Coronavirus HIGHLIGHTS | Over 1 Crore Precaution Doses Administered So Far, Says Govt
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More than 1 Crore (1,16,18,975) Precaution Doses for the identified categories of beneficiaries for COVID vaccination have been administered so far, the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare informed in a statement.
(PTI) Kerala logged 50,812 new infections and eight COVID-19-related deaths on Saturday, taking the infection count to 59,31,945 and the death toll to 53,191.
According to the health department, 47,649 persons recuperated from the disease, pushing the number of total cured to 55,41,834.
The state has tested 1,10,970 samples in the last 24 hours and there are 3,36,202 active COVID-19 cases in the state, the department said.
Yesterday, the state reported 54,537 COVID-19 cases whereas it was 51,739 on Thursday. On January 25, Kerala had registered 55,475 cases, the highest ever single-day spike in the infection since the outbreak of the pandemic in 2020.
Among the districts, Ernakulam recorded the highest number of cases on Saturday--11,103, followed by Thiruvananthapuram with 6,647 and Kozhikode 4,490.
Among the latest fatalities, eight were reported in the last 24 hours, 94 were recorded over the last few days, while 311 were designated as COVID-19 deaths after receiving appeals based on the new guidelines of the Centre and the directions of the Supreme Court.
"Currently, there are 3,36,202 active COVID-10 cases in Kerala out of which only 3.4 per cent are admitted to hospitals," the department said in a release.
Out of those who were found infected on Saturday, 208 reached the state from outside while 46,451 contracted the disease through their contact. The source of infection of 3,751 is yet to be traced and 402 health workers are also among the infected.
There are 4,98,406 persons under observation out of which 11,658 are in isolation wards of various hospitals across the state.
New Delhi, Jan 29 (PTI) There is still a need to be vigilant and not lower the guard even though the active cases of COVID-19 in most of the states and the positivity rate have shown a fall in the last two weeks, Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya said in an interaction with five eastern states on Saturday.
State health ministers, principal secretaries/ additional chief secretaries and information commissioners of Odisha, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand and West Bengal participated in the meeting, according to an official release.
Mandaviya urged them to monitor the case positivity rate on a daily basis and increase the RT-PCR testing rate as most of the states exhibited a lower share of such tests.
While the active cases in most of the states and the positivity rate have shown a fall in the last two weeks, we still need to be vigilant and not lower our guard, he stated.
The states were also advised to keep a close watch on the number of hospitalisations and deaths.
It is important to analyse at the state level the proportion of vaccinated and unvaccinated of the hospitalised cases, the deaths and those on ventilators and oxygen support , he advised them.
Mandaviya said that irrespective of the COVID variants, 'test-track-treat-vaccinate and adherence to COVID appropriate behaviour' continue to remain the tested strategy for COVID-19 management.
He reiterated his advice for all states to fully and effectively utilise the ECRP-II funds for strengthening the existing healthcare infrastructure and create new as per requirement.
As the located funds under ECRP-II shall lapse on March 31, 2022, states were requested to review the progress on a regular basis, as this healthcare infrastructure will not only be utilised during the present pandemic, but will serve the people in the future too.
He reminded them to complete installation and commissioning of the PSA plants, LMO storage tanks and MGPS expeditiously.
Noting that vaccination is a critical tool for pandemic management, Mandaviya advised the states to accelerate vaccination of all eligible populations, especially of the 15-17 age group and those whose second dose is due.
Highlighting the importance of teleconsultation through platforms such as eSanjeevani, he suggested establishing teleconsultation hubs in every district hospital.
He also mooted ramping up the creation of Ayushman Bharat Health and Wellness Centers (AB-HWCs) at the earliest as it will help the masses and enable healthcare access to the remote areas of the country. These can be used not only during the ongoing pandemic but also for non-COVID healthcare, he said.
There was a comprehensive and detailed discussion on various aspects of COVID management including ramping up of hospital infrastructure; increased testing, stress on COVID-appropriate behaviour and stringent restrictive measures for breaking the chain of transmission.
The states shared their best practices at the review meeting.
Jharkhand informed about collecting data of migrant workers for vaccination. Chhattisgarh mentioned that a proper analysis of vaccinated and non-vaccinated people who tested positive is being made, while Bihar highlighted their initiative of doorstep delivery of medicines to COVID-19 positive patients in home isolation through Speed Post.
