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Coronavirus (Covid-19) India News Updates: With almost 21,000 new COVID-19 cases, India recorded its highest single-day spike on Friday. The total number of positive cases recorded in the country now stands at 6,25,544, while the death toll has gone up to 18,213. Out of the total, 2,27, 439 are active cases, while as many as 3, 79, 891 people have recovered.
Five of the top ten states with maximum caseloads — Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Telangana, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh — reported their highest single-day figures. While Maharashtra crossed the 6,000 marks with 6,328 new cases, Telangana and Karnataka reported 1,213 and 1,502 cases respectively. Over 845 cases were also found in Andhra Pradesh.
Odisha too happened to record its highest daily surge, reporting as many as 561 new cases. This comes after the number of cases in the state had begun to slow down in the last few weeks. The state now has more than 8,106 confirmed infections.
Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar on Friday directed the Pune district administration to strictly impose fines against residents who are venturing outside without masks. He also directed the administration to appoint an IAS officer as the ‘Testing officer’ to ensure fast and timely testing of suspected Covid-19 patients.
Pawar gave the directive while conducting a Covid-19 control review meeting at the Pune Council Hall on Friday, which was attended by senior officials from Pune as well as Principal Advisor to the Chief Minister Ajoy Mehta, Principal Secretary of Public Health Department Dr Pradeep Kumar Vyas, and Secretary, Medical Education and FDA, Dr Sanjay Mukherjee, among others.
Apart from advising strict implementation of rules in containment zones, such as compulsory use of masks, Pawar also directed the administration to ensure that patients of both Covid-19 and other ailments are treated effectively in hospitals. “We have heard some complaints that doctors are avoiding visits to Covid-19 units inside hospitals. Such doctors will face action,” said Pawar.
People coming by road to Punjab will have to get registered either on the state government’s portal or the COVA app.
However, they will be home quarantined, notwithstanding the Centre’s revised guidelines replacing home quarantine for domestic travellers with self-monitoring, Chief Minister Amarinder Singh was quoted as saying in an official release.
Singh gave his approval for e-registration of people coming to the state through the Shambhu border to ensure strict monitoring of domestic travellers, the release said.
The decision has been taken in view of thousands of people coming to the state every day from Delhi-NCR, where COVID-19 cases are spiralling, news agency PTI reported.
The father of a man who recently died in Patna after showing coronavirus-like symptoms has been booked for violating guidelines issued in the wake of the pandemic at the wedding ceremony, which had set off the biggest infection chain in Bihar, the district administration said on Friday.
The FIR was lodged late Thursday against Ambika Chaudhary, whose son died on June 17, two days after he tied the knot while running a high fever, it said in a statementm
The body was cremated by family members before the authorities could get wind of the episode. But, testing camps were set up at the Deehpali village falling under Paliganj block and out of 259 samples that were collected, 95 tested positive, news agency PTI reported.
The Kerala government has decided that it will implement strict restrictions in the state capital and Ernakulam district, among others, where cases due to coronavirus are on a rise.
State Tourism Minister Kadakampally Surendran told reporters that the city Corporation has decided to implement strict health protocol in the capital city with the number of cases shooting up.
On Thursday, the state’s COVID-19 tally touched 4,753, with 160 fresh cases. In what could be some relief, 202 people have been cured, the highest single-day recovery so far.
Early detection and a timely clinical management of COVID-19 cases have resulted in increasing daily recoveries, with the recovery rate of coronavirus patients crossing 60 per cent in the country on Friday, the Union health ministry said.
The recovery rate of COVID-19 patients stands at 60.73 per cent, the ministry said as the number of India’s coronavirus cases soared by over 20,000 in a day for the first time, taking the country’s tally to 6,25,544, while the death toll due to the disease climbed to 18,213 with 379 new fatalities.
