A healthcare worker takes samples during the Covid-19 pandemic in Mankhud, Mumbai on July 29, 2020. (Express Photo: Amit Chakravarty)
Maharashtra, Mumbai, Thane Coronavirus Live Updates: Maharashtra reported 10,320 new cases on Friday, taking the Covid-19 tally to 4,22,118, while 265 fresh deaths raised the toll to 14,994, the state Health department said. A statement from the Health department said 7,543 patients were also discharged from hospitals after they recovered from the viral infection. As many as 2,56,158 Covid-19 patients have been discharged so far in the state, it said.
Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray Thursday reviewed the situation in Pune district, which has recorded more than 78,000 cases so far and seen a spurt in infections in recent weeks. He urged elected representatives in Pune to be the connecting point between local residents and the administration in efforts to tackle the Covid-19 pandemic.
Under the new guidelines announced by the state, malls and market complexes will be allowed to function from 9 am to 7 pm. However, theatres, food courts and restaurants will remain closed. Further, the night curfew will remain in place in the state despite the Centre doing away with it.
Meanwhile, the Union Health Ministry has said given the size of India’s population, herd immunity “cannot be a strategic choice or option”, and urged people to follow COVID-appropriate behaviour till a vaccine is developed. The ministry also informed that phase 1 and 2 human clinical trials of two indigenously developed COVID-19 vaccine candidates have started.
Maharashtra, Mumbai, Pune Coronavirus Live Updates: At a Covid-19 testing center in Mankhurd on Tuesday. (Express Photo: Amit Chakravarty)
Maharashtra reported 10,320 new cases on Friday, taking the COVID-19 tally to 4,22,118, while 265 fresh deaths raised the toll to 14,994, the state Health department said. A statement from the Health department said 7,543 patients were also discharged from hospitals after they recovered from the viral infection. As many as 2,56,158 COVID-19patients have been discharged so far in the state, it said.
The recovery rate in the state is now60.68 per cent, while the case fatality rate is 3.55 per cent, the statement said. There are 1,50,966 active cases in the state, where the number of people tested so far stood at 21,30,098, it added.
The Bombay High Court on Friday directed the Maharashtra government to take a decision on the representation made by city-based lawyers seeking that legal services be recognised as essential services and that they be permitted to use local trains to commute to courts. A bench led by Chief Justice Dipankar Datta said the state government must inform the court of its decision by August 6.
The bench was hearing a bunch of public interest litigations and intervention applications filed by several lawyers from the city. The petitioners' lawyers Shyam Dewani and Uday Warunjikar informed the court that in the absence of permission to use local trains, lawyers, especially those living in the suburbs, found it difficult to reach the courts.
While the High Court had been conducting virtual hearings, several lower courts still required physical presence, sometimes owing to infrastructure issues or lack of adequate internet connectivity etc, the lawyers argued. The bench accepted the submission and noted that the Bombay High Court too had recently permitted physical filing of cases. The court noted that a similar petition had been filed by another bench of the High Court earlier this month.
On July 10, the bench led by Justice S S Shinde had held that categorising a particular set of professionals as essential service providers was the state government's prerogative.
It had then directed the lawyers before it to make a representation before the state and it had asked the latter to take a decision on the same. On Friday, Advocate General Ashutosh Kumbhakoni told the court that the state government was yet to take a decision on the same. Additional Solicitor General Anil Singh, who represented the Union government, told the court that currently the Western Railways was operating 150 of its 1,365 trains, while the Central railways was operating 353 of its 1,774 trains, with limited stops.
"Even with the limited number of trains, we are finding it difficult to maintain social distancing," he said. However, if the state wishes to augment train services, the understanding between the two governments is that the state can make an assessment of its needs and place a request before the Centre, he added.
THE DEATH toll from Covid-19 in the Maharashtra Police has reached 100and the total case count has crossed the 9,000 mark, as per official data released on Thursday. Of the 9,096 Covid-19 police cases in the two lakh-strong police force of Maharashtra, as reported till Thursday morning, at least 7,084 personnel have recovered while 1,912 remain active cases. Of the 100 police personnel who have succumbed to the infection, eight are officers and 92 constabulary staff. A large portion of the police force continues to be deployed to enforce restrictions at containment zones and at hospitals and Covid Care Centres across the state.
While the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) has detected an average of 1,322 new cases every day in the last 12 days, the average number of patients who have recovered, and been discharged during the period, has also increased to 895.
