Coronavirus updates | March 14, 2021

India reported its biggest daily rise this year of 25,320 Covid-19 cases on Sunday. This is the fourth day that cases have consistently risen over 20,000 infections. Until March, only twice had cases crossed 20,000 in January.

So far India has reported 11.36 million cases of which 2,07,703 cases are active infections.

The rise in infections were led by the Maharashtra, Kerala, Punjab, Karnataka, Gujarat, Tamil Nadu and Madhya Pradesh who accounted for 87.73% of new cases. Maharashtra accounted for the highest number of cases at 15,602.

India’s Covid deaths increased by 161 to 158,607 over the last 24 hours, a notable spike considering an average of about a 100 daily deaths since February.

Close to 30 million vaccine doses have been administered since the beginning of the drive on January 16 with around 1.5 million of those given between Saturday and Sunday morning, according to the latest figures from the Ministry of Health. About 1.4 million of those doses were administered in the last 24 hours.

The maximum deaths were also recorded in the States with the rising caseload with Maharashtra registering 88 fatalities followed by Punjab with 22 deaths and Kerala with 12 deaths.

You can track coronavirus cases, deaths and testing rates at the national and State levels here. A list of State Helpline numbers is available as well.

Here are the latest updates:

Chhattisgarh

C’garh govt plans to allow use of Covaxin in state: Minister

The Chhattisgarh government is considering allowing the use of Covaxin, a vaccine against COVID-19, in the state after the Centre dropped its ‘clinical trial mode’ tag, state Health Minister T.S. Singh Deo said on Sunday.

In January, Mr. Singh Deo had requested Union Health Minister Dr Harsh Vardhan to halt the supply of Covaxin, developed by Bharat Biotech, to the state until its phase-3 trials are completed and results are made available.

The Serum Institute of India (SII)-made vaccine Covishield is being used in the state as part of the vaccination drive.

Talking to PTI, Singh Deo said, “We are considering allowing Covaxin for those who wish to opt for it after the Government of India dropped the vaccine from clinical trial mode, even though the complete data of its third phase of trials is yet to be published.” The data (of phase-2 trials) of Covaxin published in the Lancet Infectious Diseases journal has indicated that its safety is not in question so now the only question pending is about its efficacy, he said.

Telangana

Telangana staying alert as cases surge in neighbouring States

Telangana Health teams in districts bordering neighbouring States are taking COVID-19 sample collection kits to people’s doorstep. Other measures such as fever survey and home isolation are being enforced to contain the resurgence of the virus.

District Medical and Health Officers (DMHO) in Kamareddy, Adilabad, and other districts said they have set up check posts, and are sending medical teams to villages as well as testing contacts of coronavirus-positive patients.

Health Minister Eatala Rajender directed officials on Friday to stay alert as COVID cases are seeing a spurt in neighbouring States.

Health officials use ICU admission of COVID-19 patients as a yardstick to measure the resurgence. ICU admissions in government and private hospitals has been hovering between 340 and 360 a day from March 1 to 12.

New Delhi

JNU to reopen reading rooms, eating joints

As part of phased reopening, Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) on Saturday said that reading rooms at Dr. B.R. Ambedkar Central Library and in various centres and schools, and two of the eating joints on the campus will be permitted to reopen.

A notification dated March 12 issued by the university administration read, “The reopening of ground floor reading rooms inside the Dr. B.R. Ambedkar Central Library is allowed in a phased manner. Librarian may devise standard operating preventive (SOP) measures such as mandatory wearing of the face mask and maintaining social distancing norms on library premises.”

“NSS student volunteers may be engaged to create awareness in the campus, including library premises for maintaining social distancing and wearing masks to prevent the spread of COVID-19 in the university campus,” the notice added.

Odisha

Odisha may promote students to next class

With the number of COVID-19 cases showing an upward trend in some parts of the country, the Odisha government is contemplating promoting all students from Classes 1 to 8 to the next higher classes this year.

If promoted, it will be the second consecutive class promotions for students without physically appearing for their examinations.

Last year, the State government had shut down schools due to the pandemic while the students were in the middle of the examinations.

School and Mass Education Minister Samir Ranjan Das expressed apprehension that there is remote chance of conducting physical classes for Classes 1 to 8 this year in view of the resurgence of COVID-19 cases in the country.

