India recorded 93,249 new coronavirus cases in the last 24 hours, with which its overall caseload soared to 1,24,85,509. (Express photo by Praveen Khanna)The daily coronavirus case count in India crossed one lakh for the first time. Sunday’s tally beat the previous high of 97,894, detected on September 16 last year.
The Maharashtra government on Sunday announced new restrictions, including a night curfew from 8 pm to 7 am in the state and a weekend lockdown, amid an unprecedented surge in Covid cases, NCP minister Nawab Malik said. Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray had earlier called a cabinet meeting to discuss the coronavirus situation.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi, during a review meeting with high-level officials to review the recent rise in coronavirus cases as well as the nationwide vaccination drive on Sunday, asked central teams to visit Maharashtra and review the reasons for such a spike.
The Madhya Pradesh government has said that it will restrict the movement of people from neighbouring Chhattisgarh to curb the spread of Covid-19 and a lockdown will be enforced in isolated areas whenever needed. Talking to reporters, Chouhan said they have already sealed Madhya Pradesh’s areas bordering Maharashtra. “There will now be restrictions on movement from Chhattisgarh. Those who need to come for necessary and unavoidable work will be allowed on humanitarian grounds and transportation of goods will continue,” he said, citing the spread of Covid-19 in the neighbouring states.
India recorded 93,249 new coronavirus cases in the last 24 hours, with which its overall caseload soared to 1,24,85,509. Meanwhile, with 513 new deaths, the death toll surged to 1,64,623.
Swab testing fro Covid-19 by health workers at Juhu beach in Mumbai. (Express photo by Amit Chakravarty)
The AIIMS chief says vaccination will open up but “gradually”, advises caution over theories regarding re-infection, addresses the “Bihar paradox” when polls did not see a surge, and says approvals for vaccination in children must be fast-tracked. The session was moderated by Principal Correspondent Kaunain Sheriff M. Read More
In another highest single-day spike in coronavirus cases in Panchkula, 313 more people tested positive for Covid-19 on Sunday.
A Covid-related death was also reported during the day, as a 53-year-old resident of Sector 7, who was suffering from diabetes and hypertension, succumbed to the virus.
The district had last witnessed such an increase in the caseload in September last year, when the district had recorded its first peak. Read More
To steer the vaccination drive, motivate and encourage people to come forward to take the vaccine and help break the chain of transmission, healthcare workers will begin door-to-door vaccine awareness campaign this week. “It will help us get the data of the areas, where people have not come forward to take the vaccine and we will focus on these sectors, rural areas and colonies, among others.”
On April 4, at least 4,203 people were vaccinated at 44 sites in Chandigarh. Since March 1, a total of 32,899 people of above 60 years of age have been vaccinated, and the number for those in the 46-60 years bracket is 7,694. Till now, 15,799 healthcare workers and 15,230 frontline workers in the UT have received the first dose of the vaccine, while in total 88,299 people have been administered vaccines in Chandigarh so far. Read More
With 4,164 new Covid-19 cases reported in the last 24 hours, the active cases in Uttar Pradesh reached 19,738 on Sunday – the highest since December 13 last year. The last time the state reported over 4,000 cases in one day was on October 1. With 31 people dying in the last 24 hours, the Covid death count in the state has reached 8,881.
Lucknow remains the worst affected with 1,129 new cases and 6,283 active cases. Other than Lucknow, Varanasi recorded 453 new cases, Prayagraj 397, Kanpur Nagar 235 and Gorakhpur 121. Read More
Although the state government’s latest restrictions aimed at breaking the spread of Covid-19 infections stop short of a full lockdown, migrant workers said the measures are similar to last year’s, and therefore, would affect their wages.
Many workers said they are mulling returning home. Anticipating a lockdown, some began leaving the city over the past two days.
Some said they wanted to leave quickly as they feared that train services could be stopped like last year. Read More
The medical officer of Khodapipar Primary Health Centre (PHC) in Rajkot district, a laboratory technician and a medical officer of a Dhanvantari Rath functioning under that PHC were dismissed from service Sunday over allegations of fudging in Covid-19 tests.
Chief Minister Vijay Rupani ordered the Rajkot district collector and district development officer to conduct an enquiry into the matter and take action against those responsible after a news report in a Gujarati newspaper Sunday alleged the staff of Khodapipar PHC in Padadhari taluka of Rajkot district had sent 1,300 samples for RT-PCR tests over the past few months without having actually collected any sample. Read More
State Forest Minister Ganapat Vasava and Labour and Employment Minister Dilipkumar Thakor tested positive for Covid-19 on Sunday even as surge in Covid-19 cases continued unabated.
