Coronavirus Live News Updates: With the recuperation of 31,964 more patients in a day, the total number of discharges neared 54 lakh. Of the total infections, there are 2.76 lakh active cases
Latest News Updates: With the recuperation of 31,964 more patients in a day, the total number of discharges neared 54 lakh. Of the total infections, there are 2.76 lakh active cases.
With over 2.58 lakh new tests, the total number of samples tested so far in Maharashtra rose to 3,46,08,985, the state health department said on Saturday. The case positivity rate is recorded at 16.51 percent.
Maharashtra registered 20,295 fresh infections in a span of 24 hours, taking the overall count over 57.13 lakh, the state health department said on Saturday.
After 443 more patients succumbed to the novel , the fatality rate in the state has reached 1.65 percent. Of the total infections, there are 2.76 lakh active cases.
The announcement comes a day after Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal stated that process of easing of lockdown-like curbs will gradually begin in the National Capital from 31 May.
The Delhi government on Saturday extended the curfew "on the movement of individuals except for essential activities till 5 am on 7 June (Monday), or further orders whichever is earlier".
However, the National Capital has allowed the operations of manufacturing/production units within closed premises in approved industrial areas. Besides, construction activities have also been allowed outside the containment zones during the curfew period, said Delhi Disaster Management Authority.
Uttar Pradesh Deputy CM Dinesh Sharma said that all the students of Class 10 will be promoted to Class 11 without appearing for the board exam. The criteria for promotion of students will be clarified by UPMSP in due course of time.
The deputy CM on Saturday announced that the state board class 10 exams have been cancelled keeping in view the second wave of the situation. Whereas, the Class 12 board exam is proposed in the second week of July, if the situation is conducive to hold the exams. Duration for Class 12 exams has been reduced to 90 minutes from the usual 3.15 hours.
The GST Council on Friday left taxes on vaccines and medical supplies unchanged after the BJP and the Opposition sparred over whether the tax cut benefits will reach the common man.
An eight-member ministerial panel under Meghalaya chief minister Conrad Sangma will examine the need for exempting GST or cutting rate on essentials like vaccines, drugs, hand sanitisers, masks, PPE kits and oxygen related equipment.
The GST Council in its meeting on 28 May had decided to set up a Group of Ministers (GoM), which will submit its report by 8 June.
Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan announces extension of statewide lockdown till 9 June, but with easing of some curbs reports NDTV.
The Centre will ensure free education for children who lost their parents to , news agency PTI quotes the Prime Minister's Office as saying. Such children will get free health insurance of Rs 5 lakh till 18 years,premium will be paid by PM CARES Fund, it further states
Amid an acute shortage of vaccines, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Saturday asked the Centre to buy vaccines and distribute them to the state governments, and said this is not the time for blame game and petty politics.
Kejriwal said the AAP government "just wants vaccines" for Delhi and sought to know where is the politicisation in that.
Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin has announced that children orphaned or those who lost either of their parents to will be provided an assistance of Rs 5 lakhs. Further, the state government will bear all expenses towards their education till graduation.
A Delhi court on Saturday granted bail to businessman Navneet Kalra in a case pertaining to the seizure of oxygen concentrators from his upscale restaurants, including Khan Chacha, in the National Capital.
Delhi on Saturday recorded 956 fresh cases, the lowest in over two months, and 122 more fatalities while the positivity rate slipped to 1.19 percent, according to health department data.
The Goa government on Saturday decided to extend the ongoing "corona curfew", which was supposed to be lifted on 31 May, by another week till 7 June. Formal orders on the extension of the corona curfew will be issued by collectors of South Goa and North Goa districts, the Chief Minister's Office (CMO) said.
Union Minister Mansukh Mandaviya on Saturday tweeted that the Centre will discontinue the allocation of remdesvir to the state governments. He added that the production of the anti-viral drug had been ramped up.
"I am delighted and satisfied to inform you all that the Production of Remdesivir is ramped up ten times from just ~33,000 vials/day on 11th April 2021 to ~3,50,000 vials/day today," he said.
"So we have decided to DISCONTINUE the Central Allocation of Remdesivir to States," he added.
