A health worker inoculates a woman with a dose of the COVID-19 vaccine at a vaccination center in New Delhi, Saturday, May 22, 2021. (Express Photo By Amit Mehra)India recorded 240,842 new cases of coronavirus and 3,741 deaths on Saturday, according to data from the Union Health Ministry.
There are a total of 2,65,30,132 Covid-19 cases in the country while the death toll has reached 2,99,266. Tamil Nadu reported 35,873 new cases while Karnataka had 31,183. A total of 2,34,25,467 people have recovered from the disease.
Active cases have come down by more than a lakh for the third straight day. There are 28.05 lakh active cases in the country at present. Out of the 3,741 deaths reported on Saturday, Maharashtra reported 713, Tamil Nadu had 448, while Karnataka reported 451. As many as 19,50,04,184 people have been vaccinated so far.
Meanwhile, two doses of the Covid-19 vaccine are needed to provide “strong protection” against symptomatic infection from B.1.617.2, the coronavirus variant first identified in India, suggests preliminary data from the UK Department of Health and Social Care’s executive agency, Public Health England (PHE), Financial Times reported on Saturday.
This sharply highlights the public health challenge in India as the B.1.617.2 begins to take over as the “dominant variant of concern” here and the country grapples with a severe shortage of vaccines.
Only around 43.05 million people — around 3 per cent of India’s total population — have received two doses of any Covid-19 vaccine since India started its immunisation programme on January 16 this year. Another 151.90 million people had received at least one dose, according to provisional data from the Health Ministry on Saturday night.
Government teacher Anita sanitizes children's hands as she had tested positive after UP Panchayat polls. (Express Photo by Praveen Khanna)
Karnataka Home Minister Basavaraj Bommai has said that Covid-19 negative report is mandatory for those entering the state from outside.
"The Covid-19 negative reports will be checked at strategic points. There are various restrictions that are already in place to ensure strict enforcement of lockdown," he said. Karnataka had extended the lockdown till June 7, as per an announcement made by Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa on Friday. The state had imposed restrictions till May 24 at first, but had decided to extend the same for another fortnight.
Even as Maharashtra accounts for 2.06 crore immunisations – maximum across India – the state has managed to fully immunise only 3.3 per cent of its total population with both jabs.
With the virus travelling to hinterlands, lack of efforts to extend vaccination coverage and hesitancy in tribal and rural areas pose a big risk to unexposed population in future waves.
Hingoli, Palghar, Gadchiroli, Jalgaon, Solapur and Nandurbar have fully immunised less than 2.5 per cent of their total population till May 20. Except Solapur, all five districts have over 60 per cent rural or tribal population. (Read Tabassum Barnagarwala’s report)
Early signs of the waning of the oxygen crisis are visible in the country with liquid medical oxygen supplied to hospitals over the last 72 hours showing a decline for the first time in almost a month.
“Actual consumption has dropped to 8,000 MT a day from around 8,900 MT a day,” an official said. While the quantity supplied has dropped, it is still much higher than the demand recorded during the first wave of Covid-19 last year.
The data maintained by an empowered group of officers tasked with oxygen supply shows total oxygen supplied to hospitals hit a peak of 8,944 metric tonnes (MT) per day on May 9 dropped to about 8,100 MT a day on May 18-19. However, it has again risen marginally to 8,334 MT a day on May 20. (Read Harikishan Sharma’s report)
At least 31 more people have tested positive for Covid-19 in Andaman and Nicobar Islands, taking the tally in the Union Territory to 6,820, a health department official said on Sunday. The death toll rose to 101 as three more persons succumbed to the disease in the last 24 hours, he said. All the new cases were detected during contact tracing.
Twenty-four people were cured of the disease during the period, taking the total number of recoveries in the archipelago to 6,441. The Union Territory now has 278 active cases. The local administration has been strict to contain the spread of the disease and has adopted an approach of tracking, testing and treating, he said, adding that people arriving here from the mainland are mandatorily required to undergo rapid antigen test. (PTI)
Uttarakhand State Health Department Sunday said the government has declared black fungus an epidemic.
"A total of 65 patients have been detected with black fungus (Mucormycosis) in Uttarakhand. Of which, 61 are admitted to AIIMS Rishikesh," an official from the health department said.