Coronavirus News Highlights | Maharashtra accounts for 62% of total active cases in India: Health Ministry

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Mumbai on Tuesday reported 4,758 fresh COVID-19 cases, taking the tally of infections to 4,09,320, the city civic body said, adding that the doubling rate of cases in the city has worsened to 50 days.
With 10 patients succumbing to the COVID-19 infection, the toll in the megapolis mounted to 11,671, a civic official said, adding that the city has witnessed 71 casualties since March 23.

As per a report prepared by the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), the doubling rate of cases in the city has worsened from 90 days recorded a week ago to the current 50 days.

Chhattisgarh's COVID-19 tally mounted to 3,44,624 on Tuesday as 3,108 people tested positive for the infection, while 35 deaths took the toll to 4,131, a health official said.

The state been witnessing a spike in the number of infections over the last two weeks.

The total number of COVID-19 vaccine doses administered in the country has crossed 6.24 crore with 12.94 lakh of them being given on March 30 till the evening, the Union Health Ministry said in its bulletin.

Tamil Nadu logs 2,342 new COVID-19 infections, 16 deaths

Tamil Nadu added 2,342 new COVID-19 cases on Tuesday, pushing the infection count to 8,84,094 while the death toll mounted to 12,700 with 16 more fatalities. With the steady rise in fresh infections, the state government today decided to ramp up testing and take steps to reduce the number of fatalities.
According to a health department bulletin, recoveries rose to 8,56,548 today with 1,463 patients being discharged, leaving 14,846 active cases.

Chennai accounted for most of the new infections with 874 cases, taking the aggregate to 2,48,031.The metropolis also leads in the number of fatalities with 4,236.

Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan on Tuesday released a document chronicling the ministry''s response to the COVID-19 pandemic between January and November last year.
The document, titled ''Chasing the Virus: A Public Health Response to the COVID-19 Pandemic'', is a factual narrative of the health systems'' response across the nation to this unprecedented health emergency, the minister said.

In a statement, the ministry said Vardhan expressed his hope that this document will go a long way in strengthening the healthcare system.

At least 1,156 persons tested positive for coronavirus, while 54 died of the infection in Maharashtra''s Nagpur district on Tuesday, an official from the district administration said.
With this, the caseload in the district has reached 2,23,153 and the toll has risen to 5,040, the official said.

Of the total number of casualties reported in the district, Nagpur city alone accounted for 3,215 fatalities, he said.

Apart from this, 1,191 patients were discharged from various healthcare facilities during the day, raising the count of recoveries to 1,79,904, the official said.

More than 18,500 challans were issued and fines worth over Rs 3.18 crore imposed in the national capital for COVID-19 protocol violation in the last five days, official data released on Tuesday showed.
While the highest number of challans issued was in North Delhi district, the lowest was in East Delhi district, it showed.

The report on enforcement actions for strict implementation of COVID-19-appropriate behaviour has been compiled on the basis of data received from 11 revenue districts pertaining to action taken from March 25 to 29.

The Delhi Disaster Management Authority had ordered that there will be no public celebrations in the national capital on March 29 on account of Holi and Shab-e-Barat.

Delhi reported 992 new COVID-19 cases on Tuesday with a positivity rate of 2.70 per cent, while four more people succumbed to the pathogen in the city, health department officials said here.
They said the low number of cases could be attributed to fewer COVID-19 tests conducted on Monday on account of Holi.

The total number of cases of the disease in the city stands at 6,60,611. Over 6.42 lakh patients have recovered so far, the officials added.

The city had recorded 1,904 cases on Monday, 1,881 cases on Sunday, 1,558 cases on Saturday, 1,534 cases on Friday, 1,515 cases on Thursday, 1,254 cases on Wednesday and 1,101 cases on last Tuesday.

Pakistan's top leadership has been hit by the coronavirus with President Dr Arif Alvi and Defence Minister Pervez Khattak contracting it, days after Prime Minister Imran Khan and his wife tested positive for the disease which is now raging in the country.
On Monday, President Alvi tweeted that he had tested positive for the virus.

"I have tested positive for COVID-19. May Allah have mercy on all COVID-affected. Had the first dose of the vaccine but antibodies started developing after the second dose that was due in a week. Please continue to be careful," the president said.

The exact date when Alvi, 71, contracted the disease or the day of detection was not made public.

First Lady Samina Alvi tested negative for COVID-19 and was quarantining. She said the president has "mild symptoms but is in good spirits".

Union Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan on vaccination drive: Those who want to go for on-site registration are requested to go to their nearest vaccination centre after 3 pm with any identity document. Usually people with Aadhaar Card & voter ID. But you can also produce bank passbook, passport, ration card.

We are facing an increasingly severe and intensive situation in some districts but the whole country is potentially at risk. All efforts to contain the virus and save lives should be taken