News Analysis India

Tag: Coronavirus in India

  • PM Modi to interact with DMs of 100 high Covid-19 caseload districts 

    By PTI
    NEW DELHI: Prime Minister Narendra Modi will interact with district magistrates of 100 districts with high caseloads of COVID-19 infections in two meetings on May 18 and 20, government sources said on Thursday.

    While DMs of 46 districts from nine states will be part of the first meeting, those from 54 districts from 10 states will attend the second meeting, they said, adding that respective chief ministers will be present in these interactions.

    This will be the first such interaction that the prime minister will have with top district-level administrative officers on the COVID-19 situation.

    So far, he has held a number of meetings with chief ministers from across the country and also, in some cases, from high caseload states on the pandemic situation since its first outbreak in 2020.

    According to the latest data from the Union Health Ministry, just ten states account for over 72 per cent of new COVID-19 cases reported in a span of 24 hours and these include Maharashtra, Delhi, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Kerala, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, West Bengal and Rajasthan.

    Also, just ten states account for 74.30 per cent of the new deaths.

    India added 3,62,727 new coronavirus infections in a day taking the COVID-19 tally of cases to 2,37,03,665, while the death toll rose to 2,58,317 with 4,120 daily fatalities, according to the Union Health Ministry data updated on Thursday.

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  • IIT-Kharagpur announces total campus shutdown till May 23 due to COVID-19 pandemic

    By PTI
    KHARAGPUR: IIT-Kharagpur announced on Thursday that its offices will remain shut till May 23 in the wake of the rising COVID-19 cases.

    Except for essential services, no work will be done from the campus, Registrar Tamal Nath said.

    “We have decided to shut down non-essential offices on the campus from Friday till May 23, and the staff will be working from home. This will be the same as online classes being held for the students,” he said.

    Essential services staff will continue to work on the campus, following all COVID protocols, he said.

    The registrar on Wednesday asked research scholars who were staying in the hostels to leave for home due to limited space for isolation facilities and treatment.

    Shops on the campus selling essential commodities will be allowed to open for a stipulated period as per the state government’s directive.

    “Our campus is not located outside West Bengal or India. So, whatever happens in the state and the country, it is bound to be reflected on our campus,” Nath said on the COVID situation at the IIT campus.

    “However, IIT-Kharagpur has adopted every possible steps and kept the situation under control,” he added.

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  • States gear up to tackle COVID-19 in villages with online consultations, surveillance committees

    By PTI
    NEW DELHI: As the COVID wave gradually shifts to rural areas, several states are gearing up to check its spread through self-proclaimed lockdowns by Panchayati Raj institutions, creating a database of migrants and providing free online medical consultation to the sick.

    The initiatives have been taken by states in consultation with the Centre to stop the virus from spreading further in villages, government sources said.

    Among the measures include imposition of self-proclaimed lockdown by Panchayati Raj institutions in Gujarat and creation of migrant database for capturing the return of migrants in panchayats both from within and outside in Assam, besides announcing formulation of village defence parties.

    Himachal Pradesh has started ‘eSanjeevani OPD’ for providing free online medical consultation to sick people and the launch of Kudumbashree Community Network in Kerala, a joint programme of the Government of Kerala implemented through Community Development Societies (CDSs) of poor women, serving as the community wing of local governments.

    Kerala has started a transportation plan by providing ambulances in each gram panchayat to support the health system besides providing two chambered cars and auto rickshaws for the needy.

    Periodic awareness programmes, setting up of village monitoring committee and specific quarantine/isolation centres for migrant labourers have been set up in Haryana.

    Door-to-door surveillance using pulse oximeter, temperature guns and antigen test kits and setting up of gram yoddha samiti in villages for supporting families of patients have also been set up in Gujarat.

    States like Andhra Pradesh have announced formulation of Corona Kattadi (monitoring) Committee and gram panchayats in the states have passed resolutions of “No mask no entry”, besides initiating proactive sanitation and door-to-door surveillance.

