The guidelines issued by the ministry also underlined the importance of physical distancing, indoor use of masks, and strict hand hygiene. (File Photo/PTI)Coronavirus (Covid-19) Cases and Death Toll in India Live Updates: Amid the continuous rise in the number of coronavirus cases in India, the Union Health Ministry has issued revised ‘Clinical Guidance for Management of Adult COVID-19 Patients.’ The ministry has recommended emergency use authorization (EUA)/off label use of Tocilizumab drug in case of severe cases of Covid-19. Zydus Cadila’s Virafin has also been granted emergency use authorisation (EUA) for treatment of moderate cases of Covid-19 by the Drugs Controller General of India (DCGI).
The guidelines issued by ICMR-COVID-19 National Task Force, All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), and the Joint Monitoring Group (DGHS) suggested that the medicine should be preferably used with 24 to 48 hours of the ICU admission or the onset of the disease.
Covid-19 Triple Mutant Virus: Coronavirus triple mutant variant to worsen India’s Covid crisis? What we know about ‘Bengal strain’ – 5 points
The guidelines issued by the ministry also underlined the importance of physical distancing, indoor use of masks, and strict hand hygiene.
New vaccine orders from Centre will cost Rs 400 per dose: Serum Institute
Prime Minister Narendra Modi chaired a high-level meeting on the COVID-19 situation with chief ministers of 11 states and Union Territories which have reported the maximum number of cases recently, Modi called for working together to fight the pandemic with collective power. PM said that Railways and Air Force are being deployed to reduce the transportation time for oxygen tankers and all state government need to work together to meet requirements of life-saving gas and medicines. The prime minister added that the biggest basis of India’s success during the first wave of the pandemic was our united efforts and united strategy and reiterated that we will have to address this challenge in the same way. He also assured the Centre’s full support to all the states and in this fight.
On oxygen supply, during the high-level meeting with CMs, PM Modi took note of the points raised by the states and said there is a continuous effort to increase oxygen supply, according to a statement issued by his office. He urged all states to work together and coordinate with one another to fulfil requirements relating to medicines and oxygen. He also asked the states to check hoarding and black marketing of oxygen and medicines. Modi said every state should ensure that no oxygen tanker, whether it is meant for any state, is stopped or gets stranded.
Covid vaccination 4th phase to begin from May 1, check price, availability, criteria, all other details
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The next two days (Saturday & Sunday) will see restrictions similar to lockdown. Only essential services & emergency travel to be allowed. There is a cap of 75 people indoor & 150 outdoor for marriages & a maximum of 50 people for funeral services: Kerala CM Pinarayi Vijayan (ANI)
In view of the growing number of COVID-19 cases, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on Friday has approved delegation of emergency financial powers to Armed Forces Medical Services (AFMS). The measure taken by the Ministry of Defence (MoD) will enable AFMS to help in giving medical services not only to the personnel of the Armed Forces, but to the civil administration also. READ MORE
Maharashtra: Pune district reports 9,810 fresh COVID-19 cases, 137 fatalities and 10,310 recoveries in the last 24 hours.Active cases: 1,01,279Total cases: 7,73,004Total recoveries: 6,59,875Death toll: 12,019 (ANI)
The COVID-19 death toll in Uttar Pradesh's Gautam Buddh Nagar rose to 137 with nine more fatalities, while 1,064 new cases, the highest in a day so far, pushed the infection tally to 33,733, official data showed. The district's active caseload reached 4,793 from 4,088 the previous day, according to the figures released by the UP Health Department for a 24-hour period. On the brighter side, 353 patients were discharged during the period, taking the overall recoveries to 28,803, the fifth highest in the state, it showed. (PTI)
