Maharashtra reports 25,833 coronavirus cases, highest daily figure since pandemic outbreak

Maharashtra on Thursday recorded 25,833 new coronavirus cases, the hightest one-day spike since last March when the first coronavirus infection was detected. It took the caseload to 23,96,340, said a health official. With 58 fatalities, the death toll jumped to 53,138. The earlier record was 24,886 cases, reported on September 11 last year. The state is in the beginning of second COVID-19 wave, a central team report had said earlier this week. On Thursday, 12,764 patients were discharged from hospitals, the highest in single day this year. The total of recoveries now stands at 21,75,565. There are 1,66,353 active cases in the state. Nagpur city on the second consecutive day recorded highest number of new COVID-19 cases at 2,926, followed by 2,877 in Mumbai and 2,791 in Pune city. Pune division comprising civic bodies of Pune, Pimpri Chinchwad as well as districts of Pune, Solapur and Satara reported cumulative 5,583 new cases, highest among the divisions. Mumbai's COVID-19 tally increased to 3,52,851 and eight deaths took the fatality count to 11,559.

With that it's a wrap to the live updates on the coronavirus pandemic for today. Do join us tomorrow for the top developments on the COVID-19 situation from India and around the world. Until then, stay safe and good night. 

Europe's drug regulator says AstraZeneca vaccine is safe

The European Medicines Agency -- EU's drug regulator -- said that AstraZeneca's vaccine, which was given emergency use  approval in India was safe and effective. According to New York Times, officials will hope to alleviate concerns about possible side effects like blood clots. Multiple European countries had temporarily banned the use of the vaccine following reports of serious side-effects.

UK reports five cases of rare blood clots in 11 million AstraZeneca shots, continues with vaccine

Britain's medicines regulator said there had been five cases of a rare type of blood clot in the brain among 11 million given AstraZeneca's COVID-19 vaccine but said that it found the benefits of the shot far outweighed any possible risks. Concerns about reports of blood clots, along with low platelet levels, have led to some European countries including Germany to pause the rollout of the shot while the cases are investigated by the European Medicines Agency (EMA), which is set to announce its findings later in the day. Britain's Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) said that use of the vaccine should continue while five reports were investigated, and one official said that the rollout would likely continue even if a link was proved.

Over 23 crore COVID-19 tests conducted in India, cumulative positivity rate 4.98%

The number of tests conducted in the country for detection of COVID-19 has crossed 23 crore and the cumulative positivity rate was at 4.98 per cent, the Union Health Ministry said on Thursday. India's tests per day per million population is more than 140 and the daily positivity rate is 3.37 per cent as of Thursday, it said, adding the country was fast approaching a milestone of immunising 4 crore people. A total of 3,71,43,255 COVID-19 vaccine doses have been administered through 6,15,267 sessions, according to the provisional report till Thursday at 7 am. These include 75,68,844 healthcare and 77,16,084 frontline workers who have been given the first dose, and 46,32,940 healthcare and 19,09,528 frontline workers who have taken the second.

Kerala sees 1,899 fresh coronavirus cases, 15 fatalities

Kerala on Thursday registered 1,899 new COVID-19 infections and 15 related deaths, taking the gross to 10.98 lakh and the toll to 4,450. State Health Minister K K Shailaja said the state has tested 54,314 samples in the last 24 hours and the test positivity rate was 3.5 per cent. Till now, 1.25 crore samples have been tested. Among the districts, Kozhikode reported 213 cases, the highest in the state, followed by Thiruvananthapuram with 200 cases and Kollam 188. "Out of those found infected today, 64 reached the state from outside, while 1,643 contracted the disease through their contacts. The sources of infection of 173 are yet to be traced. Nineteen health workers are also among the infected," Minister said in a release. Meanwhile, 2,119 people recuperated from the disease, taking the total recoveries in the state to 10,68,378.

Keep using AstraZeneca COVID shots to save lives, WHO tells Europe

The benefits of AstraZeneca's COVID-19 vaccine far outweigh any risks and countries across Europe should continue to use it to help save lives, the World Health Organization's European director said on Thursday. Hans Kluge noted that Europe's medicines regulators are investigating a small number of cases of blood clots in the region that have prompted around a dozen EU governments to suspend us of the AstraZeneca shot. "As of now, we do not know whether some or all of the conditions have been caused by the vaccine or by other coincidental factors," he said, adding: "At this point in time, however, the benefits of the AstraZeneca vaccine far outweigh its risks – and its use should continue, to save lives."