    Uttar Pradesh has set up village ‘nigrani samiti’ in all gram panchayats with focus on promoting cleanliness, while Uttarakhand has set up village monitoring committees (VMC) and formation of block response team at the block level to ensure and monitor proper deliverables.

    A 24×7 help desk system has also been set up by the directorate of Panchayati Raj in the state.

    West Bengal is undertaking an awareness programmes in panchayats with the help of NGOs and self help groups and is enabling safe operations of local markets/haats, besides smooth distribution of food grains to the poor under PDS.

    In Madhya Pradesh, containment zones have been set up in villages with high rate of infections and villages have been divided in Red, Orange and Green zones based on number of active COVID patients.

    Control rooms have also been established at the block, district and state level.

    Similarly, Maharashtra has initiated ‘My Family My Responsibility awareness campaign; and formed Corona Prevention Committee, besides carrying out door-to-door surveillance.

    In Punjab, village monitoring committees (VMC) have been set up in each village, which are also organising ‘thikri pehras’ to ensure night curfew is not violated.

    Rajasthan is distributing medical kits daily in many rural areas.

    Arunachal Pradesh has issued advisories to all district commissioners on widespread sanitisation of public places, formulation of village monitoring committees and initiation of community involvement and awareness programmes.

    In Bihar, a drive for mask distribution among all families in villages and local procurement of masks to promote employment has been initiated.

    Health experts and authorities have called for emulation of such measures by other states to help break the chain of coronavirus.

    The Ministry of Panchayati Raj has also issued advisories to states towards management of COVID-19 at the village level and requested states to take effective actions to respond to the spread of the pandemic in rural areas.

    India added 3,62,727 new coronavirus infections in a day taking the COVID-19 tally of cases to 2,37,03,665, while the death toll rose to 2,58,317 with 4,120 daily fatalities, according to the Union Health Ministry data.

  • Airlifting empty tankers, training 500 drivers to ramp up oxygen supply: Home Ministry

    By PTI
    NEW DELHI: The Centre has taken multiple initiatives to ramp up the oxygen supply across the country, including the airlifting of empty-tankers to reduce the turnaround time and training 500 drivers, a senior Home Ministry official said on Tuesday.

    Piyush Goyal, Additional Secretary, Union Home Ministry also told a press conference here that 5,805 MT of liquid medical oxygen is being imported from abroad considering the future needs of the country.

    Of these, 3,440 MT is being imported from the UAE, 1,505 MT from Kuwait, 600 MT from France, 200 MT from Singapore and 60 MT from Bahrain, according to a presentation shared by the officer at the press conference.

    “At present, sufficient stocks of oxygen is available in the country,” he said.

    Goyal said a fast-track system has been put in place to import oxygen from wherever supply is available.

    He said the services of Railways and Air Force are being used for transportation of tankers to reduce the turnaround time.

    Since Air Force cannot transport filled tankers, airlifting of empty-tankers is being done to manufacturing sites so that travelling time of one side can be saved, Goyal said.

    As many as 374 tankers with 7,049 MT capacity have been airlifted within the country, while 81 containers with a combined capacity of 1,407 MT have ben imported through the Indian Air Force, he said.

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    Moreover, 1,252 oxygen cylinders, three oxygen generation plants and 835 oxygen concentrators have also been imported, the officer said.

    A total of 157 oxygen special trains have moved 637 tankers across the country, Goyal said.

    In these, 389 loaded tankers were ferried from production plants to various destinations and 248 empty-tankers were moved to production plants, he said.

    The Home Ministry had issued orders under the Disaster Management Act for smooth movement of oxygen-carrying vehicles and it had directed states and Union Territories to provide adequate security to tankers and set up green corridors to ensure their faster movement, the officer said.

    “Since COVID has affected all including drivers of these tankers, training of drivers is being done to ensure availability of skilled drivers.

    500 such drivers are being trained now and thereafter 2,000 more will be trained,” Goyal said.

