Coronavirus HIGHLIGHTS: Delhi, Haryana Ease Covid Restrictions; Free Vaccination For 18+ Begins Tomorrow
Coronavirus HIGHLIGHTS, Sunday, June 20, 2021: The Union Home Ministry directed the states and the Union Territories (UTs) to proactively engage with the members of the medical fraternity to assuage their concerns, and take strict action against those who assault healthcare professionals.
In a bid to push city's inoculation drive, several pubs, restaurants, hotels and malls in Haryana's Gurugram are offering heavy discounts to customers who have taken the vaccine jab againt Covid-19.
According to reports, owners of malls and restaurants are offering 50 per cent discount to those who are fully vaccinated and 25 per cent to those who have taken the first jab of Covid vaccine.
A Gurugram mall has started an initiative for heathcare workers while pub, bar and restaurants in the Millenium city of India have rolled-out special offers for vaccinated people. The famous Ambience Mall in Gurugram has announced free parking and discounted rates on shopping from different brands available in the mall to healthcare workers. Similarly, several bars and pubs have offered special discounts to people who are vaccinated against the deadly disease.
Karnataka reported less than 5,000 new COVID-19 cases and 120 deaths on Sunday, taking the total caseload to 28.06 lakh and the toll to 33,883. The day also saw 8,456 discharges, continuing to outnumber fresh cases, taking the total number of recoveries in the state so far to 26,45,735.
Out of the 4,517 new cases, 933 were from Bengaluru Urban, as the city saw 1,902 discharges and 12 deaths. The total number of active cases in the state is now 1,26,813. While the positivity rate stood at 2.58 per cent, the Case Fatality Rate (CFR) was 2.65 per cent.
Out of the 120 deaths reported on Sunday, 17 were from Mysuru, Bengaluru Urban and Ballari (12), Dakshina Kannada and Dharwad (11), Mandya (8) and Davangere (7),followed by others.
Among the districts where the new cases were reported, Bengaluru Urban accounted for 933, Mysuru 545, Dakshina Kannada 525, Hassan 346, while the rest were scattered in other districts. Bengaluru Urban district headed the list of positive cases, with a total of 12,05,259, followed by Mysuru 1,62,083 and Tumakuru 1,13,685.
Among discharges too, Bengaluru Urban was on top with 11,18,531, followed by Mysuru 1,52,541 and Tumakuru 1,09,145. Cumulatively a total of 3,27,39,539 samples have been tested in the state so far, out of which 1,74,521 were done on Sunday alone.
Tamil Nadu reports 7,817 new COVID cases, 17,043 recoveries and 182 deaths today
Active cases: 69,372
Total recoveries: 23,21,928
Death toll: 31,197
The Telangana government on Sunday urged the Centre to set up a vaccine testing facility here "on a war footing" basis. In a letter to Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan, state IT and Industries Minister K T Rama Rao stated that Hyderabad has emerged as the vaccination capital of the world by producing one-third of the global vaccines. He noted that COVID-19 vaccine Covaxin was developed and also is being manufactured here.
He said there is an urgency to set up a second testing facility, and Hyderabad is an ideal location to host such a facility, as the city has a large number of vaccine manufacturers. "The testing of each batch of vaccine produced in the country is being carried out only in the Central Drug Laboratory in Kasauli.
And for the entire process of sending the vaccination batch from Hyderabad to Kasauli takes approximately 30-45 days, which is time-consuming, and cost-intensive," Rama Rao pointed out.
Over the next few months, a significant amount of Covid vaccines will be produced in Hyderabad, he added. Citing reports, the Minister said as per projections of the Centre almost 50 per cent of the total covid vaccine supply between August and December 2021 will be from Hyderabad.
Union Home Minister Amit Shah will be on a two-day visit to his home state Gujarat from Monday, where he is scheduled to visit three COVID-19 vaccination centres, including one in Ahmedabad, officials said.
His visit to the vaccination centres on Monday is aimed at encouraging people to become part of the Gujarat government's mega inoculation drive beginning that day, they said.
The Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation (AMC) said in a release on Sunday that it plans to vaccinate one lakh people everyday as part of this mega inoculation drive.
Shah is scheduled to visit a vaccination centre at Pandit Deendayal Hall in Ahmedabad's Bodakdev locality in the morning along with city Mayor Kirit Parmar and senior officials of the AMC, the civic body said.
The union minister will also visit two more vaccination centres - one each at a school in Kolvad and another at a health centre in Rupal - both in the Gandhinagar Lok Sabha constituency that he represents, the state BJP said in a release.
