On Monday, Nagpur became the first city in India to go under lockdown during the second wave of Covid-19.(Express Photo: Dhananjay Khedkar)
Coronavirus India Live Updates: India detected 24,492 cases of the novel coronavirus on Monday, of which 15,051 cases were from Maharashtra and 1,818 from Punjab. The number of active cases in the country has increased to more than 2.23 lakh. At least 131 deaths were reported on Monday. In view of the rising cases, Prime Minister Narendra Modi may chair a meeting with chief ministers on Wednesday.
Amid the surge in Covid-19 cases in Maharashtra, the Centre has asked the state to implement 14 specific public health measures to curb the spread of the disease. The measures, suggested by a central team that was deployed in the state to review the situation, focus on strict and effective containment strategy. The central team had said the rise in cases in Maharashtra was due to limited contact tracing; lack of effort to map cases and contacts; patients reporting late to hospitals; and a bulk of active cases being in home isolation without proper monitoring.
In other news, due to the growing concern around the AstraZeneca’s Covid-19 vaccine, India’s top committee for post-vaccination adverse reactions has said it will review data on the side effects of Covishield and Covaxin. Over 30 lakh people were vaccinated on Monday, the highest in a day so far.
Meanwhile, the Gujarat government has extended night curfew in four cities — Ahmedabad, Vadodara, Surat and Rajkot — to 10 pm to 6 am, from March 17 to March 31. Due to the rising cases in the state, the BCCI has also said the remaining three T20I matches between India and England in Ahmedabad will be played without spectators. The three matches are scheduled on Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday.
In Nagpur on Monday. Amid a new wave of Covid infections, with over 2,000 daily cases, the city headed into a weeklong lockdown starting Monday. (PTI)
With an aim to speed up the vaccination drive, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation has set a target of inoculating one lakh people in the city every day, BMC officials said on Tuesday.
Currently, 40,000 to 45,000 people are being given vaccine shots here in a day at around 85 immunisation centres, including 54 private hospitals, they said.
On Monday, 44,683 people received vaccine shots in Mumbai, according to the civic body.(PTI)
In the wake of a rise in Covid-19 cases in Surat, people working in textile and diamond industries here are required to get themselves tested for the viral infection once a week, the city civic body has said.
In daily tests here in Gujarat, majority of those found infected are associated with the textile business, the Surat Municipal Corporation (SMC) said in a release issued on Monday evening.
Of late, Surat, a textile and diamond hub, has been reporting the highest number of daily Covid-19 cases in the state, as per official data. (PTI)
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.
The curfew will now remain in force in Ahmedabad, Surat, Vadodara and Rajkot from 10 pm to 6 am, an official statement said.
The curfew timings earlier were from 12 am to 6 am. The decision was taken on Tuesday in the core committee meeting of the coronavirus task-force headed by Chief Minister Vijay Rupani.
"The state government has decided to impose curfew from 10 pm to 6 am in view of the increasing cases of coronavirus," the government said in the statement. (PTI)
Shiromani Akali Dal president Sukhbir Singh Badal tests positive for Covid-19. "My health is fine & as per protocol I have isolated myself," tweets Sukhbir Singh Badal.
The Ludhiana district administration in Punjab has allowed Covid-19 vaccination of bankers, judicial officers, employees of schools and food grain agencies, members of NGOs and journalists to ensure “safety of wider population in public interest.”
Ludhiana Deputy Commissioner Varinder Kumar Sharma said the decision on expanding the ambit of the vaccination drive was taken to ensure the safety of the wider population from the pandemic.
Vaccination has now been allowed for journalists, employees of all government/private banks, government/private schools, staff of food grain agencies, judicial officers/court staff/advocates, members of the Non-Government Organisations (NGOs) who have worked to check the spread of the pandemic by registering them as frontline workers, he said. Read more
Delhi has reported 425 new cases, 257 recoveries and one death in the last 24 hours. With this, the total number of cases in Delhi now stands at 6,44,489 and there have been 6,31,056 recoveries. The death toll has reached 10,945 and there are 2,488 active cases. (ANI)
The Madhya Pradesh government has said that night curfew will be implemented in Bhopal and Indore from March 17 until further order. Markets in eight cities — Jabalpur, Gwalior, Ujjain, Ratlam, Burhanpur, Chhindwara, Betul and Khargone — to shut at 10 pm from March 17. (ANI)
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.
"The state is planning to immunise 60-plus age group and 45-plus population with comorbidities. It needs supply of 2.20 crore doses of COVID-19 vaccine (Covishield and Covaxin) during the next three-and-a-half months. You are requested to supply 20 lakh doses per week to Maharashtra," Tope said in the letter.
