A health worker administers the Covishield vaccine during a special vaccination drive against COVID-19 in Hyderabad on June 25. (AP Photo)Covid-19 Vaccine Registration in India Live, Coronavirus Cases in India Live Tracker, Covid-19 India June 25 Live Updates: The vaccination drive in India has gathered pace with the launch of a new vaccination policy on June 21. So far, India has vaccinated over 30.79 crore people against Coronavirus. As many as 64.89 lakh vaccine doses were administered on Wednesday, over 53 lakh on Tuesday, and a record 88 lakh on Monday. India aims to vaccinate all people aged above 18 years by the year-end. Will India vaccinate fast enough to protect itself from the next wave? Experts are unsure whether vaccination momentum can be sustained.
India has been reporting around 50,000 new Covid-19 cases for the past few days. Covid-19 deaths and positivity rate have also dropped quite significantly. The recovery rate has also improved to 96.61% on Thursday. India reported 51,667 new Covid-19 cases in the last 24 hours, taking the case, tally to 3,01,34,445, according to Health Ministry data on Friday. The Covid-19 death toll increased to 3,93,310 with 1,329 more people succumbing to the virus infections in a day. The number of active Covid-19 cases has further declined to 6,12,868 and now accounts for 2.03% of the total infections. The weekly positivity rate also declined to 3 percent. With improvement in the Covid-19 situation, several states have started unlocking. Few states/UTs have opted for relaxations in Covid restrictions, not full unlock, as health experts have warned of a possible third wave if appropriate Covid-19 behaviour not followed.
Tax exemption on employee’s COVID treatment
The government on Friday said that the amount paid by an employer to employees for COVID-19 treatment would be tax exempt. Also, ex-gratia payment received from employer by family members in case of death of an employee due to COVID-19 would be exempt from income tax.
The emergence of the Delta Plus variant further added fear. According to health experts, the Delta Plus variant, which the health ministry has categorized as a ‘variant of concern, calls for caution, not panic as its virulence and transmissibility are still being investigated. The new Delta Plus variant has been formed due to a mutation in the Delta or B.1.617.2 variant, first detected in India and one of the drivers of the deadly second wave. So far, India has reported 50 cases of Delta Plus variant, most of these cases are from Maharashtra, Kerala, and Madhya Pradesh. This viral variant also known as AY.1 has also been seen in nine other countries of the world with 205 infections detected in Europe, America, and Asia.
Financial Express Online is bringing you the latest updates from India as well as around the world on coronavirus:
Highlights
Conduct of marriage functions permitted in choultries, hotels, resorts, function halls, etc involving not more than 40 people and strictly adhering to the conditions stipulated as below from 28th June: Government of Karnataka (ANI)
Even as the vaccination drive in the country is picking up brisk pace, the spectre of fake vaccination camps is also rearing its head with two major cities-Mumbai and Kolkata- reporting more than 2000 victims of fake vaccination camps. While the investigating agencies have arrested a number of fraudsters involved with the fake vaccination racket, the total extent of the damage as well as the constituent of the fake vaccine vial remains uncertain. | Read More
Uttarakhand Cabinet has decided to issue guidelines for Chardham Yatra for pilgrims from Chamoli, Uttarkashi and Rudraprayag districts from July 1. All necessary steps will be taken and priests will be vaccinated: Govt Spokesperson Subodh Uniyal (ANI)
Churches, temples & mosques can be opened but no festivals to be allowed: Tamil Nadu Government (ANI)
Tamil Nadu govt extends lockdown till 5th July with certain relaxations; private companies in all four districts of Chennai, Kanchipuram, Chengalpattu, Thiruvallur can operate with 100% employees. Shopping complex & malls to reopen with 50% capacity. (ANI)
COVID-19 | Karnataka reports 3310 new cases, 6524 discharges and 114 deaths today.