The Andhra Pradesh government on Friday said the class X and intermediate examinations would be held as per schedule amid a demand by the Opposition parties to cancel or postpone them in view of COVID-19 spread. The degree and engineering examinations too would be conducted, the government said. At a high-level review meeting on the prevailing COVID situation, Chief Minister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy asked the authorities to hold the examinations by following all protocols. Ensure that the students do not suffer any loss and conduct the examinations. Follow all COVID protocols while conducting the exams, a press release quoted the Chief Minister as saying. He asked the officials not to be lax in this. (PTI)
The Chandigarh Administration on Friday gave one-hour relaxation in night curfew timings and said there will be no weekend lockdown in the union territory. However, it decided to close the Sukhna Lake on weekends. The Chandigarh administration had imposed a weekend lockdown to tackle coronavirus last Friday. The night curfew will continue and the timings from Friday will be 9 pm to 5 am daily, the administration said in a statement after a meeting over coronavirus, chaired by UT Administrator V P Singh Badnore. Earlier, the night curfew was imposed from 8 pm to 5 am. Later in another official statement, Adviser to UT Administrator, Manoj Parida, said,"No weekend lockdown in Chandigarh, only night curfew from 9 pm to 5 am on all days." Meanwhile, various other decisions were taken by UT Administrator Badnore during the coronavirus review meeting. Giving details, the statement said the Estate Office, Sub-Registrar's office and the Registering and Licensing Authority office where several cases of infection had surfaced will remain closed for a week till April 30. (PTI)
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We have received three tankers here at Nagpur, with a capacity of 15 MT each. So, approximately 45 MT of oxygen has been received: Jalaj Sharma, Additional Municipal Commissioner, Nagpur COVID19 (ANI)
A strict weekend curfew to contain COVID-19 came into effect in the main cities and towns of Karnataka including Benglauru from Friday night, and it will remain in force till Monday morning. The government has ordered the weekend curfew from 9 pm on Friday to 6 am on Monday. This arrangement will remain in effect till May 4. Roads were barricaded, vehicles were stopped, and commuters roaming around unnecessarily were asked to go back to their houses in the urban areas. In Bengaluru, all the flyovers were barricaded and the government buses came to a halt. Only medical stores remained open while police vehicles, ambulances and government vehicles engaged in COVID-19 duty were seen plying. (PTI)
Mahindra Group Managing Director and CEO Anish Shah on Friday said the group has signed letters of intent with multiple hospitals to explore setting up of vaccination centres in open spaces. Earlier on Thursday, Mahindra Group Chairman Anand Mahindra had said till the time corporates can get COVID-19 vaccine supplies directly they can support hospitals in setting up vaccination camps in open spaces to reduce risk of infection at hospital venues. Responding to Anand Mahindra's tweet, Shah said, "We have signed letters of intent with multiple hospitals, we are working with them (and the government) to explore how we can set up such centres @MahindraRise". He, however, did not elaborate the details. (PTI)
A 950-bed facility for coronavirus patients at the GMDC ground here in Ahmedabad will be functional from Saturday, while another temporary hospital with 1,200 beds will come up in Gandhinagar soon, Union Home Minister Amit Shah announced on Friday. Shah held a high-level review meeting with Chief Minister Vijay Rupani, deputy CM Nitin Patel and top government officials on the coronavirus situation in Gujarat. Shah and Rupani also visited GMDC ground where the COVID-19 hospital is being set up with the help of the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO). The Gujarat University Convention-cum-Exhibition Centre at GMDC ground has been turned into a COVID-19 treatment center. 'This facility has been set up by DRDO in collaboration with the Gujarat Government. It has around 950 oxygen beds, including 250 ICU beds. It will start functioning from tomorrow. (PTI)
