Eight states showing rising trajectory in Covid-19 cases: Health ministry | India News – Times of India

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NEW DELHI: A rising trajectory of daily new cases is visible in eight states and UTs, including Delhi and Maharashtra, while Kerala is showing a declining trend, the health ministry said on Saturday.
The ministry said Maharashtra, Kerala and Punjab cumulatively account for 76.22 per cent of India’s total active caseload, with Maharashtra contributing to 62 per cent of such cases, while Kerala and Punjab account for 8.83 per cent and 5.36 per cent of active cases respectively.
The top five districts in Maharashtra recording the highest number of cases are Pune (37,384), Nagpur (25,861), Mumbai (18,850), Thane (16,735) and Nashik (11,867).
The top five districts in Kerala recording the highest number of cases are Ernakulam (2,673), Pathanamthitta (2,482), Kannur (2,263), Palakkad (2,147) and Thrissur (2,065).
The top five districts in Punjab recording the highest number of cases are Jalandhar (2,131), SAS Nagar (1,868), Patiala (1,685), Ludhiana (1,643) and Hoshiarpur (1,572).
“A rising trajectory of daily new cases is visible in eight states. These are Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Punjab, Madhya Pradesh, Delhi, Gujarat, Karnataka and Haryana. Kerala is showing a consistently declining trend,” the ministry said in a statement.
The ministry further said that five states account for 81.38 per cent of the new deaths. Maharashtra saw the maximum casualties at 70, Punjab followed with 38 daily deaths and Kerala reported 17 deaths in the last 24 hours.
Meanwhile, fifteen states and UTs have not reported any COVID-19 deaths in the last 24 hours. These are Assam, Uttarakhand, Odisha, Puducherry, Lakshadweep, Sikkim, Ladakh, Manipur, Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Tripura, Andaman and Nicobar Islands and Arunachal Pradesh.
The ministry further said India has scaled a significant peak in its battle against COVID-19 pandemic. The total vaccination coverage has surpassed 4 crore.
“About 4,20,63,392 vaccine doses have been administered through 6,86,469 sessions, as per the provisional report till 7 am today. These include 77,06,839 healthcare workers (HCWs) (first dose), 48,04,285 HCWs (second dose), 79,57,606 frontline workers (FLWs) (first dose) and 24,17,077 FLWs (second dose), 32,23,612 beneficiaries aged more than 45 years with specific co-morbidities (first dose) and 1,59,53,973 beneficiaries aged more than 60 years,” it said.
As on day 63 of the vaccination drive (March 19), 27,23,575 vaccine doses were given. Eighty per cent of the 27.23 lakh vaccine doses administered in the last 24 hours are from 10 states.
Of the total, 24,15,800 beneficiaries were vaccinated across 38,989 sessions for first dose (HCWs and FLWs) and 3,07,775 HCWs and FLWs received second dose of vaccine.
The ministry said eight states account for 60 per cent of the cumulative vaccine doses given so far. They are Kerala, Karnataka, Odisha, Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, West Bengal, Maharashtra, Gujarat, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh.

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Morning Digest: Roads to be freed of toll booths in a year, says Nitin Gadkari; EU drug regulator backs AstraZeneca vaccine against COVID-19 after safety investigation, and more

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India will implement a GPS-based toll collection system and do away with all toll booths within a year, Union Minister for Road Transport and Highways Nitin Gadkari informed the Lok Sabha on Thursday. He also shared details of the vehicle scrapping policy, first announced in the Union Budget for 2021-22, according to which the automobile industry in India will see a jump in turnover to ₹10 lakh crore from ₹4.5 lakh crore.

Chief Justice of India Sharad A. Bobde agreed with advocate Prashant Bhushan on Thursday to urgently hear a plea by NGO Association for Democratic Reforms to stay the sale of a new set of electoral bonds on April 1, before Assembly elections in crucial States such as West Bengal and Tamil Nadu.

Top U.S. and Chinese officials offered sharply different views of the world on March 18 as the two sides met face-to-face for the first time since President Joe Biden took office. In unusually pointed remarks for a staid diplomatic meeting, Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Chinese Communist Party foreign affairs chief Yang Jiechi took aim at each other’s policies at the start of two days of talks in Alaska.

