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Coronavirus India News Highlights: As many as 3,82,315 more people tested positive for Covid-19 in the last 24 hours, taking the cumulative caseload to 2,06,65,148, said the Union health ministry on Monday morning. The new cases have seen a jump after two days of decline. The fatality count has also gone up to 3,780. This is the most number of deaths recorded in the country in 24 hours. The cumulative death toll now stands at 2,26,188. In addition to this, 3,38,439 people were discharged from various hospitals, taking the total number of recoveries in India to 1,69,51,731. As a result, the active tally saw a minimal increase and stands at 34,87,229. The number was 34,13,642 on Tuesday. India has tested a total of 29,48,52,078 samples tested for Covid-19 until now, said the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR). Out of these, 15,41,299 samples were tested on Tuesday. The number of tests conducted in the last 24 hours decreased slightly too as the number stood at 16,63,742 on Monday. The country has so far administered 16,04,94,188 anti-Covid shots. The total number of doses given to beneficiaries in India crossed the 16-crore mark on Tuesday. With the vaccination of people in the age group of 18-44 picking pace, the health ministry said that 6,62,619 people in the category have been inoculated so far. "The vaccination exercise as a tool to protect the most vulnerable population groups in the country from Covid-19 continues to be regularly reviewed and monitored at the highest level," the ministry said.
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Union Health Secy Rajesh Bhushan along with Member (Health) NITI Aayog Dr VK Paul chaired high-level meeting today with eastern states of Assam, West Bengal, Odisha, Bihar & Jharkhand to assess arrangements regarding containment & management of COVID19 pandemic.
'Corona curfew' has been extended till May 10 in the districts of Dehradun, Haridwar and Udham Singh Nagar in Uttarakhand, says state government spokesperson Subodh Uniyal.
Central governments scientific body has warned about third wave of COVID. We're preparing for that since last month. Several districts are seeing a decline in COVID cases while some districts are seeing an increase in cases.We're keeping a close tab on it.
Banks should stop all recovery proceedings considering the pandemic situation people are going through. Kerala State Electricity Board (KSEB) and Kerala Water Authority (KWA) have been asked to stop collect pending bill arrears for two months.
Coronavirus LIVE Updates |Kerala CM Pinarayi Vijayan:Kerala is going through a serious situation with COVID spreading rapidly in the state. Test positivity rate is not coming down. The situation calls for imposing more restrictions in the state.
| Passengers entering West Bengal via long-distance trains, inter-state buses must carry RT-PCR negative report, saysCM Mamata Banerjee
An 11-day complete lockdown, imposed in the wake of a state-wide COVID 19 surge on an unprecedented scale, got underway on Wednesday in Bihar where the authorities had a tough time ensuring compliance from people. Police personnel had begun patrolling the streets since early in the morning, anticipating heavy rush and overcrowding between 7 A.M. and 11 A.M., the four-hour period during which shops selling vegetables, meat, fish, poultry, and grocery items have been allowed to do business.
Owners of many shops, not dealing in items deemed as essentials, faced a rude shock as they were made to down their shutters, besides being slapped with fines, by the men in uniform. The policemen were also seen striking their canes against the ground at many places to scare away and disperse people who had come out to make purchases and gathered at shops or around hand-pulled vegetable and fruit carts throwing physical distancing norms to the winds.
Many motorcycle-borne youths, loitering around to enjoy high-speed rides on the deserted streets, tried to brazen it out when stopped by police personnel whom they told with a sheepish grin that they had come out for "hawakhori" (breath of fresh air). Some of them ended up being fined and even their vehicles being impounded. The luckier ones were let off after being made to undergo, in public, the humiliation of doing squats with their hands grabbing their earlobes.
Some of the businessmen and residents, whose behaviour was deemed to be recalcitrant, also ended up being arrested. The number of arrests made, vehicles seized and amount of money recovered by way of fines is likely to be provided by the state police headquarters by the evening.
In a meeting chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the Cabinet on May 5 approved the allocation of additional foodgrain under Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana Phase for two months. The Centre will provide 5 kg foodgrain per person for free in May and June. This is expected to benefit 79.88 crore beneficiaries covered under National Food Security Act (NFSA), including those covered under Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT), the Prime Minister's Office said in a statement.
Centre had launched PMGKAY in March last year after the country went into a nationwide lockdown to stop the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic. The state/UT-wise allocation of wheat/rice shall be decided by the Department of Food & Public Distribution on the basis of the existing allocation ratio under NFSA, it added. PMO also said that the Department of Food and Public Distribution may decide on the extension of the lifting/distribution period under Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana. A decision will be taken keeping in mind partial and local lockdown situations, and adverse weather conditions like monsoon, cyclones, supply chain and COVID-induced constraints.
Putting officers in jail is not going to bring oxygen to Delhi, the Supreme Court said on Wednesday while it asked the Centre about the supply it has made to the national capital since May 3. 'Let us ensure lives are saved,' it said. The top court is hearing Centre's appeal against Delhi High Court's Tuesday order of issuing contempt notice and seeking personal appearance of its officials for non-compliance with the directions on supply of oxygen to treat COVID-19 patients in the national capital.
A bench headed by Justice D Y Chandrachud said that it had ordered supply of 700 MT oxygen to Delhi daily from May 3 as the “pandemic in Delhi is at a very critical stage”. “Putting officers in jail is not going to bring oxygen to the city, let us ensure lives are saved,” said the bench which also comprised justice M R Shah. “This is not adversarial litigation. Centre, Delhi governments are elected and doing their best to serve COVID-19 patients,” Solicitor General Tushar Mehta said. 'Tell us how much oxygen you have allocated to Delhi in the last three days,' the bench said. The hearing is still going on.
Members of the small delegation accompanying External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar to the UK have tested positive for COVID-19, forcing the minister to take his remaining schedule here virtual as a 'measure of abundant caution'. 'Was made aware yesterday evening of exposure to possible Covid positive cases,' Jaishankar said on Twitter on Wednesday.
'As a measure of abundant caution and also out of consideration for others, I decided to conduct my engagements in the virtual mode. That will be the case with the G7 Meeting today as well,' he said. According to numerous sources, two members of the delegation tested positive on Tuesday with further test results still awaited.
Jaishankar arrived in London on Monday for a four-day visit at the invitation of UK Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab to join the G7 Foreign and Development Ministers Meeting as one of the guest ministers. “The addition of our friends from Australia, India, the Republic of Korea and South Africa, as well as the chair of ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) reflects the growing significance of the Indo Pacific region for the G7,” said Raab. Jaishankar was to join ministers from the other guest nations for the first formal gathering of the summit over a working dinner on Tuesday evening.
Even as India struggles with the second wave of coronavirus with daily infections reaching a high of over four lakh, several forecasters have warned of a potential worsening of the crisis with the death toll more than doubling from the current levels in the coming weeks. A mathematical model used by a team at the Indian Institute of Science in Bengaluru pegs the death toll at 404,000 by June 11, while another model by the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation at the University of Washington forecasts over a million deaths by the end of July, according to a Bloomberg report.
Moneycontrol could not independently verify the report. India added 3.82 lakh fresh cases of COVID-19 in the last 24 hours, the highest in the last three days. The fatalities continue to be over 3,000 for an eighth consecutive day at 3,780, the biggest single-day increase. Total deaths have been recorded at 2.26 lakhs. The medical infrastructure is struggling to take in the rapidly growing number of patients as their family and friends run around looking for hospital beds, oxygen and medicines