Active cases: 1,07,195Total recoveries: 26,84,997Death toll: 34,539 (ANI)
237 people have died due to black fungus (mucormycosis) in Andhra Pradesh so far, 1,513 undergoing treatment: Health Department (PTI)
West Bengal: A Special Investigation Team (SIT) set up by Kolkata Police’s Detective Department to investigate the fake vaccine scam where Debanjan Deb impersonated as an IAS officer/KMC Joint Commissioner. (ANI)
Sikkim on Friday reported 130 new COVID-19 cases, which took the tally in the state to 19,811, a health department bulletin said. The death toll rose to 299 as one more patient succumbed to the disease in the last 24 hours, it said.
Of the new cases, 73 were registered in East Sikkim, 35 in South Sikkim, 21 in West Sikkim and one in North Sikkim. The Himalayan state now has 2,255 active cases, while 17,005 people have recovered from the disease, the bulletin said.
Altogether, 252 coronavirus-positive patients have migrated to other states. The state has so far conducted 1,59,540 sample tests for COVID-19, including 687 in the last 24 hours, and the positivity rate stands at 18.9 per cent, it added. (PTI)
Kerala reports 11,546 new COVID19 positive cases, 11,056 recoveries and 118 deaths today.
Death toll stands at 12,699; while 27,52,492 patients have recovered so far. (ANI)
Vaccination drive taking place in full swing. We're utilising all vaccines received from Centre. We created record by administrating around 17 lakh vaccines in a day. Vaccine is security & it's given by PM Modi. It's 'Modi vaccine'. Vaccination isn't just a dose, it's life: MP CM (ANI)
Andhra Pradesh reports 4,458 new COVID-19 cases, 6,313 recoveries and 38 deaths in the last 24 hours.
Active cases: 47,790Total recoveries: 18,11,157Death toll: 12,528 (ANI)
With Maharashtra becoming the first state in the country on Friday to administer three crore coronavirus vaccine jabs, the state government said it can cover the entire eligible population within the next three months if the supply by the Centre kept up. Availability of vaccine doses was no longer an issue, state Health Minister Rajesh Tope said at `Digital Dialogue', an event organized by his party, the NCP.
"Vaccine availability is not an issue now. We have administered over three crore doses so far, and with increased pace, Maharashtra can vaccinate its entire eligible population in the next three months," he said. "Maharashtra has the capacity to administer 10 lakh doses per day. If the Union government increases its supply to match the state's capacity, we can vaccinate the entire population in three months," he said. As of Friday afternoon, Maharashtra had administered 3,00,27,217 vaccine doses. (PTI)
Kerala reports 11,546 new COVID19 positive cases, 11,056 recoveries and 118 deaths today.
Death toll stands at 12,699; while 27,52,492 patients have recovered so far. (ANI)
Deaths of two Delta Plus positive cases have been reported in Madhya Pradesh: Govt Sources to ANI (ANI)
Covid 2nd wave not yet over in India; still 75 districts with more than 10% prevalence, 92 districts with 5-10% prevalence of COVID-19: Govt (PTI)
Deaths of two Delta Plus positive cases have been reported in Madhya Pradesh: Govt Sources to ANI (ANI)
Announcing measures related to tax concessions for payment towards COVID-19 treatment/death. Amount paid for medical treatment to an employee by employer or to a person by any person on account of COVID-19 for '19-20 & subsequent year won't be taxed in hands of employee/beneficiary: MoS Finance (ANI)
https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js
In view of cases of the Delta plus variant of COVID-19 emerging in Maharashtra, the state government on Friday announced 'state-level trigger' for imposing restrictions in administrative units irrespective of weekly positivity rate and oxygen bed occupancy percentage. Weekly positivity rate regarding levels of restrictions will be determined on the basis of RT-PCR tests, and not rapid antigen or other tests, the state government said and described Delta plus as a variant of concern. Restrictions in administrative units will remain at a level not below 3, according to new guidelines issued as part of a government notification which also calls for pushing for 70 per cent vaccination of eligible population in the state. The move indicates tightening of restrictions to curb any surge in cases after some people were detected with the highly infectious Delta plus variant of coronavirus. Delta plus has been declared a variant of concern by the Centre. The notification amends the five-level unlock plan announced by the Maharashtra government earlier this month. - PTI
