Coronavirus Highlights: India reported over 25,000 cases in the past 24 hours, taking the tally of active cases to 2,10,544, while 161 deaths took the total number of deaths due to coronavirus in India to 1,58,607. However, India now also has a total recovery of close to 1.1 crore people. Notably, the number of daily cases India has reported in the last one day marked the highest daily rise the country has seen in the past 84 days, increasing concerns around a second wave of the virus. The number of active cases in the country now account for 1.85% of the total tally of infections.
Maharashtra recorded single-day spike of over 16,000 cases on Sunday. Mumbai city reported 1,963 new cases, Pune city 1,780, Aurangabad city 752, Nanded city 351, Pimpri Chinchwad 806, Amravati city 209 and Nagpur city 1,976. Besides them, Ahmednagar city reported 151 new cases, Jalgaon city 246 and Nashik city 946.
Meanwhile, the recovery rate has dropped from 96.82% on Saturday morning to 96.75% on Sunday morning.
Amid rising cases, Maharashtra has re-imposed a complete week-long lockdown in 16 hotspots in Nagpur beginning Monday, while district administrations are imposing lockdown measures as required in various parts of the state. Kerala, Punjab and Delhi are also among the states where the rising number of cases are a cause of concern.
On the other hand, India’s vaccination drive has been going forward in a robust manner. As per data provided by the Centre on Saturday evening, over 2.91 crore doses of the vaccine had been administered since the drive began in mid-January. Of these, 9.74 lakh shots had been administered on Saturday till 7 pm. While 73,31,498 healthcare workers have been given the first dose of coronavirus, 42,58,297 have received a second dose of the vaccine as well. At the same time, frontline workers, who were the second group to get the vaccine shots, have received a total of over 83 lakh doses, of which 72,96,474 were first doses and over 10.5 lakh were second doses.
The latest group of 26 crore people to be administered the vaccination includes senior citizens, of which 78,66,241 have received the first dose, and of people between 45 years and 59 years of age suffering from comorbidities, and this group has received over 13.8 lakh first doses.
While India has been carrying out a successful vaccination programme at home, it has also delivered 586 lakh doses of vaccines to over 70 other countries, emerging as a key nation in the fight against the pandemic.
759 new coronavirus cases in Tamil Nadu, tally 8.6 lakh, active cases 4,870; toll 12,547 with 4 more deaths: Health Dept (PTI)
Haryana reports 440 new COVID-19 cases, 296 recoveries, and one death in the last 24 hours
Total cases: 2,75,137
Total recoveries: 2,68,968
Active cases: 3,095
Death toll: 3,074 (ANI)
Punjab reports 1,501 new COVID-19 cases, 839 discharges, and 20 deaths in the last 24 hours
Total cases: 1,97,755
Total discharges: 1,80,133
Active cases: 11,550
Death toll: 6,072 (ANI)
Maharashtra: There are 1,26,231 active cases in the state at present, the department said in a statement. Currently, 5,83,713 people are in home quarantine and 5,493 others in institutional quarantine, it said. As many as 1,08,381 people were tested on Sunday, which took the total test count to 1,75,16,885, it said. (PTI)
Mumbai city reported 1,963 new cases, Pune city 1,780, Aurangabad city 752, Nanded city 351, Pimpri Chinchwad 806, Amravati city 209 and Nagpur city 1,976. Besides them, Ahmednagar city reported 151 new cases, Jalgaon city 246 and Nashik city 946. (PTI)
Jammu and Kashmir on Sunday recorded 105 new COVID-19 cases, taking the tally to 1,27,640, while no fresh death was reported in the past 24 hours, officials said. Out of the fresh cases, 25 were from the Jammu Division and 80 from the Kashmir Division of the union territory, they said. The officials said Srinagar district recorded the highest of 51 cases, followed by 16 in Jammu district. While five districts did not report any fresh cases, 12 other districts had cases in single digits. The number of active cases was 920 in the union territory, while 1,24,746 patients have recovered so far, the officials said. The death toll in the union territory due to the pandemic is 1,974 as no fresh death was reported from the Kashmir Valley in the past 24 hours, they added. (PTI)
There was no reason to celebrate on Rachel Van Lear’s anniversary. The same day a global pandemic was declared, she developed symptoms of COVID-19. A year later, she’s still waiting for them to disappear. And for experts to come up with some answers. The Texas woman is one of thousands of self-described long-haulers, patients with symptoms that linger or develop out of the blue months after they first became infected with coronavirus. Hers first arrived March 11, 2020. | READ MORE
