Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Parliament on Tuesday. (PTI photo)2021 Coronavirus Lockdown in India Live Updates: Is India witnessing another wave of coronavirus? While health experts are still debating over the current status, the fact remains that there is an extremely tough situation on the ground. Maharashtra tops the national tally as the latest health bulletin has pointed out that the fatality rates have also begun to rise in the Pune district. Punjab also confirmed on Monday that a new strain of the coronavirus has been detected in Jalandhar and Nawanshahr areas.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi is also scheduled to hold a virtual meeting with the Chief Ministers, a PTI report said on Monday. The latest buzz is that the virtual meeting will be held tomorrow. It gains importance as states continue to report an increased number of Covid-19 cases. The mass vaccination drive has also not met the targets in several cities. A report recently said that only 3 per cent of the eligible population in Delhi had taken the Covid jabs. From the cancellation of the Board exams to the enforcement of the stricter Covid protocols, cities across India are trying to fight the spike with new measures. While total lockdown has returned in some districts of Maharashtra, experts say that bringing such measures now would only hamper economic activities. There have also been growing concerns over the blood clot issue in the AstraZeneca vaccine. While WHO has said that the vaccine is safe, many nations have stopped the inoculation drive.
So, what’s the latest on the coronavirus pandemic? From lockdowns to curfews to vaccine updates, here are all confirmed developments on the Covid-19 situation in India and around the world.
Highlights
The European Commission says it has sealed a deal with Pfizer to speed up the dispatching of 10 million doses of its coronavirus vaccine over the next three months. European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen says speeding up the pace of deliveries across the 27-nation bloc would bring the total number of Pfizer doses in the second quarter to over 200 million. "This is very good news," Von der Leyen says. "It gives member states room to maneuver and possibly fill gaps in deliveries." The announcement comes amid a shortage of vaccine supplies in Europe and as a growing number of European countries, including now Sweden, Germany, France, Italy and Spain, have suspended the use of AstraZeneca's vaccine after some recipients had blood clots. (AP)
Delhi Assembly Speaker Ram Niwas Goel was administered the COVID-19 vaccine on Tuesday, a statement issued by his office said. Goel appealed to all the eligible people to get registered for vaccination against the viral disease after receiving the first dose of the Covishield vaccine at the Rajiv Gandhi Super Speciality Hospital at Tahirpur. He was kept under observation for half an hour after being administered the vaccine, the statement said. (PTI)
Europe's medicines watchdog on Tuesday said the benefits of AstraZeneca's COVID-19 vaccine continue to outweigh the risks after several countries halted its use due to concerns about blood clots. The EMA's Executive Director Emer Cooke said the agency was carrying out a case-by-case evaluation of incidents and was expected to complete a review on Thursday. (Reuters)
The Nagaland government has permitted re-opening of regular session for classes 1 to 5 in the schools across the state from March 22. In this connection, Principal Secretary (Home) Abhijit Sinha on Tuesday issued Standard Operating Procedure (SOP), outlining various generic precautionary measures to be adopted in addition to specific measures to be taken to contain the spread of COVID-19 when schools resume normal functioning. Schools across the state were closed since March last year due to the COVID-19 pandemic and educational institutions had been conducting online classes during the period. PTI
April 12 and 14 are peak days as there's Kumb 'shahi snan'. Steps will be taken to avoid a stampede if the crowd number reaches a crore. We'll be extra careful with people from states with rising COVID-19 cases, letters will be sent to all states, said Ashok Kumar, Uttarakhand DGP as reported by news agency ANI.
