News Analysis India

Tag: Pandemic

  • Rajasthan records biggest daily jump of 7,359 COVID-19 cases

    By PTI
    JAIPUR: Rajasthan’s COVID-19 tally mounted to 3,95,309 on Friday with a record single-day jump of 7,359 fresh cases, according to an official report.

    Thirty-one more people succumbed to the disease in the state, pushing the death toll to 3,072, the report said.

    Of the latest deaths, Jodhpur and Udaipur recorded five each; Ajmer three; Barmer, Jaipur, Karauli and Sikar two each; and Chittorgarh, Churu, Dholpur, Dausa, Jalore, Jhalawar, Jhunjhunu, Nagaur, Rajsamand and Sawai Madhopur one each.

    The number of active cases in the state stands at 53,813, the report stated. Meanwhile, the weekend curfew began in Rajasthan at 6 pm and will continue till 5 am on Monday. Markets were closed by 5 pm and people were seen rushing back home.

    The state government had announced the weekend curfew after a high-level review meeting chaired by Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot on Thursday.

    Emergency and essential services, banks, fruits, vegetable and milk vendors are exempted from the curfew.

    Similarly, polling and election-related activities in Sahara (Bhilwara), Sujangarh (Churu) and Rajsamand (Rajsamand) assembly constituencies will be conducted as scheduled. Bypolls to these assembly seats will be held on Saturday.

  • West Bengal polls: EC bans rallies, public meetings from 7 pm-10 am due to rise in COVID cases

    By PTI
    NEW DELHI: Against the backdrop of rising COVID-19 cases, the Election Commission on Friday put in place restrictions on campaigning by political parties, including curtailing its time, for the West Bengal assembly elections.

    In an order, the poll panel curtailed the time for campaign up to 7 pm. Earlier it was up to 10 pm.

    Now there will be no campaign between 7 pm and 10 am on campaign day in the state, the Election Commission said.

    It also extended the silence period from 48 hours to 72 hours in each of the remaining three of the eight phases of the West Bengal polls to be held on April 22, 26 and 29.

    During the silence period, which is usually for 48 hours, parties and candidates cannot hold rallies and meetings.

  • CICSE defers class 10, 12 exams in view of surge in COVID cases

    By PTI
    NEW DELHI: The CICSE on Friday deferred the board exams of classes 10 and 12 in view of a rise in COVID-19 cases across the country.

    In light of the nationwide surge in coronavirus cases, the class 10 and 12 exams which were to be held from May 4 have been deferred, the Council for the Indian School Certificate Examinations’ chief executive and secretary Gerry Arathoon said.

    “We will closely monitor the situation and review it in the first week of June to take a final decision on conduct of examination,” he said.

    “While class 12 exams will be conducted at a later stage, class 10 students will get an option to either appear in offline exams later or get evaluated on basis of fair and unbiased criteria to be developed by board,” Arathoon added.

    Earlier this week, the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) had cancelled its class 10 board exams and deferred the class 12 board exams. Several state boards have postponed or cancelled their exams too.

  • Three held in Indore for selling Remdesivir in black market

    By PTI
    INDORE: A medical shop owner and two others were arrested on Thursday by the Madhya Pradesh police’s Special Task Force (STF) for allegedly black marketing Remdesivir injections used in the treatment of COVID-19 patients, an official said.

    The arrested persons were identified as Rajesh Patidar, Gyaneshwar Baraskar and Anurag Singh Sisodia, STF Indore unit’s Superintendent of Police (SP) Manish Khatri said.

    “They were arrested based on a tip-off. The STF sleuths recovered 12 vials of injections of two different brands from them. It was printed on the packet of these vials that they are meant ‘for export only’,” he said.

    The maximum sale price was not printed on them, but they were trying to sell each injection at Rs 20,000, the SP said.

    While Sisodia runs a medical store, Patidar is a medical representative by profession, he added.

    After the initial probe, it came to light that the accused have sold these injections in neighbouring Dhar also Khatri said.

  • COVID-19: Tender to be floated to import 50,000 MT of medical oxygen, says Centre

    By PTI
    NEW DELHI: In view of a spike in COVID-19 cases, a tender will be floated to import 50,000 metric tonnes (MT) of medical oxygen, while its sources and production capacity has been mapped to match the requirement of 12-high burden states, the Centre said on Thursday.

