Covid-19 4th Wave in India May 17 News Highlights: India on Tuesday report as much as 30 per cent drop in the daily Covid cases. The morning health bulletin says that the country registered 1,569 new Covid-19 infections in the last 24 hours. The official data says that 19 Covid fatalities were registered in the span of one day. There was a further decline in active case count as well. At present, India has 16,400 active Covid cases, the government data says. Meanwhile, North Korea continues to report high number of cases. May 17 update says that the country detected over 2 lakh infections.
To stay updated with the Coronavirus situation in India and from around the globe, stay tuned to FE Online.
Chhattisgarh on Tuesday recorded four COVID-19 cases, taking the tally to 11,52,341, while the death toll remained unchanged at 14,034, an official said.
The four cases, at a positivity rate of 0.09 per cent, were reported in Raipur, Bilaspur, Rajnandgaon and Jashpur, while 22 districts have no active case currently, he said.
The recovery count increased by two to touch 11,38,286, leaving the state with 21 active cases, the official said.
With 4,218 samples examined during the day, the tally of tests carried out so far in Chhattisgarh went up to 1,76,97,834, he added.
Chhattisgarh's coronavirus figures are as follows: Positive cases 11,52,341, new cases 4, death toll 14,034, recovered 11,38,286, active cases 21, today tests 4,218, total tests 1,76,97,834. (PTI)
Madhya Pradesh's COVID-19 tally increases to 10,41,987 with 19 fresh cases: Official (PTI)
Delhi on Tuesday recorded 393 fresh COVID-19 cases and two more deaths, while the positivity rate stood at 3.35 per cent, according to data shared by the city health department.
With this, the national capital's COVID-19 caseload increased to 19,01,128 and the death toll climbed to 26,198. A total of 11,731 tests were conducted a day ago, the department said in its latest bulletin.
There has been a decline in daily cases over the last two days. This could be partly due to the fact that fewer tests were conducted owing to the fact that the last two days were holidays. It was a Sunday on May 15 and Buddh Purnima, a gazetted holiday, on May 16.
Delhi on Monday reported 377 COVID-19 cases with a positivity rate of 3.37 per cent and one death.
On Sunday, 613 cases were recorded with a positivity rate of 2.74 per cent and three deaths.
On Saturday, the city logged 673 cases and four deaths, the highest single-day fatality count in over two months.
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.
The city had recorded a positivity rate of 30.6 per cent on January 14, the highest during the third wave of the pandemic which was largely driven by the highly transmissible Omicron variant of the coronavirus.
The number of active COVID-19 cases in Delhi stands at 2,910. As many as 2,400 patients are under home isolation, the bulletin said.
There are 1,414 containment zones in the city, it said.
There are 9,581 beds for COVID-19 patients in Delhi hospitals and 117 (1.41 per cent) of them are occupied, it said. (PTI)
Mumbai on Tuesday reported 158 new coronavirus infections, more than double the previous day's rise, but no fatalities on account of the pandemic, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) said.
India's financial capital had recorded 74 new COVID-19 cases on Monday.
Mumbai has logged a three-digit rise in cases on 13 days this month so far, but only three deaths.
The city's caseload reached 10,61,846, while death toll remained the same at 19,566.
With 8,723 tests conducted in the last 24 hours, the total of coronavirus tests conducted so far increased to 1,70,24,941.
Of 158 new COVID-19 patients, only five were symptomatic and admitted to hospital, and only one of them was put on oxygen support, the BMC bulletin said.
Only 25 out of 24,944 hospital beds earmarked for virus patients are occupied in the city.
The number of recovered patients jumped to 10, 41,348 with 122 patients being discharged from the hospitals on Tuesday.
Mumbai has a recovery rate of 98 per cent, as per the bulletin.
The city is left with 932 active COVID-19 patients now.
The overall growth rate of COVID-19 cases was 0.012 per cent between May 13 and 16.