Delhi recorded four more COVID-19-related deaths and 115 new cases on Friday with a positivity rate of 0.15 per cent, according to a health bulletin issued here. The new fatalities pushed the death toll due to the infection to 24,952, it said. Delhi recorded eight deaths and 109 fresh cases of coronavirus on Thursday as the city's positivity rate dipped to 0.14 per cent. On Wednesday, Delhi recorded 111 COVID-19 cases and seven fatalities, while the positivity rate stood at 0.15 per cent. On Monday, Delhi had reported 89 coronavirus cases with a positivity rate of 0.16 per cent, both lowest this year so far, while 11 people died, according to the data. - PTI
Covid 2nd wave not yet over in India; still 75 districts with more than 10% prevalence, 92 districts with 5-10% prevalence of COVID-19: Govt. - PTI
The Congress on Friday observed a fast on the banks of the Ganga in Haridwar demanding a judicial probe into the fake Covid testing scam during the Kumbh Mela. Led by Pradesh Congress Committee (PCC) president Pritam Singh, a large number of party workers assembled at Subhash Ghat to observe the fast for some hours. "The scam took place under the eyes of the state government. The agencies that conducted fake Covid tests were roped in by it. The Special Investigation Team (SIT) probe into the scam is just an eyewash. We demand a probe by a sitting high court judge into the scam," Singh told reporters. - PTI
As of today, there are 48 cases of Delta Plus across the country: Dr SK Singh, National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) Director - ANI
Denmark will continue to exclude Johnson & Johnson's COVID-19 vaccine from its national vaccine roll-out, broadcaster TV 2 reported on Friday without specifying its sources. It did say whether AstraZeneca's shot would also continue to be excluded.- Reuters
Indian Medical Association (IMA) says 776 doctors have died during second wave of COVID19 pandemic; maximum 115 doctors lost their lives in Bihar, followed by Delhi (109) - ANI
In the week of 4th May, 531 districts of the country were reporting more than 100 cases. In the week of 2nd June, it fell down to 262 districts. Right now only 125 districts in the country are reporting more than 100 cases: Lav Agarwal, Joint Secretary, Health Ministry. Recovery rate has increased to 96.7%, he added. - ANI
The sub-group constituted by the Supreme Court to audit Oxygen consumption in hospitals in national capital during the second wave of COVID-19 said that the Delhi government "exaggerated" the consumption of oxygen and made a claim of 1140 MT, four times higher than the formula for bed capacity requirement of 289 MT. The five-member panel headed by AIIMS Director Randep Gulleria said the Delhi government had made the claims for allocation of 700 MT oxygen on April 30 of medical grade Oxygen using a "wrong formula". The top court had on May 6 named a sub-group for carrying out the audit exercise for Delhi's health infrastructure and allocation of oxygen and said that it shall consists of Randeep Guleria of AIIMS, Sandeep Budhiraja of Max Healthcare and two IAS officers not below the rank of Joint Secretary -- one each from the Centre and the Delhi government. (PTI)
The SARS-CoV-2 virus, which causes COVID-19, is most ideally adapted to infect human cells, rather than bat or pangolin cells, according to a study which raises questions about the origin of the virus. The researchers from Flinders University and La Trobe University in Australia used high-performance computer modelling of the form of the SARS-CoV-2 virus at the beginning of the pandemic to predict its ability to infect humans and 12 domestic and exotic animals. The study, published in the journal Scientific Reports on Thursday, aimed to help identify any intermediate animal vector that may have played a role in transmitting a bat virus to humans. The researchers used genomic data from the 12 animal species to painstakingly build computer models of the key ACE2 protein receptors for each species. These models were then used to calculate the strength of binding of the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein to each species' ACE2, which acts as the receptor for SARS-CoV-2 and allows it to infect the cell. The results showed that SARS-CoV-2 bound to ACE2 on humans cells more tightly than any of the tested animal species, including bats and pangolins. The researchers explained that if one of the animals species tested was the origin, it would normally be expected to show the highest binding to the virus. (PTI)
A new milestone has been reached; this week we began our first batch of Covovax (a COVID-19 vaccine developed by Novavax) at our facility, here in Pune: Serum Institute India (ANI)
Maharashtra becomes first state in the country to administer 3 crore covid vaccine doses. Maharashtra crossed this milestone at 2 PM today. So far, 3,00,27,217 vaccine doses have been administered in the state: Dr Pradip Vyas, ACS Health (ANI)