The Haryana health department has decided to hold a massive COVID-19 vaccination drive on Monday, a senior official said. The department has coordinated with Accredited Social Health Activists and Anganwadi workers besides officials of the Department of Social Justice and Empowerment, Urban Local Bodies (ULB) and Panchayati Raj Institutions (PRIs) to motivate the beneficiaries above 60 years and those with co-morbidities falling within the age group of 45 years to 60 years. Additional Chief Secretary, Health, Rajeev Arora said the main objective of the department is to ensure maximum reach of the COVID-19 vaccine as it will help contain the spread of coronavirus infection. | READ MORE
810 new coronavirus cases in Gujarat, tally 2.78 lakh, active cases 4,422; toll 4,424 with 2 more deaths: Health Dept (PTI)
Over 1.29 lakh people were vaccinated against COVID-19 in 1,556 centres in Maharashtra on Saturday, officials said. Of these, 1,23,150 got the Covishield vaccine and 6,816 were given Covaxin, they said on Sunday. Between January 16, when the vaccination drive began, and March 13, a total of 28,19,888 beneficiaries have been given the shots, they said. (PTI)
934 new coronavirus cases in Karnataka, tally 9.6 lakh, active cases 8,364; toll 12,390 with 3 more deaths: Health Dept (PTI)
Maharashtra reports 16,620 new COVID-19 cases, 8,861 discharges, and 50 deaths in the last 24 hours.
Total cases: 23,14,413
Total discharges: 21,34,072
Death toll: 52,861
Active cases: 1,26,231. (ANI)
1,792 new coronavirus cases in Kerala, tally 10.91 lakh, active cases 29,478; toll 4,396 with 15 more deaths: Health Minister K K Shailaja
(PTI)
Maharashtra: Latur district administration imposes night curfew between 8 pm and 5 am in the district; all weekly markets to remain shut till March 31, emergency services exempted. (ANI)
After being among the world’s hardest-hit nations with COVID-19, Chile is now near the top among countries at vaccinating its population against the virus. With more than 25 per cent of its people having received at least one shot, the country of 19 million on South America’s Pacific coast is the champion of Latin America, and globally it is just behind Israel, the United Arab Emirates and the United Kingdom. (AP)
Goa’s coronavirus caseload went up by 66 and reached 55,917 on Sunday, while one person died and 83 recovered during the day, an official said. The state’s toll now stands at 806 and the recovery count is 54,362, leaving it with an active caseload of 749, he added. With 1,310 samples being examined on Sunday, the number of tests in Goa went up to 5,14,309, the official said. (PTI)
The number of active coronavirus cases in Andhra Pradesh shot up to 1,400 as 298 were added afresh, the highest single day spike since January 8, that took the gross to 8,91,861. In 24 hours ending 9 am on Sunday, 164 patients had recovered and two more succumbed in the state, a health department bulletin said. The total recoveries now touched 8,83,277 and toll 7,184, it said. (PTI)
Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on Sunday set a target of “zero infection” even as the COVID-19 tally in the state mounted to 3,38,192 with 71 fresh cases. In a video message, Patnaik appealed to people to follow health safety protocols so that the state can achieve the goal and requested them not to be complacent with the daily number of new coronavirus cases remaining below 100. (PTI)
After a year, the Delhi High Court will resume from Monday its complete physical functioning, which was restricted due to the COVID-19 pandemic. From March 15, all judges of the high court would hold physical hearing of cases. Since March 2020, the high court has been holding proceedings through video conferencing and subsequently, a few benches started holding physical courts everyday on a rotation basis. (PTI)
The Chhattisgarh government is considering allowing the use of Covaxin, a vaccine against COVID-19, in the state after the Centre dropped its ‘clinical trial mode’ tag, state Health Minister T S Singh Deo said on Sunday. In January, Singh Deo had requested Union Health Minister Dr Harsh Vardhan to halt the supply of Covaxin, developed by Bharat Biotech, to the state until its phase-3 trials are completed and results are made available. The Serum Institute of India (SII)-made vaccine Covishield is being used in the state as part of the vaccination drive. (PTI)
