News Analysis India

Tag: Coronavirus Outbreak

  • 10 states account for 69.1 per cent of new COVID-19 cases: Union Health Ministry

    By PTI
    NEW DELHI: Ten states, including Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh and Delhi, reported 69.1 per cent of the new COVID-19 cases registered in a day, the Union Health Ministry said on Tuesday.

    With 3,23,144 people testing positive for the coronavirus infection in a day, the country’s total tally of cases has climbed to 1,76,36,307, it said.

    Karnataka, Kerala, Chhattisgarh, West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, Gujarat and Rajasthan are also among the 10 states that reported 69.1 per cent of the new cases.

    “Cumulatively, more than 28 crore tests have conducted so far, while the cumulative positivity rate is 6.28 per cent,” the ministry said.

    Maharashtra has reported the highest daily new cases at 48,700.

    It is followed by Uttar Pradesh with 33,551 new cases and Karnataka with 29,744 new cases.

    India’s total number of active cases has reached 28,82,204 and comprises 16.34 per cent of the total infections.

    There has been a net increase of 68,546 cases in the total active cases in a span of 24 hours, according to the ministry.

    Maharashtra, Chhattisgarh, Uttar Pradesh, Karnataka, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, Gujarat and Kerala cumulatively account for 69.1 per cent of the country’s total active cases.

    Out of the total cases in the country, active cases constitute 16.43 per cent and recoveries 82.54 per cent, the ministry said.

    The daily positivity rate currently stands at 20.02 per cent, it said.

    “The national cumulative fatality rate (CFR) has been falling and it currently stands at 1.12 per cent,” the ministry said.

    In a span of 24 hours, a total 2,771 deaths were reported.

    Ten states account for 77.3 per cent of the new deaths and these include.

    Maharashtra with the highest 524 fatalities and Delhi with 380 fatalities, it said.

    India’s cumulative recoveries have surged to 1,45,56,209 with 2,51,827 patients recuperating in a span of 24 hours.

    Ten states account for 79.70 per cent of the new recoveries, according to the ministry.

    On vaccination against COVID-19, it said that the cumulative number of vaccine doses administered in the country has crossed 14.5 crore.

    The ministry said that 14,52,71,186 vaccine doses have been administered through 20,74,721 sessions, as per the provisional report till 7 am.

    These include 93,24,770 healthcare workers (HCWs) who have taken the first dose and 60,60,718 HCWs who have taken the second dose, and 1,21,10,258 frontline workers (FLWs) who have received the first dose and 64,25,992 FLWs have taken the second dose.

    Besides, 5,05,77,743 and 87,31,091 beneficiaries above 60 years of age have been administered the first and second dose respectively, while 4,93,48,238 and 26,92,376 beneficiaries aged 45 to 60 years have taken the first and second dose respectively.

    Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Gujarat, West Bengal, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Kerala, Bihar and Andhra Pradesh account for 67.3 per cent of the cumulative doses given so far in the country, the ministry said.

    More than 31 lakh vaccine doses were administered in a span of 24 hours and as on Day-101 of the vaccination drive (April 26), 31,74,688 vaccine doses were given.

    The ministry said that 19,73,778 beneficiaries were vaccinated across 22,797 sessions for the first dose and 12,00,910 beneficiaries received the second dose of vaccines against the COVID-19.

  • Oxygen shortage: Centre imports 20 cryogenic tankers, allocates them to states

    By PTI
    NEW DELHI: The Centre has imported 20 cryogenic tankers of 10 MT and 20 MT capacity and allocated them to states to address the shortage of oxygen tankers in the country as it deals with spiralling cases of COVID-19.

    As mapping of liquid medical oxygen (LMO) from manufacturing plants to different states is a dynamic process and transportation of medical oxygen through cryogenic tankers is becoming a bottleneck in making available LMO from the eastern part of the country to other parts, 20 cryogenic ISO containers of capacity 20 MT and 10 MT have been imported to augment the transportation of oxygen, the Union Health Ministry said on Tuesday.

    The Ministry of Road Transport and Highways in consultation with the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade under the overall guidance of the Empowered Group-II have mapped the allocation of these containers to suppliers in Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Gujarat, Delhi, the ministry said in the statement.

    India is struggling with a second wave of coronavirus infection and hospitals in several states are reeling under shortage of medical oxygen and beds in view of rising COVID-19 cases.

  • Dalai Lama contributes to PM-CARES Fund to strengthen India’s fight against COVID-19

    By PTI
    DHARAMSHALA: Tibetan spiritual leader Dalai Lama on Tuesday announced to make a contribution to the PM-CARES Fund to strengthen India’s fight against the “alarming COVID-19 surge”.

    “I have been following the continuing challenge that the Covid-19 pandemic has been posing across the world, including in India, with concern,” he said in a statement.

