LIVE NOW

auto-refresh

Coronavirus LIVE Updates: BMC Issues WFH Orders For All Teachers, School Staff As Maharashtra Reports Another Massive Spike

Coronavirus LIVE Updates: The vaccination of beneficiaries aged over 60 has touched 1 crore within 15 days, the ministry said.

News18.com | March 16, 2021, 20:59 IST

Coronavirus LIVE Updates: BMC Issues WFH Orders For All Teachers, School Staff As Maharashtra Reports Another Massive Spike

Event Highlights

3 New Covid-19 Variants Reported in India: Govt
Mumbai's Dharavi Sees 21 Covid-19 Cases
Sukhbir Singh Badal Tests Covid-19 Positive
Night Curfew in Bhopal, Indore from March 17
Covid-19 Deaths in Europe Pass 900,000

Coronavirus LIVE Updates: The BMC has issued strict work from home orders for all teaching and non-teaching staff in Mumbai on a day Maharashtra inched closer to the 18,000 mark.

On Tuesday, the state detected 17,864 fresh cases.

From 17 March, schools of all boards till Class 12 have been told to ask staff to work from home. Previously, the staff was allowed to come to school. Teachers were allowed to take online classes from school premises.

Mar 16, 2021 20:59 (IST)

3 New Covid-19 Variants Reported in India: Govt | Three new variants of Covid-19, from the UK variant, South Africa and Brazil, have been reported so far in India, Minister of State for Health Ashwini Choubey told the Rajya Sabha on Tuesday. As on March 4, 2021, a total 242 samples have tested positive for different variants in India, Choubey said in a written reply to a Rajya Sabha query regarding the total number of people who have been infected with the new strains.

Mar 16, 2021 20:49 (IST)

Madhya Pradesh Sees 817 Covid-19 Cases, 554 Recoveries, 1 Death | Madhya Pradesh today reported 817 coronavirus positive cases, taking its tally to 2,70,208, while the toll rose to 3,891 after one death, an official said. No fresh Covid-19 case was reported from seven of the 52 districts in the state on Tuesday.

Mar 16, 2021 20:41 (IST)

READ | As Covid-19 Cases Continue to Surge, MP Govt Imposes Night Curfew in Bhopal and Indore

In wake of a resurgence in coronavirus cases, the Madhya Pradesh government on Tuesday imposed night curfew in Bhopal and Indore and ordered closure of markets at 10pm in eight other districts,…

Mar 16, 2021 20:16 (IST)

BMC Issues New Covid-19 Guidelines as Cases Surge in Mumbai

- BMC issues work from home circular for all teachers and non-teaching staff of Mumbai
- From 17 March, schools of all boards, till Class 12, will have to ask staff to work from home. Previously, staff was allowed to come to school. Teachers were allowed to take online classes from school

Mar 16, 2021 20:08 (IST)

Punjab reports 1,475 new Covid-19 cases, 751 discharges, and 38 deaths in the last 24 hours.

Punjab reports 1,475 new COVID-19 cases, 751 discharges, and 38 deaths in the last 24 hours

Total cases: 2,01,036
Total discharges: 1,82,283
Active cases: 12,616
Death toll: 6,137 pic.twitter.com/977P4zss1H
— ANI (@ANI) March 16, 2021

Mar 16, 2021 19:47 (IST)

READ | Mob of 50 Shiv Sainiks Enter Thane BJP Leader's Office Without Masks, Booked for Covid-19 Violations

Thane: A mob of 50 Shiv Sainiks have been booked for entering the office of a Thane BJP leader and protesting there without keeping in mind COVID-19 protocols, police said on Tuesday.

Mar 16, 2021 19:30 (IST)

READ | India to Get New Vaccine Candidate? Dr Reddy's Completes Phase 3 Trial of Sputnik, Results in April

Pharma giant Dr.

Mar 16, 2021 19:14 (IST)

READ | China Says it Will Start Issuing Visas to Travellers Taking Chinese-made Covid Vaccine

The Chinese embassy has said it will start issuing visas to travellers who have taken a Chinese-made COVID-19 vaccine and possess the certificates of vaccination.

Mar 16, 2021 19:02 (IST)

April 12 and April 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 will be extra careful with people from states with rising Covid-19 cases, letters will be sent to all states, says Ashok Kumar, Uttarakhand DGP.