New Delhi

Delhi CM gives ₹1-crore compensation to family of deceased ‘corona warrior’

Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Saturday provided financial assistance of ₹1 crore to the family of COVID warrior Rakesh Jain, a lab technician at Hindu Rao Hospital.

Jain, who would have retired in 2022, contracted COVID-19 on June 17 last year and succumbed to it the next day. Mr. Kejriwal commended Jain for continuing to serve the people till his last breath.

“Mr. Jain got infected while on duty. He was shifted to Metro Hospital, but died later. He was a martyr who served the people of Delhi till his last breath,” Mr. Kejriwal said.

Mr. Jain was a resident of Delhi and had joined service in 1988. He is survived by his mother Madan Shri Jain, wife Sangeeta Jain and two children.

U.K.

India’s role as world’s pharmacy phenomenal, says U.K. Minister

The role that India has played during the course of the coronavirus pandemic as the pharmacy of the world has been phenomenal, U.K. Minister Lord Tariq Ahmad said as he prepared for a five-day, five-city tour of India starting on Monday.

Lord Ahmad, the Minister for South Asia in the U.K. Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO), highlighted the close collaboration between the two countries on ensuring supplies of COVID-19 vaccines, which benefits countries across the globe through the United Nations-led COVAX facility.

“Our relationship with India is not just one of bilateral importance, it’s also about how these two countries are working together and there’s no better illustration than the current COVID-19 pandemic which grips us. The strong collaboration we have seen between the U.K. and India in responding across the world, including through the COVAX facility which is helping the more vulnerable countries in the world,” he said.

Karnataka

‘Duo with new strain of virus doing well’

Two persons from Ballari who tested positive for the South African strain of COVID-19 on Thursday are doing well.

Speaking to The Hindu on Saturday, Deputy Commissioner of Ballari Pavan Kumar Malapati said that both the patients were healthy and doing well.

“This is just another strain of COVID-19. All the protocols meant for handling the pandemic are strictly followed. Both the patients are healthy and doing well. As soon as they got the confirmation of being infected with the new strain, they got isolated. We are going to send their throat swab samples for repeated test to get the negativity of the disease confirmed,” he said.

Karnataka

Surge in new cases not uniform

Even though the number of new COVID-19 infections in Karnataka last week showed an increase of 1,000 cases compared to the previous week, the surge does not appear to be uniform across the State.

While Bengaluru Urban accounted for 639 cases out of the increase of 1,000 cases in the State during the week ending March 11, according to the Department of Health and Family Welfare, 10 districts reported a decline in number of cases during the week compared to the previous week while the numbers remained constant in five others.

However, 15 out of the 30 districts in the State have shown an increase in the week-on-week COVID-19 tally amid signs of an unmistakable surge in infections across the State.

The cases have shown an upward trend in Tumakuru, Mysuru, Kalaburagi, Udupi, Kolar, Ballari, Dharwad, Bidar, Uttara Kannada, Bengaluru Rural, Bagalkot, Dakshina Kannada, Gadag, and Chikkmagaluru, apart from Bengaluru Urban.

Punjab

Punjab shuts all anganwadi centres due to rising cases

Punjab Minister Aruna Chaudhary on Saturday instructed that all anganwadi centres be closed till further orders in view of the spike in COVID-19 cases in the State.

The social security, women and child development minister said ration and other material will be distributed door to door through anganwadi workers and helpers, so that nutritional support to beneficiaries is not affected.

Thirty-four more fatalities due to COVID-19 were reported in Punjab on Friday, taking the death toll to 6,030, while the infection count climbed to 1,94,753 with 1,414 new coronavirus cases in the state.

New Delhi

Ambient air pollutants contribute to spread, virulence of SARS-CoV-2 infections, says Harsh Vardhan

There is emerging evidence to suggest that exposure to ambient air pollutants, especially PM2.5 and NO2, contribute to the spread and virulence SARS-CoV-2 infections, said Health Minister Harsh Vardhan on Saturday, while inaugurated the new green campus of Indian Council of Medical Research’s (ICMR) National Institute for Research in Environmental Health (NIREH), at Bhopal.

“Furthermore, ambient air pollution is a known risk factor for multiple adverse health outcomes, including chronic cardio-respiratory morbidities, and the presence of said morbidities renders the affected population more vulnerable to COVID-19,” said the Health Minister.

To worsen matters, he added, closed indoor spaces provide ideal environments for viral transmission due to the lack of ventilation preventing the dilution of viral particles, and the absence of ultraviolet rays which can potentially inactivate the virus.