Covid-19 Cases, Deaths and Vaccination in India Today June 1 Highlights: After the mayhem of May, India began the month of June on a hopeful note with just a little over 1.25 lakh new Covid infections on Tuesday. The number of deaths also came down below the 3,000-mark at 2,795 fatalities, the official data said. The Narendra Modi government said that there has been a downward trend across the 30 states and UTs with many saying that the second wave of the coronavirus has ended in India. The government is also confident about the unlock 2021. In his daily briefing, Niti Aayog’s Dr Paul said that the cases won’t increase with the resumption of the economic activities if we keep the vaccination rate high. He also said that the Modi government is not planning to scrap the 2-dose policy of the Covid vaccination programme. There were reports that the Centre was looking at the probabilities of finding out if a single dose is enough for an individual. Dr Paul also said that though there have been reports about looking at mixing up two different corona vaccines, nothing of that sort is going to happen in India anytime soon. He said that this was a scientific curiosity and needs to be seen from the research point of view. In another sign of easing things, the Netherlands has lifted the ban on passenger flights from India.
As Coronavirus infections have started shrinking in India, clamour for vaccination for all grows louder. With some states complaining of vaccine shortage, the Supreme Court on Monday flagged dual pricing and digital divide and asked the Centre to ensure that its vaccine policy is flexible enough to accommodate changes to address concerns.
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On Monday, Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan wrote to his non-BJP counterparts in 11 states and called for a united effort in demanding that the Centre procure Covid-19 vaccines required by the states and distribute them free of cost. States like Punjab, Delhi have been demanding a higher supply of Covid-19 vaccine from the Centre since the beginning of the vaccination drive. Many vaccine centres have stopped jab for the 18-44-years age group in absence of the vaccine. Jharkhand CM Hemant Soren wrote to PM Modi requesting to provide free vaccine for beneficiaries of all age groups & give freedom to define priorities for vaccination coverage.
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With shrinking virus infections, some states like Delhi, Uttar Pradesh and Jammu and Kashmir have started the process of unlocking. Madhya Pradesh, too, will also lift the corona curfew from today, though in a phased manner. However, Maharashtra, Kerala, Haryana, Odisha are among states who have extended lockdown in their respective states in order to limit the virus spread.
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Indian Medical Association (IMA) writes to Union Home Minister Amit Shah, requesting him to approve an effective & strong act against healthcare violence A doctor was attacked by a group of people in Assam’s Hojai district yesterday, following a COVID patient’s death – ANI
Haryana records 1233 new COVID19 cases, 3453 recoveries, and 80 fatalities in the last 24 hours; active cases at 16,280 – ANI
2184 fresh COVID19 cases, 94 deaths, and 5039 discharges reported in Punjab today; active cases at 33,444 – ANI
Himachal Pradesh’s COVID-19 caseload surged to 1,91,251 on Tuesday with 921 fresh infections while the death toll climbed to 3,165 as 38 more people succumbed to the disease, according to the health department. There are 12,407 active COVID-19 cases in the state, the department said. As many as 2,097 coronavirus patients recovered from the infection in a day, taking the total number of recoveries in Himachal Pradesh to 1,75,657, it said. – PTI
The Maharashtra government on Tuesday announced rationalisation of the rates of COVID-19 treatment at private hospitals which is expected to give relief to patients outside big cities. The earlier rates, prescribed by the government during the first wave of the pandemic, were based on the rates prevalent in Mumbai, said health minister Rajesh Tope. “We have now decided to rationalise them further, so the charges will be reduced in tehsil- and district-level hospitals,” he said. – PTI
Apollo Hospitals on Tuesday announced an initiative to provide home-quarantined Covid- 19 patients medical care. The “Advanced Covid Care beyond Hospitals”, will offer covid-infected with the best of medical care while they are in quarantine at home and help relieve the capacity pressure on the hospitals and healthcare system, a release from the hospital said. The initiative will ensure expert advice and timely guidance from covid specialists through phone. – PTI
