Coronavirus HIGHLIGHTS: Over 2 Crore 'Unutilised' COVID-19 Vaccine Doses Still Available With States, Says Govt

Coronavirus HIGHLIGHTS, Monday, July 5: After more than 100 days, Agra reported zero cases of Covid-19, bringing considerable relief to the overstressed medical infrastructure.

Background

Coronavirus HIGHLIGHTS, Monday, July 5:  Even as Karnataka readies to further unlock the economy by easing Covid restrictions in the state, including in Bengaluru, lockdown has been extended for two more weeks till July 19 from Monday in Kodagu district, an official said on Sunday."As the positivity rate continues to be at 7.21 per cent, the state government has extended the lockdown in the district by another two weeks to reduce Covid cases below 5 per cent," the district official said.Kodagu is about 240 kms southwest of Bengaluru in the state, nestled in the biodiversity-rich Western Ghats.The Gauhati High Court held the Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) issued by the Mizoram Government restricting the unvaccinated persons from earning their livelihood arbitrary and not in consonance with the provisions of Article 14, 19 and 21 of the Constitution.A division bench of the Aizwal bench of the High Court comprising of Justice Michael Zothankhum and Justice Nelson Sailo on Friday in their order observed that the SOP issued by the Mizoram government on June 29 are arbitrary and not in consonance with the provisions of Article 14, 19 and 21 of the Constitution."The said impugned clauses are interfered with, to the extent that the allowances available and given to vaccinated persons shall also be made equally applicable to unvaccinated persons. The state are accordingly directed to issue a corrigendum of the June 29 SOP at the earliest incorporating the directions," the HC order said.

05/07/2021 22:38:18

Over 2 Crore COVID-19 Vaccine Doses Still Available With States: Centre

New Delhi: More than 2.01 crore balance and unutilised COVID-19 vaccine doses are still available with states, Union Territories and private hospitals to be administered, the Union Health Ministry said on Monday.

Over 36.97 crore vaccine doses have been provided to states and Union Territories so far through all sources. Of this, the total consumption including wastage is 34,95,74,408 doses, the ministry said.

The Centre is committed to accelerating the pace and expanding the scope of COVID-19 vaccination throughout the country. The new phase of universalisation of COVID-19 vaccination commenced from June 21.

The vaccination drive has been ramped up through availability of more vaccines, advance visibility of vaccine availability to states and UTs for enabling better planning by them, and streamlining the vaccine supply chain. (PTI)

05/07/2021 21:10:23

More than 41.34 lakhs vaccine doses administered today

More than 41.34 lakhs vaccine doses have been administered today, taking India’s cumulative COVID vaccination coverage to 35.71 crores (35,71,05,461): Union Health Ministry

05/07/2021 20:09:26

Indonesian Govt Asks Oxygen Suppliers To Ramp Up Production After Fatalities Amid Record Spike In COVID Cases

The Indonesian government has asked its oxygen suppliers to ramp up production to accommodate medical needs. This request comes after the Dr Sardjito General Hospital on the island of Java recorded more than 60 deaths on Saturday due to low oxygen supplies amid surge in COVID cases that authorities say is driven by the more infectious Delta variant.

On Monday, Indonesia reported a record of 29,745 new COVID-19 cases and 558 new deaths.

05/07/2021 19:25:52

Delhi records 54 fresh COVID-19 cases, lowest since April 15 last year

New Delhi: The national capital on Monday recorded 54 fresh COVID-19 cases, the lowest since April 15 last year, and two more deaths while the positivity rate dropped to 0.09 per cent, according to data shared by the health department here.

Delhi has recorded 14,34,608 coronavirus cases since the pandemic began last year. So far, over 14.08 lakh patients have recovered, the health department bulletin said.

The death toll stands at 24,997, it said.

There are 912 active COVID-19 cases in Delhi, the bulletin stated. This is the lowest since April 10 last year when 862 cases were recorded.

There are 300 people under home isolation while the number of containment zones stands at 701, it said.

Delhi had reported 59 COVID-19 cases and two deaths on Monday.

On Sunday, the city had reported 94 cases of COVID-19 with a positivity rate of 0.13 per cent and seven deaths. The national capital had recorded 86 cases with a positivity rate of 0.11 per cent and five deaths on Saturday while 93 cases with a positivity rate of 0.13 per cent and two deaths were recorded on Friday.

