Maharashtra Coronavirus Live Updates: Over 8\,000 Covid-19 cases recorded in last 24-hr; 258 more dead
Maharashtra Coronavirus Live Updates: Over 8,000 Covid-19 cases recorded in last 24-hr; 258 more dead
Maharashtra, Mumbai, Pune, Thane Coronavirus (Covid-19) News Live Update: As the virus claimed 258 lives on Friday alone, the state's death toll increased to 11,452, a statement from the health department said.
By: Express Web Desk | Delhi, Mumbai |
Updated: July 17, 2020 8:18:55 pm
The corridors of a Covid-19 critical ward at Kasturba Hospital for Infectious Diseases in Mumbai on July 15, 2020. (Express Photo: Amit Chakravarty)
Maharashtra, Mumbai, Pune Coronavirus News Live Updates: With the single-day spike of 8,308 new COVID-19 cases in Maharashtra, the tally of patients in the state mounted to 2,92,589 on Friday, the health department said. This is the third time that the number of single-day cases has breached the 8,000-mark in the state.
As the virus claimed 258 lives on Friday alone, the state’s death toll increased to 11,452, a statement from the health department said.
A total of 2,217 patients recovered and discharged from hospitals following their recovery during the day. With this, the number of recovered people grew to 1,60,357, it said.
Live Blog
Maharashtra, Mumbai, Pune, Thane Coronavirus (Covid-19) News Live Update: Cases to cross 3 lakh by the weekend; Mumbai to breach one lakh mark this week; death rate in state drops to less than 4% for the first time in two months.
20:17 (IST)17 Jul 2020
Over 8,000 Covid-19 cases recorded in last 24-hr; 258 more dead
With the single-day spike of 8,308 new COVID-19 cases in Maharashtra, the tally of patients in the state mounted to 2,92,589 on Friday, the health department said. This is the third time that the number of single-day cases has breached the 8,000-mark in the state.
19:37 (IST)17 Jul 2020
Recovered Maharasthra minister to donate his plasma
Maharashtra Housing Minister Jitendra Awhad, who has recovered from COVID-19 infection around two months back, on Friday said that he has decided to donate his plasma, used for treating patients.
Awhad, who represents Mumbra-Kalwa Assembly segment, had tested coronavirus positive, but recovered in May this year.
"After two months my blood reports are normal after fighting #coronavirus now I have decided to donate my plasma in govt hospital," the NCP leader tweeted.
After two months my blood reports are normal after fighting #coronavirus now I have decided to donate my plasma in govt hospital
How Covid-19 pandemic has changed consumer behaviour
In the initial days of India’s first lockdown in March, consumers responded to the Covid-19 crisis with anxiety and fear, leading to panic buying of staples and hygiene products. As cases continue to increase and the economy shrinks, the consumer is adapting.
A recent report on the impact of Covid-19 on consumer sentiment and behaviour by Mckinsey & Co, published on July 8, after conducting weekly, bi-weekly and monthly surveys in 12 countries, said that 91 per cent Indians changed their shopping behaviour due to the crisis. Many urban consumers, increasingly working from home and reluctant to deal with crowded public places, are moving online for their shopping needs. If demonetisation compelled people to shift toward cashless payments, Covid-19 has made them adopt online shopping.
There has been more than 10 per cent growth in online shopping across categories during the pandemic globally, according to Mckinsey, and it is expected that consumers will continue with this practice even if brick-and-mortar stores reopen. Globally, one in five consumers who ordered their last groceries online did so for the first time. For consumers aged 56 years and above, this figure was one in three, said Accenture, in a similar research report published in April. These days, people are buying larger pack-size products or multiple units at once. Click here to read out explainer.
16:37 (IST)17 Jul 2020
Human trial of India's first vaccine candidate begins at PGI Rohtak: Anil Vij
The human trial of Bharat Biotech's anti-COVID-19 vaccine Covaxin began at Rohtak's Post-Graduate Institute of Medical Sciences on Friday, Haryana Health Minister Anil Vij said in a tweet on Friday. "Human trial with Corona vaccine (COVAXIN) of Bharat Biotech started at PGI Rohtak today. Three subjects were enrolled today. All have tolerated the vaccine very well. There were no adverse effects," Vij, who is also the Home and Science & Technology minister said. Bharat Biotech got the country's drug regulator's approval to start clinical trials of its anti-Corona vaccine Covaxin recently, PTI reported.
