Coronavirus News Live Updates: India sees record 1.26 lakh new COVID-19 cases in 24 hours

Coronavirus LIVE Updates | Mumbai Police issues new list of what's allowed, what's not

The Mumbai Police on April 7 issued a list of what is allowed and what is prohibited as per the fresh lockdown guidelines in the wake of the rising number of COVID-19 cases. In a series of tweets, the police clarified on the curbs related to public movement, operation of non-essential shops, restaurants, home deliveries and other subjects on which queries were raised by the city residents.

The police also categorically noted that all non-essential shops would remain closed. Saloons, spas, swimming pools, gyms, cinema halls and other places of recreation would also remain closed, it said. However, gardens and public grounds would remain accessible on weekdays between 7 am and 8 pm, it noted. The new guidelines also bar religious gatherings and order the closure of places of worship, the police further tweeted.

Coronavirus LIVE Updates | Mamata Banerjee unlikely to attend meeting with PM Narendra Modi over COVID-19 situation, says report

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee is unlikely to attend a meeting called by Prime Minister Narendra Modi to interact with CMs to discuss the COVID-19 situation and the ongoing vaccination drive on April 8, reported news agency ANI citing sources. Instead of Banerjee, West Bengal Chief Secretary Alapan Bandyopadhyay will attend the meeting, the sources said.

Moneycontrol could not independently verify the report. PM Modi and Banerjee have been engaged in a bitter war of words since the beginning of the poll campaigning for the West Bengal Assembly election. The prime minister has called the April 8 meeting amid the rising COVID-19 cases in the country. His last interaction with chief ministers was on March 17 during which he had expressed concern over the rise in COVID-19 cases in parts of the country and called for "quick and decisive" steps to check the "emerging second peak". The meeting would take place from 6:30 pm, reported news agency PTI citing sources.

Coronavirus LIVE Updates | India's Serum Institute asks government for $403 million to boost AstraZeneca vaccine output

The Serum Institute of India, the world’s biggest vaccine manufacturer, has asked the government for a grant of 30 billion rupees ($402.97 million) to increase its capacity to make AstraZeneca’s COVID-19 vaccine. It is seeking the money to ramp up monthly production to more than 100 million doses by the end of May, the government said in a statement on Wednesday, noting output was currently around 65-70 million doses a month.

The company is making vaccine doses for dozens of mainly poorer countries, though it has supplied Britain, Canada and Saudi Arabia due to AstraZeneca production issues elsewhere. About 90 percent of the 86 million doses India has administered since mid-January have come from the institute, with the rest accounted for by a domestic vaccine developed by Bharat Biotech, which is also struggling to boost output. Some Indian states have complained of a vaccine shortage even though immunisations are currently limited to front-line workers and people aged over 45, or 400 million of India’s 1.35 billion people.

Coronavirus LIVE Updates | Odisha suspends classroom teaching for class 9 & 11 students

In view of the rise in coronavirus cases in the state, the Odisha government on coronavirus cases in the state, the Odisha government on Wednesday decided to suspend physical teaching of Class 9 and11 students at all schools including private and aided institutions. The School and Mass Education Department issued an order suspending classroom teaching which will come into effect from April 8 and will remain in force till April 30.

Secretary of the School and Mass Education Department, Satyabrata Sahu in a letter to Directors and District Education Officers said that the schools can take up online classes for students of class 9 and 11. It said that the students of these two classes residing in hostels and residential schools are allowed to go back home immediately. The classes of standard 10 and 12 students will, however, continue as usual till April 25, as decided earlier. Covid appropriate behaviour like use of mask, maintaining social distancing norms and hand hygiene must be ensured for the Class 10 and 12 students staying in hostels, the letter said.

Coronavirus LIVE Updates | Some Indian states warn of vaccine shortage as COVID-19 cases peak

India reported a record 115,736 new COVID-19 cases on Wednesday, a 13-fold increase in just over two months, raising pressure on the government to expand its vaccination campaign. Some states, including hardest-hit Maharashtra and Odisha, have complained of a scarcity of vaccines during a second wave that has forced some centres to turn away people. Only those aged over 45 are being immunised.

"Vaccination centres have to close early due to a shortage of supplies," the western state's health minister, Rajesh Tope, told reporters, adding that stocks would run out in three days after the daily injection of over 450,000 doses.

Coronavirus LIVE Updates | New Zealand temporarily suspends travel from India to combat surge in COVID-19 infected travellers, says PM Jacinda Ardern

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern on April 8 announced that New Zealand will temporarily suspend the entry for all travellers, including its citizens, from India for about two weeks from April 11 due to a surge in COVID-19 cases among visitors to this country. The ban will begin on Sunday and will remain in place until April 28, she said. While arrivals from India had triggered the risk assessment, Prime Minister Ardern said the Government would be looking at risks posed by other COVID-19 hotspot countries, the New Zealand Herald reported.

The travel restriction comes after New Zealand recorded 23 new positive coronavirus cases in managed isolation on Thursday, of which 17 came from India, the report added. "This is not a permanent arrangement but rather a temporary measure," Ardern said, adding that the temporary hold would also help reduce the risk that travellers themselves faced. The ban covers all travellers, including New Zealand citizens and permanent residents.

Coronavirus LIVE Updates | Over 29 lakh people get jabbed on April 7, 9 crore shots administered so far

As many as 29,79,292 COVID-19 vaccine doses were administered in India on April 7, according to the Union Health Ministry's latest provisional report. This came at a time when the country is widening the vaccination drive to include everyone above the age of 45, in a bid to curb the spread of novel coronavirus infections.

