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Sigh of relief: Delhi, Maharashtra see slight dip in Covid cases; curbs continue

corona

Mumbai on Tuesday reported 11,647 new Covid-19 cases and two deaths, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation said in a health bulletin. The test positivity rate fell from 28 per cent on Monday to 18.7 per cent.After reporting the highest number of cases in a single day on Friday, the tally of Covid-19 cases continued to dip in Mumbai on the fourth consecutive day.

With 29,671 patients being cured from the disease and eight related fatalities, the total recoveries and the death toll touched 66,02,103 and 1,41,647, respectively.

For the first time in 14 days, daily cases of Covid-19 in India decreased on Monday due to lower testing and detection on Monday due to lower testing and detections over the weekend but deaths from the virus continued to creep up.

According to the city’s health bulletin’s latest updates, 17 Covid-19- related deaths were reported in the same time span, pushing the death toll in the national capital to 25,177.

The capital currently has 65,803 active cases of which 44,028 are in home isolation. The current positivity rate stood at 25 per cent.

Delhi saw fewer cases on Monday with the number of tests conducted the previous day being lower than the day before.

Meanwhile, the Delhi Disaster Management Authority (DDMA) suspended dine-in facilities at restaurants and closed bars in view of the rising Covid cases in the city, but decided against imposing a full lockdown yet.

India registered 1,68,063 new COVID-19 cases, 6.4% lower than the previous day. Around 277 people succumbed to COVID-19 in the last one day, taking the tally to 4,84,213, revealed the country’s health ministry on Tuesday.

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Maharashtra got a shot in its arm with 1 million doses of Covishield vaccines-places demand of Covaxin

Vaccine Maha

Maharashtra on Sunday received a total 1,053,000 doses of Covishield vaccines, of which 350,000 were purchased from the Serum Institute of India for vaccination of people in 18-44 category of age, amid an acute shortage of vaccines during the third phase of inoculation drive.

State immunization officer DN Patil said on Sunday, “On Sunday we received 703,000 doses of Covishield and only 36,000 doses of Covaxin for the vaccination of people over age 45. Besides that, we received 350,000 Covishield vaccines which the state government has purchased for vaccination of people in the 18-44 category. All the doses have been shipped out to various districts and the drive will continue.”

Also See: New mutants of Coronavirus

Principal secretary of the state health department, Dr Pradeep Vyas, in a letter to the Centre on Saturday sought urgent supply of Covaxin as more than 500,000 people, in the above 45 age group, are due for their second dose.

Earlier this week, the Centre supplied 1,150,000 doses of Covid vaccines. However, after inoculating 234,578 people on Saturday, 363,753 on Friday and 454,546 on Thursday, the state has almost exhausted its stock.

Also Read: Issues faced by India in dealing with Covid 19 resurge- Is it too late to contain the Second Wave

On Sunday, the decline in the state’s vaccination numbers continued as the state inoculated 109,276 beneficiaries. So far, Maharashtra has fully vaccinated 3,350,633 beneficiaries, while 14,710,907 have taken their first shot of the vaccine.

Addressing the press on Sunday, state health minister Rajesh Tope said that the vaccination drive in the state was going at a “slow pace” due to the unavailability of the adequate number of doses.

He said, “Currently our vaccination drive is going on at a slow pace because vaccines are not being made available. Chief Minister has clearly said that Maharashtra has the potential to purchase 120 million doses in one go, but availability is the main issue. The Centre must intervene in this matter.”

He added that the state’s priority is to vaccinate 57.1 million population in the 18-44 years of age category, but wants the central government to clear the hurdles of permissions to procure foreign vaccines.

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Chief Minister of Maharashtra has warned against complacency by people when Covid19 cases fall in number

Chief Minister of Maharashtra

Chief Minister of Maharashtra Uddhav Thackeray has said that people should not be complacent after a downward trend in cases. He said, “Several districts are seeing a decline in the number of Covid19 cases while some districts are seeing a spike. We are keeping a close tab on it. The Centre’s scientific body has warned about a third wave now. We are preparing for that since last month.”