Human trial with Corona vaccine (COVAXIN) of Bharat Biotech started at PGI Rohtak today. Three subjects were enrolled today. All have tolerated the vaccine very well. There were no adverse efforts.
— ANIL VIJ MINISTER HARYANA (@anilvijminister) July 17, 2020
15:38 (IST)17 Jul 2020
Bombay HC asks govt about compensation for kin of deceased frontline staff
The Bombay High Court on Friday asked the Maharashtra government to state its position on a petition seeking compensation for families of frontline workers who died after contracting COVID-19 infection on duty.
A division bench of Chief Justice Dipankar Datta and Justice Anuja Prabhudessai was hearing a petition filed by social worker Ketan Tirodkar.
The petitioner had sought direction to the state government to declare frontline workers, including doctors, police personnel and others, who died after contracting the deadly infection on duty, as martyrs and to give their families compensation.
In its response to the petition last week, the state government had said insurance cover is being provided to all healthcare workers in private and government-run hospitals under the Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Package - Insurance Scheme for Health Workers. (PTI)
15:24 (IST)17 Jul 2020
Lockdown-hit Air India workers move Bombay HC seeking jobs
At least 250 casual workers of Air India have approached the Bombay High Court seeking direction to the government-run airline to provide them work as the coronavirus-induced lockdown has rendered them jobless and deprived them of wages, PTI reported. Their plea was heard on Friday by a bench of Justices R D Dhanuka and V G Bisht, who issued a notice to Air India and directed the national carrier to respond within two weeks. In the interim application filed through Air India Ltd Kamgar Sangh, the petitioners stated that most casual workers belong to economically weaker sections and that they are dependent on daily wages from the airline. The application by at least 250 casual workers of the airline has been filed through senior counsel Gayatri Singh and advocate Mini Mathur.
14:58 (IST)17 Jul 2020
Maharashtra: Low-key Bakri Eid to hit cattle rearers, workers
As Maharashtra gears up for low-key Bakri Eid celebrations amid the COVID-19 pandemic, thousands of people, including cattle rearers and farmers, who earn substantially during the festival, are staring at severe financial losses this year. According to an estimate, nearly 5,000 people, including farmers, transporters and butchers, work in the Deonar abattoir in the city in run-up to Bakri Eid every year.
However, this year, the abattoir virtually wears a deserted look as only butchers and workers holding licences from the civic body are seen going about their day-to-day activities. With just two weeks left for Bakri Eid, which will be celebrated on August 1, the sale and transport of cattle from Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and even parts of Maharashtra have been suspended in light of the COVID-19 outbreak.
14:55 (IST)17 Jul 2020
Neurologists called to examine poet-activist Varavara Rao
Jailed writer and activist Varavara Rao, undergoing treatment at St George Hospital after testing positive for COVID-19, is also suffering from neurological problem and specialist doctors have been called to treat him, hospital officials said on Friday.
The 80-year-old, an accused in the Elgar Parishad-Maoist links case, was admitted to the state-run J J Hospital earlier this week and later shifted to St George Hospital, another government medical facility in south Mumbai. Rao was admitted to the ICU Ward of the St George Hospital on Thursday evening, hours after his medical report showed he was coronavirus positive, doctors said.
14:37 (IST)17 Jul 2020
Mumbai: Reduced services, better preparation allow Railways to run smooth services
In spite of the heavy downpour in parts of Mumbai this week, trains have managed to run without delays despite mild waterlogging on chronic spots. (File)
One of the rare upside of the Covid-19pandemic has been the glitch-free service that the suburban railway network has managed to offer to commuters who are allowed to use its service. In spite of the heavy downpour in parts of Mumbai this week, trains have managed to run without delays despite mild waterlogging on chronic spots.
