Karnataka CM Yediyurappa met ministers and top government officials in Bengaluru on Saturday to review Covid-19 situation in the state. (Express Photo)
In the wake of a steady rise in the number of daily Covid-19 cases and fatalities in Karnataka, the state government Saturday decided to reimpose Sunday curfew from July 5. “No activities except essential services shall be permitted during this time,” Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa announced. Karnataka recorded 918 cases and 11 deaths linked to the coronavirus on Saturday. In Bengaluru alone, 596 people tested positive for the infection and three fatalities were reported in the last 24 hours.
Union Home Minister Amit Shah and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Saturday visited Covid-19 care centre at Radha Soami Beas in Chhatarpur to take stock of the coronavirus situation in the national capital. Earlier in the day, Kejriwal said Delhi is waging a difficult war against the pandemic and will emerge victorious, however, it will take time.
With India reporting 18,552 coronavirus cases in the last 24 hours, the total number of Covid-19 infections crossed the 5 lakh-mark to reach 5,08,953 on Saturday including 1,97,387 active cases and 2,95,881 recoveries. Also, as many as 384 deaths in a day pushed the total fatalities to 15,685. It took 110 days for coronavirus infection in the country to reach one lakh while just 39 days more to go past the five lakh-mark. The health ministry said that around 58.13 per cent patients have recovered so far.
Globally, the infections soared to 9,778,674 on Thursday and the death toll rose to 4,93,674. Also, as many as 4,932,392 people have recovered across the world.
Coronavirus LIVE updates: The Shenai Banquet opposite LNJP hospital in New Delhi has been turned into an isolation facility and will start operations from Thursday. (Express photo/Tashi Tobgyal)
THE STATE recorded 6,368 positive cases of Covid-19, taking the total to 1,59,133 on Saturday. Health officials said out of them, 5,318 cases were freshly reported since Friday and 1,050 were those left unreported over the past few weeks. The death toll touched 7,273 with 167 more deaths reported across districts, on the day. Read more here
A police inspector posted at Panchkula headquarters is among the seven people who tested positive for the novel coronavirus in Panchkula district on Saturday.
The 33-year-old Inspector works in the IT branch of the police headquarters and hails from Karnal. He used to travel between Karnal and Panchkula everyday for his work and had reported about his symptoms, including mild fever, a few days back. Read More
The state recorded 6,368 positive cases of Covid-19, taking the total to 1,59,133 on Saturday. Health officials said out of them, 5,318 cases were freshly reported since Friday and 1,050 were those left unreported over the past few weeks.
On Saturday, the state’s death toll touched 7,273 with 167 more deaths reported across districts. Read More
The diamond hub of Katargam in Surat where polishing units opened this month post Unlock-1 continued to spike the city’s Covid-19 cases. Surat broke its own daily case record on Saturday, adding 174 positive cases, while Ahmedabad’s daily count continued to drop.
Besides, 11 army jawans, who had returned from holiday recently, reported positive in the Bhuj cantonment of the border district of Kutch, and were among the 621 cases reported in Gujarat — the highest in a single day so far — taking the tally to 30,820. Read More
Punjab crossed 5,000 mark of people testing positive for coronavirus on Saturday. Six more deaths were reported, taking the total count of COVID-19 deaths in the state to 189 as one death from Fatehgarh Sahib was shifted to Uttarakhand.
The official media bulletin put the death toll at 188, not counting death of a 34-year-old man from Amritsar on Thursday. Read More
Goa's third Covid death is a 76-year-old woman. She was on ventilator support, but succumbed to the infection, say health officials. Goa now has 1,128 cases, 705 active, 420 recovered and three deaths.
In a bid to contain the spread of Covid-19, Navi Mumbai Municipal Corporation (NMMC) has declared 10 areas as containment zones. The civic body will conduct mass screening in these areas to detect more suspected cases. For the next seven days, all supplies, except medical and groceries, will be shut in the containment zones while residents have been asked to store essentials for the time period as containment measures will be in effect till July 5.
