People walk past a wall graffiti in New Delhi showcasing doctors fighting against Covid-19. (Express Photo: Praveen Khanna)Coronavirus India Live Updates: In a new daily high, India detected 1,45,384 cases of the novel coronavirus in the 24 hours ending 9 am on Saturday. The country’s Covid-19 caseload, which currently stands at 1,32,05,926, includes 10,46,631 active cases, 1,19,90,859 recoveries, and 1,68,436 deaths. India reported 794 deaths on Friday, the highest fatalities in a day since October 18, 2020. Meanwhile, Union Health Ministry said the total number of Covid-19 vaccine doses administered in the country has exceeded 9.80 crore.
Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh chief Mohan Bhagwat has tested positive for the novel coronavirus and was admitted to a private hospital in Nagpur on Friday.
The news was tweeted by the RSS. “Mohanji Bhagwat tested positive for Covid today (Friday) afternoon. He has general symptoms of corona and he has been admitted to the Kingsway Hospital in Nagpur for general checkup and as precaution,” the tweet read. Bhagwat, 70, has already taken the first dose of the Covid-19 vaccine.
Meanwhile, Rajasthan has flagged vaccine shortage and asked for ‘immediate’ supply of doses from the Centre. Stating that the vaccines will run out of stock in the state in two days, Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi requesting for another 30 lakh doses. In a letter to PM Modi after a virtual meeting with him on Thursday, Gehlot said the state has, till April 7, administered 86,89,770 doses. “The present stock of vaccine in Rajasthan will finish in next two days. Therefore, it is requested that at least another 30 lakh doses of vaccine be provided to us immediately so that the momentum that we have built up can be maintained and maximum eligible beneficiaries can be vaccinated at the earliest,” he wrote.
Surgical masks are made at a production unit in Ahmedabad. (Express Photo: Nirmal Harindran)
Manufacturers of Remdesivir said a lull in demand from December to February led to low or zero production of the anti-viral drug for three months, which subsequently affected its supply chain. The manufacturers said they did not anticipate such a sudden surge, and that it would take at least 10 days to overcome the shortage.
Maharashtra, Delhi, Gujarat, Chhattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh have reported a shortage of Remdesivir as Covid-19 cases surge. India has been reporting over a lakh fresh cases for the past couple of days. The number of active infections has reached close to 10 lakh, half of which are in Maharashtra that requires 40,000-50,000 vials of Remdesivir, up from 30,000 vials per day during first the “peak” last year. (Read Tabassum Barnagarwala's report)
In the wake of rising Covid-19 cases in Goa, the state education department has directed the higher secondary schools and junior colleges to hold examinations for Classes 9 and 11 in online mode. The department had earlier announced that examinations for students of Class 1 to 8 would be held online and they can appear for the test from home.
On Friday evening, director of education D R Bhagat issued a fresh circular, in which he asked the educational institutions to hold exams for Classes 9 and 11 also in online mode. The circular has been issued to all the higher secondary schools in the state, which were gearing up to hold offline exams for the students from this week. (PTI)
Punjab recorded 3,459 Covid cases and 56 deaths on Friday, the highest ever single-day case count since the pandemic began last year.
This is the fifth time in past 15 days that the daily case count in Punjab crossed the 3,000-mark. On Thursday (April 8), the state had 3,119 new cases, and 3,019 and 3,187 cases were recorded on April 4 and April 1, respectively. The first time the daily case count in Punjab had crossed the 3,000-mark was on March 26 when 3,176 fresh cases were reported.
The country is presently experiencing its second Covid wave. In the first wave, the highest number of cases Punjab recorded was 2,896 cases, on September 17 last year.
The number of patients on ventilator support also increased from 24 to 43 within 24 hours. The daily case count in SAS Nagar district (Mohali) also breached the 600-mark Friday.
Dr Rajesh Bhaskar, nodal officer, Covid-19, Punjab said that the doubling rate of Covid cases in the state currently stands at 76 days. It has dropped drastically since February last week when the doubling rate of Punjab was 320 days. "In February last week, the doubling rate had increased to 320 days in Punjab before second wave commenced," said Dr Bhaskar.
With 56 fresh deaths Friday, the toll in Punjab due to Covid reached 7,390.
Telangana registered nearly 3,000 fresh coronavirus cases, the highest single day spike this year, pushing the tally to over 3.24 lakh, while the toll rose to 1,752 with six more fatalities. Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation accounted for the most number of cases with 487, followed by Medchal Malkajgiri 289 and Nizamabad 202, a government bulletin said on Saturday providing details as of 8 PM on April 9.
The total number of positives stood at 3,24,091 after 2,909 new additions while with 584 patientsbeing cured, the total recoveries were at 3,04,548. The state has 17,791 active cases and over 1.11 lakh samples were tested on Friday. (PTI)
The coronavirus tally in Thane district of Maharashtra reached 3,67,610 after 6,176 people tested positive for the infection, an official said on Saturday. Apart from these new cases that were reported on Friday, the virus also claimed the lives of 26 persons, which took death toll in the district to 6,664. The Covid-19 mortality rate of the district is 1.81 per cent, he added. So far, 3,09,349 patients have recuperated from the infection and the recovery rate stands at 84.15 per cent. There are 51,597 active cases in the district at present, the official said. (PTI)
In a new daily high, India detected 1,45,384 cases of the novel coronavirus in the 24 hours ending 9 am on Friday. The country’s Covid-19 caseload, which currently stands at 1,32,05,926, includes 10,46,631 active cases, 1,19,90,859 recoveries, and 1,68,436 deaths. India reported 794 deaths on Thursday, the highest fatalities in a day since October 18, 2020. Meanwhile, Union Health Ministry said the total number of Covid-19 vaccine doses administered in the country has exceeded 9.80 crore. (ANI)
As Maharashtra headed into a weekend lockdown, two senior government ministers on Friday spoke of the possibility of an extended lockdown in view of the fast rising cases of coronavirus infection and the stretched healthcare system in the state.
