A health worker collects swab to conduct COVID-19 tests on passengers coming by long distance trains at Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus in Mumbai. (AP Photo/Rajanish Kakade)Coronavirus India Live Updates: Maharashtra will impose a night curfew from 28th March as the covid cases are showing a steady rise in the state. The Disaster management and rehabilitation department will be issuing a separate order in this regard, said the Chief Minister’s office. Maharashtra alone contributes to almost 62 per cent of the cases in India.
The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) on Friday asked states and Union Territories to take necessary steps to regulate crowds ahead of festivals. India recorded a new high of 59,118 new cases on Friday taking its tally to 1,18,46,652.
Meanwhile, Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan said the recent surge in the country’s coronavirus cases is being closely monitored and strict enforcement of COVID protocols will be implemented to curb the pandemic. Earlier in the day, he had said the government is planning to include more population under the vaccination drive. Everyone above 45 years was made eligible for vaccination yesterday.
Official data shows prominent second waves of infection in six states — Maharashtra, Punjab, Kerala, Karnataka, Chhattisgarh, and Gujarat.
A new double mutant variant of coronavirus has been identified in India, according to the Ministry of Health. A total of 206 cases of the double mutant variant (E484Q + L452R) have been detected in Maharashtra, the data shows. However, the Centre has said that there is no direct link of the new variant detected with the ongoing surge in the state.
Considering the fast rate at which Covid-19 is spreading in Pune, the administration is planning to increase the number of vaccination centres to about 600 from 316.
So far, about 4.5 lakh beneficiaries in the district have received the jab (either one or both doses) at the operational centres. The district has a population of close to 90 lakh and, hence, the administration is worried about the slow pace of the vaccination. Read More
Madhya Pradesh on Friday reported 2,091 new COVID-19 cases, taking its tally to 2,84,265, while nine deaths increased the toll to 3,937, a health official said.
As many as 1,048 people were discharged from hospitals in the last 24 hours, taking the count of recoveries in Madhya Pradesh to 2,68,290, he added. (PTI)
The district has 29,983 active cases
Malls in Maharashtra will be closed from 8 pm to 7 am. The Disaster management and rehabilitation department will be issuing a separate order in this regard, said the Chief Minister’s office.
The recent surge in coronavirus cases in the country is being closely monitored and measures, including strict enforcement of COVID protocols and creating micro-containment zones, will be taken to keep a check the contagion, Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan said on Friday. Vaccination drive is going on and its pace is increasing with each passing day.
Priority groups have been identified on the basis of recommendations of the National Expert Group on Vaccine Administration for COVID-19 (NEGVAC), he said. (PTI)
The Madras High Court on Friday directed the EC authorities to instruct their subordinates to strictly enforce the Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) prescribed by the Health department, in view of the recentspurt in covid-19 cases in poll-bound Tamil Nadu.
The Election Commission should ensure that the norm of mandatory distance is maintained and masks strictly used while canvassing and polling. (PTI)
Nagpur on Friday saw its highest every single-day spike in COVID-19 cases as 4,095 people were detected with the infection, while the day also saw 35 deaths and 1,943 people getting discharged, an official said.
The district's caseload now stands at 2,11,162, including 4,819 deaths, and a recovery count of 1,69,407 has left it with 36,936 active cases, he added. (PTI)
Goa's coronavirus caseload went up by 113 and reached 57,283 on Friday, while the number of deaths increased by one and the recovery count by 111, an official said.
So far, 823 people have died of the infection and 55,181 have been discharged, leaving the state with an active caseload of 1,279, he added. (PTI)
Five states -- Maharashtra, Punjab, Karnataka, Chhattisgarh and Gujarat -- have registered a sharp rise in daily COVID-19 cases, the Union Health Ministry said on Friday as India recorded 59,118 new infections, the highest single-day rise so far this year.
After touching its lowest mark in mid-February, India's active COVID-19 caseload is on a steady rise and has breached the 4-lakh mark again after around three-and-half months. (PTI)
The Union Health Ministry has rushed two high-level multidisciplinary teams to Chhattisgarh and Chandigarh in view of a surge in the number of COVID-19 cases there.
