Senior citizens wait outside Covishield vaccination center at Late Shivshankar Pote Hospital in Padmavati to take vaccine on Thursday. (Express Photo by Pavan Khengre)Coronavirus India Live Updates: In a latest development regarding Covid-19 management, the Centre on Saturday asked states and union territories witnessing surge in cases to continue with the strategy of “test, track and treat” and accelerate vaccination for priority population groups in districts reporting higher infections on mission mode.
Meanwhile, the Centre has rushed high-level multi-disciplinary public health teams to Maharashtra and Punjab in view of the increase in number of daily COVID-19 cases being reported by these states. The teams are being deployed to assist State Health Departments in coronavirus surveillance, control and containment measures, the Union health ministry said. The teams will visit the (COVID-19) hotspot areas in the states and ascertain reasons for the surge in cases, the ministry said.
Nearly 15 lakh people were inoculated against coronavirus on March 5, the highest in a day so far, taking the total number of vaccine doses administered in the country to over 1.94 crore, the health ministry said on Saturday. India is currently undergoing phase II of its Covid-19 inoculation drive, allowing citizens above the age of 60 and above 45 with co-morbidities to take the jab.
India reported 18,327 fresh Covid-19 cases in the 24 hours ending 8 am Saturday, taking the total number of infections to over 1.11 crore. With 108 deaths reported on Friday, the country’s death toll is now over 1.57 lakh. Out of the total cases, over 1.80 lakh are active while 1.08 crore have recovered after testing positive.
Vaccination site at Bandra Kurla Complex (BKC) Jambo Covid Hospital in Mumbai on Thursday morning.(Express Photo by Pradip Das)
The surge in COVID-19 cases in Maharashtra could be due to lack of fear of the disease among people and pandemic fatigue, the Centre said on Saturday while asking the state to not let its guard down. The observations were shared by the central government after a team of experts visited the state on March 1 and 2.
According to Health Ministry data, there are over 90,000 active coronavirus cases in Maharashtra.
"While the exact causes of surge are not known -- since laxity in COVID-19 behaviour is not specific to the state -- the possible factors are COVID-inappropriate behaviour due to lack of fear of disease, pandemic fatigue; miss outs and super spreaders; and enhanced aggregations due to recent gram panchayat elections, marriage season and opening of schools, crowded public transport, etc.," according to a report shared by the government. (PTI)
The Union Health Ministry has approved administration of Covid-19 vaccine to dependents of armed forces personnel as well as veterans in service hospitals, the Indian Army said on Saturday.
"The process is likely to commence next week after completion of registration of armed forces medical facilities on Co-WIN Platform. Guidelines for the same will be issued in a few days," the Army said on Twitter.
The government had announced last month that everyone above 60 years of age and those over 45 years with comorbidities will be able to get Covid-19 vaccine from March 1 for free at government facilities and for a charge at many private hospitals. (PTI)
The virus swept through a nursery school and an adjacent elementary school in the Milan suburb of Bollate with amazing speed. In a matter of just days, 45 children and 14 staff members had tested positive.
Genetic analysis confirmed what officials already suspected: The highly contagious coronavirus variant first identified in England was racing through the community, a densely packed city of nearly 40,000 with a chemical plant and Pirelli bicycle tire factory a 15-minute drive from the heart of Milan.
"This is the demonstration that the virus has a sort of intelligence. ... We can put up all the barriers in the world and imagine that they work, but in the end, it adapts and penetrates them,'' lamented Bollate Mayor Francesco Vassallo. (AP)
Europe recorded 1 million new coronavirus cases last week, an increase of 9 per cent from the previous week and a reversal that ended a six-week decline, according to the World Health Organisation.
Among the hard-hit places is the Milan suburb of Bollate, where the virus swept through a nursery school and an adjacent elementary school with alarming speed. In a matter of just days, 45 children and 14 staff members tested positive.
