10:03 (IST)
Coronavirus LATEST Updates
More than 2,000 COVID-19 deaths in past 24 hrs: Health ministry
With the death of 2,023 more COVID-19 patients in the past 24 hours, the toll in the country increased to 1,82,553 on Wednesday, said the health ministry in its latest data.
10:00 (IST)
Coronavirus LATEST Updates
India records 2,95,041 COVID-19 cases in a day
India on Wednesday reported 2,95,041 fresh COVID-19 infections in the past 24 hours, taking the overall count over 1.56 crore, said the Union health ministry.
09:51 (IST)
Coronavirus LATEST Updates
Delhi receives supply of medical oxygen in some govt, private hospitals
Some major government and private hospitals in Delhi received fresh stock of medical oxygen in the early hours of Wednesday, averting a crisis just in time, according to officials.
Gangaram Hospital received 5,000 cubic metres of oxygen supply from a private vendor before 3 am.This stock should last till Wednesday afternoon. The supply from another oxygen firm is still awaited, sources said.
An official at the Guru Tegh Bahadur Hospital confirmed that a truck carrying oxygen from a firm reached them around 1.30 am.
Dr Suresh Kumar, medical director of the Lok Nayak Jai Prakash Narayan Hospital, said a truck carrying oxygen from a vendor reached the facility around 3 am.
A record 28,395 coronavirus cases and 277 deaths marked the aggravation of the pandemic situation in Delhi on Tuesday as the positivity rate shot up to 32.82 percent – meaning every third sample came out positive – amid a “serious oxygen crisis” unfolding in the city.
09:40 (IST)
Coronavirus LATEST Updates
Japan PM to postpone India visit amid rising COVID-19 cases
Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga is postponing plans to visit India and the Philippines on a trip originally set for the end of the month, media said on Wednesday.
Suga will instead focus on handling a recent surge in coronavirus cases, broadcaster FNN and other media said.
09:31 (IST)
Coronavirus LATEST Updates
Maharashtra Class 10 board exams cancelled, says eductation minister
Amid a surge in COVID-19 cases in Maharashtra, the state government has decided to cancel Class 10 board examination, Minister for Primary and Secondary Education Varsha Gaikwad said on Tuesday.
The decision was taken at a meeting of the state cabinet in Mumbai.
In a televised message, she said, The (Class X board) exam is cancelled. However, to bring parity across various higher secondary education boards, including of Maharashtra as well as central and international boards, a meeting (of stakeholders) will be called to finalise a roadmap.”
09:11 (IST)
Coronavirus LATEST Updates
Uttar Pradesh imposes weekend lockdown amid surge in COVID-19 cases
The Uttar Pradesh government on Tuesday decided to impose a weekend curfew from Friday evening to Monday morning in the entire state till further orders amid the rising cases of coronavirus infections.
The government also decided to keep all non-essential activities suspended in all districts of the state having 500 or more active cases. It also decided to continue with the night-long curfew on weekdays throughout the state, a senior official said.
The move by the UP government comes hours after the Supreme Court on Tuesday stayed an Allahabad High Court order asking the state government to impose strict restrictions till April 26 in five cities amid the surge in COVID-19 cases.
08:54 (IST)
Coronavirus LATEST Updates
RECAP: PM says lockdown last resort, emphasises COVID-appropriate behaviour
Prime Minister Narendra Modi, in an address to the nation on Tuesday, urged state governments to assure migrants workers to “remain where they are and get vaccinated”. He also stated that lockdowns should only be considered as a last resort and lauded the Centre’s vaccination drive.
The prime minister’s address came just hours after his meeting with vaccine manufacturers, in which he urged them to continuously scale up their production capacity to inoculate all Indians in the shortest possible time.
“I request state governments to urge the migrant workers to stay where they are and that they will be vaccinated in the city where they are,” Modi said. “This trust given by the states to the workers will help them,” Modi said.
08:51 (IST)
Coronavirus LATEST Updates
Jharkhand orders 7-day COVID-19 lockdown from 22 April
As COVID-19 cases see a spike in the state, Jharkhand government announced a week-long lockdown in the state starting from Thursday. Issuing new restrictions for the lockdown, chief minister Hemant Soren said congregation of more than five people at one place has been banned.
While essential shops have been allowed to remain open during the lockdown, restrictions have been imposed on non-essential shops, private offices and the movement of people, as per a statement released by the Chief Minister Secretariat.
The restrictions will begin from 6 am on 22 April and continue till 29 April at 6 am, the chief minister said in a video message released on Twitter.
08:36 (IST)
Coronavirus LATEST Updates
Section 144 in Maharashtra till 1 May
On Tuesday, the issue of a stricter lockdown in Maharashtra was discussed in the Cabinet where the majority was in favour of a long lockdown in the state, extending for a week or two, instead of night curfew or the imposition of Section 144.