“Early detection and timely clinical management of COVID-19 cases have resulted in increasing daily recoveries. During the last 24 hours, a sharp rise of recoveries was observed with 20,033 COVID-19 patients having been cured, taking the cumulative figure to 3,79,891,” the ministry said in a statement. (PTI)
Andhra Pradesh’s aggregate number of coronavirus cases stood at 16,934 on Friday as 837 were added afresh in the last 24 hours
A recorded 38,898 samples were tested in the last 2 hours of which 837 turned out to be positive, news agency PTI reported. The Covid-19 toll touched 206 as eight new fatalities were reported in the state, the latest bulletin issued by the state government said.
The aviation regulator DGCA said on Friday it was extending the suspension of scheduled international passenger flights in the country till July 31 but added that some international scheduled services on selected routes may be permitted on a case to case basis.
Scheduled international passenger flights were suspended in India on March 23 due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Modifying its June 26 circular that stated that scheduled international passenger flights will remain suspended till July 15, 2020, the regulator stated on Friday it has decided to extend the deadline to July 31, 2020, news agency PTI reported.
Since April 1, the Centre has distributed more than 2.02 crore N95 masks and over 1.18 crore PPE kits among the states, Union territories and central institutions for free, the Union health ministry said on Friday.
In addition, 11,300 “Make in India” ventilators have so far been dispatched to various states, Union territories and central institutions, of which 6,154 have already been delivered to various hospitals, it said.
“The central government is also ensuring their installation/commissioning. This will help to bridge the massive gap in availability of ventilators in COVID ICU facilities,” the ministry said in a statement.
It also said that it is supplying 1.02 lakh oxygen cylinders to the states and Union territories, of which 72,293 have been delivered to strengthen the oxygen-beds there.
Cancer patients in Manipur who are in dire need of radiation therapy are allegedly deprived of the treatment as the radiotherapy department of the Regional Institute of Medical Sciences (RIMS) has been closed to the public and converted into a Covid care facility.
“I underwent a major operation on March 21 and the doctor had advised me to go for radiotherapy six days after the operation. It has been over two months now but I have not received the radiation therapy,” said N Bira Singh from Imphal West district.
A senior Oncologist of RIMS, under the condition of anonymity, said that the telecobalt machine at RIMS is the only operational radiation machine in the entire state.
A day after announcing that Goa will be re-opening its borders to tourists for the first time since the nationwide lockdown was imposed in March, the state government released a list of guidelines for travellers who plan on visiting the coastal state. As many as 250 hotels have been granted permission by the Goa government to resume operations.
People visiting Goa will not be required to quarantine upon arrival. Instead, the government has offered two alternatives — a tourist can either carry a COVID-19 negative certificate issued in the last 48 hours, or get tested at their own cost at the state entry point as soon as they arrive.
Tourists are required to pre-book their accommodation at one of the government-approved hotels prior to their journey, the guidelines state. They must also fill up a self declaration form, which will be available at the pre-booked accommodation unit.
The Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) has announced that it aims to “launch” a coronavirus vaccine, which is yet to undergo clinical trials, “for public health use latest by August 15.” Several health experts have said that the deadline is unrealistic, with some calling it “impossible”.
In a letter to 12 hospitals and medical institutions selected to carry out clinical trials of the candidate vaccine, called ‘Co-vaxine’, the ICMR director general Balram Bhargava urged all the stakeholders “to fast track all approvals related to the initiation of the clinical trial, and ensure that the subject enrolment is initiated no later than July 7, 2020”.
Several medical experts have criticised the ICMR and questioned their proposed timeline for the vaccine. “For a vaccine for which pre-clinical development is still ongoing, as per (ICMR’s) letter itself, how can clinical trial recruitment be starting on July 7? And that the vaccine would be launched on August 15? A vaccine trial completed in little over a month, efficacy pre-decided?” Bioethics professional Anant Bhan tweeted.
BJP’s State Units have been directed to make a presentation before Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday on the various initiatives, strategies and welfare works they carried out during the nationwide lockdown, PTI reported.
BJP General Secretary Arun Singh Friday said that top party leaders — including party president JP Nadda, and union ministers Amit Shah, Rajnath Singh and Nitin Gadkari — will bear witness to the exercise, which will be streamed live on the BJP’s various digital platforms