India has crossed 19 crore in cumulative vaccination coverage against Coronavirus infection.Coronavirus Lockdown and Curfew Extension Live, Covid-19 Cases and Deaths in India Live Updates: India reported below 3 lakh new coronavirus infections for a sixth consecutive day. The country saw 2,57,299 new COVID-19 cases and 4,194 deaths in the last 24 hours, according to Health Ministry’s data released on Saturday. With the fresh cases, India’s Covid-19 tally increased to 2,62,89,290. Overall positivity rate has continued its downward journey; it has dropped to 12.59% on Friday. As many as 303 districts have witnessed a drop in positivity rate, compared to 210 districts in the previous week, which suggests that the worst of the second Covid-19 wave may be over. Active caseload also dropped to 29,23,400 and now comprises 11.12% of India’s total caseload. The National COVID-19 recovery rate also improved to 87.76%. However, the number of fatalities remains above 4,000. The country has so far seen over 80,000 deaths in May, which is the highest for any month since the pandemic has struck the nation,
In the meantime, India has crossed the 19-crore milestone in cumulative vaccination coverage. Out of which 10 states account for over 66%. Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, and Rajasthan top the list in vaccine coverage, according to Union Health Ministry data.
As the world’s second-most populous nation tries to find a way out of the second wave of coronavirus infections, here are the latest, confirmed updates on Covid-19 from India and around the globe:
Highlights
Bringing clarity on the availability of Sputnik V vaccine in India, Indian Ambassador to India D Bala Venkatesh Verma has said that the Russia-developed vaccine will be made available for the Indian population in three phases. Explaining the three phases, Verma said that during the first phase ready to use vaccine will be sent to India directly from Russia, a batch of which has already been imported. During the second phase, the vaccine will be supplied to the country in bulk and its filling into tiny bottles will be undertaken by Indian pharma companies. The envoy continued and said that during the final third phase, the technology of vaccine manufacturing will be shared with the Indian pharma partners and domestic production of the same will be started, news agency ANI reported. READ FULL STORY
An Oxygen Express train piloted by an ‘All Female Crew’ arrived in the city with 120 metric tonnes of medical oxygen from Jamshedpur. “The 7th Oxygen Express to Karnataka has arrived in Bengaluru from Tatanagar (Jamshedpur) on Friday. This Oxygen Express train piloted by an all female crew will ensure continued supply of oxygen for COVID-19 patients in the State,” Railway Minister Piyush Goyal tweeted on Saturday. READ MORE
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<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="hi" dir="ltr">हम अनंतकाल तक बंद नहीं रख सकते हैं। हमें 1 जून से धीरे-धीरे अनलॉक करना है: मध्य प्रदेश के मुख्यमंत्री शिवराज सिंह चौहान <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/COVID19?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#COVID19</a> <a href="https://t.co/xBOA5li3Tf">pic.twitter.com/xBOA5li3Tf</a></p>— ANI_HindiNews (@AHindinews) <a href="https://twitter.com/AHindinews/status/1395984952521596929?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 22, 2021</a></blockquote> https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js
Germany will require people arriving from the UK from Sunday onward to go into quarantine for 14 days. The decision is a response to the spread of a coronavirus variant first detected in India. Friday's announcement by the Robert Koch Institute, Germany's national disease control centre, that Britain is being classified as a 'virus variant area' comes a week after it went back on a list of 'risk areas,' which has few consequences under current rules. From Sunday, airlines and others will only be able to transport German citizens and residents from Britain. Under current German rules, all people arriving from 'virus variant areas' -- which also include India itself and Brazil -- must spend 14 days in quarantine at home after their arrival. (AP)
More than 1.60 crore COVID-19 vaccine doses are still available with states and union territories, and over 2.67 lakh doses will be supplied to them in the next three day, the Union health ministry said on Saturday. In a statement, the ministry said more than 21 crore vaccine doses have been provided to states and union territories (UTs). "Of this, the total consumption, calculated based on average up to May 21, 2021, including wastage, is 19,73,61,311 doses (as per data available at 8 am today)," it said. "More than 1.60 crore COVID vaccine doses (1,60,13,409) are still available with the states/UTs to be administered," the statement said. (PTI)
Puducherry posted 1,445 fresh coronavirus cases in the last twenty-four hours ending 10 am on Saturday and the infection count rose to 94,612. The toll rose to 1,325 after 30 deaths occurred. Director of the department of Health and Family Welfare Services, S Mohan Kumar said the new cases were identified at the end of examination of 9092 samples projecting the test positivity rate at 15.89 percent. While Puducherry region of the Union Territory accounted for 1140 fresh cases out of the total 1445 new cases Karaikal had 203, Yanam 75 and Mahe 27. (PTI)
Mizoram's COVID-19 tally crossed the 10,000 mark on Saturday as 292 people, including 54 children, have tested positive for novel coronavirus, an official said. The 292 new cases pushed the COVID-19 tally to 10,024, he said. Of the 292 new cases, 148 were detected through the RT-PCR test, three through TrueNat and the rest 141 cases were detected through Rapid Antigen Test, he said. Aizawl district registered the highest number of cases at 240, followed by Serchhip district, which reported 21, he said. The remaining cases were reported from Kolasib, Champhai, Siaha, Mamit, Saitual, Lunglei and Khawzawl districts. (PTI)