The caseload doubling rate/period is 5,449 days. (PTI)
Jammu and Kashmir's COVID-19 caseload increases to 4,54,153 as five more people test positive for the viral disease: Officials (PTI)
Delhi reports 393 new COVID-19 cases, two deaths in last 24 hours (ANI)
Hangzhou 2022 Asian Para Games postponed due to COVID-19 in China (ANI)
Receiving hormone replacement therapy within six months of a recorded diagnosis of COVID-19 was associated with a reduction in mortality from the viral disease, according to a study. The research, published in the journal Family Practice, analysed the association between hormone replacement therapy or combined oral contraception use, and the likelihood of death in women with COVID-19. The researchers from the University of Oxford and the University of Southampton in the UK investigated combined oral contraception, which contains estrogen, because some recent observational data suggests that women taking oral contraceptives have a lower risk of acquiring COVID-19. – PTI
Trained sniffer dogs can accurately detect airport passengers infected with SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, according to a study published in the journal BMJ Global Health. This method of detection is likely to be valuable, not only in the early stages of a pandemic when other resources might not yet be available, but also to help contain an ongoing pandemic, the researchers said. A key finding was that the dogs were less successful at correctly identifying the Alpha variant as they had been trained to detect the wild type. This just goes to show how good dogs are at distinguishing between different scents, they said. – PTI
One more person tested positive for COVID-19 in Puducherry on Tuesday, raising the overall caseload to 1,65,814. The Department of Health evaluated during last 24 hours 802 samples and the solitary case surfaced during the examination. Director of Health G Sriramulu said in a release that one patient recovered today and the overall recoveries were 1,63,837. The number of active cases stood at 15. He said the department of Health examined so far 22,38,270 samples and found 18,83,334 out of them to be negative. There was no fresh fatality today and the toll remained 1,962. The test positivity rate was 0.12 percent while the fatality rate was 1.18 percent and the recovery rate was 98.81 percent, the Director added. The department had administered so far 16,98,397 doses which comprised 9,65,708 first doses, 7,10,478 second doses and 22,211 booster doses. PTI
Shanghai achieved on Tuesday the long-awaited milestone of three consecutive days with no new COVID-19 cases outside quarantine zones but most residents will have to put up with confinement for a while longer before resuming more normal life. Reuters
With the addition of 12 new COVID-19 cases, the infection count in Maharashtra's Thane district has gone up to 7,09,380, an official said on Tuesday.
The number of people who have recuperated from the disease surged to 4,25,84,710, while the case fatality rate was 1.22 per cent.
The COVID-19 tally in Madhya Pradesh reached 10,41,968 on Monday after the detection of 23 cases, while the fatality count stood unchanged at 10,735, an official said.
The positivity rate was 0.3 per cent, while the recovery count increased by 31 to touch 10,30,979, leaving the state with 254 active cases, he informed.
With 7,223 samples examined during the day, the number of tests in MP went up to 2,92,00,481, he added.
A government release said 11,83,01,068 COVID-19 vaccine doses have been administered so far in the state, including 6,051 on Monday.
Coronavirus figures in MP are as follows: Total cases 10,41,968, new cases 23, death toll 10,735, recoveries 10,30,979, active cases 254, number of tests so far 2,92,00,481. (PTI)
Gujarat reported 33 COVID-19 cases on Monday, which took its tally to 12,24,754, while the death toll remained unchanged at 10,944, an official said.
With 25 patients getting discharged, the number of recoveries rose to 12,13,588, leaving the state with an active caseload of 222, he said.
Ahmedabad reported 26 cases, Gandhinagar and Vadodara three cases each, and Surat one case, he added.
With 24,086 people getting vaccinated against COVID-19 during the day, the number of doses administered so far in the state went up to 10.84 crore.
There is no active case in the Union Territory of Dadra and Nagar Haveli, Daman and Diu, local officials said.
Gujarat's COVID-19 figures are as follows: Positive cases 12,24,754, new cases 33, death toll 10,944, discharged 12,13,588, active cases 222, people tested so far – figures not released. (PTI)
Mumbai reported 74 new coronavirus cases on Monday, a drop of nearly 50 per cent from the previous day, while no fresh death linked to the infection was registered in the metropolis, the city civic body said.
With this, the city's overall COVID-19 tally rose to10,61,688, while the death toll remained unchanged at 19,566, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) said in a bulletin.
The metropolis has logged two-digit cases after reporting infections in three digits since last Tuesday.
On Sunday, the financial capital had recorded 151 infections.
The city has not recorded any fresh coronavirus-linked death in the last 24 hours after logging one fatality each for the last three days.
Significantly, in the first 16 days of May, Mumbai has surpassed the entire April coronavirus case tally of 1,822. So far in May, 1,865 COVID-19 cases have been registered in the financial capital. The city has reported three coronavirus deaths till May 16 as compared to just four fatalities in entire April.
Mumbai has reported nearly 50 per cent less cases due to a big drop in the number of coronavirus tests, a trend seen over the weekends.
With 4,746 coronavirus tests conducted in the last 24 hours, their cumulative number rose to 1,70,16,218, the BMC bulletin said.
