A health worker conduct Swab test at RML Health post in Mumbai on March 17, 2021 (Express Photo by Amit Chakravarty)Coronavirus India Live Updates: India detected 35,871 cases of the novel coronavirus on Wednesday, of which 23,179 cases (close to 65 per cent) were from Maharashtra. The number of active cases in the country has increased to more than 2.52 lakh. At least 172 deaths were reported on Wednesday, taking the toll to over 1.59 lakh. Maharashtra’s surge is close to the peak of 24,886 that the state recorded in September last year.
The next highest caseload reported by a state on Wednesday — Punjab at 2,039 cases — is lower than that of Maharashtra cities such as Nagpur, Pune and Mumbai. Punjab is the only major state where the death rate in the second round of infections is higher than in the first. For the last two days, Punjab has been reporting the second-highest number of deaths in the country, after much bigger Maharashtra. The state reported 38 deaths on Tuesday and 35 on Wednesday.
As many as 70 districts have reported a 150 per cent increase in the number of cases over the past few weeks, Prime Minister Modi told a virtual meeting of Chief Ministers on Wednesday. Amid the spike, Prime Minister Narendra Modi urged states to take “quick and decisive steps” to stop the emerging “second peak” of the Covid-19 pandemic. For the first time since vaccination was opened up for the general public at the beginning of the month, the Prime Minister flagged multiple concerns emerging from the inoculation drive.
In other news, the unemployment rate in Delhi six months post-pandemic, rose to 28.5 per cent in October-November 2020 compared with 11.1 per cent in January-February, according to a Delhi government-commissioned survey accessed by The Indian Express.
Beautification work is underway in Thane. (Express photo by Deepak Joshi)
Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal has urged the central government to open up vaccination for all and said he will vaccinate everyone within 3 months.
Karnataka Labour Minister A Shivaram Hebbar on Thursday said over one lakh women who were employed in garment factories in the state are left without a job, as many units that were shut due to COVID-19 pandemic related situation, have not reopened.
"As many as 983 garment factories were functioning last year and 2,86,747 women employees were working, this year almost over 1 lakh women have not been able to join duty yet as many garment factories have not opened yet, after COVID. Garment factories are in such a state today," Hebbar said. (PTI)
Indian Super League team FC Goa's head coach Juan Ferrando has tested positive for COVID-19 and is currently self-isolating, the club said on Thursday.
"The gaffer is in good health at the moment and showing no symptoms. The club will continue to monitor the situation and provide all the necessary support," the club said in a statement. It said that rest of its players and staff have tested negative. (PTI)
Coronaviruses, including SARS-CoV-2, may be vulnerable to ultrasound vibrations, within the frequencies used in medical diagnostic imaging, according to a study that used computer simulations. The researchers from Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in the US modelled the mechanical response of the coronaviruses to vibrations across a range of ultrasound frequencies.
They found that vibrations between 25 and 100 megahertz triggered the virus' shell and spikes to collapse and start to rupture within a fraction of a millisecond. The finding, published in the Journal of the Mechanics and Physics of Solids, shows this effect in simulations of the virus in both air and in water. (PTI)
33 persons including 27 found COVID19 positive at Manipal Institute of Technology, Udupi district yesterday. District health administration has declared the MIT campus as a containment zone: District Health Officer, Udupi. (ANI)
The night curfew in Punjab has been 2 hours in 9 districts where the COVID-19 cases are taking a spike, Punjab chief minister Capt. Amarinder Singh mentioned in a tweet.
The 9 districts where the night curfew will be extended are Ludhiana, Jalandhar, Patiala, Mohali, Amritsar, Gurdaspur, Hoshiarpur, Kapurthala, and Ropar. The curfew will be in force from 9 pm to 5 am.
The Punjab chief minister has also urged everyone to wear masks and take precautionary measures due to the daily rising number of fresh COVID-19 cases.
Amid a surge in daily COVID-19 cases in the national capital, Delhi Health Minister Satyendar Jain on Thursday asked people to be cautious and observe all safety norms, and not get complacent about the pandemic situation in the city.
Interacting with reporters, he also said Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal has convened a meeting with him on Thursday to review the situation. (PTI)
The Supreme Court on Thursday stayed the ongoing hearing related to COVID-19 vaccines in the Delhi and Bombay High Courts. It also sought responses from the Centre and others on pleas of the Serum Institute and Bharat Biotech seeking transfer of the cases from the high courts to the apex court.
A bench headed by Chief Justice S A Bobde took note of the pleas of the two firms that the high courts are conducting parallel proceedings on vaccine related issues and they need to be transferred to the top court for an authoritative judgement. The bench also transferred to itself the vaccine-related case going on in the Delhi High Court.
Japan on Thursday will approve ending a monthslong state of emergency in Tokyo set up to curb the spread of the coronavirus, despite concerns of a resurgence ahead of the spring party season and next week's Olympic torch relay. Experts on a government-commissioned panel moved to end the emergency this coming Sunday, underscoring the government's eagerness to minimize burdens on businesses and keep the economy going. However, some experts warned that although Tokyo has managed to bring down the rate of new infections, the decline has levelled off and could rebound.
Tokyo and three neighbouring prefectures have been under emergency measures since Jan 7, mainly requests for restaurants and bars to close at 8 p.m. and take preventive measures, as well as asking companies and employees to do more remote work. Similar emergency measures were lifted in six urban areas late last month.
A plea has been filed in the Delhi High Court seeking direction to the Centre and Election Commission to debar campaigners and candidates from canvassing either permanently or for a stipulated time if they repeatedly violate the mandatory masking guidelines issued by the poll panel in view of the COVID-19 pandemic. The petition said every person has the fundamental right to life, which is being impacted by political leaders, campaigners and candidates not wearing masks during the election process. Once the Election Commission (EC) has mandated compulsory wearing of masks, it is duty bound to ensure strict compliance of the same, it said.