Gujarat reported 2,875 fresh cases on Sunday, the state’s highest single-day addition after a record 2,815-case spike Saturday. While the total virus count is above 3.17 lakh, currently there are 15,135 active cases in the state among which 163 patients are on ventilator. The two ministers announced they had tested positive for the infection on Twitter. While Thakor has been put on home quarantine, Vasava has been admitted to a hospital. Read More
The Covid-19 situation in Nagpur district appears to be worsening with the district recording 62 deaths and 4,110 new patients on Sunday. The city’s highest death tally (64) was in September last year during the peak of the Covid-19 pandemic.
In the first wave, most of the deaths occurred in the municipal area with rural parts relatively unaffected. But this time, deaths have been occurring equally in rural parts of the district. On Sunday, 29 deaths each were reported from rural and municipal areas. Four deaths were of patients from outside the district. Read More
Punjab recorded 51 Covid deaths and added 3,019 fresh cases in the past 24 hours, as per the state bulletin, Sunday.
With 51 fresh deaths, the toll in Punjab due to Covid reached 7,083.
For the third time in 10 days, the daily case count in Punjab crossed 3,000-mark. Earlier, 3,187 and 3,176 fresh cases were recorded on April 1 and March 26, respectively. Read More
Maharashtra was facing a grave situation with a rapid spread in the double mutated strain, L452R and E484Q, of the novel coronavirus, and the situation needed to watched closely, said Dr Shekhar Mande, Director General of Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR).
“Whether or not it is fuelling the crisis can be better understood as we will be releasing our analysis of data from Maharashtra soon. More institutes will soon be added to the INSACOG (Indian SARS-CoV-2 Consortium on Genomics). From today, National Chemical Laboratory will also join in the effort along with NIV (National Institute of Virology) and NCCS (National Centre for Cell Science) for genomic sequencing of samples,” Dr Mande told the media on Sunday. Read More
The daily count of coronavirus cases in India crossed one lakh for the first time on Sunday. The figure beat the previous high of 97,894, detected on September 16 last year.
Punjab recorded 51 Covid deaths and added 3,019 fresh cases in the past 24 hours, as per the state bulletin, Sunday.
With 51 fresh deaths, the toll in Punjab due to Covid reached 7,083.
For the third time in 10 days, the daily case count in Punjab crossed 3,000-mark. Earlier, 3,187 and 3,176 fresh cases were recorded on April 1 and March 26, respectively. Read More
Amid a surge in Covid cases, RT-PCR test has been made mandatory for people entering the state and those traveling outside. Classes 1 to 9 will remain suspended. DMs can impose night curfews but they will be required to seek government's permission for: Rajasthan government
Pune reported a record 12,494 Covid-19 cases in the last 24 hours, taking the district's tally to 5,74,829, the third consecutive day when new case addition peaks were touched, an official said on Sunday. On Saturday, the tally had increased by 10,827, while the addition was 9,086 on Friday, he pointed out. A total of 64 deaths on Sunday took the toll to 10,227, while 3,762 people were discharged, he added. (PTI)
Delhi reports 4,033 new cases, 21 deaths and 2,677 recoveries, in the last 24 hours. It currently has 13,982 active cases. (ANI)
Maharashtra reports 57,074 new Covid-19 cases, 27,508 recoveries, and 222 deaths in the last 24 hours. (ANI)
Mumbai recorded its highest single-day spike of 11,163 new coronavirus cases on Sunday, which pushed the city's caseload to 4,52,445, the civic body said.
With the death of 25 patients, the fatality count of the metropolis reached 11,776, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) said in a statement.
A total of 5,263 patients were discharged from hospitals, which took the recovery count to 3,71,628. (PTI)
Six students of Government Medical College (GMC) here tested positive for COVID-19 on Sunday, a spokesperson said.
The students, including five girls staying in hostels, tested positive for the infection during a special rapid antigen test (RAT) drive here, he said.
He said GMC, Jammu, conducted the tests for staff and students in view of the recent surge in COVID-19 cases in the Union Territory. (PTI)
Welcoming the decision to shut down schools in Jammu and Kashmir in the wake of rising COVID-19 cases, National Conference (NC) vice president Omar Abdullah on Sunday called for a uniform approach to fight the second wave of the virus in the union territory.
Abdullah, the former chief minister of the erstwhile state, said while shutting schools in Jammu and Kashmir was the right thing to do, letting crowds assemble at Tulip Garden was too stark a contrast to be ignored.
He was referring to a six-day festival at the garden which began on Saturday. (PTI)
BJP supports government’s decision to impose weekend lockdowns, says Devendra Fadnavis. “People should abide by restrictions and follow COVID protocols. To ensure maximum vaccination, BJP workers would help people register and reach vaccination centres,” he adds. (ANI)