Coronavirus News Live Updates: Kerala reports 7,499 new COVID-19 cases, 13,596 recoveries and 94 deaths

Coronavirus LIVE Updates | Karnataka relaxes Covid-19 restrictions in 6 more districts

The Karnataka government on Monday added six more districts to the list of 17 districts under 'Unlock 2.0', where COVID-19 curbs have been relaxed, allowing hotels, gyms, and public transport bus services to resume operations. Udupi, Bengaluru Rural, Shivamogga, Ballari, Chitradurga and Vijayapura have been placed under Category-1 after considering the weekly moving average positivity rate and also taking into account the consistent declining trend of the COVID-19 case positivity rate, the state government said in its order. Earlier, the government had issued guidelines on Saturday, further relaxing the Covid-19 curbs in 17 districts where the positivity rate is below 5 per cent, including Bengaluru, that came into effect from 6 am today, allowing all shops to function from 6 am to 5 pm and public transport to resume operations with 50 per cent capacity. 

Coronavirus LIVE Updates | Kerala reports 7,499 new COVID-19 cases, 13,596 recoveries and 94 deaths today 

Total recoveries: 27,04,554 

Death toll: 12,154

Coronavirus in Madhya Pradesh LIVE Updates | Madhya Pradesh administered 13,72,054 vaccine doses today till 6pm, during a mega inoculation drive against COVID-19

Coronavirus LIVE Updates | Domino’s partners Virender Sehwag’s Foundation to deliver free meals to COVID patients

Jubilant FoodWorks, the master franchisee of Domino’s Pizza, on Monday said it has partnered with cricketer Virender Sehwag’s Foundation as a delivery partner to provide free meals to COVID-19 patients in Delhi-NCR. Under this initiative, Domino’s Safe Delivery Experts (SDE) are facilitating the Zero Contact Delivery of homemade food prepared and packaged by Virender Sehwag Foundation to COVID patients at home and in COVID care centres, JFL said in a statement. Through this partnership, around 21,000 home-cooked meals have been delivered last month. “We have engaged our fleet of delivery executives to double up as carriers to provide fresh home-cooked healthy food to people battling COVID, safely and hygienically using our Zero Contact Delivery,” a Jubilant FoodWorks spokesperson said. Jubilant FoodWorks Limited (JFL), part of Jubilant Bhartia Group, is India’s largest foodservice company operating 1,360 restaurants of Domino’s Pizza in 293 cities. Besides, it also has franchise rights of Dunkin’ Donuts restaurants and for ‘Popeyes’, an American multinational chain of fried chicken fast-food restaurants in India. 

Coronavirus LIVE Updates | Rajasthan preparing for possible third wave of COVID-19 affecting children: Health Minister

Rajasthan Health Minister Raghu Sharma on Monday said special attention is being given to strengthen medical facilities in children hospitals in the state in view of the possibility of a third wave of coronavirus impact on children. Addressing a review meeting after inspecting facilities at J K Lon  Hospital here, he said that about 200 ICU beds would be available soon in J K Lon Hospital that currently has 800 beds. He said that keeping in mind the possibility of a third wave affecting children, 600 beds in this hospital can be reserved for coronavirus patients. All these 600 beds can be converted into ICU beds, if needed. All the beds in the hospital are connected with a centralised oxygen system, he said, adding that an oxygen plant is being set up in the hospital. After the plant is established, around 1,500 litres of oxygen will be available in J K Lon Hospital. 

Coronavirus LIVE Updates | PGIMER, Chandigarh has been sanctioned funds from UT Admin for COVID -19 serosurvey among the paediatric population. Survey is expected to start this week & will involve over 2000 children & is expected to be over in one month's time: PGIMER Director Prof Jagat Ram

Coronavirus LIVE Updates | Lakshadweep eases COVID lockdown curbs as cases dip

The Lakshadweep administration on Monday announced some relaxations to the COVID-19 induced lockdown imposed since May 24 as cases have come down in all the 10 inhabited islands. Although the COVID-19 situation has been stabilised and there are only 319 cases in the islands, the administration said there is still necessity to regulate the movement of people, ensure strict enforcement of prescribed containment strategies and focus on surveillance to prevent the further spread of the virus in the islands. The administration, which is facing protests from the opposition parties over its reform measures, has decided to allow political, social and religious functions but only with the prior permission of the District Collector of the Lakshadweep. Complete shutdown (corona curfew) will be imposed during the weekend and night curfew will be imposed between 5 pm to 6 pm, according to the order issued by the administration. It has also decided to allow fishing, construction and developmental activities besides allowing hotels and restaurants to open from 7 am to 9.30 am, 1 pm to 3 pm and 6pm to 9 pm only for home delivery of packed food items with a condition to follow standard operating procedure and COVID appropriate behaviour at all times. Shops and establishments shall be allowed to open (only five persons inside a shop at a time) in all the islands, it said. The shutdown was imposed on May 24 following the rising number of virus cases.  

Coronavirus LIVE Updates | Russian vaccine Sputnik V that was expected to be administered in few hospitals of Delhi has been delayed for few more days, says Sources

Coronavirus LIVE Updates | Covishield only 33-60% effective against Delta variant of SARS-CoV-2, warns top US health expert

American epidemiologist Eric Feigl-Ding, who is a senior fellow at the Federation of American Scientists, has warned that the Oxford-AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine is only 60 percent effective against the Delta variant. The Delta variant, which has been dubbed a variant of concern by the World Health Organization (WHO), was first detected in India and is believed to have catalysed the explosive second wave of the pandemic in the country.