Coronavirus Highlights: India saw a single-day rise of 45,951 coronavirus infections taking the total tally of COVID-19 cases to 3,03,62,848, while daily fatalities remained below 1,000 for the third consecutive day, according to the Union Health Ministry data updated on Wednesday. The death toll rose to 3,98,454 with 817 fresh fatalities, the lowest in 81 days. According to the data published at 7 am, cumulatively 33.28 crore vaccine doses have been administered so far under the Nationwide Vaccination Drive.
The Jharkhand government has issued new COVID-19 restriction guidelines that would be effective from July 1. All shops have been allowed to remain open till 8 pm. Cinema halls, bars, restaurants, and multiplexes have also been allowed to open, but with a 50 percent cap on seating. Stadiums, gyms, and parks will open; banquet halls and community halls will also open but with a 50-persons limit.
Manish Tripathi, prime accused in Mumbai COVID-19 vaccination scam, has been sent to police custody till July 4.
India requests European Union member states to individually consider allowing persons who have taken COVID-19 vaccines in India -- Covishield and Covaxin – for non-essential travel and accept the vaccination certificate issued through the CoWIN portal.
After 53 days of lockdown, Kochi Metro Rail Limited (KMRL) is set to resume the metro train services from 1st July onwards strictly adhering to COVID-19 guidelines and protocols.
Initially, train services will resume from 08:00 hrs to 20:00 hrs with a headway of 10 mins during peak hours and 15 mins during non-peak hours, KMRL said on June 30.
The announcement comes even as Kerala reported over 13,000 COVID-19 cases in the past 24 hours.
We have exported 60 million doses between January and February which is perhaps more than any other country. Then the second wave hit us & the focus shifted to the Indian population because it was needed then: Adar Poonawalla, CEO, Serum Institute India at India Global Forum
Due to a shortage, of course, there was always going to be a situation where countries will have to wait for some of the nations which could afford the COVID-19 vaccine. That is exactly where COVAX plays a role and we had in fact started to export a lot of doses from India: Adar Poonawalla
Tamil Nadu reports 4,506 new COVID-19 cases, 5,537 recoveries, and 113 deaths on June 30. Active cases stand at 38,191, total recoveries at 24,08,886, and the death toll at 32,619.
Delhi Health Minister Satyendar Jain on Wednesday said the national capital has not reported any case of Delta plus variant of COVID-19 so far, adding that there is no communication from the Centre to make any special arrangement to deal with it.He said a genome sequencing lab to detect the variants of coronavirus will become operational at Lok Nayak Hospital within a week.Another such lab is beingcreated atthe Institute of Liver and Biliary Sciences, he said."There are several variants of coronavirus, but there are only two ways to protect yourselfagainst it -- get vaccinated and use masks. There is no separate communication from the Centre to make special preparations for the Delta plus variant. Also, Delhi has not reported any such cases so far," Jain told reporters.He said the Delhi government is in the process of increasing hospital beds to accommodate 37,000 cases a day in caseof a third wave.The Delhi government has already installed 32Pressure Swing Adsorption(PSA) oxygen generationplants with a totalcapacity of 29.77 metric tonnes (MT).Three liquid medical oxygen storage tanks with a cumulative capacity of 171 MT have also been installed. (PTI)
The Union Health Ministry has asked the West Bengal government to inquire into instances of COVID-19 vaccination camps being organised allegedly by unauthorised people in some areas of Kolkata and submit a report in the next two days.Union Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan has written toHari Krishna Dwivedi, Chief Secretary of West Bengal, on June29, seekinga factual report on the matter.
CEO, SII at India Global Forum: I don't think things have gone that wrong. Billions of vaccines are needed to meet global capacity. All vaccine manufacturers in the world are collaborating, there is no other way. We're ramping up, others are ramping up.
India believes there is an urgent need for carrying out "major reforms" in the World Health Organization to ensure a timely, focused and effective response to potential future pandemics, Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan said on Wednesday.Speaking at a meeting of the health ministers of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) countries through video-conference, he said the global crisis arising out of COVID-19 pandemic is further compounded by ever-evolving new variants of the virus, and highlighted the need for greater collaboration between countries on various aspects of health to defeat it, a Health Ministry statement said.
Kerala on Wednesday logged 13,658 fresh COVID-19 cases and 142 deaths, pushing the tally to 29,24,165 and 13,235 respectively Among the new cases, 67 were health workers.As many as 11,808 people have been cured, taking the total recoveries to 28,09,587 while the active cases touched 1,00,881, the State Health Department said in a bulletin.In the last 24 hours, 1,40,727 samples were tested and the test positivity rate (TPR) was 9.71 percent.
Having seen 'the worst in our life' during the second wave of COVID-19, graveyard managers in Delhi are praying to god to avoid a possible third wave, and at the same are preparing for any eventuality with a focus on adequate availability of land for burials.The second wave of COVID-19 triggered an unprecedented rush at graveyards and crematoriums in the city, causing space crunch.At theAgleIslam graveyard at Delhi Gate, a member of its management committee,Qayamuddin, says, 'We saw the worst in our life in the past two months and attended up to 25-28 bodies a day on several days. I pray to the god to stop the third wavefrom striking.' The sprawling graveyard faced the risk of running out of space for burials during the second wave, said another member of the committee,MashqoorRashid.Rashid claimed over 1,500 bodies, mostly COVID-19 victims, were buried there in the last two months.'What can we do if the third wave strikes? We can only pray. But we also have space for burial for 250-300 bodies on the space we have created,' Rashid said.
