Several states/UTs have started gradual unlocking as Covid-19 cases continue to fall.Covid-19 Vaccine Registration in India Live, Coronavirus Cases in India Live Tracker, Covid-19 India Lockdown, Delhi unlock 3.0, Day 3, June 16 Update: The second wave of the deadly Coronavirus pandemic seems to have over in India, with the country reporting below 1 lakh single-day rise in Covid-19 cases for the past few days. India reported 62,224 new coronavirus infections in the last 24 hours, taking India’s total tally of Covid-19 cases to 2,96,33,105, according to the Union Health Ministry data on Wednesday. The number of active cases in the country also dropped below 9 lakh after 70 days. The Covid-19 death toll climbed to 3,79,573 with 2,542 fresh fatalities. The active cases further declined to 8,65,432; now comprises 2.92 percent of the total infections. The national recovery rate has improved to 95.80 percent. Daily recoveries continue to outnumber the daily new cases for 34 consecutive days.
As India unlocks slowly, health experts have warned of a possible third wave unless appropriate Covid-19 behaviour is followed. Several states/UTs have started lifting lockdown in a gradual manner, while some states are easing Covid-19 restrictions and allowing more activities as Covid-19 cases continue to fall.
Vaccination is the key to fight this pandemic. India has so far vaccinated 26 crore people against Coronavirus. However, the pace of vaccination needs to be ramped up in order to achieve the year-end target of vaccinating all people aged above 18 years in the country. In a major development, the government on Tuesday clarified that “pre-registration for vaccination through online registration and prior booking of appointment is not mandatory to avail of vaccination services.” This will further boost the vaccination drive, especially in the rural areas where mobile phone and internet penetration is low.
Clearing the doubt, the government said CoWIN app is “one of the many modes of registration” for Covid-19 vaccination. “Anyone, aged 18 years or more, can directly go to the nearest vaccination Center where vaccinator performs the on-site registration and provides vaccination in the same visit. This is also popularly known as “walk-ins”, it said.
In the meanwhile, a government panel on Tuesday confirmed the first death in India after the Covid-19 vaccination.
Financial Express Online is bringing the latest updates from India and around the globe on Coronavirus:
Highlights
Andhra Pradesh's coronavirus caseload increased to 18,29,751 as 6,617 fresh cases were added in the 24 hours ending 9 am on Wednesday. Recoveries rose to 17,43,176 after 10,228 patients got cured during the period, the latest bulletin said. With 57 more succumbing in a day, the overall Covid-19 toll climbed to 12,109, the bulletin said.
The Bombay High Court on Wednesday asked the Maharashtra government to inform the court of the steps it can take to protect cigarette smokers, who as per the state, were more vulnerable to contracting COVID-19. A bench of Justices SP Deshmukh and GS Kulkarni asked Maharashtra Advocate General Ashutosh Kumbhakoni to file an affidavit listing such steps by next week. It was hearing a bunch of public interest litigations on the management of drugs and resources related to the COVID-19 pandemic. (PTI)
Goa's coronavirus caseload went up by 310 and rose to 1,63,358 on Wednesday, while 428 more patients recovered from the infection, a health department official said. The death toll increased to 2,960 after 13 patients succumbed to the infection in the last 24 hours, he said. The number of recovered cases rose to 1,56,354 as 428 more patients were discharged from hospitals during the day, the official said. (PTI)
The Odisha government on Wednesday extended the partial lockdown for two more weeks till July 1 and divided the state into two categories on the basis of COVID-19 positivity rate, a senior official said. The restrictions will be in force till 5 am of July 1, Chief Secretary S C Mohapatra said. (PTI)
A multi-centre study on a cohort of over 31,000 vaccinated healthcare workers of a leading private facility, spanning across the country, has found that Covid vaccine provided protection against infection in "95 per cent" of the beneficiaries, hospital authorities claimed on Wednesday. The study by Apollo Hospitals took place over four and a half months, from January 16 to May 30 and covered 31,621 healthcare workers who had received either both doses or the first dose of Covishield or Covaxin, a hospital spokesperson said. (PTI)
The Directorate of Education in Goa has recommended that school sessions for Classes 1 to 12 should continue to be conducted online when the academic year 2021-22 commences on June 21, an official said on Wednesday. Speaking to PTI, state director of education D P Bhagat said an official circular about starting the academic year from June 21 will be issued in the next couple of days. (PTI)