Health Minister Rajesh Tope said Maharashtra seemed headed towards a lockdown; Relief and Rehabilitation Minister Vijay Wadettiwar said the time for such a step was already here.
Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray will hold an all-party meeting on Saturday to build consensus on the steps needed to break the chain of transmission. A complete lockdown will also be discussed at the meeting. Read more
The Railways Friday denied that there was a rush among migrants to travel back home in light of the fresh spike in Covid cases and said there is no plan to curtail or stop train services.
A number of officials, including Railway Board chairman Suneet Sharma, Southern Railway manager John Thomas and the chief public relations officers (CPROs) of the Northern and Central Railways, reached out to the media to deny reports of an exodus of migrant workers via trains. (Read full report)
Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh chief Mohan Bhagwat has tested positive for the novel coronavirus and was admitted to a private hospital in Nagpur on Friday. The news was tweeted by the RSS. “Mohanji Bhagwat tested positive for covid today (Friday) afternoon. He has general symptoms of corona and he has been admitted to the Kingsway Hospital in Nagpur for general checkup and as precaution,” the tweet read.
The Covid-19 tally of Andaman and Nicobar Islands rose to 5,161 on Saturday as 12 more people tested positive for the infection, a health official said. Two new patients have travel history, while 10 fresh infections were detected during contact tracing, he said. One more person has been cured of the disease, the official said. The Union territory now has 71 active cases, while 5,028 people have been cured of the disease and 62 patients have succumbed to the infection so far, he said. (PTI)
Delhi on Friday recorded 8,521 new COVID-19 cases –– the highest single-day surge since November 11 (8,593 cases, highest till date) last year. As many as 39 people succumbed to the infection, taking the city’s toll to 11,196, said the health department. This is also the first time that over 8,000 cases have been recorded in a day this year. The positivity rate reduced slightly to be recorded at 7.79 per cent on Friday from 8.1 per cent on Thursday.
CPI leader D Raja on Friday tested positive for Covid-19.
Manipur government has ordered closure of schools for classes V to VIII with immediate effect on Friday in view of the COVID-19 second wave sweeping in some parts of the country. An order issued by L Nandakumar Singh, director Education (s) stated, “In view of COVID-19 second wave and to avoid any kind of unwanted consequences likely to occur in the near future more particularly the students of Class VI to VIII, the government on Friday ordered immediate closure of the recently reopened schools for classes VI to VIII."
"It is hereby instructed to all concerned stakeholders of government and private institutions/ schools that the recently reopened schools for classes VI to VIII shall remain closed with immediate effect and until further orders in public interest," it said.
However, the physical sessions for classes IX to XII shall continue by strictly observing the approved SOP/ guidelines framed by the State Government, added the order.
The order also said that the classes for students of Class V and below will be through online mode only as notified earlier.
On March 3 last, the state gave its approval for resumption of classes from V to VIII after SOP was prepared by the Education department. –– Jimmy Leivon reports from Manipur
Mumbai crossed five lakh total Covid-19 infections today. 9,200 new cases in city today. The administration has decided to keep all private vaccination centres shut for next three days. Only government centres will work.
Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray will hold an all-party meeting on April 10 to discuss the COVID-19 situation in the state, a BJP leader said on Friday. Talking to reporters, Leader of Opposition in the Legislative Council Pravin Darekar said the decision to organise the all-party meeting was taken this afternoon. "This decision was taken during the meeting held today to decide the postponement of MPSC exams scheduled for Sunday," he said. When asked about the weekend lockdown that comes into force from Friday night, Darekar said the state government should take a decision on financially supporting small businesses. --PTI
A special transport vehicle carrying COVID19 vaccine, Covishield, broke down in Patna, today.
After Maharashtra, Rajasthan on Friday flagged vaccine shortage and asked for 'immediate' supply of doses.
Stating that the vaccines will run out of stock in the state in two days, Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi requesting for another 30 lakh doses.
Sahara group Chairman Subrata Roy Sahara has tested positive for coronavirus. Amidst the rising number of COVID-19 cases, Roy has appealed to everyone that the priority should be to "stay safe and take care of people around us", according to a release. As per the release, Roy, who is the Managing Worker and Chairman of Sahara India Pariwar, has tested positive for coronavirus. --PTI
A case has been registered against an NCP functionary for allegedly violating COVID-19 norms during an election campaign meet in Pandharpur of Maharashtra's Solapur district, an official said on Friday. The gathering on Thursday was addressed by Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar ahead of an Assembly bypoll in the district. The opposition BJP has alleged that the COVID-19 norms were flouted during the meet. --PTI
National Conference leader Omar Abdullah has tested positive for Covid-19. Taking to Twitter, he said he is asymptomatic and is isolating himself at home.