The EU’s drug watchdog said on March 18 it is still convinced the benefits of AstraZeneca’s COVID-19 vaccine outweigh the risks following an investigation into reports of blood disorders that prompted more than a dozen nations to suspend its use.

The Rajya Sabha on Wednesday passed the Insurance Amendment Bill 2021 that increases the maximum foreign investment allowed in an insurance company from 49% to 74%, amid criticism from the Opposition parties on the clause enabling “control and ownership” by foreign investors.

The Supreme Court on Wednesday forbade judges from making gender stereotypical comments like “’good women are sexually chaste”, women who drink and smoke ‘ask’ for sexual advances or presume that a sexually active woman consented to rape while hearing cases of sexual offence.

Union Communications and Information Technology Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said on Thursday that climate activist Disha Ravi’s arrest was based on law and order and it is under judicial process. He added that the House should consider “should some people abuse social media internationally to defame India to promote secessionism.”

Former Chief Economic Advisor (CEA) Arvind Subramanian resigned from Ashoka University on Thursday, days after noted columnist and political commentator Pratap Bhanu Mehta’s exit. In his resignation letter, Dr. Subramanian, said he had been “devastated” by “the circumstances involving the ‘resignation’ of Professor Pratap Bhanu Mehta” two days earlier.

In a major embarrassment to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), two candidates announced by the party on Thursday for the Assembly polls from Kolkata have refused to contest on the party’s ticket.

The Supreme Court on Thursday stayed suo motu proceedings before the Delhi High Court on the administration of COVID-19 vaccine and transferred the case to itself. A Bench led by Chief Justice of India Sharad A. Bobde said a similar case concerning the vaccination drive was already pending in the Supreme Court, and the case from the Delhi High Court could be heard along with it.

The Supreme Court on Thursday agreed to urgently hear a plea to release and protect over 150 Rohingya refugees reportedly “detained” in Jammu. Chief Justice of India S.A. Bobde agreed to hear the application filed by a member of the Rohingya community, Mohammad Salimullah, represented by advocates Prashant Bhushan and Cheryl d’Souza, on April 25 (Thursday). Mr. Bhushan made an oral mention before the CJI for an early hearing.

The Lok Sabha on Thursday passed the supplementary demand for grants (second batch for 2020-21) but not before significant concerns raised by Opposition leaders on the government’s disinvestment and asset monetisation plans, and rising fuel prices.

If Ishan Kishan was unfortunate to be ruled out of the fourth T20I due to a groin strain, lady luck smiled on his replacement Suryakumar Yadav. The Mumbai cricketer, dropped for the previous outing after not having faced a ball on his debut in the second T20I, grabbed his chance and made it count.

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Lok Sabha MP Asks Govt Not to Waste Rs 35,000 Crore on Covid-19 Vaccination

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Presenting a contrarian perspective on COVID-19 vaccination, a Lok Sabha MP on Wednesday asked the government not to waste Rs 35,000 crore on the inoculation drive and instead use the money in improving the health infrastructure in the country. Participating in a discussion on demands for grants of the Health Ministry, YSRCP member Sanjeev Kumar Singari argued that vaccination is a waste of money as universal vaccination is neither possible nor warranted.

“Now the government is proposing to spend Rs 35,000 on COVID-19 vaccination, this is a waste of money in my view. COVID-19 vaccine saves us only for 6-9 months after that Rs 35,000 crore will be evaporated,” Singari said. He also noted that crises like COVID-19 occur once in 100 years, so the government should not give much importance to the coronavirus pandemic.

Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has provided Rs 35,000 crore towards COVID-19 vaccination in 2021-22 fiscal. “I suggest to the government to divert Rs 35,000 crore to primary healthcare which is very essential for India,” Singari said.

Noting that 60 per cent seropositivity is considered immunity and many cities like Hyderabad have already recorded 54 per cent of seropositivity rate, he said, “I request the government to not spend money on COVID-19 vaccination.” Singari also emphasised that Ayurveda doctors should not be allowed to practice modern systems of medicine. Last year, the government issued a notification authorising post-graduate practitioners in specified streams of Ayurveda to be trained to perform surgical procedures such as excisions of benign tumours, nasal and cataract surgeries.

