Medical staff do swab checking of passengers who come arrived from Delhi to Lucknow. Coronavirus India Live Updates: The Himachal Pradesh government on Saturday said it will impose night curfew in Mandi, Shimla, Kullu and Kangra districts from November 24 to December 15 amid rising Covid-19 cases. The state government has only allowed 50 per cent Class 3 and Class 4 govt employees to attend offices till December 31. The maximum occupancy of buses has also been reduced to 50 percent. The decision to clamp the fresh curbs was taken at a Cabinet meeting chaired by Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi is likely to meet with chief ministers of states and union territories via video conferencing on Tuesday to review the COVID-19 situation and discuss the vaccine distribution strategy. The leaders who would attend the meeting include Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, sources said as quoted by PTI.
India reported 44,059 new Covid-19 cases in the last 24 hours, taking the country’s total tally to 91,39,866, while 511 fatalities pushed the death toll to 1,33,738. There are 4,43,486 active cases of coronavirus in the country at present, while 85,62,642 people have recovered from the disease.
Meanwhile, schools and colleges for classes IX to XII reopened in the rural areas of Pune district for the first time since the coronavirus outbreak started in March, with officials stating over 9000 students attended on day one.
Earlier today, the Supreme Court sought a status report from Delhi, Gujarat, Maharashtra, and Assam on steps taken to control the spread of coronavirus, news agency PTI reported.
The Centre, meanwhile, has dispatched high-level teams to Uttar Pradesh, Punjab and Himachal Pradesh to help them tackle the spread of Covid-19, as states with relatively smaller caseloads have been reporting a spurt in new cases.
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Workers cleaning Tilak Tank near Deccan Gymkhana after Government decided to allow tanks to open for practice of State, National and International swimmers. The tank will open on Monday, 23rd November. (Express photo by Pavan Khengre)
Haryana Pradesh Congress Committee president Kumari Selja on Monday accused the BJP-JJP state government of failing to control the spread of Covid-19 amid rising cases, and claimed that “the actual number of persons infected is more than the official figures”.
“Due to failures and negligence of the government, once again the speed of corona is increasing in the state, which is a matter of great concern. The government should take concrete steps to prevent infection with immediate effect,” she said in a statement.
The Congress leader further said, “Despite repeated warnings by Congress, no concrete arrangements were made by the government to deal with the pandemic. As a result, in the past seven days, 17,557 cases have been reported in Haryana and 155 people have died. Haryana has moved from 9th to 3rd place in a month in terms of the rate of increase in new patients. The number of active patients was also increasing. So far 2,209 people have died of Covid in Haryana.”
Prime Minister Narendra Modi is likely to meet with chief ministers and other representatives of states and union territories via video conferencing on Tuesday to review the COVID-19 situation and discuss the vaccine distribution strategy, sources said. The leaders who would attend the meeting include Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, sources said. The prime minister, till now, has held several virtual meetings with states over the coronavirus situation. While the national daily COVID-19 case count has remained below 50,000 for some time, several urban centres have witnessed a surge, resulting in enforcement of several measures, including curfews in some cities.
Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Monday launched a mobile laboratory that will conduct free RT-PCR tests for COVID-19 here and the results will be available in six to eight hours. The Real-Time Polymerase Chain Reaction (RT-PCR) testing mobile laboratory, a joint initiative of the SpiceHealth and the government, came up after Shah stepped in to fight the recent spurt in the number of COVID-19 cases in Delhi with a close coordination of various wings of the Centre and the Delhi government. The laboratory was inaugurated by the home minister. The tests would be conducted free of cost for the people of Delhi and the reports will be available in six to eight hours, an official spokesperson said. The cost of the test is Rs 499 and it will be borne by the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), the official said.
Schools and colleges for classes IX to XII reopened in the rural areas of Pune district on Monday for the first time since the coronavirus outbreak started in March, with officials stating over 9000 students attended on day one. Zilla Parishad Education Officer Ganpat More said 215 of the over 1,200 schools and colleges in the district's rural areas reopened and 9,431 of the 2.38 lakh registered students attended classes. More said parents were apprehensive about the health of their children as it was the first day and institutions in Pune and Pimpri Chinchwad civic areas were yet to open. More said, as on Saturday, 6,556 teachers had been tested for novel coronavirus in schools in his jurisdiction, and only 29 reports returned positive, and all of them were asymptomatic.