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Thailand's health authorities announced Friday they have confirmed 2,070 new COVID-19 cases, a new daily record that brings the country's total to 50,183. The rising numbers are severely straining the supply of hospital beds and ICU capacity. The record number of new infections came a day after a new daily high of seven deaths was announced. Four more deaths were announced Friday, bringing Thailand's total to 121. At the beginning of March, Thailand had 26,031 cases with double-digit daily increases, but a new outbreak sent the numbers skyrocketing. Taweesilp Visanuyothin, a spokesman for the Center for COVID-19 Situation Administration, said Bangkok, with the highest number of cases, has only 69 empty ICU beds left out of a total of more than 400. He said that is enough for the next six to eight days according to the projected demand of 10-13 additional ICU beds per day. Nationwide demand, forecast at 52 ICU beds per day, would use up the capacity in 19 days, he said. (AP)
Karnataka's COVID-19 fatalities on Friday crossed the 14,000 mark with 190 deaths, while the single-day highest of 26,962 fresh cases took the caseload to 12,74,959, the health department said. While the total fatalities were 14,075, the active cases in the state too crossed the two lakh mark -- 2,14,311, including 1,128 in the ICU. The state had reported the single-day highest mark on Thursday with 25,795 cases. According to the health bulletin, 10,46,554 people were discharged cumulatively, including 8,697 on Friday, in the state. (PTI)
Madhya Pradesh on Friday recorded 13,590 COVID-19 cases, taking the caseload to 4,72,785, while the death toll rose by 74 in the last 24 hours to touch 4,937, an official said. He said 10,833 people were discharged from hospitals in the last 24 hours, taking the recovery count to 3,80,208, leaving the state with 87,640 active cases. "With 1,782 new cases, Indore's caseload went up to 98,112 while that of Bhopal rose to 77,158 with the addition of 1,753 cases. Indore reported six deaths, taking the toll in the district to 1085, while the toll in Bhopal increased by five to touch 697. Indore and Bhopal have 12,425 and 10,507 active cases respectively," the official informed. (PTI)
The total number of COVID-19 cases in Himachal Pradesh increased to 84,065 on Friday as 1,189 more people tested positive for the disease while the death toll climbed to 1,267 with a record single-day rise of 26 fatalities, Special Health Secretary Nipun Jindal said. Of the latest fatalities, Kangra reported the highest at nine, followed by seven in Hamirpur, six in Shimla, two in Sirmaur and one each in Kullu and Mandi, Jindal said citing official data updated till 7 pm. He said the number of active COVID-19 cases in the state stands at 12,246. (PTI)
Khalsa Aid India on Friday said it will provide oxygen concentrators to COVID-19 patients in Delhi free of cost. Delhi is facing a severe oxygen shortage for the past few days with several hospitals scrambling to shore up their oxygen supplies. The NGO, which has recently procured 65 oxygen concentrators, said to avail the service people would have to fill up a registration form, and that patients with "low oxygen saturation levels" would be given priority. The volunteers will be delivering oxygen concentrators in all parts of the capital, it said. "There is a huge gap between the demand and supply of oxygen, we want to play a miniscule part to bridge that gap. Though our effort is like a drop of water in an ocean, it was much needed. We were getting requests for oxygen so we managed to procure concentrators for the needy under-privileged patients," said Amarpreet Singh, director of Khalsa Aid Project (Asia Chapter). (PTI)
Maharashtra reports 66,836 new COVID19 cases, 74,045 recoveries and 773 deaths in the last 24 hoursActive cases: 6,91,851Total cases: 41,61,676Total recoveries: 34,04,792Death toll: 63,252 (ANI)
An Expert Group is optimizing and rationalising the allocation of oxygen to various States and UTs, keeping in view the active cases and to reduce time for movement of medical oxygen: Ministry of Home Affairs (ANI)
MHA has written to all States/UTs, today to ensure adequate security to oxygen-transporting vehicles & to make provisions for exclusive corridors for transportation. Central govt has prohibited the supply of oxygen for industrial purposes, except those for few essential sectors (ANI)
Union Home Minister Amit Shah has reviewed situation arising out of sharp rise in #COVID19 cases & directed various measures to augment oxygen supply for medical purposes. Expert Group directed to optimize & rationalize oxygen allocation to States/UTs: MHA (ANI)