African Union says use of AstraZeneca COVID shot should continue

The African Union said on Thursday that African countries should continue to use AstraZeneca's COVID-19 vaccine, echoing the World Health Organization (WHO) by saying the shot's benefits outweighed risks. The recommendation comes after more than a dozen European countries suspended use of the AstraZeneca vaccine amid concerns over the risk of blood clots. Africa has lagged wealthier parts of the world in vaccinations, with many countries on the continent using free AstraZeneca shots distributed by a global scheme co-led by the WHO to kick-start immunisation campaigns. John Nkengasong, director of the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, told a news conference the "benefits still outweigh the risks" and countries should "move forward".

AP reports 218 new COVID-19 cases

The cumulative coronavirus positive cases in Andhra Pradesh increased to 8,92,740 with the addition of 218 in the 24 hours ending 9 am on Thursday. The latest bulletin said 117 patients had recovered from the infection, taking the total to 8,83,759. The overall toll remained at 7,186 as no fresh deaths were reported in a day, it said. The state now has 1,795 active cases. Chittoor district reported 63 fresh cases while Guntur added 24, East Godavari 23, Kadapa and Krishna 21 each, Kurnool 18, Visakhapatnam and Anantapuramu 13 each. The remaining five districts reported less than six cases each. The overall infection positivity rate in the state now stood at 6.10 per cent after 1.46 crore samples were tested so far.

Karnataka govt geared to mitigate impact of possible COVID-19 second wave: Health Minister

The Karnataka government is prepared to tackle and mitigate the impact of a possible second wave of COVID-19 and healthcare workers and officials are set to work in a mission mode in the next 50 days, Health and Medical Education Minister K Sudhakar said on Thursday. Chairing a meeting of senior officials and heads of key government hospitals to discuss the course of action in the wake of the uptick in fresh cases in recent days, he also emphasised on ramping up vaccine coverage and appealed to the public to follow precautions and not let the guard down. Announcing measures, including recruitment of doctors and paramedical staff on a temporary basis, to strengthen the healthcare system, he said a 1,000-bed Covid Care Centre was being readied here and it would become operational by Monday. "A few days ago nearly 2.5 lakh inoculations were done in a day. So it is possible to ramp up coverage and a target has been set to vaccinate 3 lakh people per day. If we vaccinate senior citizens and people above 45 with comorbidities, we can mitigate the second wave," an official release quoted him as saying.

Coronavirus: Pakistan imposes smart lockdown in worst-hit areas

Pakistan on Thursday imposed smart lockdowns in areas worst hit by the coronavirus as the country recorded a sharp increase in the positive cases. All markets, shopping malls, offices, and restaurants will remain closed in the areas of smart lockdown. However, grocery stores, hospitals, pharmacies, bakeries, meat and milk shops will be allowed to remain open. Punjab province Health Minister Yasmin Rashid said that smart lockdowns are imposed in Gujrat, Sialkot, and Hafizabad, which will remain in effect till March 30 in Gujrat, March 24 in Sialkot and March 26 in Hafizabad. "We have to save more people from the danger of being infected. The coronavirus is spreading rapidly because of not taking precautions, Rashid said.

Health officials in Gaza urge wary Palestinians to have COVID-19 vaccine

Waiting for her COVID-19 vaccination in a Gaza clinic, Leena Al-Tourk, 28, a Palestinian lawyer, recalled the social pressure she faced in the conservative enclave over getting the shot. "Some people told me, are you insane? Wait until you see whether it is good or bad," she said. Just 8,500 people have turned out to be vaccinated in Gaza according to an official, even though the enclave of two million people has received around 83,300 vaccine doses since February donated by Russia, the United Arab Emirates and the global COVAX programme. Suspicion of the vaccines runs deep in Hamas Islamist-run Gaza, which has registered over 57,000 coronavirus infections and 572 deaths. It has recently relaxed lockdown restrictions.