The Delhi government on Saturday invited bids for global tender for procurement of 10 million doses of vaccine. Last date for bidding is 7 June.
"At 1.73 lakh daily new cases, a declining trend in new cases is maintained. Active caseload further declines to 22,28,724 with active cases decrease by 1,14,428 in last 24 hours," the Union health ministry said in its 8 am update on the situation in the country on Saturday.
The tally of new cases in the country was 173,921 in the last 24 hours, reports said on Saturday morning. This is the second consecutive day that the number of new cases are below two lakhs, The Times of India reported.
The state-wide lockdown without relaxations to help break the chain of transmission has been extended till June 7 by one more week, Chief Minister M K Stalin announced on Friday.
The lockdown-like-restrictions in Maharashtra on account of the pandemic have been extended by 15 days but a fresh set of guidelines will be issued on 1 June, health minister Rajesh Tope said on Friday.
The state cabinet had taken the decision to extend the curbs on people's movement and businesses — in force since mid-April — in a meeting on Thursday.
"As far as lockdown is concerned, 15 days' extension has been given, but the guidelines related to it will be issued on 1 June," Tope told reporters.
Vaccine, being a biological product, takes time for harvesting and quality testing and this cannot be done overnight to ensure a safe product, the Union Health Ministry said on Friday.
The ministry said Government of India, through the National Expert Group on Vaccine Administration for (NEGVAC), is regularly interacting with national and international manufacturers like Pfizer, Moderna to make vaccines available in the country.
"The concrete actions are a stern indication that Government of India is making all out efforts to increase vaccine production in the country as well as attracting foreign vaccine manufacturers to supply the required vaccine doses for national Covid vaccination programme," the ministry in a statement.
Despite the constraints of availability, India has fared well in covering 200 million persons in only 130 days which is the third largest coverage in the world, the ministry said.
Government of India has been supporting the efforts of states and UTs for effective management of Covid patients in vaccination under the 'Whole of Government' approach since January this year.
With Covid being a pandemic with worldwide impact, there has been a high global demand of vaccines with a limited number of manufacturers and limited manufacturing capacity across countries. India has a population of 1.4 billion, which is a substantial share of the world population, the statement said.
In India, two vaccines were approved by the regulatory body in January. The two manufacturers, Serum Institute and Bharat Biotech, had a capacity to provide around 1 crore doses in the month of December, 2020.
The NEGVAC was established in August, 2020 to provide guidance on all aspects of vaccine introduction, including prioritisation of beneficiaries, procurement, vaccine selection and its delivery.
The priority of beneficiaries for vaccination in India has been done based on the review of available scientific evidence, guidelines proposed by the WHO, global examples and practices followed in other countries with the primary objective of protecting the healthcare and frontline workers.
Accordingly, the vaccination drive in the country has been sequentially expanded to cover the prioritized groups starting with healthcare workers (HCWs) on January 16 followed by frontline workers (FLWs) from February 2, persons aged 60 years and above, and those aged 45-59 years with co-morbidities were covered from 1 March.
Subsequently, from 1 April everyone aged 45 and above are eligible for vaccination.
Such an approach has yielded positive results by achieving more than 90 percent first dose coverage among registered HCWs and around 84 per centcoverage of 1st dose among registered FLWs, the statement said.
A 'Liberalised Pricing and Accelerated National Vaccination Strategy' was adopted on May 1 which is guiding the ongoing phase of the vaccination drive.
This strategy aims at incentivising manufacturers to ramp up vaccine production and also attract new manufacturers. This will augment vaccine production resulting in wider availability of vaccines with flexibility in pricing, procurement, the statement said.
"The manufacturing capacities have been ramped up. Vaccine being a biological product takes time for harvesting and quality testing. This cannot be done overnight to ensure a safe product. Thus, increase in capacity of manufacturing too needs to be a guided process," the statement said.
The Russian Sputnik V is the third vaccine to get approval from the Drug Controller General of India (DCGI) for restricted use in emergency situation and it is being used in a few private hospitals. These are expected to be increased over the coming days.