The decision came after multiple positive cases surfaced due to which these areas turned into coronavirus hotspots. According to officials, 10 areas under Belapur, Turbhe, Vashi, Koparkhairane, Ghansoli, and Airoli ward offices that are densely populated have reported several cases in the last few weeks. There are over 70,500 households in these containment zones. Read more here
A 41-year-old video journalist working for a Tamil television channel in the news section died of COVID-19 at a Hospital here on Saturday, the government said. The video cameraman, who was being treated from June 14 at a hospital here for the infection, died today, Chief minister K Palaniswami said. Condoling his death, the Chief Minister said he has ordered a solatium of Rs 5 lakh to the bereaved family. Minister for Information, Kadambur Raju too condoled the death and said he would provide Rs 50,000 assistance. Read more here
543 new COVID-19 positive cases reported in Haryana today, taking the total number of positive cases to 13,427. A total of 8,472 people have recovered/discharged till date. The total death toll rises to 218: Health Department, Government of Haryana.
In the wake of a steady rise in the number of daily Covid-19 cases and fatalities in Karnataka, the state government Saturday decided to reimpose Sunday curfew from July 5. “No activities except essential services shall be permitted during this time,” Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa announced. Karnataka recorded 918 cases and 11 deaths linked to the coronavirus on Saturday. In Bengaluru alone, 596 people tested positive for the infection and three fatalities were reported in the last 24 hours.
Karnataka witnessed the biggest single-day spike in Covid cases on Saturday as 918 cases were recorded and 11 more deaths were linked to the pandemic. In Bengaluru alone, 596 more people tested positive for the infection in the last 24 hours as three more fatalities were also confirmed by the Department of Health and Family Welfare Services.
A 99-year-old woman in Karnataka became the oldest in the state to defeat Covid-19, nine days after she tested positive for the virus. The average recovery period observed in the state is about 17 days. The woman had contracted the pathogen after coming in contact with her grandson and was hospitalised on her 99th birthday on June 18. According to officials of the health department, the patient was admitted to Victoria Hospital in Bengaluru after she tested positive for novel coronavirus. Read more here
Maharashtra reports 167 deaths and 5,318 new COVID-19 positive cases. Out of these 167 deaths — 86 occurred in the last 48 hrs and rest 81 are from the previous period. The total number of cases in the State stands at 1,59,133: State Health Department
Delhi reports 2,948 new Covid-19 cases and 66 deaths today. Total number of cases stands at 80188 including 28,329 active cases, 49,301 recovered/discharged/migrated cases and 2,558 deaths.
Uttarakhand records 66 new COVID-19 cases, taking the total number of cases to 2,791: State Health Department
Number of Covid-19 cases reaches 874 in Himachal Pradesh; active cases stand at 356: State Health Department
13 more fatalities take West Bengal's Covid-19 toll to 629, 521 fresh cases push tally to 16,711
Vadodara Covid-19 tally at 2,134 with 47 positive cases from 270 samples today
Over 10.42 lakh COVID-19 tests have been conducted in Tamil Nadu and the focus was to cover the population street-wise for early detection and treatment, Health secretary J Radhakrishnan said here on Saturday. The basic idea of detecting the symptomatic cases through fever camps is to ensure a healthy population by early detection and treatment for COVID-19, he said. "So, when people step out of their houses after the lockdown is relaxed, they do not emerge as carriers of the virus," Radhakrishnan told reporters after reviewing a fever camp at Tondiarpet. He said Tamil Nadu has tested over 10.42 lakh samples for COVID-19, after the capacity was ramped up in the State. Of these tests, 70 per cent of them were done in government facilities, he said. (PTI)
Union Home Minister Amit Shah and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Saturday visited Covid-19 care centre at Radha Soami Beas in Chhatarpur to take stock of the coronavirus situation in the national capital. Earlier in the day, Kejriwal said Delhi is waging a difficult war against the pandemic and will emerge victorious, however it will take time.
