Health workers carry out door to door Covid-19 vaccination drive at a residential cluster in Saraspur, Ahmedabad on Monday. (Express photo by Nirmal Harindran)Coronavirus India Live Updates: Expressing concern over the surge in Covid cases in nine states — Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Manipur, Kerala, Meghalaya, Nagaland, Odisha, Tripura and Sikkim — the health ministry has emphasised the need to strengthen efforts to curb the spread of the virus.
In a letter, Union Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan said ramping up testing and vaccination, healthcare infrastructure planning, following Covid-appropriate behaviour and effective clinical management are among the measures to be taken by these states.
With over 10 per cent positivity rate in as many as 45 districts, the pandemic has become a cause of concern in the Northeast states. The Union Health Ministry Tuesday said 73 districts in India reported a positivity rate of over 10 per cent for the June 29-July 5 week. Dr Balram Bhragava, a member of the country’s Covid-19 task force and Director General of ICMR, too, flagged that the Northeast will have to step up testing, keep a “close watch” on the test positivity rate at the district-level and set up micro-containment zones.
India has reported 43,733 new Covid-19 cases and 930 deaths in the last 24 hours, according to data from the Union Health Ministry. Active cases have come down to 4,59,920. Kerala reported 14,373 new cases, the highest in nearly a month. Maharashtra reported 8,418 cases and 400 deaths in the last 24 hours.
Meanwhile, just two months after it hosted over 36 lakh people for the Kumbh Mela, just before the second Covid wave, the BJP government in Uttarakhand has cancelled the annual Kanwar Yatra in the state citing the pandemic.
Crowd at Sadar Bazaar in New Delhi on Tuesday. (Express photo by Praveen Khanna)
In a letter to nine states seeing a surge in Covid cases - Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Manipur, Kerala, Meghalaya, Nagaland, Odisha, Tripura and Sikkim - the health ministry has emphasised the need to strengthen efforts to curb the spread of the virus. Union Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan said ramping up testing and vaccination, healthcare infrastructure planning, following Covid-appropriate behaviour and effective clinical management are among the measures to be taken by these states. (PTI)
The Andhra Pradesh government has decided to reopen schools from August 16. Online classes will start from July 12, says Andhra Pradesh Education Minister Audimulapu Suresh. (ANI)
The South 24 Parganas District Administration has initiated a Covid vaccination drive in the Sunderbans in West Bengal. District Magistrate P Ulaganthan and other health officials were present for the drive, where 100 people were vaccinated.
"It will continue on the nine islands in Gosaba," Pratima Mondal, Jaynagar MP said. (ANI)
The Covid-19 vaccination drive was halted in Gujarat on Wednesday in view of Mamata Diwas, which is observed as part of the ongoing universal immunisation programme. To mark the occasion, healthcare workers across the state check on pregnant women and give them iron and vitamin tablets. Health workers also administer vaccines, such as BCG, polio and rubella, to women, children and infants.
"We have suspended vaccination drive against coronavirus for this Wednesday in view of Mamta Diwas and works to be carried out under the universal immunisation programme. We have not decided yet if the inoculation drive against Covid-19 will be suspended on all Wednesdays now onwards," additional chief secretary, Health, Manoj Aggarwal said. (PTI)
Nainital High Court Wednesday ordered the Uttarakhand Government to present its response in court on crowds of tourists in Nanital and Mussoorie as Covid-19 restrictions are eased in the state, news agency ANI reported.
Union Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan has written to Kerala Chief Secretary suggesting measures to control the spread of Covid-19, news agency ANI reported.
The GAVI vaccine alliance hopes the Serum Institute of India (SII) will resume exports of the AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine from this quarter, it told Reuters, which would be earlier than an "end of this year" forecast by the Indian company.
GAVI co-leads the COVAX facility for equitable distribution of Covid-19 shots around the world. COVAX suffered a big jolt in April when big vaccine producer India stopped all overseas shipments to meet local demand as infections rose dramatically.
India's coronavirus crisis has now eased and output of the AstraZeneca drug at SII, the world's biggest vaccine maker, has also jumped, but so has domestic demand.
"We remain hopeful that SII deliveries will resume in the third quarter, however, this cannot be confirmed at this stage," a GAVI spokesperson said in an e-mail late on Tuesday.
The GAVI vaccine alliance hopes the Serum Institute of India (SII) will resume exports of the AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine from this quarter, it told Reuters, which would be earlier than an "end of this year" forecast by the Indian company.
GAVI co-leads the COVAX facility for equitable distribution of Covid-19 shots around the world. COVAX suffered a big jolt in April when big vaccine producer India stopped all overseas shipments to meet local demand as infections rose dramatically.
India's coronavirus crisis has now eased and output of the AstraZeneca drug at SII, the world's biggest vaccine maker, has also jumped, but so has domestic demand.
"We remain hopeful that SII deliveries will resume in the third quarter, however, this cannot be confirmed at this stage," a GAVI spokesperson said in an e-mail late on Tuesday.
Maharashtra CM Uddhav Thackeray will chair two separate meetings on Covid-19 management with District Collectors and Divisional Commissioners and Covid-19 Task Force on Wednesday, news agency ANI reported.
Recent data from the Israeli Health Ministry shows the effectiveness of Pfizer-BioNTech’s Covid-19 vaccine has dropped in recent weeks. Two shots were found 64% effective in preventing symptomatic infection, compared to 94% earlier this year. But it remains 93% effective in preventing hospitalisation — down from 97% earlier.
The Delta variant is reportedly responsible for over 90% of recent cases in Israel, which lifted restrictions in June, although around 57% of the population is vaccinated.
The new data comes after research by Hebrew University found the Pfizer vaccine 70% effective against Delta. Last month, a study in The Lancet found that one dose of the vaccine offered only 32% protection against Delta, as against 79% against the original strain. Even after two doses, the level of neutralising antibodies was over five times lower against the Delta variant than the level against the original strain.
But other studies, including an analysis by Public Health England in June, agree that the Pfizer vaccine offers high protection from hospitalisation even against Delta.
Two months after it hosted over 36 lakh people for the Kumbh Mela, just before the second Covid wave, the BJP government in Uttarakhand has cancelled the annual Kanwar Yatra in the state citing the pandemic.
On Tuesday, the state’s police authorities appealed to officers of neighbouring states to ask devotees not to come to Haridwar this month for the annual pilgrimage to collect water from the Ganga. The Yatra was not held last year due to Covid restrictions.
The appeal for this year was issued during an inter-state coordination meeting, which was chaired by DGP Ashok Kumar, with police officers of Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Punjab, Rajasthan and Delhi, on the yatra.
India reported 43,733 new Covid-19 cases in the last 24 hours, according to data from the Union Health Ministry. Active cases have come down to 4,59,920.
Forty-five of the 73 districts that reported over 10 per cent Covid-19 positivity rate in the last one week are from the Northeast region of the country, the Health Ministry Tuesday said.
According to the health ministry, 73 districts in India reported a positivity rate of over 10 per cent for the June 29-July 5 week. Sixty-one per cent of these high-positivity districts are from the Northeast states of Arunachal (Pradesh (18), Manipur (9), Meghalaya (6), Tripura (4), Sikkim (4), Nagaland (3), and Mizoram (1).
In the region, Manipur (5,974) has the highest active cases followed by Meghalaya (4,354), Tripura (3,962), Mizoram (3,730), Sikkim (1,869) and Nagaland (1192).
Dr Balram Bhragava, a member of the country’s Covid-19 task force and Director General of ICMR, flagged that the Northeast will have to step up testing, keep a “close watch” on the test positivity rate at the district-level and set up micro-containment zones.