Coronavirus News Highlights: Punjab reports 3,724 new COVID-19 cases, 148 deaths; active cases drop below 45,000

The death toll in Punjab touched 14,180 on May 28 with 148 more deaths, while 3,724 new infections took the tally to 5,59,795, according to a health bulletin.

The number of active cases declined to 44,964 from 48,231 on Thursday, the bulletin stated.

Twenty deaths were reported from Ludhiana, 19 from Amritsar, 13 from Sangrur and 10 from Jalandhar.

The highest cases were from Jalandhar with 497 infections, followed by 416 in Ludhiana, 278 in Fazilka and 247 in Bathinda.

The state's positivity rate marginally dropped to 5.12 per cent from 5.43 per cent the day before, as per the bulletin.

The total number of active COVID-19 cases in Karnataka fell below the four lakh mark, as the state on Friday reported 22,823 new cases and 401 deaths, the health department said.

While the total number of COVID infections so far standsat 25,46,821, the toll is 27,806.

The total number of active cases is now 3,72,373.

The day also saw 52,253 discharges, continuing tooutnumber the fresh cases.

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Telangana on May 28 registered 3,527 COVID-19 cases, taking the tally to over 5.71 lakh while the toll stood at 3,226 with 19 deaths, a government release said.

Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) accounted for the most number of cases with 519, followed by Nalgonda (218) and Khammam (215), the bulletin said.

The state has37,793 active cases and over 97,000 samples were tested.

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The timeline for manufacturing, testing and release for a batch of COVAXIN is approximately 120 days, production batches that were initiated during March this year will be ready for supply only during the month of June.

Continuing the downward trend, Andhra Pradesh on Friday added 14,429 new cases of coronavirus, taking the gross to 16,57,986. In 24 hours ending 9 am on Friday, the state saw 20,746 patients recover from the pandemic infection and another 103 succumb, a health department bulletin said.

UK's roadmap to lifting all coronavirus restrictions appeared to be balanced on a knife-edge, with authorities and scientists urging caution amid the rapid spread of the B.1.617 COVID-19 variant first identified in India, which the health secretary says is estimated to be behind up to three-quarters of new infections in the country.

Public Health England data shows cases of the variant have risen by 3,535 to 6,959 since last week.

Japan was set on Friday to extend a state of emergency in Tokyo and other areas by about three weeks to June 20 as the COVID-19 pandemic shows no signs of easing less than two months before the Summer Olympics open.

The state of emergency in the capital and eight other prefectures had been scheduled to end on May 31, but strains on the medical system.

Japan has seen a record number of COVID-19 patients in critical condition in recent days, even as the number of new infections has slowed.

Member countries of the World Health Organisation have approved an “ambitious increase” in the budget for the UN health agency at a meeting, with some noting that WHO's chronic underfunding cripples its ability to protect global health.

Delegates at the World Health Assembly on Thursday approved a 16 per cent increase to WHO's proposed budget for the next two years, setting it at about USD 6.1 billion.

More than 90 per cent of WHO's funding is tied to specific health issues, and the agency often struggles to respond to urgent crises.

Union AYUSH Minister Shripad Naik on Friday said public awareness on yoga created by the Modi government at the global level has helped several countries fight back the Covid-19 pandemic. The minister was addressing a group of people at the launch of a campaign to distribute 'Ayush 64' medicine, used for treating Covid-19, here.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government began celebrating International Yoga Day (June 21) seven years back due to which there was awareness about yoga, Naik said at the event where Goa Chief Minister Pramod Sawant was also present. Now, many countries are recognising that they could fight Covid-19 through yoga because its benefits were propagated and explained to them, the Union minister said.

He hailed the PM as a visionary leader who spread across the world knowledge about the ancient practice focusing on physical, mental and spiritual aspects of human life. Speaking on the occasion, Sawant said the state government has been taking the help of AYUSH (Ayurveda, Yoga and Naturopathy, Unani, Siddha and Homeopathy) doctors in its Covid-19 management programme.

Apollo Group of Hospitals has announced that it will start administering the Russian Covid-19 vaccine Sputnik V, across its hospitals in India from the second week of June, at an estimated price of Rs 1,195 per dose. "We will be charging Rs 995 for the vaccine and ₹200 would be administration charges," an official of the Apollo Group said.

On Thursday, Apollo Hospitals said they will start administering Sputnik V from the second week of June. In a statement, Executive Vice-chairperson Shobana Kamineni of the Apollo Group of Hospitals said that the group has completed administering one million vaccine doses across 80 locations in India, and will prioritise frontline workers, high-risk population, and corporate employees. Giving details on ramping up their vaccination programme, Kamineni said, "In June, we will do a million every week and double that in July. We are on track to complete 20 million jabs by September this year."

Singapore's position as an important trading and logistics hub turned out to be useful for the Indian High Commission here to source the much-needed supplies of COVID-19-related medical equipment, including oxygen tanks and cylinders, High Commissioner P. Kumaran has said. Praising Singapore's support through agencies like the Ministry of Trade and Industry and Enterprise Singapore for India in combating the current COVID-19 pandemic, he said they used their database and contacts to tell the mission where the necessary equipment can be found and the suppliers to reach out to.

"We sourced for these much needed items from many countries," Kumaran told Singapore's Friday weekly tabloid on Indian affairs, tabla! "We were able to get items from Australia and other Asian countries quickly into Singapore and then transport them to India on Indian naval ships and air force aircraft," he said. "Singapore's position as an important trading and logistics hub came in useful for us," the envoy said.

The High Commissioner pointed out that the Singapore government-linked companies have also donated equipment for use in India's fight against the pandemic. Temasek Foundation sent 8,000 oxygen concentrators, 100 oxygen cylinders, 50,000 pulse oximeters, over 100 BiPAPs and 200 ventilators to India.