
In the last 24 hours, India has reported 9,987 new cases of Covid-19 and 331 deaths. This takes the country's tally to 2,66,598 cases, including 1,29,917 active cases, 1,29,215 treated and 7,466 deaths.
Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal will be tested for the coronavirus infection on Tuesday, a day after he developed a mild fever and sore throat. “The CM is unwell. He has developed mild fever and a sore throat and has self-isolated himself. Since Sunday afternoon, he has not received any guest or official,” a party functionary told The Indian Express.
number of cases as lockdown is eased.
Heavy traffic seen on Satara road in Pune as the lockdown eases. In other news from Pune, the district administration has ruled out home quarantine for those who test positive for the novel coronavirus, and are asymptomatic or have mild symptoms.
For the first time in 75 years, the UN General Assembly meeting will not take place this year. Scheduled to be held in September in New York, the meet has been cancelled due to the pandemic. "We cannot have them in person as we used to for the last 74 years, but it will happen," President of the United Nations General Assembly Tijjani Muhammad-Bande said.
At 10 am, the Group of Ministers headed by Union Health Minister Dr Harsh Vardhan will meet via video conference. This is the first meeting since May 15.
The World Health Organization (WHO) has said transmission of the coronavirus through asymptomatic carriers is "rare". Dr Maria Van Kerkhove, the global body's technical lead for Covid-19, was reported as saying by The New York Times: "It still appears to be rare that an asymptomatic individual actually transmits onward.
"We have a number of reports from countries who are doing very detailed contact tracing. They are following asymptomatic cases, they are following contacts, and they are not finding secondary transmission onward. It’s very rare. Much of that is not published in the literature," she added.
The statement comes in contradiction to what healthcare professionals have been warning over the last few months.
The World Health Organization (WHO) has warned that the coronavirus outbreak in "worsening" globally. In a press briefing, WHO Director-General Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said, "More than 100,000 cases have been reported on nine of the past 10 days... Yesterday, more than 136,000 cases were reported — the most in a single day so far.” While the situation in Europe has improved, 75 per cent of cases were now reported from the Americas and South Asia.
Critically ill Covid-19 patients continue to battle for beds, according to the latest data from BMC, which shows that 99 per cent intensive care unit (ICU) beds are full and 94 per cent ventilators are occupied in public and private hospitals in Mumbai, but nearly 12 per cent of the beds are occupied by non-critical patients.
Government officials said hospitals have been instructed to strictly adhere to admission and discharge guidelines and only admit severely symptomatic patients to allow beds for critical patients, but on the ground, it appears this protocol is not being followed. Read more here
A day after 29 inmates from Aurangabad Central Prison tested positive for Covid-19, two of them escaped from a Covid care facility, set up on the premises of a hostel, on Sunday night. The duo managed to escape by bending the grills of the window and using bed sheets to climb down from the first-floor room.
The 29 inmates, who had tested positive on Saturday, were shifted to a temporary Covid care facility for prison inmates, set up in a hostel in Kille Ark area. Read more here
Around 50 per cent of the 30,000 -odd eateries in Kolkata opened on Monday following the Centre's notice allowing restaurants to start functioning with all COVID-19 safety protocols in place. About 15,000 restaurants opened with at least 6 feet distance between two tables and minimum contact with the restaurant staff during payment and ordering menus, President of Hotels and Restaurants Association of Eastern India Sudesh Poddar said. Around 25-30 per cent of normal customer presence was reported in the eating joints on the first day, owners of several restaurants said. PTI
Pointing out a “deviation” from ICMR guidelines, Lt-Governor Anil Baijal Monday directed the Delhi government to test asymptomatic direct and high-risk contacts of confirmed cases, saying not doing so can hamper contact-tracing and result in further spread of Covid-19 in the national capital.
Baijal said the Director General of Health Services Delhi (DGHS), which had on June 2 tweaked the ICMR (Indian Council for Medical Research) strategy, thus ruling out testing of asymptomatic contacts of confirmed patients, should stick to the guidelines set at the central level.
“This deviation in the ICMR guidelines can result in inadequate contact tracing of affected individuals and can result in further spread of COVID-19 in NCT of Delhi. Now, therefore, in exercise of powers conferred under Section 18(3) read with Section 18(2)(d) of the Disaster Management Act, 2005, the undersigned hereby directs all departments and authorities concerned of NCT of Delhi, to ensure that ICMR strategy for COVID-19 testing in India issued on 18.05.2020 is strictly observed in NCT of Delhi without any deviation,” the order states. Read more here
At least 13 people from the Saifee Mahal, where Dawoodi Bohra head Syedna Mufaddal Saifuddin resides, have tested positive for Covid-19.
The first case, according to a BMC officer, came on June 6. However, officials from the community said the first case came much earlier. Forty people in the residence, spread over a vast area on Malabar Hills, had been tested with the help of Saifee hospital. Till now, 13 have tested positive.
A few with comorbidities have been shifted to Saifee hospital, while the others remain under isolation on the residence premises. All 13 cases were found in one of the three buildings in the Saifee Mahal complex.
The building has been declared a containment zone.
Those who tested positive include security and house help. Civic officers did not confirm whether anybody from the Syedna’s family came positive.
Officials said the Syedna's immediate family is in Khandala and has been living there for the past few weeks.
Six new cases were reported in Arunachal Pradesh Monday, taking the total tally to 57, out of which 56 are active. According to an order from the Directorate of Health Services, signed by D L Jampa, the newly detected positive cases have been reported from Changlang, Lower Dibang Valley, Tirap and East Siang. “All were shifted to the Covid Care Centre. They were all detected at the quarantine facility” said the order.
Thirty eight more people tested positive with COVID-19 in Tripura on Monday, raising the state's total corona tally to 841. Chief Minister Biplab Kumar Deb tweeted: "38 people found COVID-19 #POSITIVE in Tripura out of 1480 samples tested. All of them are from Sepahijala District and have returned from Chennai by train. #TripuraCOVID19Count". According to latest reports, 37,415 persons have been tested till date in the state at the rate of 9,359 tests per million.
There is no bigger sin than exploiting a pandemic that is claiming so many lives for monetary gains, says Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur, as he speaks to The Indian Exptress about his ”swift action” in the PPE scam, the perception that he was mild, and the recent party survey that ranked Himachal as No 1 among the NDA-ruled states. Read excerpts from Jai Ram Thakur's interview here
With 18 new cases, the list of containment zones in Bengaluru now rises to 54
A total of 63 more COVID-19 positive cases have been reported in Manipur late Monday evening taking the total tally of positive cases to 272 and active cases to 214. Monday recorded the highest single-day spike in the state with 100 cases of positive cases. Manipur Health Department said, of the total, 37 samples were tested late last night and 63 were tested on Monday. All those who have tested positive had returned from outside the state.
A total of 1,007 COVID-19 cases and 17 deaths reported in Delhi today. Total number of cases in the national capital is now at 29,943, including 17,712 active cases, 11,357 recovered/discharged/migrated and 874 deaths, Delhi Health Department.
INS Shardul cast off from Bandar Abbas, Iran with 233 Indian nationals onboard. The ship is headed to Porbandar, Gujarat and expected to arrive on 11th June. (Video Source: Indian Navy)