Coronavirus HIGHLIGHTS: Bihar Rattled By 103 Covid-19 Deaths In A Day, Vaccination Slows Down
Coronavirus HIGHLIGHTS, Saturday, May 22: As India is grappled with the black fungus, a new disease has become the cause of concern among Covid 19 patients. People are worried about the 'white fungus' but experts have said that white fungus (Aspergillosis) is not as dangerous as black fungus. The treatment for the latter can continue for 1-1.5 months hence early diagnosis is critical.
Bihar was on Saturday again rattled by 100 plus COVID-19 fatalities in a day, which caused its death toll to reach 4439, notwithstanding a continually falling positivity rate and active caseload which have also resulted in a markedly improved recovery rate.
According to the health department, 103 deaths were reported since the previous day, making it the third occasion during the week for the state to have reported fatalities in three digits.
The Uttar Pradesh government has extended the “partial coronavirus curfew” till 7 am on May 31. Essential services like vaccination, industrial activities, medical work etc. will continue uninterrupted: ACS Home Awanish Awasthi
The Uttar Pradesh government has extended the “partial coronavirus curfew” till 7 am on May 31. Essential services like vaccination, industrial activities, medical work etc. will continue uninterrupted: ACS Home Awanish Awasthi
Centre said that even though the COVID-19 pandemic is stabilising in large parts of the country, there is still a long way to go to battle this particular wave as the positivity rate is still over 10 per cent in 382 districts.
"From 17.13 per cent reported on May 3, the active cases now comprise 11.12 per cent of the country's total infections. A positive trend in the recovery has also been noted. The recovery rate which was 81.7 per cent on May 3 has increased to 87.76 per cent now," NITI Aayog member (Health) V K Paul said.
"Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal is continuously doing politics in the name of Delhi. Now he has demanded vaccines from the Centre. The union government has already provided 50 lakh vaccines to Delhi and going to provide them more in the coming days also," Union Minister Prakash Javadekar said.
Kejriwal should stop making excuses. 20 crore vaccines administered across the country till now, Centre has provided all of it. Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan has drawn the plan of how to vaccinate all adults before December: Union Minister Prakash Javadekar
Amid escalating cases of black fungus in the national capital, Delhi Health Minister Satyendar Jain on Saturday asked people to be watchful and not resort to self-medication, particularly steroids, and said about 15 hospitals in the city are treating mucormycosis patients.
Black fungus or mucormycosis is a fungal infection that affects the nose, eyes, sinuses among patients who are recovering or have recovered from COVID-19.
Interacting with reporters, he also said there was a scarcity of drugs needed for its treatment in Delhi and the rest of the country.
There were 197 cases of black fungus in hospitals across the city till Wednesday night, including non-residents who have come to the city for treatment, he reiterated.
"Earlier, 30-50 cases would get reported in a year but this time, the number has gone up quite big. As it is being found this time a lot in post-COVID cases, so we have to watchful as a large number of people have tested positive in Delhi, several of them put on steroids, and many are diabetic in which case, if sugar level is not maintained, it flares up," Jain said.
Amid rising cases of black fungus, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Thursday had said dedicated centres were to be set up for the treatment of black fungus cases at three city government-run hospitals -- LNJP Hospital, GTB Hospital and Rajiv Gandhi Super Speciality Hospital.
"About 8-10 private hospitals are treating black fungus patients, three Delhi government hospitals are there too, and AIIMS and Safdarjung Hospital among the Centre-run facilities. So, about 15-16 hospitals are there for it," he said
Delhi Lt Gov had instructed that drugs related to Covid treatment are made available to people and it be ensured that hoarding, overcharging or black marketing of such drugs/medicines doesn't happen by prominently displaying stocks and rates of such drugs by dealers/retailers/sellers.
The Lt Governor has further instructed that a similar order with regards to equipment and machines like Oximeters, Oxygen Cylinders/Concentrators, etc, related to Covid be issued at the earliest.
Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal writes to PM Modi over the Covid vaccine situation. His letter reads, "We've to close the vaccination centres from today as vaccines for 18+ category is exhausted. Delhi needs 80 lakh vaccines every month so that everyone here can be vaccinated within 3 months".
"Delhi received only 16 lakh vaccines in May and we have been told that we will receive only 8 lakh vaccines in June. If this is the pace then it will take 30 months to vaccinate just the adults," he added.