    The Union Health Ministry has been directed to finalise the tender for the same and also explore possible sources for import identified by the missions of the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA), it said.

    “Also, based on the mapping exercise undertaken, 4,880 MT, 5,619 MT and 6,593 MT have been indicated to these 12 states — Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, Uttar Pradesh, Delhi, Chhattisgarh, Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Punjab, Haryana and Rajasthan — for meeting their projected demand as on 20th April, 25th April and 30th April, respectively,” a statement issued by the health ministry said.

    The health ministry is issuing orders in this regard and the same would be notified by the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA), it said.

    The number of new coronavirus cases in India hit a record daily high with over 2 lakh infections being reported in a day, while the active cases surpassed the 14- lakh mark, according to health ministry data.

    With the new cases, the total tally of cases in the country rose to 1,40,74,564.

    A meeting of the Empowered Group-2 (EG2) on COVID-19 was held on Thursday to review the availability of essential medical equipment and oxygen, and the decisions were taken, the statement said.

    EG2 is monitoring the situation of demand and supply of medical oxygen continuously to ensure that all necessary steps are taken to support its uninterrupted supply, it added.

    Medical oxygen is a critical component in the treatment of COVID-affected patients and there has been increasing demand for medical oxygen, especially from these 12 states which have a high-burden of active coronavirus cases.

    While the demand in Maharashtra is expected to be beyond available production capacity of the state, states like Madhya Pradesh do not have any production capacity to meet their demand for medical oxygen, the health ministry said.

    Besides, there is a trend of increasing demand in other oxygen producing states such as Gujarat, Karnataka, Rajasthan, it highlighted.

    To give clarity and assurance to the states on oxygen to be supplied over the next few weeks, a mapping exercise was undertaken jointly by the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade, the health ministry, the Ministry of Steel, various critically affected states and the Petroleum and Explosives Safety Organisation (PESO), the statement said.

    Besides them, key stakeholders, including representatives of oxygen manufacturers and the All India Industrial Gas Manufacturers Association (AIIGMA), were also part of the exercise done as per the directions of Empowered Group -2, it said.

      “Sources of medical oxygen and their production capacity was mapped to match the requirement of states and an indicative framework has been developed to guide the states on the sources of medical oxygen, the statement said.

    “Accordingly, 4,880 MT, 5,619 MT and 6,593 MT have been indicated to these 12 states for meeting their projected demand as on 20th April, 25th April and 30th April, respectively.

    MoHFW (health ministry) is issuing orders in this regard and the same would be notified by MHA,” it said.

    The empowered group had directed the health ministry to identify another 100 hospitals in far-flung locations for consideration of sanction for installation of Pressure Swing Adsorption (PSA) plants, according to the statement.

    PSA plants manufacture oxygen and help hospitals become self-sufficient in their requirement for medical oxygen while also reducing the burden on the national grid for its supply.

    Also, 162 PSA plants sanctioned under PM-CARES are being closely reviewed for early completion to enhance self-generation of oxygen in hospitals especially in remote areas, the statement said.

    “In view of increasing demand for medical oxygen, EG2 decided to float a tender for import of 50,000 MT of medical oxygen. MOHFW has been directed to finalise the tender for the same and also explore possible sources for import identified by the missions of MEA,” it said.

    The Centre has asked states to make rational use of medical oxygen and ensure there is no wastage while stressing that there is sufficient stock of oxygen in the country.

    “Along with the ramped up production of the oxygen manufacturing units and the surplus stocks available, the present availability of oxygen is sufficient,” the health ministry said.

    Besides, states have been asked to set up control rooms to ensure smooth supply of oxygen to the districts according to need and review requirement of cylinders, tankers etc. it said.

  • Maharashtra records 61,695 new COVID-19 cases, 349 deaths

    By PTI
    MUMBAI: Maharashtra on Thursday reported 61,695 fresh coronavirus cases, taking the tally to 36,39,855, while 349 new fatalities pushed the toll to 59,153, the state health department said The COVID-19 case tally is the second highest single-day count so far after 63,294 infections were reported in the state on April 11.

    Also, 53,335 patients were discharged during the day, taking the number of recovered cases to 29,59,056, the department said. Maharashtra is now left with 6,20,060 active cases, the department said in a release.

