Health workers administering Covid-19 vaccine at Tagore Hall, Ahmedabad on Friday.
(Express photo by Nirmal Harindran)Coronavirus India Live Updates: India on Saturday reported 1,20,529 new Covid-19 cases and 3,380 deaths, according to data from the Union Health Ministry. The total tally of coronavirus infections in the country has now risen to 2,86,94,879 while the death toll has touched 3,44,082. The Health Ministry said active cases have dropped to 15,55,248. As many as 22,78,60,317 people have been vaccinated so far, the ministry said.
Meanwhile, just nine corporate hospital groups in big cities have cornered 50 per cent of the Covid-19 vaccine stock meant for the private sector in the month of May, reflecting the problem of vaccine inequity.
These nine corporate hospital groups cumulatively bought 60.57 lakh doses of the total 1.20 crore doses of vaccines procured by private hospitals in the first full month since the Central government revised its vaccine policy and opened it to the market. The balance 50 per cent of the vaccine stock was procured by 300-odd hospitals, located mostly in the country’s urban centres, with hardly any of them serving regions beyond the Tier-2 cities.
The government of Maharashtra late Friday started a five-level unlock plan for the state based on the positivity rate and occupancy of oxygenated beds in each district. The plan will come into effect as soon as district and civic authorities issue orders in their respective areas. Under the plan, districts falling in “Level 1” will have the least restrictions, while those in “Level 5” will have near lockdown-like curbs.
A man sterilizes Shivaji Nagar BMC-run maternity home on Friday. (Express Photo by Amit Chakravarty)
The Indian Medical Association, Uttarakhand Saturday retaliated against the proposal of Patanjali to include Coronil tablet in Covid-19 kit in the state, and said that Coronil is not a drug or medicine as claimed by Baba Ramdev, news agency ANI reported. "It has not been approved by WHO, nor has it been included in central guidelines," it said.
"The addition of Coronil with Allopathic drugs shall also amount to mixopathy (cocktail of Ayurveda and Allopathy), which is not permitted as per the rulings of the Supreme Court, and using it would be contempt," it further said.
Out of the total 1,604 villages in Nanded district of Maharashtra, as many as 1,179 have become coronavirus-free, while 271 others have not reported even a single infection case during the second wave of the pandemic, an official said.
Nanded district has so far recorded over 90,000 coronavirus positive cases and more than 1,800 people have died due to the viral infection till now.
The district has 1,604 villages across 16 tehsils. Of these, 1,179 villages have become COVID-19-free and as on June 4 there is not a single positive case there, the district official said. (PTI)
Out of the total 1,604 villages in Nanded district of Maharashtra, as many as 1,179 have become coronavirus-free, while 271 others have not reported even a single infection case during the second wave of the pandemic, an official said.
Nanded district has so far recorded over 90,000 coronavirus positive cases and more than 1,800 people have died due to the viral infection till now.
The district has 1,604 villages across 16 tehsils. Of these, 1,179 villages have become COVID-19-free and as on June 4 there is not a single positive case there, the district official said. (PTI)
Amid a drop in the city's daily Covid cases, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal is likely to announce further lockdown relaxations from the next week, officials said on Saturday, PTI reported.
Kejriwal, who is scheduled to address a press conference later in the day, is also expected to announce the steps to deal with the possible third wave of the coronavirus.
An official said the government may allow markets and other activities from June 7 as the Covid-19 situation has gradually been improving. Last week, the government had allowed manufacturing and construction activities in Delhi beginning phased unlock process. The lockdown was imposed in Delhi on April 19.
The massive surge in coronavirus infections in Delhi in April was caused by the rapid spread of B.1.617.2, a sub-lineage of the variant first found in Maharashtra last year and recently named Delta, according to a new study.
Scientists have found this variant to be much more transmissible than other variants in the national capital, the study shows. This is the first time that a surge in any region has been directly linked to the circulation of a particular variant of the virus.
In the study, scientists from the National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) and Delhi-based Institute of Genomics and Integrative Biology (IGIB) assessed the Delta variant to be at least 50 per cent more transmissible than the Alpha variant, which was first seen in the UK and was predominant in the region in February and March
In its latest risk assessment for SARS-C0V-2 variants, Public Health England (PHE) has said a staggering 61% of the samples sequenced are now of the Delta variant (B.1.617.2). This means the Delta variant, first detected in India, is more dominant in the UK than the Alpha variant that had last year triggered a surge in the UK.
Multiple SARS-CoV-2 variants are circulating globally. One of these is the B.1.617 lineage, detected in India earlier this year. Early evidence suggests that its sub-lineage B.1.617.2, known as the Delta variant, is more transmissible than contemporary lineages.
The World Health Organizaton (WHO), which has given it the label Delta, has categorised it as a variant of concern (VOC). It has said it continues to observe “significantly increased transmissibility” and a “growing number of countries reporting outbreaks associated with this variant”.
In its latest risk assessment for SARS-C0V-2 variants, Public Health England (PHE) has said a staggering 61% of the samples sequenced are now of the Delta variant (B.1.617.2). This means the Delta variant, first detected in India, is more dominant in the UK than the Alpha variant that had last year triggered a surge in the UK.
Multiple SARS-CoV-2 variants are circulating globally. One of these is the B.1.617 lineage, detected in India earlier this year. Early evidence suggests that its sub-lineage B.1.617.2, known as the Delta variant, is more transmissible than contemporary lineages.
The World Health Organizaton (WHO), which has given it the label Delta, has categorised it as a variant of concern (VOC). It has said it continues to observe “significantly increased transmissibility” and a “growing number of countries reporting outbreaks associated with this variant”.
Hi, welcome to our coronavirus live blog.
India on Saturday reported 1,20,529 new Covid-19 cases and 3,380 deaths, according to data from the Union Health Ministry. The total tally of coronavirus infections in the country has now risen to 2,86,94,879 while the death toll has touched 3,44,082.
The Health Ministry said active cases have dropped to 15,55,248. As many as 22,78,60,317 people have been vaccinated so far, the ministry said.