The state of Maharashtra has reported 57,640 fresh Covid19 cases and 920 deaths in the last 24 hours as update at 1 am IST, May 06.

Also Read: Issues faced by India in dealing with Covid 19 resurge- Is it too late to contain the Second Wave

On Wednesday, Karnataka has reported 50,112 new Covid19 cases. Out of these, 23,106 cases were from Bengaluru. The state also reported 346 more deaths, out of which 161 are from the capital city. Karnataka now has a positivity rate of 32.28%, which is quite concerning. Issues related to shortage of Hospital beds have also been reported from Bengaluru.

Also See: New mutants of Coronavirus

K Vijay Raghavan, Principal Scientific Advisor to Centre, warning that a third wave of Covid19 infections is inevitable, said, “A phase three is inevitable, given the higher levels of circulating virus but it is not clear on what time scale this phase three will occur. Vaccines are effective against current variants. New variants will arise all over the world and in India too but variants that increase transmission will likely plateau. Immune evasive variants and those which lower or increase disease severity will arise going ahead.”

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Covid19: Daily infection rate crossed 3.5 lakh amid Oxygen deficiency- the virus now has a BRN of 9-10

coronavirus infections

On Monday, 352,991 fresh coronavirus infections were reported in India, taking the cumulative caseload to 17,313,163, as per the Ministry of Health & Family Welfare. Amid a back-breaking situation of oxygen shortage and a faltering health system in India, the country saw 2,812 deaths in the highest single-day spike. As of now, the death toll from the deadly infection of Covid19 stands at 195,116. India now has more than 2.8 million active cases.

Also Read: Issues faced by India in dealing with Covid 19 resurge- Is it too late to contain the Second Wave

Hospitals in Delhi and other places across the country are turning away patients after running out of medical oxygen and beds. Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal has extended a lockdown in the capital that had been due to end on Monday for a week. Doctors at All India Institute of Medical Sciences have found out that one patient is now infecting up to nine in 10 contacts, compared with up to four last year. In virological & epidemiological terms, this means that this recent wave is seeing a Basic Reproduction Number or R0 of 9-10.

On Sunday, Maharashtra logged 832 Covid19 related fatalities, which is the highest-ever single-day spike since the pandemic started to grapple the world early last year. After the inclusion of today’s count, the death toll in the state has reached 64,760.  Today as many as 66,191 fresh Covid-19 cases were reported from Maharashtra.

Also See: New mutants of Coronavirus

In India, the six most affected states by total number of cases are Maharashtra (4,161,676), Kerala (1,322,054), Karnataka (1,247,997), Tamil Nadu (1,037,711), and Andhra Pradesh (997,462), Uttar Pradesh (976,765) and Delhi (956,348).

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Covid19 update: From office of UP CM to Maharashtra, & from New Delhi to fast tracking of approval of foreign vaccines

yogi-adityanath-ani-2

India is witnessing a second wave of the Covid19, which is known to have an increased transmissibility. The Union health ministry said that 10 states including Maharashtra, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Karnataka and others have recorded a steep rise in their daily new cases.

After three people in the office of Yogi Adityanath tested positive for Covid19 over the past three days, he went into self-isolation on Tuesday. CM Adityanath conducted his daily meeting with Team-11 virtually through video-conferencing on Tuesday morning.

On Tuesday evening, he tweeted, “Some officials have tested Covid positive in my office. These officers have been in touch with me therefore as a precaution, I have isolated myself and will carry out all work virtually.”

Also See: The New mutants of the Covid19 virus

Indian government officials, just a few short weeks ago, were patting themselves on the back under a cloud of unwarranted, unsolicited, and unwise hubris on the so-called victory over the pandemic. They also stated with a stratospherically high amount of self-praise that India was the “pharmacy of the world,” and also went ga-ga about its cheaply produced vaccines that would help fight the pandemic globally. The union health minister had declared that the country had entered “the endgame” of its own battle against the pandemic. Reserve Bank of India announced in an unusually enthusiastic tone that India had “bent [the Covid-19 curve] like Beckham” and that “soon the winter of our discontent will be made glorious summer.” At present, such claims sound extremely foolish in the midst of the second wave.