April 12 & April 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 #COVID19 cases, letters will be sent to all states: Ashok Kumar, Uttarakhand DGP pic.twitter.com/83OCYuBnQE
— ANI (@ANI) March 16, 2021

Mar 16, 2021 18:39 (IST)

Mumbai's Dharavi Sees 21 Covid-19 Cases | 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.

Mar 16, 2021 18:31 (IST)

READ | In Virtual Summit with PM Modi, Finnish PM Lauds India's 'Extensive Vaccine Program'

Prime Minister Narendra Modi held a virtual summit with his Finnish counterpart, Sanna Marin, on Tuesday.

Mar 16, 2021 18:15 (IST)

Kerala Covid-19 Cases | 1,970 new Covid-19 cases, 2884 recoveries and 15 deaths reported in Kerala today. Active cases are now at 26,127; so far 10, 63,444 persons have recovered from the disease in the state.

Mar 16, 2021 18:03 (IST)

READ | UK PM Boris Johnson Defends AstraZeneca Vaccine: 'Being Made in India to US, Used Over World'

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson on Tuesday defended the safety of the AstraZeneca coronavirus vaccine, after several European countries halted its rollout over blood clot fears.

Mar 16, 2021 17:50 (IST)

Sukhbir Singh Badal Tests Covid-19 Positive | Shiromani Akali Dal president Sukhbir Singh Badal has tested positive for Covid-19. He has requested those who came in contact with him during the last few days to isolate themselves and get tested for Covid-19.

I would like to inform everyone that I have tested Covid positive. My health is fine & as per protocol I have isolated myself. I request those who came in contact with me during the last few days to isolate themselves & get tested for Covid - 19.
— Sukhbir Singh Badal (@officeofssbadal) March 16, 2021

Mar 16, 2021 17:43 (IST)

READ | 'Bengaluru at Tipping Point, Matter of Grave Concern': Experts Urge People to Behave Responsibly Amid Covid-19 Pandemic

With 550 new Covid-19 cases reported in Karnataka's Bengaluru on Monday, health experts have said that a continuous surge in infection cases is a matter of grave concern and strict measures must be…

Mar 16, 2021 17:33 (IST)

READ | Delhi Girl Stuck in Window of Pune Observation Home as She Tries to Escape, Shows Covid Symptoms

Pune: An 18-year-old inmate of an observation home got stuck in a window grill when she tried to escape the facility in Maharashtra's Pune district, police said on Tuesday.

Mar 16, 2021 17:17 (IST)

READ | 'Benefits Outweigh Risks': WHO Urges Restraint as Major European Nations Halt Astrazeneca Covid Vaccine Use

Germany, France, Italy, Spain, Norway among the list of over a dozen countries, largely from the European Union, who have suspended the use of the AstraZeneca vaccine.

Mar 16, 2021 17:01 (IST)

Night Curfew in Bhopal, Indore from March 17 | "Night curfew will be implemented in Bhopal and Indore from March 17 until further order. Whereas markets in eight 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," ANI quotes Madhya Pradesh Government as saying.

Mar 16, 2021 16:43 (IST)

Delhi Covid-19 Cases | Delhi reports 425 new Covid-19, 257 recoveries, and 1 death in the last 24 hours.

Delhi reports 425 new COVID-19, 257 recoveries, and 1 death in the last 24 hours

Total cases: 6,44,489
Total recoveries: 6,31,056
Death toll: 10,945
Active cases: 2,488 pic.twitter.com/QHaCmMcl8o
— ANI (@ANI) March 16, 2021

Mar 16, 2021 16:39 (IST)

READ | Situation in Maha 'Pretty Grim', Vaccination Leading to Sense of Irresponsibility: Covid Task Force Member

With Maharashtra witnessing a steep resurgence of Covid-19 cases, Dr Shashank Joshi, member of the state's Covid-19 task force has called for a public health strategy to be put in place in the state,…

Mar 16, 2021 16:25 (IST)

Covid-19 Deaths in Europe Pass 900,000 | The number of deaths from Covid-19 across Europe passed 900,000 today, according to an AFP tally of official figures provided by health authorities. As of 0845 GMT, the 52 countries and territories of the region -- which includes Russia and Turkey -- had officially registered 900,185 coronavirus deaths since the outbreak emerged in China in December 2019, out of a total of 40,083,433 confirmed cases. This makes Europe the deadliest region, ahead of Latin America and the Caribbean (721,581 deaths), Canada and the United States (558,110 deaths) and Asia (263,250).