In view of the sudden demand of medical oxygen, the Oxygen Management Group appointed by Rajasthan Government has added 17 more tankers and 32,000 cylinders to bridge the gap. The state government while has urged the Central Government to increase allocation of oxygen supply to the state, the contemporary demand is being met with diversion of industrial use oxygen and getting industries to increase production of oxygen. The demand for medical use oxygen in the state has increased by double as the second wave of COVID sweeps through the country, the state government has constituted a Oxygen Management Group under the leadership of a senior IAS officer to ensure due availability of the essential supply. (Source: Rajasthan Govt)
France on Friday became the first rich country to donate COVID-19 vaccines to a developing nation through the UN's jab rollout programme for low- and middle-income countries, shipping more than 100,000 doses to Mauritania. Leaders of the COVAX programme hailed the French donation, which was announced by President Emmanuel Macron, and called on other rich countries to follow suit at a time of intense competition for short supplies of vaccines as coronavirus infection counts are on the rise. "We generally have the means to accelerate our solidarity by donating vaccines," Macron told a World Health Organization event, announcing the donation to COVAX. "These AstraZeneca vaccines, as I am speaking to you, on their way to West Africa." (AP)
Rajasthan reports 15,398 fresh COVID-19 cases, 5,197 recoveries, and 64 deaths, as per state health department Active cases: 1,17,294Total recoveries: 3,62,526Death toll: 3,453 (ANI)
Air passengers travelling from Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat and Chhattisgarh to West Bengal from April 26 onwards, will have to present negative COVID reports, no older than 72 hours: West Bengal government informs Ministry of Civil Aviation (ANI)
West Bengal on Friday registered the highest single-day spike of 12,876 COVID-19 cases taking the tally to 7,13,780, the state health department said in a bulletin. The death toll also went up to 10,825 with 59 fresh fatalities, it added. Since Thursday, 6,878 patients recovered from coronavirus in the state. (PTI)
Austria plans to reopen restaurants, bars, hotels, cultural and sports facilities on May 19 after several months of restrictions and closures, Chancellor Sebastian Kurz said Friday. Announcing the plan for a wide-ranging relaxation of coronavirus curbs, Kurz said that people wanting to use the facilities that are reopening will have to be tested or vaccinated, or to have recovered from a COVID-19 infection. He said that some other restrictions will remain in place: a maximum 10 people per table will be allowed outside restaurants and four adults per table inside. And there will be limits on how many people can use gyms, for example. Cultural and sports events will be allowed with a maximum 1,500 spectators indoors and 3,000 outdoors with masks and assigned seats. (AP)
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Saddened by the death and destruction caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, India's senior off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin on Friday said he will do whatever he can in his capacity to help those battling the unprecedented crisis. Ashwin said it is heartbreaking to see people's sufferings in the wake of a deadly second wave that has ravaged the country. "Heart breaking to see what's happening around my country! I am not in the healthcare fraternity, but my sincere gratitude to each of them. I would also like to make an earnest appeal to every Indian to exercise caution and stay safe," Ashwin tweeted. The 34-year-old cricketer, one of the country's all-time greatest spinners, is currently representing his franchise Delhi Capitals in the Indian Premier League, which is being held in a bio-secure bubbles. Ashwin reminded that the virus does not spare anyone. In another post, he wrote, "I know there will be people who will retort with a tweet about my position of privilege. I would like to reiterate that this is a virus that spares no one and I am in this fight with all of you. Let me know if I can help and i promise to help anyone that is within my capacity." (PTI)
The Congress on Friday demanded that a health emergency be declared in Uttar Pradesh, claiming that medicines are being sold on black market with coronavirus patients dying for want of treatment. "Patients are dying for want of beds and oxygen. Black marketing of Remdesivir is on and families of patients are crying. The number of deaths is rising and the government is still not serious," said UP Congress president Ajay Kumar Lallu in a statement. The Yogi Adityanath-led government has failed to provide treatment to COVID patients, he said. (PTI)