Terming the move a “man-made catastrophe in the making”, the Lok Sabha MP said these surgeries are in the domain of various specialties of the allopathic system.

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May not be new wave yet, vaccination plus Covid protocol key to quell surge in cases: Scientists | India News – Times of India

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NEW DELHI: With India recording the highest number of daily novel coronavirus cases in 83 days on Saturday, the country could be heading towards a new wave that scientists say can be quelled by vaccinating the maximum number of people and following Covid-appropriate behaviour.
The Union health ministry reported 24,882 fresh Covid-19 infections, up from 23,285 the day earlier and in keeping with a graph steadily inching upwards. This is the highest daily rise since December 20 when 26,624 new infections were recorded.
As red flags went up, the jury was out on whether it constituted a new wave of the pandemic. Scientists grappled with the why and how of the surge in cases but were agreed that adherence to Covid-19 protocols and escalating the vaccination drive to cover more people were necessary to control the rising trajectory of the disease.
Anurag Agarwal, director of the CSIR-Institute of Genomics and Integrative Biology, said scientists at his institute are trying to understand if the rise in cases is due to more-transmissible variants of the virus or due to a lapse in precautionary measures followed by people. Though there is no clarity if a new wave of the pandemic is currently underway, some things are certain.
“Covid appropriate behavior and vaccination remain our best ways to stop the pandemic,” Agarwal told PTI.
There could possibly be a silver line somewhere.
According to Monica Gulati, senior dean and head of faculty of Applied Medical Sciences, Lovely Professional University, India’s rising curve is not very high unlike other countries where new strains have been found, indicating that the prevalent strain is not very infectious.
She also said the current rise in reported coronavirus infections could be due to the spread of new variants as well as the casual attitude of the general public. Gulati explained that the current surge in cases “is very well separated and shows a less steep rise from the previous ones indicating a change in the causative factor”.
“While in countries where the new strains are found to be more lethal than the original strains, the new wave is much steeper and higher as compared to the previous one. In India, the slope of the rising curve is not very high as yet which may be attributed to a number of factors, including a break in the propagation chain due to high rate of vaccination and low infectivity of the prevalent strain,” Gulati told PTI. Other scientists took a grimmer view of the situation.
The seven-day average of new cases of infection has risen by 67 per cent in India — from 10,988 cases a day for the week leading to February 11, to 18,371 average daily cases for the week ending on Wednesday, The positivity rate, which is the fraction of coronavirus tests conducted across the country that are positive for infection, has also been steadily increasing over the last month. While it was only 1.6 per cent for the week leading to February 14, currently 2.6 per cent of all tested samples are positive for the coronavirus infection — a rise by one whole percentage point within a month.
Rakesh Mishra, director of the CSIR-Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology (CSIR-CCMB), warned that there could be a new wave if the current trends continue and new homegrown variants of the virus may emerge.
“There is a possibility of another wave. Right now this is happening already in a couple of states, including Maharashtra, in a major way. But this is avoidable with exceptional advisory and continuation of Covid appropriate behaviour,” Mishra told PTI.
“Currently the rise in cases is happening in multiple cities, across states, and it doesn’t look like a new variant is responsible for all these surges but one common feature in all these places is lack of Covid appropriate behaviour. And if this continues, it may even lead to new variants emerging in India,” he added. Virologist Upasana Ray concurred that it may be too early to say if a second wave is currently underway but said the trends definitely point to a localised surge.
“Although it may or may not turn out to be a second wave, we should consider it a potential concern and be prepared for the worst,” Ray, a senior scientist with CSIR-Indian Institute of Chemical Biology, told PTI.
“We hear about new variants. Whether or not any of them is responsible, that part is not established yet. However, keeping an eye on home grown mutants would be important,” she added.
Ray said there is widespread pandemic fatigue, due to which people are no longer following Covid-19 appropriate behavior like masking up, social distancing, and maintaining hygiene as they did earlier.
The need of the hour is to revisit compliance with safety measures at all public places, she said.
“Then comes expediting vaccinations so that the immunity is achieved faster in the population and localised surges could die off due to decreased transmission rate. Also, rigorous screening and isolation are still important for keeping a check,” the virologist added.
Till 7 pm Thursday, over 2.6 crore Covid-19 vaccine doses were administered across the country. These included 72,16,759 (72.16 lakh) healthcare workers (HCWs) who have taken the first dose and 40,48,754 (40.48 lakh) HCWs who have taken the second dose, according to the Union Health Ministry.
Given the current rate of vaccination, Agarwal said, it would take a while for the country to build herd immunity, which is when a significant portion of the population builds immunity against the coronavirus and stops its chain of transmission. The need of the hour, Gulati said, is to dispel fear and scepticism among the general population with regard to vaccination. “As the vaccines being administered in India have been found to be both safe and effective, people must demonstrate their willingness to get vaccinated, especially the vulnerable groups,” she added.
“Since vaccination is voluntary and available at the rate of Rs 250 per jab, the onus is now on people to voluntarily get vaccinated to break the vicious cycle of infection.”
In her view, the current focus should be on ensuring that the maximum number of eligible people are vaccinated and to continue to observe all the precautionary measures till herd immunity is established. The Health Ministry’s data notes that six states — Maharashtra, Kerala, Punjab, Karnataka, Gujarat and Tamil Nadu — continue to report a high number of fresh Covid-19 cases and together account for 85.91 per cent of daily new cases in the country.
Expressing concern over the rise in active Covid-19 cases in these states, the Centre has advised people to be “careful and watchful” and not to lower their guard.
NITI Aayog member V K Paul earlier this week described the coronavirus situation, especially in Maharashtra, as “worrisome”. Paul advised that in districts where Covid-19 cases are seemingly on the rise, vaccination of eligible individuals should be intensified and prioritised.