Out of 21 Delta Plus #COVID19 variant patients in Maharashtra, one 80-year-old with co-morbidities has died: Maharashtra Health Minister Rajesh Tope (ANI)
Maharashtra's Raigad district has recorded 695 new cases of COVID-19 that took the tally of infections in the region to 1,44,375, an official said on Friday. At least 1,34,980 persons have recovered from COVID-19, while 3,510 have died of the infection so far in the district, the official said. The district is now left with 5,885 active cases, of which 589 patients are on oxygen support, 202 are in ICUs, 66 are on ventilator support, while 4,000 infected persons are in home isolation, he said. With this, the recovery rate in the district is at 94 per cent, while the death rate is 2 per cent, the official said, adding that the district has so far conducted 3,71,929 COVID-19 tests. (PTI)
Ladakh recorded 22 new COVID-19 cases that took the infection tally to 19,903, with no fresh death due to the disease taking place in the Union territory, officials said on Friday. So far, 202 people, including 144 in Leh district and 58 in Kargil district, have succumbed to the viral disease in Ladakh, they said. Forty-six people were discharged from hospitals after recovering from the disease, pushing the total number of recoveries to 19,387, they said. Of the new 22 cases, all were reported from Leh, officials said. (PTI)
Amid the fresh blame game over the Oxygen Audit, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal took to Twitter to express his viewpoint. In his defence, Kejriwal said that his only 'gunaah' or sin was that he was seeking to protect the people of Delhi. Without naming anyone in the Central govt, Kejriwal took a veiled dig and said that when you (the Centre) was busy in election rallies, I was up all night to make arrangements for Oxygen supply. He said that he fought and made appeals to the authorities for the 2 crore people of Delhi. The Delhi Chief Minister also said that people have lost their loved ones due to the Oxygen crisis. These claims (of inflation of Oxygen demand) is upsetting the bereaved families.
The more infectious Delta coronavirus variant will become dominant in Germany over the summer, Health Minister Jens Spahn said on Friday."The Delta variant will have the upper hand over the summer, it's more a matter of weeks than months," Spahn told a news conference, adding the variant currently makes up more than 15% of coronavirus cases reported in Germany.Spahn said the spread of the variant would depend on how many people get vaccinated and on infection incidence. - Reuters
Russia reported 20,393 new COVID-19 cases on Friday, including 7,916 in Moscow, taking the official national tally since the pandemic began to 5,409,088.The government coronavirus task force said 601 people had died of coronavirus-linked causes in the past 24 hours, pushing the national death toll to 132,064.The federal statistics agency has kept a separate count and has said Russia recorded around 270,000 deaths related to COVID-19 from April 2020 to April 2021. - Reuters
Britain has reported 35,204 new cases of the Delta coronavirus variant in the latest week, taking the total number of confirmed cases to 111,157, Public Health England said on Friday.The Delta variant now comprises 96% of sequenced cases, Public Health England said, adding that vaccines were still effective at providing protection against risk of hospitalisation.Public Health England said it had designated a new variant, Lambda, with six cases detected between Feb. 23 and June 7 - of whom five had travelled overseas. - Reuters
The board of the GAVI vaccine alliance has approved $775 million to fund the delivery of COVID-19 vaccines to lower-income economies eligible for support over the next two years, it said on Friday. The COVAX facility, run jointly with the World Health Organization, has delivered 90 million doses to 132 countries since February. In a statement after its two-day board meeting it said that its goal of delivering 1.8 billion doses to lower income economies would be reached in the first quarter of 2022. - Reuters
Health services were affected in Punjab on Friday as government doctors went on a day-long strike against the recommendations of the state's sixth pay commission related to non-practising allowance and pension benefits. Outpatient department (OPD) services remained suspended in government hospitals, with doctors at many places holding demonstrations. However, all emergency services, COVID-19-related work including duty of doctors in isolation wards, and vaccination continued as usual, Dr Gagandeep Singh, president of the Punjab Civil Medical Services Association, told PTI over phone. - PTI