One of the major reasons for delays on the suburban lines during a heavy downpour would be waterlogged tracks. Read More here
13:30 (IST)17 Jul 2020
India Coronavirus numbers explained: Day of records as India crosses the one-million infection mark
With the detection of 35,000 new infections on Thursday, India now has more than one million people who have been infected with the novel Coronavirus at some point of time. Only two other countries have had more infections till now – the United States where more than 3.4 million people have so far been infected, and Brazil, where this number is touching two million.
In all these three countries, the disease is still spreading at a rapid rate. India has just started to add more than 30,000 cases per day. In the last two days, about 32,000 and 35,000 new infections were detected. The other two countries are routinely adding many more per day. In the United States, for example, more than 50,000 infections were detected every day for the last one week. The numbers have fluctuated in Brazil, but for most of this month, it has added more than 40,000 cases every day.
12:47 (IST)17 Jul 2020
BMC: Smart helmets screen people for fever in slums
The helmets can help in screening temperatures of around 200 people in a minute. (Express Photo)
For early detection of Covid-19 cases, the BMC has started using “smart helmets” to screen residents living in densely populated areas. Officials said two smart helmets have so far been used in slums of R North (Dahisar) and P North (Malad) wards.
The helmets can help in screening temperatures of around 200 people in a minute. On Thursday, BMC officials used it to screen 1,300 people at Ganpat Patil Nagar in Dahisar, one of the most congested slums in Mumbai. Shiv Sena corporator from Dahisar, Abhishek Ghoslakar, said the helmet is effective since it can cover a large number of people in less time. “It is always challenging to screen people in slums. With the help of the helmet, officials can cover more people,” he added.
12:14 (IST)17 Jul 2020
Severe lung damage, blood clots: Covid-19 signatures that linger
CapHostel rooms are converted into Covid care centres at the Agriculture College Hostel in Pune on July 16, 2020. (Express Photo: Arul Horizon)
As the number of novel coronavirus infections in India surges in the fifth month of the outbreak – going past the 1 million mark on Thursday (July 16) – doctors have been increasingly reporting several relatively new conditions associated with Covid-19.
Among these conditions are lung damage, known as lung fibrosis, and blood clots in the pulmonary artery – Pulmonary Thrombo Embolism or PTE – which are seen in persons who have recovered from very severe cases of the disease.
Pulmonologists across the world have been flagging these conditions over the past few weeks as persons who have recovered from Covid-19 are going back to hospitals with breathing problems due to lung damage. Read More
11:34 (IST)17 Jul 2020
DCGI nod to first indigenous pneumonia vaccine: ‘Serum to fulfil global demand of 100 million doses in next two to three years’
According to the WHO, 19 Covid-19 vaccine candidates are in the clinical evaluation stage as of July 6. (Photo: Reuters)
Serum Institute of India Pvt Ltd — the world’s largest vaccine manufacturer by number of doses produced and sold globally (more than 1.5 billion doses)– has got the go-ahead from Drug Controller and General of India to manufacture its own indigenously developed pneumococcal vaccine. The vaccine maker has also partnered with AstraZeneca to support efforts to make a vaccine against Covid-19. Adar Poonawalla, CEO of SII, tells Anuradha Mascarenhas that they will be able to fulfil a global demand of 100 million doses in the next two to three years.Read the interview here
10:55 (IST)17 Jul 2020
Amid heavy rain, 2 Mumbai buildings collapse, 7 killed
As much as 30 to 40 per cent part of the ground-plus-five storey Bhanushali Building on Mint Road collapsed in south Mumbai’s Fort area. (Express Photo)
Meanwhile, In Mumbai, seven People were killed and at least 16 injured in two incidents of building collapse on a day of heavy rainfall on Thursday. Portions of two buildings — a three-storey chawl in Malad’s Malvani and a six-storey MHADA building in Fort area — collapsed during the day.
The northern portion of Bhanushali Building, near Lucky House at Ganesh Chawl in Fort area, collapsed at 4.43 pm, leaving five dead and at least three injured.
