Coronavirus HIGHLIGHTS: Delhi Reports 135 New Covid-19 Cases, Positivity Rate Below 0.2%
Coronavirus HIGHLIGHTS, Saturday, June 19, 2021: Indian pharmaceutical major Zydus Cadila is likely to apply to the central drugs regulator seeking emergency use authorisation for its Covid-19 vaccine ZyCoV-D next week, official sources said on Friday. If approved, it will be the world’s first DNA vaccine against coronavirus and the fourth to become available in the country
Mumbai on Saturday added 696 COVID-19 cases and reported 13 deaths due to the viral infection, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) said. The caseload of the country's financial capital thus rose to 7,20,637 and death toll reached 15,279.
The recovery rate of the megapolis is 95 per cent. There are 18 containment zones and 82 sealed building in the city at present.
With 51 new Covid fatalities in Uttar Pradesh, the death toll rose to 22,132 on Saturday, while the infection tally reached 17,04,139 after 294 more people tested positive for coronavirus, according to a health bulletin.
Thirteen deaths have been reported from Lucknow, five from Shahjahanpur, four each from Ayodhya and Hathras, three each from Kanpur Nagar and Lakhimpur Kheri, two each from Unnao, Pilibhit, Auraiyya and Bhadohi, and one each from Meerut, Allahabad, Bulandshahr, Pratapgarh, Mirzapur, Ambedkar Nagar, Jalaun, Sant Kabirnagar, Sambhal, Kanpur Dehat and Mahoba
All shops and hotels, clubs, restaurants allowed to operate till 5pm, lodges, resorts, gyms, private offices allowed to operate with 50 per cent capacity in 16 districts that have less than 5 per cent positivity: Karnataka CM BS Yediyurappa
With Nashik district in Maharashtra falling under the level-2 category of the five-level 'unlock' plan of the Maharashtra government, the local administration has decided to allow the reopening of malls with a 50 per cent capacity on weekdays from June 21, district guardian minister Chhagan Bhujbal said on Saturday.
"RT-PCR test and anti-COVID 19 vaccination is made mandatory for all the employees of these malls as soon as possible. Use of a face mask, sanitiser, maintaining a social distance and thermal scanning is also a must for employees and customers," district collector Suraj Mandhare said in an order.
Class 10 and Class 12 students who failed in 2 subjects will be given 8 marks as grace. With this, over 2 lakh students will be declared pass. The decision was taken because compartmental exams couldn't be conducted due to Covid-19: Bihar Education Min Vijay Kumar Chaudhary
Our decision to promote students by giving them grace marks is better than other education boards who still have not decided how to promote students: Bihar Education Minister Vijay Kumar Chaudhary
Telangana Cabinet decides to lift Coronavirus-induced lockdown completely.
New Delhi: The easing of Covid-related lockdown norms has led to crowding in some markets and other places, the Centre said on Saturday, as it urged states to ensure the "extremely important" five-fold strategy of Covid-appropriate behaviour, test-track-treat and vaccination to prevent the spread of the disease.
In a communication to all states and Union Territories (UTs), Union Home Secretary Ajay Bhalla also said that vaccination against COVID-19, in the present scenario, is critical to break the chain of transmission.
Therefore, all state and UT governments should step up the pace of vaccination, to cover maximum number of people in an expeditious manner, he said.
The home secretary said that during the second Covid wave, a significant surge in cases was witnessed in several states and UTs, and many of them imposed restrictions in order to contain the spread of the infection.
"With a decline in the number of active cases, many states and UTs have started relaxing restrictions. I would like to highlight that the decision to impose or ease restrictions has to be taken, based on the assessment of the situation at the ground level," he said.
Bhalla said while the opening up of activities, after decline in cases is essential, states and UTs must ensure that the whole process is "carefully calibrated".
"While opening up, it would be extremely important to follow the five-fold strategy of Covid appropriate behaviour, test-track-treat and vaccination," he said.
The home secretary said regular monitoring of COVID-19 appropriate behaviour is required to prevent relapse.
To reiterate, Covid appropriate behaviour includes mandatory use of masks, hand hygiene, social distancing and also proper ventilation of closed spaces, he said.
"However, easing of restrictions in some states, have led to resumption of crowding of people in markets etc., without adherence to the norms of Covid appropriate behaviour," he said.
It is, therefore essential to ensure that complacency does not set in, and there is no let-up in adhering to Covid appropriate behaviour, while opening up activities, the home secretary said.
Bhalla said to contain the spread of the infection on a sustainable basis, it is necessary to continue the strategy of test-track-treat. It may especially be ensured that the testing rate does not come down, he said.
