The ministry had restarted domestic passenger services from May 25, after a gap of two months due to the coronavirus-triggered lockdown.Airlines may soon be permitted to operate maximum 75 per cent of their pre-COVID scheduled domestic flights if the passenger numbers continue to remain healthy in the coming 7-10 days, Civil Aviation Minister Hardeep Singh Puri said on Thursday.
“Our internal thinking is that we will watch it for another week or 10 days…If the figures (of passengers travelling) continue to be healthy, we would open domestic civil aviation to 75 per cent of the pre-COVID levels,” Puri was quoted as saying by news agency PTI. The government on September 2 had said Indian airlines can operate up to 60 per cent of their pre-Covid services within the country.
As many as 971 people succumbed to Covid-19 in India in a span of 24 hours, taking the overall tally to 105,526, according to latest data released by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare. With over 78,000 cases during the same period, the total caseload stood at 6.83 million on Thursday.
Taking into account the surge in cases, the Centre will launch a nationwide campaign to ensure that people continue to adhere to Covid-19 norms during the forthcoming festive season. The ‘Jan Andolan for COVID-19 Appropriate Behaviour’ will be launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi through a tweet.
Sources said meetings regarding the campaign were conducted over the last week and involved the Home Ministry, the Cabinet Secretary and the state Chief Secretaries. The government has reached out to social media influencers such as celebrities, sportspersons and doctors to spread the word.
Globally, over 36 million cases have been reported with as many as one million fatalities. Over 25 million people have recovered so far.
Health workers disinfect an ambulance outside a Covid-19 hospital in Pune. (Express Photo: Arul Horizon)
In some relief after a sharp spike in COVID-19 cases, Kerala on Thursday reported 7,00 recoveries and 5,445 fresh COVID-19 cases while the toll mounted to 930. The total infection count has touched 2,56,850, while 1,67,256 people have recovered so far and 90,579 are present undergoing treatment, Health Minister KK Shailaja said. The state, which has been witnessing a sharp increase in new cases since last month, on Thursday recorded its highest single-day surge of 10,606 cases, with the first-ever five-digit daily count and 73,816 samples were tested. (PTI)
Moderna Inc said on Thursday it would not enforce patents related to its experimental COVID-19 vaccine while the pandemic continues, a move that would allow other drugmakers to develop shots using the company's technology.
Moderna is not asserting its intellectual property rights for its vaccine technology and is willing to license the technology behind its experimental coronavirus vaccine after the pandemic, the company said in a statement.
The company is one of the furthest along in the US race for a vaccine seen as essential to ending a pandemic that has claimed more than a million lives worldwide.
How often do you see people wearing only face shields made of plastic and no mask? While stepping out with only face shields on may seem like a more comfortable option than wearing tight-fitting face masks like N95, they may be completely ineffective if a recent study is to go by. Click here to know more.
Airlines may soon be permitted to operate a maximum 75 per cent of their pre-COVID scheduled domestic flights if the passenger numbers continue to remain healthy in the coming 7-10 days, Civil Aviation Minister Hardeep Singh Puri said on Thursday. “Our internal thinking is that we will watch it for another week or 10 days…If the figures (of passengers traveling) continue to be healthy, we would open domestic civil aviation to 75 per cent of the pre-COVID levels,” Puri was quoted as saying by news agency PTI. The government on September 2 had said Indian airlines can operate up to 60 per cent of their pre-Covid services within the country.
Madhya Pradesh Home Minister Narottam Mishra Thursday said that in its fresh set of Covid-19 guidelines, the Union Home Ministry has relaxed the restriction on the gathering of more than 100 people at political rallies. The minister, however, said the use of masks, sanitisers, and social distancing will continue as before. (PTI)
A widely shared video of a tearful aged owner of a small eatery in South Delhi, talking about how he had no customers, prompted an outpouring of support. Since the video was uploaded it has been viewed over 80,000 times on YouTube alone. It also prompted an outpouring of support from people, including celebrities and political leaders, all of whom sought to support the couple. Read the full story here.
Two people died of coronavirus in Kargil in Ladakh, taking the death toll in the Union Territory to 63, a bulletin said on Thursday.
Ladakh reported 82 new cases, taking the cumulative figure to 4,802, the bulletin released by the Directorate of Health Services said. With 47 more patients cured of the disease, the number of discharged persons rose to 3,511, it said.
The number of active cases in the region stands at 1,228 -- 953 in Leh district and 275 in Kargil district, the bulletin said. (PTI)
While the overall number of Covid-19 patients in India is rising — it is currently the third highest in the world after the US and Brazil — it has been argued that mortality rate (1.55 per cent) is among the lowest in the world. However, Rajib Dasgupta (‘Global pandemic, local response’) warns against any complacency. He cites the medical journal, The Lancet, which recently cautioned India about “the dangers of false optimism”. Dasgupta, chairperson at the Centre of Social Medicine & Community Health, JNU, lists the possible reasons for Asian countries experiencing lower Covid-19 mortality as compared to countries in Europe. He writes, “The initial high mortality in Spain and France has been attributed to several reasons: More than 75 per cent of the deaths were among those aged more than 75 years and living in care homes; high prevalence of comorbidities, obesity and smoking among those infected; disproportionate number of health care providers infected early on (15 per cent of total cases) rendering the health services weak; and, shortage of diagnostic tests and personal protective equipment.” Click here to read more.