Gurgaon crossed 5,000 cases today, with 126 more people testing positive for Coronavirus. 2 more people have also succumbed to the infection. Total count of cases in the district now 5070, of who 3468 have recovered & 83 have succumbed to the infection.
The North Police station at nearby Tirupur was closed temporarily on Saturday as a woman SI, wife of a sub-inspector there, tested positive.
The wife, a sub-inspector attached to Chennai, had come to Tirupur on June 24 on leave and her blood and swab samples were taken the next day, along with that of her husband, police said. While the woman tested positive, her husband tested negative, following which the police station was closed early Saturday. (PTI)
Uttar Pradesh on Saturday reported 19 novel coronavirus fatalities and 605 infections, as the state's virus count reached 21,548 while the death toll rose to 649, a senior official said. Additional Chief Secretary, Medical and Health, Amit Mohan Prasad said 14,215 people have so far been discharged from hospitals after recovering from the infection, leaving 6,684 active COVID-19 cases in the state.
The recovery percentage of the state is 65.96 per cent, Prasad said. Referring to the sample testing, Prasad said the state touched a new benchmark on Friday by testing 20,028 samples in a day. (PTI)
Andhra Pradesh reported 796 new COVID-19 cases on Saturday, a record single day spike, taking the overall tally in the state to 12,285. Also, 11 patients succumbed to the virus in the last 24 hours, taking the toll to 157 so far, according to the latest bulletin. Anantapuramu district recorded 161 cases in a day, pushing it to the second spot in the state with a total of 1,320 behind Kurnool (1,684). Krishna and Kurnool districts registered four fresh coronavirus deaths each while West Godavari, East Godavari and Vizianagaram accounted for one each. It was the first COVID-19 death in Vizianagaram district to date. In the last 24 hours, 263 patients were discharged from hospitals upon recovery, sending the state's aggregate to 5,480. (PTI)
A municipal commissioner and a sanitary inspector in Srikakulam district of Andhra Pradesh were suspended on Friday after an earthmover was used to shift the body of a suspected Covid patient to cremation ground. The 70-year-old had died on Thursday night with symptoms of coronavirus. After sanitising the locality, the civic staff had shifted the body to the crematorium on an earthmover. Following this, a video of the earthmover carrying the wrapped body and four others dressed in PPE went viral on social media.
Taking note of the incident and terming it an “inhuman act”, the Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister’s Office directed Srikakulam District Collector J Nivas to inquire into the matter and take suitable action against the guilty for gross violation of Covid-19 protocol while disposing of the body. On CMO’s directive, District Collector J Nivas conducted an inquiry and suspended Palasa Municipal Commissioner P Nagendra Kumar and sanitary inspector N Rajeev. Read the full story here
Patients suffering from severe respiratory symptoms due to the novel coronavirus infection can rapidly generate an immune response in the form of virus-attacking T cells, suggests a new study which may lead to new vaccine development strategies against COVID-19.
Union Health Minister Dr Harsh Vardhan on Saturday said, "Our recovery rate has gone above 58 per cent and around 3 lakh people have recovered from Covid-19. Our mortality/fatality rate is near 3 per cent which is very less. Our doubling rate has come down to near 19 days, which was 3 days before the lockdown."
For the last two days, Maharashtra has been reporting around 5,000 new cases, reversing the trend of a slowdown in its growth rate for more than a month. Maharashtra’s daily growth rate (7-day compounded daily growth rate) is still under three per cent, comfortably below the current national growth rate of 3.64 per cent, but it has begun to rise after a long time. Even the national rate has begun to rise, as the number of new cases detected rises every day.