    Mumbai recorded 8,209 new cases and 50 fatalities, taking the tally to 5,53,404 and the toll to 12,197 With 2,34,452 new tests, the number of samples examined so far in Maharashtra rose to 2,30,36,652, the department added.

    Currently, 35,87,478 people are in home quarantine, while 27,273 people are in institutional quarantine in the state.

    Maharashtra’s COVID-19 recovery rate currently stood at 81.3 per cent, while the fatality rate was 1.63 per cent, the department said.

    The Mumbai division, including Mumbai city and its satellite towns, recorded 16,906 cases and 82 deaths during the day, taking the count of cases to 11,50,776 and the fatalities to 21,416.

    Mumbai’s neighbouring civic bodies, which are part of the division – “Thane city, Navi Mumbai, Kalyan Dombivli – and also Thane district – reported COVID-19 cases in four digits The Nashik division reported 9,582 cases, including 3,235 in Nashik city. The Pune division saw 12,169 fresh infections, including 5,469 in Pune city.

    Out of 88 new deaths recorded in the division, Pune city and Satara reported 42 and 23, respectively, the department said.

    The Kolhapur division added 2,019 new cases, the Aurangabad division 3,334, the Latur division 4,561 and the Akola division 2,093.

    The Nagpur division registered 11,031 cases, including 4,282 in Nagpur city, while Chandrapur district added 1,029 infections.

    Maharashtra’s coronavirus figures are: Positive cases 36,39,855, new cases 61,695, death 59,153, recoveries 29,59,056, active 6,20,060, people tested so far 2,30,36,652.

  • NEET-PG exams postponed amid COVID 19 spike, new dates to be announced later

    By PTI
    NEW DELHI: In view of a spike in the number of COVID-19 cases, the National Eligibility-Cum-Entrance Test (postgraduate), which was scheduled to be held on April 18, has been postponed, Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan said on Thursday..

    “In light of the surge in #COVID19 cases, GoI has decided to postpone #NEETPG2021 exam which was earlier scheduled to be held on Apr 18. Next date to be decided later. Decision has been taken keeping wellbeing of our young medical students in mind,” he said in a tweet.

    India added a record over 2 lakh new COVID-19 infections in a day pushing the total tally of cases to 1,40,74,564, while the active cases surpassed the 14-lakh mark, according to the Union Health Ministry data updated on Thursday.

    A total of 2,00,739 new COVID-19 cases have been registered in a span of 24 hours.

    The death toll increased to   1,73,123 with 1,038 daily new fatalities, the highest since  October 3, 2020 the data updated at 8 am showed.

    With over 1 lakh infections per day for the ninth consecutive day, India has added 13,88,515 cases in nine days.

  • MP: Man held with 400 vials of suspected remdesivir injections in Indore

    By PTI
    INDORE: A man associated with the pharma industry was arrested on Thursday for allegedly selling fake remdesivir injections in Madhya Pradesh’s Indore city, police said.

    Acting on a tip-off, the police arrested Vinay Trivedi for alleged black marketing of injections labelled as remdesivir, deputy inspector general (DIG) Manish Kapooria told reporters.

    At least 16 packets, carrying 25 vials each of the suspected anti-viral drug, were seized from the accused’s possession, the official said.

    During interrogation, the accused claimed that he had procured the injections from a company in Himachal Pradesh, but failed to produce any documents to support his claim, Kapooria said.

    The accused also claimed that the injections that he had brought were part of a drug trial and were not tested so far on patients, the DIG said.

    “We will get these injections tested in a laboratory, but a drug inspector, prima facie, doubted their authenticity,” he said.

    A criminal case has been registered and a detailed probe will be conducted to trace the source of the drug and ascertain if the accused had sold the injections locally, the official said.

    Meanwhile, the crime branch’s additional superintendent of police (ASP) Guruprasad Parashar said the police had received information that Trivedi is associated with the pharma industry and also owns a pharma unit in the neighbouring Pithampur industrial town.

    These facts are being verified. The seizure and arrest have come at a time when the state is grappling with a shortage of remdesivir and reports of black marketing of the anti-viral drug are doing rounds.

  • Chhattisgarh records 14,250 new COVID-19 cases, 120 deaths

    By PTI
    RAIPUR: Chhattisgarh on Wednesday reported 14,250 new COVID-19casesand 120 more deaths, taking the infection count to 4,86,244 and the toll to 5,307, a health official said.