Of the 74 new patients, only two are symptomatic and they have been admitted to hospital for treatment, it said.
Notably, only 24 out of 24,944 hospital beds earmarked for coronavirus patients are currently occupied in the city, according to the bulletin.
The number of recoveries jumped to 10,41,226 with an addition of 63 such patients in the last 24 hours, leaving the metropolis with 896 active cases.
Mumbai's coronavirus recovery rate stood at 98 per cent, the bulletin said.
The growth rate of COVID-19 cases was 0.012 per cent in the week ended on May 15, while the case doubling rate was 5,509 days, it said.
The metropolis is free of sealed buildings and containment zones for several weeks now.
On January 7, Mumbai had reported the highest-ever 20,971 cases during the third coronavirus wave which started from December 21, 2021. (PTI)
Gujarat reported 33 COVID-19 cases on Monday, which took its tally to 12,24,754, while the death toll remained unchanged at 10,944, an official said.
With 25 patients getting discharged, the number of recoveries rose to 12,13,588, leaving the state with an active caseload of 222, he said.
Ahmedabad reported 26 cases, Gandhinagar and Vadodara three cases each, and Surat one case, he added.
With 24,086 people getting vaccinated against COVID-19 during the day, the number of doses administered so far in the state went up to 10.84 crore.
There is no active case in the Union Territory of Dadra and Nagar Haveli, Daman and Diu, local officials said.
Gujarat's COVID-19 figures are as follows: Positive cases 12,24,754, new cases 33, death toll 10,944, discharged 12,13,588, active cases 222, people tested so far – figures not released. (PTI)
Tamil Nadu on Monday recorded 31 fresh COVID-19 cases, including a person who returned from Canada, taking the cumulative infections in the state to 34,54,652.
Twenty men and 11 women in the state tested positive through RT-PCR test on Monday, a bulletin from the state health department said. The death toll, however, remained unchanged at 38,025.
Including 58 persons who got discharged after treatment, the net recoveries in the state mounted to 34,16,295. The number of active cases declined to 332 from 359 a day ago.
Chennai accounted for a maximum of 16 new infections, followed by Chengalpattu with five, Kancheepuram three, Krishnagiri two, while Coimbatore, Dindigul, Tiruvallur and Tiruchirappalli recorded one case each, respectively. (PTI)
Delhi on Monday reported 377 new Covid cases and one more death, while the positivity rate stood at 3.37 per cent, according to data shared by the health department here.
The capital had on Sunday logged 613 Covid cases with a positivity rate of 2.74 per cent and three deaths. The city had on Saturday seen 673 Covid cases and four deaths, the highest single-day fatality count in over two months.
It had reported three Covid deaths on March 7 and four fatalities due to the disease on March 4. The city on Friday had recorded 899 COVID-19 cases with a positivity rate of 3.34 per cent.
On Thursday, Delhi had recorded 1,032 fresh COVID-19 cases and zero death, while the positivity rate was 3.64 per cent.
With 377 fresh cases reported on Monday, the national capital's overall Covid tally increased to 1900735 while the death toll mounted to 26,196. A total of 11,198 tests were conducted a day earlier, according to the latest 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.
The city had recorded a positivity rate of 30.6 per cent on January 14, the highest during the third wave of the pandemic which was largely due to the highly transmissible Omicron variant of the coronavirus.
The number of patients under home isolation was 2726 on Saturday, the bulletin said, adding that there were 3228 active cases.
There are 9,581 beds for COVID-19 patients in Delhi hospitals and 135 (1.41 per cent) of them are occupied, it said. According to the bulletin, the number of containment zones on Monday stood at 1,486. (PTI)
CDC says US death toll from COVID-19 hits 1 million, less than 2 1/2 years into the outbreak, reports AP
Battling the worst coronavirus outbreak since it emerged in Wuhan two years ago, China on Monday acknowledged that its economy was hit by the Omicron variant leading to lockdowns of several cities as data showed the economy shrank dramatically in April, with experts warning that the decline is yet to bottom out.
China, which prides itself on stamping out COVID-19 after it broke out at Wuhan in December 2019 before it became a pandemic causing havoc around the world with millions of deaths, struggled to deal with the “Omicron Tsunami” in the last few months resulting in lockdowns of several cities including its business hub Shanghai besides capital Beijing, which is currently under semi-lockdown.
Officials in Shanghai on Monday announced that they will gradually open up Shanghai, China's largest city of over 25 million people, from June 1, ending a two-month lockdown which brought the business-industrial hub to a grinding halt.