The Union Health Ministry on Wednesday dismissed media reports claiming there was dissent from technical experts about increasing the gap between two Covishield doses and said the decision was based on scientific reason about the behaviour of adenovector vaccines. The Centre on May 13 had approved extending the gap between the two doses of the Covishield vaccine from six to eight weeks to 12 to 16 weeks following a recommendation from the National Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation (NTAGI). (PTI)
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The Delhi government will train 5,000 youths to assist doctors and nurses as part of preparations for a possible third wave of COVID-19, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said on Wednesday. The health assistants or community nursing assistants will be imparted two weeks basic training in nursing and lifecare. The training will start from June 28 in batches of 500 candidates. "I believe this move will strengthen our preparation for the third wave of Covid. Our aim is to learn from experiences across the globe such as the UK where the third wave has emerged, and to be fully prepared," Kejriwal said in an online briefing. (PTI)
Another lion at the Arignar Anna Zoological Park (AAZP) in Vandalur near here, succumbed to SARS-CoV-2 on Wednesday morning. Confirming the death of the Asiatic male lion named Pathbanathan, aged 12 years,Deputy Director of AAZP said the lion was housed in the safari area of the park. "Samples of the said lion had tested positive for SARS- CoV-2 as per the report ofNational Institute of High Security Animal Diseases (NIHSAD), Bhopal, communicated onJune 3. (PTI)
More than two crore vaccine doses have been administered in Rajasthan so far as part of the inoculation campaign against Covid, Rajasthan Health Minister Raghu Sharma said on Wednesday. He said that a capacity to administer about seven lakh doses per day has been developed in the state. Vaccine wastage in the state is only 0.8 per cent and continuous efforts are being taken to make it nil, Sharma said. (PTI)
Prime Minister Narendra Modi has hailed a mother of a six-year-old boy for her courage and positive thinking as she isolated herself from her son after contracting COVID-19. Pooja Verma, who lives in Sector-6 of Ghaziabad, tested positive for the coronavirus along with her husband, Gagan Kaushik. (PTI)
I believe-where convention fails, innovation can help. This has been seen during COVID-19 global pandemic, which is biggest disruption of our age. All nations have suffered losses & felt anxiety about future. COVID has put many of our conventional methods to test: PM Narendra Modi at VivaTech conference
Drugs such as ivermectin, hydroxychloroquine, favipiravir and antibiotics like doxycycline and azithromycin prescribed for adult COVID-19 patients have not been recommended for treating children, according to a government guideline issued on Wednesday. In anticipation of likely intermittent surges in the number of COVID-19 cases, the government has come out with guidelines for operationalising Covid-care services for children. (PTI)
Delhi recorded 212 fresh COVID-19 cases and 25 fatalities on Wednesday, while the positivity rate dipped to 0.27 per cent, according to data shared by the health department here. According to the latest health bulletin, these new fatalities pushed the death toll due to COVID-19 here to 24,876. On Tuesday, 228 cases with 0.32 per cent positivity rate, and 12 deaths were recorded. On March 8, Delhi had recorded 239 cases and on March 9, the tally was 320, according to official data. (PTI)
The Moderna COVID-19 vaccine and an experimental protein-based preventive proved to be safe and showed good antibody response against SARS-CoV-2 in a trial on baby rhesus macaques, scientists say. The research, published on Tuesday in the journal Science Immunology, suggests that vaccines for young children are likely important, safe tools to curtail the pandemic. (PTI)
In an attempt to raise awareness about the COVID-19 pandemic and encourage people to get vaccinated, a busy road in Madhya Pradesh's Indore city has been declared a "Covisafe road", an official said on Wednesday. The road from Lantern Chouraha to Janjeerwala Chouraha in the city was declared a 'Covisafe road' by state water resources minister Tulsiram Silawat, the official said. (PTI)
Long lines formed outside hospitals and health clinics across Turkey on Wednesday as the country ramped up its vaccination drive following last month's agreement with Pfizer-BioNTech for 90 million doses of the COVID-19 vaccine with an option for 30 million more. Health Minister Fahrettin Koca announced on Twitter that a record 1.24 million doses were administered in just one day on Tuesday.