Assembly elections in Assam, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, West Bengal and Puducherry are scheduled to be held in various phases, starting from March 27 and will conclude on April 29.
Pediatricians have reported the first known case of a woman, who was given the first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine during her pregnancy, giving birth to a baby with antibodies against the novel coronavirus. According to the yet-to-be peer-reviewed study, posted in the preprint server medRxiv, the mother had received a single dose of the Moderna mRNA vaccine at 36 weeks and three days of her gestation period. Three weeks later, she gave birth to a vigorous, healthy, full-term girl, whose blood sample taken immediately after birth revealed the presence of antibodies against the SARS-CoV-2 virus, the study noted.
"Here, we report the first known case of an infant with SARS-CoV-2 IgG antibodies detectable in cord blood after maternal vaccination," noted the co-authors, Paul Gilbert and Chad Rudnick from Florida Atlantic University in the US. The woman, who has been breastfeeding the baby exclusively, received the second dose of the vaccine as per the normal 28-day vaccination protocol timeline, the doctors noted.
Punjab has always had a high case fatality ratio, much more than the national average. At the end of last year, for example, the state had recorded 1.66 lakh cases and 5,341 deaths, giving it a case fatality ratio, or CFR, of 3.21 per cent. For the first two months of this year, Punjab’s CFR seemed to be declining, in line with the trend elsewhere in the country. As on Tuesday, the cumulative CFR in the state, since the start of the epidemic, was 3.05 per cent, while the national figure had come down to 1.39 per cent.
After Maharashtra and Punjab, the surge in Gujarat appears to be getting serious. On Wednesday, Gujarat reported more than 1,000 cases for the first time in over three months. Karnataka crossed the 1,000 mark a day earlier, after a gap of over two months, but it has a much higher threshold than Gujarat.
Tanzania’s President John Magufuli, admired by followers for his hostility to corruption and waste but regarded by foes as an irascible authoritarian intolerant of dissent and sceptical about COVID-19, has died aged 61.
He was nicknamed “The Bulldozer” for his fondness for massive public works and a reputation for pushing through policies despite opposition – a hard-charging leadership style that won support from many Tanzanians.
But he also attracted criticism at home and abroad for what opponents saw as his eccentric handling of the coronavirus pandemic.
With Covid-19 positive cases surging in Pimpri-Chinchwad, Mayor Usha Dhore has mooted a “janata curfew” on Saturdays and Sundays to keep the situation from going out of control. The mayor’s suggestion has received support from Opposition parties such as the NCP and Shiv Sena. Even civic activists are strongly in favour of a weekend lockdown.
“Every day we are witnessing rise in Covid-19 cases. In early February we had around 60 cases every day. Now, the cases have gone beyond 1000. If this rate is not reduced, we will have a huge problem in handling the situation vis-a-vis hospital beds,” the mayor told The Indian Express on Thursday. The mayor is from the BJP, which rules the PCMC.
Police have registered an FIR against a popular restaurant in Mumbai for allegedly violating COVID-19 rules, civic officials said on Thursday.
A Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) team raided the restaurant Auber-Gin Plates and Pours, located in Breach Candy area, late Wednesday night and collected Rs 19,400 as fine from 245 people there for not wearing masks, they said. The establishment was not operating at 50 per cent capacity and customers were neither wearing masks nor maintaining social distance, BMC officials said.
Based on the BMC's complaint, the police registered an FIR against the restaurant. The BMC's D-ward has also shut the restaurant for violation of the COVID-19 norms, a senior civic official said.
Following a recent spike in the number of Covid-19 cases on the campus of Manipal Institute of Technology (MIT), the Udupi district administration has declared it as a containment zone. The development comes after 59 cases were reported from the campus.
“Of the 59 cases reported from MIT campus since March 11, 42 positive results were obtained on Monday and Tuesday alone. More students, faculty, and others residing in the campus will be tested. Only faculty and essential staff will be allowed into the campus with proper identification. Movement of residential students have also been restricted,” a government official explained.
Calling for relaxation of the vaccination age limit, Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray on Wednesday requested Prime Minister Narendra Modi to allow all people over the age of 45, with or without comorbidities, to get vaccinated. Thackeray made the demand during the virtual meeting that chief ministers had with the PM on a day Maharashtra reported 23,179 new Covid-19 cases.
“Considering that a large number of youngsters are infected with coronavirus, all aged 45 years and above, with or without comorbidities, should be vaccinated,” Thackeray said during the interaction. Maintaining that more vaccination centres should be allowed to come up, Thackeray sought that state-run Haffkine Bio-Pharmaceutical Corporation be allowed to produce vaccines.
In view of the increasing number of COVID-19 cases, the administration here announced on Wednesday that the prohibitory orders issued under section 144 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC) will remain in force in the district till May 10. Guidelines have been issued for multiplexes, shopping malls, educational institutes and hotels. Shopkeepers have been asked not to entertain customers who do not wear face masks. District Magistrate (DM) Ajay Shankar Pandey told PTI that the orders were issued to curb the spread of the virus.
The Surat Municipal Corporation (SMC) on Wednesday issued a notification making seven-day home quarantine mandatory for people visiting the city from outside Gujarat.
The Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation (AMC) also suspended its city bus services indefinitely from Thursday morning, while both the civic bodies decided to close all parks, gardens, libraries, including Kankaria Lakefront, Kamla Nehru zoo in Ahmedabad, private-run and public gymnasiums and sports clubs along with other public recreation facilities from Thursday till further orders.