Sixty-five healthcare personnel, including doctors, deployed on Kumbh duty have tested positive for COVID-19, officials said on Friday. All of them have been kept in isolation, they said. A total of 751 healthcare personnel -- 336 doctors and 415 nurses and paramedics -- had been deployed in the Kumbh Mela area after being vaccinated. (PTI)
The European Medicines Agency said on Friday that people who have received a first dose of AstraZeneca's COVID-19 vaccine should get the second one too, despite the rare risk of blood clots that have been linked to the shot. In new guidance, the EU drug regulator said people should continue to get the second AstraZeneca dose four to 12 weeks after their first shot. The agency said there were "no or limited data to change current recommendations." It said it wasn't known whether the risk of a rare blood clot after a second dose might be different than that engendered by the first shot. In its analysis of Europe-wide AstraZeneca data, the EMA also said there wasn't enough information to know who might be more susceptible to the unusual clots. (AP)
The European Medicines Agency says it has approved new measures to boost production of coronavirus vaccines made by Pfizer and Moderna. In a statement on Friday, the EU drug regulator says it had authorised an increase in batch size and manufacturing scale-up at a factory in Puurs, Belgium, where the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine is made. The EMA says the approval was "expected to have a significant impact" on the supply of the BioNTech-Pfizer vaccine. (AP)
The Delhi government on Friday issued an order deputing six teachers at the GTB Hospital in the city for monitoring of dead bodies and ensuring that calls for hearse vans are disposed of timely. The order, which comes following a recent spike in deaths due to COVID-19, has attracted the ire of the teachers' association, which said the task was not apt for someone holding the post of a teacher. "The teachers are deployed for monitoring of dead bodies coordinating with GTB hospital with immediate effect. The teachers will, according to their shift, contact the nodal officer of GTB for the purpose and ensure that COVID guidelines are being followed by rightful authorities," said the order issued by the sub-divisional magistrate of North East Delhi. "The teachers will also remain in contact with the DDMA Northeast authority and ensure that all calls regarding hearse vans be disposed of on time," it added. (PTI)
Tamil Nadu on Friday continued to witness a sharp rise on the new COVID-19 infections by adding 13,776 new cases to the caseload of 10,51,487 while 78 fatalities took the toll to 13,395, the Health Department said. The State saw 95,048 active infections while recoveries mounted to 9,43,044 today with 8,078 patients being discharged. The State capital continued to constitute the bulk of the total cases accounting for 3,842 new infections, totalling 3,01,541 till date. (PTI)
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Mumbai reports 7,221 new COVID19 cases, 9,541 recoveries and 72 fatalities in the last 24 hours; active cases at 81,538 (ANI)
Inox has refused to give LMO supply beyond 1.7 tons they supplied at 2 pm. We may run out of oxygen by 8-8:30 pm for 275 COVID19 patients. Need at least 6 tons till we get supply tomorrow at noon: Dr Bankata, Executive Director at Batra Hospital & Medical Research Centre, Delhi (ANI)
Nepal has reported 2,559 new cases of coronavirus in the last 24 hours, taking the total number of infections in the nation to 294,601, the health ministry said on Friday. The nation also reported 5 deaths due to coronavirus in the last one day. "Nepal till Friday has 294,601 cases of coronavirus. In the last 24 hours, the nation has witnessed 2,559 new infections and 5 deaths," said a statement from the Ministry of Health and Population. During this period of last one day, 8,798 swab samples were tested. (PTI)
The total number of COVID-19 cases in Jammu and Kashmir surged to 1,56,344 on Friday as 1,937 more people tested positive for the disease while the death toll climbed to 2,111 with a record daily jump of 19 fatalities, officials said. The fresh cases include 152 travellers, they said. While 1,091 new cases were reported from the Kashmir division, 846 were from the Jammu division of the union territory, the officials said. (PTI)