Tamil Nadu reports 24,418 fresh COVID cases, 27,885 recoveries, and 46 deaths in the last 24 hours
Active cases: 2,08,350
Mumbai, Jan 29 (PTI) Mumbai on Saturday reported 1,411 fresh COVID-19 cases and 11 fatalities due to the coronavirus infection, taking the tally to 10,44,470 and the toll to 16,602, the city civic body said.
With 3,547 patients being discharged, the total number of recoveries in Mumbai rose to 10,12,921, leaving the metropolis with 12,187 active cases, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) said.
With 38,965 new tests, the number of samples tested so far in Mumbai went up to 1,51,97,516.
Mumbai's case recovery rate now stands at 97 per cent while the case doubling rate increased to 322 days, the report said.
There are no containment zones in Mumbai but 13 buildings remain sealed as per protocol after more than five persons in each of these buildings were found infected with the coronavirus infection.
Delhi reports 4483 new cases, 28 deaths, and 8807 recoveries. Positivity rate 7.41%. Active cases 24800.
Noted Bengali singer Sandhya Mukhopadhyay, diagnosed with COVID-19, is still critical but her condition has improved, says hospital where she is undergoing treatment, PTI reported.
Mumbai: Maharashtra Health Minister Rajesh Tope on Saturday said that the peak of COVID-19 third wave is over in the state as COVID-19 cases are reducing in cities like Mumbai, Thane, Raigad, Palghar that were worst hit. "Yes, I can say that peak of the third wave has over now because COVID-19 cases are reducing in cities like Mumbai, Thane, Raigad, Palghar where the situation was worst during the recent wave of the COVID-19 pandemic. Although in some parts of Maharashtra still, the cases are moving upward," Tope told ANI.
"However, in the cities like Nashik, Nagpur, Pune, Aurangabad number is still rising but there is no reason to worry even in these places because infected people are getting cured in 5 to 7 days with simple treatment and medicines," he added. He further added that daily Covid positive numbers are going down. "We were at 47,000 per day once which has been gone down to around 25,000 per day. Simultaneously currently 92 to 96 per cent bed are vacant and less than one per cent patients is on oxygen, ICU or ventilators." There are currently 2,70,444 active COVID-19 cases in Maharashtra. The cumulative recoveries stood at 72,42,649. While the cumulative deaths stood at 1,42,461. (ANI)
The Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) has validated the COVID-19 rapid antigen test kit developed by a private company in Odisha.
The kit has been developed by IMGENEX India Pvt Ltd, Bhubaneswar with intellectual input from Regional Medical Research Centre (RMRC). The kit can detect various variants of COVID-19 by using nasopharyngeal swab samples.
RMRC director Dr Sanghamitra Pati said: The IMGENEX India Pvt Ltd, Bhubaneswar first started developing the kit and RMRC Bhubaneswar provided intellectual support for in-house testing and validation. Subsequently, we submitted the proposal for approval.
She said the kit ImCOV-Ag has very high sensitivity and specificity and can detect all variants of COVID-19.
The ICMR has approved the test kits based on the RMRC's internal validation and a third party's (an expert group from Kerala) report on efficacy and accuracy.
The World Health Organization's Senior official Poonam Khetrapal Singh has warned that even though the cases are plateauing in many parts of India, the risk still persists and the focus should be on controlling the transmission and implementing situation-specific measures.
"Even though some cities or states may be beginning to see plateauing of cases, the risk persists. We need to continue to remain vigilant. Our focus must be on reducing transmission. Implementing situation-specific public health and social measures and increasing vaccine coverage – that’s the way forward for all countries in the ongoing pandemic,” she said in an interview with PTI.
Ladakh's COVID-19 caseload increased to 25,536 on Saturday as 188 more people tested positive for the virus, officials said.
Of the new cases, 125 were reported from Leh district and 63 from Kargil district, they said.
According to officials, no Covid deaths were reported on the previous day and the death toll remained unchanged at 223 with 164 fatalities in Leh and 59 in Kargil.
A total of 143 patients, including 108 in Leh and 35 in Kargil, were discharged after successful treatment, officials said, adding the total number of recoveries in Ladakh have gone up to 24,018.