Jharkhand reported four new COVID -19 deaths and 184 fresh cases during the last 24 hours, a health department bulletin said on Wednesday. The COVID-19 death toll in the state rose to 5,089 with state capital Ranchi, East Singhbhum, Lohardaga and Khunti district reporting one death each. (PTI)
Industry body PHD Chamber of Commerce and Industry (PHDCCI) has urged the government to play an enabler's role for the vaccine sector, and sought clarity on the status of the segment under the ambit of the production-linked incentive (PLI) scheme announced for the pharmaceutical sector. In a letter to the Prime Minister's Office, PHDCCI President Sanjay Aggarwal noted that the PLI documents do not give information regarding specific allocation of the sector which is critical for the country amid the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. (PTI)
Around 1 million people in the UK aged 21 and 22 will begin to be called forward on Wednesday to book their coronavirus vaccine, as the National Health Service (NHS) led COVID-19 vaccination programme expanded the age-based rollout to cover further younger categories. The latest expansion leaves only 18 to 20 year olds yet to be contacted for their first doses, even as the second doses for all those aged 40 and over and being encouraged to be brought forward as part of efforts to control the spread of the highly transmissible Delta variant of COVID-19. The NHS has said that by the end of this week it is expected that all those aged 18 or over would also be able to book their jabs. (PTI)
PM Modi will launch ‘Customized Crash Course' programme for Covid 19 Frontline workers’ on June 18 at 11 am via video conferencing. With 111 training centres across 26 states, the programme aims to skill and upskill over one lakh Covid warriors across the country: PMO
States have suffered revenue loss due to 'Corona curfew'. I urged PM to allow states' borrowing limit to 5.5% of the GDP to continue development work, which has been reduced to 4.5% this year. Centre will look into this matter: Madhya Pradesh CM Shivraj Singh Chouhan. (ANI)
Ladakh's COVID-19 caseload surged to 19,649 on Wednesday with 38 fresh infections while the death toll climbed to 199 as one more person succumbed to the viral disease, officials said. Of the fresh cases, 21 were reported from Leh district and 17 from Kargil district, they said. The latest fatality was reported from Kargil, the officials said. Of the total 199 deaths in the union territory, 143 were reported from Leh and 56 from Kargil, they said. (PTI)
A new, experimental anti-viral treatment used for some worst-affected COVID-19 patients has been found to save lives, according to the results of a UK trial on Wednesday. In the ongoing Randomised Evaluation of COVID-19 Therapy (RECOVERY) trial, Regeneron Pharmaceuticals' combination of drugs was found to benefit patients with severe symptoms of the virus who had not mounted a natural antibody response of their own. It not only cut down the numbers requiring a ventilator, among the 9,875 people who took part in the trial between September 2020 and May this year, but also reduced the duration of their hospital stay. (PTI)
Newborn calf serum is used in manufacturing of viral vaccines. It's used for cells' growth, but neither used in growth of SARS CoV2 virus nor in final formulation. COVAXIN is highly purified to contain only inactivated virus components by removing other impurities: Bharat BiotechBovine serum is widely used in the manufacture of vaccines globally for several decades. The usage of newborn calf serum was transparently documented in several publications including Hamster Efficacy Study over the last 9 months: Bharat Biotech READ MORE
The Bombay High Court on Wednesday directed the Maharashtra government to scrutinise the role that local Congress MLA Zeeshan Siddique and actor Sonu Sood played in procurement and supply of anti-COVID drugs to citizens, following their SOS calls and appeals on social media. The high court also observed that "these people (celebrities) projected themselves as some kind of messiahs without verifying if the drugs were spurious or if the supply was legal". A bench of Justices S P Deshmukh and G S Kulkarni issued the direction to the Maharashtra government after state Advocate General Ashutosh Kumbhakoni told the HC that it had registered a criminal case at the Mazgaon metropolitan court against a charitable trust, BDR Foundation, and its trustees for supplying anti-COVID drug Remdesivir to Siddique even though the trust did not have requisite licence. Kumbhakoni said that Siddique had been merely diverting the drug to citizens, who had approached him, so no action had been taken against him yet. He further said that Sonu Sood had received the drugs from several pharmacies located inside the private Lifeline Care Hospital in Goregaon. Pharma company Cipla had supplied Remdesivir to these pharmacies and inquiry into it was still going on, Kumbhakoni said. He was responding to previous orders of the high court passed while hearing a bunch of public interest litigations (PILs) on several issues related to the management of drugs and resources required to tackle the COVID-19 pandemic. (PTI)
Puducherry logged 430 new coronavirus cases on Wednesday raising the overall infection count to 1.13 lakh. The new cases were identified at the end of examination of 9190 swabs. While Puducherry region accounted for 340 cases, Karaikal reported 69, Yanam 11 and Mahe region 10. Six more persons succumbed to the infection raising the toll to 1702. The test positivity rate today was 4.68 percent, while fatality and recovery rates were 1.5 percent and 84.55 percent, Director of Health and Family Welfare Services S Mohan Kumar said. The health department has tested 11,84,193 samples so far and found 10,24,364 out of them to be negative. (PTI)