    “At this critical time, during this alarming Covid-19 surge, I have asked the Dalai Lama Trust to make a donation to the PM-CARES Fund as a token of our solidarity with fellow Indian brothers and sisters,” he added.

    “May I take this opportunity to express my deep appreciation for all the efforts that are being made to tackle this devastating pandemic, especially by those courageously working on the frontline. I pray that the pandemic threat will end soon,” the spiritual leader said.

    With 3,23,144 people testing positive for coronavirus infection in a day, India’s total tally of COVID-19 cases has climbed to 1,76,36,307, while the national recovery rate has further dropped to 82.54 per cent, according to the Union Health Ministry data updated on Tuesday.

    The Centre had set up the Prime Minister’s Citizen Assistance and Relief in Emergency Situations (PM CARES) Fund in March 2020 with the primary objective to deal with any kind of emergency situation like the one currently posed by the COVID-19 outbreak and provide relief to those affected.

  • Maharashtra Revenue Minister Balasaheb Thorat raises concern over Ahmednagar COVID-19 situation

    By PTI
    MUMBAI: Maharashtra Revenue Minister Balasaheb Thorat has alleged mismanagement of medicines and tests of COVID-19 patients in Ahmednagar and said this could worsen the situation in the district.

    The Congress leader, who hails from Ahmednagar, located about 260 km from Mumbai, wrote a letter to Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray on Monday, listing his observations made during a recent tour of the district.

    He also sought instructions on the judicious use of Remdesivir to treat COVID-19 patients.

    On Monday, Ahmednagar reported 2,254 new COVID-19 cases, raising its overall tally to 1,08,893, while 23 deaths pushed the toll to 1,155, as per official data.

    Thorat said COVID-19 test reports were being declared after about 48 hours of swab collection and during this period, those people were not following isolation guidelines.

    Some tehsils in Ahmednagar do not have rapid antigen test kits, due to which less number of COVID-19 tests were being conducted, he said.

    As a result, less number of COVID-19 cases were being reported in the district, which is “not the ground reality”, he said.

    “These things could worsen the situation in the district,” the minister said.

    He said basic medicines like Paracetamol, Cetrizine, Azithromycin and Fabiflu were also not available in state-run hospitals and COVID-19 care centres in Ahmednagar Though 85 per cent of the COVID-19 patients were getting cured at the isolation centres, necessary medicines need to be made available easily, he said.

    “If a patient’s health deteriorates, timely availability of oxygen and Remdesivir is crucial. Kindly initiate appropriate action,” Thorat said in the letter.

    He also said many citizens were rushing for lung scans for the detection of spread of the viral infection.

    “This leads to crowding at the scanning centres. These centres have now become one of the causes for the rise in COVID-19 cases,” Thorat said.

    Doctors were also insisting on the HR-CT (high resolution scan of the chest) reports before admitting patients, he said and demanded a strict policy on such scans.

  • COVID-19: India logs record 3.52 lakh new cases, 2,812 fatalities

    By PTI
    NEW DELHI: With 3,52,991 people testing positive for coronavirus infection in a day, the highest so far, India’s total tally of COVID-19 cases has climbed to 1,73,13,163 while active cases have crossed the 28-lakh mark, according to the Union Health Ministry data updated on Monday.

    The death toll increased to 1,95,123 with a record 2,812 new fatalities, the data updated at 8 am showed.

    Registering a steady increase, the active cases have increased to 28,13,658 comprising 16.25 per cent of the total infections, while the national COVID-19 recovery rate has further dropped to 82.62 per cent.

    The number of people who have recuperated from the disease surged to 1,43,04,382.

    ALSO READ: Explosive rise places Bengaluru at top of active COVID heap

    The case fatality rate has further dropped to 1.13 per cent, the data stated.

    India’s COVID-19 tally had crossed the 20-lakh mark on August 7, 30 lakh on August 23, 40 lakh on September 5 and 50 lakh on September 16.

    It went past  60 lakh on September 28,  70 lakh on  October 11, crossed 80 lakh on October 29,  90 lakh on  November 20 and surpassed the one-crore mark on December 19.

    India crossed the grim milestone of 1.50 crore on April 19.

    ALSO READ: Karnataka government sets deadline to get COVID issues right

    According to the ICMR, 27,93,21,177 samples have been tested up to April 25 with 14,02,367 samples being tested on Sunday.

    The 2,812 new fatalities include 832 from Maharashtra, 350 from Delhi, 206 from Uttar Pradesh, 199 from Chhattisgarh, 157 from Gujarat, 143 from Karnataka, and 103 from Jharkhand.

    A total of 1,95,123  deaths have been reported so far in the country including 64,760 from Maharashtra, 14,426 from Karnataka, 14,248 from Delhi, 13,557 from Tamil Nadu, 11,165 from Uttar Pradesh, 10,941 from West Bengal, 8,432 from Punjab and 7,685 from Andhra Pradesh.