Pakistan backtracks on uncapped prices for privately imported COVID shots

Pakistan has reversed its decision to allow uncapped prices for COVID vaccines imported by private firms, the health minister said on Thursday, a move that coincided with the arrival of a first shipment of privately imported Russian Sputnik-V shots. Pakistan, with a population of 220 million and largely reliant on the COVAX vaccine sharing initiative for poorer nations, last month allowed private firms to import coronavirus vaccines and agreed to exempt them from price caps. "Now, however, there is a formula, already in vogue, to determine maximum price," minister Faisal Sultan told Reuters. "So yes, there is a price cap that DRAP (Drug Regulatory Authority of Pakistan) will recommend and get approval for." An official with M/s AGP Ltd, the company that imported the Sputnik shots, said a first shipment of 50,000 doses arrived on Wednesday night and that it will be made available to the public as soon as the government agreed on a price.

Road accidents kill more people than COVID last year, says Gadkari

Maharashtra education board announces SSC and HSC exam dates

Maharashtra State Secondary and Higher Secondary Education Board declare exam dates for HSC and SSC 2021 in the state. SSC exams to start from 29 April while HSC exams to start from 23 April following COVID-19 guidelines. Guidelines to be issued in the next two days. This comes as the state of Maharashtra is currently dealing with the second phase of COVID-19.

AirAsia and IndiGo take strict action against flyers not following COVID-19 norms on Goa-Mumbai route

AirAsia India offloaded two middle seat passengers from its Goa-Mumbai flight on Monday, while IndiGo handed over two flyers to security officials during the last three days for not following the COVID-19 rules in flights, said senior government officials on Thursday. While action was taken against two passengers on the AirAsia India flight for refusing to wear PPE gowns, IndiGo handed over two passengers of its two different flights to security officials at the destination airports for refusing to wear masks, the officials noted. Aviation regulator DGCA had on Saturday asked airlines to de-board passengers who do not wear their masks "properly" despite repeated warnings. The aforesaid incidents came to light after media reported on Wednesday that four passengers were handed over to security agencies on Tuesday for not wearing masks properly onboard Alliance Air's Jammu-Delhi flight despite repeated warnings by the cabin crew.

Punjab extends night curfew in 9 districts

As active Covid-19 cases in the state surge, with daily positivity rate climbing to over five per cent, Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh on Thursday extended the night curfew in nine worst hit districts by two hours daily, by advancing it from 9 p.m. onwards. Also he clarified that, if required, he would go for more stringent measures to limit its spread in the days to come. The nine districts where the night curfew has been extended were Ludhiana, Jalandhar, Patiala, Mohali, Amritsar, Gurdaspur, Hoshiarpur, Kapurthala and Ropar, all daily getting 100 plus positive cases. These nine districts earlier imposed night curfew from 11 p.m. to 5 a.m., while other districts have been asked to assess the situation and take action accordingly. "Covid is in very dangerous situation in Punjab again. Yesterday 2,039 positive cases were reported and there were 35 deaths. A day earlier there were 40 deaths in state," the Chief Minister said.

Total foreign variant cases in India reach 400 mark

The total number of cases with UK, South Africa and Brazil variants of the COVID-19 virus in India as of date is 400: Ministry of Health

As COVID-19 cases surge, Jain asks people to be cautious, shake off complacency

Amid a surge in daily COVID-19 cases in the national capital, Delhi Health Minister Satyendar Jain on Thursday asked people to be cautious and observe all safety norms, and not get complacent about the pandemic situation in the city. Interacting with reporters, he also said Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal has convened a meeting with him on Thursday to review the situation. Delhi on Wednesday had recorded 536 coronavirus cases, the highest in about two-and-a-half months, while three more persons died from COVID-19 infection, taking the death toll to 10,948. The number of active cases on Wednesday rose to 2,702 from 2,488 a day ago, according to the health bulletin. "Yesterday, 536 cases were recorded with a positivity rate of 0.66 per cent. However, it is still below 1 per cent and much lower compared to the figures in others cities and other states," Jain said. The health minister asserted that the situation in Delhi was "a lot under control" vis-a-vis in other cities, adding, an awareness drive is being carried out to make people comply with safety norms.

