Coronavirus News Updates: Bihar, Delhi, Gujarat, Haryana, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal have administered more than 10 lakh beneficiaries of the age group 18-44 years for the first dose of vaccine
Live News Updates: The cumulative number of vaccine doses administered in the country exceeded 23.59 crore, with over 31 lakh doses given on Monday, the Union Health Ministry said.
The Kerala government on Monday extended the lockdown, which was scheduled to end on June 9, till June 16, as the state reported 9,313 new cases and 221 more deaths
The Union health ministry’s directorate general of health services (DGHS) has revised the Covid management guidelines dropping all medicines, except antipyretic and antitussive, for asymptomatic and mild cases.
Students who want to go abroad for studies from Punjab will now be prioritised in the Covid vaccination process in the 18-44 group, Chief Minister Amarinder Singh said on Monday. At a virtual Covid review meeting, the chief minister directed the Health and Medical Education departments to allow districts to use up to 10 percent of the doses for the 18-44 years age group for priority categories other than those approved at the state level.
The National Capital reported 231 new instances of the infection, the lowest since March 2, with the positivity rate dipping to 0.36 per cent, according to the health bulletin released on Monday. Thirty-six more people succumbed to the disease in a day, pushing the toll to 24,627.
Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan on Monday said 28,252 cases of mucormycosis have so far been reported from 28 states/UTs in the country, of which 86 percent cases have a history of and 62.3 percent with a history of diabetes.
As many as 30,071 children were orphaned, lost a parent or abandoned mostly due to the pandemic as per data submitted by different states till 5 June, the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) informed the Supreme Court on Monday. Of the total, 26,176 children have lost a parent, 3,621 have been orphaned and 274 have been abandoned, the NCPCR .
The Punjab government has extended restrictions till 15 June but allowed certian relaxations including opening of shops till 6 pm and permitting private offices to function at 50 percent strength, reports news agency ANI quoting the Chief Minister's Office.
Class 10 and 12 board exams in West Bengal have been canceled, announced Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee. The West Bengal government had formed an expert panel to check the feasibility of conducting board exams amid the pandemic and also sought public opinion on the matter.
The Andhra Pradesh government on Monday further extended the COVID curfew across the state
till 20 June. The curfew duration, however, has been curtailed by two hours a day and will be in force from 2 pm to 6 am after 10 June.
The COVID curfew, first imposed on 5 May, was supposed to end on June 10 but, at a high-level review meeting on the pandemic situation, Chief Minister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy decided to extend it for ten more days.
A CMO release said all government offices would function from 8 AM to 2 PM daily till June 20. cases have shown a significant decline in AP in the last two weeks and the daily infection positivity rate fell from a high of 25 per cent in mid-May to about 10 percent now.
Consequently, the rush in hospitals has also reduced and there is a large availability of beds, both general and ICU.
Also, demand for oxygen has also fallen drastically from as high as 700 tonnes a day to 400 tonnes now.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi is scheduled to address the nation at 5 pm on Monday, the Prime Minister's Office tweeted.
Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal on Monday said that a new campaign 'Jahan Vote, Wahan Vaccination' is being launched to inoculate people above the age of 45. "If we don't face a shortage of doses, all above the age of 45 will be vaccinated in four weeks," he said.
The Centre on Monday told the Supreme Court that it needs more time to create a framework of granting relief and financial assistance to children who lost their parents due to .
The government said that it is engaging with all stake holders to frame a mechanism under the PM Cares Fund. The Centre also told the apex court that the District Magistrate is the nodal officer to overlook the welfare of orphaned or abandoned children.
The Union Health Ministry said that the daily positivity rate was recorded at 6.34 percent on Monday. The figure has been less than 10 percent for 14 consecutive days, the ministry added.
Meanwhile, the weekly positivity rate also declined to 6.21 percent. The number of active cases has reduced to 14,01,609, comprising 4.85 percent of the total infections, while the national recovery rate has improved to 93.94 percent.
India reported 1,00,636 new cases, 1,74,399 discharges, and 2427 deaths in the last 24 hours, the Union Health Ministry said on Monday. The tally of new cases is the lowest in 61 days.
Total cases: 2,89,09,975
Total discharges: 2,71,59,180
Toll: 3,49,186
Active cases: 14,01,609
Maharashtra has announced cautious steps towards restarting or scaling up activities after over a month of restrictions. The state has also registered a decline in cases over the past two weeks.
"The state government is taking a calculated risk and hence people have to take care of themselves. Nothing is going to be eased immediately," Maharashtra chief minister Uddhav Thackeray said ahead of the start of the 'five-tier' unlock process based on weekly positivity rate and occupancy of oxygen beds in districts. Thackeray emphasised that the local administration will take decisions on whether to ease restrictions and further tighten them.