    ALSO READ: Districts with over 10% positivity or 60% bed occupancy liable for intensive actions, Centre tells states

    The health ministry stressed that more than 70 per cent of the deaths occurred due to comorbidities.

    “Our figures are being reconciled with the Indian Council of Medical Research,” the ministry said on its website, adding that state-wise distribution of figures is subject to further verification and reconciliation.

    ALSO WATCH:

  • ‘Oxygen Express’ with three tankers arrives in Maharashtra

    By PTI
    MUMBAI: A train carrying three tankers loaded with liquid medical oxygen arrived at Kalamboli near Mumbai from Jamnagar in Gujarat on Monday, railway officials said.

    The train, carrying about 44 tonnes of liquid medical oxygen, nearly 15 tonnes in each tanker, reached Kalamboli in Navi Mumbai at around 11.30 am, covering a distance of about 860 km in over 17 hours, they said.

    This is the second ‘Oxygen Express’ to arrive in Maharashtra, which is facing shortage of the liquid medical oxygen due to a sharp surge in COVID-19 cases.

    The first ‘Oxygen Express’ carrying seven tankers of the liquid medical oxygen reached the state from Visakhapatnam on April 23.

    Four of those tankers were offloaded at Nashik and three at Nagpur, considering the local need.

    Informing about the ‘Oxygen Express’ which arrived on Monday, Western Railway officials said the Ro-Ro (Roll on-Roll off) goods train carrying three tankers of the liquid medical oxygen on BWT wagons left from Hapa at Jamnagar in Gujarat around 6 pm on Sunday.

    After an overnight journey via Viramgam, Ahmedabad, Vadodara and Surat, the train entered Maharashtra in the morning, they said.

    “It is the first ‘Oxygen Express’ run by the Western Railway,” WR’s chief public relations officer Sumit Thakur said, adding railway authorities provided an uninterrupted ‘green corridor’ to the train for swift movement.

    The three oxygen tankers are supplied by the Reliance Industries in Jamnagar, he said.

    “Necessary arrangements were made at the Hapa goods shed in a short time for the smooth movement of the train,” he said.

    According to the Western Railway, authorities followed all safety parameters, keeping in mind the height of the gas tankers and monitored their pressure from time to time.

    “As liquid oxygen is cryogenic, there are many limitations, like the speed at which it can be carried, acceleration and deceleration and loading restrictions,” Thakur said.

    On April 18, the Railways had announced it will run ‘Oxygen Express’ trains over the next few days to transport liquid medical oxygen and oxygen cylinders across the country.

  • Congress ​MP Rahul Gandhi demands free COVID vaccine for all

    By PTI
    NEW DELHI: Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Monday said all citizens should get COVID vaccines for free and the country should not be made a “victim of the BJP’s system”.

    India’s vaccination campaign is all set to get a major boost from May 1 when everyone above the age of 18 will be eligible for vaccine.

    “Enough of discussion. All citizens of the country should get vaccine for free. Don’t make India a victim of the BJP’s system,” he said in a tweet in Hindi.

    Gandhi and the Congress have been asking for free vaccination of all.

    The party has also criticised the government’s vaccination policy and the handling of the COVID situation in the country.

    Maharashtra, which is leading in the number of cases and deaths in the country, Gujarat, Odisha and Rajasthan has said they will provide free vaccination to all, joining several other states.

    However, four states ruled by the Congress and its allies accused the Centre of “hijacking” vaccine stocks from manufacturers and expressed doubts they would be able to launch the inoculation drive to cover those between 18-45 years of age from May 1.

  • COVID-19 surge: Women cooks in Maharashtra hit hard by curtailment of wedding functions

    By PTI
    AURANGABAD: Women cooks, who used to earn a living by preparing food at marriage hall kitchens in Aurangabad, have been severely affected by the Maharashtra government’s new order restricting the timings and number of people at wedding events in the wake of the COVID-19 surge.

    These women say they are staring at a dark future as they are hardly getting any food orders now from wedding caterers and are unable to meet their daily needs.

    They have now appealed to the government to provide them financial assistance.

    Hirabai Pawar (60), who is in this profession here since the last four decades and lives with her daughter-in-law and granddaughter, told PTI that she never experienced such a crisis in her life.

    “My daughter-in-law worked in a beauty parlour, but they are also shut now. Till last year, I used to earn Rs 200 to 400 a day, but now that has stopped. I need at least Rs 2,000 per month for my medicines,” she said.

    Another local culinarian Jyoti Kathar also said she has no work and is in a dire situation.

    “My husband also does not have any income as the cloth shop where he worked is closed. Now, we cannot even provide milk to our two children as we have to curtail our expenses. They drink black tea now,” she said.