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Coronavirus | No lockdown, but fresh restrictions in place for Pune

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The district currently has more than 17,000 active cases while the total death toll has exceeded 9,350.

While clarifying that no lockdown was imposed across Pune district, the administration on Friday said that all schools and colleges would remain closed till March 31 in wake of a heightened spike in cases.

Pune district has been recording the highest single-day jump in Maharashtra for the past few days, clocking up a daily average spike of more than 2,000 cases.

Following a review meeting between district Guardian Minister Ajit Pawar and senior district authorities in which Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MP Girish Bapat also present, Mr. Pawar directed the administration to curtail the operating time for hotels and restaurants as well.

“According to the new set of restrictions, schools and colleges will remain closed till March 31, while hotels and restaurants will be allowed to function at 50% of their total capacity till 10 p.m. Take-away food deliveries will be permitted for an hour after that till 11 p.m.,” informed Pune Divisional Commissioner Saurabh Rao.

He further said that it was mandatory for hotels to put up a board giving details about the occupancy in the premises at any given time.

Mr. Rao further informed that malls and cinema halls were to be kept closed after 10 p.m. while citizens would not be allowed to loiter on roads between 11 p.m. and 6 a.m. Only essential services are to be permitted during this time.

Given that MPSC exams are imminent, Mr. Rao said that MPSC coaching centres and libraries would be allowed to remain open with 50% occupancy.

The Divisional Commissioner said that rules for the number of people attending wedding functions remained the same (not more than 50 persons), while public transport services were to operate with 50% occupancy.

“Doctors and health workers are of the opinion that vaccination for Pune should get top priority in wake of soaring cases. They have opined that if we have to reduce the impact of the second wave, then vaccination is the best option. Since January 16 till today, the number of vaccination centres in the district have increased seven-fold from 33 to 208 with frontline workers largely covered in the first phase,” informed Mr. Rao, adding that the administration planned to restart the jumbo Covid-19 care facility sited at the College of Engineering Pune (CoEP) premises.

The district currently has more than 17,000 active cases while the total death toll has exceeded 9,350.

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Worried about rising Covid cases in Maharashtra, don’t lower guard: Centre

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The Health Ministry Thursday expressed concerns over the rising cases of Covid-19 in Maharashtra and advised the affected districts to intensify vaccination of eligible individuals.

“We are worried about rise in cases in Maharashtra. Covid-appropriate behaviour, containment strategy, vaccination are a must to fight this pandemic. We advise districts, where cases are on the rise, to intensify, prioritise vaccination of eligible individuals,” NITI Aayog member (Health) V K Paul said while addressing a press conference.