According to covid19India.org, a crowdsourced initiative that collects data on COVID-19 and vaccination in India, Delhi had recorded 17 cases on April 15 last year.

The bulletin said 61,405 tests, including 49,607 RT-PCR tests, were conducted the previous day.

Delhi faced a brutal second wave of the pandemic that claimed a large number of lives daily. The rapid rise in the number of cases led to a shortage of medical oxygen at various city hospitals.

On April 20, the city had reported a record 28,395 cases. On April 22, the case positivity rate was 36.2 per cent, the highest so far. At 448, the highest number of deaths was reported on May 3. (PTI)

05/07/2021 18:13:18

MEA to work with NHA to enable adaptation of CoWIN by interested countries: Sources

"Several countries have shown interest in the adoption of CoWIN platform. MEA will work with National Health Authority for enabling the adaptation and adoption of the platform by the interested countries," ANI quoted sources as saying.

Interest has already been shown by Vietnam, Lao PDR, Cyprus, Croatia, Sierra Leone, Zambia, Maldives, Malawi & Guyana. The platform is also being offered to WHO’s COVID Technology Access Pool (C-TAP), sources added.

05/07/2021 17:35:05

Punjab Govt to launch special campaign to vaccinate students aged above 18 yrs

Punjab Govt to launch special campaign to inoculate all the students above 18 years of age & staffers, both administrative and academic, at the colleges: State Govt

05/07/2021 17:05:04

Covid Third Wave Likely To Hit India In August, Peak In September: Report

New Delhi: The much-feared third wave of coronavirus is likely to hit India by mid-August, while cases may peak in September, a report said on Monday, even as the second wave is not yet over in the country.

The report titled 'Covid-19: The race to finishing line', published by SBI Research, stated that vaccination is the only saviour as global data shows that, on an average, the third wave peak cases are around 1.7 times the peak cases at the time of second wave.

Only 4.6 per cent of the population in India is fully vaccinated, while 20.8 per cent have received one dose, much lower compared to other countries including the US (47.1 per cent), the UK (48.7 per cent), Israel (59.8 per cent), Spain (38.5 per cent), France (31.2), among others.

"India has achieved its second wave peak on May 7 and going by the current data, the country can experience around 10,000 cases somewhere around the second week of July," State Bank of India's Group Chief Economic Adviser, Soumya Kanti Ghosh, said in the report.

"However, based on historical trends, the cases can start rising by the second fortnight of Aug' 21 with peak cases at least a month later," he added.

Current cases are now hovering around 45,000 since the past week, indicating that the devastating second wave is "not yet over in the country and is exhibiting a fat tail".

"In the first wave as well, the cases declined gradually, with cases around 45,000 for 21 days before any meaningful decline in daily cases," Ghosh said.

Further, 51 cases of the Delta Plus variant have been detected, so far, from 12 states. New cases in the top 15 districts, which are mostly urban, increased again in June. But the good thing is that their fatality rate has been constant for three months.

On the other hand, the share of rural districts in new cases has refused to decline meaningfully since July 2020, when it breached 45 per cent and has fluctuated since then.

"Vaccination seems to be the only answer," Ghosh said.

India has started giving more than 40 lakh vaccination doses per day. While states like Rajasthan, Delhi, Himachal Pradesh, Kerala, and Uttarakhand have already given both vaccine doses to a larger percentage of the population above 60 years, the overall vaccination in rural areas remains low, the report said.

Tamil Nadu, Punjab, Uttar Pradesh, Assam, Bihar, and Jharkhand have inoculated less proportion of those above 45 years. These states need to pick up pace, the report said.

Delta strain, which caused much havoc in India during the second way in April and May, has been detected in the US, the UK, China, Japan, Poland, Portugal, Russia, and Switzerland. It is the dominant variant in the UK and now accounts for 95 per cent of cases being sequenced.

Citing examples of reasonably vaccinated countries like the UK and Israel, Ghosh said "one can not become complacent even after taking vaccine". Other measures such as masks, social distancing and Covid-appropriate is a must. (IANS)

05/07/2021 16:58:34

Moderna Vaccine Supply In India

"On behalf of COVAX, Gavi is working closely with US Govt & other partners to operationalize dose donations & get doses delivered as quickly as possible so that countries can continue to protect their most at-risk groups,": Gavi spokesperson told ANI when asked about delivery of Moderna COVID vaccine to India.

