A couple poses after getting shots of the Sputnik V vaccine in Mumbai. (Express Photo: Amit Chakravarty)Coronavirus India Live Updates: Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Thursday said that there are no plans to reopen schools in Delhi for now, news agency PTI reported. The national capital reported 72 new Covid-19 cases and one death on Thursday, while the positivity rate stood at 0.10 per cent, according to information shared by the health department.
India, in the last 24 hours, recorded 41,806 new Covid-19 cases, a slight increase from Tuesday’s 38,792. The country also witnessed 581 Covid-related deaths on Wednesday. There are currently 4,32,041 active cases across India. Kerala continues to be the top contributor, reporting 15,637 new cases — the highest in more than a month.
The AY.1 and AY.2 sub-lineages of the highly contagious Delta variant of the novel coronavirus are unlikely to be more transmissible than Delta itself, said the consortium of government panels involved in genome sequencing of coronavirus. In a recent bulletin, the Indian Sars-CoV-2 Genomics Consortium (INSACOG) said that the cases of Delta sub-lineages AY.1 and AY.2 are declining globally, with near-zero cases in the last week of June in the UK and the US where they were most frequently detected.
“It is likely that neither AY.1 nor AY.2 is more transmissible than Delta,” the INSACOG said, adding there is no indication of a rising trend in the four clusters of Ratnagiri and Jalgaon in Maharashtra, Bhopal in Madhya Pradesh and Chennai in Tamil Nadu.
Meanwhile, a player of the Indian cricket team in England has tested positive for Covid -19 and is staying in home isolation at the moment, The Indian Express has learnt. The player is home quarantined at his relatives’ place at present and is likely to join the tour party in Durham later.
Also, taking suo motu cognisance of a report in The Indian Express on the Uttar Pradesh government’s decision to allow the Kanwar Yatra which has been suspended by neighbouring Uttarakhand amid fears of a possible third Covid-19 wave, the Supreme Court has sought responses by Friday from the Centre and the governments of UP and Uttarakhand.
People queue up outside a vaccination centre in Mumbai. (Express photo by Ganesh Shirsekar)
Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Thursday said that there are no plans to reopen schools in Delhi for now, news agency PTI reported. The national capital reported 72 new Covid-19 cases and one death on Thursday, while the positivity rate stood at 0.10 per cent, according to information shared by the health department.
The Centre on Thursday asked states and union territories to conduct a quick gap analysis for various infrastructure components under the Emergency COVID-19 Response Package and stressed on effective advance preparations for efficient clinical management of the infection. The Union health ministry reviewed preparations under the recently approved Rs 23,123 crore "India COVID-19 Emergency Response and Health Systems Preparedness Package (ECRP): Phase II" with health secretaries and senior officials of all states and UTs through a video conference. The Cabinet approved the new scheme for financial year 2021-22 on July 8. This package aims to accelerate health system preparedness for immediate responsiveness for early prevention, detection and management with a sharp focus on health infrastructure development, including paediatric care and with measurable outcomes. During the review meeting, states and UTs were guided on policies and guidelines from the Union health ministry on different aspects of Covid management, which would help them in strengthening their healthcare infrastructure to streamline COVID-19 response. --PTI
In a case of much back and forth, the UK government claims it has managed to get the authorities of Malta to permit travellers from Britain who have been vaccinated with doses of the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine made in India. The European Union (EU) country was in the headlines as a couple told the 'The Daily Telegraph' that they were prevented from boarding a plane to visit their son in Malta because their batch of the vaccines was made in India. UK Transport Secretary Grant Shapps was confronted about the issue and he stressed that Malta was "not right" to block travel as it was the same product as the one produced in the UK. --PTI
BJP workers stage a protest in Kolkata against the fake Covid-19 vaccination drive. Party leader Debasree Chaudhuri and others have been detained. “Our fight against the West Bengal government’s anti-people policies will continue," says Chaudhuri.
Puducherry logged 103 new cases of coronavirus during the last 24 hours ending 9 am on Thursday, pushing the overall tally to 1,19,405. The death toll rose to 1,773 with a 73-year-old woman succumbing to the infection. The deceased had co-morbidities including diabetes. Director of Health and Family Welfare services S Mohan Kumar said the new cases were identified at the end of examination of swabs of 6,367 people.
