Coronavirus HIGHLIGHTS: Maharashtra Records 12,207 New Cases, 393 Deaths; Mumbai Daily Tally Above 650
Coronavirus HIGHLIGHTS, Thursday, June 10, 2021: Coronavirus positive cases plunged below 18,000 in Tamil Nadu with 17,321 fresh infections being reported on Wednesday, and the recoveries rose to 31,253. West Bengal's Covid-19 tally rose to 14,42,830 on Wednesday as 5,384 more people tested positive for the infection, while 95 fresh fatalities pushed the state's coronavirus death toll to 16,555.
With 23 new COVID deaths, the toll increased to 9542 in Bihar Thursday, while 551 fresh positive cases spiked the total caseload in the state to 7,15,730, health department bulletin said.
The state government had on the previous day issued the revised death figures of COVID in Bihar after including 3951 unreported casualties from the districts, which had put the tally at 9429.
India on Thursday asked China to allow Indian citizens to travel to that country, especially those who work or study there, saying essential two-way visits should be facilitated keeping in view the fact that Chinese nationals are able to come to India.
The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) also said that India supports the need for a follow up to the WHO's report on the origin of the COVID 19, amid growing global calls to find out how the coronavirus emerged in the Chinese city of Wuhan in late 2019.
Maharashtra on Thursday reported 12,207 coronavirus positive cases and 393 fatalities, which took the state's infection count to 58,76,087 and death toll to 1,03,748, the health department said.
Thursday's case count is slightly higher than what the state had been reporting over the last three days. The number of daily cases in the state had dipped to around 10,000 in the past few days. The state had reported 9,927 cases on March 9 this year.
Meanwhile, Mumbai reported 655 cases and 22 deaths. With this, its tally increased to 7,13,495 and death toll to 15,055.
Terming the low Covid vaccination coverage among the healthcare and frontline workers, especially for the second dose, a cause of "serious concern", the Centre advised the states and Union territories on Thursday to sharpen their focus and prepare effective plans for expediting the second dose coverage among these priority groups.
At a high-level meeting chaired by Union Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan with the states to review the progress of vaccination, it was highlighted that while the national average for the first dose administration among the healthcare workers (HCWs) is 82 per cent, for the second dose, it is only 56 per cent, a statement issued by the health ministry said. PTI
Eighty-two more people died from coronavirus in Uttar Pradesh on Thursday as 642 fresh cases surfaced, taking the state's infection number to 17,01,072, according to a Health Department bulletin.
Of the fresh 82 deaths, 15 were reported from Kanpur Nagar, eight from Gorakhpur, five from Bareilly, four each from Saharanpur, Agra, Deoria, Jhansi, Gonda, three each from Ghaziabad, Meerut, Lakhimpur Kheri and two each from Rae Bareli, Pilibhit, Shahjahanpur, Hapur and Balrampur.
Delhi recorded 44 more COVID-19 deaths and 305 new cases on Thursday with a positivity rate of 0.41 per cent, according to the health bulletin released. Nearly 560 people recovered from the disease in the last 24 hours as the the recoveries again outnumbered fresh infections.
Puri Rath Yatra will be held this year following Covid restrictions, without the participation of devotees, only with servitors. Supreme Court guidelines, issued last year, to conduct the Rath Yatra will be followed: Odisha Special Relief Commissioner Pradeep K Jena
Only Covid-19 negative and fully vaccinated servitors will be allowed to take part in the rituals, he added.
Govt’s advice to States/UTs to obtain permission of Union Health Ministry before sharing E-VIN data & analytics related to vaccines stocks & temperature at which they are stored is solely to prevent any misuse of this data by agencies for commercial purpose: Union Health Ministry
Info related to specific vaccine usage trends for multiple vaccines used in Universal Immunization Programme & temperature-related data can be used to manipulate market as well as associated research with respect to various vaccines & cold chain equipment, it added
Important to note that Union Health Ministry is using E-VIN electronic platform for all vaccines used under UIP for more than six years now. Sharing of sensitive E-VIN data on stocks & storage, temperature requires the Health Ministry’s prior consent, it stated.
Govt is committed to transparency in Covid vaccination programme & that's the reason it came up with a real-time IT-based tracking of vaccine logistics up to beneficiaries through Co-WIN. The aim is to share the information with the general public on regular basis, Union Health Ministry added.
