Coronavirus Updates: Punjab govt asks Centre for more oxygen tankers, says 15 not enough to meet demand

Coronavirus LATEST Updates

Puducherry governor extends lockdown till 10 May

 Lieutenant Governor of Puducherry Tamilisai Soundararajan on Monday announced that the lockdown to contain the spread of COVID-19 will be extended till 10 May. The lockdown was to have ended today and has been extended further till 10 May.

She said only essential services would be permitted during the lockdown and appealed to the people to remain indoors and use masks even at home.

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Thirty Air India passengers who arrived in Rome test positive, says report

At least 30 people on board Air India's Amritsar-Rome flight last Wednesday were found positive for COVID-19 on arrival, PTI quoted aviation industry sources as saying on Monday. At least two of the 30 people are flight crew members, they added.

All 242 people on board, including those found COVID-positive, have been put under quarantine by the Italian government, the sources said.

Last Thursday, hours before the landing of the Amritsar-Rome flight, the Italian government issued an order, stating that all passengers arriving from India would be put under quarantine for 10 days at a site decided by its officials.

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Delhi HC dismisses PIL on 'negativity' of COVID-19 news

The Delhi High Court dismissed a PIL seeking the framing of guidelines with regard to airing of news of sensitive nature, like reporting of mass scale deaths, people suffering, etc during the prevailing pandemic due to non-availability of resources.

The petitioner, advocate Lalit Valecha, had contended that such news reports lead to "spreading negativity, sense of insecurity towards life, alarm, injury, harm, suffering, damage, etc."

Rubbishing the contention, the bench said news is both negative and positive and the petitioner was not aware of the correct facts. The court said it was a "wrong notion" in the petitioner's mind that reporting of deaths during the COVID-19 pandemic was negative news.

"It is a negative idea in the petitioner's mind," the bench said and added that as long as the media was reporting correct facts, there cannot be any restrictions on them.

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Hospitals must use oxygen judiciously, says Piyush Goyal

Union minister Piyush Goyal said that the Centre is addressing obstacles in transporting medical oxygen to hospitals, and that hospitals should use the crucial resource "judiciously".

"All hospitals should use oxygen judiciously as per guidelines of Health Ministry. There is no shortage of oxygen in the country and the issues in transport are being addressed. So there should be no black marketing or hoarding of oxygen cylinders."

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Centre provides state-wise numbers of active cases:

The Union Health Ministry said that 12 states have more than one lakh active cases, seven states have 50,000 to one lakh active cases, and 17 states have less than 50,000 active cases.

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Centre considering converting nitrogen production plants into oxygen plants

The Union Health Ministry on Monday said that the government is considering the feasibility of converting the nitrogen production plants into oxygen production plants. Hospitals in the country, especially in Delhi, have been grappling with a severe shortage of medical oxygen to treat COVID-19 patients in the second wave of the pandemic.

The government said that 14 such plants have been identified.

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'Not possible to ramp up vaccine production overnight', says Adar Poonawala

The CEO of Serum Insittute of India, one of the largest vaccine manufacturers in the world, shared a statement addressing the shortage of vaccine doses in India and said that it is "not possible to ramp up vaccine production overnight".

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Nirmala Sitharaman says 'no space for vaccine nationalism'

Stressing that there cannot be any vaccine nationalism, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharam on Monday urged nations to share technologies on COVID vaccines amid the pandemic. She also pitched for examining Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) agreement in the light of the coronavirus pandemic.

"Countries will have to be open about sharing vaccine-based technologies. The TRIPS agreement will have to be looked at in the context of the pandemic. There cannot be any more vaccine nationalism, countries will have to be flexible about it," she said at the annual meet of the Asian Development Bank (ADB).

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Bombay HC slams govt on using wood for cremations, tells it to boost LPG crematoriums

The Bombay High Court, which was hearing a PIL on the situation of COVID-19 and its handling in Maharashtra, instructed the Aurangabad Divisional Commissioner to rope in industrialists to boost the availability and use of LGP crematoriums. With Maharashtra one of the worst-hit states by COVID-19, the numbers of fatalities have shot up in the last month. 

"So we are back to our primitive ways of chopping trees. You are saying you are preparing wooden bricks, will that come from thin air? You are telling us that electric crematoriums are costly. But, you are destroying forests for the wood for funerals. Money can be earned but undoing the damage to nature will be difficult. 

"You should make an appeal to the five industrials sectors of Aurangabad to use CSR funds to set up LPG crematoriums," the court said.

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IPL match rescheduled after two positive reports

The IPL match between Kolkata Knight Riders and Royal Challengers Bangalore in Ahmedabad has been rescheduled after two members of the KKR contingent tested positive for COVID-19, a BCCI source told PTI. The match will be played some time later during the tournament, which is scheduled to conclude on 30 May.

"Two members of the contingent have tested positive for COVID but we are waiting for their second test reports to avoid the false positive scenario that happened with Anrich Nortje of Delhi Capitals earlier," the source said on conditions of anonymity.

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24 patients die due to oxygen shortage, other reasons in Karnataka's Chamarajanagar

24 patients, including COVID-19 patients, died at the Chamarajanagar District Hospital due to oxygen shortage and others reasons in last 24 hours, ANI reported.

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High courts are vital pillars of democracy: SC on EC plea against Madras HC's remarks

The Supreme Court said it does not want to demoralise high courts as they are vital pillars of democracy, and observed that critical remarks like those made by the Madras High Court against the Election Commission are often made in an open dialogue between the bar and bench.

A bench headed by Justice DY Chandrachud made the observation while hearing a plea filed by the Election Commission (EC) against some critical observations made by the Madras High Court, holding the poll panel responsible for a surge in COVID-19 cases in the country.

The top court said seeking relief that media should not report on observations is ''too far fetched'' and it should be able to report everything to create accountability: It said that the media is an important and powerful watchdog in democracy and cannot be stopped from reporting discussions in higher courts.

The Election Commission had moved the top court on Saturday against some critical observations made by the Madras High Court. The high court had observed that EC officials concerned should probably be tried on murder charges for their failure to ensure adherence to COVID-19 protocols during the election process in four states and a Union Territory.

Coronavirus updates

Maharashtra, Delhi report most fatalities

The 3,417 new fatalities include 669 from Maharashtra, 407 from Delhi, 288 from Uttar Pradesh, 217 from Karnataka, 199 from Chhattisgarh, 159 from Rajasthan, 157 from Punjab, 153 each from Gujarat and Tamil Nadu, 145 from Haryana and 115 from Jharkhand.

Coronavirus updates

Active cases now at 17.13% of total infections

Active cases have increased to 34,13,642 comprising 17.13 percent of the total infections, while the national COVID-19 recovery rate stands at 81.77 percent.