Bhalla said as the situation is dynamic, a close watch needs to be kept on early signs of a surge in active cases or high positivity rates.
He said a system should be in place at the micro-level to ensure that whenever cases rise in a smaller place, it gets checked there itself, through local containment measures as per the existing guidelines issued by Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.
"I, therefore, urge you to issue directions to district and all other authorities concerned, to keep a close watch on the situation, while activities are opened in a cautious manner, and to scrupulously ensure that there is no complacency in adhering to Covid appropriate behaviour and in the test-track-treat-vaccinate strategy," Bhalla said in his communication to states and UTs. (PTI)
New Delhi: The government on Saturday said that a new software -- Covid Severity Score -- has been developed to identify patients who require ventilator support as well as detect emergency and intensive care unit needs early.
The software consists of an algorithm that measures a set of parameters, and then identifies patients likely to require ventilator support in an intensive care unit (ICU), aid on time referral and make necessary arrangements before an emergency sets in.
It can also help in reducing hospital referral for those unlikely to require critical care support, thus freeing more beds, the Science and Technology Ministry said in a statement.
The software scores the parameters against a pre-set dynamic algorithm multiple times for each patient and allocates a Covid Severity Score (CSS), mapping it in a graphical trend, it said .
It measures symptoms, signs, vital parameters, test reports and comorbidities of COVID-19 patient and scores these against the pre-set dynamic algorithm, thus allocating the CSS, the statement said.
"The technology is being used in three community Covid care centres at Kolkata and its suburbs, including a 100-bed government mandated Covid care centre at Barrackpore, Kolkata," the ministry said.
Noting that sudden ICU and other emergency requirements during the pandemic have been a challenge for hospitals to manage, the ministry said timely information about such situations would help manage the health crisis better.
The algorithm has been developed jointly by the Foundation for Innovations in Health, Kolkata, with support from the Science for Equity, Empowerment and Development (SEED) division of the Department of Science and Technology.
IIT Guwahati, Dr Kevin Dhaliwal, University of Edinburgh and Dr. Sayantan Bandopadhyay, formerly WHO (SE Asia Regional Office) also collaborated in developing CSS, according to the statement.
This technology has been made available at primary care e-health clinics in resource poor settings through SEED project support.
Frontline health workers trained in the National Skills Qualifications Framework (NSQF) aligned model and certified by the National Skill Development Corporation (NSDC) are trained to record all these parameters in a tablet computer which has the software loaded in it, the statement said.
The CSS is regularly monitored multiple times by 'remote' specialist doctors thus reducing the doctor's consultation time per patient and reducing the doctors travel requirement, it said.
It will also help in providing monitored medical support to those patients who cannot afford treatment or cannot isolate at home due to poor housing conditions, the statement said. (PTI)
More than 28.50 crore vaccine doses have been provided to States/UTs so far. Of this, total consumption, including wastages, is 25,63,28,045 doses (as per data available till 8 am). Over 2.87 cr doses are still available with States/UTs to be administered: Union Health Ministry.
Washington: Cautioning Americans against the highly transmissible delta variant that appears to be "particularly dangerous" for young people, US President Joe Biden on Friday (local time) urged people to take the shot as soon as possible.
"The new variants will leave unvaccinated people even more vulnerable than they are or were a month ago. This is a serious concern. Especially because of what experts are calling the Delta variant. It's a variant that is more easily transmissible, potentially deadlier and particularly dangerous for young people," Biden said during a press conference at the White House.
The World Health Organization (WHO) has earlier included the Delta variant in its list of the so-called variants of concern as it became prevalent and caused a sharp surge in infections in some countries, especially India, where it was first identified.
During the address, Biden also announced that the US administered over 300 million doses of coronavirus vaccines over the last 150 days.
"Today, we've passed 300 million shots in 150 days. When I took office, our nation was in crisis. Today, the virus is in retreat and our economy has smashed previous records for job growth. That's just four months, folks," Biden said.
While touting his administration's national vaccination effort, which has brought Covid-19 cases, hospitalizations and deaths down significantly in recent months, the President underlined the need to get Americans vaccinated.
Concerned over the rising cases of coronavirus where the vaccination rate is lower, he said, "The truth is that deaths and hospitalizations are drastically down in places where people are getting vaccinated. But unfortunately, cases and hospitalizations are not going down in many places, in the lower vaccination rate states. They're actually going up in some places."
As of Friday, 65 per cent of adults have had at least one shot, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (ANI)
Washington: The US has administered 300 million Covid-19 shots in the 150 days since US President Joe Biden took office, the White House said on Friday.
