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Coronavirus India News Highlights: The daily rise in coronavirus cases in India remained below 3 lakh for the fifth consecutive day with 2.59 lakh new cases recorded in a single day, according to the Union Health Ministry data updated on Friday. With the fresh cases, India's total tally of COVID-19 cases climbed to 26,031,991. The death toll climbed to 291,331 with 4,209 daily deaths, the data updated at 8 am showed. The active cases further reduced to 3,027,925 comprising 11.63 per cent of the total infections, while the national COVID-19 recovery rate improved to 87.25 percent. The number of people who have recuperated from the disease surged to 22,712,735, while the case fatality rate has increased to 1.12 percent, the data stated. According to the ICMR, 324,417,870 samples have been tested up to May 20 with 2,061,683 samples being tested on Thursday.
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The cumulative number of COVID-19 vaccine doses administered in the country exceeded 19.32 crore(19,32,97,222) as per the 8 pm provisional report on May 21. As many as 6,63,353 beneficiaries of the age group 18-44 years received their first dose of COVID vaccine in the day andcumulatively92,73,550across37 states/UTssincethestartofPhase-3ofthe vaccination drive. Table below shows the cumulative vaccine doses administered to 18-44 yearsage group till now.
Minister of State for Health and Family Welfare, Dr. Harsh Vardhan, reviewed public health response to Covid-19 and the progress of vaccination with nine States and UTs. “Recovery outnumbers new active cases for the last 8 days consistently," the minister said, adding "Vaccine availability will witness exponential rise in the coming months."
Chandigarh administration announces weekend Corona curfew from 5 am on Saturday (May 22) to 5 am on Monday (May 24).
Govt has decided to give free treatment for Mucormycosis (black fungus) patients in the govt district hospitals.
Kerala reported 29,673 COVID-19 cases, 41,032 recoveries and 142 deaths on May 21
Kerala reported 29,673 COVID-19 cases, 41,032 recoveries and 142 deaths today. Total recoveries stand at 19,79,919, death toll 6994. Active cases in the state is 3,06,346. A total of 1,33,558 samples were tested during the last 24 hours.
"Lockdown in the state will be extended till May 30th. The triple lockdown in Thiruvananthapuram, Ernakulam and Thrissur will be withdrawn from tomorrow as the test positivity rate and active case load have come down. Triple lockdown in Malappuram will continue," saidKerala CM.
The Uttar Pradesh government will declare black fungus as a notifiable disease under the Epidemic Diseases Act later in the day, a senior official said after Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath issued directions in this regard.
The Union government had on Thursday urged states and Union Territories to make mucormycosis or black fungus a notifiable disease under the Act, stating that the infection is leading to prolonged morbidity and mortality among COVID-19 patients.
A notifiable disease is required by law to be reported to the government authorities. The collection of information allows the authorities to monitor the disease and provides early warning of possible outbreaks. (PTI)
A 15-member special task force and an experts'' committee will be formed in Goa to tackle a possible third wave of coronavirus infections in the state, Chief Minister Pramod Sawant said on Friday. While the STF will comprise the CM as the chairperson, the state health minister Vishwajit Rane will be the vice-chairperson and other members would include doctors from the state-run and private sectors, Sawant informed. (PTI)
A dedicated community support helpline has been operationalised by the Ministry of AYUSH to provide AYUSH-based approaches and solutions for the challenges raised by COVID-19.
The toll-free helpline number is 14443, the ministry said on Friday.
The helpline is operational pan-India from 6 am till midnight on all days of the week, it said.
Experts from different streams of AYUSH, namely Ayurveda, Homeopathy, Yoga, Naturopathy, Unani and Siddha will be available to address queries of the general masses, it said. (PTI)
Delhi recorded 3,009 COVID-19 cases and 252 fatalities on Friday, with the city's positivity rate slipping to 4.76 per cent, data shared by the health department showed. As per the latest health bulletin, these new fatalities pushed the COVID-19 death toll in the national capital to 22,831.
This is the third consecutive day when Delhi''s count of daily new cases has remained below 4,000. The positivity rate in the city stood at 5.5 per cent on Thursday. (PTI)
Five persons have been arrested for allegedly trying to black market an anti-fungal injection used in the treatment of mucormycosis in Gujarat's Ahmedabad city, police said on Friday. Officials of the Food and Drug Control Administration (FDCA) and Gujarat police nabbed the five accused from different parts of the city on Thursday, an official said.
Due to rising cases of mucormycosis or black fungus, anti-fungal drug Amphotericin B, considered effective in its treatment, is in high demand.
Based on a tip-off, the city crime branch laid a trap in Naranpura area on Thursday and nabbed four men with eight vials of Amphotericin B, worth Rs 2,518, said a release by crime branch on Friday. The accused Pragnesh Patel, Vashishth Patel, Nirav Panchal and Smit Raval were allegedly selling a vial of injection, worth Rs 314, for Rs 10,000, he said.
Since the injections did not have any labels, officials believe that they were fake. While the vials were sent to a laboratory to ascertain the contents, the FDCA has urged people not to buy medicines from unauthorised sellers. (PTI)
