The Supreme Court on Friday said it is the government’s duty to ensure affordable medical treatment for COVID-19 patients. It said medical care during the pandemic has become so costly that ordinary people cannot afford it at all.
The court also said a successful “World War” on the virus depends on “government-public partnership”. For this, the government should be transparent about the facts and figures regarding COVID-19 infection spread.
You can track coronavirus cases, deaths and testing rates at the national and State levels here. A list of State Helpline numbers is available as well.
Here are the latest updates:
China to inoculate frontline workers first
China will begin its COVID-19 inoculation programme by first vaccinating some key priority groups, including those involved in medical treatment and disease control, within the winter-spring period, before starting a mass roll out, the National Health Commission (NHC) said on Saturday.
The vaccination programme will also cover those who plan to work or study in counties and regions with medium or high risks of exposure to the virus, Cui Gang, an official with NHC’s disease control department, told reporters. - PTI
"Situation in Delhi has improved significantly"
Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said the third wave of the coronavirus pandemic in Delhi seems to be under control now, as the city reported 1,133 fresh cases at a positivity rate of less than 1.5%.
“There was a time in November when the daily cases went up to nearly 8,600. But, even then it wasn’t a panicky situation in Delhi, and beds were available. We fought it all together. The fresh cases count today is 1,133, the official report will soon be out,” he told an online briefing.
The highest single-day spike till date – 8,593 cases – was reported on November 11.
India crosses somber milestone of 1 crore COVID-19 cases
India Saturday crossed the somber milestone of one crore COVID-19 cases, adding 10 lakh infections in nearly a month, even as the virus spread slowed and recoveries surged to over 95.50 lakh, according to Union Health Ministry data.
The country’s COVID-19 case tally had surpassed the 20-lakh mark on August 7, 30 lakh on August 23, and 40 lakh on September 5.
It went past 50 lakh on September 16, 60 lakh on September 28, 70 lakh on October 11, 80 lakh on October 29, and surpassed 90 lakh on November 20.
The health ministry’s data updated at 8 am on Saturday showed the total number of cases mounted to 1,00,04,599, and the death toll to 1,45,136 with the virus claiming 347 more lives in a span of 24 hours. - PTI
COVAX secures two billion COVID-19 vaccine doses
Global vaccine partnership COVAX has lined up almost two billion doses of existing and candidate COVID-19 vaccines for use worldwide, including 200 million doses of the AstraZeneca/Oxford vaccine through an agreement between the Vaccine Alliance Gavi, the Serum Institute of India and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.
COVAX, the global initiative to ensure rapid and equitable access to COVID-19 vaccines for all countries, regardless of income level, announced on Friday that it had arrangements in place to access nearly two billion doses of COVID-19 vaccine candidates on behalf of 190 participating economies.
This includes delivering at least 1.3 billion donor-funded doses of approved vaccines in 2021 to the 92 low-and middle-income economies.
This is fantastic news and a milestone in global health, World Health Organisation (WHO) Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told reporters.
This is a time for taking comfort that the end of the pandemic is in sight, but taking care that we do not let down our guard. We are all responsible for taking the measures to keep ourselves and each other safe, including during this holiday season.
With today’s news the light at the end of the tunnel has grown a little bit brighter, but we are not there yet. And we will only get there together, he said.
Ordinary people can’t afford healthcare: Supreme Court
The Supreme Court on Friday said it is the government’s duty to ensure affordable medical treatment for COVID-19 patients. It said medical care during the pandemic has become so costly that ordinary people cannot afford it at all.
The court also said a successful “World War” on the virus depends on “government-public partnership”. For this, the government should be transparent about the facts and figures regarding COVID-19 infection spread.
“Otherwise, the people will be misled and they will be under the impression that everything is alright and they will become negligent,” the court noted.
A three-judge Bench led by Justice Ashok Bhushan addressed the issue of the deteriorating health of fatigued doctors, nurses and medical workers.
Researchers point to benefits of indomethacin in COVID-19 care
A pre-print published recently in Medrxiv has advanced the case to use indomethacin, a drug conventionally used in the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis, for faster symptomatic relief and preventing progression of pneumonia in COVID-19 patients.
A total of 104 patients who had tested COVID-19 positive received the drug, along with standard care in two centres — Narayana Medical College, Nellore, Andhra Pradesh, and Datta Meghe Institute of Medical Sciences, Wardha, Maharashtra. The study was conceived by Rajan Ravichandran, senior nephrologist, MIOT Hospital, here, and executed along with R. Krishnakumar of the Department of Engineering Design at the Indian Institute of Technology-Madras, besides researchers from the participating hospitals. The authors have called for indomethacin to replace paracetamol if there is no contraindication for its use.
Sydney beach suburbs in lockdown as cases rise
Sydney’s northern beaches will enter a lockdown similar to the one imposed during the start of the COVID-19 pandemic in March as a cluster of cases in the area increased to 41.
From late Saturday afternoon until midnight Wednesday, residents will only be permitted to leave their homes for five basic reasons: medical care, exercise, grocery shop, work or for compassionate care reasons. An additional 23 cases were recorded in the 24 hours, including 10 already announced, taking the new cases to 41. All but two of those are from the so-called Avalon cluster, named after a community of about 10,000 people on the northern beaches about 40 km from downtown Sydney.
New South Wales state Premier Gladys Berejiklian says the restrictions are essential if Sydney has any hope of a semi-normal Christmas.
Members testing positive for virus can take oath wearing PPEs
The newly elected members of local bodies who test positive for COVID-19 or are prescribed quarantined will be allowed to take the oath on December 21 wearing personal protective equipment (PPE), the State Election Commission has said.
Such members will be permitted to take their oaths after all other members have done so, the commission said in a circular issued to District Collectors and officials on election-related duty and the Local Self-Government Department. The members should inform the returning officer concerned before the swearing-in ceremony if he/she is a COVID-19 patient or in quarantine. The District Election Officer concerned has been directed to provide such members with PPE kits.
Italy imposes partial lockdown for Christmas holiday
Italian Premier Giuseppe Conte has announced there will be a partial lockdown nationwide for most of the Christmas holiday season, citing concerns that gatherings of families and friends could re-ignite the virus’s spread.
The new decree puts strict limits on movements on holidays and weekends from December 21 through the January 6 Epiphany holiday, with a slight easing on four weekdays. To allow a glimmer of Christmas cheer, personal visits to friends or family members of no more than two people are allowed on any given day. Mr. Conte called the limits “a painful decision.”
The move comes as Lombardy, Veneto and Lazio registered a rate of transmission of over 1, meaning the virus is again spreading in three key regions after weeks of decrease in the contagion curve. The national rate is 0.86, meaning on average the curve is flattening.
Italy was the first western country hit by the pandemic, and also has recorded the highest death toll in Europe, reaching nearly 67,900 on Friday.
(With inputs from our Correspondents and agencies)