08:34 (IST)
Coronavirus LATEST Updates
Maharashtra CM likely to announce decision on lockdown
Maharashtra chief minister Uddhav Thackeray is likely to announce whether the state needs to be placed under a strict lockdown — in his address scheduled after 8 pm on Wednesday, Maharashtra ministers have confirmed.
08:28 (IST)
Coronavirus LATEST Updates
India’s second wave peak may be around mid-May: CEA
Amid surging coronavirus cases across the country, Chief Economic Adviser KV Subramanian on Tuesday said the peak for the second wave of the pandemic might be reached by the middle of the next month and expressed hope that its impact on the economy would not be large.
He said his assessment on the peak for this fresh wave of COVID-19 cases is based on research done by various bodies, including the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR).
“I am not an epidemiologist. I am just looking at it. I have read far more papers on epidemiology than on economics, but based on some very nice mathematical modelling of the COVID pandemic by IIT Kanpur and based on some of the research put out by ICMR etc, I am saying it’s likely that India’s second wave peak might be around mid-May,” he said.
08:25 (IST)
Coronavirus LATEST Updates
COVID-19 deaths lower in second wave, but correlation between vaccination and mortality rate unclear
One of the silver linings of the second wave of the COVID-19 so far has been the low mortality rate as compared to the first wave of coronavirus cases. However, it may be too early to conclude that the low mortality is due to the nationwide immunisation drive that started in January 2021, or that opening up vaccines from 1 May to those above the age of 18 could mitigate the human cost of the pandemic.
A comparison of the COVID-19 mortality rate, infection rate (or COVID-19 incident rate in percentage) and the vaccination rate shows no correlation among the three, except that as we had stated in our last study ofCOVID-19 data, while the infection rate has been rising, the mortality rate has been falling. The change appears to be faster in both indicators since mid-March. However, the trend may not continue as a comparison of fortnightly changes in both indicators throws up a completely different picture.
08:13 (IST)
Coronavirus LATEST Updates
PM ignored COVID crisis to hide his lack of foresightedness: Prashant Kishor
Poll strategist Prashant Kishor who is looking after the Trinamool Congress’ election strategy in West Bengal on Tuesday accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi of ignoring the COVID-19 crisis to hide his lack of understanding and foresightedness.
Kishor’s statement came after Modi addressed the nation on the coronavirus situation amid a surge in cases.
He also alleged that the prime minister bluffed people to claim victory in the battle against the pandemic.
“ModiGovt handling of crisis: #1: ignore problem to hide lack of understanding and foresightedness #2: suddenly take control, use bluff and bluster to claim victory #3: if problem persists, pass it on to others #4: when situation improves, return with Bhakts’ army to take credit,” Kishor tweeted.
Coronavirus LATEST Updates: With the death of 2,023 more COVID-19 patients in the past 24 hours, the toll in the country increased to 1,82,553 on Wednesday, said the health ministry in its latest data.
On Tuesday, the issue of a stricter lockdown in Maharashtra was discussed in the Cabinet where the majority was in favour of a long lockdown in the state, extending for a week or two.
Slamming the Narendra Modi government for its “monumental incompetence” in COVID management, West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee Tuesday said the Centre allowed open market sale of coronavirus vaccines only after shipments to foreign countries led to depletion of stocks in India.
Mamata also alleged the schedule for West Bengal Assembly election was decided to assist the BJP, and voiced displeasure at the rejection of her proposal to club the
polling for the remaining three phases.
Addressing an election meeting at Bhagwangola in Murshidabad district, the Trinamool Congress supremo claimed the prime minister allowed export of vaccines to other countries to “boost his image” while states like Maharashtra, Delhi, Rajasthan and West Bengal struggled to get the doses they required to combat the pandemic.
“Yesterday the prime minister said the medicine (vaccine) will be available in open market. Where is the open market, where is the availability? You have already shipped out the majority of stock to foreign destinations,” she alleged.
India, as part of vaccine diplomacy decided to export life-saver jabs to several countries including Pakistan, notwithstanding persistent tensions between the two countries.
“We are facing a huge deficit of vaccines due to faulty planning,” she said, calling the Centre “a government of monumental incompetence”.
The TMC supremo said more and more COVID-19 cases are being reported from Kolkata, North 24 Parganas and Asansol belt and the state government is trying to manage the crisis with limited stock.
“For six months the central leadership did not bother to plan, they were busy plotting electoral battles in Bengal,” the TMC chief alleged.
Training her guns on the BJP, she claimed the party brought in “lakhs of people” from outside the state to help in the campaign and many of these people were infected with
COVID.
These people will leave but they have already spread the virus and the onus to manage the new crisis will be on us, she said.
“Bengal’s COVID situation was firmly under control but now the rate of infection is rising again,” she said and advised people not to panic. “We will again put it (pandemic) under a tight leash.”