    A virtual control room with senior Central government and states/UTs officers has been set up to share information/problems and immediate solutions on real-time basis are being provided round the clock, he said.

    Goyal said the Central government is working in close coordination with governments of states/UTs and other stakeholders to ensure availability of oxygen across the country.

  • Covid-19 restrictions being enhanced to contain pandemic in Kargil

    By PTI
    KARGIL: Ahead of Eid-ul-Fitr festival, authorities in Kargil district of Ladakh decided to further enhance restrictions on the public to prevent the spread of COVID-19 pandemic, officials said on Tuesday.

    The unanimous decision was taken at a joint meeting of various stakeholders including representatives of religious and political organizations here, they said.

    Kargil has recorded 44 COVID-related deaths among the 2,680 positive cases since the outbreak of the pandemic.

    While 2,412 patients have recovered from the infection, there are 224 active cases in the district with the majority of them having tested positive for the virus in the past two weeks.

    The officials said the meeting, chaired by chairman and chief executive councilor, LAHDC-Kargil Feeroz Ahmad Khan, reviewed the COVID-19 pandemic situation in the district and discussed the ways and means to further enhance the level of measures to contain the spread of the virus.

    Deputy Commissioner and Chief Executive Officer, LAHDC-Kargil Santosh Sukhadeve and Senior Superintendent of Police, Kargil, Anayat Ali Choudhary also attended the meeting which expressed concern over the growing number of COVID-19 cases in the country and the grim situation as a result of the second coronavirus wave, the officials said.

    With Telangana deciding to impose #lockdown from May 12, here’s the updated list of states that have implemented complete to partial lockdown to curb #COVID19. @gsvasu_TNIE pic.twitter.com/WpY7dV2HXN
    — The New Indian Express (@NewIndianXpress) May 11, 2021

    Underlining the need to take stringent measures to deal with the situation, Khan said the prevailing situation in the neighbouring union territory of J&K, Leh district as well as recent spike of cases in Kargil district over the past few weeks is a worrisome situation and calls for immediate response measures which if not taken timely may lead to an alarming situation.

    Responding to the various suggestions put forth by the participants during the meeting, Khan assured that formal orders for starting of online classes for school students will soon be issued through the Chief Education Officer Kargil while the District Institute of Education and Trainings Kargil will be assigned with the responsibility to ensure smooth running of these classes.

    Sukhadeve said stringent measures are required to be taken to avoid COVID-19 impact on the scarcely populated district.

    “The district administration is in all readiness to deal with the prevailing pandemic situation and all out efforts are being made to keep the district safe from the deadly coronavirus,” he said.

    In addition to Section 144 CrPC and night curfew, more restrictions are being imposed to prevent any possible exigency, the deputy commissioner said.

    He sought cooperation of all the concerned stakeholders and the public in proper implementation of SOPs and guidelines to break the chain of infection.

    Regarding the measures being taken by the administration to speed up the process of testing, he said with installation of the new RNA extractor recently, all backlogs up to May 5 have been cleared.

    “The RT-PCR laboratory Kargil will now have a capacity of conducting 1,500 test per day, the reports of which will be made available within 48 hours,” he said.

    Chief Medical Officer, Kargil, Munawar Hussain Wazir said a total of 45,087 eligible persons including healthcare workers and frontline workers have been inoculated with the COVID-19 vaccines.

    While 30,717 beneficiaries have got the first dose of the vaccine, 14,370 have received the second dose, he said, adding the vaccination is going on smoothly.

    Meanwhile, the officials said the representatives of the religious and political organizations, Panchayati Raj Institution (PRI) members and other stakeholders assured their full support to the administration in ensuring the strict implementation of the SOPs, guidelines and other instructions to contain the spread of COVID-19.

  • States to receive 7 lakh additional COVID-19 vaccine doses within next three days: Centre

    By PTI
    NEW DELHI: More than 90 lakh COVID-19 vaccine doses are still available with states and UTs which will receive over 7 lakh additional doses in the next three days, the Union Health Ministry said on Tuesday.