The Maharashtra government on Monday issued fresh guidelines asking for covid negative report from passengers coming from Delhi, Rajasthan, Goa and Gujarat in trains and aircraft.
The COVID-19 death toll in the Union Territory of Ladakh reached 100 as two more people died due to the infection in Leh district, thereby prompting the civil society to call for a self-imposed week-long shutdown from Monday to contain the spread of the virus. A total of 73 people tested positive for coronavirus during the past 24 hours, taking the virus count in the region to 7,939, officials said on Monday.
The COVID-19 death toll in the Union Territory of Ladakh reached 100 as two more people died due to the infection in Leh district, thereby prompting the civil society to call for a self-imposed week-long shutdown from Monday to contain the spread of the virus. A total of 73 people tested positive for coronavirus during the past 24 hours, taking the virus count in the region to 7,939, officials said on Monday.
The Himachal Pradesh government on Saturday imposed night curfew in Mandi, Shimla Kullu and Kangra districts from November 24 to December 15 amid rising Covid-19 cases. The government has only allowed 50 per cent Class 3 and Class 4 govt employees to attend offices till December 31.
*India reported 44,059 new Covid-19 cases in last 24 hours; country's tally at 91,39,866
*Himachal Pradesh government imposes night curfew in Mandi, Shimla, Kullu and Kangra districts from Nov 24-Dec 15
*SC has sought status report from Delhi, Gujarat, Maharashtra, and Assam on steps taken to control the spread of virus
*Centre dispatched high-level teams to UP, Punjab and Himachal Pradesh to help them tackle the spread of Covid-19
*Rajasthan Health Minister Raghu Sharma tested tested positive for coronavirus
*The global coronavirus infections total is 58,563,451. The global death toll is nearing 1.4 million people
*AstraZeneca said its vaccine for coronavirus could be around 90% effective without any serious side effects
*China is imposing lockdowns and shutting down schools after locally transmitted cases were discovered in three cities across the country
*Russia suffers worst daily caseload increase of 25,173 new infections
*Germany may start Covid-19 vaccine programme in December
British Health Secretary Matt Hancock said it was "fantastic news" that data on Monday showed that a Covid-19 vaccine developed by AstraZeneca with Oxford University could be up to 90% effective and reduce its transmission, Reuters reported.
Hancock said AstraZeneca, Oxford and the medicine regulator would have to study the results to see how best to administer the vaccine once it was found to be safe.
"One of the things that regulator will need to look at is whether the programme for how the doses are done which can lead to the 90% effectiveness figure, whether that is the appropriate way to take the Oxford vaccine forward," he told BBC TV.
He also said there was evidence in the report that the vaccine could reduce transmission of the disease."Now of course that would be very good news if confirmed, because obviously what we want to do is not only stop people from getting the disease but also stop its transmission," he further added.
Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath Monday lauded the contributiin of those involved in dealing with the coronavirus pandemic in the state and said their efforts have also been acknowledged at the global level, reported PTI.
Because of the contribution of those involved in dealing with the pandemic, international organisations like the WHO have praised the coronavirus management of Uttar Pradesh, the chief minister said, after digitally inaugurating BSL laboratories in government and private medical colleges and other facilities in Lucknow.
"When the first COVID-19 case was detected in the state, there were no testing facilities nor beds," Yogi Adityanath said, adding, "The medical colleges, district hospitals as well as private hospitals and central institutes have together worked as a team. From 72 tests per day on March 23, the state's testing capacity has grown and 1.75 lakh COVID-19 tests were conducted on Saturday. Now, there is no problem as far as testing is concerned, he said, adding that a total of 1.80 crore COVID-19 tests have so far been conducted in Uttar Pradesh and the capacity will further improve from Monday."
Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath Monday lauded the contributiin of those involved in dealing with the coronavirus pandemic in the state and said their efforts have also been acknowledged at the global level, reported PTI.
Because of the contribution of those involved in dealing with the pandemic, international organisations like the WHO have praised the coronavirus management of Uttar Pradesh, the chief minister said, after digitally inaugurating BSL laboratories in government and private medical colleges and other facilities in Lucknow.
