Coronavirus HIGHLIGHTS: Madhya Pradesh Removes Sunday Curfew In 35 Districts With Zero Covid Cases
Coronavirus HIGHLIGHTS, Saturday, June 26: Mumbai will continue to be in category 3 of the Maharashtra government's five-level unlock plan that seeks to ease coronavirus-induced curbs as per infection positivity rate and oxygen bed occupancy numbers. Health Ministry has asked the Gujarat Chief Secretary (CS) Anil Mukim to adopt immediate containment measures in Surat district, where the new variant of the Delta variant -- the Delta Plus -- has been found.
Over 2.05 lakh people in Delhi received anti-coronavirus vaccine shots on Saturday, the highest in a day till now, said Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia.
"Vaccination in Delhi is happening at a record pace! For the last three days, we have vaccinated more than 1.5 lakh beneficiaries. Today, surpassing all previous records Delhi has vaccinated 2,05,170 people! This is how we are going to protect Delhi from the 3rd wave!" he tweeted.
Offices with 25 or more employees will be allowed to open with 50 per cent workforce. Offices whose at least 60 per cent of employees have received 1st dose of vaccine are allowed to open with 100 per cent workforce. All religious places will be allowed to open from 5 am to 4 pm: Rajasthan Government
Corona is under control in Madhya Pradesh. Not even one positive case reported in 35 districts and active cases stand below 1000. Positivity rate has dropped to 0.06 per cent. In this situation, it is not justified to impose a corona curfew on Sunday. So we are withdrawing it immediately: CM Shivraj Singh Chouhan
Government of Goa has decided to extend the State Level Curfew till 7 AM, July 5, 2021: Chief Minister Pramod Sawant
Prime Minister Narendra Modi has chaired a meeting on the country's vaccination drive. The meeting, which began at around 5 pm on Saturday, includes senior officials in the Prime Minister's Office (PMO), the Health Secretary and NITI Aayog member (health) Dr VK Paul.
Delhi logs 85 (lowest this year) new Covid cases in the last 24 hours with 158 recoveries and 9 deaths.
Total cases: 14,33,675
Active cases: 1,598
Deaths: 24,961
At least eight persons have been found infected with the Delta Plus variant of coronavirus in Madhya Pradesh so far, state Medical Education Minister Vishwas Sarang said on Saturday, adding none of the contacts of these patients was found to be infected with this strain.
Speaking to reporters, Sarang said the patients infected with the Delta Plus variant are being tested as per protocol and the National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) has been regularly sharing information with the state in this regard.
The Centre has urged Karnataka to take up immediate containment measures, including preventing crowds, conducting widespread testing as well as increasing vaccine coverage on a priority basis in districts where the Delta Plus variant of COVID-19 has been detected.
"You are requested to take up immediate containment measures in these districts and clusters including preventing crowds and intermingling of people, widespread testing, prompt tracing as well as vaccine coverage on a priority basis," Union Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan wrote to Karnataka Chief Secretary P Ravi Kumar
After Maharashtra, now a person in Tamil Nadu's Madurai has died due to the Delta Plus variant infection. This is the first case of death due to the specified variant in the state. The state health department informed about the same.
Tamil Nadu Welfare Minister M Subramanian said that three new cases of the 'Delta Plus' variant were reported, out of which two recovered.
"Govt is prepared. Regarding the first case (of Delta Plus variant) reported in Faridabad, we have given orders that 100% of the contacts of the person be tested and genome sequencing be done," Haryana Health Minister Anil Vij said.
Punjab: "A case of Delta plus variant found in Ludhiana. The 62-year-old patient, a resident of Jand village in Pakhowal block has no travel history. He is in better condition. So far, no other villager found Delta plus positive,": Deputy Commissioner VK Sharma informed.
