Students undergo thermal scanning and get their hands sanitized as they arrive at a school that was reopened with certain COVID-19 safety guidelines, in Thane, Tuesday, Feb 16, 2021. (PTI Photo) The Government on Wednesday informed that the vaccination coverage in the country has crossed 9.06 million doses ranking India at the third position after USA (55.2 million doses) and the UK (16.12 million doses).
The US and the UK have completed more than 60 days of vaccination while India has completed 31 days since the inoculation drive began on January 16.
The Principal Secretary to the Prime Minister today chaired a high-level meeting to review in detail the progress of Covid-19 vaccination drive across the country and steps to accelerate the pace of vaccination.
Plans to involve private sector healthcare facilities in a significant way in the ongoing Covid-19 vaccination drive were discussed, the government said, adding that this will enable registration of the population in the 50 years plus category for vaccination.
The Union Health Ministry said vaccinations for the frontline workers carried out till 6 pm, today is 26,64,972, forming 28.9 per cent of the eligible frontline workers.
It added that nine States/UTs have recorded a coverage of more than 75% of first dose of HCW. These include Bihar(84.7%), Tripura(82.3%), Odisha(81.5%), Lakshwadeep(81%), Gujarat(80.2%), Chhattisgarh(78.8%), Madhya Pradesh(76.7%), Uttarakhand(76.6%) and Himachal Pradesh(75.1%).
Meanwhile, with the coronavirus numbers in Maharashtra showing a spike over the last two weeks, the state has reintroduced some restrictions on the assembly and movement of people. The state government has warned that it could even bring back the lockdown if it was felt necessary.
Every day of the last week, for the first time since mid-January, Maharashtra has reported more than 3,000 new cases of coronavirus infections. The new cases in the second week of February were at least 14 per cent more than the first.
In the week ending this Sunday (February 14), 20,207 new cases were detected across the state, compared to 17,672 in the previous week (February 1-7). In the week prior to that (January 25-31), the state had reported 17,293 cases.
India on Wednesday recorded 11,610 new Covid-19 cases, taking the total tally of cases to 1,09,37,320, according to data from the Union Health Ministry. With 10 more fatalities in the last 24 hours, the death toll has reached 1,55,913.
As many as 1,06,44,858 people have recovered from the disease so far. The national recovery rate stands at 97.33 per cent. There are 1,36,549 active cases in the country at present, accounting for 1.25 per cent of its total caseload.
A sanitation worker receives the first dose of Covaxin vaccine, at Hindu Rao Hospital, in New Delhi, Tuesday, Feb 16, 2021. (PTI Photo)
Federal agents have seized more than 10 million fake 3M brand N95 masks in recent weeks, the result of an ongoing investigation into counterfeits sold in at least five states to hospitals, medical facilities and government agencies. The most recent seizures occurred Thursday when Homeland Security agents intercepted hundreds of thousands of counterfeit 3M masks in an East Coast warehouse that were set to be distributed, officials said.
Investigators also notified about 6,000 potential victims in at least 12 states including hospitals, medical facilities and others who may have unknowingly purchased knockoffs, urging them to stop using the medical-grade masks. Officials encouraged medical workers and companies to go to 3Ms website for tips on how to spot fakes. (AP)
India hosting meet on COVID-19 management; nine countries invited
India is hosting on Thursday a regional conclave on management of coronavirus pandemic and nine countries, including Afghanistan Bangladesh, Bhutan, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka, have been invited for it, official sources said.
They said Mauritius and Seychelles too have been invited for the meeting on "COVID-19 Management: Experience, Good Practices and Way Forward".
The sources said India's health secretary will chair the event and each country has been invited to participate in one-plus-one format -- health secretary and head of technical team in charge of COVID-19 management.
-PTI
Andhra Pradesh records 51 new Covid-19 cases, 2 deaths
Andhra Pradesh has reported 51 new Covid-19 cases, 57 recoveries and two deaths yesterday, as per State Health Department. Of the total 8,89,010 cases, 607 are active while 8,81,238 people have recovered from the infection. The death in the state has climbed to 7,165.