"Kamal Nath is calling it Indian Corona. He further added 'hamari pehchan, mera Bharat COVID.' It's an insult to India. Other Congress leaders also giving such statements. WHO clarified that no country's name has been attributed to any variant,": Union Minister Prakash Javadekar said.
"When Covaxin was introduced, they called it BJP vaccine. But it proved to be very effective. Now they speak of travel ban due to Covaxin... WHO hasn't taken such decision. It says Congress isn't only insulting country but also weakening fight against Corona," he added.
Union Minister Prakash Javadekar had attacked the Congress party alleging that it is doing politics of negativity, bringing bad name to the country. He also expressed displeasure over the "Indian strain" term and brought up the purported Kamal Nath video. He sought answers from interim Congress president Sonia Gandhi over these accusations.
Delhi Court has dismissed Delhi Police plea seeking 5 days police custody of businessman Navneet Kalra.
Delhi Police sought 5-day further police custody of businessman Navneet Kalra in connection with a case relating to the alleged hoarding of oxygen concentrators in a restaurant in South Delhi. It told Delhi Court that accused Navneet Kalra custodial interrogation is required to confront him with data of mobile phone, money trail and bank account details
Public Prosecutor Atul Shrivastava told Delhi Court that accused custodial interrogation is required to confront him to some WhatsApp messages where people, who purchased oxygen concentrators, said that products were not working and useless.
Advocate Vineet Malhotra, appearing for Navneet Kalra, opposed police plea seeking further police custody remand, saying that Kalra is fully cooperating in the investigation
Vaccination for the 18+ category halted in Delhi from today. Vaccine stock for this category has been consumed. Due to this, their vaccination centres have been shut. Only a few vaccines are available at some centres which will be administered today: Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal
Uttar Pradesh has registered a record 3.07 lakh testing in a single day. CM Yogi Adityanath said that Uttar Pardesh is preparing for the third wave and have instructed hospitals to build separate children's wards. Govt is also focusing to vaccinate more and more people. CM Yogi said that the state govt is providing free ration to 15 crore people. The Uttar Pradesh CM also said that the situation will be under control by the end of May as the cases are continously decreasing.
For Sputnik, 150,000 doses plus 60,000 doses supplied to India. By May-end about 3 mn doses will be supplied in bulk. Those will be filled in India. In June, it's expected to increase to 5 mn & production in India expected to start in Aug: Indian Envoy to Russia, in St Petersburg
Few days back, we heard Arvind Kejriwal’s fake statement on Indian variant and Singapore. He (Kamal Nath) is also calling it Indian COVID. This is sure that Kamal Nath has connection with the toolkit: Madhya Pradesh Home Minister Narottam Mishra
Ladakh reported 121 new positive cases, 110 recoveries, and one death on Friday.
Active cases: 1,599
Total recoveries: 15,374
Death toll: 173
Canada has extended the ban on direct flights from India and Pakistan by one more month until June 21 in a bid to arrest the spread of new variants of the COVID-19, according to an official announcement.
The ban on flights from India and Pakistan was extended as the previous 30-day ban, first imposed on April 22, was set to expire on Saturday, Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) News reported.
Cargo flights, however, will be permitted in order to maintain shipments of essential supplies, such as vaccines and personal protective equipment, it said on Friday.
"The Minister of Transport is of the opinion that it is necessary for aviation safety and the protection of the public," according to a notice to airmen.
Uttarakhand government issued an SOP for the prevention & black marketing of Amphotericin-B, a black fungus medicine. The drug will be available only in dedicated COVID19 Health Care Center Medical Colleges and only in state government institutions.
Gujarat | A 15-yr-old boy, discharged post-COVID, was diagnosed with Mucormycosis (Black fungus). Boy is stable after surgery. We expect to discharge him in 2 or 3 days. This is 1st case of paediatric Mucormycosis in Ahmedabad: Abhishek Bansal, paediatric doctor at the pvt hospital.
The Army has setup a COVID isolation centre for civilians in Punjab's Pathankot in just 48 hours, officials said on Friday.
The 50-bed centre was necessitated by surging cases of coronavirus in Pathankot, they said.
Set up at the district sports stadium at Lamini within 48 hours of receiving a request by the civil administration, the centre would help those COVID patients who are unable to isolate at home due to presence of senior citizens, pregnant women or children, said Sanyam Aggarwal, Deputy Commissioner, Pathankot.