Biden is expected to make remarks later Friday on this milestone, which aims to bring the Covid-19 pandemic under control and help Americans return to normal, according to the White House.
Biden has set a national goal to have 70 percent of the US population get at least one shot by the July 4 holiday. But the goal is expected to fall short as Covid-19 vaccination rates decrease from spring highs, according to US media reports.
About 44.5 percent of the American population have been fully vaccinated against Covid-19 as of Thursday, and 53 percent of the population has received at least one dose, according to the latest data of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Xinhua news agency reported.
The pace of new vaccinations in the country has dropped significantly from a high of nearly 2 million per day about two months ago. (IANS)
Indian pharmaceutical major Zydus Cadila is likely to apply to the central drugs regulator seeking emergency use authorisation for its Covid-19 vaccine ZyCoV-D next week, official sources said on Friday. If approved, it will be the world’s first DNA vaccine against coronavirus and the fourth to become available in the country.
“The analysis of the phase-three trial data is almost ready and the company has informed the government that it could apply for emergency use licensure for its Covid-19 vaccine next week," an official source told PTI. Also, the jab is being tested on children belonging to the age group of 12 to 18 years, apart from adults.
Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Friday apprised Lieutenant Governor Anil Baijal of the administration's action plan to battle the possible third wave of Covid in the national capital.
During a meeting with Baijal, who also chairs the Delhi Disaster Management Authority (DDMA), Kejriwal presented a blueprint of the preparations being made by the Delhi government to tackle the possible third wave.
"A state-level task force, more healthcare staff and a special task force for treatment of children are among the Delhi government's action plan to deal with the third wave," the Chief Minister Office (CMO) said in a statement.
Punjab Police on Friday cracked a multi-crore rupee interstate fake Remdesivir manufacturing racket with the arrest of six people, including the kingpin, who used to black market fake replicas of the life-saving anti-viral drug used to treat critical Covid-19 patients.
Police has also recovered designs and packaging material used for making these vials besides seizing Rs 2 crore cash and four cars from possession of the accused.
Director General of Police Dinkar Gupta said that accused Mohammad Shahwar had taken premises in Maloya village on lease on pretext of stocking medicines 10 months back.
Following the recovery of vials in Bhakra canal last month, the SIT, constituted to investigate the case, traced the marketing address mentioned on the recovered vials to Nautwins Pharmaceuticals in Maloya whose owner was quizzed.
This led the police to unravel the entire conspiracy plot and identify the accused, the DGP added.
Recoveries again remained ahead of new Covid cases in J&K on Friday as 1,171 patients were discharged from hospitals after recovery while 671 new cases were reported during the last 24 hours.
Officials said 226 cases and four deaths were reported from Jammu division and 445 cases and four deaths from Kashmir division.
So far, 310,688 people have been infected with coronavirus in J&K, out of which 296,360 have recovered, while 4,234 have succumbed.
No new cases of black fungus was reported with the count staying at 22.
Number of active cases is 10,094, out of which 3,543 are from Jammu division and 6,551 from Kashmir division.
Background
Coronavirus HIGHLIGHTS, Saturday, June 19, 2021: With 15,290 patients discharged in a day, recoveries continued to outnumber 5,783 new Covid cases across Karnataka, while 138 succumbed to the infection, said the state health bulletin on Friday.
"Recoveries shot up to 26,25,447 so far, with 15,290 patients discharged during the day, while 5,783 had tested positive on Thursday, taking the state's Covid tally to 27,96,121, including 1,37,050 active cases," said the bulletin.
As epicentre of the pandemic in the state, Bengaluru, however, reported only 1,100 fresh cases on Thursday, taking its Covid tally to 12,03,063, including 73,844 active cases, while recoveries rose to 11,13,808, with 6,160 patients discharged in the last 24 hours.
The virus claimed 138 lives, including 39 in Bengaluru, 15 in Mysuru, 14 each in Ballari and Dakshina Kannada and 10 in Davangere, with the rest in the remaining 25 districts across the state during the day.
Out of 1,42,498 tests conducted across the state during the day, 42,925 were through rapid antigen detection and 99,573 through RT-PCR method.
The national capital on Friday reported 165 new Covid-19 cases, while its daily test positivity rate stood at 0.22 per cent, according to the health bulletin issued by the Delhi government.
A total of 14 persons succumbed to Covid-19 in the past 24 hours, taking the national capital's overall death toll to 24,900.
During the same time period, 260 people recovered from the disease, taking the national capital's total recoveries to 14,04,688 till date.
Delhi presently has 2,445 active cases, of which 698 are under home isolation.
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