    The Centre has so far provided more than 18 crore vaccine doses (18,00,03,160) to states and UTs free of cost.

    Of this, the total consumption including wastages is 17,09,71,429 doses.

    “More than 90 lakh COVID Vaccine doses (90,31,691) are still available with the states and UTs to be administered. States with negative balance are showing more consumption (including wastage) than vaccine supplied as they have not reconciled the vaccine they have supplied to Armed Forces,” the ministry said.

    ALSO READ | Kejriwal asks Centre to share vaccine formula with other companies to scale up production

    States and UTs will receive 7,29,610 additional vaccine doses in addition within the next three days.

    The ministry said the Government of India has been supporting the nationwide vaccination drive by providing COVID vaccines free of cost to states and UTs.

    Implementation of the Liberalized and Accelerated Phase 3 Strategy of COVID-19 Vaccination has started from 1st May 2021.

    In the strategy it is made clear that every month only 50 per cent of the total Central Drugs Laboratory (CDL) cleared vaccine doses of any manufacturer would be procured by the Centre.

    The Centre would continue to procure its share of 50 per cent of the monthly CDL cleared vaccines and would continue to make it available to state governments free of cost as was being done earlier.

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  • Rahul Gandhi attacks PM on Covid-19 situation in India, asks him to remove tinted glasses

    By PTI
    NEW DELHI: Attacking Prime Minister Narendra Modi over the Covid situation in the country, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Tuesday said he should remove his rose tinted glasses through which he can see nothing but the Central Vista project.

    The Congress has been demanding that the project, including a new Parliament building and a new residence for the prime minister, be dropped and the money be used on improving medical facilities and infrastructure in the country.

    “Countless dead bodies flowing in the rivers. Miles of lines in hospitals. Robbed people of their right to life. PM, take off those rose tinted glasses through which nothing is seen except the Central Vista,” Gandhi said in a tweet in Hindi.

    ALSO READ | ‘Congress misleading people, will be remembered for duplicity and pettiness’: Nadda hits out at Sonia

    The former Congress president also asked people to join the ‘SpeakUpToSaveLives’ campaign to strengthen the fight against COVID-19, and urged them to provide a helping hand to the needy in “these distressing times”.

    Gandhi shared a video of a little over a minute on the shortage of oxygen, ventilators, ICU beds and vaccines and people scrambling to get them.

    The Congress has set up a control room at the All India Congress Committee headquarters and Pradesh Congress Committee offices to help people.

    The party has been arranging oxygen, beds and essential medicines for those in need and has also called for free vaccination for all in the country.

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  • 1,952 employees succumbed to Covid-19; 1000 infected daily: Indian Railways

    By PTI
    NEW DELHI: As many as 1,952 employees of the Indian Railways have succumbed to coronavirus so far and around 1,000 are getting infected on a daily basis, a senior official said on Monday.

    The Railways is one of the largest employers in not just the country but the world with around 13 lakh employees.

    “Railways is not different from any other state or territory and we are also getting COVID cases. We are in the business of transport and have to move freight and people. Around 1,000 (COVID) cases are reported daily,” Railway Board Chairman Suneet Sharma said.

    “We have our hospitals, we have augmented the number of beds, we have built oxygen plants in rail hospitals. We take care of our staff. As of now, we have 4,000 beds occupied by staff and their families. Our effort is to see that they recover quickly. As of yesterday, 1,952 rail employees have died due to COVID-19 since March last year,” he added.

    A couple of days ago, the All India Railwaymen’s Federation, a rail union, had written to Railway Minister Piyush Goyal demanding compensation at par with frontline workers for railwaymen who lost their lives while working during the coronavirus crisis.

    In the letter, they said the men deserved Rs 50 lakh as compensation, same as that announced for frontline workers and not Rs 25 lakh which is paid to them.