There are 970 active Covid cases in Leh and 325 in Kargil, while the positivity rate of the Union Territory stands at 4.1 per cent, they said.
Delhi Commission for Women (DCW) issues a Notice to SBI, seeking withdrawal of the guideline, that prevents women who are over 3 months pregnant from joining service, terming them as 'temporarily unfit'. DCW Chief Swati Maliwal said that this is both discriminatory and illegal.
Thane district of Maharashtra reported 1,079 new coronavirus positive cases, which took its infection count to 6,99,961, while the death of eight patients pushed to toll to 11,759, an official said on Saturday.
These cases and fatalities were reported on Friday, he said.
Thane's COVID-19 mortality rate is 1.67 percent.
In neighbouring Palghar district, the caseload stood at 1,61,552 and the death toll at 3,369, another official said.
India reports 2,35,532 new #COVID19 cases, 871 deaths and 3,35,939 recoveries in the last 24 hours
Active case: 20,04,333 (4.91%)
Daily positivity rate: 13.39%
Total Vaccination : 1,65,04,87,260
Twenty-five people lost their lives to COVID-19 in Punjab in last one day, a daily health bulletin said on Friday.
The state reported 3,096 fresh coronavirus cases, which took the overall infection tally to 7,35,139.
The deaths were reported from several districts including Amritsar, Ferozepur, Gurdsapur and Pathankot.
With Friday's numbers, the pandemic death toll reached 17,159.
The number of active cases in the state stood at 33,036, said the bulletin.
Of the fresh cases, Mohali reported the highest number of cases at 693, followed by Ludhiana and Jalandhar, which reported 467 and 234 cases, respectively.
A total of 1,156 patients are on oxygen support while 95 critical patients are on ventilator support, said the bulletin.
Karnataka Health Minister Sudhakar K on Friday said that statistics show that the Delta variant of COVID-19 has become less dominant which is now replaced by the Omicron variant of the virus as against the second wave in the country when the former variant was more dominant over the others. Sharing the genome sequencing data till Thursday in the state, the Minister said that the Omicron variant is more dominant in the ongoing third wave of COVID-19 with 67.5 per cent of the samples testing positive for the variant.
On the contrary, the Delta variant, which was more dominant during the second wave with a 90.7 per cent positivity rate of the sample, has now become less dominant with a 26 per cent positivity rate.
Background
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On the backdrop of ongoing weekend lockdowns, night curfews and other curbs imposed in several states of the country, India once again reported a dip in daily caseload with 2,51,209 fresh Covid-19 infections being reported in last 24 hours, the Union Health Ministry said on Friday.
The nation also logged 627 new fatalities which increased the nationwide death toll due to Coronavirus to 4,92,327. Active caseload stood at 21,05,611, accounting for 5.18 per cent of the country's total positive cases.
Consequently, the weekly positivity rate currently stands at 17.47 per cent, while the daily positivity rate has come down to 15.88 per cent.
Meanwhile, Union Health Ministry Mansukh Mandaviya on Friday asked the southern states to focus on the 5-fold strategy of 'Test-Track-Treat-Vaccinate and Adherence to Covid Appropriate Behaviour' along with effective surveillance of cases which is crucial for Covid management.
Over the last few weeks, several southern states of the country including Kerala, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and others have started witnessing surge in daily Covid caseload.
Southern states which have reported lower share of RT-PCR in Covid testing were advised to review the same.
In terms of state-wise Covid tally on Friday, Maharashtra recorded 24,948 new coronavirus cases including 110 Omicron infections and 103 pandemic-related deaths. New cases declined by 477 compared to the day before.
Delhi on Friday reported 4,044 fresh Covid-19 cases and 25 deaths, while the positivity rate dropped slightly to 8.6 per cent. Delhi had on Thursday reported 4,291 cases with a positivity rate of 9.56 per cent and 34 deaths.
With 31,198 fresh cases, Karnataka's Covid-19 caseload reached 37,23,694, while 50 deaths took the death toll to 38,804. The positivity and case fatality rates for the day were at 20.91 per cent and 0.16 per cent, respectively.
Gujarat recorded 12,131 new coronavirus infections and 30 deaths in the last 24 hours, the state health department said on Friday evening. The overall caseload rose to 11,32,791 and death toll reached 10,375.
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