    Kathar said amid the COVID-19 pandemic, they also had to shift their children to a government school as they were not able to afford the high fees of their private educational institution.

    Another city-based cook Jijabai Pawar (45) said she never went to school, but used to be proud of handling food preparations at big kitchens of marriage caterers.

    “I used to take charge of things even if the caterer was busy with other functions. But, now my earning has stopped and our family comprising seven members is surviving only on the salary of one of my sons. A major portion of his income goes in paying our house rent,” she rued.

    Sharing similar woes, cook Sumanbai Suryavanshi (70) said she has been unable to pay her house rent for the last two months.

    “We live in Sanjay Nagar which was declared a COVID-19 hotspot last year. We took all care and none of my family members have got infected so far,” she said.

    But, she is not getting any food orders now since the state government announced that marriage ceremonies may be conducted only as a single event not extending beyond two hours with maximum of total 25 people attending the same.

    Cook Anita Khajekar said earlier when she used to work at marriage hall kitchens, she would bring the leftover food at home which would serve as her family’s meal for the day.

    “Now, I neither have the job nor that food, while my grocery expenses have almost doubled,” she said.

    Another local cook Kantabai Kale (70) said they have been suffering since the outbreak of the pandemic last year, but the government has not provided them any financial aid.

    “We heard the government has decided to help various stakeholders. The government should also look after us now,” she said.

  • Second wave of COVID has shaken country; we will soon come out of crisis: PM Narendra Modi

    By PTI
    NEW DELHI: Noting that the second wave of COVID-19 is testing people’s patience and their capacity to endure pain, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Sunday that this “toofan” (storm) has shaken the country after it was full of enthusiasm and self-confidence after successfully tackling the first wave.

    In his monthly Mann Ki Baat broadcast, Modi spoke to doctors, nurses and frontline workers, who shared their experience and views on the disease, and expressed confidence that people will soon come out of this crisis.

    The over 30-minute broadcast was entirely focussed on the pandemic, which has been rampaging across the country for weeks, with Modi asserting that defeating the disease is the biggest priority.

    Modi began the programme by taking note of people’s sufferings.

    “Many of our near and dear ones have left us untimely.

    After successfully confronting the first wave of Corona, the country was full of enthusiasm, full of self-confidence, but this storm has shaken the country,” he said.

    He urged people to go for vaccination against the disease and cautioned them against rumours about it.

    The Centre, he said, will continue to provide jabs free of cost to the eligible people (those over 45 years of age).

    “We have to accord priority to the expert and scientific advice at this time to win this battle,” he said.

    Modi also appealed to states to extend the benefit of the Centre’s free vaccine campaign to the maximum number of people.

    “The government of India is applying its entire might to give a fillip to endeavours of state governments.

    The state governments too are trying their best to fulfil their responsibilities,” he said.

    A doctor, whose conversation with the prime minister was played in the programme, noted that people are a bit scared about the pandemic situation, while saying that there is absolutely no need for it as 80 to 90 per cent of the infected people do not show any of these symptoms.

    It is imperative that treatment protocol is as per the doctor’s advice, he said.

    Echoing his view, Dr Naveed Nazeer Shah from Srinagar urged people to follow COVID guidelines to avoid getting infected and to get inoculated.

    The prime minister said while people are getting infected by the disease, they are also recovering from it in big numbers, and also spoke to one Preeti Chaturvedi of Gurugram, who shared her experience of dealing with the disease.

    She has now recovered.

    Modi also lauded the help offered by citizens during the pandemic.

    “I urge all of you to get vaccinated and we also have to take full care.

    ‘Dawai bhi, kadai bhi’, get vaccinated and maintain all precautions.

    Never forget this mantra.

    We will soon prevail together over this calamity,” the prime minister said.

    India logged a record 3,49,691 new coronavirus infections in a day taking it total tally of COVID-19 cases to 1,69,60,172 while active cases crossed the 26-lakh mark, according to the Union Health Ministry data updated on Sunday.

    The death toll increased to 1,92,311 with a record 2,767 daily new fatalities, the data updated at 8 am showed.

  • Congress sets up control room to coordinate COVID relief with its state units

    By PTI
    NEW DELHI: Congress President Sonia Gandhi on Sunday approved the setting up of an AICC control room to coordinate with the party’s state units about relief activities being carried out during during the second wave of the pandemic.

    The party has set up control rooms in each state to provide assistance to people in need during the current COVID-19 crisis.

    “The AICC control room shall coordinate with PCC (Pradesh Congress Committee) control rooms on a daily basis and report back,” the party said in a statement.

    The Congress leaders who will coordinate at the AICC control room are Manish Chatrath, Ajoy Kumar, Pawan Khera and Gurdeep Singh Sappal.