The Chhattisgarh government is considering allowing the use of Covaxin, a vaccine against COVID-19, in the state after the Centre dropped its ‘clinical trial mode’ tag, state Health Minister T S Singh Deo said on Sunday. In January, Singh Deo had requested Union Health Minister Dr Harsh Vardhan to halt the supply of Covaxin, developed by Bharat Biotech, to the state until its phase-3 trials are completed and results are made available. The Serum Institute of India (SII)-made vaccine Covishield is being used in the state as part of the vaccination drive. (PTI)
The Chhattisgarh government is considering allowing the use of Covaxin, a vaccine against COVID-19, in the state after the Centre dropped its ‘clinical trial mode’ tag, state Health Minister T S Singh Deo said on Sunday. In January, Singh Deo had requested Union Health Minister Dr Harsh Vardhan to halt the supply of Covaxin, developed by Bharat Biotech, to the state until its phase-3 trials are completed and results are made available. The Serum Institute of India (SII)-made vaccine Covishield is being used in the state as part of the vaccination drive. (PTI)
The number of active cases in Delhi rose to 2,262 on Sunday from 2,207 on Saturday. Health experts and doctors have attributed this “sudden rise” of COVID-19 cases to people turning complacent, not following COVID-19 appropriate behaviour and “assuming that all is well now”. Delhi Health Minister Satyendar Jain had on Friday said the figures of over 400 per day suddenly were “not alarming”, and had asserted that the positivity rate was still below one per cent. The total number of tests conducted on Saturday stood at 68,223, including 41,195 RT-PCR tests and 27,028 rapid antigen tests, the bulletin said. (PTI)
Delhi recorded 407 new COVID-19 cases on Sunday, crossing the 400-mark for the fourth consecutive day, while the positivity rate stood at 0.60 per cent, according to data shared by the health department. The death toll climbed to 10,941 with two more fatalities, as per the latest bulletin issued by the Delhi Health Department. The city had recorded 419 fresh COVID-19 cases on Saturday, while 431 cases were recorded on Friday, the highest single-day spike in over two months. The count on Thursday was 409. Delhi had registered 370 new cases on Wednesday and 320 on Tuesday. The city had reported three COVID-19 deaths on Wednesday and four on Tuesday. (PTI)
With 720 fresh cases of coronavirus, the overall infection count in Aurangabad district of Maharashtra went up to 56,678, an official said. These cases were reported on Saturday. As the virus claimed eight more lives, the death toll in the district reached 1,334, the official said. A total of 849 patients were discharged from various facilities during the day, he said, adding that there are 4,327 active cases in the district. (PTI)
The moment of truth for Ivan Arinaitwe came when he had to choose among many relatives and friends whom to invite to his wedding. An initial 150 people swelled to 300 as he agonized. No matter how he tried, it would be hard to achieve Uganda’s recommended “scientific” wedding, slimmed down for the COVID-19 pandemic. In Africa, where weddings often go big, he would invite 1,300 people if he could. Now he worries about how the uninvited might react and the consequences for his family. (AP)
Expressing concern over spike in fresh COVID-19 cases, Karnataka Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa on Sunday said the pandemic seemed to be going out of control in the state and asked people to cooperate by adhering to the preventive measures if they don’t want another lockdown. “I appeal to the people with folded hands for cooperation…. if people cooperate I’m confident that without lockdown we can control,” he said, announcing that he has convened a meeting of experts and officials on Monday in the wake of the spurt in fresh cases in recent days. (PTI)
West Indies cricket legend Sir Vivian Richards and former greats Richie Richardson and Jimmy Adams on Sunday thanked Prime Minister Narendra Modi for providing coronavirus vaccines to the Caribbean region. In a video message, Richards described India’s assistance as a kind gesture and said the region is looking forward to continued relationship with India. The video message has been posted on Twitter by Indian High Commission in Georgetown, Guyana. (PTI)
Two primary schools and a college in Gujarat’s Surat city have been shut for two weeks after 20 students there tested positive for coronavirus, officials said on Sunday. Since the educational institutions re-opened in Surat in February 2021 after being shut following the outbreak of COVID-19 last year, so far 118 students and teachers in the city have tested positive for the viral infection, they said. (PTI)