In Mumbai, restaurants, shops selling non-essential items and public places are set to reopen from Monday but malls, theatres and multiplexes will continue to remain shut as the metropolis has been categorised under level 3 of the 'unlock' plan.
Haryana and Sikkim were the latest to extend lockdown from Monday but have eased the curbs like several other states including Maharashtra that have announced cautious steps towards restarting or scaling up activities after over a month following a decline in COVID cases.
"The state government is taking a calculated risk and hence people have to take care of themselves. Nothing is going to be eased immediately," Maharashtra chief minister Uddhav Thackeray said ahead of the start of the five-tier' unlock process based on weekly positivity rate and occupancy of oxygen beds in districts.
Thackeray emphasised that the local administration will take decisions on whether to ease restrictions and further tighten them.
In Mumbai, the country's financial capital, restaurants, shops selling non-essential items and public places are set to reopen from Monday but malls, theatres and multiplexes will continue to remain shut as the metropolis has been categorised under level 3 of the 'unlock' plan.
However, the national capital, which began the unlock exercise from May 31 will see further easing of restrictions from Monday, with the government allowing resumption of metro services at 50 percent capacity and reopening of markets and malls on an odd-even basis.
Officials said teams of police and district administration have been deployed across the city to enforce COVID-appropriate behaviour.
Possible super spreader areas like prominent markets, malls and liquor stores that attract large crowds have been marked for strict compliance with precautions like the use of face masks and social distancing.
In June, several states and Union Territories have begun easing the lockdown restrictions which they first started imposing in mid-April as the second COVID wave hit the country, but the Centre has cautioned that the unlock process has to be slow and that COVID-appropriate behaviour needs to be strictly followed.
"Whatever we know from possible scenarios presented by eminent people, it (COVID) will decline and June will be much much more better but the concerns are when we open up, how do we behave because the virus has not gone anywhere," NITI Aayog member (Health) V K Paul had said last week.
The Uttar Pradesh government also extended the relaxations in the curfew to four more districts on Sunday. With this, curbs have been eased in 71 districts where shops and markets outside containment zones will be allowed to open for five days a week.
While the count of active cases have fallen below the 600-mark in these districts, a watch is being kept on the remaining four districts of Lucknow, Gorakhpur, Meerut and Saharanpur, and a decision on these districts may be taken on Tuesday, an official statement said.
The Haryana government said it was extending the lockdown, clamped in the state on May 3, till June 14 as a preventive and precautionary measure though the COVID positivity rate and the number of new Covid positive cases have declined.
While further relaxations regarding the opening of shops and shopping malls have been given, religious places are also allowed to open now with 21 people at a time.
Corporate offices can have 50 percent attendance after adopting social distancing norms and gatherings of up to 21 people are allowed at weddings, funerals and cremations from the earlier 11.
The Sikkim government, while announcing the state-wide lockdown for one more week till June 14, also allowed relaxation for shops selling groceries and hardware.
Even as the COVID situation has relatively improved in most of the northern and western states, southern and eastern parts of the country are still reporting a high number of cases.
Tamil Nadu chief minister MK Stalin had announced the extension of the lockdown by a week till June 14 with some easing of restrictions from Monday, except in 11 districts where the number of new cases reported was still high.
Earlier, neighbouring Karnataka had extended the lockdown till June 14.
Himachal Pradesh and Goa had also extended the 'Corona curfew' till June 14 with some easing of curbs. Ladakh on Sunday announced a gradual unlocking after a month-long 'corona curfew' in the Union Territory.
India reported 1,14,460 new infections, the lowest in 60 days, while the daily positivity rate further dropped to 5.62 percent, according to the Union Health Ministry data updated on Sunday.
With the fresh cases, the total tally of cases in the country climbed to 2,88,09,339.
The death toll climbed to 3,46,759 with 2,677 daily deaths, the lowest in 42 days, while the active cases dropped below 15 lakh, the data updated at 8 am showed
India had reported more than 88.82 lakh infections in May alone during the raging second wave of , accounting for 31.67 percent of the over 2.8 crore cases reported in the country so far and making it the worst month of the pandemic.
The month of May also saw 1,17,247 fatalities due to the disease, which is around 35.63 percent of the total 3,29,100 deaths recorded so far.
The daily cases peaked on May 7 when the country registered 4,14,188 infections in a span of 24 hours, while daily deaths were the highest on May 19 with India reporting 4,529 fatalities due to .
The active cases had peaked on May 10 at 37,45,237.