The new cases were spread over Puducherry (81), Karaikal (14), Yanam (1) and Mahe (7), Kumar said. He said there were 1,307 active cases of whom 257 patients were in hospitals and the remaining 1,050 were in home isolation. A total of 122 patients were discharged after recovery today and the overall recoveries were at 1,16,325. The test positivity rate was 1.62 per cent, while fatality and recovery rates were at 1.48 per cent and 97.42 per cent,respectively. (PTI)
Twenty children from Puducherry were hospitalised on Thursday after testing positive for Covid-19, the director of health and family welfare services S Mohan Kumar said. They were admitted to the Indira Gandhi Government Medical College Hospital at Kadirkamam. Kumar told PTI that details of their age were being collected. (PTI)
The Delhi High Court on Thursday refused to entertain a plea seeking reduction of the 12-16 week interval for the second dose of Covishield vaccine to eight weeks for persons over 50 years of age and those having comorbidities. "We are not inclined to issue notice. We will dismiss with costs," said a bench of Chief Justice DN Patel and Justice Jyoti Singh on a PIL by Dr Siddharth De.
"Are you aware of any procedure? How are doses fixed? Who is fixing the doses? We will have to alter the procedure if at all we have the power to do so," the court questioned the counsel for De, advocate Kuldeep Jauhari. Jauhari responded that there was a Covid working group and other expert groups which looked into the aspect. He added that based on studies conducted by scientists in the UK, there was a need to reduce the dosage interval in view of the new variants of Covid-19. (PTI)
Indian wicketkeeper-batsman Rishabh Pant has tested positive for Covid -19 virus in England and is staying in home isolation at the moment, The Indian Express has learnt. Pant is home quarantined at his relatives’ place at present and is likely to join the tour party in Durham later.
The Indian squad sans Pant will return to bio-bubble in Durham on Thursday. Sources said the left-hander experienced a sore throat, which led to a Covid test and it returned positive. His teammates and support staff, who came in contact with the player, were kept in isolation for three days and they have completed their isolation period. (Read Devendra Pandey's report)
Arunachal Pradesh's Covid-19 tally rose to 41,279 as 465 more people tested positive for the infection, while two new fatalities pushed the death toll to 195, a senior health official said here on Thursday. A 23-year-old woman from Lower Siang district died at the Dedicated Covid Hospital (DCH) at Pasighat in East Siang district, after delivering a healthy male baby.
The immediate cause of her death was attributed to Amniotic Fluid Embolism, State Surveillance Officer (SSO) Dr Lobsang Jampa said. A 40-year-old man from Kurung Kumey district died at the Dedicated Covid Health Center (DCHC) Koloriang on Wednesday due to Covid Pneumonia, the official said. The Capital Complex Region recorded the highest number of fresh cases at 109, followed by Lohit (47), Papumpare (40), West Kameng (39), Changlang (32), East Siang (27), West Siang (20), Lower Subansiri (19) and Anjaw (17). (PTI)
Interns at Ahmedabad's Sola Civil Hospital go on strike over pending Covid allowance. “During the second wave, the government had announced Rs 5,000 as Covid allowance from March to June. We haven't received it yet. Other intern doctors will also join if our demands are not met,” Dr Rutvij Kanani
In view of the coronavirus pandemic, the Government of Canada suspended all direct flights from India until July 21. However, passengers from India who wish to visit the country now have the option of taking a connecting flight as long as they obtain a negative Covid-19 certificate from a third country before continuing their journey to Canada, according to the government’s latest guidelines.
Canada will not be accepting Covid-19 molecular test reports from India, the country’s official travel advisory noted. Instead, passengers will have to produce test results from the last point of departure before their arrival in Canada.
Jharkhand reported 68 new Covid- 19 cases in the last 24 hours, which pushed the tally to 3,46,479, a health department bulletin said on Thursday. The Covid-19 death toll remained at 5,120 as no new fatality due to the contagion was reported in the last 24 hours, it said. Of the 68 new cases, Ramgarh reported 14 cases followed by Ranchi (11) and eight cases each from Dhanbad and Jamtara.