Maharashtra has been the worst hit by the coronavirus infection in the country. (PTI)
An 18-year-old girl, who was quarantined at an observation home in Pune’s Erandwane area due to Covid-19 symptoms, was rescued by fire brigade officials Monday night after she got stuck in the grill of the window of the second floor while trying to escape from the facility.
The incident took place at around 11.30 pm on Monday night at the observation home for women and girls. The police said the girl, who is originally from Delhi, has been lodged at the observation home for the past few months and was quarantined for a few days due to possible Covid-19 symptoms. Read more
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 the 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.
It said 170 patients recovered from the infection on March 15. The cumulative recovered cases stood at 2,97,851, while 2,015 were under treatment. (PTI)
Of the more than 66,000 citizens vaccinated in Pimpri-Chinchwad till date, four have tested Covid positive days after receiving their first dose. And, two doctors have tested positive even after their second dose.
PCMC Additional Health Chief Dr Pavan Salve told The Indian Express today, "We have information about a 46-year-old female doctor who has been detected with Covid-19 after receiving the second dose." The second doctor who tested positive after the second dose is Dr Yashwant Ingale, head of dental department at the civic-run YCM hospital. He tested positive a week ago and is undergoing treatment at the same hospital. Read Manoj Dattatrye More's report
The Gujarat government Tuesday said it would extend night curfew in four metropolitan cities — Ahmedabad, Vadodara, Surat and Rajkot — from 10 pm to 6 am due to the surge in Covid-19 cases in the state. The curfew will be imposed from March 17 to March 31. Till March 16, i.e., Tuesday, the curfew timings in the four cities had been from 12 am to 6 am.
During curfew, citizens will not be allowed to commute, and shops, restaurants, eateries and malls will not function. Pharmacies, milk kiosks, hospitals and other essential services will continue operations. Residents commuting to catch flights or trains will also be allowed to travel. Read Vaibhav Jha's report
Should you be concerned that several European countries have banned the Covid-19 vaccine developed by AstraZeneca? Read this explainer to understand blood clots and bleeding associated with the vaccine.
🔴 Confirmed cases: 1,14,09,831
🔴 Recovered: 1,10,27,543 (96.65%)
🔴 Active cases: 2,23,432 (1.96%)
🔴 Deaths: 1,58,856 (1.39%)
With 932 people testing positive for Covid-19 on Monday, Karnataka reported over 900 cases for the third consecutive day. The state now has 8,860 active cases, of which 6,454 are in Bengaluru.
The positivity rate rose to 1.49 per cent with Bengaluru reporting most new cases (550) followed by Dakshina Kanada (65), Mysuru (46), Kalaburagi (43), and Tumkur (40). At the same time, 62,358 samples were tested (including 2559 Rapid Antigen Detection Tests) across the state.
Due to the uptick in cases, the state government has decided to step up checks for mandatory negative RT-PCR report for people entering the state from neighbouring Maharashtra and Kerala. After a meeting ministers and top officials in Bengaluru, Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa said, "We have decided to enhance checks for RT-PCR negative test reports at Maharashtra and Kerala borders. All deputy commissioners have been instructed to enforce the same from Tuesday itself."
Monday saw the highest number of vaccinations against Covid-19 in India, with over 30 lakh citizens being administered shots. Now, 3,29,47,432 people have been inoculated, according to data from the Union Health Ministry. Of the total, 30,39,394 shots were administered on March 15; 26,27,099 beneficiaries were given the first dose and 4,12,295 individuals the second.
Arunachal Pradesh has not reported a single case of Covid-19 for five consecutive days. The state's caseload stands at 16,840, of which 16,783 patients have recovered and 56 have died. This leaves just one active case in the state, State Surveillance Officer (SSO) Dr Lobsang Jampa told news agency PTI. Arunachal's recovery rate is 99.66 per cent and positivity rate is 0.006 per cent, he added.
Meanwhile, State Immunization Officer (SIO) Dr Dimong Padung said 55,652 people have been vaccinated so far. In Arunchal, the inoculation drive is held four days a week - Monday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday.
India's top committee for post-vaccination adverse reactions is expected to review this week data related to side effects of the Covishield and Covaxin Covid-19 vaccines to ensure they are not linked to blood clots. A preliminary review conducted towards the end of last week prima facie reflected no cause for concern, according to the head of one of the Covid-19 task forces of the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR). Read Prabha Raghavan's report