10:12 (IST)17 Jul 2020
5 undertrial inmates escape from temporary prison at Yerawada
The entrance of the premises in Yerawada where the government-run girl’s hostel turned into a temporary jail is located. Five inmates escaped from the temporary jail in the early hours of Thursday, (Express photo by Ashish Kale)
FIVE undertrial prisoners lodged on the premises of a government hostel at Yerawada, designated a temporary prison during the Covid-19pandemic, escaped in the early hours of Thursday by breaking the window grill of their room. This is the third incident in over a month in which inmates have fled from the temporary prison. read more
10:10 (IST)17 Jul 2020
Uddhav has lost control of state administration: Narayan Rane
Addressing mediapersons, he said: “Thackeray has stopped stepping out of home. Therefore, he is not aware of the ground reality… When the head of the state has stopped coming to Mantralaya, it is bound to have an adverse impact on the employees and the administration.” “Ideally, we should have a CM lifting the moral of people. But he has restricted himself to video conferences,” said Rane, adding that Opposition leader Devendra Fadnavis, meanwhile, has toured the entire state to access the ground situation.
09:52 (IST)17 Jul 2020
Total cases 1,003,832 in India, death toll at 25,602
The total number of coronavirus cases in India crossed the grim milestone of one million to stand at 1,003,832 on Friday, after nearly 35,000 cases were registered within a span of 24 hours. As many as 25,602 deaths were recorded, according to data released by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare. It took less than three weeks for the cases to go from half a million to one million. In contrast, it had taken nearly four months for India to reach the first half a million cases.
08:50 (IST)17 Jul 2020
After US, India has done most COVID-19 tests: White House
India has done the second largest number of 12 million coronavirus tests, the White House has said.
More than 3.5 million people have tested positive with the coronavirus and 138,000 died in the US. Globally, more than 13.6 million have tested positive and over 586,000 have died.
“With regard to (the coronavirus) testing, we’ve done more than 42 million tests. The second-highest number is 12 million from India. We’re leading the world in testing,” White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany told reporters at a news conference here on Thursday.
08:32 (IST)17 Jul 2020
Maharashtra has 1.25 lakh nurses, yet shortage continues
The shortage of nurses was first felt in private hospitals at the onset of the pandemic and has now extended to public hospitals. (File)
Each year about 25,000-30,000 nurses graduate after completing various courses in Maharashtra, yet the state is reeling under a shortage of nursing staff and forced to rely on nurses from Kerala as well as specialised doctors to fight the Covid-19 battle.
State heath officials they have received no response to several advertisements for nurses, while nursing associations have told The Indian Express there are hundreds of trained nurses in Maharashtra waiting for a job but have got no intimation from the government. Apart from what appears to be a communication gap between the associations and the government, many nurses are also unwilling to work because of the fear of Covid-19, the perception that hospitals do not provide adequate personal protection equipment, poor salaries and lack of job security.
07:57 (IST)17 Jul 2020
At 8,641, Maharashtra records highest one-day jump in Covid cases
The state recorded 266 new deaths – the highest so far in a single day this month – taking the overall toll to 11,194.
Maharashtra on Thursday recorded 8,641 Covid-19 cases– the highest ever in a single day since the state recorded its first case on March 9. With this, the total count of those infected in the state has reached 2,84,281. The state recorded 266 new deaths – the highest so far in a single day this month – taking the overall toll to 11,194. Mumbai, meanwhile, recorded 1,476 cases, taking its total count to 97,950. With 56 new deaths, 5,523 people in the city have died due to the virus till now.
Municipal workers stand on a waterlogged street to keep commuters away from manholes, at Sion in Mumbai. (PTI Photo)
Meanwhile, the Maharashtra government Wednesday partially lifted its freeze on development funds to help stimulate economic growth. In an order, the Uddhav Thackeray government said it would allow all departments to sanction new development works permissible under the Local Area Development fund allocated to legislators.
In another development, at least 40 doctors who had come to Mumbai from Kerala on the request of the Maharashtra government are returning to their state as civic body Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has not paid their salaries. Fifteen have already left, and 25 are leaving today. The doctors from Kerala had been tasked with setting up a Covid-19 hospital in the city.
Farmers across Maharashtra say they are finding it difficult to offload their produce with the latest lockdown restrictions in Pune, Mumbai, Thane and Aurangabad. To stop the surge in Covid-19 cases, many municipal corporations and their neighbouring rural administrations have decided to impose a lockdown of 10-15 days.