No new case was reported from Dumka, Garhwa, Giridih, Khunti, Pakur, Palamu, Saraikela, Simdega and West Singhbhum districts. Jharkhand now has 344 active Covid-19 cases, while 3,41,015 patients have recovered from the disease including 71 during the last 24 hours, the bulletin said. The mortality rate in the state remained at 1.47 per cent, higher than the national average of 1.30 per cent. The COVID-19 recovery rate in the state has improved to 98.42 per cent, better than the national average of 97.30 per cent. (PTI)
Covid-19 deaths and cases are on the rise again globally in a dispiriting setback that is triggering another round of restrictions and dampening hopes for a return to normal life.
The World Health Organization reported Wednesday that deaths climbed last week after nine straight weeks of decline. It recorded more than 55,000 lives lost, a 3 per cent increase from the week before. Cases rose 10 per cent last week to nearly 3 million, with the highest numbers recorded in Brazil, India, Indonesia and Britain, WHO said. The reversal has been attributed to low vaccination rates, the relaxation of mask rules and other precautions, and the swift spread of the more-contagious delta variant, which WHO said has now been identified in 111 countries and is expected to become globally dominant in the coming months. (PTI)
Active cases show a rise of about 2,000. As on Wednesday, there were 4.32 lakh active cases in the country. Kerala has seen its active cases increase by almost 10,000 in last one week. Five states in the northeast, Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur, Mizoram, Sikkim and Tripura, have also recorded rise in active cases in the previous week.
The recovery rate has increased to 97.28% while weekly positivity rate remains below 5%. The daily positivity rate is at 2.15%. Testing capacity has been ramped up and a total of 43.80 crore tests have been conducted to date, the Health Ministry said.
India reported 41,806 fresh cases and 581 more fatalities due to the coronavirus disease in the last 24 hours, taking the caseload and death toll to 3,09,87,880 and 4,11,989 respectively, according to the Union health ministry’s update on Thursday. As many as 39,130 patients recovered from the viral disease in the said period, taking the cumulative count of recoveries to 30,143,850, the bulletin released at 8am showed. The active cases stand at 4,32,041 and constitute 1.39 per cent of the caseload.
From Thursday, pregnant women can get vaccinated at 35 designated centres in Mumbai. Following directions of the Union health ministry, the BMC on Wednesday issued guidelines for vaccination of pregnant women. While 12 special centres will operate in island city, 13 will be open in western suburbs and 10 in eastern parts of the city. Read more
Even as Kolhapur has started showing a slight decline in weekly Covid positivity rate (July 6 to 12), as compared to its previous one, it continues to remain a district of concern, a fresh analysis for state Covid-19 figures has shown. Other districts of concern include Pune, Satara, Sangli and Ratnagiri, which are among 10 districts whose weekly positivity rate remains higher than the state average of 4.36 per cent. The analysis also shows that Nandurbar sits on top of the list of these 10 districts with a weekly positivity rate of 11.72 per cent.
While experts said measures such as contact tracing were not up to the mark, according to Dr Subhash Salunkhe, adviser to the state government on Covid-19 and currently on tour in Sangli, the reason for a rise in cases in this district can be attributed to a large number of people gathering for elections at some sugar factories. Read more
A player of the Indian cricket team in England has tested positive for Covid -19 virus and is staying in home isolation at the moment, The Indian Express has learnt. The player is home quarantined at his relatives’ place at present and is likely to join the tour party in Durham later.
The Indian squad sans the player will return to bio-bubble in Durham on Thursday. Sources said the player experienced a sore throat, which led to a Covid test and it returned positive. His teammates and support staff, who came in contact with the player, were kept in isolation for three days and they have completed their isolation period. (Read Devendra Pandey's report)
Taking suo motu cognisance of a report in The Indian Express on the Uttar Pradesh government’s decision to allow the Kanwar Yatra which has been suspended by neighbouring Uttarakhand amid fears of a possible third Covid-19 wave, the Supreme Court Wednesday sought responses by Friday from the Centre and the governments of UP and Uttarakhand.
Issuing notices, the bench of Justices R F Nariman and B R Gavai said: “We were a little disturbed given today’s headline in the ‘Indian Express’ of 14.07.2021 about the ‘Kanwar Yatra’, which is likely to be held from 25.07.2021.” Read more