The centre has been equipped by the Army and would be staffed by civil medical staff.
On April 28, the Army had augmented the COVID capacity of the district hospital at Pathankot by establishing additional 50 beds for increasing number of coronavirus patients, they said.
The Army hospital has in addition been treating COVID positive civilians referred by the district hospital. As many as 66 such patients have been admitted to the Army hospital so far.
The government has asked social media companies to immediately remove any content from their platform that uses or refers to the term Indian variant' of coronavirus, to curb misinformation around COVID-19, sources said Friday.
According to sources, the IT Ministry has written to all social media platforms asserting that the World Health Organization (WHO) has not associated the term "Indian Variant" with the B.1.617 variant of the coronavirus in any of its reports.
The sources said that a notice has been issued in this regard on Friday by the IT Ministry, which states that a false statement is being circulated online that implies that an "Indian variant" of coronavirus is spreading across countries.
The sources said the matter has already been clarified by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare on May 12 through a press release.
Tech-based solutions and the selfless contribution of several individuals and organisations saw Dialogue and Development Commission (DDC), a premier think-tank of the Delhi government, deliver over 2,300 oxygen concentrators to several government hospitals here, a statement said.
The DDC has been coordinating with donors wanting to support the Delhi government's COVID-19 response amid the second wave of the pandemic, it said.
"Following the appeal of Hon'ble CM Arvind Kejriwal to all sections of the society to come forward and support Delhi govt's efforts to fight coronavirus, several donors have come forward to give critical medical supplies to Delhi government hospitals," Jasmine Shah, vice-chairperson of DDC, said in the statement
".. DDC has already delivered 2300 oxygen concentrators of 5 LPM and 10 LPM capacity funded by donors to Delhi govt hospitals. We will continue the coordination to help Delhi tide over this wave and also in the future," Shah added.
Delhi University's Mata Sundri College for Women has lost two faculty members to Covid-19 within a span of five days, its principal Harpreet Kaur said Friday.
Chetan Jassal, an assistant professor in the commerce department of the college, succumbed to the virus on Monday, while Dr Amarjit Kaur, an assistant professor in the Punjabi department, died Friday morning, the principal said.
Chetan Jassal's husband had also lost his battle to the infection about a week ago.
College principal Harpreet Kaur said, "It is very sad. Losing a faculty member shakes your heart since you have been associated with them for such a long time."
"This pandemic has taken away so much. Two of our faculty members lost their husbands to the virus. Many of the faculty members have lost their parents. I lost my father to the virus last month and I couldn't even see him," she said.
White fungus (Aspergillosis) is not as dangerous as black fungus. The treatment for the latter can continue for 1-1.5 months hence early diagnosis is critical. Don't take steroids to treat COVID19 without consulting your doctor: Dr Suresh Kumar, MD LNJP Hospital, Delhi
However, experts have been citing contrary reports that white Fungus infection is more dangerous than black fungus infection because it affects the lungs as well as other parts of the body including nails, skin, stomach, kidney, brain, private parts, and mouth.
Doctors said that white fungus also infects the lungs and an infection similar to COVID-19 is detected when HRCT is performed on the infected patient.
Background
Coronavirus HIGHLIGHTS, Saturday, May 22: As the country witnesses a rising number of mucormycosis cases amid the COVID-19 pandemic, AIIMS Director Dr Randeep Guleria said there is a need to aggressively work on preventing the fungal infection. He said that cases of fungal infection will probably come down as the COVID-19 cases decrease.
Speaking on the origin of the term ‘black fungus’, he said, “The most important thing to remember is that mucormycosis is not a black fungus. It is a misnomer… because there is some discolouration of the skin as it decreases blood supply, it may give a feeling that the area has become black, that is why the name has come."
At least 800,000 migrant workers travelled from Delhi to their home states in the first four weeks of lockdown in the Capital, nearly half of them in the first week, a report by the Delhi government said, highlighting that buses and other arrangements were made for labourers to avoid a repeat of last year’s crisis.
“The timely coordination with transport authorities of neighbouring states especially Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand by the Delhi government has helped about eight lakh migrant workers reach their destination without any difficulty. There was no complaint of overcharging as the interstate buses were owned and operated by the respective state governments,” read the report by the state transport department.
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