The first phase of the lockdown will be exceptionally strict, with only milk and medical shops allowed to operate – in contrast to previous lockdowns when supply of vegetables was allowed.
Even if wholesale markets were closed in earlier lockdowns, Farmer Producers Companies (FPC) had continued to supply curated baskets in urban markets.
This closure of urban markets affects tomato growers like Deepak Bhise, who has been enjoying better prices for the last one month. Bhise, who is from Yedgaon in Junnar taluka of Pune, said the uncertainty in transport and markets had forced farmers to reduce their vegetable and tomato acreage, which had caused prices to improve in the last fortnight. “However, as the nearby urban markets of Pune and Sangamner are closed, we have to depend on traders from Mumbai, Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh to ensures prices do not crash,” he said.
According to the state government data, Mumbai has recorded 17,442 coronavirus positive cases within a fortnight and it is estimated the city will breach one lakh-mark by this weekend. Until June end, MMR accounted for 50 per cent of the daily toll. Mumbai has recorded 70 deaths, followed by Thane rural and Thane city with 15 each, Bhiwandi Nizampur 12, Navi Mumbai 8, and Kalyan and Ulhasnagar with seven each. The MMR accounts for 7,174 deaths of the total 10,685 recorded in the state.
The corridors of a Covid-19 critical ward at Kasturba Hospital for Infectious Diseases in Mumbai on July 15, 2020. (Express Photo: Amit Chakravarty)
Municipal workers stand on a waterlogged street to keep commuters away from manholes, at Sion in Mumbai. (PTI Photo)
With the single-day spike of 8,308 new COVID-19 cases in Maharashtra, the tally of patients in the state mounted to 2,92,589 on Friday, the health department said. This is the third time that the number of single-day cases has breached the 8,000-mark in the state.
Maharashtra Housing Minister Jitendra Awhad, who has recovered from COVID-19 infection around two months back, on Friday said that he has decided to donate his plasma, used for treating patients.
Awhad, who represents Mumbra-Kalwa Assembly segment, had tested coronavirus positive, but recovered in May this year.
"After two months my blood reports are normal after fighting #coronavirus now I have decided to donate my plasma in govt hospital," the NCP leader tweeted.
In the initial days of India’s first lockdown in March, consumers responded to the Covid-19 crisis with anxiety and fear, leading to panic buying of staples and hygiene products. As cases continue to increase and the economy shrinks, the consumer is adapting.
A recent report on the impact of Covid-19 on consumer sentiment and behaviour by Mckinsey & Co, published on July 8, after conducting weekly, bi-weekly and monthly surveys in 12 countries, said that 91 per cent Indians changed their shopping behaviour due to the crisis. Many urban consumers, increasingly working from home and reluctant to deal with crowded public places, are moving online for their shopping needs. If demonetisation compelled people to shift toward cashless payments, Covid-19 has made them adopt online shopping.
There has been more than 10 per cent growth in online shopping across categories during the pandemic globally, according to Mckinsey, and it is expected that consumers will continue with this practice even if brick-and-mortar stores reopen. Globally, one in five consumers who ordered their last groceries online did so for the first time. For consumers aged 56 years and above, this figure was one in three, said Accenture, in a similar research report published in April. These days, people are buying larger pack-size products or multiple units at once. Click here to read out explainer.
The human trial of Bharat Biotech's anti-COVID-19 vaccine Covaxin began at Rohtak's Post-Graduate Institute of Medical Sciences on Friday, Haryana Health Minister Anil Vij said in a tweet on Friday. "Human trial with Corona vaccine (COVAXIN) of Bharat Biotech started at PGI Rohtak today. Three subjects were enrolled today. All have tolerated the vaccine very well. There were no adverse effects," Vij, who is also the Home and Science & Technology minister said. Bharat Biotech got the country's drug regulator's approval to start clinical trials of its anti-Corona vaccine Covaxin recently, PTI reported.
The Bombay High Court on Friday asked the Maharashtra government to state its position on a petition seeking compensation for families of frontline workers who died after contracting COVID-19 infection on duty.