Delivery to the Philippines of the first batches of a promised 17 million doses of Thai-made AstraZeneca vaccines has been delayed by several weeks and reduced in size, a Philippine presidential adviser said on Tuesday.The delay raises questions about AstraZeneca’s vaccine distribution plan in Southeast Asia, which depends on 200 million doses made in Thailand by Siam Bioscience, a company owned by the country’s king that is making vaccines for the first time.It was not immediately clear if other countries slated to received Thai vaccine exports would be affected by similar delays.AstraZeneca and Siam Bioscience did not immediately reply to questions about production at the Thai plant. – Reuters
Madurai-based Meenakshi Mission Hospital and Research Centre (MMHRC) on Tuesday said it has donated oxygen concentrators worth Rs 1.5 crore to the Tamil Nadu government. Dr B Kannan, Medical Administrator of MMHRC, met Chief Minister M K Stalin at the Secretariat here and also handed over a cheque for Rs 25 lakh the Tamil Nadu Chief Minister’s Public Relief Fund, a release here said. – PTI
The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation on Tuesday said it had started scrutiny of documents of nine of the ten entities which responded to a global Expression of Interest to supply one crore COVID-19 vaccine doses for Mumbai. A BMC release said seven of these nine entities, whose documents are being scrutinised, have shown interest in supplying Sputnik V vaccine, while two have elicited interest in providing Sputnik Light, a single dose vaccine. – PTI
The Jammu and Kashmir administration has fixed the price of RT-PCR test for COVID-19 conducted by private laboratories at Rs 400, an official order said. Private laboratories in the Union Territory are presently charging Rs 1,500 to Rs 1,800 from the patients for the tests. In an order, Financial Commissioner Health and Medical Education Department Atal Dulloo said in accordance with the directions of Lt Governor Manoj Sinha, no private laboratory would charge any amount more than Rs 400 for RT-PCR test for COVID-19. – PTI
Union minister Dharmendra Pradhan inaugurated a 270-bed Covid care centre at a steel plant here in Odisha’s Angul district on Tuesday in the presence of Odisha Health Minister Naba Kisore Das. The Covid care centre set up inside the plant is equipped with 270 oxygen-supported beds, including 10 non- invasive ventilation beds and five ICU beds with ventilators, Jindal Steel and Power Ltd (JSPL) said in a statement. JSPL managing director V R Sharma said that there are plans to expand the capacity of the Covid centre to 400 beds by July. – PTI
Reliance BP Mobility Ltd, the fuel retailing joint venture of Reliance Industries Ltd and BP, has deployed a mobile fuel bowser in Mumbai for supplying fuel free of cost to ambulances on COVID-19 duty, a company statement said on Tuesday. The firm in collaboration with Reliance Foundation had in March last year launched an initiative to provide fuel free of charge to COVID emergency service vehicles across the country. – PTI
Amid speculation about extension of the lockdown, Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister on Tuesday said it is a “guarantee” that the state will start the unlock process after June 7, as he hinted that it will be phased lifting of curbs. The state is currently under lockdown till June 7, and there were speculations about it being extended. “Let’s see, whether unlocking should be done at once or in a phased manner is the question.Unlock is guarantee, after June 7…how to do it is the question, there are no plans of doing it at once, it may be in a phased manner,” Narayan said in response to a question on the future of lockdown in the current situation. – PTI
The younger generation which has lost so many lives to COVID-19 should have been vaccinated first as it is the nation’s future but the jabs were prioritised for the elderly who have lived their lives, the Delhi High Court observed on Tuesday. The court made it clear however that it was not at all saying the lives of older people are not important as the emotional support which the elderly persons provide to a family cannot be discounted. Justice Sanghi, speaking for himself, said that in the second wave of COVID-19, it was the younger generation which was more affected and they are not getting vaccines and added ‘I don’t understand this vaccination policy at all’. – PTI
To give a boost to the ongoing COVID-19 vaccination programme, the administration in Indore in Madhya Pradesh on Tuesday launched a drive-in facility for people above 45 years of age. “Dhanvantri drive-in” vaccination centres have been opened at the Nehru Stadium, Dalal Bagh and Kankeshwari Devi Ground in the city, officials said. Officials said the people above 45 years can get the jabs at these facilities by sitting in their cars or on two-wheelers. The facility of on-the-spot registration is also made available at these spots. – PTI