More than nine crore COVID-19 vaccine doses have been administered across the country so far. On April 7, while 26,90,031 beneficiaries received their first shot and 2,89,261 people were given their second dose. This included healthcare and frontline workers, people aged over 60 and beneficiaries above the age of 45 with or without comorbidities.

The government recently revised the gap between the two doses for the Oxford-AstraZeneca's Covishield, being manufactured by the Serum Institute of India, to six-eight weeks. However, the interval for the second dose of Bharat Biotech's Covaxin remains unchanged.

Coronavirus LIVE Updates | Auto registrations continue falling, down 28.64% YoY in March 2021, says FADA

The Federation of Automobile Dealers Associations (FADA) released its vehicle registration data for March 2021 on April 8. As per the data released, March auto registrations continued to fall by -28.64 percent year-on-year (YoY) but grew 10.05 percent month-on-month (MoM). Meanwhile, tractors and passenger vehicles (PV) sustained healthy momentum by growing 29.21 percent and 28.39 percent YoY, respectively, on a low base, transition from BS-IV to BS-VI and India going under lockdown last year due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

“Tractors continued its dream run as rural incomes saw improvements after successive monsoons and good Rabi produce. If experts are to be believed, India will witness a normal monsoon for the third year in a row. This will further see tractors performing well in FY22,” FADA President Vinkesh Gulati said. Further, two-wheelers, three-wheelers and commercial vehicles (CV) fell by -35.26 percent, -50.72 percent and -42.20 percent on YoY basis, respectively.

Coronavirus LIVE Updates | Delhi to Lucknow Tejas Express halted till April 30 as COVID-19 cases surge

The Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC) has suspended the operation of Lucknow-New Delhi-Lucknow Tejas Express from April 9 to April 30 due to COVID-19 cases surge in the country. "It is to be informed that due to recent increase in corona cases, IRCTC Lucknow- New Delhi Tejas Express (Train No. 82501-O2) is being temporarily suspended from 9th April to 30th April' 2021. The situation is being monitored continuously and action to re-operate the train will be taken accordingly" IRCTC said in a regulatory filing.

Ahmedabad-Mumbai Tejas Express services have already been stopped from April 2 by the IRCTC. Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC), an undertaking of Indian Railways in an official announcement said "Night curfews have also been implemented in both the connecting states, which may cause inconvenience to passengers in general". The IRCTC had cancelled all the trips of this train from November 24 last year due to poor occupancy levels owing to COVID-19 pandemic, after resuming its services in October.

Coronavirus LIVE Updates | AstraZeneca has sent Serum Institute a legal notice over delays in COVID-19 vaccine supply, says Adar Poonawalla

Serum Institute of India CEO Adar Poonawalla has said British-Swedish pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca has sent Pune-based SII a legal notice over delays in the supply of the COVID-19 vaccine. The Indian government is also aware of the legal notice, Poonawalla told Business Standard. "I cannot comment on the legal notice as it is confidential, but we are examining all avenues to amicably manage and resolve legal disputes over contractual obligations that Serum Institute is not able to fulfil due to its prioritisation of Indian supplies," Poonawalla told the publication.

"Everyone has been very understanding so far. The government is evaluating what it can do to resolve the issue." SII is manufacturing AstraZeneca-Oxford University's coronavirus vaccine, which is known as Covishield in India. Recently, Seth Berkley, CEO of the GAVI alliance, said India will now make a smaller number of vaccines available to the world due to the spike in COVID-19 cases in the country.

"We had expected, in March and April, about 90 million doses, and we suspect we'll get much, much less than that, and that is a problem," Berkley said. Gavi and the UN-backed COVAX programme are working towards ensuring distribution fair and equitable distribution of COVID-19 vaccines to every country.

Coronavirus LIVE Updates | Telangana reports 2,055 new COVID-19 cases, 7 deaths push toll to 1,741

COVID-19 cases in Telangana breached the 2,000-markwith 2,055 fresh infections pushing the tally to over 3.18 lakh, while thetoll rose to 1,741 with seven more fatalities. Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) accounted for the most number of cases with 398, followed by Medchal Malkajgiri (214) and Rangareddy (174), a government bulletin said on Thursday, providing details as of 8 PM on April 7.

The total number of cases stood at3,18,704 while with 303patients being cured, the total recoveries were at 3,03,601. The state has 13,362 active cases and87,332 samples were tested on Wednesday. Cumulatively, over 1.06 crore samples have been tested. The samples tested per million population was over 2.86 lakh, the bulletin said.

The case fatality rate in the state was 0.54 per cent, while it was 1.3 per cent at the national level. The recovery rate in Telangana was 95.26 per cent, while it was 92.7 per cent in the country. According to a separate release, over 14.04 lakh people in the statehave received their first dose of COVID-19 vaccine while over 2.76 lakh got their second shot also as of April 6.

Coronavirus LIVE Updates | India reports highest daily spike with over 1.26 lakh new cases

India registered a record single-day spike of 1,26,789 new COVID-19 cases, pushing its infection tally to 1,29,28,574, while the number of active cases too went upwards to breach the nine lakh-mark again, Union Health Ministry data updated on Thursday showed. The death toll due to the disease in the country increased to 1,66,862, with 685 new fatalities being reported in a day, according to the data updated at 8 am.

Registering a steady increase for the 29th day in row, the count of active cases has gone up to 9,10,319, which is 7.04 per cent of the total infections, while the country's recovery rate has further dropped to 91.67 per cent, it stated. The active COVID-19 caseload in the country was recorded at its lowest of 1,35,926 on February 12, comprising 1.25 per cent of the total infections. The number of people who have recuperated from the disease surged to 1,18,51,393, while the case fatality rate has further dropped to 1.29 per cent, the data stated.