Jammu: A healthcare worker collects a swab sample of a passenger for Covid-19 testing amid a surge in coronavirus cases, at Charbagh railway station in Lucknow, Wednesday, April 20, 2022. (PTI Photo/Nand Kumar)Coronavirus News Live Updates Today: The first dose of Sputnik V vaccine can be administered as the precaution dose to all those vaccinated with the Russian Covid-19 jab, an NTAGI panel has recommended, official sources told PTI on Saturday. The two doses of the Sputnik V vaccine have separate compositions.
The number of fresh Covid-19 cases in Delhi remained above the 1,500-mark for two consecutive days, with 1,520 cases recorded in Saturday’s health bulletin. The positivity rate also remained over the 5 per cent mark for the two days, even with around 30,000 tests.
In other news, a month after External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar raised the issue, China on Friday announced plans to permit the return of “some” Indian students stranded here for over two years following visa and flight restrictions imposed by Beijing after the pandemic. Also, China is facing a”tsunami” of Omicron, a senior official said on Friday, as the country reported over 20,000 Covid-19 cases with its largest city Shanghai continuing to reel under lockdown for over three weeks while over 21 million people in capital Beijing underwent third nucleic acid test amid the growing list of “high-risk areas.”
The cumulative Covid-19 vaccine doses administered in India crossed 189 crore on Saturday, the Union Health Ministry said.
Over 23 lakh vaccine doses were administered on Saturday till 7 pm. The daily vaccination tally is expected to increase with the compilation of the final reports for the day by late at the night.
A total of 78,565 precaution doses of Covid-19 vaccine were administered to those aged 18-59 years on Saturday till 7 pm.
The total number of precaution doses given in this age group has reached 7,47,648, according to Health Ministry data.
India began administering precaution doses of Covid-19 vaccines to all aged above 18 years at private vaccination centres on April 10. Those in this age group who have completed nine months after the second dose are eligible for the precaution dose.
The countrywide vaccination drive was rolled out on January 16 last year with healthcare workers getting inoculated in the first phase. Vaccination of frontline workers started from February 2 last year. (PTI)
Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia on Saturday provided financial assistance of Rs 1 crore to the family of Dr Aabha Bhandari, who lost her life while serving Covid-19 patients.
Sisodia visited Dr Bhandari's residence and handed over the cheque under the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government's scheme of honouring the sacrifice of Covid warriors, an official statement said here.
He said the Delhi government would never forget the sacrifices made by Covid warriors and would always stand by their families.
"No amount can ever make up for someone's loss but we hope that this assistance helps her family gain strength to deal with their grief. It can not make up for the void they leave behind. The Kejriwal government salutes the spirit of the Covid warriors," Sisodia said in the statement. (PTI)
Amid fresh Covid-19 concerns, the Karnataka government on Saturday instructed officials to initiate surveillance measures for those arriving from Japan and Thailand, including RT-PCR tests for symptomatic cases at the airport testing laboratory.
Screening, surveillance and tele-monitoring for certain international arrivals have been instructed as per the recommendations of the State Covid-19 Technical Advisory Committee (TAC).
At Bengaluru International Airport and Mangaluru International Airport, the arrivals from the above-mentioned countries should undergo thermal screening upon arrival, a government circular said.
Testing through RT-PCR should be done for the symptomatic persons at the airport testing laboratory and for those found positive, the samples shall be sent for genome sequencing. (PTI)
With coronavirus cases rising steadily, the South Delhi Municipal Corporation has decided to provide one month's advance medicines to non-Covid patients visiting its health facilities with chronic diseases, officials said Saturday. "If they get medicines in advance, they will not have to go to hospitals owing to which there will be less chances of Covid infection in them," a senior official said.
The officials also said the civic agency has made elaborate arrangements at its hospitals and health centres for Covid patients including setting up separate registration counters, waiting rooms, queues, dedicated lab testing facilities.
The officials said an order in this regard has also been issued by the civic body. "Senior citizens visiting our health units should be attended on priority as they are most vulnerable group of people. Non-Covid patients especially suffering from chronic ailments, visiting SDMC hospitals and dispensaries, should be issued at least one month medicines," the SDMC said. (PTI)
The first dose of Sputnik V vaccine can be administered as the precaution dose to all those vaccinated with the Russian Covid-19 jab, an NTAGI panel has recommended, official sources told PTI on Saturday.