Scientists in the UK have urged the government to exercise caution when making a decision about a scheduled June 21 timeline for an end to all lockdown restrictions amid growing fears on Tuesday of a third wave of the coronavirus pandemic. Professor Ravi Gupta, an Indian-origin scientist from Cambridge University, said that while the infection rates in the country currently remain low, the B1.617.2 variant, first identified in India and now renamed as Delta, has led to an exponential rise in case numbers in recent days. He advised a few weeks’ delay to the June 21 date to allow the vaccination programme to catch up with the highly transmissible variant of COVID-19. – PTI
Goa’s coronavirus caseload went up by 903 and reached 1,56,569 on Tuesday, a health department official said. The death toll rose to 2,671 as 22 COVID-19 patients succumbed to the infection during the day, he said. The number of recovered persons in the state rose to 1,42,031 with 1,777 patients getting discharged on Tuesday. The number of active cases is 11,867, the official said. – PTI
Delhi reported 623 fresh COVID-19 cases, the lowest in two-and-a-half months, and 62 more deaths, while the positivity rate fell below one per cent for the second consecutive day on Tuesday. This is the third day that the daily deaths in the city remained below 100. On April 11, the figure was 48. The national capital on Monday had reported 648 fresh COVID-19 cases and 86 more fatalities, while the positivity rate was 0.99 per cent. On Sunday, 946 new cases and 78 more deaths were reported in Delhi, according to a health department bulletin. The fresh cases recorded on Tuesday are the lowest since March 18, when 607 people were diagnosed with the disease. – PTI
The Gujarat High Court on Tuesday issued a notice to the Central and state governments over a PIL seeking direction that the data on mucormycosis cases and deaths be made public. The court of Justice Biren Vaishnav issued a notice to the state and Central governments in a PIL seeking transparency in the Gujarat government’s reporting of the rising cases of mucormycosis or black fungus. Based on the information gathered from media reports, families of patients and volunteers, the PIL claimed that the state government had “miscalculated and underreported the statistics about mucormycosis patients”. – PTI
The count of COVID-19 cases in Nashik district of Maharashtra rose to 3,86,280 with the addition of 430 new infections on Tuesday, health department officials said. The virus claimed 30 more lives which took the death toll in the district to 4,754, they said. Of these, 16 patients were from Nashik Municipal Corporation (NMC) areas and 14 from other parts of the district, including one from Malegaon town, the officials said. Also, 1,499 patients were discharged from hospitals during the day, pushing the number of recovered cases to 3,73,044, they said. – PTI
Netherlands lifts the ban on passenger flights from India, starting from today – ANI
No change in the schedule of Covishield doses; it will be two doses only. After the first Covishield dose is administered, second dose will be given after 12 weeks. Covaxin also has two doses’ schedule, second dose to be administered in 4-6 weeks: Dr. VK Paul, NITI Aayog – ANI
Amid the relentless spike in COVID-19 cases, the Ramakrishna Mission (RKM) has set up two safe homes for patients with mild symptoms — one at its Belur Math headquarters and the other on the premises of its educational institute in Narendrapur, authorities said. The 50-bed safe home at Belur, which started functioning on Tuesday, is offering free-of-cost treatment. “Set up on the campus of shilpamandir polytechnic college at Belur Math, the facility will be operational for six months,” a spokesperson of RKM said. (PTI)
The Sir Ganga Ram Hospital on Tuesday started administering monoclonal antibody cocktail (MAC) to coronavirus patients, the medical facility said in a statement. The hospital is administering a combination of casirivimab and imdevimab to consenting patients with mild and moderate COVID-19 symptoms at high risk of developing serious illness, it added. (PTI)
Pharma major Cipla on Tuesday said it is seeking clarity and guidance from the government on the possible roadmap to import vaccine, while stressing that it has been at the forefront of COVID-19 care. The statement came after a report by PTI on Monday said the company is seeking fast-track approvals to expeditiously bring Moderna’s single-dose COVID-19 booster vaccine into India. The report quoting sources said Cipla has requested the government for indemnification and exemptions from price capping, bridging trials and basic customs duty, while stating that the firm is close to committing over USD 1 billion as advance to the US major. (PTI)