A division bench of Chief Justice Dipankar Datta and Justice Anuja Prabhudessai was hearing a petition filed by social worker Ketan Tirodkar.
The petitioner had sought direction to the state government to declare frontline workers, including doctors, police personnel and others, who died after contracting the deadly infection on duty, as martyrs and to give their families compensation.
In its response to the petition last week, the state government had said insurance cover is being provided to all healthcare workers in private and government-run hospitals under the Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Package - Insurance Scheme for Health Workers. (PTI)
At least 250 casual workers of Air India have approached the Bombay High Court seeking direction to the government-run airline to provide them work as the coronavirus-induced lockdown has rendered them jobless and deprived them of wages, PTI reported. Their plea was heard on Friday by a bench of Justices R D Dhanuka and V G Bisht, who issued a notice to Air India and directed the national carrier to respond within two weeks. In the interim application filed through Air India Ltd Kamgar Sangh, the petitioners stated that most casual workers belong to economically weaker sections and that they are dependent on daily wages from the airline. The application by at least 250 casual workers of the airline has been filed through senior counsel Gayatri Singh and advocate Mini Mathur.
As Maharashtra gears up for low-key Bakri Eid celebrations amid the COVID-19 pandemic, thousands of people, including cattle rearers and farmers, who earn substantially during the festival, are staring at severe financial losses this year. According to an estimate, nearly 5,000 people, including farmers, transporters and butchers, work in the Deonar abattoir in the city in run-up to Bakri Eid every year.
However, this year, the abattoir virtually wears a deserted look as only butchers and workers holding licences from the civic body are seen going about their day-to-day activities. With just two weeks left for Bakri Eid, which will be celebrated on August 1, the sale and transport of cattle from Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and even parts of Maharashtra have been suspended in light of the COVID-19 outbreak.
Jailed writer and activist Varavara Rao, undergoing treatment at St George Hospital after testing positive for COVID-19, is also suffering from neurological problem and specialist doctors have been called to treat him, hospital officials said on Friday.
The 80-year-old, an accused in the Elgar Parishad-Maoist links case, was admitted to the state-run J J Hospital earlier this week and later shifted to St George Hospital, another government medical facility in south Mumbai. Rao was admitted to the ICU Ward of the St George Hospital on Thursday evening, hours after his medical report showed he was coronavirus positive, doctors said.
One of the rare upside of the Covid-19 pandemic has been the glitch-free service that the suburban railway network has managed to offer to commuters who are allowed to use its service. In spite of the heavy downpour in parts of Mumbai this week, trains have managed to run without delays despite mild waterlogging on chronic spots.
One of the major reasons for delays on the suburban lines during a heavy downpour would be waterlogged tracks. Read More here
With the detection of 35,000 new infections on Thursday, India now has more than one million people who have been infected with the novel Coronavirus at some point of time. Only two other countries have had more infections till now – the United States where more than 3.4 million people have so far been infected, and Brazil, where this number is touching two million.
In all these three countries, the disease is still spreading at a rapid rate. India has just started to add more than 30,000 cases per day. In the last two days, about 32,000 and 35,000 new infections were detected. The other two countries are routinely adding many more per day. In the United States, for example, more than 50,000 infections were detected every day for the last one week. The numbers have fluctuated in Brazil, but for most of this month, it has added more than 40,000 cases every day.
For early detection of Covid-19 cases, the BMC has started using “smart helmets” to screen residents living in densely populated areas. Officials said two smart helmets have so far been used in slums of R North (Dahisar) and P North (Malad) wards.
The helmets can help in screening temperatures of around 200 people in a minute. On Thursday, BMC officials used it to screen 1,300 people at Ganpat Patil Nagar in Dahisar, one of the most congested slums in Mumbai. Shiv Sena corporator from Dahisar, Abhishek Ghoslakar, said the helmet is effective since it can cover a large number of people in less time. “It is always challenging to screen people in slums. With the help of the helmet, officials can cover more people,” he added.
As the number of novel coronavirus infections in India surges in the fifth month of the outbreak – going past the 1 million mark on Thursday (July 16) – doctors have been increasingly reporting several relatively new conditions associated with Covid-19.
