A medical staff, who helps perform the last rites of COVID-19 patients at Nigambodh Ghat cremation ground, on Thursday, June 18, 2020. (Express Photo: Abhinav Saha)
Coronavirus India News Live Updates: The Supreme Court Friday said it would direct states to set up expert panels and on installing CCTV cameras in hospitals to ensure proper treatment to COVID-19 patients while asking the Centre to take a decision on the issue of different charges being levied in different states for coronavirus tests.
Seeking uniform COVID testing charges, the top court said that in some states it was Rs 2,200, while in others it was fixed at Rs 4,500. It, however, left the issue to be decided by the Centre.
India has reported 13,586 cases and 336 deaths in the last 24 hours. This takes the country’s Covid-19 tally to 3,80,532, including 1,63,248 active cases, 2,04,711 recoveries and 12,573 deaths. Haryana has emerged as a concern as it is the fastest-growing state in India’s 10 most affected states. Bihar, on the other hand, offers a glimmer of hope as its cases have slowed down. Once growing very rapidly, the state’s growth rate is now below 3 per cent.
A customer wears a mask as mandated by shops in Pune on Wednesday. (Express photo/Arul Horizon)
Global property consultant Cushman & Wakefield (C&W) has projected that office rentals might drop 5-10 per cent on lower demand for office space from corporates because of the coronavirus pandemic.
The outbreak of the coronavirus disease will have a short-term impact on India's office market, with demand likely to fall 45 per cent, said C&W Managing Director (India and Southeast Asia), Anshul Jain. The net leasing or absorption of office space might fall to 25 million sq ft this year across eight major cities as against 45 million sq ft during 2019, he said. (PTI)
The Supreme Court Friday said it would direct states to set up expert panels and on installing CCTV cameras in hospitals to ensure proper treatment to COVID-19 patients while asking the Centre to take a decision on the issue of different charges being levied in different states for coronavirus tests.
Seeking uniform COVID testing charges, the top court said that in some states it was Rs 2,200, while in others it was fixed at Rs 4,500. It, however, left the issue to be decided by the Centre, news agency PTI reported.
The medical condition of Delhi Health Minister Satyendar Jain deteriorated Saturday afternoon after he developed a lung infection during the ongoing treatment for Covid-19 at Rajiv Gandhi Super Speciality hospital. He is being shifted to the ICU of Max Super Speciality Smart hospital in Saket, said a government source.
“He faced difficulty in breathing and during the CT scan, it was found that the pneumonia patch in his lungs has widened. His condition is slightly critical,” said a source in the Delhi government.
Jain, 55, was admitted to the government-run Rajiv Gandhi Super Speciality Hospital on Tuesday after he developed breathlessness, fever and a drop in oxygen levels had tested negative for the virus, but as his symptoms persisted, he was tested again. He was tested positive on Wednesday.
The Ministry of Home Affairs has capped the treatment cost of Covid-19 for private hospitals in the national capital. The decision was based on suggestions by a committee led by NITI Aayog member Dr V K Paul, along with representatives from the Delhi government and AIIMS director Dr Randeep Guleria. The move is expected to provide relief to patients. Click here to know how much you have to pay now for Covid treatment in Delhi.
The Delhi government on Friday issued a statement needing the support of NGOs, CSOs, individual volunteers, NCC, NSS cadets etc for survey of suspected Covid-19 cases in Delhi. Taking to twitter chief minister Arvind Kejriwal said, "Delhi will fight Corona together. I appeal to all NGOs and individuals to join in this effort on a large scale."
Delhi Health Minister Satyendra Jain has been shifted to Max hospital after his health worsened. He's facing diffculty in breathing. Union Minister Amit Shah, just a while ago wished speedy recovery to the health minister. He tested positive for covid-19 a week ago.
A high-level committee constituted by the Union Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) has recommended rates for COVID-19 treatment in private hospitals in Delhi to be reduced by close to two third of existing rates. The committee, led by Niti Aayog member Dr VK Paul, has fixed the rate for isolation beds and ICU beds with and without ventilators at almost 30% of the existing rates in private hospitals.
