Maharashtra records highest daily count of 35,952 cases since pandemic outbreak

Out of 1,88,78,754 laboratory samples, 26,00,833 have been tested positive (13.78 %) for COVID-19 until today. Currently, 13,62,899 people are in home quarantine and 13,770 people are in institutional quarantine. Mumbai reported 5,504 new cases today, highest so far.

Over 5.46 cr COVID-19 vaccine doses administered so far; 15.20 lakh doses today

Total 15,20,111 vaccine doses were given till 7 pm today, the 69th day of nationwide COVID-19 vaccination. A total of 5.46 crore vaccine doses have been administered so far in the country, according to the daily Bulletin released by the government. "These include 80,18,757 healthcare workers (HCWs), who have taken the first dose and 50,92,757 HCWs, who have taken the 2nd dose, 85,53,228 FLWs (1stdose), 33,19,005 FLWs (2nd dose), 2,42,50,649 beneficiaries more than 60 years old and 54,31,424 beneficiaries aged 45 and above with specific co-morbidities," it said."Total 15,20,111 vaccine doses were given till 7 pm today, the Sixty Ninth day of nationwide COVID19 vaccination. Out of which 14,07,520 beneficiaries were vaccinated for 1st dose and 1,12,591 HCWs and FLWs received 2nd dose of vaccine as per the provisional report. Final reports would be completed for the day by late tonight."

COVID-19: 2,523 new cases in Karnataka, 10 deaths

India has not banned COVID-19 vaccine exports, will keep supplying in phased manner, say govt sources 

Over 1,500 new COVID-19 cases in Delhi; 5 deaths

Delhi reported 1,515 coronavirus cases on Thursday, highest in over three months, while five more people succumbed to the disease, the health department said. This is the highest number of cases since December 16 when 1,547 people tested positive for the virus, according to official data.    The city had recorded 1,254 cases on Wednesday and 1,101 cases on Tuesday  the first time since December 24 that the number of cases crossed the 1,000mark.    The active cases rose to 5,497 on Thursday from 4,890 a day ago. The positivity rate rose to 1.69 percent from 1.52 per cent on Wednesday, the health bulletin said. 

RT-PCR test mandatory for passengers arriving in Bengaluru, says Karnataka health minister

Health & Medical Education Minister Dr K Sudhakar on Thursday said passengers arriving from any state to Bengaluru must be in possession of RTPCR negative report. Speaking to the media in Bengaluru after a meeting to review Covid-19 containment measures, he said 1,400 cases have been reported in Bengaluru, which is highest in last 4 months and there are spike in cases everyday. "It is increasingly found in passengers arriving to the city from other states. As of now, restriction is for Maharashtra, Kerala, Punjab and Chandigarh. But now going forward it is applicable to all states," he said. The minister said a restriction of 200 people for functions in closed premises and 500 people for functions in open space premises has been imposed and every ward has been provided with one ambulance. It can also be increased depending on the number of cases. Protocols will be implemented for care and treatment of infected persons. Dr.Sudhakar said certain places which have high footfall and dense public places will be sanitized to control the spread. The state will also make information regarding the availability of beds and ICUs available online. People’s cooperation is crucial to make Namma Bengaluru Covid-free. 

Hand-stamping

It has been decided to put hand-stamp on infected persons residing in BBMP limits. Even young and asymptomatic  persons can spread the infection if they go out. He added that to control such movements it is decided to stamp on hand.

Mutant version of the virus

The government has decided to give vaccination for the persons aged above 45 years as mutant virus has been reported in India. "Mutant version is found in 700 cases so far. As per experts, it spreads faster than the original one. Therefore, it is requested to be careful for next 2 months. We are tracing out 20 contacts for each infected person" said the minister. "Elections are not insulated from spreading infection. It is important to restrict gatherings. I will speak to Election Commission officials in this regard. We have also requested Cinema stars to join hands with government in this fight against Covid," said Dr.Sudhakar. After visiting Victoria hospital, he said that 400 beds have been reserved for COVID patients here. "We will increase the number of beds if required. RGICD, Bowring hospital and Charaka hospital will also be utilized for Covid treatment if required. We have also spoken to private hospitals to be on stand by, though the cases are not as huge as it was in the beginning, they have to be ready," said the minister.

Denmark prolongs suspension of AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine

The Danish government decided Thursday to continue its suspension of the AstraZeneca COVID19 for three more weeks.

BMC says MCGM to increase COVID beds in Mumbai to 21,000 in next 15 days from current 13,773

Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) on Thursday said the Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai (MCGM) will increase Covid beds in Mumbai to 21,000 in the next 15 days from current 13,773. The civic body said out of 13,773 COVID beds in Mumbai, 5,140 are vacant as of now. "There is no cause for panic or worry in the of Mumbai. Have completed 10 lakh vaccinations on March 25; resolved to increase to 1,00,000 per day in Mumbai in the coming days." 

Will target minimum 5 million vaccinations a day, says NHA CEO RS Sharma 

RS Sharma, CEO of National Health Authority, on Thursday said India will target minimum of 5 million vaccinations a day, going forward. He said the tech infrastructure is capable of taking any amount of vaccination load. "Initially we were scheduling 2nd dose of vaccination after 28 days." "The app isn't scheduling 2nd dose of vaccine since Wednesday, individuals to select the date. Will keep on reminding vaccine takers to not miss the second dose." He added that multiple causes of vaccine wastage but will be able to reduce it with better planning.