"When the first COVID-19 case was detected in the state, there were no testing facilities nor beds," Yogi Adityanath said, adding, "The medical colleges, district hospitals as well as private hospitals and central institutes have together worked as a team. From 72 tests per day on March 23, the state's testing capacity has grown and 1.75 lakh COVID-19 tests were conducted on Saturday. Now, there is no problem as far as testing is concerned, he said, adding that a total of 1.80 crore COVID-19 tests have so far been conducted in Uttar Pradesh and the capacity will further improve from Monday."
AstraZeneca said on Monday its vaccine for the novel coronavirus, developed along with the University of Oxford, could be around 90% effective under one dosing regimen.
“This vaccine’s efficacy and safety confirm that it will be highly effective against COVID-19 and will have an immediate impact on this public health emergency,” Pascal Soriot, Astra’s chief executive, said in a statement.
The measles-mumps-rubella (MMR) vaccine may provide protection against Covid-19, according to a study that could also explain why children have a much lower case rate and death rate of the disease when compared to that of adults, reported PTI.
The study, published in the journal mBio, provides further proof by showing that mumps IgG titers, or IgG antibody levels, are inversely correlated with severity in recovered Covid-19 patients previously vaccinated with the MMR II vaccine.
Lead study author Jeffrey E. Gold, president of World Organization in Georgia, US, said, "We found a statistically significant inverse correlation between mumps titer levels and COVID-19 severity in people under age 42 who have had MMR II vaccinations."
"This adds to other associations demonstrating that the MMR vaccine may be protective against COVID-19. It also may explain why children have a much lower COVID-19 case rate than adults, as well as a much lower death rate," Gold added, adding that the majority of children get their first MMR vaccination around 12 to 15 months of age and a second one from 4 to 6 years of age.
An order to close two evening markets in Nangloi in west Delhi for violation of COVID-19 safety measures was withdrawn by the district administration hours after it was issued, officials said on Monday.
The Punjabi Basti Market and Janta Market in Nangloi were closed till November 30 through an order of the West Delhi District Disaster Management Authority(DDMA) CEO and ADM and sealing action was taken by teams of district officials backed by municipal corporation and police personnel on Sunday.
However, the order for closure was withdrawn hours later as the Delhi government proposal for regulation of markets amid the pandemic is pending with the Centre.
Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal Monday gave orders for MBBS students and dentists to be allowed to assist in hospitals and Covid ICUs to meet manpower shortage. Government hospitals can now engage 4th and 5th year MBBS students and dentists to assist doctors in the treatment of Covid-19 patients.
In an order last Wednesday, the state health department had permitted all heads of Covid hospitals under the Delhi government to engage fourth- and fifth-year MBBS students, interns and BDS-pass doctors to assist duty doctors. The decision was taken after the government augmented the number of ICU beds in the hospitals owing to the rise in the daily Covid cases.
However, the Federation of Resident Doctors’ Association (FORDA), an umbrella body of resident doctors, had raised objections to the order.
The Supreme Court on Monday asked the Centre and all states to file status reports detailing steps taken to deal with the current Covid-19 situation, reported PTI.
The apex court said the Covid-19 situation in the national capital has worsened and asked the Delhi government to file status reports on steps taken to deal with it. It further said, "After Delhi and Maharashtra, Covid-19 situation in Gujarat has also worsened and it is going out of control."
Schools reopened in some rural areas of Pune on Monday. Below are visuals from a school in Pune.
Rajasthan Health Minister Raghu Sharma tested positive for Covid-19, he said in a tweet on Monday, and requested those who have come in contact with him in the past few days to isolate themselves.
Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot wished him a speedy recovery, and tweeted, "Wishing my ministerial colleague, Dr. Raghu Sharma ji speedy recovery from #COVID19. May he gets well soon."
Mahatma Gandhi's South African great-grandson, Satish Dhupelia, succumbed to Covid-19 complications in Johannesburg on Sunday, three days after his 66th birthday, a family member said, PTI reported.
Dhupelia's sister Uma Dhupelia-Mesthrie confirmed her brother had died of Covid-19 related complications after he contracted the diease in hospital where he was undergoing treatment for Pneumonia for a month. "My beloved brother has passed on after a month of illness with pneumonia, a superbug contracted in hospital and then COVID-19 also contracted while he was being treated. He suffered a major cardiac arrest this evening," she said in a social media post
Dhupelia, his sister Uma and another sister Kirti Menon are descendants of Manilal Gandhi, who Mahatma Gandhi left behind in South Africa to continue his work after he returned to India after spending two decades.