From July 18 to 29, the PMC detected 15,860 new patients, as the number of total cases in its jurisdiction rose from 35,878 to 51,738. A significant number of patients, 10,742, also recovered from the viral infection in 12 days.
“The increase in the number of new patients had taken the percentage of active patients in comparison to total patients to 39 per cent on July 23 from 36 per cent on July 18. It fell to 34.53 per cent by July 29, after a maximum of 2,543 persons were discharged in a day,” said Additional Municipal Commissioner Rubal Agarwal.
District Collector Naval Kishore Ram on Thursday said the collectorate will be forced to take action against hospitals which do not help patients seeking treatment.
The district collector said he has been getting complaints that private hospitals as well as the civic-run YCM hospital were turning away patients without guiding or directing them to hospitals where beds are available.
“I had said earlier also that patients should first inquire with Sassoon or YCM hospitals. If these two hospitals do not have beds available, it is the duty of these hospitals to help the patient and his relatives find a hospital where a bed is available. The patient and their families should not be made to run from pillar to post. Otherwise, I will have to take action against the officials of the government and civic hospitals,” said the district collector.
The Pune district reported 3,658 new coronavirus cases on Thursday, taking the case tally to 81,771, a health official said. The death toll due to the pandemic in the district rose to 1,922 with 64 patients dying, he said.
"Of the 3,658 new cases, 2,402 are from the Pune Municipal Corporation limits where 51,629 cases have been recorded so far," the official said. "However, 1,315 patients were also discharged from the hospitals on recovery," he added.
893 new coronavirus cases were found in the Pimpri Chinchwad area where the case count now stands at 20,686.
As the “world’s leading manufacturer of vaccines”, India’s private sector has a “very important role” in the global battle against Covid-19, Dr Anthony S Fauci, one of the world’s leading experts on infectious diseases, said on Thursday evening. Dr Fauci was speaking at an online symposium organised by the Indian Council of Medical Research, which was also attended by several other internationally acclaimed epidemiologists and vaccinologists. “India’s private sector also has a very important role to play as the world’s leading manufacturer of vaccines and, as effective Covid-19 vaccines emerge from our research efforts, this manufacturing capability is going to be very, very important,” Dr Fauci said. “Moving forward, we and other (US National Institutes of Health) institutes will continue to work with Indian counterparts and colleagues to assure Indian scientists and Indian impressive research and development capacity are integrated in the global efforts to address the Covid-19 vaccine.”
The Supreme Court today asked the Centre to ensure that the salaries of doctors and health workers involved in the Covid fight are disbursed on time. In its response, the Centre said despite directions, four states have not yet implemented the same.
India on Friday crossed the 16 lakh-mark after over 55,000 fresh Covid-19 cases were recorded within a span of 24 hours, taking the tally to 1,668,870. The death toll also rose to 35,747, according to latest data released by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.
Even as the state government has allowed malls in the state to re-open amid the Covid-19 pandemic, the experience of going to the mall is about to change dramatically, perhaps ushering in the post-Covid-19 world that many had imagined through the lockdown.
Starting August 5, a visit to the mall could entail downloading the Aarogya Setu App, pre-booking for mall entry, restricted use of elevators and sanitisation of fitting rooms and washrooms after each use.
For the retail sector — which like many other businesses had been restricted to online operations through the four months of lockdown — the opening of stores in the city’s malls may bring relief although not without caution.
Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray on Thursday urged elected representatives in Pune to be the connecting point between local residents and the administration in efforts to tackle the Covid-19 pandemic.
Thackeray visited Pune to Thursday to review the city administration’s response to the pandemic. Pune is one of the worst-hit cities, recording over 1,000 new Covid-19 cases every day for weeks.
This was the Shiv Sena chief’s first visit to Pune since he became the chief minister of Maharashtra in November last year.
A vaccine candidate being developed by Oxford University in association with AstraZeneca was able to “prevent” the Coronvirus infection in monkeys, a new study published in the Nature journal has said. Another study in the same journal said even the vaccine being developed by Johnson and Johnson was able to achieve similar results.
Detailed findings of animal trials of these two leading vaccine candidates were published separately in Nature on Thursday. Both the candidates are now being tested on humans. The vaccine being developed by Oxford University has just begun phase-III human trials, while the one by Johnson & Johnson is carrying out phase-I and phase-II trials.