Genetic analysis confirmed it was the highly contagious variant first identified in England late last year. The surge is leading to new restrictions across the continent. (AP)
The Centre has asked states and union territories witnessing surge in new COVID-19 cases and high active caseload to continue with the strategy of "test, track and treat" that had yielded rich dividends at the height of the pandemic and accelerate vaccination for priority population groups in districts reporting higher infections on mission mode.
In a meeting held on Saturday, they have been asked to collaborate with private hospitals to open up vaccination time-table for a minimum of 15 days and maximum of 28 days at a time.
They have been asked to increase the share of RT-PCR tests in districts dependent on high levels of antigen testing, refocus on surveillance and stringent containment of those areas in selected districts which are seeing cluster of cases and carry out an average close contact tracing of minimum of 20 persons per positive case. Read More
In view of the rising coronavirus cases, Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan has instructed the state authorities to make it mandatory for the travellers coming from Maharashtra to carry a negative Covid-19 test report.
Chouhan issued the directives in this regard during a meeting held on Friday, an official statement said.
"It will be mandatory for the travellers coming from Maharashtra to carry a negative report for coronavirus infection. The responsibility for this will be with the bus operators, who will allow passengers to board the bus only on the basis of the report," Chouhan said. Adequate arrangements should be made for checking along the the state's border areas, he said. (PTI)
Amid rise in coronavirus cases in Maharashtra's Aurangabad, the district authorities have decided to hold a meeting on Sunday to discuss if lockdown should be imposed or not, a senior official said on Saturday. The district reported 459 coronavirus cases on Friday, which took its overall infection count to 52,103.
Talking to PTI, district collector Sunil Chavan said, "A meeting will be held on Sunday evening, in which the way ahead for lockdown will be decided. Police Commissioner, Municipal Commissioner, Superintendent of Police and other officials would be present for it. After a review of cases and overall coronavirus situation in the district, a decision about lockdown will be taken."
"Lockdown can be imposed, but ample time will be given to people to prepare themselves for it. The number of patients is growing. If cases keep growing at this speed, there will be paucity of beds in hospitals...Officials will discuss all this tomorrow," he added. (PTI)
UK Vaccine Deployment Minister Nadhim Zahawi has defended a shipment of 10 million doses of Covishield en route from India amid some concerns that it would impact supplies of COVID-19 vaccines for poorer nations.
The minister in charge of overseeing the UK's vaccination programme said the vaccine doses developed by the Serum Institute of India, in collaboration with Oxford/AstraZeneca, were always intended for Britain and that assurances have been sought that the delivery would not impact other supplies.
"We, of course, sought assurances from AstraZeneca and from Serum that our doses will not impact their commitment to the low-income and middle-income countries of the world," Zahawi told the Associated Press in an interview on Friday. (PTI)
With the national capital registering an upsurge in COVID-19 cases, there has been a rise of over 37 per cent in the number of people under home isolation here and a steady increase in the count of containment zones in the last seven days.
The positivity rate also rose to 0.53 per cent on March 5 from 0.36 per cent on February 27, according to official figures, which also showed that the number of containment on March 5 stood at 591 an increase of 46 from 545 on February 27.
Delhi recorded 312 COVID-19 cases on Friday, the highest number of daily incidences in nearly one-and-a-half months, while three more fatalities pushed the death toll in the city to 10,918. It was also a significant jump from 261 cases registered on Thursday. (PTI)
Some mutations in the novel coronavirus may not only enable it to evade antibodies, but also make the virus unrecognisable to the immune system's T-killer cells, says a new study which could aid in the further development of vaccines.
While antibodies dock directly onto viruses to neutralise them, the scientists, including those from the Medical University of Vienna in Austria, said the T-killer cells recognise viral protein fragments on infected cells and subsequently kill them to stop virus production.