From Rs 24,000-25,000 for isolation beds, the rates have been reduced to Rs 8,000-10,000. For ICU beds without ventilator, the rates have been reduced from Rs 34,000-43,000 to Rs 13,000-15,000. ICU beds with ventilators, which earlier cost Rs 44,000-54,000 a bed a day, have been recommended to be charged at Rs 15,000-18,000 a bed a day.
The committee has also said that these rates will include PPE costs. Earlier, hospitals charged extra for PPE kits. Sources said the report has been forwarded to the Delhi government for further action. The Delhi government is likely to take private hospitals into confidence before issuing an order. Read more here
A total of 32 Bangladeshis, who were stranded in India due to the lockdown, have been sent back to the neighbouring country through a checkpoint in Assam's Karimganj district, a senior police officer said on Friday. The foreigners-14 males and 18 females- were stuck here for a long time and their visas were expired, Karimganj Superintendent of Police Kumar Sanjiv Krishna said.
In presence of BSF officials, they were sent back to Bangladesh through the Sutarkandi-Sheora checkpoint at the border on Thursday evening, he said. Of the 32, eight were studying at NIT Silchar in Cachar district and others came to India for medical purposes and got stranded due to the lockdown, he said.
The Bangladeshis were screened by a medical team of the district before sending them back, the SP said, adding that the policy directives of two countries were followed. (PTI)
Over 15,000 samples were collected for testing coronavirus in the national capital within a 24-hour span, a senior official said on Friday. A total of 7,040 samples were collected for rapid antigen test and 7,972 samples were collected for the RT-PCR test for coronavirus on Thursday, the official said.
The Delhi government commenced COVID-19 testing through rapid antigen methodology at 193 centres on Thursday. A total of 7,040 samples were collected and out of them, 456 people were found to be positive. In the initial phase, those residing in containment zones are being tested. The Delhi government has also capped the rate of COVID-19 RT-PCR test at Rs 2,400 with the city witnessing an alarming spurt in coronavirus cases. (PTI)
In a move to enhance passenger and staff safety in Karnataka in the wake of the coronavirus outbreak, Bengaluru’s Kempegowda International Airport will now scan outbound baggage with ultraviolet (UV) treatment.
“Two custom-designed UV tunnels have been created to disinfect trolleys after every use. These tunnels are located at a cordoned-off area of the Terminal,” a Bangalore International Airport Limited (BIAL) spokesperson told indianexpress.com.
Furthermore, the authorities have also planned to use an ultra-low volume spray treatment for check-in bags to ensure all outbound passenger baggage is sanitised before being boarded to the aircraft. Read more
Centre has asked other states to adapt the best practices being implemented by Karnataka, especially the IT-based model of Comprehensive Contact Tracing and House-to-House Survey to fight the pandemic. The Centre lauded the best practice from Karnataka for COVID-19 management which includes the comprehensive contact tracing of COVID-19 positive cases and physical/phone-based household survey which has covered more than 1.5 crore households Karnataka has widened the definition of ‘Contact’ to include both high risk as well as low risk contacts as defined by Government of India.
The Home Ministry on Friday recommended half rates of treatment for coronavirus in private hospitals. The new rates imply Rs 8,000 to Rs 10,000 for isolation beds, Rs 13,000 to Rs 15,000 for ICU beds without a ventilator, and Rs 15,0000 to Rs 18,000 for ICU beds with a ventilator.Rates for Private Hospital treatment of #Covid_19 almost halved by @HMOIndia. New rates: Rs 8,000-10,000 for isolation bed. Rs 13,000-15,000 for ICU beds without ventilator. Rs 15,000-18,000 for ICUs with ventilator. @IndianExpress— Deeptiman Tiwary (@DeeptimanTY) June 19, 2020
At least 55 new cases of COVID-19 were detected in Madhya Pradesh's Indore district in the last 24 hours, taking the tally to 4,246 in the region, a health official said on Friday. Of the 2,439 swab samples tested on Thursday, results of 55 persons were found to be positive, the official said.
Four persons, including an 80-year-old man and a 74- year-old woman, have died of the deadly infection at hospitals in the city, the official said, without providing specific dates for these casualties. With these four deaths, the toll in the district now stands at 189, he said.