"We got to know from various sources that those who died (due to Covid) could be more in number. After consultations with stakeholders, the State govt instructed district administrators to identify institutional deaths due to Covid," Bihar Health Minister Mangal Pandey on increased Covid death tally in the state.
"For 15-20 days DMs monitored and prepared reports of combined numbers (deaths). This is not 2-day work, the report was prepared in 15-20 days and released yesterday. Govt's intent is to reach out to (Covid) deceased's families and help them financially," he added.
Nainital High Court directs Central government to provide an uninterrupted supply of life-saving medicines to Uttarakhand, the court also directs the State government to organize dist-level campaigns for vaccination of weaker sections of society, who could not get vaccinated due to lack of an ID.
Washington: India will be receiving a share of the 80 million (8 crores) unused COVID-19 vaccines through the UN-backed COVAX global vaccine sharing programme that President Joe Biden has announced, according to a senior State Department official.
On June 2, President Biden announced that the US will allocate 75 percent - nearly 1.9 crores of the first tranche of 2.5 crore doses - of unused COVID-19 vaccines from its stockpile through the UN-backed COVAX global vaccine sharing programme to countries in South and Southeast Asia as well as Africa.
The move is part of his administration's framework for sharing 80 million (8 crores) vaccines globally by the end of June.
According to a White House fact sheet, nearly 19 million vaccines will be shared through COVAX.
I don't have the specific details on when the shipment of vaccines will be arriving in India. Of course, India will be in receipt of a share of those 80 million vaccines and through COVAX, I believe there were some six million vaccines destined for the region, State Department Spokesperson Ned Price told reporters at a news conference on Wednesday.
COVID-19 Vaccines Global Access, abbreviated as COVAX, is a worldwide initiative aimed at equitable access to COVID-19 vaccines directed by Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations, and the World Health Organisation.
We know that India has suffered tremendously with this pandemic and as we have done in the case of these vaccines, but also as we did even prior to this vaccine sharing announcement. We have demonstrated our commitment to work closely with our partners in India to help see the way out of this epidemic, he said.
In recent weeks, the US has so far supplied seven planeloads of life-saving supplies worth approximately USD 100 million.
This is also in addition to the tremendous generosity that we have seen from the private sector and the diaspora here in this country that has donated some 400 million additional dollars. So, that's half a billion dollars that the United States government and the people here in the United States have committed to help our friends and to help our partners in India recover from this pandemic, Price said.
Responding to a question, he said the Biden administration is absolutely continuing with its commitment to help the government and the people of India emerge from this pandemic.
We remain engaged with the private sector as we have spoken of our commitment of vaccines to India, of our commitment of planeloads of life-saving supplies, doing all we can not only on our part but also to galvanize action on the part of other non-governmental actors here in the United States to help our friends in India, Price said.
India is currently witnessing the second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic. So far, the country has recorded over 2,90,89,069 confirmed COVID-19 cases, including 3,53,528 deaths.
The Biden administration had been under pressure to send the excess COVID-19 vaccines with the US to nations like India, which are facing severe vaccine shortages. (PTI)
Odisha reported 6097 new Covid-19 cases, 8032 recoveries, and 44 deaths in the last 24 hours.
Total cases: 8,37,226
Total recoveries: 7,64,673
Death toll: 3167
Active cases: 69,333
37,21,98,253 samples tested for Covid-19, up to 9th June 2021. Of these, 20,04,690 samples were tested yesterday: Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR).
Patna: The number of Covid-19 deaths in Bihar was on Wednesday revised drastically upwards by the state health department which put the total number of fatalities caused by the pandemic at 9,429.
According to the department, which had till the previous day stated the number of deaths to be under 5,500, as many as 3,951 deaths have been added to the number of deaths after verification.
However, it was not specified as to when these additional deaths took place though a breakup was provided for all 38 districts.
Going by the fresh figures, the number of lives lost in the second wave is close to 8,000 and a nearly six times increase in the deaths since April.