On June 21, India vaccinated over 80 lakh people beginning a new phase of the vaccination drive where the Centre provides free vaccines to states and Union territories depending on the population, the Covid-19 situation among other factors. India breached all its past records of highest weekly vaccination as it administered over 3.3 crore doses between June 21 and June 26, Union health ministry data said. The earlier record was of 2.47 crore doses, administered in a week between April 3 and April 9.
ICMR has achieved the milestone of conducting 40 crores testing on 25th June, 2021. With average testing of more than 18 lakhs per day in the month of June, India has tested 40,18,11,892 samples across the country till 25th June 21: Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR)
People who have been vaccinated with two doses of the Covid vaccine will be exempted from mandatory testing on arrival at airports or railway stations in Assam: Assam Govt
The head of the World Health Organization said the COVID-19 delta variant, first seen in India, is the most transmissible of the variants identified so far, and warned it is now spreading in at least 85 countries. At a press briefing on Friday, WHO director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said the lack of vaccines in poor countries was exacerbating the delta variant's transmission. He described a recent meeting he attended of an advisory group established to allocate vaccines. They were disappointed because there is no vaccine to allocate, he said, criticizing rich countries for declining to immediately share shots with the developing world. If there is no vaccine, what do you share? Tedros said the global community was failing and risked repeating the mistakes made during the AIDS crisis decades ago and during the 2009 swine flu pandemic when vaccines only arrived in poor countries after the outbreak ended.
Mumbai will continue to be in category 3 of the Maharashtra government's five-level unlock plan that seeks to ease coronavirus-induced curbs as per infection positivity rate and oxygen bed occupancy numbers, the BMC said on Friday.
While announcing the decision, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) also said the metropolis has had an average positivity rate of 3.96 per cent and oxygen bed occupancy of 23.04 per cent over the last two weeks.
The decision came hours after the state government amended its five-level unlock plan implemented earlier this month and announced state-level trigger for imposing restrictions in administrative units irrespective of weekly positivity rate and oxygen bed occupancy percentage.
State-level trigger means that irrespective of the weekly positivity rate and oxygen bed occupancy, level 3 restrictions will continue in administrative units till the district disaster management authority takes a call to withdraw them, according to a state government notification.
The state's move was driven by detection of cases of the Delta plus variant of COVID-19, considered highly infectious, in Maharashtra.
Delta plus cases have been found in Ratnagiri, Jalgaon and some other districts of the state, requiring stricter curbs, the notification said.
The Department of Health and Family Welfare (DoH) of the Union Ministry of Health on Friday asked Gujarat Chief Secretary (CS) Anil Mukim to adopt immediate containment measures in Surat district, where the new variant of the Delta variant -- the Delta Plus -- has been found.
After the Delta Plus variant of the coronavirus was found in two victims in Gujarat on Friday, Rajesh Bhushan (IAS), from the DOH, has written to Mukim to take immediate containment measures in Surat and other places where clusters of Delta variant have been found.
Besides, one of the infected was found to be from Surat, but according to the information available, even the Maharashtra administration found that out of the total 20 persons identified in Maharashtra to be infected with Delta Plus variant, two had a travel history to Surat.
Mizoram reported 232 new Covid 19 cases on Friday.
Total cases: 19,091
Total discharges: 14,554
Active cases: 4,448
Death toll: 89
Positivity rate: 5.75%
The Gurugram health department can start administering the Russian-made vaccine against Covid-19, Sputnik V, from the first week of July at the government health centres without any charge, officials said on Friday.
With this initiative, the Gurugram district will be among the first ones across Haryana, where the Russian-made vaccine will be administered at government facilities.
Officials said the health department has made the necessary arrangements for administering Sputnik V.
The Chief Medical Officer (CMO) of Gurugram, Virender Yadav, said that Sputnik V will be made available in Gurugram under the corporate social responsibility (CSR) programme. The vaccine will be administered free of cost on first-come-first-serve basis.
With 35,204 new cases of the Delta Covid-19 variant getting reported last week, the UK has seen a 46 per cent increase in the variant of concern, the Public Health England (PHE) said on Friday.