The rise in positive cases can be directly be attributed to an increase in the number of testing. Maharashtra which had been testing between 12,000 and 14,000 samples every day till the first week of this month, has progressively increased the testing numbers and is now carrying out more than 23,000 to 24,000 tests every day. As a result, while it was reporting between 3,500 to 4,000 cases earlier, it has now started reporting around 5,000 each day.
Union Health Ministry revises clinical management protocol for COVID-19. Glucocorticosteroid dexamethasone now allowed as alternative to methylprednisolone for moderate and severe COVID-19 patients in need of oxygen support who experience excessive inflammatory response: Statement.
Arvind Kejriwal says the Delhi government has provided oxymetres to coronavirus patients in home isolation and procured 4,000 oxygen concentrators."We have bought 4,000 oxygen concentrators for Covid-19 patients," he said.
Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal Saturday said that the Delhi government has significantly raised the number of beds for COVID-19 patients and out of 13,500 beds in hospitals, 7,500 are vacant. "In the last 1 week, the number of beds has increased significantly. There are 13500 beds present in Delhi now, of which 6500 are occupied. Also, 20,000 tests are being conducted daily. I thank Centre for providing us the needed testing kits," he said.
Centre on Saturday said that the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) has supplied diagnostic material for carrying out 4.7 lakh RT-PCR tests to the 12 functional labs in Delhi, till date, according to news agency ANI. The government has also provided 1.57 lakh RNA extraction kits essential for carrying out the test and 2.84 lakh VTMs (Viral Transport Medium) and swabs for collection of COVID-19 samples: Government of India
ICMR has approved Antigen-based Rapid tests and supplied 50,000 such Antigen Rapid Test Kits to Delhi Govt for supporting COVID-19 containment efforts. ICMR has provided all these test kits free of cost to Delhi, the govt added.
Group of Ministers (GoM) meeting under the chairmanship of Union Health Minister Dr Harsh Vardhan on #COVID19, is underway, through video conferencing. External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar and Union Civil Aviation Minister Hardeep Singh Puri also present.
Doctors of Hindu Rao Hospital in North Delhi hold a protest on the day hospital was to be converted into COVID facility. Their demands — proper ACs, proper donning and doffing area, timely salary, quality PPEs. A day before, paramedical staff held a similar protest.
The Centre with two decisions Friday has moved further in the direction of fully resuming flight operations in the country. One, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), while extending the international flight suspension to July 15, said international scheduled flights may be allowed on selected routes on case-to-case basis. Two, the Ministry of Civil Aviation has allowed airlines to operate up to 45 per cent of their pre-lockdown scheduled capacity on domestic routes, compared with 30-35 per cent earlier.
R T Arasu, the DMK MLA from Cheyyur has tested positive for Covid-19. He is the third legislator from DMK after the late J Anbazhagan and Vasantham K Karthikeyan to contract the infection.
With India's COVID-19 cases crossing the five lakh-mark, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Saturday said the government has no plan to defeat the pandemic and Prime Minister Narendra Modi has surrendered as he refuses to fight coronavirus.
"Covid19 is spreading rapidly into new parts of the country. The Government Of India has no plan to defeat it. Training his guns on Modi, he said, "PM is silent. He has surrendered and is refusing to fight the pandemic," Gandhi tweeted.
He also tagged a report that claimed the government had "retreated" as no meeting of the ICMR panel or the Group of Ministers had taken place and neither had the Health Ministry held its briefings on the pandemic.
Nearly four weeks after making an announcement to provide employment to labourers who returned after March 1 due to the COVID 19 pandemic, Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan-led the state government on Friday constituted Madhya Pradesh State Migrant Labour Commission that promises the same.
The commission will have a tenure of two years and its term could be extended. The government will soon name the chairman and two members. While the chairman could be anyone with not less than 10 year of experience in labour welfare or a retired bureaucrat of the rank of secretary or above. It will have two members with minimum experience of five years in labour welfare.