Karnataka: Lockdown extended in Dakshina Kannada district till July 5, with some relaxation. Essential commodities shops are permitted to open from 7 am to 1 pm in the district.
Delhi reports 124 new COVID cases, 398 discharges, and 7 deaths in the past 24 hours
Active cases: 2,091
Total discharges: 14,05,287
Death toll: 24,914
Positivity rate - 0.17%
A decision has been taken to impose a COVID19 curfew from June 22 to June 29 with certain relaxations (in the state): Uttarakhand Cabinet Minister Subodh Uniyal
Hotels and restaurants will be allowed to operate in-dine services, with 50% of their seating capacity between 6 am and 10 pm. Bars will also be allowed to operate with 50% capacity
We have decided to start a 'Vaccination Mahaabhiyan' tomorrow, on the occasion of International Yoga Day. 7000 centres have been set up, an effort will be made to vaccinate over 10 lakh people at these centres tomorrow itself: Madhya Pradesh CM Shivraj Singh Chouhan
Centre filed affidavit before SC after responding to petitions seeking ex gratia & compensation of Rs 4 lakhs to family members of deceased who died due to COVID. Centre has filed affidavit that due to financial constraints & other factors, ex-gratia amount can't be paid to kins.
Nagaland on Saturday reported 94 new COVID-19 cases, which pushed the tally in the state to 24,191, a health department official said.
At least 171 people were cured of the disease during the day, taking the total number of recoveries to 21,058, State Nodal Officer for Integrated Disease Surveillance Project Dr Nyanthung Kikon said in a bulletin.
The recovery rate among coronavirus patients in the state stands at 87.05 per cent, he said.
One more fatality due to the infection was reported in Kiphire district, raising the death toll to 468, the official said.
Nagaland currently has 1,979 active cases, and 686 COVID-19 patients have migrated to other states so far.
Dimapur reported the highest number of fresh cases at 32, followed by Mokokchung at 18, Kohima at 12, Peren and Tuensang at 11 each.
A high-powered committee on COVID-19, headed by Chief Minister Neiphiu Rio, had announced extension of a state-wide lockdown till June 30 with an object to bring down the daily positivity rate to below five per cent.
Punjab | We've received out first confirmed case of green fungus. Patient had recovered from COVID, he is under observation, can't say stable though. There was another case before, but it was unconfirmed: Dr Paramvir Singh, Dist Epidemiologist at Civil Hospital, Jalandhar
The Uttar Pradesh government has relaxed the night curfew by two hours from June 21, allowing opening of shops, malls and restaurants till 9 pm on weekdays.
Saturday and Sunday will be weekly holidays, said the order issued by Chief Secretary R K Tiwari.
According to the order, from Monday (June 21), the night curfew hours will be from 9 pm to 7 am.
Earlier, the night curfew was imposed from 7 pm to 7 am.
Various activities, including the opening of markets outside the containment zones, full attendance in government offices, opening of eateries with 50 per cent capacity and malls will be allowed.
During marriages and other functions, a maximum of 50 people will be allowed at both open and closed venues and only 50 people will be allowed in a religious place at a time, the guidelines said.
Authorities in Dubai have eased travel restrictions for its residents from certain countries, including India, if they have received two doses of a UAE-approved COVID-19 vaccine, according to a media report.
The Supreme Committee of Crisis and Disaster Management in Dubai, headed by Sheikh Mansoor bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, announced updates to Dubai's travel protocols for inbound passengers from South Africa, Nigeria and India, effective from June 23, the Gulf News reported.
With regard to travel from India, only passengers with a valid residence visa who have received two doses of a UAE-approved vaccine, are allowed to travel to Dubai. There are four vaccines approved by the UAE government Sinopharm, Pfizer-BioNTech, Sputnik V and Oxford-AstraZeneca, the report added.
However, from South Africa and Nigeria, non-residence passengers are also allowed to travel subject to the vaccination and PCR test conditions.
A negative test certificate from a PCR test taken 48 hours before departure is required, the report said.
Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on Saturday inaugurated a 200-bed COVID-19 hospital set up by aluminium major Vedanta Resources in Kalahandi district.
The hospital with all the modern facilities was funded by the company but will be managed by the Odisha government.
Patnaik opened the medical facility through a virtual programme in the presence of Vedanta Resources Chairman Anil Agarwal and other company officials.
Set up under the aegis of the Anil Agarwal Foundation, the COVID hospital at Bhawanipatna, the district headquarters, has 200 beds, 16 intensive care units (ICUs) and as many high dependency units (HDUs) with ventilator support.
The hospital has a ward for treatment of coronavirus- positive children, which is the first of its kind in Odisha, the company said.