Puducherry logged 15 new coronavirus cases in the last 24 hours, taking the overall tally to 40,030, a top Health department official said on Sunday. The fresh infections were identified at the end of the examination of 1,075 samples during the last 24 hours ending 10 AM Sunday. One fatality was reported pushing the toll to 671, Director of Health and Family Welfare S Mohan Kumar said in a release. (PTI)
Karnataka Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa has convened a meeting of officials and health experts on Monday in the wake of a spike in COVID-19 cases in the state in recent days, his office said. The meeting would be held at 5 PM in the Vidhana Soudha, the seat of state legislature and secretariat, the Chief Minister’s Office said in a statement on Sunday. For the first time since January 22, the daily COVID-19 cases in the state crossed the 900 mark. It reported 921 cases with 630 of them from Bengaluru Urban district alone. (PTI)
Australia and Singapore are in talks for a possible travel bubble that will allow residents to travel between the two countries without having to quarantine, the Foreign Ministry here confirmed on Sunday. The two countries are also in discussions on the mutual recognition of COVID-19 vaccination certificates and resuming travel with priority for students and business travellers, the Channel News Asia reported, quoting Singapore’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA). “Australia is a key partner of Singapore in the region. We are in discussions on how to cooperate in opening our economies safely, taking into consideration the COVID-19 situation in both countries,” it said. (PTI)
Maharashtra CM Uddhav Thackeray on Saturday met with a delegation of hotel and restaurant associations, warning them to adhere to all the laid down 2 standard operating procedures in view of rising Covid-19 cases in the state. Thackeray said that the failure to adhere to these rules could lead the government to impose a lockdown. (IE)
States like Maharashtra, Kerala, Punjab, Karnataka, Gujarat, Tamil Nadu and Madhya Pradesh are showing a steep rise in the daily new COVID-19 cases and have accounted for 87.73 per cent of the new instances of the disease reported in a day, the Union Health Ministry said on Sunday. Maharashtra registered the highest daily new cases at 15,602, followed by Kerala with 2,035 and Punjab 1,510 new cases. India’s total COVID-19 active caseload has reached 2.10 lakh, the ministry said adding Maharashtra, Kerala and Punjab account for 76.93 per cent of India’s total active cases. (PTI)
Risk factors increasing COVID-19 vulnerability include those with the age of 60 years and above, those who smoke and those with non-communicable diseases (NCDs).
Telangana continued to witness a marginal rise in COVID-19 cases as the state recorded more than 200 cases for the second day in a row after a long gap, pushing the infection tally to 3,01,161, the government said on Sunday. With one more fresh fatality, the COVID-19 toll in the state rose to 1,653 as of 8 PM on March 13, a bulletin said. While the state added 228 cases, as many as 152 were discharged, taking the cumulative recoveries to 2,97,515. (PTI)
The progenitor of the novel coronavirus underwent “very little change” to adapt to humans from bats, according to a new study which suggests that the ability of the virus to spread from one person to another likely evolved in the flying mammal prior to it jumping to its new human host. The study, published in the journal PLOS Biology, assessed hundreds of thousands of sequenced genomes of the SARS-CoV-2 virus and found that for the first 11 months of the COVID-19 pandemic, there has been very little ‘important genetic change’ observed in the coronavirus. (PTI)
A government-aided Girls Higher Secondary School at Ammapetai village near Thanjavur has emerged as the new Covid-19 cluster with over 56 students and a teacher testing positive for the novel coronavirus in the past few days. (IE)
Mizoram’s COVID-19 tally rose to 4,436 on Sunday as one more person tested positive for the infection, a health official said. The new patient is a 53-year-old Border Security Force (BSF) personnel who had come from Maharashtra, he said. The state now has 10 active cases, while 4,416 people have recovered from the disease and 10 patients have succumbed to the infection so far. The recovery rate among the coronavirus patients in the state stands at 99.55 per cent, he said. (PTI)
According to the data by John Hopkins University, Brazil surpassed India to become the second-worst coronavirus hit nation after it witnessed a sudden surge in the number of cases. While India’s tally of total infections stands at 1,13,59,048, Brazil has 1,14,39,558 cases, bypassing India by a margin of over 80,000 cases after it recorded over 85,000 cases in one day.