Coronavirus News Updates: A state health official said the three new patients are from Pimpri Chinchwad Municipal Corporation area near Pune city. All 11 patients are asymptomatic, he added
News LATEST Updates: The number of persons infected with the UK variant of in Maharashtra rose to 11 on Thursday with three new cases coming to light, a state health official said. All 11 cases are asymptomatic, he added.
"So far there were eight passengers with the new strain found in the UK which is 70 percent more infectious. Now three more samples sent to the National Institute of Virology in Pune have also come out positive," he said. All three new patients are from Pimpri Chinchwad Municipal Corporation area near Pune city, he said. Of total 11 cases, one each is from Gujarat and Goa.
Union Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan has written to Maharashtra, Kerala, Chhattisgarh and West Bengal urging them to take steps to curb the spike in cases as these states are reporting an upsurge in the number of daily news cases in the recent days, said the health ministry in a statement. These four states account for 59 percent of the total active cases in the country, according to the ministry.
As per the statement, states have been advised to maintain a ‘strict vigil’ and to take steps to keep a check on the rising cases, especially in view of the new strain of the virus being observed in some countries, which has also been reported in a few states in India. The health secretary has drawn attention to the low and declining testing rates in the states and stressed that "any laxity at this crucial junction may squander the results of our collective actions in containing the transmission," the statement said
Ahead of a country-wide vaccination mock drill scheduled for Friday, Union health minister Harsh Vardhan held a meeting with the health ministers and officials of states and UTs to review preparations, said the Union health ministry in a release. Vardhan asked the health ministers to be vigilant against rumours and disinformation campaigns regarding the safety and efficacy of the COVID19 vaccine.
The second nationwide mock drill of the vaccination drive will be held at three-session sites of 736 districts across 33 States/UTs on Friday. Harsh Vardhan will visit Tamil Nadu to personally review the preparedness and oversee the dry run operations at the scheduled sites, said the ministry.
The Delhi government has decided to re-open the medical colleges under the state government with immediate effect, considering that situation in the National Capital is under control, said Health Minister Satyendar Jain.
"All guidelines related to , in terms of precautions will be duly followed," the minister said attaching a copy of the official order.
Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal urged the Centre to extend the ban on flights between India and the UK till 31 January in view of the extremely serious COVID situation in that country.
Aviation Minister Hardeep Singh Puri had said on Saturday flights from India to the UK will resume from 6 January, while services from that country to here would resume 8 January onwards.
The Union health ministry has informed states and Union Territories that they are likely to receive the first supply of vaccine shortly and asked them to remain prepared to accept these consignments.
"All the states and UTs are likely to receive the first supply of vaccine shortly. "In this regard, you are requested to ensure the advance preparation and readiness for the acceptance of forthcoming supply of the vaccine," Dr Pradeep Halder, advisor, Reproductive and Child Health (RCH) in the health ministry, said in the letter dated 5 January.
Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan Thursday said that priority groups have been decided for vaccination as advised by the experts' group formed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
The Union health minister Thursday said Maharashtra, Kerala and Chhattisgarh have seen a sudden spike in cases recently.
The number of active cases remained below three lakh for the 17th consecutive day. There are 2,28,083 active cases in the country, which account for 2.19 percent of the total caseload.
The number of fresh cases in India increased by 20,346 since yesterday, indicating a 12 percent spike, to hit 1,03,95,278 on Thursday. Of these, a little over 2.8 lakh were active cases.
As many as 222 patients succumbed to the novel in the past 24 hours, taking the toll in the country to 1,50,336, said the health ministry on Thursday.
India reported 20,346 fresh cases of in a span of 24 hours, pushing the overall confirmed cases in the country to 1,03,95,278, according to the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare on Thursday.
Delhi recorded 654 fresh cases and 16 fatalities linked to the disease on Wednesday, even as the positivity rate stood at 0.88 percent, authorities said.
The infection tally in the city rose to 6.28 lakh and the toll mounted to 10,625, they said.
The 654 new cases came out the 74,650 tests conducted the previous day, including 39,623 RT-PCR tests and 35,027 rapid antigen tests, according to the latest bulletin issued by the Delhi health department.
The active cases tally on Wednesday dropped to 4,481 from 4,562 the previous day, it said. Delhi had recorded 442 cases on Tuesday with a positivity rate of 0.55 percent.
Delhi Health Minister Satyendar Jain had tweeted on Saturday that the positivity rate had been below one percent for the past 11 days, and fresh cases were the lowest since 17 May.
From 21-23 December, the daily cases count had been below the 1000-mark. The city reported 803 cases on 21 December; while it registered 939 new infections on 22 December and 871 on 23 December.
However, on 24 December, the National Capital recorded 1,063 cases, dropping again to 758 on 25 December and 655 on 26 December. A total of 757 cases were reported on 27 December while on 28 December, the daily cases count was 564, the lowest in the last five months.
The Wednesday's bulletin said the number of cases has climbed to 6,28,352 in Delhi. Out of the total 14,076 beds in COVID hospitals, 12,371 are vacant, it said.
According to the bulletin, 144 beds in COVID care centres are occupied by people under quarantine, including travellers who have returned by Vande Bharat Mission and bubble flights.
The Delhi government significantly ramped up testing in the past few weeks, with the count on several times crossing the 60,000-mark.
The number of tests done per million, as on Tuesday was over 4.77 lakh while the total number of tests stood at over 90.8 lakh.
The bulletin said that 6,13,246 patients have recovered, been discharged or migrated so far.
The number of containment zones in Delhi dropped to 3,202 on Wednesday from 3,400 the previous day, authorities said.
The number of people in home isolation dropped to 2,067 on Wednesday from 2,426 the previous day.