Mar 16, 2021 16:11 (IST)

Govt Not Exporting Covid-19 Vaccines to Foreign Nations at Expense of People of India: Harsh Vardhan

The Centre is not exporting coronavirus vaccines to other countries at the expense of the people of India, said Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan on Tuesday, adding that experts at highest level and…

Mar 16, 2021 16:08 (IST)

All BJP MPs have been asked by the party to provide information on total number of Covid-19 vaccination centers in their respective constituencies, number of vaccination centers they have visited and in how many centers the help desk has been set up, reports ANI.

Mar 16, 2021 15:35 (IST)

Govt Denied Permission to Feb Sikh 'Jatha' to Visit Pak Due to Covid, Threat to Safety | The government denied permission to a Sikh 'Jatha' to visit Nankana Sahib in February this year in view of increasing number of Covid-19 cases in Pakistan and threat to the safety and security of a large number of Indian citizens, Union Minister of State for Home G Kishan Reddy said today.

Mar 16, 2021 15:31 (IST)

READ | Maharashtra in Beginning of 2nd Covid Wave, Prepare for Worst-Case Scenario in Coming Months: Centre

The central government has asked the Uddhav Thackeray-led government in Maharashtra to focus on containment strategies, step up contract tracing and vaccinations and prepare for a “worst-case”…

Mar 16, 2021 15:22 (IST)

READ | Amid Covid-19 Surge, Night Curfew Extended Till March 31 in These Four Gujarat Cities

To contain the surge in COVID-19 cases, the Gujarat government on Tuesday decided to increase the night curfew timings in four major cities of the state by two hours.

Mar 16, 2021 15:13 (IST)

Haryana Records 1,58,901 Single-Day Vaccinations | Over 1,58,901 persons were vaccinated for coronavirus in a single day in Haryana today. A total of 6,81,264 people have been vaccinated till date in the state, said Haryana Health Minister, Anil Vij.

Mar 16, 2021 15:02 (IST)

Telangana Covid-19 Tally LIVE Updates | Telangana registered 204 Covid-19 cases today, taking the tally to 3.01 lakh, while the toll rose to 1,656 with two more fatalities.

Recovered cases: 2,97,851

Active cases: 2,015

Mar 16, 2021 14:28 (IST)

Covid Infection Rising Exponentially in Germany | Coronavirus infections are rising exponentially in Germany, an expert at the Robert Koch Institute for infectious diseases said on Tuesday, adding that the risk of AstraZeneca’s vaccine was relatively low. The number of cases per 100,000 reported on Tuesday was 83.7, up from 68 a week ago, and the RKI has said that metric could reach 200 by the middle of next month.

Mar 16, 2021 13:40 (IST)

READ | Indians Among Foreigners to be Issued Visas If They Take Chinese Vaccine Jab

China is poised to ease border restrictions to allow some foreigners -- including from the US, India and Pakistan -- back in, provided they have taken a Chinese-made Covid-19 vaccine.

A teacher takes an online class for students inside a private school during the Covid-19 lockdown (Representative image/Reuters)

Now, e-learning will have to take place from home, the circular stated.

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.

After Maharashtra and Punjab, Madhya Pradesh has issued a fresh order to impose Covid-19 curbs in several districts in view of an alarming rise in cases.

News agency ANI reported that the MP government has imposed a night curfew in Bhopal and Indore indefinitely from tomorrow. Whereas markets in 8 cities -Jabalpur, Gwalior, Ujjain, Ratlam, Burhanpur, Chhindwara, Betul, Khargone – have been ordered to shut at 10 pm.

After Congress accused the Centre of exporting Covis-19 vaccines while the country reels under the impact of a fresh wave of infections, the Union Health Ministry today clarified in Rajya Sabha that the government is not exporting vaccines ‘at the expense of Indians.

“Vaccines aren’t being sent to other countries at the expense of the people of India. Experts at the highest level and a committee of the government are maintaining a sensible balance about it. 30,39,394 people were vaccinated yesterday. We have touched a total vaccination figure of Rs. 3 crore,” ANI quoted Union Minister Harsh Vardhan as saying.