Mixing of vaccine is not the protocol yet, same vaccines (Covishield and Covaxin) to be administered for both doses. Stick to the SOP: Union Health Ministry. (PTI)
Several students who are heading to foreign countries for education had to return without getting a coronavirus vaccine jab for the second day in a row at civic-run Rajawadi Hospital here. The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) last week announced walk-in vaccination — without registration — for such students from the city at Kasturba Hospital, Rajawadi Hospital and Cooper Hospital from Monday to Wednesday. (PTI)
The lockdown cannot be extended indefinitely and it has to be ended soon, but it is in the hands of the people, Chief Minister M K Stalin said here on Tuesday and appealed to them to follow COVID-19 guidelines to help prevent the virus spread. There is no shortage of oxygen and no scarcity of beds in hospitals following the efforts taken by the government to improve amenities in the past about three weeks, he said. (PTI)
There has been almost 69 pc decline in Covid cases since the peak recorded on May 7: Centre. (PTI)
Prime Minister Narendra Modi will chair an important meeting regarding class 12 board exams on Tuesday evening. Government sources said he will be briefed on all possible options that have emerged following an extensive discussions with all states and other stakeholders. The CBSE had on April 14 announced cancellation of class 10 exams and postponement of class 12 exams in view of the surge in coronavirus cases. (PTI)
Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Tuesday appealed to the Centre to cancel Class 12 board exams in view of the Covid situation and suggested students be evaluated on basis of past performance. “Students and parents are really worried about Class 12 board exams. They want that the exams should not be conducted without vaccination. I appeal to the Centre that the exams be cancelled and the evaluation be done on basis of the past performance,” Kejirwal tweeted in Hindi. (PTI)
Around 38 per cent of the coronavirus-related deaths in Punjab took place in May alone, while the month also saw 1,96,634 new cases or 35 per cent of the state’s infection count, according to official data. Punjab, which has the highest case fatality rate of 2.4 per cent in the country, registered more than 100 deaths due to COVID-19 every single day in May, according to the medical bulletin data. The state saw a record 231 deaths in a single day on May 18. Punjab had reported a total of 9,022 fatalities due to the infection as on April 30. The toll rose to 14,550, as on May 31, showing 5,528 more people losing their lives to the contagion in that month, the data stated. Ludhiana, Jalandhar, Mohali, Patiala and Amritsar were some of the districts worst affected due to the virus. In May, Ludhiana registered a maximum of 624 Covid-linked fatalities, followed by 495 in Amritsar, 447 in Patiala, 365 in Mohali and 296 in Jalandhar, according to the data. (PTI)
Odisha Health Minister Naba Kishore Das in a letter to Union Health Minister highlighted that States which floated global tenders are facing non-response of vaccine manufacturers and urged for procurement of global vaccines at country-level, rather than individual States. (ANI)
Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar took his second dose of the #COVID19 vaccine, today. (ANI)
With Tamil Nadu witnessing fall in daily Coronavirus cases, Chief Minister M K Stalin said the state cannot keep extending the lockdown and it needs the support of the people to put a full stop to it. In a video posted on Tuesday on Twitter, Stalin said there has been a decline in cases in Chennai and other major cities of the state since the lockdown was imposed on May 24. “We cannot keep extending the lockdown. We need to put a full stop to it and this is only in people’s hands. If we follow the restrictions, we can keep a full stop to Covid-19, he said as reported by The Indian Express.
The supply of Liquid Medical Oxygen (LMO) under the central quota to Karnataka to sustain COVID-19 patients on ventilators has been way less than the demand of 1,200 tonnes daily. This is despite Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa’s letter to the Centre and the Karnataka High Court directive to supply the state’s share of oxygen, officials said. According to the data shared by the authorities, on May 30, the state received half of the requirement — 545.85 tonnes of oxygen with a shortfall of 654.15 tonnes. Besides, it received 791.85 tonnes on May 29, 686 tonnes on May 28, 730 tonnes on May 27, 875.07 tonnes on May 26 and 728 tonnes on May 24. The eight oxygen producing units in Karnataka, which are located in different parts of the state, are the major source of the medical oxygen though they too are unable to meet the demand. (PTI)