Also Read: Export of Remdesivir & its APIs banned when states are facing shortage of vaccine

On Tuesday, New Delhi recorded the highest-ever spike of 13,468 Covid-19 cases, and 81 deaths, when the country witnessed more than 1.6 lakh new cases (1,61,736). This made New Delhi the worst-affected city in the country. In Mumbai, the highest single-day spike stood at 9,986 cases till Tuesday, followed by Bengaluru (6,387 cases), Chennai (2,105) and Kolkata ( 1,271 cases).

On Tuesday, the state of Uttar Pradesh reported the highest-ever single-day spike of 18,021 coronavirus cases while 85 fatalities took the death toll in the state to 9,309.

In a parallel development in Maharashtra, ruling out a complete lockdown, Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray on Tuesday said that the state government will impose Section 144 for 15 days from 8 pm Wednesday. Thackeray said that emergency services will remain open between 7 am and 8 pm daily.

At a press conference, the chief minister said, “The war has begun again.”

“Now is the time for action,” he further added. He also stated, “I am not saying a lockdown just now, but strict restrictions. I know bread and butter is important but saving lives is important.” The CM of Maharashtra also acknowledged the need for more oxygen, saying that supplies would be sought through the military.

The latest curbs in Maharashtra come on a day when the state recorded over 60,000 fresh Covid-19 cases.

Also Read: Issues faced by India in dealing with Covid 19 resurge- Is it too late to contain the Second Wave

In another news, Centre has fast-tracked the emergency approval for foreign-produced Covid-19 vaccines that have been granted similar clearances in other countries. This decision by the GOI came after an expert panel recommended that Covid-19 vaccines which have been developed and are being manufactured in foreign countries and which have been granted emergency approval for restricted use by authorities in the US, Europe, the UK, Japan or which are listed in the WHO Emergency Use Listing may be granted emergency use approval in India.

On Tuesday, Kerala health minister KK Shailaja informed that the state has received two lakh more doses of Covid-19 vaccine. Chief Minister of Kerala, Pinarayi Vijayan on Monday had requested Centre to provide 50 lakh vaccine doses to the state.

Places like Ghaziabad & Noida, failed to meet the vaccination targets on the first day of Tika Utsav.

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Uddhav Thackeray to announce on restrictions to be placed in Maharashtra in the wake of surge in cases

Uddhav Thackeray

Since February, Maharashtra has been avoiding a complete lockdown when the spike started, but now with the number of daily infections not going down, the Cabinet is in favour of a longer and stricter lockdown.

Maharashtra ministers have confirmed that Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray is likely to announce whether the state needs to be placed under a strict lockdown in his address scheduled after 8pm on Wednesday. On Tuesday, the issue of a stricter lockdown was discussed in the Cabinet where the majority was in favour of a long lockdown in the state, extending for a week or two, instead of night curfew or the imposition of Section 144.

Also See: New mutants of Coronavirus

Maharashtra health minister Rajesh Tope said, “Tomorrow after 8 pm, the Chief Minister will announce the decision on lockdown in the state. We have requested the CM to announce a complete lockdown in the state from tomorrow at 8 pm. This was the request of all ministers to the chief minister. Now it is his decision.”

Also Read: Issues faced by India in dealing with Covid 19 resurge- Is it too late to contain the Second Wave

Maharashtra urban development minister Eknath Shinde said that there is no way out other than a complete lockdown as the health infrastructure of the state is under severe strain. He added, “We have demanded complete lockdown in today’s cabinet meeting. The cases are increasing. There is a scarcity of oxygen. There is no way out other than a complete lockdown.”

Food and civil supplies minister Chhagan Bhujbal said, “We have made all the efforts to minimize the Covid-19 figures. He will announce the decision (to impose lockdown) tomorrow after finalizing a detailed Standard Operating Procedure.”

On Tuesday, Maharashtra has reported 62,907 fresh Covid-19 cases and 519 deaths. The health department clarified that out of 519 deaths, over 200 were from last week and before, but were added to the toll on Tuesday. The number of active cases in the state stands at 6, 83,856.