    Shiva Gopal Mishra, General Secretary of the All India Railwaymen’s Federation said in the letter that more than one lakh have been infected by the virus, 65,000 have recovered and joined their duties while 1,500 have lost their lives due to coronavirus.

    Sharma said the Railways was concerned about the safety of all railwaymen and took all necessary steps to minimise their exposure.

    Speaking on the ‘Oxygen Express’, Sharma said that the Railways has delivered nearly 4,700 tonne of liquid medical oxygen (LMO) in more than 295 tankers to various states across the country since April 19.

    On Sunday, Oxygen Express’ delivered 831 tonne of LMO, a record for a single day.

    So far, 75 Oxygen Express’ have already completed their journey, he said.

    Till now, 293 tonne of LMO has been offloaded in Maharashtra, 1,334 tonne in Uttar Pradesh, 306 tonne in Madhya Pradesh, 598 tonne in Haryana, 123 tonne in Telangana, 40 tonne in Rajasthan and 2,011 tonne in Delhi, he said.

    The first Oxygen Express to Karnataka has also started its journey from Tatanagar in Jharkhand and is on the way to Bengaluru with 120 tonne of oxygen.

  • Maharashtra to have separate COVID-19 task force for children

    By PTI
    MUMBAI: With the possibility of a third wave of COVID-19 pandemic looming, the Maharashtra government is setting up a paediatric task force to create infrastructure for the treatment of children, health minister Rajesh Tope said on Friday.

    More than 1.30 lakh minors in the state have been infected by coronavirus during the second wave which began around February 15, as per official data.

    “A paediatric task force is being set up to tackle the third wave of COVID-19 where children could also get infected. We will need new designs for isolation or treatment centres because generally mother has to stay with the child,” Tope told reporters.

    The state is also facing a vaccine shortage and “we may have to rearrange the current vaccine distribution methods,” he said.

    Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray too said that the third wave, as per experts, could be dangerous for children, and therefore the government has decided to set up a task force of paediatric experts.

    He was speaking afterinaugurating a second oxygen plantat the district hospital in Sindhudurg virtually.

    The chief minister also reiterated that Maharashtra has the capacity to inoculate 10 lakh persons daily but not enough vaccine doses.

    There are six crore people in the age group of 18 to 44 years for whom the government needs 12 croredoses, and talks are on with vaccinemanufacturers, Thackeray said.

    “The possibility of getting the required quantity of vaccine doses is low, so we will need to upgrade our medical facilities to stop the third wave,” the CM said.

    People should not be complacent even if the pandemic is brought under control as the virus has become more infectious, he said.

  • After Hyderabad, now lion in Uttar Pradesh’s Etawah Safari Park tests COVID-19 positive

    By PTI
    BAREILLY: A lion at the Etawah Safari Park has tested positive for COVID-19 and another was suspected to have caught the infection, three days after eight Asiatic lions in Hyderabad were found infected with the virus.

    “Sixteen samples of 14 Asiatic lions at the Etawah Safari Park had been sent to the Indian Veterinary Research Institute (IVRI) for RT-PCR tests for COVID-19. On Thursday, one lion tested positive for the virus, while another was considered as a suspected case. The remaining 12 lions have tested negative,” IVRI Joint Director Dr KP Singh said.

    He said the sample of a lion was also received from the Delhi zoo and its report came out negative on Friday.

    ALSO READ | In a first, eight Asiatic lions at Hyderabad zoo test positive for COVID-19

    He said the report of the samples of the lions is being sent to the government besides the safari park management.

    The chain of transmission of the virus could have taken place through any asymptomatic human carrier, probably caretakers, working at the park, Dr Singh said.

    He said the safari park authorities have been advised to shift the infected animals in isolation.

    The safari park has already been shut for public.

    The CSIR-Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology had on Tuesday said eight Asiatic lions in the Hyderabad zoo have tested positive for COVID-19.

    It had said these animals must have got infected through zoo-keeping staff.

    The Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change had said the infected animals were behaving normally.