The European Union will on Wednesday unveil a COVID-19 pass to allow free travel this summer and support the struggling tourism sector despite the bloc's sluggish vaccination campaign and the risks posed by new coronavirus variants. The EU's executive European Commission will propose creating a bloc-wide "green digital certificate" that would combine information on vaccination, COVID-19 tests, and recovery from the disease to allow people to take flights and cross borders." It will allow everyone from the European Union to come and visit us with security," said Alfonso Lopez, director of The Hat hotel and Villa Verbena restaurant in Madrid."I think it will help us have a reasonable summer season," he said, calling last summer "an absolute disaster". (Reuters)
Bahwan CyberTek, a provider of IP-based digital transformation solutions, has announced it will cover the cost of COVID-19 vaccination for all its employees and their family members. Pledging commitment towards the wellbeing of its employees, the company urged its staff to take the vaccine shots. "With an aim to reaffirm its commitment towards the well-being of its employees, the globally spread, 3000-member IT conglomerate, Bahwan CyberTek, has pledged to cover the cost of COVID-19 vaccination for all its employees and their dependent family members," the company said in a statement. (PTI)
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The surge in fresh coronavirus cases continued in Andhra Pradesh with 261 people testing postive for the virus in the 24 hours ending 9 am on Tuesday, pushing the active caseload up to 1,579. The state saw 125 patients recovering from the infection while no deaths were reported during the period, according to the latest bulletin. The state COVID-19 chart showed the caseload at 8,92,269 with 8,83,505 recoveries and 7,185 deaths, the bulletin said. (PTI)
Moderna Inc has begun dosing patients in a mid-to-late stage study of its COVID-19 vaccine, mRNA-1273, in children aged six months to less than 12 years, the company said on Tuesday. The study will assess the safety and effectiveness of two doses of mRNA-1273 given 28 days apart and intends to enroll about 6,750 children in the United States and Canada. The vaccine has already been authorized for emergency use in Americans who are aged 18 and older. In a separate study which began in December, Moderna is also testing mRNA-1273 in adolescents between 12 and 18 years old. The latest study is being conducted in collaboration with the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) and the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA). (Reuters)
1,970 new COVID-19 cases, 2884 recoveries and 15 deaths reported in Kerala today. Active cases now at 26,127; so far 10, 63,444 persons have recovered from the disease. (ANI)
As the number of Coronavirus cases shoot up in Maharashtra, the state government has issued a set of guidelines to prevent further transmission of the viral infection. According to the recent guidelines, hotels, restaurants, cinema halls, malls as well as offices which flout COVID-19 regulations set by the government will be forced to shut down. Till the time the central government is notifying the COVID-19 pandemic as a disaster, these places will remain close. The restrictions imposed by the state government are currently to be followed by March 21, 2021. READ MORE
Dharavi in Mumbai, one of the world's densest urban sprawls, on Tuesday reported 21 COVID-19 cases, the highest single-day addition to the infection tally since October, a civic official said. The locality had seen 22 cases on October 6 last year, he pointed out. The caseload in Dharavi, which reported its first case on April 1 last year, now stands at 4,279, the official added. (PTI)
Skin rashes may be associated with a positive COVID-19 test result among adults, according to a study that could help identify cases missed when relying only on the core symptoms. Previous studies conducted in hospitals reported that COVID-19 patients showed unusual skin rashes, researchers said. (PTI)
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PM Narendra Modi on Tuesday held a virtual summit with Finland PM Sanna Marin. 'The top item on the agenda of all heads of governments is the COVID19 pandemic. I want to recognize the efforts of India in an extensive vaccination programme': Finland PM Sanna Marin (ANI)
Maharashtra is in the beginning of second COVID-19 wave, a central team report has said, highlighting that there is very limited active effort to track, test, isolate cases and quarantine contacts, and there is no adherence to COVID appropriate behaviour among people in rural and urban areas. Based on the central team report, Union Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan has written a letter to the Maharashtra government, stating "measures such as night curfews, weekend lockdowns etc. have very limited impact on containing/suppressing the transmission" and urged the state to focus on strict containment strategies, strengthening surveillance and augmenting testing. In a letter to Maharashtra Chief Secretary Sitaram Kunte, Bhushan said even though the health infrastructure is adequate as of now, the "state should plan for a worse-case scenario with sufficient lead time". (PTI)
Amid rising coronavirus cases, Centre asks the Maharashtra government to focus on strict and effective containment strategy. The Center says, measures like night curfews, weekend lockdowns, etc. have very limited impact on containing or suppressing the Covid-19 pandemic.