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Amid COVID peak, Maharashtra falls short of vaccine doses

corona world

Maharashtra might have to stop its coronavirus immunisation drive after a few days because of a shortage of vaccine doses, according to state Health Minister Rajesh Tope. He said Maharashtra needs a stable supply of 40 lakh doses of Covid vaccines each week.

“Currently, we have 14 lakh vaccine doses which will get over in 3 days. We’ve asked for 40 lakh more vaccine doses per week,” Tope said while speaking to reporters.

“Many districts will run out of the stock today or tomorrow. The Centre is aware of the situation and (we) have also communicated in writing,” he said, adding, “I’m not saying that the Center is not giving us vaccines but the speed of delivery of vaccines is slow.”

Nearly 82 lakh people have been vaccinated so far in Maharashtra since the roll-out of the inoculation drive.

An official statement on Tuesday said Maharashtra had received 1.06 crore doses of the COVID-19 vaccine, out of which 88 lakh doses have been used while the wastage stood at three per cent.

Maharashtra on April 6 crossed the 50K mark, reporting 55,469 new COVID-19 cases in the past 24 hours, the state health department stated. This is the second-highest spike since the outbreak of the pandemic.

The total number of cases in the state now stands at 31, 13,354. As of April 6, there are 4,72,283 active cases in the state, and the death toll stands at 56,330.

Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray, taking into consideration the surging cases, has put the state under weekend lockdowns and night curfews. He has also implemented other strict measures to curb the spread of the virus.

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Tally of Covid19 cases in Maharashtra crossed 2.1 million mark-Uddhav warned of lockdown

Covid19 cases in Maharashtra

On Sunday, Maharashtra crossed a grim milestone of recording more than 2.1 million cases of Covid19, which coincided with a spike in cases and lockdown in a few districts, since the pandemic broke out in the state in March 2020. The state recorded 6,971 new Covid-19 infections, the highest one-day spike in last 121 days since October 23, when the state clocked 7,347 cases. The state’s Covid case tally reached 21,00,884, while the toll was pushed to 51,799 with 35 new deaths.

Mumbai which has also recorded a steady increase in cases for the past few days, reported 921 new infections on Sunday, taking the count to 319,128.

The spike has forced many districts and cities such as Amravati, Akola, Yavatmal, Pune, Nashik, Parbhani to impose stricter curbs on movement of the people. Amravati city will be placed under lockdown for a week starting Monday, 8pm, guardian minister Yashomati Thakur, said on Sunday. Only essential services will be allowed to function during the lockdown. This will be the first lockdown after the state initiated Mission Begin Again or unlocking activities.

A few other districts in Vidarbha and other parts of the state have imposed other curbs, including night curfew, weekend lockdown, announced closure of the schools and colleges, and started penalizing people, establishments for not following Covid-19 protocol.

Also See: New Mutants of Coronavirus

Chief minister Uddhav Thackeray issued an ultimatum to people, warning them of a lockdown if Covid-19-protocol was not followed properly. “It all depends on you, whether you want a lockdown or you are ready to follow the norms to avoid it. The lockdown this time will be more difficult to follow. It will be known only after a week or two if we are facing the second wave of pandemic,” he said. He also announced a ban on social, religious, political gatherings and protests that attract crowding for the next few weeks.

The number of cases in Amravati has been increasing rapidly over the past few days. On Saturday, Amravati (both district and city) reported 1,055 cases, while on Sunday, 926 cases were reported in the district. Nashik guardian minister Chhagan Bhujbal on Sunday announced that night curfew will be imposed in the city between 11pm and 5am, however, essential services do not come under the curb.

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Gram panchayat election in Maharashtra- Thane, Palghar, Aurangabad, Satara, Kolhapur, and Gadchiroli are among the 34 districts going for panchayati polls today

In Maharashtra, as many as 34 districts are voting today in over 14,000 Gram Panchayats. State election commissioner UPS Madan has said that all guidelines have been put in place for smooth conduct of the polls.