Vedanta has also set up an oxygen plant on the hospital campus to augment and sustain the supply of life- saving gas to patients.
Inaugurating the facility, Patnaik congratulated the people of Kalahandi, doctors, health professionals, ASHA and Anganwadi workers for fighting against the raging second wave of COVID-19.
The Delta variant of coronavirus has been found for the first time in two northeastern states -- Manipur and Mizoram -- following which the authorities have asked the people to be more cautious and follow Covid appropriate behaviour, officials said on Saturday.
Manipur Chief Minister N. Biren Singh has confirmed that the Delta variant of Covid-19 has been detected in the state.
"After initial testing of 20 samples from Manipur at a laboratory in Hyderabad, 18 were found to be of Delta variant," the Chief Minister said while addressing an official function in Imphal.
He said that the major cause of concern of rapid spread of positive cases in Manipur is due to the Delta variant.
The Chief Minister urged the people to be more cautious and follow the Covid appropriate behaviour and standard operating procedures (SOPs) issued by the state government to prevent infection from the new variant.
The Karnataka government on Saturday announced partial relaxation of the Covid-induced lockdown restrictions in 16 districts from June 21 to July 5, in view of the positivity rate falling below five per cent.
However, the state-wide night curfew from 7 pm to 5 am every day would continue and weekend curfew from 7 pm on Friday to 5 pm on Monday will remain in effect till July 5.
This was announced by Chief Minister, B. S. Yediyurappa after meeting with his cabinet colleagues, bureaucrats and health experts that was held in his official residence - Krishna - here.
Yediyurappa told reporters that the partial relaxations would be applicable only to those districts where case positivity rate has come down below five per cent.
"Two week partial relaxations like opening up shops till 5 pm will applicable in 16 districts like Bengaluru, Uttara Kannada, Belagavi, Mandya, Koppal, Chikkaballapur, Tumkur, Kolar, Gadag, Raichur, Bagalkot, Kalaburagi, Haveri, Ramanagara, Yadgir and Bidar, where case positivity rate has come down below five per cent," he said.
The Goa government on Saturday extended the Covid-19 curfew till June 28.
Fish markets and stores in malls, barring some exceptions, will remain open in the next phase of the state level curfew which begins from Monday for a period of seven days.
"State level curfew will be extended till 7 am, June 28, 2021. Shops in shopping malls, except cinema halls, theatres, multiplexes, entertainment zones allowed to be open between 7 am and 3 pm. Fish market may also open," Chief Minister Pramod Sawant tweeted.
The state level curfew had been first imposed on May 9, in wake of a surge of Covid-19 infections and deaths in the state.
India has administered more than 27.62 crore Covid-19 vaccine doses so far with a total of 33,72,742 jabs being given on Saturday. The ministry said 20,49,101 vaccine doses were administered as the first dose and 78,394 as the second dose in the 18-44 age group on Saturday. Cumulatively, 5,39,11,586 persons across 37 States/Union Territories have received their first dose and a total of 12,23,196 have received their second dose since the start of Phase-3 of the vaccination drive.
The Union Home Ministry on Saturday directed the states and the Union Territories (UTs) to proactively engage with the members of the medical fraternity to assuage their concerns, and take strict action against those who assault healthcare professionals.
The ministry made it mandatory for the states and the UTs to take all centrally advised measures for the protection of the healthcare professionals on a "priority" basis.
Union Home Secretary Ajay Kumar Bhalla issued the new advisory citing similar orders issued by the ministry on April 27 and June 9 this year in connection with the security concerns relating to healthcare establishments and professionals.
Background
Coronavirus HIGHLIGHTS, Sunday, June 20, 2021: The Assam government has set a target of inoculating three lakh people every day from June 21 under the enhanced vaccination programme, Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said on Saturday.
Sarma said that in view of the enhanced vaccination programme under which three lakh people in the state would receive vaccine doses everyday, the district administrations should ramp up the matching infrastructure to make the campaign a success.
During a review meeting with the Deputy Commissioners (DC) and District Superintendent of Police of all 34 districts via video conferencing, the Chief Minister had asked the health department to generate adequate awareness by sufficient publicity.
The Goa government on Saturday extended the Covid-19 curfew till June 28.
Fish markets and stores in malls, barring some exceptions, will remain open in the next phase of the state level curfew which begins from Monday for a period of seven days.
"State level curfew will be extended till 7 am, June 28, 2021. Shops in shopping malls, except cinema halls, theatres, multiplexes, entertainment zones allowed to be open between 7 am and 3 pm. Fish market may also open," Chief Minister Pramod Sawant tweeted.
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