Patna district bore the brunt of the outbreak, accounting for a total of 2,303 deaths. Muzaffarpur was a distant second with 609 fatalities. Patna also accounted for the highest number of 1,070 "additional deaths reported after verification", followed by Begusarai (316), Muzaffarpur (314), East Champaran (391), and Chief Minister Nitish Kumars native Nalanda (222).
Altogether 7,15,179 people have been infected in the state so far of whom more than five lakhs caught the contagion in the last couple of months.
The health department has also revised the number of recovered persons from 7,01,234 on the previous day to 6,98,397.
The recovery rate, which was 98.70 per cent on the previous day, has also come down to 97.65 per cent following the revision in statistics which could provide fresh ammunition to the opposition, which has been alleging that the government was fudging figures to hide its failure in handling the pandemic.
Nonetheless, the state seemed to be doing well after more than a month of lockdown as, according to the health department, only 20 deaths and 589 fresh cases were reported on the day.
At present, there are 7,353 active coronavirus cases in the state. The situation could improve further with the recent wave on the wane and vaccination drive picking up. More than 1.21 lakh people got their jabs during the day taking the total number, so far, to 1.14 crore. (PTI)
New Delhi: A preliminary study conducted by the All India Institute of Medical Science (AIIMS) Delhi claimed that the presence of COVID-19 Delta variant (B1.617.2) is predominantly found even after getting a single dose or both doses of COVID-19 vaccine. The study included 63 people who got breakthrough infections; of which 36 patients received two doses, while 27 had received one dose of vaccine.
"SARS-CoV-2 lineages could be assigned for a total of 36 (57.1 per cent) samples, 19 (52.8 per cent) in patients who completed both doses and 17 (47.2 per cent) in patients who completed only a single dose. B.1.617.2 was found to be the predominant lineage with 23 samples (63.9 per cent) out of which 12 were in fully vaccinated and 11 in partially vaccinated groups. 4 (11.1 per cent) and 1 (2.8 per cent) samples were assigned the lineages B.1.617.1 and B.1.1.7 respectively. The B.1.617.2 lineage was first described in India and associated with increased transmissibility as well as immune escape and has grown to become one of the predominant lineages in India," the AIIMS study said.
Ten patients received Covishield while 53 received Covaxin, of which 41 were males and 22 were females.
"Our analysis included 63 cases of vaccine breakthrough infections for which the dates of vaccines could be ascertained, of which 36 patients received two doses, while 27 had received one dose of vaccine. Ten patients received AZD1222/Covishield while 53 received BBV152/Covaxin," the study read.
The patients had a mean age of 37 (21-92), of which 41 were males and 22 were females. None of the patients had any comorbidities which could act as a predisposing factor for breakthrough infections.
"As lineage B.1.617.2 (Delta) was also prevalent in this group, any significant differences in lineages among fully and partially vaccinated samples were analysed. The difference was not found to be significant in both double dose vaccinated and single-dose vaccinated groups," the study added.
The report further stated that there are no reports of deaths in a sample size of 63 people, even though almost all cases reported high-grade unremitting fever for 5-7 days.
"Viral load at the time of diagnosis was high in all the patients irrespective of vaccination status or type of vaccine received. The initial course of disease with high-grade non-remitting fever lasted for five to seven days in the vaccinated group, similar to the clinical presentation in unvaccinated patients. During the subsequent course of illness, neither disease worsening (stable biomarkers) nor mortality was reported in the present group, confirming the previous observations," as per the study.
The presence of Delta variant was about 60 per cent of people who received a double dose of either vaccine and it was found in 77 per cent of people who received one dose.
Of the breakthrough infection cases analysed, 10 patients (8 with double doses of vaccine and 2 with single vaccine dose) additionally had total Immunoglobulin G (IgG) antibodies assessed, of which 6 patients had IgG antibodies a month before the infection, while 4 had antibodies after the disease episode.
The patients included health care workers (24, 13 of which were from the same hospital) and close analysis of the genomic sequences suggests that the samples clustered separately with origins closely clustering with lineages from different states, suggesting the disease transmission happened most likely from different and independent sources.
The study also made the comment on the prevalence of Delta variant in Delhi and said, "Reinfections and vaccine breakthrough infections are rare occurrences and genomic sequencing of vaccine breakthrough infections can provide useful insights.