05/07/2021 16:10:25

'I hope all the countries are able to gain value & benefit from our offering': Union Health Minister on CoWIN

We are excited to offer the Co-WIN platform as a technology tool that can be used for the greater public good globally. I hope all the countries are able to gain value & benefit from our offering: Union Health Minister Dr. Harsh Vardhan during CoWIN Global Conclave.

05/07/2021 14:31:07

Bihar Govt issues unlock 4 guidelines

Bihar government has allowed reopening colleges and universities from Unlock 4 onwards.

05/07/2021 13:22:14

Indian scientists working on developing mRNA vaccine technology get grant

Ignite Life Science Foundation has awarded its first grant award for "pandemic preparedness" research to a team of researchers at the Indian Institute of Science (Bengaluru) and the Translational Health Science and Technology Institute (Faridabad).

The team comprises Professor Raghavan Varadarajan, Dr.

Mrinmoy De and Dr. SiddharthJhunjhunwala (IISc), and Dr. Amit Awasthi (Translational Health Science and Technology Institute-Faridabad).

The grant, the amount of which was not disclosed, will support the research by them for developing for the first time in India the technologyplatform and reagents required to design, make and test novel mRNA vaccines, ILSF said.

"We hope their work will form the basis for India's ability to respond quickly to future pandemics, as well as improve our ability to respond to new variants of SARS-CoV-2," it said.

05/07/2021 12:07:32

Delhi's Lajpat Nagar market closed for flouting COVID norms

Delhi govt has shut down the Lajpat Nagar market till further notice after people at shops were seen flouting Covid norms.

05/07/2021 08:52:24

No Visitors allowed in places of worship: Karnataka

Places of worship including temples, mosques, churches, gurudwaras, and other religious places are allowed to open only for darshan/prayers, strictly in adherence with COVID-19 appropriate behaviour. No seva/offering or other activities permitted: Karnataka Govt in a July 4 order

05/07/2021 08:12:04

Madhya Pradesh Reports 47 New Cases

Madhya Pradesh reports 47 new COVID cases, 50 recoveries, and 8 deaths in the past 24 hours.

Active cases: 479

Total recoveries: 7,80,495

Death toll: 9,009

05/07/2021 08:11:07

Telangana reports 605 new cases

Telangana reports 605 new Covid cases, 1088 recoveries & 7 deaths in the last 24 hours.

Active cases: 11,964

Total recoveries: 6,11,035

Death toll: 3691

 

05/07/2021 08:10:19

Assam reports 1213 new cases

Assam reports 1,213 new COVID cases, 2,775 discharges, and 20 deaths in the last 24 hours.

Active cases: 22,155

Total discharges: 4,89,040

Death toll: 4,652

05/07/2021 07:53:33

Pune Vaccine Update

 Covieshield will not be available at any vaccination centre under the jurisdiction of Pune Municipal Corporation on July 5. However, Covaxin will be available at 6 centers (200 doses each), said Pune mayor

05/07/2021 07:52:59

J-K Lifts Weekend Curfew in 5 More Districts, Vaccinated People Allowed in Malls

The Jammu and Kashmir administration on Sunday lifted the weekend curfew from five more districts thereby increasing the arch of relaxation to 13 districts of the union territory after significant improvement in Covid-19 situation, officials said. The government made vaccination and negative RT-PCR report mandatory for people visiting indoor shopping complexes, malls, restaurants and bars and indoor sports complexes.

05/07/2021 07:41:17

J'khand reports 91 new COVID cases, one more death

Jharkhand's COVID-19 tally mounted to 3,45,885 as 91 more people tested positive for the infection in the last 24 hours, a health department official said on Sunday.

The death toll rose to 5,114 as one more person from East Singhbhum district succumbed to the infection during the period, he said.

Ranchi district registered the maximum number of fresh cases at 10, followed by East Singhbhum at eight.

Jharkhand now has 805 active cases, while 3,39,966 people have been cured of the disease so far, the official said.

The state conducted 53,266 sample tests for COVID-19 in the last 24 hours, he added.