China has approved a new COVID-19 vaccine for emergency use, one that was developed by the head of its Centre for Disease Control, adding a fifth shot to its arsenal. Gao Fu, the head of China's CDC, led the development of a protein subunit vaccine that was approved by regulators last week for emergency use, the Chinese Academy of Sciences' Institute of Microbiology said in a statement on Monday. It is the fifth coronavirus vaccine approved in China and the fourth to be given emergency use approval. Three of those given emergency approval have since been approved for general use. All were developed by Chinese companies. The latest vaccine was developed jointly by Anhui Zhifei Longcom Biopharmaceutical Co Ltd and the Chinese Academy of Sciences. The team finished phase 1 and phase 2 clinical trials in October and is currently conducting the last phase of trials in Uzbekistan, Pakistan and Indonesia, according to the statement. (AP)
With COVID-19 cases continuing to surge in Karnataka, the state government on Tuesday said they would launch a slew of advertisements to create awareness on following protocol and increase the vaccination drive to contain the spread. Health Minister Dr K Sudhakar warned that stringent measures would be put in place if people continued to flout government guidelines on wearing masks and maintaining social distancing. PTI
Night curfew will be implemented in Bhopal and Indore from March 17 until further order. Whereas markets in 8 cities-Jabalpur, Gwalior, Ujjain, Ratlam, Burhanpur, Chhindwara, Betul, Khargone to shut at 10 pm, from March 17. There won't be curfew in these cities: Madhya Pradesh Govt (ANI)
Drug firm Gland Pharma on Tuesday said it has entered into an agreement with the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF) to supply up to 252 million doses of Sputnik V COVID-19 vaccine. The company "will be leveraging its manufacturing capabilities for the production of Sputnik V COVID-19 vaccine," Gland Pharma said in a regulatory filing. The agreement will see the company utilising its Drug Substance and Drug Product facilities at its sites in Hyderabad. The production is expected to commence from the third quarter of 2021 for estimated delivery starting from the fourth quarter of 2021, it added. "Under the terms of the agreement, Gland Pharma will first undertake technology transfer of the drug substance to its manufacturing facilities," the filing said. (PTI)
Jabalpur district collector Karmveer Sharma, who took the first dose of COVID-19 vaccine last month, has tested positive for coronavirus, officials said on Tuesday. The collector took the first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine on February 8 and had not taken the second dose, a district administration official said. Sharma, on his official Facebook page 'Collector Jabalpur', informed on Monday that despite taking precautions, a "minor slip led to the coronavirus infection". "This is my personal experience. Therefore, I appeal to the people of Jabalpur to follow coronavirus protocols without fail," he said. (PTI)
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The demand for India-made Covid-19 vaccines has been steadily increasing as the Ministry of External Affairs has received requests for their supply from various countries. In a written reply in the Rajya Sabha on Tuesday, Ashwini Kumar Choubey, Minister of State, Health and Family Welfare, said that India has already sent 583.85 lakh doses of COVID-19 vaccines to around 70 countries, including South Africa, Sri Lanka, and Mauritius. READ MORE
The decision by Germany, France and Italy to suspend AstraZeneca’s COVID-19 shots after several countries reported possible serious side-effects is a “political one”, the director general of Italy’s medicines authority AIFA said on Tuesday. “We got to the point of a suspension because several European countries, including Germany and France, preferred to interrupt vaccinations... to put them on hold in order to carry out checks. The choice is a political one,” Nicola Magrini told daily la Repubblica in an interview. (Reuters)
Telangana continued to see a marginal rise in COVID-19 cases with 204 fresh infections being recorded, taking the tally to 3.01 lakh, while the toll rose to 1,656 with two more fatalities. The Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) accounted for most number of cases with 37, followed by Medchal Malkajgiri and Rangareddy districts with 14 and 12 cases respectively, a state government bulletin said on Tuesday providing details as of 8 PM on March 15. - PTI
Odisha's COVID-19 tally mounted to 3,38,323 on Tuesday as 65 more people tested positive for the infection, a health department official said. Of the new cases, 37 were reported from quarantine centres and 28 detected during contact tracing. Sundargarh district recorded the highest number of fresh cases at 15, followed by Mayurbhanj at nine, Balasore and Khurda at five each.- PTI