Britain will ditch a 14-day quarantine period for people arriving from countries it deems to be lower risk for COVID-19, the government said on Friday. Official travel advice against all but essential travel outside Britain will also be eased for some countries and regions. Taken together, these changes will make it easier for Britons to travel abroad for summer holidays. The relaxations are the latest taken by the government to unwind emergency measures put in place to stop the spread of COVID-19, as ministers look to limit the economic damage caused by the virus. An expert panel will put nations into three categories: green, amber and red. Passengers arriving from green and amber countries will no longer have to quarantine themselves for 14 days after their arrival.
Top US airline executives met on Friday with Vice President Mike Pence and other senior administration officials but did not come away with any commitments from the White House on mandating temperature checks for airline passengers. Pence met with the chief executives of United Airlines, Delta Air Lines, American Airlines, JetBlue Airways and the president of Southwest Airlines at the White House alongside Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao, Centers for Disease Control (CDC) director Mark Redfield, Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar and other officials. Airlines want the U.S. government to administer temperature checks to all passengers in a bid to reassure the public.
Mexico's health ministry reported on Friday 5,441 new confirmed cases of coronavirus infections and 719 additional fatalities, bringing the total in the country to 208,392 cases and 25,779 deaths. The government has said the real number of infected people is likely significantly higher than the confirmed cases.
The United States recorded 45,242 new cases of COVID-19 on Friday, the largest single-day increase of the pandemic, according to a Reuters tally, bringing the total number of Americans who have tested positive to at least 2.48 million. The new record for positive COVID-19 tests comes as several states at the center of a new surge in infections took steps back from efforts to ease restrictions on businesses. COVID-19 is the respiratory illness caused by the coronavirus. Governor Greg Abbott ordered bars across Texas to close by mid-day and required restaurants to limit indoor seating capacity to 50%, while Florida state officials told bars to immediately stop serving alcohol on their premises. Abbot's announcement stunned Texas bar owners, who said the governor, a Republican in his second term, had given them little notice.
The Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) has said that the total number of 79,96,707 samples has been tested till June 26 and the number of samples tested on June 26 was 2,20,479.
A two-pronged strategy of aggressive testing and screening the elderly as part of a special campaign has seen Rajasthan report the highest recovery rate for Covid-19 patients among the top 10 states with most cases in India.
As on Friday morning, Rajasthan’s recovery rate stood at 79.24 per cent, while that of India was 58.25 per cent. Madhya Pradesh followed close behind with a recovery rate of 76.37 per cent, ahead of Gujarat (72.83 per cent), as per Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare data. According to health officials in Rajasthan, aggressive testing was a key factor in the success.
With India reporting 18,552 coronavirus cases in the last 24 hours, the total number of Covid-19 infections crossed the 5 lakh-mark to reach 5,08,953 on Saturday including 1,97,387 active cases and 2,95,881 recoveries. Also, as many as 384 deaths in a day pushed the total fatalities to 15,685.
The number of daily deaths from Covid-19 in Maharashtra has been declining for over a fortnight now, government data analysed by The Indian Express show. This declining trend contrasts with the continuing rising trend in the number of daily new Covid cases, and could indicate the impact of several relatively recent policy interventions in the battle against the pandemic.
The availability of larger numbers of oxygen-equipped beds, early testing, requisitioning of more beds in private hospitals, use of newer drugs, and prompt medical intervention overall, could all be reasons for the dip in daily fatalities, experts said. Maharashtra carries India’s heaviest Covid case load and death toll, having reported close to 1.52 lakh cases and 7,106 deaths until Friday. The first case in the state was reported on March 9.
Developing a vaccine against Covid-19 is the most pressing challenge and by the current estimates, funding to the tune of $18.1 billion will be required to deliver two billion doses by the end of 2021, Dr Soumya Swaminathan, chief scientist of World Health Organisation, said on Friday.