More than 30 lakh people were inoculated against COVID-19 on March 15, thehighestin a day so far, taking the total number of vaccine doses administered in the country to 3,29,47,432, according to the Union Health Ministry data updated on Tuesday. The vaccination of beneficiaries aged over 60 has touched 1 crore within 15 days, the ministry said. Of the total30,39,394 doses given in a span of 24 hours on March 15,26,27,099 beneficiaries have been administered the 1st dose and 4,12,295 individuals have been given the 2nd dose, according to the data compiled at 7 am. Of the cumulative 3,29,47,432 doses which have been administered till now,2,70,79,484 beneficiaries received the 1st dose and58,67,948individuals have taken the 2nd dose.

Maharashtra is “in the beginning of a second wave of Covid”, the Centre has told the Uddhav Thackeray-led government, noting the lack of Covid-appropriate behavior and “tracking and testing of cases”. Union Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan has written to Maharashtra Chief Secretary after the central team’s visit last week. “Maharashtra is in the beginning of a second wave of COVID-19 pandemic. There very limited active effort to track, test, isolate cases and quarantine contacts. There is no adherence to COVID appropriate behaviour among people both in rural and urban areas,” he said.

The EU’s largest countries joined a stream of states halting their rollouts of AstraZeneca jabs over blood clot fears, as the World Health Organization and Europe’s medicines watchdog insisted it was safe to use. Both organisations will hold special meetings this week after a host of countries said they would stop using the vaccine pending further review. The fresh suspensions were a major blow to a global immunisation campaign that experts hope will help end a pandemic that has already killed over 2.6 million people and decimated the global economy. The three largest EU countries — Germany, Italy and France — all paused rollouts on Monday and were later joined by Spain, Portugal, Slovenia and Latvia.

The suspensions were not limited to Europe, with Indonesia also announcing a delay to its rollout of the jab, which is cheaper than its competitors and was billed as the vaccination of choice for poorer nations. But the WHO insisted countries should keep using the vaccine, adding that it had scheduled a meeting of its experts on Tuesday to discuss the vaccine’s safety. “We do not want people to panic and we would, for the time being, recommend that countries continue vaccinating with AstraZeneca,” WHO chief scientist Soumya Swaminathan said. “So far, we do not find an association between these events and the vaccine,” she said, referring to reports of blood clots from several countries.

The European Medicines Agency (EMA), which is holding a special meeting on Thursday, echoed the WHO’s calls for calm and said it was better to get the vaccine than not. “The benefits of the AstraZeneca vaccine in preventing Covid-19, with its associated risk of hospitalisation and death, outweigh the risks of side effects,” the agency said in a statement Monday. The UK has doled out more than 11 million doses of the AstraZeneca jab — more than the entire EU — apparently without major problems.

As policymakers struggled to manage vaccine rollouts, Estonia’s Prime Minister Kaja Kallas announced she had tested positive — underlining the continuing threat of the contagion. She tweeted that she would continue to work virtually and the government added that she had “a low fever but no other symptoms and is generally feeling well”.

Italy provided another reminder that the pandemic was far from over — most of the country re-entered lockdown on Monday with schools, restaurants, shops and museums closed. The streets of central Rome were quiet on Monday morning and businesses already battered by a year of anti-virus measures braced for another hit. “I’m staying open because I’m selling cigarettes, otherwise it would not be worth it,” said Rome coffee shop owner Carlo Lucia. “It’s just a waste of money.”

Meanwhile, intensive care doctors in Germany issued an urgent appeal for new restrictions to avoid a third wave as the British variant takes hold there.

More than 350 million vaccines have now been administered globally, but poorer countries are still lagging far behind. Brazil, which has suffered one of the world’s worst outbreaks, is attempting to redress the balance, announcing the order of more than 138 million jabs on Monday.

The European Union has approved four jabs so far, and is monitoring others — including Russia’s Sputnik V vaccine. The Russian developers said on Monday they had reached production agreements in key European countries.

The news came as the WHO said it had raised nearly $250 million in the past year from individual donors and companies towards battling the pandemic. WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said the fund’s success proved “what we can accomplish together in times of need”.

More than a year after his organisation declared the coronavirus threat a pandemic, a much-anticipated report on the origins of Covid-19 is expected to be released this week.

The report follows a fact-finding mission of international experts assembled by the WHO, which travelled in January to the Chinese city of Wuhan where the virus first emerged in December 2019.

“Within the next few years, we’re going to have real significant data on where this came from and how it emerged,” said British zoologist Peter Daszak, one of the team members.