In the current study, published in the journal Cell Immunology, the researchers sequenced 750 genomes of the novel coronavirus from infected individuals and analysed mutations for their potential to alter T cell epitopes. These are regions on the virus recognised by the body's T cells. (PTI)
Punjab's Jalandhar administration imposed a night curfew from Saturday to tackle the recent surge in coronavirus cases in the district. The night curfew will remain in place in the district from 11 pm to 5 am, said Deputy Commissioner Ghanshyam Thori. He said the order will be effective from Saturday till further directions.
Jalandhar on Friday had reported the maximum 134 fresh cases in the state. There are a total of 856 active cases in Jalandhar as of now, according to a medical bulletin.
Punjab has been witnessing a surge in the number of COVID-19 cases for nearly four weeks. Last month, the Punjab government had authorised deputy commissioners (DCs) to impose night curfew in coronavirus hotspots in their districts if needed. (PTI)
After registering no Covid death on February 6, the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC), which was rejoicing the slowdown of the viral infection a month ago, is now back on containing the spread as the active cases have increased by over three times registering 107 deaths and 13,401 newly infected patients in the last one month.
The positivity rate has been consistently above 10 per cent since the last few days. Read More
Union Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar was administered with his first Covid-19 vaccine dose at the RML hospital in the national Capital on Saturday.
Union Minister Nitin Gadkari on Saturday administered his first dose of Covid-19 vaccine at AIIMS in Nagpur. Gadkari received the shot along with his wife.
"Took the first shot of COVID-19 vaccine today along with my wife at AIIMS, Nagpur. This is safe," the senior BJP leader said after taking the jab.
He urged people to get inoculated in order to make the country free from COVID-19. "I appeal people to come forward for vaccination and contribute towards saving the country from corona," Gadkari, 63, said.
Delhi recorded 312 new Covid cases on Friday — the highest in nearly one-and-a-half months — and three deaths. The daily positivity rate was recorded at 0.53% after authorities conducted 59,122 tests.
Total cases are at 6,40,494 while the death toll touched 10,918. The number of active cases increased to 1,779 as of Friday from 1,701 on Thursday, while the daily positivity rate rose to 0.53% from 0.39% the previous day.
Earlier this week, the Union Health Ministry had flagged surge in new cases in Maharashtra, Kerala, Punjab, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Gujarat.
Delhi recorded 312 new Covid cases on Friday — the highest in nearly one-and-a-half months — and three deaths. The daily positivity rate was recorded at 0.53% after authorities conducted 59,122 tests.
Total cases are at 6,40,494 while the death toll touched 10,918. The number of active cases increased to 1,779 as of Friday from 1,701 on Thursday, while the daily positivity rate rose to 0.53% from 0.39% the previous day.
Earlier this week, the Union Health Ministry had flagged surge in new cases in Maharashtra, Kerala, Punjab, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Gujarat.
India reported 18,327 fresh Covid-19 cases in the 24 hours ending 8 am Saturday, taking the total number of infections to over 1.11 crore. With 108 deaths reported on Friday, the country's death toll is now over 1.57 lakh. Out of the total cases, over 1.80 lakh are active while 1.08 crore have recovered after testing positive.
Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh on Friday took his first dose of an anti-Covid vaccine at the Mohali Civil Hospital. While urging everyone eligible to get inoculated, the CM also hit out at the BJP for alleging that non-BJP ruled states were rejecting Covaxin. Amarinder dismissed BJP’s claim as “a complete lie and part of the ruling party’s false and politically motivated propaganda”.
Punjab health officials, however, spoke of hesitancy to sign consent forms among the beneficiaries in getting Covaxin jab, but added that even then the state has already administered at least 2,780 doses of the indigenously developed vaccine against Covid-19 by Bharat Biotech.
On Thursday, BJP spokesperson Sambit Patra had said that “opposition ruled states such as Punjab, Kerala, Jharkhand, West Bengal have questioned the efficacy of indigenously developed Covaxin” and have “refused”.
Dalai Lama on Saturday morning took his first shot of the Covid-19 vaccine at the Zonal Hospital in Dharamshala.