The ministry on Friday said these teams will work with the respective governments of the state and the Union Territory to ascertain the reasons behind the surge, assist in undertaking gap analysis and recommend requisite COVID-19 control and containment measures. (PTI)
The city has a total of 2, 392 active cases now.
The Kangra district administration on Friday ordered for prohibiting mass gatherings in view of the rising COVID-19 cases and directed for seven days of quarantine for migrant labourers entering the district, officials said.
In the orders issued by Kangra Deputy Commissioner Rakesh Kumar Prajapati, it states that the gatherings for Holi festival are banned too.
Under Section 34 of the Disaster Management Act, 2005, the DC has imposed additional safety protocols of COVID-19 for immediate prevention of threat to human life, health and safety. (PTI)
Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar on Friday warned that some "stringent measures" will be taken if the COVID-19 situation did not improve in the next one week in Pune district.
Pawar, who is also the guardian minister for Pune, issued the warning while addressing a press conference after reviewing the situation in the district. (PTI)
The Centre is planning to widen the scope of the COVID-19 immunisation drive by bringing more population groups under its ambit, Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan said on Friday, days after everyone above 45 years was made eligible to get vaccinated from April 1.
He said people have embraced the 'Made in India' vaccines, and it is due to this enthusiasm and trust that the country crossed the last one crore vaccination in just under four days. (PTI)
Uttar Pradesh recorded over 1,000 fresh COVID-19 cases after a period of three months, while the death toll rose to 8,779 on Friday with six more fatalities, an official said.
At present, there are 5,824 active cases, of which 3,383 are under home isolation, Additional Chief Secretary (Health) Amit Mohan Prasad said.
A total of 5,96,698 patients have recovered from the infection in the state so far, he said. (PTI)
Workers above the age of 45 can avail the vaccination facility in the company premises from April 1.
As Odisha's COVID-19 tally on Friday surged to 3,39,694 after 234 more people tested positive for the infection, the state government issued fresh guidelines banning large congregations for religious festivals.
The new cases were detected in 23 of the state's 30 districts, with 139 reported from different quarantine centres while the remaining 95 were local contact cases. (PTI)
Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath has directed officials that coronavirus testing facilities should be set up at railway stations, bus depots and airports in the state in view of greater movement of people for the Holi festival.
Adityanath, who held a meeting with all divisional and district level officials and those of the medical and health department through video conferencing on Thursday night, said there is a need to chalk out an effective strategy to check the spread of coronavirus.
With people from other states coming to the state on Holi, arrangements for testing at all railway and bus stations and airports should be made besides contact tracing should also be ensured. He also asked for increasing the daily tests being done in view of the recent rising trend, according to an official release. The chief minister was apprised about the status of coronavirus cases, specially in Ghaziabad, Lucknow and Varanasi districts and said that people should be motivated to comply with the corona protocol and use of masks and social distancing. (PTI)
There will be no lockdown or additional restrictions in Pune district in view of the Covid-19 surge but the curbs already in place will be imposed strictly, Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar said on Friday,
The COVID-19 infection has spread at a very fast rate in the district in the last few weeks, with approximately 7,000 new cases being detected per day. The positivity rate in the district is 24.7 per cent, which is up from 9 per cent in February 2021. Read More
A shortage of beds and other medical facilities looms large on Pune as the number of active coronavirus cases went past 50,000 on Thursday. The district reported 6,427 new infections on Thursday, the second consecutive day of 6,000-plus cases, taking number of currently sick patients to 50,289, state government data shows.
Only 2,808 people were declared to have recovered from the disease on Thursday, leading to an addition of more than 3,500 to the city’s current caseload.
More than 80 per cent of the allocated Covid-19 beds in hospitals in the Pune Municipal Corporation areas are already occupied, forcing the local authorities to rush to find more beds, ventilators and ICUs for the expected rise in demand in the coming days. Over 10,000 people are hospitalised across the district, while the remaining are in home isolation. Read More