    Joint Director in the states health department, Dr Subhash Pandey, was among those who died due to COVID-19 complications, he said.

    The fresh daily tally was lower than 15,121 COVID-19 cases reported on Tuesday, the highest single-day spike so far in the state.

    The state has recorded over 1.68 lakh cases and 1,417 deaths just in the last one month. The number of active cases in the state stood at 1,18,636 after 88 people were discharged from hospitals while 2,441 others completed their home isolation period in the day, the official said.

    With this, the number of people who have recovered from the infection increased to 3,62,301. The worst-hit Raipur and Durg districts reported 3,960 and 1,647 new cases, respectively.

    While the total count of infection in Raipur has reached 1,02,881, including 1,366 deaths, Durgs caseload increased to 60,388, including 1,026 fatalities. Rajnandgaon recorded 1,254 new cases, Bilaspur 923 and Koba 741, among other districts, he said.

    Of the latest fatalities, 73 were reported on Wednesday and Tuesday, while 47 deaths occurred earlier but were added to the list now, he said.

    Health department official Pandey, who was also a spokesperson of the states Covid Command and Control Centre, was admitted to the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) Raipur after he had tested Covid positive, he said.

    Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel and Health Minister T S Singh Deo condoled the death of Pandey, he added.

    With 46,528 more samples tested for coronavirus detection, the number of tests conducted so far in the state went up to 63,62,947, the official said.

    Chhattisgarhs coronavirus figures are as follows: Positive cases 4,86,244, new cases 14,250, deaths 5,307, recovered 3,62,301, active cases 1,18,636, people tested so far 63,62,947.

  • Government committed to ensure adequate availability of vaccines; all need to work together in COVID-19 fight: PM

    By PTI
    NEW DELHI: Asserting that the government is committed to ensuring adequate availability of COVID-19 vaccines, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday called for harnessing the combined power of community groups, political parties and NGOs in the battle against the COVID-19 pandemic.

    Interacting with governors and lieutenant governors of all states and union territories through video conference, Modi urged them to actively engage in ensuring that social institutions collaborate seamlessly with state governments.

    Modi said the feeling of “janbhagidari” (people’s participation) that was seen in curbing the virus last year needed to encouraged now as well and added the role of governors becomes all the more critical to achieving this.

    Vice President Venkaiah Naidu, Home Minister Amit Shah and Health Minister Harsh Vardhan also participated in the virtual interaction on the issue of the COVID-19 situation and ongoing vaccination drive in the country and it took place amid an astronomical rise in the COVID infections across the country in the last few weeks that has seen India gallop past its last year peak with a number of states reporting new highs daily.

    In his comments, Modi asserted that the government is committed to ensuring adequate availability of vaccines and highlighted that India has become the fastest nation to reach the landmark of 10 crore vaccinations.

    Noting the positive impact of “tika utsav” (vaccination festival) in the last four days, he said that in this period, the vaccination drive was expanded and new vaccination centres also came up.

    “Modi suggested that governors can actively engage to ensure that social institutions collaborate seamlessly with the state governments towards micro containment.

    He said their social network can help ensure an increase in the capacity of ambulances, ventilators and oxygen in hospitals.

    Along with spreading the message about vaccination and treatment, governors can also spread awareness about AYUSH-related remedies,” an official statement said.

    The prime minister noted that youths being our workforce are an important part of the economy, and said it is important to ensure that they follow all protocols and precautions.

    Governors’ role is also critical in ensuring the greater engagement of our students in university campuses towards this “janbhagidari”.

    There is a need to focus on better utilization of facilities at university and college campuses, he said, adding that like the last year NCC and NSS have a key role to play this year as well.

    “Governors are an important pillar of janbhagidari in this battle and their coordination with state governments and guidance to the institutions of state will further strengthen the nation’s resolve,” he said.

    Discussing the rise in the cases, Modi said the country stands to gain from the last year’s experience and improved healthcare capacity.

    The country has become “aatmanirbhar” in kits and other material related to testing, he asserted, adding that this has led to a reduction in the cost of RTPCR tests also. Most of the products related to testing are also available on the GeM portal.

    “The prime minister emphasized the significance of increasing tracking, tracing and testing, and said that RTPCR testing needs to be increased from 60 per cent to 70 per cent.

    He said that it is pertinent to ensure that more and more people get tested,” the statement said.

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