Over 200 vaccine candidates are at different stages of development and 15 are in human clinical trials. “There is a hope that we can have a vaccine in 12-18 months' time,” Dr Swaminathan said while addressing a virtual media conference on Friday. Read more here
The number of daily deaths from Covid-19 in Maharashtra has been declining for over a fortnight now, government data analysed by The Indian Express show.
This declining trend contrasts with the continuing rising trend in the number of daily new Covid cases, and could indicate the impact of several relatively recent policy interventions in the battle against the pandemic. Read more here
For the first time since the state reported its first Covid-19 case on March 9, Maharashtra on Friday recorded 5,024 infections – the highest-ever count reported in a single day till now.
With this, the state has recorded 1,52,765 cases. The high number of cases are being attributed to increased testing by the state government. In the last 24 hours, 23,849 people have been tested for Covid-19. Read more here
Watch | Top developments on coronavirus across India and world
Jharkhand’s Education Department issued an order Thursday that all private unaided accredited schools will not charge any kind of transportation, annual fees from the students till the time schools reopen. In a letter written by the state’s Education and Literacy Department to the heads of all private unaided accredited schools stated that failing to adhere to all these instructions may lead to stringent action such as NOC being cancelled.
Education Minister Jagarnath Mahato took to Twitter and posted the order and said: “…All private schools shall abide by it. Also, there won't be any reduction in teacher's salaries.”
The order stated: “The economic condition has deteriorated due to COVID-19. It has also affected parents of the students…Many parents are not receiving salaries on time and some employment and they are facing problems in paying the full fees in private schools. Due to the same reason, the private schools are also facing trouble managing the schools.” - Abhishek Angad reports from Ranchi
Tripura law minister Ratan Lal Nath Friday claimed the state ranks second across India in terms of COVID-19 recoveries so far. Speaking to reporters this evening, Nath said 81.47 per cent COVID-19 patients in Tripura have recovered, second highest recovery rate in the country after Meghalaya, which has 89 per cent recovery rate. The national average of COVID recovery is 58.18 per cent.
Tripura has tested 60,164 people for coronavirus till date, out of which 1,295 turned out positive. Among them, 1,055 have recovered and only 232 are current active patients. However, 6,707 people are still under surveillance for coronavirus in the state, including 651 in different quarantine centres and 6,056 placed under home quarantine.
Goa Chief Minister Pramod Sawant on Friday said community transmission of the novel coronavirus had begun as COVID-19 cases were coming from all parts of the state. A total of 44 cases were detected during the day, taking the COVID-19 count to 1,039, while the number of active cases was 667, a health official said. "We will have to admit that community transmission has begun in the state. But the infection has been traced to some common sources," Sawant told reporters. (PTI)
The Jharkhand government has extended the lockdown till July 31. "With the cooperation of all of you in the struggle with Corona, we have got the expected success so far, but the struggle is still going on. Considering the seriousness of the situation, the state government has decided to extend the lockdown till 31 July. The concessions in lockdown will continue from time to time," Chief Minister Hemant Soren said.
West Bengal records 542 fresh COVID-19 cases and 10 deaths, taking total number of cases to 16,190 and death toll to 616. Number of active patients stands at 5,039, said State Health Department
Rajasthan’s Health Department has served a notice to NIMS hospital here seeking an explanation on conducting trials of Patanjali Ayurved’s drug Coronil on coronavirus patients, an official said on Friday.“We served notice to the hospital on Wednesday evening seeking explanation in three days. The hospital did not inform the state government nor sought permission,” Chief Medical and Health Officer, Jaipur, Dr Narottam Sharma said.
He said the reply from National Institute of Medical Science (NIMS), Jaipur is awaited. The launch of the drug by yoga guru Ramdev on Tuesday triggered a debate after which the Ayush Ministry sought all information on its trial and put a ban on advertising it as a drug to cure coronavirus. Read more here
Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia, who is also the Education Minister in the AAP gpvernment, said that all schools in Delhi will remain closed till July 31 in view of the coronavirus situation in the national capital.