In the present group of vaccine breakthrough infections investigated using genome sequencing, closely overlapping and mirroring the COVID-19 cases in the state of Delhi, the variants of concern B.1.617.2 and B.1.1.7 comprised the majority, but the proportions were not significantly different in comparison with the population prevalence of the variants during this period with high community transmission."
Mortality due to COVID-19 was ascribed to 2 per cent cases (primarily older population, average age-82 years). The study has not been peer-reviewed yet. (ANI)
Aurangabad: Maharashtra's Hingoli district registered three fresh cases of coronavirus on Wednesday, making it the third consecutive day of infections in single digit, an official said.
The district in the Marathwada region registered only three Covid-19 cases in the last 24 hours, taking its infection count to 15,826, he said.
On Tuesday, eight coronavirus cases were recorded in Hingoli district and on Monday, the single-day patient count was five, the official said. Two new deaths were reported on Wednesday, which took the toll in district to 371, he said.
There are 137 active cases in Hingoli, the official said. When contacted, District Collector Ruchesh Jayvanshi told PTI, "We have initiated a few steps which helped us to to keep the number of patients low and as a result we are getting cases in single digit now. Marriage functions have been banned in the district (except court marriages), while testing and monitoring of close contacts of patients are being undertaken rigorously." "'Our district has a Covid-19 recovery rate of around 97 per cent ," he added. (PTI)
Background
Coronavirus HIGHLIGHTS, Thursday, June 10, 2021: Maharashtra on Wednesday reported 10,989 new Covid-19 cases, taking the state's caseload to 58,63,880. It also recorded 261 fatalities, pushing the death toll to 1,01,833, health officials said.
The daily cases in the state have dipped to around 10,000 in the last two days. Maharashtra had reported 9,927 cases on March 9 this year after which the numbers had increased.
As many as 16,379 patients were discharged on Wednesday, taking the number of recovered persons to 55,97,304.
The state's recovery rate is 95.45 percent and the case fatality rate is 1.74 percent, the health department said.
There are 1,61,864 active cases in the state now.
As many as 2,20,912 coronavirus tests were done during the day, taking the total to 3,71,28,093.
Mumbai reported 785 new cases of infection and 27 deaths. The total of cases in the financial capital of the country rose to 7,12, 840, while its death toll reached 15,033 . The larger Mumbai division reported 2,403 new cases and 47 deaths, taking the region's caseload to 15,54,814 and death toll to 28,553.
Coronavirus positive cases plunged below 18,000 in Tamil Nadu with 17,321 fresh infections being reported on Wednesday, and the recoveries rose to 31,253.
The fatalities slightly dipped to 405 - 169 in private hospitals and 236 in government facilities - taking the total toll so far to 28,170.
Coimbatore topped with 2,319 new infections and 62 deaths and a total of 4,992 people were discharged, according to the state health bulletin here.
West Bengal's Covid-19 tally rose to 14,42,830 on Wednesday as 5,384 more people tested positive for the infection, while 95 fresh fatalities pushed the state's coronavirus death toll to 16,555, a health bulletin said.
North 24 Parganas district reported the highest number of fresh fatalities at 20, followed by 17 in Kolkata.
Of the 95 deaths, 53 were due to comorbidities where Covid-19 was incidental, the bulletin said.
As many as 10,512 more people were cured of the disease, taking the total number of recoveries to 14,11,573 and the discharge rate to 97.83 percent.
The state now has 14,702 active cases.
A total of 2.15 lakh people have been vaccinated to date.
Delhi reported 337 new Covid cases and 36 deaths in the last 24 hours, according to the Delhi government's daily health bulletin.
For the second straight day, the national capital has witnessed a slight surge in daily cases. Delhi had reported 231 new cases on Monday, the lowest since March 2, which increased to 316 on Tuesday.
The daily test positivity rate stood at 0.46 percent on Wednesday.
The national capital presently has 4,511 active cases, of which 1,555 are in home isolation. The active caseload dropped below the 5,000-mark for the first time since March 24 on Tuesday when it stood at 4,962.
As many as 752 Covid patients recovered from the disease in the last 24 hours, taking the total number of recoveries so far in the national capital to 14,00,913.
Meanwhile, 36 new deaths in the past 24 hours took Delhi's overall Covid death toll to 24,704.
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