The total number of confirmed Delta cases now stands at 111,157 -- with 102,019 of these recorded in England, 7,738 in Scotland, 788 in Wales and 612 in Northern Ireland, the Sky news reported.
The Delta variant, first identified in India, now comprises 95 per cent of all sequenced cases in the UK, PHE added.
Last week, it made up 99 per cent of Covid cases across the UK, with about 42 of the latest cases belonging to the Delta plus variant (AY.1 sub lineage) -- thought to be more transmissible than the original Delta variant.
India's Ambassador to the United States Taranjit Singh Sandhu on Friday visited the facilities of pharma major Novavax saying its partnership with Serum Institute of India (SII) is an example of the robust India-US healthcare cooperation.
Headquartered in Gaithersburg, Maryland, Novavax is a biotechnology company that focuses on the discovery, development and commercialisation of vaccines to prevent infectious diseases.
During his discussions with Stanley C Erck, President, Chief Executive Officer & Director at Novavax, Sandhu said the partnership between Novavax and SII is another example of the robust India-US healthcare cooperation , especially in the manufacturing of affordable and accessible vaccines and medicines.
Erck briefed the ambassador on the high efficacy of the COVID-19 vaccine as per trials held so far. In January 2020, Novavax announced development of a coronavirus vaccine candidate. Subsequently Novavax and India's SII had entered into a vaccine manufacture agreement with the Novovax vaccine expected to be distributed as 'Covavax' in India.
Raising concern over the intensity of the second wave not declining in neighbouring Maharashtra and Kerala, Karnataka Chief Minister B.S. Yediyurappa on Friday directed officials intensify its surveillance on border areas to keep track of passengers those arriving from these states
After a meeting with ministers and bureaucrats concerned to discuss strategies to curb the spread of new mutant - Delta Plus - of coronavirus' Delta variant, he, in a statement, said that there is need to increase surveillance on border areas to keep check on its carriers entering from neighbouring states.
"We need to subject everyone who arrive from Maharashtra and Kerala to tests as in these states, Covid cases are still on the rise and cases related to Delta Plus mutant were also recorded more in number in these states than in southern states," he said
Yediyurappa contended that at least in Karnataka, the Delta Plus strain has not yet appeared on large scale as of now and things are under control in this regard.
He also instructed the authorities concerned to identify malnourished children and provide them nutritious food and medical care that is required.
Background
Coronavirus HIGHLIGHTS, Saturday, June 26: The Department of Health and Family Welfare (DoH) of the Union Ministry of Health on Friday asked Gujarat Chief Secretary (CS) Anil Mukim to adopt immediate containment measures in Surat district, where the new variant of the Delta variant -- the Delta Plus -- has been found.
After the Delta Plus variant of the coronavirus was found in two victims in Gujarat on Friday, Rajesh Bhushan (IAS), from the DOH, has written to Mukim to take immediate containment measures in Surat and other places where clusters of Delta variant have been found.
Besides, one of the infected was found to be from Surat, but according to the information available, even the Maharashtra administration found that out of the total 20 persons identified in Maharashtra to be infected with Delta Plus variant, two had a travel history to Surat.
Raising concern over the intensity of the second wave not declining in neighbouring Maharashtra and Kerala, Karnataka Chief Minister B.S. Yediyurappa on Friday directed officials to intensify its surveillance on border areas to keep track of passengers arriving from these states
After a meeting with ministers and bureaucrats concerned to discuss strategies to curb the spread of new mutant - Delta Plus - of coronavirus' Delta variant, he, in a statement, said that there is need to increase surveillance on border areas to keep check on its carriers entering from neighbouring states.
"We need to subject everyone who arrive from Maharashtra and Kerala to tests as in these states, Covid cases are still on the rise and cases related to Delta Plus mutant were also recorded more in number in these states than in southern states," he said
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