Shanghai has cut off the community transmission of COVID-19 in 15 out of its 16 districts, the local health commission said on Monday.
The city reported 69 confirmed locally transmitted COVID-19 cases and 869 local asymptomatic cases on Sunday. (PTI)
The European Commission said on Monday that no final decision had been made about the possible termination of a contract with Valneva to supply its COVID-19 vaccine to the European Union. Valneva said earlier on Monday it had received a notice of intent from the Commission to terminate the contract. The statement triggered a sell-off of the company's shares, which lost one-fifth of their value in few hours. EU Commission spokesman Stefan de Keersmaecker confirmed the EU executive had communicated to Valneva its intention to terminate the contract but said the final decision would only be made after consulting with Valneva on the matter. (Reuters)
Maharashtra's Thane district has reported 31 new cases of coronavirus, raising its infection tally to 7,09,368, an official said on Monday. These new cases were recorded on Sunday, he said. There was no fresh fatality and the death toll stood at 11,895, he said, adding that the COVID-19 mortality rate in Thane is 1.67 per cent. In neighbouring Palghar district, the COVID-19 case count stood at 1,63,612 and the death toll at 3,407, another official said. (PTI)
The World Health Organization warned on Monday that COVID-19 may spread rapidly in North Korea, where it said vaccination programmes had yet to begin.
“With the country yet to initiate COVID-19 vaccination, there is risk that the virus may spread rapidly among the masses unless curtailed with immediate and appropriate measures,” said Poonam Khetrapal Singh, WHO's regional director for South-East Asia, in a statement sent to journalists. In the same statement, the WHO said it had yet to receive information about the reported outbreak directly from local authorities. (Reuters)
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un criticised officials over slow medicine deliveries and mobilized the military to respond to a surge in suspected COVID-19 infections, as his nation struggled to contain a fever that has reportedly killed dozens and sickened nearly a million others in a span of three days.North Korean health authorities said Monday that eight more people died and an additional 392,920 were newly found to have feverish symptoms. That brings the death toll to 50 and illnesses to more than 1.2 million, respectively. It's a sharp jump from six dead and 350,000 sick reported last Friday, a day after the North said that it found that an unspecified number of people in capital Pyongyang tested positive for the omicron variant. (AP)
Two COVID-19 patients are currently undergoing treatment in Andaman and Nicobar Islands, a health bulletin said on Monday. One more person has been cured of the disease, taking the total number of recoveries to 9,908, it said. The coronavirus tally of the Union territory remained unchanged at 10,039 as no fresh infection was detected in the last seven days. A total of 129 patients have succumbed to the infection to date. The administration has thus far tested over 7.3 lakh samples for COVID-19, and fully vaccinated 3.38 lakh people. (PTI)
Odisha recorded seven fresh coronavirus cases on Monday, while there was no new fatality for the 13th consecutive day, the health department said. There are 132 active COVID-19 cases and 13 more patients have recuperated from the disease, according to a bulletin. The daily positivity rate was 0.06 per cent and four children were among the newly infected, it said, adding that 12,559 samples were tested in the past 24 hours, a bulletin stated. (PTI)
Pharmaceuticals firm Biological E. Ltd (BE) on Monday said it has reduced the price of its COVID-19 vaccine Corbevax to Rs 250 from Rs 840 a dose, inclusive of GST, for private vaccination centres. It would result in end users paying a price of Rs 400 a dose, including taxes and administration charges, the company said in a statement.