Tamil Nadu: A special vaccination session underway for mothers of newborn children at a govt hospital in Chennai; We've started vaccinating lactating mothers. Earlier, we were hesitant but after govt's nod, we are vaccinating them: Director, Institute of Obstetrics & Gynaecology (ANI)
The Nagaland government on Wednesday further extended the ongoing state-wide lockdown till June 30, a senior official said. The restrictions were scheduled to end on June 18. "The high-powered committee on COVID-19 headed by Chief Minister Neiphiu Rio, in a meeting today, decided to extend the lockdown till June 30," Government co-spokesperson and advisor Mmhonlumo Kikon told PTI. Asked about the reason for the extension, he said, "The COVID situation in the state is improving but we are still not out of the woods. The positivity rate is declining but it needs to go down below five percent. Also, we need to inoculate more than 50 per cent of the population." This is the fourth extension of the lockdown in the state since May 14. "We acknowledge the inconvenience faced by the people but given the circumstances, we have to continue with the lockdown for now," Kikon said. He said that district task forces on COVID-19 will work out relaxations or stricter restrictions as per the local situation. (PTI)
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee directs the administration to keep a check in areas where the new cases of #COVID infection crosses 200. As per the latest data, six districts including Kolkata reported more than 200 cases yesterday. (AIR News)
Exposure to the virus that causes common cold can provide protection against infection by the SARS-CoV-2 virus behind COVID-19, according to a study. The research, published on Tuesday in the Journal of Experimental Medicine, found that rhinovirus, the common respiratory virus, jump-starts the activity of interferon-stimulated genes. These genes trigger early-response molecules in the immune system which can stop reproduction of the SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, within airway tissues infected with the cold, the researchers said. Triggering these defences early in the course of COVID-19 infection holds promise to prevent or treat the infection, said senior study author, Ellen Foxman, assistant professor at the Yale School of Medicine in the US. One way to do this, Foxman said, is by treating patients with interferons, an immune system protein which is also available as a drug. "But it all depends upon the timing," she said. Previous work showed that at the later stages of COVID-19, high interferon levels are associated with worse disease outcomes, and may fuel overactive immune responses. (PTI)
Odisha's COVID-19 tally surged to 8,63,061 on Wednesday as 3,535 more people tested positive for the infection, while 44 fresh fatalities pushed the state's coronavirus death toll to 3,432, a health official said. The state registered less than 4,000 fresh infections for the second consecutive day after mid-April, as active cases dropped below the 50,000-mark. As many as 2,016 new cases were recorded in quarantine centres, while 1,519 fresh infections were detected during contact tracing, he said. Khurda district, under which Bhubaneswar falls, reported the highest number of new cases at 533, followed by Jajpur (348) and Cuttack (326). Khurda also registered the highest number of fresh fatalities at five, followed by four each in Ganjam, Kalahandi and Puri and three each in Cuttack, Jagatsinghpur, Jharsuguda, Rayagada and Sundergarh. Fifty-three COVID-19 patients have died due to comorbidities thus far. (PTI)
Discussions are underway whether India should revert to four or eight weeks interval for Covishield vaccine and the emerging evidence regarding efficacy of partial versus full immunisation is also being considered, Chairman of India's COVID-19 Working Group of NTAGI, Dr N K, Arora said. He stressed that the decision to increase the gap between two doses of Covishield from 4-6 weeks to 12-16 weeks was based on scientific decision and there was no dissenting voice among the National Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation (NTAGI) members. "COVID-19 and the vaccination are very dynamic. Tomorrow, if the vaccine platform tells us that a narrower interval is better for our people, even if the benefit is 5%-10%, the Committee will take the decision on the basis of merit and its wisdom.On the other hand, if it turns out that the current decision is fine, we will continue with it," Arora said. The decision to increase the gap lay in the fundamental scientific reason regarding behaviour of adenovector vaccines, a Health Ministry statement quoted him as telling DD News. (PTI)
Australia's most populous city Sydney has recorded its first locally acquired case of COVID-19 in more than a month, stoking concerns of a fresh wave of infections on Wednesday. New South Wales (NSW) state said it is not clear how the unnamed man in his 60s acquired the virus, but he was a driver who occasionally transported overseas airline crew. While authorities urgently try and determine the source of the infection, NSW warned the unnamed man went to the cinema and more than a dozen cafes and shops in Sydney's eastern suburbs, which include Bondi Beach, while potentially infectious. The emergence of a case in NSW comes as Australia's second most populous state battles to contain a cluster of COVID-19 cases. (Reuters)
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More than 27.28 crore (27,28,31,900) vaccine doses have been provided to States/UTs so far, through Government of India (free of cost channel) and through direct state procurement category. Of this, the total consumption, including wastages is 25,45,45,692 doses, as per data available at 8 AM today, the govt said. More than 1.82 crore (1,82,86,208) COVID Vaccine doses are still available with the States/UTs to be administered, it added.
Taiwan reported 167 new domestic COVID-19 infections on Wednesday, up from the previous day's figure of 132. (Reuters)