Kerala and Karnataka reported more than 10,000 new cases of coronavirus infection on Wednesday, both touching new records in the process, but the national count remained well within 80,000. Karnataka has reported more than 10,000 cases on three earlier occasions as well, but Kerala, which is in the midst of a major surge for the last three weeks, went past that number for the first time. Till the start of September, the maximum number of cases that Kerala had reported in a single day was just about 2,500. But there has been a major surge after that, and in the last three weeks, the average number of new cases every day has been nearing 7,000. The positivity rate, or the number of people found positive out of those who are tested, has been steadily increasing. It was about 4.5 per cent at the start of September, and has gone above 7.5 per cent now. It means more positives are being reported from the same number of tests, and indicates that the infection has been spreading rapidly in the population. Click here to read more.
A week after announcing a 25 per cent relief in fee in private schools for the current academic session across all boards along with no fee under co-curricular activities, the Gujarat education department on Wednesday issued a Government Resolution (GR) notifying the move. However, the private schools are not contented with the GR citing ambiguity over the deadline to pay 50 per cent fee in order to avail this 25 per cent relief in tuition fee. On September 30, after the state cabinet meeting took the decision, Education Minister Bhupendrasinh Chudasama had said that the parents had to pay 50 per cent of the fee till October 31 to avail of the 25 per cent relief. Click here to read more.
After more than six months, the liquor shops and restaurants in Daman & Diu and Dadra & Nagar Haveli (D&NH) falling under the non-containment zones reopened on Wednesday. The liquor shops will be open from 10 am to 10 pm, following standard operating procedures. Gujarat has strict prohibition laws and a large number of people from South and Central Gujarat go to Daman and Silvassa in Dadra and Nagar Haveli to consume liquor. Sources said that there are over 100 liquor bars and restaurants in Silvassa and over 230 such restaurants in Daman. Click here to read more.
The Jharkhand government allowed a maximum of 50 people inside a place of worship while devotees must wear masks and maintain social distancing. The state government allowed religious institutions to reopen after more than six months on Thursday. Places of worship in areas other than containment zones can reopen and heads of these religious institutions must ensure adherence to the Covid-19 protocol, a notification issued by Chief Secretary Sukhdev Singh on Wednesday night said. "Not more than 50 people will gather at a time at any place of worship and a distance of six feet between each devotee must be maintained," the notification said.
Navi Mumbai Municipal Corporation (NMMC) has recently served a showcause notice to Sanpada-based Ryan International School for removing students from online learning groups over non-payment of fees. Parents have claimed that several students were removed by the school faculties last Friday. The showcause notice, dated October 3, stated that by removing students of classes I to VIII from online sessions and compelling students to pay fees, the school appears to be violating the provisions of Right to Education Act, 2009, and depriving them of compulsory elementary education. “You have deprived students from compulsory education and also caused mental harassment to students by violating the provisions of RTE Act, 2009,” said the notice signed by Commissioner Abhijit Banger. Click here to read more.
Observing that despite easing of lockdown restrictions, local train services on both Central Railway (CR) and Western Railway (WR) had not increased correspondingly, the Bombay High Court on Wednesday directed the central and state governments to ensure that services on both lines are increased to 700 per day each to avoid overcrowding in Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR). The court also questioned the state regarding the steps it had taken to ensure that physical distancing norms were followed for the existing services. Click here to read more.
Kerala on Wednesday crossed the grim milestone of 10,000 Covid-19 cases in a day. The state reported 10,606 new cases even as a record number of 73,816 samples were processed in the last 24 hours. The state’s active cases rose to 92,161. While Maharashtra has been adding daily Covid cases in five digits, the average daily growth rate in that state has come down to 1 per cent compared to Kerala’s 3.8 per cent — the highest figure in the country. Click here to read more.
Two members belonging to the Students Federation of India (SFI) in Gujarat were arrested for allegedly holding public gatherings amid the pandemic without permission to protest against the Hathras case in Sabarkantha on Wednesday night. Speaking to The Indian Express, inspector and in-charge of Prantij PS in Sabarkantha, PL Vaghela, said, “The two have been organising public gatherings in villages every night for the past few days regarding the Hathras case without police permission.” He added: “We also received pictures from state intelligence which showed that they were not wearing any masks. The number of Covid cases have been rising in Sabarkantha, especially Prantij, and we booked them under IPC 188 and arrested them yesterday. Since it’s a bailable offence, the duo was released from custody last night itself.” Click here to read more.
Gujarat reported nine Covid-19 deaths on Wednesday as the cumulative tally neared 1.47 lakh. As many as 1,311 new cases were reported on Wednesday. The state health department also empowered district health officers and medical officers to grant approval to private laboratories, who have sought permission, to conduct rapid antibody tests. Ahmedabad district has crossed over 37,000 cases and Surat has reported over 31,000 cases. Rajkot crossed 11,000 cases and Junagadh’s tally stands at over 3,000 cases. The four districts along with Vadodara and Jamnagar, make up over 1.01 lakh of the total cases, that is over two-third of the total case load.
As many as 971 people succumbed to Covid-19 in India in a span of 24 hours, taking the overall tally to 105,526, according to latest data released by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare. With over 78,000 cases during the same period, the total caseload stood at 6.83 million on Thursday.
The Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) has decided to extend its current agreements — for the treatment of Covid-19 patients referred by the civic administration — with only four of the 11 private city hospitals working in tandem with the civic body. The PMC had inked a six-month agreement with all 11 hospitals at the beginning of the pandemic. However, demand for hospital beds has decreased due to decline in active Covid-19 cases. If there is an increase in demand for oxygen beds, the agreements with the remaining private hospitals will be extended as per requirement, sources said. After the Covid-19 outbreak in the city, the PMC had begun treatment of infected residents in civic hospitals, Covid Care Centres across the city and Sassoon Hospital. Click here to read more.