A medical centre in Louisiana said Friday that it has identified the state's first two cases of a COVID-19 variant which has spread widely since being first identified in India. Britain and the World Health Organisation consider it a variant of concern because experts think it may spread more easily than the original virus, LSU Health Shreveport said in a news release Friday. The health system said the two samples were among more than 2,600 for which its Center for Emerging Viral Threats has decoded the genome. That represents 56 per cent of all viral genomic surveillance data from Louisiana, the news release said. (AP)
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Arunachal Pradesh reported the highest single-day spike of 394 COVID-19 cases, pushing the total caseload in the northeastern state to 23,553, a senior health department official said here on Saturday. The COVID-19 death toll in the state rose to 92 as three more persons succumbed to the infection, State Surveillance Officer (SSO) Dr Lobsang Jampa said. (PTI)
Andaman and Nicobar Islands COVID-19 tally rose to 6,789 as 31 more people tested positive for the infection while two new fatalities pushed the death toll to 98, a health department official said on Saturday. The union territory now has 274 active COVID-19 cases, of which 267 are in South Andaman district and seven in North and Middle Andaman district, the official said. Sixteen more people were cured of the disease during the period, taking the total number of recoveries in the archipelago to 6,417. (PTI)
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<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">COVID Vaccination drive continues in J&K. <br><br>Vaccination drive in J&K started on January 16, 2021. 28 lakh doses have been administered so far. J&K’s average of vaccinating people above 45 years of age is around 60%: Financial Commissioner, Health & Medical Education, Atal Dulloo <a href="https://t.co/moE2ZC8RYa">pic.twitter.com/moE2ZC8RYa</a></p>— ANI (@ANI) <a href="https://twitter.com/ANI/status/1395955763852439552?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 22, 2021</a></blockquote> https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js
Uttarakhand government issued an SOP for the prevention & black marketing of Amphotericin-B, a black fungus medicine. The drug will be available only in dedicated #COVID19 Health Care Center Medical Colleges and only in state government institutions. (ANI)
COVID19 | Ladakh reported 121 new positive cases, 110 recoveries and one death on Friday.
Active cases: 1,599Total recoveries: 15,374Death toll: 173 (ANI)
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Observing that the ongoing "catastrophic" second wave of COVID-19 in India is a sign that the worst may be yet to come, the IMF has said that the situation in the country is a warning of the possible events in low- and middle-income nations that have seemingly escaped the pandemic till now. A report co-authored by International Monetary Fund (IMF) economist Ruchir Agarwal and its Chief Economist Gita Gopinath on Friday also said that under the business-as-usual scenario, the vaccine coverage in India is expected to remain under 35 per cent of the population by the end of 2021. "The ongoing catastrophic second wave in India, following a terrible wave in Brazil, is a sign the worst may be yet to come in the developing world," it said. While India's health system held up fairly well in the first wave, this time its health system is so overwhelmed that many people are dying because of a lack of medical supplies like oxygen, hospital beds, and medical care, the report said. "India is a warning of possible events in other low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) that so far have seemingly escaped the pandemic, including in Africa," it said. For India, the report said, current bilateral purchases of vaccine plus coverage from COVAX will cover about 25 per cent of its population by the first half of 2022. (PTI)
The International Monetary Fund has proposed a USD 50 billion global vaccination plan that would cover at least 40 per cent of the global population by the end of 2021 and at least 60 per cent by the first half of 2022. With strong and coordinated action now and with little in terms of financing relative to the outsized benefits the world can durably exit this unprecedented health and economic crisis, IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva said in her address to the G20 Health Summit. READ MORE
The daily rise in coronavirus cases in India remained below the 3 lakh-mark for the sixth consecutive day, with 2.57 lakh new cases recorded in a single day, the Union health ministry said on Saturday. With the fresh cases, India's tally of COVID-19 cases climbed to 2,62,89,290. The death toll due to the disease rose to 2,95,525 with 4,194 fresh fatalities, the ministry data updated at 8 am showed. The active cases further reduced to 29,23,400 comprising 11.12 per cent of the total infections, while the national COVID-19 recovery rate improved to 87.76 per cent. The number of people who have recuperated from the disease in the country surged to 2,30,70,365, while the case fatality rate stood at 1.12 per cent, the data stated. India's COVID-19 tally had crossed the 20 lakh-mark on August 7 last, 30 lakh on August 23, 40 lakh on September 5 and 50 lakh on September 16. It went past 60 lakh on September 28, 70 lakh on October 11, crossed 80 lakh on October 29, 90 lakh on November 20 and surpassed the one-crore mark on December 19 last year. India crossed the grim milestone of 2 crore on May 4 this year. (PTI)