Maharashtra accounts for 63% of daily Covid-19 cases

With India on Thursday recording highest single-day rise since December, the cases in Maharashtra accounted for 63.21 per cent of the daily new cases, followed by Kerala and Punjab. The country recorded 35,871 new Covid-19 cases in the last 24 hours. A single-day spike of 36,011 new infections were recorded on December 6. According to the Health Ministry, Maharashtra, Punjab, Karnataka, Gujarat and Tamil Nadu continue to report a surge in the COVID daily new cases. 79.54 per cent of the new cases are from these five states.

Odisha reports 84 new COVID-19 cases, tally at 3,38,489

Odisha's COVID-19 tally mounted to 3,38,489 on Thursday as 84 more people, including 12 students of a private college in Cuttack, tested positive for the infection, a health department official said. Of the new cases, 49 were reported from quarantine centres and 35 detected during contact tracing. Cuttack district recorded the highest number of new cases at 25, followed by Sundargarh (10) and Bargarh (9). "Twelve students of a private college are among new patients and have been quarantined in the institute's hostel. Efforts are being made to trace their contacts," Cuttack Municipal Corporation's health official Satyabrata Mohapatra said. The college will remain closed for 10 days as a precautionary measure, he said.

Section 144 imposed in Ghaziabad

Restrictions under Section 144 of CrPC imposed in Ghaziabad till May 10th, in view of rising COVID-19 cases & upcoming festivals.

Over 23 crore tests conducted for detection of coronavirus in India

The number of tests conducted for detection of COVID-19 across the country has crossed 23 crore, the Union Health Ministry said on Thursday. It also said that India's cumulative positivity rate stands at 4.98 percent as on date. India's tests per day per million population are more than 140 and the daily positivity rate is 3.37 percent as of today, the ministry said. India is fast approaching total vaccination coverage of 4 crore. A total of 3,71,43,255 COVID-19 vaccine doses have been administered through 6,15,267 sessions, as per the provisional report till Thursday 7 am. These include 75,68,844 healthcare workers (HCWs) who have been given the1st dose, 46,32,940 HCWs who have taken the 2nd dose, 77,16,084 frontline workers (FLWs) who have been given the 1st dose and 19,09,528 FLWs who have taken the 2nd dose.

Japan to end virus emergency in Tokyo despite rebound fears

Japan on Thursday will approve ending a monthslong state of emergency in Tokyo set up to curb the spread of the coronavirus, despite concerns of a resurgence ahead of the spring party season and next week's Olympic torch relay. Experts on a government-commissioned panel moved to end the emergency this coming Sunday, underscoring the governments eagerness to minimize burdens on businesses and keep the economy going. However, some experts warned that although Tokyo has managed to bring down the rate of new infections, the decline has levelled off and could rebound.

Britain says lumps in global vaccine supply an issue

Britain said on Thursday that there were lumps and bumps in the global vaccine supply chain that was causing some issues and scolded the European Union for threatening to slap a ban on vaccine exports. "We always said right from the beginning that a new manufacturing process would have its lumps and bumps and that has been the case in the past and I'm sure it will be in the future," Housing Secretary Robert Jenrick told Sky. "We're sourcing vaccines from all over the world and we are experiencing occasionally some issues and that's led to this, this issue with some supply in the coming weeks," he said. "The main thing is, we're still very much on course, we've still got line of sight to deliver the vaccines and to meet our targets," Jenrick said.

T20 World Cup regional qualifiers postponed due to COVID-19

Three regional qualifying tournaments for the men's Twenty20 World Cup in Australia next year have been postponed because of the COVID-19 pandemic, the governing International Cricket Council (ICC) said on Thursday. All three tournaments, originally to be played next month, would now be played in October with the Asia A qualifiers in Kuwait while South Africa hosts the two African events. "The decision was taken ... due to new restrictions being put in place by several participating countries to suspend sporting activities to limit the spread of the new COVID-19 variants..." the ICC said in a statement. "The other contributing factor was the extensive quarantine requirements for the visiting teams on their return to their respective countries." The governing body also cancelled an Asian qualifier for next year's Under-19 World Cup in West Indies.