05/07/2021 07:40:34

3rd COVID wave: US doctors impart online training to Jharkhand docs

Specialised doctors from University of California at Los Angeles, University of Texas and University of Illinois, USA, on Sunday imparted online training to several hundred Jharkhand doctors on critical care, preparation of Pediatric Intensive Care Units and treatment protocols to combat a possible third Covid wave and outbreak of the virus in children.

Those attending the webinar were pediatricians working in state-run medical college and hospitals, district hospitals, malnutrition treatment centres, Special New Born Care Units, New Born Stabilisation Units, physicians and pediatricians to be posted in the upcoming 28 new Pediatric Intensive Care Units (PICU) all over Jharkhand.

The webinar titled 'International PICU and Critical Care Training Symposium', was organised by Women Doctors Wing, Indian Medical Association(IMA), Jharkhand in association with Department of Health and family welfare, governemnt of Jharkhand. The webinar was inaugurated by Banna Gupta, Jharkhand Health Minister.

05/07/2021 07:39:31

Curb on unvaccinated persons from earning livelihood arbitrary: HC

The Gauhati High Court held the Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) issued by the Mizoram Government restricting the unvaccinated persons from earning their livelihood arbitrary and not in consonance with the provisions of Article 14, 19 and 21 of the Constitution.

A division bench of the Aizwal bench of the High Court comprising of Justice Michael Zothankhum and Justice Nelson Sailo on Friday in their order observed that the SOP issued by the Mizoram government on June 29 are arbitrary and not in consonance with the provisions of Article 14, 19 and 21 of the Constitution.

"The said impugned clauses are interfered with, to the extent that the allowances available and given to vaccinated persons shall also be made equally applicable to unvaccinated persons. The state are accordingly directed to issue a corrigendum of the June 29 SOP at the earliest incorporating the directions," the HC order said.

The Mizoram government's SOP had said that all people in the state of Mizoram are to be vaccinated or else they would not be allowed to leave their houses to procure or obtain essential items, goods or earn their livelihood by working in shops, stores, driving public, commercial transport vehicles etc.

"The restriction placed upon un-vaccinated persons only due to non-vaccination is unreasonable and arbitrary," the High Court order said while acting on a petition against the SOP, issued by the state Chief Secretary.

The next date of hearing in the case is on July 14.

05/07/2021 07:39:09

Lockdown extended in Karnataka's Covid-hit Kodagu district

Even as Karnataka readies to further unlock the economy by easing Covid restrictions in the state, including in Bengaluru, lockdown has been extended for two more weeks till July 19 from Monday in Kodagu district, an official said on Sunday.

"As the positivity rate continues to be at 7.21 per cent, the state government has extended the lockdown in the district by another two weeks to reduce Covid cases below 5 per cent," the district official told IANS on phone.

Kodagu is about 240 kms southwest of Bengaluru in the state, nestled in the biodiversity-rich Western Ghats.

"Along with weekend curfew from 9 p.m. on Friday to 6 a.m. on Monday, night curfew will continue from 9 p.m. to 6 a.m. on all weekdays," said the official.

According to the state health bulletin, 182 new cases were registered on Saturday, taking the district's Covid tally to 30,958, including 1,596 active cases, while 29,091 people recovered, with 150 patients discharged during the day.

Though no death was reported on Sunday, the district's toll is 271.

05/07/2021 07:38:47

Agra reports zero Covid cases after over 100 days

After more than 100 days, Agra reported zero cases of Covid-19, bringing considerable relief to the overstressed medical infrastructure as the last few days saw only two or three cases.

According to officials, the total number of cases since March 2020 was 25,709. The total number of fatalities is 453. The number of active cases now is 63. So far 11,95,181 samples have been tested. The recovery rate stands at 97.99 per cent.

Life is gradually returning to near normal as restrictions have been lifted. The medical fraternity does not share the alarm of an imminent third wave, provided people follow the government guidelines.

Meanwhile, doctors at the Nemi Chand Homeopathic Hospital have begun distributing free preventive medicines to stall the third wave. Director Pradeep Gupta claimed there were adequate medicines in homeopathy to treat Covid-19 and even black fungus. The hospital has treated a large number of critical cases.

"However, the government has not given us any opportunity or provided support to alternative therapies," Gupta lamented.