The two doses of the Sputnik V vaccine have separate compositions.
Currently, there is no policy decision on providing a precaution dose to those inoculated with the Russian vaccine. (Read More)
Police wearing helmets and shields made several arrests Friday night in Canada's capital after facing off against protesters opposed to Covid-19 mandates.
Big-rig trucks attempted to make their way to Parliament Hill as part of the “Rolling Thunder” rally, organised by Freedom Fighters Canada, a group dedicated to speaking out against Covid-19 mandates.
Many of the protesters were also part of the three-week Freedom Convoy demonstration that gridlocked Ottawa's downtown earlier this year with big rigs, prompting Canada's federal government to invoke the Emergencies Act for the first time.
That protest ended after hundreds of police officers moved in to disperse the crowds, making dozens of arrests.
Ottawa police promised earlier Friday that protesters would not be allowed to get a foothold for a prolonged occupation. (AP)
Carrying a negative Covid report or vaccination certificate is not mandatory for pilgrims coming to Uttarakhand for this year's Char Dham Yatra, a senior government official said on Saturday.
However, it will be compulsory for them to register on the tourism department's portal before setting out on the pilgrimage, Chief Secretary S S Sandhu said after holding a meeting with officials Friday night to discuss the yatra and how to conduct it successfully.
Checking pilgrims coming from outside the state for a negative Covid report or vaccination certificate will not be mandatory till further orders, Sandhu said.
It is being done so that devotees do not face any inconvenience on arrival and there is no crowding on the state's borders, he said.
However, he asked officials to constantly monitor the situation.
The meeting was attended by the state's police chief, secretaries of health and tourism departments, officials of the Mandir Samiti and the district magistrates concerned. The Char Dham Yatra begins on May 3 with the opening of the Gangotri and Yamunotri temples. Kedarnath will open on May 6 and Badrinath on May 8. (PTI)
Shanghai said on Saturday it had detected no new daily Covid-19 cases outside quarantine areas, marking a milestone in its battle to contain the virus, which has paralysed the city of 25 million and put residents in the capital Beijing on edge.
Streets in Beijing were eerily quiet at the start of a five-day Labour Day break, with residents anxious that authorities would impose further restrictions during a holiday when many typically travel or socialise.
"You look at a city that used to be crowded and now is void. You wonder how these people manage to survive," said Li, 35, who works in the finance sector in Beijing, breaking into tears.
In the eastern commercial capital of Shanghai, scenes of houses and buildings ringed with fences to prevent residents from leaving have grabbed headlines at a time when most other countries in the world are learning to live with Covid. (Reuters)
China's manufacturing activity fell to a six-month low in April as lockdowns continued in Shanghai and other manufacturing hubs in an attempt to stem Covid-19 outbreaks, according to a survey released Saturday.
The monthly purchasing managers' index, released by China's National Bureau of Statistics, fell to 47.4 in April, down from 49.5 in March on a 100-point scale. Numbers below 50 show activity contracting.
The domestic Covid-19 outbreaks have impacted China's factory activities and market demand, said the bureau's statistician Zhao Qinghe.
Some enterprises have reduced or stopped production, with disruptions in logistics as well as the supply or raw materials and components.
Shanghai, China's most populous city, spent weeks in April under lockdown. The capital, Beijing, began mass testing millions of residents this week.
In the northeast, authorities in Changchun and Jilin also spent most of April in lockdown, forcing automakers and other factories to shut down. Other smaller Chinese cities have also faced citywide or district lockdowns.
According to the statistics bureau, non-manufacturing business activity also fell 6.5 percentage points to 41.9. (AP)
A probe has been ordered after several vials of Covishield vaccine were found in a garbage dump at a community health centre here, officials said on Saturday.
Chief Medical Officer (CMO) of the district, Dr Vinod Kumar termed the "wastage of vaccine' a 'serious matter'.
"An investigation will be ordered and action will be taken against those found guilty," said Kumar.
CHC superintendent Dr. Mahendra Bhan Singh said a single vial of Covishied contains 10 doses.
According to the rule, a vial of Covishield is opened only when 10 patients are available to take the dose.