Sweden on Tuesday became the latest European country to pause use of the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine amid reports of dangerous blood clots in some recipients. The company and international regulators continue to say the vaccine is safe, however, and many countries elsewhere in the world are forging ahead with their vaccination campaigns.- AP
Maharashtra Health Minister Rajesh Tope has demanded 2.20 crore COVID-19 vaccine doses from the Centre for the ongoing inoculation drive in the state. He requested the Centre to supply 20 lakh doses per week to the state, as per a letter dated March 15 written to Union health minister by Tope, who went to Delhi on Tuesday. - PTI
Iran's campaign to inoculate its population against the coronavirus and promote itself as an emerging vaccine manufacturer inched on as health authorities announced Tuesday that the country's third homegrown vaccine has reached the phase of clinical trials. Details about its production, however, remained slim. Although Iran, with a population of more than 80 million, has so far imported foreign vaccines from Russia, China, India and Cuba to cover over 1.2 million people, concerns over its lagging pace of vaccinations have animated Iran's drive to develop locally produced vaccines as wealthier nations snap up the lion's share of vaccine doses worldwide. - AP
Union Health Minister Dr Harsh Vardhan on Tuesday said that the Narendra Modi government has consulted experts before sending the vaccines to other nations as part of the ‘Vaccine Maitri’ plan. Addressing the Rajya Sabha, Dr Harsh Vardhan said that three crore Indians have been vaccinated so far. He also said that no vaccine is being sent abroad at cost of our citizen’s health.
Union Railway Minister Piyush Goyal has said that while there was severe criticism, the 2020 lockdown was necessary to curb the spread of coronavirus. In his reply in the Lok Sabha, the minister said that around 4,600 Shramik Special trains were run for the migrants.
A new coronavirus variant has been found in the French region of Brittany, said the French health ministry in a statement late on Monday, adding that initial analysis did not show this new variant to be more serious or transmissible than others. The health ministry said the new variant had been found in a cluster of cases in a hospital centre in Lannion.- Reuters
Roche is launching a SARS-CoV-2 variant test to help monitor emerging coronavirus mutations, the Swiss pharmaceuticals group said on Tuesday. The test runs on widely used high-throughput systems and is for research purposes only. "Periodic assessments against emerging variants have shown that Roche’s current diagnostic tests for detecting active SARS-CoV-2 infections remain accurate and effective," it said. - Reuters
Russia has identified two cases of the new variant of the coronavirus first detected in South Africa, consumer health regulator Rospotrebnadzor said in a statement on Tuesday. Since the start of the pandemic, Russia has reported more than 4 million COVID-19 cases and over 90,000 deaths. Rospotrebnadzor said Russia had also now found 28 cases of the coronavirus variant first detected in Britain. It reported the first case of that strain in January.- Reuters
AstraZeneca said on Tuesday it has agreed to supply up to half a million additional doses of its experimental antibody-based COVID-19 combination treatment to the United States for $205 million. In October, the Anglo-Swedish drugmaker and US government agencies had initially agreed for a supply of 200,000 doses. The extension brings potential U.S. supplies of the treatment to 700,000 doses and the total value of the deal to $726 million. The treatment, AZD7442, is a combination of two monoclonal antibodies and has not been approved for use as yet, AstraZeneca said, adding that the new agreement is contingent on an approval by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. - Reuters
Non-invasive skin swab samples may be enough to detect the novel coronavirus quickly, according to a study published in the Lancet E Clinical Medicine journal. Researchers at the University of Surrey in the UK noted that COVID-19 pandemic has led to an unprecedented demand for testing -- for diagnosis and prognosis -- as well as for investigation into the impact of the disease on the host metabolism. - PTI
Canada once was hailed as a success story in dealing with the coronavirus pandemic, faring much better than the United States in deaths and infections because of how it approached lockdowns. But the trade-dependent nation has lagged on vaccinating its population because it lacks the ability to manufacture the vaccine and has had to rely on the global supply chain for the lifesaving shots, like many other countries.- AP
Health experts have cautioned that people should not be complacent with the vaccination numbers. In fact, several have said that the way India is vaccinating its citizens, it would take somewhere around two years to inoculate everyone. This observation comes at a time when the health officials said that India on Monday vaccinated over 30 lakh individuals. This is a staggering number by any standard. But experts say that the size of population in India means that we need to ramp up the vaccination drive by several notch.