Vaccine failures cast shadow over EU summit as COVID-19 surges

European Union leaders meet on Thursday to discuss a coordinated path out of the COVID19 pandemic as infections surge again in many of their countries, seeking agreement on how to ramp up supplies of vaccines after a feeble start to inoculation.

CanSinoBIO offered tens of millions of COVID-19 vaccine doses to COVAX – exec

China's CanSino Biologics Inc (CanSinoBIO) has proposed supplying "tens of million of doses" of its single-dose COVID-19 vaccine to global vaccine sharing scheme COVAX, a senior company executive said. China has four locally developed COVID-19 vaccines approved for public use and pledged earlier to supply 10 million doses to COVAX without specifying the time frame of delivery. CanSinoBIO, Sinovac Biotech Ltd and China National Pharmaceutical Group Co Ltd (Sinopharm) have applied to join the initiative. Pierre Morgon, senior vice president at CanSinoBIO, said the firm made the proposal in December to supply vaccines between late 2021 and the end of 2022. "We are happy to go beyond 2022 if there was still an expectation to do so," he told Reuters in an interview, adding it made its offer at a middle single digit U.S. dollar per dose.

6 states account for 81% of daily new Covid cases

Six states -- Maharashtra, Punjab, Kerala, Karnataka, Chhattisgarh and Gujarat -- are reporting a surge in the daily new Covid-19 cases. India reported 53,476 coronavirus cases in the last 24 hours, highest single-day spike since October taking the total tally to 1.18 crore on Thursday. According to the Health Ministry, Maharashtra and Punjab are turning out to be a major cause of worry. Pune, Nagpur, Mumbai, Thane and Nashik are the worrisome districts in Maharashtra, while Jalandhar, SAS Nagar, Ludhiana, Patiala and Hoshiarpur are showing massive surge in Punjab. Three states, Maharashtra, Kerala and Punjab, account for 74.32 per cent of total active cases in the country. Maharashtra alone accounts for 62.91 per cent of the total active cases in the country.

AstraZeneca Covid vax 76% effective in updated trial data

British-Swedish drugmaker AstraZeneca on Thursday said that its Covid-19 vaccine's efficacy at preventing symptomatic coronavirus was 76 per cent in a US phase-3 trial, slightly lower than 79 per cent efficacy that it projected earlier this week. The revised efficacy estimate came after an independent board said that the 79 per cent efficacy results of the vaccine might have been based on outdated information. This new efficacy analysis included the accrual of 190 symptomatic cases of Covid-19 from the 32,449 trial participants, an additional 49 cases to the previously announced interim analysis, AstraZeneca said. The results showed that vaccine efficacy at preventing symptomatic Covid-19 was 76 per cent occurring 15 days or more after receiving two doses given four weeks apart.

Need for increasing maximum age limit for recruitment due to COVID pandemic doesn't arise: Centre

The need for increasing the maximum age limit for recruitment to various categories of posts under the central government, due to the COVID-19 pandemic and lockdown in the country, does not arise, the Rajya Sabha was informed on Thursday. Insofar as the increase in maximum age limit by two years for all the eligible unemployed youths, who are seeking state government jobs is concerned, it is for the concerned state governments to decide, Minister of State for Personnel Jitendra Singh said in a written reply.

Year after lockdown, NCW still gets many complaints of crimes against women

A year since the country went into lockdown, the National Commission for Women continues to receive over 2,000 complaints every month of crimes against women with nearly one-fourth of them related to domestic violence. The nationwide lockdown was imposed on March 25 last year to curb the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic, but it also trapped many domestic violence victims with their abusers. Soon after the lockdown was imposed, the NCW reported a surge of complaints related to domestic violence so much so that it started a dedicated WhatsApp number for reporting of just domestic violence complaints. The number of complaints of domestic violence went on increasing through the months and in July, a record number of 660 such complaints were received. NCW chairperson Rekha Sharma had said economic insecurity, increased stress levels, anxiety, financial worry, and lack of other such emotional support of parents/family's side may have resulted in domestic violence in many instances in the year 2020. "More so, home has become the workplace of both the spouses and as well as schools and colleges for their children. In such situations, women are multitasking being professional at the same time supporting their families from the same space. But the biggest challenge for women this year is not only to adapt but to thrive in this unprecedented situation," she had told PTI.

US CDC concerned over new Covid case surge

The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has expressed concerns over a surge in the number of new Covid-19 cases as more states were easing restrictions and also an increase in domestic travel. CDC Director Rochelle Walensky said the US witnessed the seven-day average of new daily cases climb to 53,800 over the past week, while the two-week average has wavered between 50,000 to 60,000 cases per day, Xinhua news agency reported. Walensky warned that US states are seeing an increasing number of new cases attributed to variant strains of the virus, particularly in California, currently the worst-hit, where a new variant accounts for 52 percent of fresh infections. The US is at a critical point in the pandemic and is worried if the nation does not take the correct actions, it is headed for an "avoidable surge", she added.