Meanwhile, global shares were mostly lower Wednesday as investors sold to lock in profits from the recent rally driven by hopes economies will gradually return to a pre-pandemic normal.
France's CAC 40 slipped 0.3% in early trading to 5,768.12, while Germany's DAX dipped 0.5% to 14,000.90. Britain's FTSE 100 lost 0.2% to 6,733.87. US shares were set to meander with Dow futures little changed at 31,462. The S&P 500 future contract was up less than 0.1% at 3,928.38.
Japan's benchmark Nikkei 225 dipped 0.6% to finish at 30,292.19, even as the vaccination drive against COVID-19 began, starting with health care workers. South Korea's Kospi dropped 0.9% to 3,133.73. Australia's S&P/ASX 200 slipped 0.5% to 6,885.20. Hong Kong's Hang Seng gained 1.1% to 31,084.94. Trading was closed in Shanghai for the Lunar New Year holiday. (AP)
Last week, Bihar set up 10 teams to conduct a state-wide probe based on the findings of an investigation by The Indian Express on how Covid testing data was allegedly fudged and inflated to meet targets in three districts. But the state government insisted that there were “irregularities” mainly in just one — Jamui.
New records accessed and tracked by The Indian Express show otherwise.
Data compiled by four Primary Health Centres and two government hospitals in Bhagalpur show 1,438 entries for RT-PCR tests with 10 zeroes listed as their numbers and incomplete addresses, making it virtually impossible to trace them. The data, from December 13, 2020 to January 5, 2021, do not show results of the tests conducted.
Moving to ensure the authenticity of crucial data that it compiles to chart the state’s Covid graph, Bihar’s Health Department has asked all civil surgeons in charge of districts to ensure that those who get tested in facilities under their jurisdiction produce a valid ID, senior officials told The Indian Express.
The move comes after an investigation by The Indian Express found several gaps in Covid testing data compiled by Primary Health Centres and other facilities in at least four districts, including alleged large-scale fudging of contact details essential for tracing the entries.
With the Union Health Ministry confirming the detection of the South African and Brazilian variants of coronavirus in the country, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi Wednesday attacked the government and said it is being grossly negligent and over confident about Covid-19.
“GOI is being grossly negligent and over confident about Covid-19. It’s not over yet,” Gandhi said in a tweet.
With the coronavirus number showing an increasing trend over the last two weeks, Maharashtra has reintroduced some restrictions on the assembly and movement of people. The state government has warned that it could even bring back the lockdown if it was felt necessary.
Every day of the last week, for the first time since mid-January, Maharashtra has reported more than 3,000 new cases of coronavirus infections. The new cases in the second week of February were at least 14 per cent more than the first. In the week ending this Sunday (February 14), 20,207 new cases were detected across the state, compared to 17,672 in the previous week (February 1-7). In the week prior to that (January 25-31), the state had reported 17,293 cases. Read on to find out more
The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) Wednesday said it will review the increase in Covid-19 cases in Mumbai. "If the cases continue to rise and people ignore COVID norms and regulations, then BMC will not hesitate in taking a strong measure within the next 10 days," said BMC Additional Municipal Commissioner Suresh Kakani.
The civic body also wrote to Maitri Park Society, Chembur instructing them to restrict the entry of outsiders and implement measures like thermal screening, ensure strict quarantine guidelines to be followed for 14 days by the family of any positive case, and test symptomatic people, news agency ANI reported.
Following the detection of Covid-19 cases among nearly 40 nursing students from Kerala at a hostel in Bengaluru, the Karnataka government has made it mandatory for all returnees from Kerala to have a Covid 19 negative test report from at least three days prior to their arrival in the state.
“All the returnees from Kerala shall produce negative RT PCR certificate which is not older than 72 hours,” said a circular issued Tuesday by the state and signed by the additional chief secretary Jawaid Akhtar.
The special surveillance measures for people arriving from Kerala has been put in place on the advice of the state Covid-19 technical advisory committee in the wake of a spike in cases among arrivals from the neighboring state, the Karnataka health department said.
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