Among these conditions are lung damage, known as lung fibrosis, and blood clots in the pulmonary artery – Pulmonary Thrombo Embolism or PTE – which are seen in persons who have recovered from very severe cases of the disease.
Pulmonologists across the world have been flagging these conditions over the past few weeks as persons who have recovered from Covid-19 are going back to hospitals with breathing problems due to lung damage. Read More
Serum Institute of India Pvt Ltd — the world’s largest vaccine manufacturer by number of doses produced and sold globally (more than 1.5 billion doses)– has got the go-ahead from Drug Controller and General of India to manufacture its own indigenously developed pneumococcal vaccine. The vaccine maker has also partnered with AstraZeneca to support efforts to make a vaccine against Covid-19. Adar Poonawalla, CEO of SII, tells Anuradha Mascarenhas that they will be able to fulfil a global demand of 100 million doses in the next two to three years.Read the interview here
Meanwhile, In Mumbai, seven People were killed and at least 16 injured in two incidents of building collapse on a day of heavy rainfall on Thursday. Portions of two buildings — a three-storey chawl in Malad’s Malvani and a six-storey MHADA building in Fort area — collapsed during the day.
The northern portion of Bhanushali Building, near Lucky House at Ganesh Chawl in Fort area, collapsed at 4.43 pm, leaving five dead and at least three injured.
FIVE undertrial prisoners lodged on the premises of a government hostel at Yerawada, designated a temporary prison during the Covid-19 pandemic, escaped in the early hours of Thursday by breaking the window grill of their room. This is the third incident in over a month in which inmates have fled from the temporary prison. read more
Alleging that Uddhav Thackeray has not been stepping out of his residence, senior BJP leader Narayan Rane on Thursday said the chief minister has lost control of the administration, resulting in the Covid-19 pandemic getting out of control in Maharashtra.
Addressing mediapersons, he said: “Thackeray has stopped stepping out of home. Therefore, he is not aware of the ground reality… When the head of the state has stopped coming to Mantralaya, it is bound to have an adverse impact on the employees and the administration.” “Ideally, we should have a CM lifting the moral of people. But he has restricted himself to video conferences,” said Rane, adding that Opposition leader Devendra Fadnavis, meanwhile, has toured the entire state to access the ground situation.
The total number of coronavirus cases in India crossed the grim milestone of one million to stand at 1,003,832 on Friday, after nearly 35,000 cases were registered within a span of 24 hours. As many as 25,602 deaths were recorded, according to data released by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare. It took less than three weeks for the cases to go from half a million to one million. In contrast, it had taken nearly four months for India to reach the first half a million cases.
After the US, which has carried out a record 42 million COVID-19 tests, India has done the second largest number of 12 million coronavirus tests, the White House has said.
More than 3.5 million people have tested positive with the coronavirus and 138,000 died in the US. Globally, more than 13.6 million have tested positive and over 586,000 have died.
“With regard to (the coronavirus) testing, we’ve done more than 42 million tests. The second-highest number is 12 million from India. We’re leading the world in testing,” White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany told reporters at a news conference here on Thursday.
Each year about 25,000-30,000 nurses graduate after completing various courses in Maharashtra, yet the state is reeling under a shortage of nursing staff and forced to rely on nurses from Kerala as well as specialised doctors to fight the Covid-19 battle.
State heath officials they have received no response to several advertisements for nurses, while nursing associations have told The Indian Express there are hundreds of trained nurses in Maharashtra waiting for a job but have got no intimation from the government. Apart from what appears to be a communication gap between the associations and the government, many nurses are also unwilling to work because of the fear of Covid-19, the perception that hospitals do not provide adequate personal protection equipment, poor salaries and lack of job security.
Maharashtra on Thursday recorded 8,641 Covid-19 cases– the highest ever in a single day since the state recorded its first case on March 9. With this, the total count of those infected in the state has reached 2,84,281. The state recorded 266 new deaths – the highest so far in a single day this month – taking the overall toll to 11,194. Mumbai, meanwhile, recorded 1,476 cases, taking its total count to 97,950. With 56 new deaths, 5,523 people in the city have died due to the virus till now.