Previously, in private vaccination centres the overall cost to end users of the vaccine was Rs 990 a dose, including taxes and administration charges, it added. In March this year when the inoculation of children in the age group of 12 to 14 years against COVID-19 commenced in the country, Corbevax vaccine was used and its price was fixed at Rs 145 for government vaccination programme. “BE has lowered the price of its vaccine with the aim of making it more affordable and help increase the reach to protect the maximum number of children against the virus,” the company said. (PTI)
The union territory of Puducherry reported a solitary fresh coronavirus case and zero fatalities in the last 24 hours, a top Health department official said on Monday. The overall COVID-19 tally in the union territory went up to 1,65,813 following the detection of one new infection after the testing of 25 samples, Director of Health G Sriramulu said in a release here. The number of active cases stood at 15, he said. One patient recovered during the last 24 hours ending 10 AM on Monday pushing the overall recoveries to 1,63,836. There were no fresh fatalities in any of the four regions of Puducherry, Karaikal, Mahe and Yanam during the last 24 hours and the death toll remained at 1,962, the Director said. (PTI)
➡️ Over 84.41 Cr COVID Tests conducted so far.➡️ Weekly Positivity Rate currently at 0.59%.➡️ Daily Positivity Rate stands at 0.74%. pic.twitter.com/Qo4WnKUFjP— Ministry of Health (@MoHFW_INDIA) May 16, 2022
China's sluggish economy is reviving as anti-virus curbs are eased and businesses in its commercial capital of Shanghai are allowed to reopen, a Cabinet official said Monday, while data showed April factory and consumer activity was even weaker than expected. About half of the 9,000 biggest industrial enterprises in Shanghai are back at work after controls that shut down most of the city starting in late March eased, said Fu Linghui, director of statistics for the National Bureau of Statistics. The ruling Communist Party is trying to reverse a deepening slowdown without giving up “zero-COVID” tactics that also have shut down sections of Beijing and other major cities to isolate every infected person. (AP)
South Korea's unification ministry has offered to hold working-level talks with North Korea on offering support for its neighbour, which is battling its first confirmed outbreak of COVID-19, the ministry said on Monday. The ministry, charged with maintaining relations between the two nations, said it had expressed willingness to provide medicines, from vaccines to test kits, as well as technical co-operation, based on the South's experience with quarantine. (Reuters)
Leader Kim Jong Un has ordered North Korea's military to stabilise distribution of COVID-19 medicine in the capital, Pyongyang, in the battle on the country's first confirmed outbreak of the disease, state media said. Last week brought the North's first acknowledgment of an “explosive” outbreak, with experts warning it could devastate a country with limited medical supplies and no vaccine programme. Drugs procured by the state were not reaching people quickly or accurately, Kim told an emergency politburo meeting on Sunday, before visiting pharmacies near the capital's Taedong River, state news agency KCNA said. Kim ordered immediate deployment of the “powerful forces” of the army's medical corps to “stabilise the supply of medicines in Pyongyang City,” it added. (Reuters)
Most of Shanghai has stopped the spread of the coronavirus in the community and fewer than 1 million people remain under strict lockdown, authorities said Monday, as the city moves toward reopening and economic data showed the gloomy impact of China's “zero-COVID” policy. Vice Mayor Zong Ming said 15 out of Shanghai's 16 districts had eliminated virus transmission among those not already in quarantine. “The epidemic in our city is under effective control. Prevention measures have achieved incremental success,” Zong said at a news briefing. Supermarkets, malls and restaurants were allowed to reopen Monday with limits on the numbers of people and mandated “no contact” transactions. But restrictions on movement remain in place and the subway train system remains closed for now. (AP)
China's capital Beijing reported 39 new symptomatic coronavirus cases for May 15, up from 33 a day earlier, state media reported on Monday. The city also reported 15 asymptomatic cases of COVID-19 for May 15, up from 8 a day earlier. (Reuters)
Mainland China reported 1,227 new coronavirus cases for May 15, of which 151 were symptomatic and 1,076 were asymptomatic, the National Health Commission said on Monday. That compares with 1,789 new cases a day earlier, consisting of 239 symptomatic and 1,550 asymptomatic infections, which China counts separately. There were four new deaths, bringing the death toll to 5,213. As of May 15, mainland China had confirmed 221,955 coronavirus cases. (Reuters)
North Korea on Monday reported eight new deaths and 392,920 more people with fever symptoms amid a growing COVID-19 outbreak as leader Kim Jong Un blasted officials over delays in medicine deliveries and ordered his military to get involved in the pandemic response in the country's capital, Pyongyang. The North's emergency anti-virus headquarters said more than 1.2 million people fell ill amid a rapid spread of fever since late April and about 564,860 are currently under quarantine. The eight new deaths reported in the 24 hours through 6 pm Sunday brought its death toll to 50. State media didn't specify how many of the fever cases and deaths were confirmed as COVID-19 infections. Experts say the failure to slow the virus could have dire consequences for North Korea, considering its poor health care system. (AP)
With 2,202 new coronavirus infections being reported in a day, India's tally of COVID-19 cases rose to 4,31,23,801 while the active cases dipped to 17,317, according to the Union Health Ministry data updated on Monday. The death toll climbed to 5,24,241 with 27 fresh fatalities, the data updated at 8 am stated. The active cases comprised 0.04 per cent of the total infections, while the national COVID-19 recovery rate was recorded at 98.74 per cent, the ministry said. A decrease of 375 cases has been recorded in the active COVID-19 caseload in a span of 24 hours. (PTI)