Maharashtra has 27,920 Gram Panchayats and the polls will cover 34 districts except Mumbai city and Mumbai suburban. The polling began at 7:30 am and will conclude at 5:30 pm, barring four tehsils in left-wing extremist districts of Gadchiroli and Gondia where it will end at 3 pm.  “All preparations have been made and the teams are in place,” Madan had said on Thursday.

He added that there are nearly 20,000 panchayat seats in Maharashtra where candidates have been elected unopposed. However, 14 villages have boycotted the Gram Panchayat elections this year demanding to be a part of the Navi Mumbai Municipal Corporation, a Thane district official told news agency PTI.

With the 14 villages boycotting the polls, five Gram Panchayats in the district will not be voting today. The counting of votes will be held on January 18.

The districts that have gone to polls today are: Thane (158), Palghar (3), Raigad (88), Ratnagiri (479), Sindhudurg (70), Nashik (620), Dhule (218), Jalgaon (783), Ahmednagar (767), Nandurbar (86), Pune (748), Solapur (658), Satara (879), Sangli (152), Kolhapur (433), Aurangabad (618), Beed (129), Nanded (1,015), Osmanabad (428), Parbhani (566), Jalna (475), Latur (408), Hingoli (495), Amravati (553), Akola (225), Yavatmal (980), Washim (152), Buldhana (527), Nagpur (130), Wardha (50), Chandrapur (629), Bhandara (148), Gondia (189) and Gadchiroli (362).

Voting was cancelled for Umrane and Khondamali Gram Panchayats in Nashik and Nandurbar districts, respectively, after the public allegedly auctioned off the posts of sarpanch and members of local governing bodies.

The Gram Panchayat polls are being held in the wake of the Maha Vikas Aghadi’s victory in the recently-concluded Legislative Council elections for graduates’ and teachers’ constituencies.

The MVA had won four out of the six seats contested, while the two others were secured by an Independent candidate and the BJP. The Gram Panchayat polls are being observed as a parameter to gauge the public mood in rural areas.

The State Election Commission had on January 13 stated that those who are either suffering from Covid-19 infection, or having been quarantined, can cast their ballot half an hour before the voting ends.

However, the body temperature of voters who do not have coronavirus, but live in containment zones, will be checked twice.

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Delhi, Maharashtra also hit by bird flu; both states take actions against the spread

bird flu

Delhi and Maharashtra have become the latest states to be hit by Bird Flu that is fast spreading in the country. Seven other states – Uttar Pradesh, Kerala, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh, Haryana and Gujarat – had earlier confirmed Avian Influenza as the cause of the recent bird deaths.

Delhi has banned import of live birds and the biggest wholesale poultry market in Ghazipur has been temporarily shut down. “Rapid response teams have been formed in every district to contain the spread. Veterinary doctors are also constantly on the lookout. The focus is particularly on the poultry markets in Sanjay Lake, Bhalswa Lake, and Hauz Khas,” Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said on Saturday.

More than 140 birds, mostly crows, have been found dead across locations in Delhi over the past four days, even as district officials were directed to ensure that unauthorised wholesale poultry markets were closed for 10 days amid concerns of the spread of avian influenza.

In Maharashtra, the epicenter is Parbhani – about 500 km from state capital Mumbai.  “About 800 poultry birds – all hens – died in the last two days. Their samples were given for testing. And now it is confirmed that the reason is bird flu,” Deepak Madhukar Munglikar, District Collector, told media. “It has been confirmed in Murumba village. There are about eight poultry farms and 8,000 birds. We have given orders of culling those poultry birds,” he added.

Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray will hold a meeting this evening to review the bird flu situation.

The Ministry of Fisheries, Animal Husbandry and Dairying has formed teams to monitor the spread of bird flu. The government has also directed zoo managements to submit daily reports to the Central Zoo Authority (CZA) till their area is declared free from the disease.

States/ UTs have been told to increase surveillance around water bodies, live bird markets, zoos, poultry farms, etc proper disposal of the carcass, and strengthening of bio-security in poultry farms.