"Sometimes if the vial has been opened, and fewer people are present as others didn't turn up within a few hours, that vial is kept aside." Meanwhile some local residents alleged that despite not taking the second dose of the vaccine, they have been receiving messages on their mobile phone that the second jab has been administered to them. (PTI)
Indian students enrolled in Chinese universities heaved a sigh of relief with China announcing plans to allow the return of "some" of them who have been stranded in India for over two years following the visa and flight restrictions imposed by Beijing due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Rohit Kumar Yadav, an MBBS student at Shihezi University, said he is relieved that he will be able to return to campus and appear in offline exams.
"Medicine is a practical-oriented course and despite all the efforts by university to make online classes more interactive, it is not the same kind of exposure... I am glad this difficult phase will end and I will be able to return to campus and also appear in offline exams," he said.
A student of the University of South China in Hengyang, who did not wish to be identified, said, "The past two years have been very difficult not only personally but also academically. I hope it's all over now and we can get back to normal campus life." "We have been asked to submit required information by filling up a Google Form on the Indian Embassy's website. Even if our return is in phases, it's a welcome move," said a student of Harbin Medical University. (PTI)
The Indian Institute of Technology-Madras (IIT Madras) reported 13 new Covid-19 cases on Saturday taking the total number of confirmed cases since April 19 to 196, Tamil Nadu Health Secretary J Radhakrishnan said.
With the addition of 12 coronavirus positive cases, the infection count in Thane district of Maharashtra rose to 7,09,035, an official said on Saturday. These cases were reported on Friday. As the virus claimed the life of one person during the day, the death toll in the district stood at 11,893, he said, adding that Thane's mortality rate is 1.67 per cent. (PTI)
Singapore has confirmed two Covid-19 cases with the new Omicron subvariant BA.2.12.1 through active monitoring of the disease and genetic sequencing for surveillance, the Channel News Asia reported. The two community cases were detected as part of the authorities' "active monitoring of the Covid-19 situation and genetic sequencing for surveillance", said the Ministry of Health (MOH) in its daily update on Thursday (April 28) night.
"All cases self-isolated after testing positive for Covid-19," it said.
The ministry noted that BA.2.12.1 is not currently on the World Health Organization's list of variants of concern of interest, or variants under monitoring. Not much is known about BA.2.12.1 - a subvariant of the highly contagious BA.2 Omicron variant - and there is currently no evidence that it causes more severe disease. (PTI)
Delhi has recorded 1,607 fresh Covid-19 cases with two people succumbing to the virus in the last 24 hours, while the positivity rate stood at 5.28 per cent, the city health department said on Saturday. These figures refer to Friday's heath bulletin which was issued by authorities this morning.
With these new cases, the national capital's overall Covid tally has increased to 18,81,555 while the death toll has risen to 26,174. Delhi on Thursday had recorded 1,490 Covid-19 cases with a positivity rate of 4.62 per cent, and two deaths.
A total of 30,459 tests were conducted on Thursday, according to the Friday's health bulletin. The number of daily Covid-19 cases in Delhi had touched the record high of 28,867 on January 13 this year during the third wave of the pandemic. (PTI)
The Standing Technical Sub-Committee of the NTAGI has recommended inclusion of the Serum Institute’s Covovax in the national COVID-19 vaccination programme for children aged 12 to 17 years, sources said on Friday. India’s drug regulator had approved Covovax for restricted use in emergency situations in adults on December 28 last year and in the 12-17 age group, subject to certain conditions, on March 9. Read more
There are 18,684 active cases in India, which comprise 0.04 per cent of the total infections, according to data released by the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare. There has been an increase of 883 active cases in the last 24 hours, while 2,755 patients were discharged on Friday.
The active Covid-19 cases in West Bengal on Friday jumped by 34 to 335, the Health Department said. The state reported 52 new cases, taking the tally to 20,18,205. The toll remained at 21,201 with no fresh deaths registered, it said. At present, there are 309 patients in home isolation and 26 undergoing treatment at different hospitals, it added.
In the last 24 hours, 18 patients recovered. The new cases were detected after testing 12,174 samples. The Covid-19 situation in the state was normal with a very small number of people testing positive daily, a Health official said. "The situation in the state is absolutely fine at the moment. There has been almost no death in the last few weeks. Also, the number of new cases is very paltry," he said. (PTI)
India Saturday recorded 50 deaths in the last 24 hours taking the total death toll to 5,23,803, according to the latest data released by the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.
India recorded a slight uptick in its coronavirus caseload, recording 3,688 new Covid-19 cases in the 24 hours ending at 8 am on Saturday, according to the latest data released by the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.