A delegation of the Maharashtra Youth Congress on Thursday met Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari to demand cancellation of the final year university examinations in view of the coronavirus pandemic.While the state government has cancelled the examinations, the University Grants Commission (UGC) had earlier this month issued a circular asking all the universities across the country to wrap up the final term exams before September 30.The delegation raised several points with regard to the pandemic and the safety of students, their families, teaching fraternity, non-teaching staff, the Youth Congress said in a statement.They demanded that the semester results should be calculated using an agreed-upon formula, which assigns aggregate marks to students based on their performance in previous semesters."It is imperative that this should be a uniform process announced by the UGC to be followed by every university and college in India to avoid lapses," it said. Exam fees have been collected by most institutions, which must be refunded. The universities should not charge fees for the current semester or the upcoming one if there is no clarity on the pandemic and re-opening of colleges and next set of examinations, the Youth Congress said. "Students from less affluent and middle-class families are facing extreme financial difficulties as a result of the extended lockdown, which makes it imperative for the authorities to grant them relief in the form of a fee waiver," the delegation said. The marksheets given must be a normal one without any mention like 'given during COVID-19' or 'based on average marks' as it may hamper the students for lifetime.
Maharashtra reports highest single-day spike of 11,147 COVID-19 cases, tally rises to 4,11,798; death toll up by 266 to 14,729.
A delegation of the Maharashtra Youth Congress on Thursday met Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari to demand cancellation of the final year university examinations in view of the coronavirus pandemic.
The delegation raised several points with regard to the pandemic and the safety of students, their families, teaching fraternity, non-teaching staff, the Youth Congress said in a statement.
They demanded that the semester results should be calculated using an agreed-upon formula, which assigns aggregate marks to students based on their performance in previous semesters.
"It is imperative that this should be a uniform process announced by the UGC to be followed by every university and college in India to avoid lapses," it said. (PTI)
Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray on Thursday reviewed the COVID-19 situation in Pune district, which has recorded more than 78,000 cases so far and seen a spurt in infections in recent weeks.
He chaired a meeting of elected representatives, including MP and MLAs, and took stock of the COVID-19 situation and the local administration's response to the pandemic so far. At the meeting, elected representatives put forth their views on the situation and suggested steps to curb the spread of the viral disease which has killed more than 1,800 people so far in the district.
Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar, Environment Minister Aaditya Thackeray, ministers Dilip Walse-Patil, Dattatray Bharne, Pune Mayor Murlidhar Mohol, Kothrud MLA and state BJP president Chandrakant Patil and other elected members from Pune and neighbouring Pimpri-Chinchwad were present at the meeting. (PTI)
Dharavi, Mumbai's biggest slum sprawl, reported six new coronavirus cases on Thursday, which took its overall count to 2,551, a civic official said. The number of active COVID-19 cases from the area has gone down to 80, the senior official of the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) said.
As many as 2,220 patients have already recovered from the infection and were discharged from hospitals, he said. The civic body has, however, stopped disclosing COVID-19 deaths, if any, since last month. (PTI)
An MLA from Maharashtra's Nanded district tested positive for coronavirus on Thursday, a government official said. The legislator had developed COVID-19 symptoms two days back and his swab sample had been collected, said the district official. He was shifted to Mumbai for further treatment.
State Public Works Department Minister Ashok Chavan who hails from Nanded district had contracted the virus earlier. He recovered from the infection. (PTI)
Hundreds of trucks carrying goats for the ritual of sacrifice on Bakrid are stranded at Mumbai's entry points as they are not allowed to sell the animals in public, resulting in many animals dying of starvation.
Animal traders have now demanded a compensation from the Maharashtra government for the losses suffered by them.
On July 15, Maharashtra minister Aslam Shaikh said the state government will set up an online mechanism for the sale and purchase of goats for the upcoming Bakrid festival and no permission will be given for celebration in coronavirus containment zones.
Gathering of people for 'qurbani' (sacrifice) of goats will not be allowed and markets will be allowed only on open grounds, the Mumbai city guardian minister said, adding that big markets like Deonar will not be permitted this time. (PTI)
Amid coronavirus layoffs and job losses, it is not only banks that have received requests to provide relief on loans payments. Family court lawyers in Mumbai are seeking the court’s intervention for waiver or reduction in payment of maintenance to separated wives and children. Read Mayura Janwalkar's report