The 55 fresh cases have taken the district's tally to 4,246, of which 3,149 patients have recovered from the infection, the official said. As per the official data, the district's recovery rate was nearly 74 per cent, while the COVID-19 mortality rate was at 4.45 per cent till Friday morning. (PTI)
Two more COVID-19 patients died at a hospital here, taking the number of fatalities due to the novel coronavirus in the Union Territory to 74, officials said on Friday. Both the deaths took place at SKIMS hospital in Soura area of the city here, the officials said.
A 79-year-old man from Nowshera area of Srinagar, who had tested positive for COVID-19, died at 11:15 pm on Thursday night, the officials said. They said the patient was admitted to the hospital on June 8 and was suffering from hypertension, hypothyroidism, with bilateral chest infiltrate. He had contact history with a positive patient, they said.
In another death at the hospital, an 80-year-old man from Sopore area of north Kashmir's Baramulla district passed away at 9 am in Friday, the officials said. They said the patient suffering from hypertension and cardiac failure was admitted to the hospital on June 17. His sampling was done that day only and the report returned as positive the next day, they added. (PTI)
Considering the rise in COVID-19 cases, Aurangabad collector Uday Choudhari has asked private hospitals in the district to accommodate patients on regular beds if ICU ones were not available, a district official said on Friday. As on Thursday, Maharashtra's Aurangabad district had recorded 3,106 COVID-19 cases, of which 1,709 patients have recovered from the infection, while 166 have succumbed to it.
In a meeting here on Thursday, the collector asked hospitals to inform the civic authorities before treating COVID-19 patients or suspects and shift them to a dedicated facility if beds were available, the official said. Private hospitals were also directed to admit patients, irrespective of whether they were referred by the civic body, to ensure timely treatment and accommodate them on regular beds if ICU ones were unavailable, he said. (PTI)
After being postponed due to the coronavirus outbreak, elections for 19 Rajya Sabha seats spread across eight states began today. Counting of votes will commence at 5 pm. Among the states, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan are all set to see a close fight between the BJP and the Congress. You can read the latest news here
India has reported 13,586 cases of the novel coronavirus and 336 deaths in the last 24 hours. This takes the country's tally to 3,80,532 including 1,63,248 active cases, 2,04,711 recoveries and 12,573 deaths.
Telangana has tested 45,911 samples for the novel coronavirus till June 17, the lowest in the country. Nudged by the Telangana High Court to ramp up testing and make the figures public, the state has started conducting more than 1,000 tests since June 15. From March 2, when the first Covid-19 positive case was detected in Hyderabad, the state conducted 22,842 tests till May 14, at just over 300 tests per day. From May 14 till June 17, it conducted 23,069 tests at just 700 tests per day. On June 17, 1096 tests were conducted out of which 269 turned out positive taking the total number of positive cases in the state to 5675.
Telangana Health Minister Etela Rajender said the number of tests conducted daily was adequate as they are doing it in areas identified as hotspots. "We are doing tests in and around containment zones and in areas where positive cases were detected earlier and they recovered. Apart from that we are conducting tests on medical professionals and healthcare workers. Compared to other states, the spread of virus in Telangana is less. We have total control over the Coronavirus situation in the state," he said.
Input from Sreenivas Janyala in Hyderabad
The Andhra Pradesh government's targeted testing of vulnerable groups in all 13 districts has led to early detection of coronavirus positive cases. Of the 26,770 foreign returnees who were under surveillance, 237 have tested positive. The state government had also tested 72,349 persons with influenza like illness and senior citizens with previous medical conditions out of which 564 tested positive.
"This targetted testing has helped us detect positive cases early, before the infected person can spread it to others. Apart from random testing in all 13 districts we are conducting sentinel surveillance; testing in areas where cases were reported previously; around existing containment zones; households and neighbours of people who returned from abroad or out of the state," Health Minister A Krishna Srinivas said.
Input from Sreenivas Janyala in Hyderabad
Amid the coronavirus pandemic, the International Cricket Council (ICC) has banned the use of saliva on the ball for safety measures. Irfan Pathan explains the importance of saliva, and how it aids fast bowlers