The Ministry further said that active Covid-19 cases have almost halved in Kerala while they have more than doubled in Maharashtra.

Earlier in the day, Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray said a strict lockdown will need to be imposed in some places and that the decision will be taken in the coming days. “A strict lockdown will need to be imposed in some places. We will take a decision in the next two days and the lockdown will be imposed wherever required,” CM Thackeray said after he took the first shot of Covaxin at the JJ Hospital in Mumbai.

His statements came hours after Nagpur district guardian minister Nitin Raut announced that Nagpur city and some adjoining areas will enter a strict weeklong lockdown from March 15.

On Wednesday, Maharashtra recorded 13,659 new coronavirus cases, the highest one-day spike this year, which took the state’s caseload to 22,52,057. The state has so far reported 52,610 deaths due to the disease, as per official data.

Urging people to get vaccinated, the central government warned them against taking the virus for granted. “Be careful, watchful as the pandemic is not over yet. Don’t take this virus for granted. Please embrace vaccines available.”

Giving out the numbers, the government said 2,56,90,545 vaccine doses have been administered till Thursday 1 pm. This includes 67,86,086 elderly and those aged 45-60 with comorbidities. Of the total Covid-19 vaccine doses administered so far, 28.77 per cent was in private facilities, while 71.23 per cent in public facilities, the ministry added.

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Coronavirus | India records 18,327 new COVID-19 infections, active cases rise again

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The COVID-19 active caseload has increased to 1,80,304 which now comprises 1.61% of the total infections

India’s COVID-19 tally rose to 1,11,92,088 with over 18,000 fresh cases being reported in a span of 24 hours in the country after 36 days, while active cases registered an increase for the fourth consecutive day on March 6 and were recorded at 1,80,304, according to the Union Health Ministry.

The death toll reached 1,57,656 with 108 more fatalities, while a total of 18,327 new cases were registered in a day, the Ministry’s data showed.

On January 29, 18,855 new infections were recorded in a span of 24 hours after which the daily rise in fresh cases remained below 18,000.

The number of people who have recuperated from the disease surged to 1,08,54,128 which translates to a national COVID-19 recovery rate of 96.98%, while the case fatality rate stands at 1.41%.

The COVID-19 active caseload has increased to 1,80,304 which now comprises 1.61% of the total infections.

India’s COVID-19 tally had crossed the 20 lakh-mark on August 7, 30 lakh on August 23, 40 lakh on September 5 and 50 lakh on September 16. It went past 60 lakh on September 28, 70 lakh on October 11, crossed 80 lakh on October 29, 90 lakh on November 20 and surpassed the one crore-mark on December 19.

According to the ICMR, 22,06,92,677 samples have been tested up to March 5 with 7,51,935 samples being tested on March 5.

The 108 new fatalities include 53 from Maharashtra, 16 from Kerala and 11 from Punjab.

A total of 1,57,656 deaths have been reported so far in the country, including 52,393 from Maharashtra followed by 12,513 from Tamil Nadu, 12,354 from Karnataka, 10,918 from Delhi, 10,275 from West Bengal, 8,729 from Uttar Pradesh and 7,172 from Andhra Pradesh.

The Health Ministry stressed that more than 70% of the deaths occurred due to comorbidities.

“Our figures are being reconciled with the Indian Council of Medical Research,” the Ministry said on its website, adding that State-wise distribution of figures is subject to further verification and reconciliation.

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Present Positivity Rate Suggests Covid-19 Close to Being Under Control: Health Ministry

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India’s present overall COVID-19 case positivity rate of 5.11 per cent suggests the pandemic is close to being under control, the Union Health Ministry said on Tuesday. Addressing a weekly press conference, Union Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan said though certain states, including Maharashtra, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Punjab, Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh, are seeing a surge in number of COVID-19 active cases, ”the fact remains that recovered cases are still more than 97 per cent and India’s total active cases are less than 2 per cent (1.51 per cent)”.

Bhushan said that central teams have been deputed to Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Punjab, Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh. ”We are monitoring Haryana also,” he said. Two states, Maharashtra and Kerala, account for 75 per cent of the total active COVID-19 cases in the country, he stated.

”According to WHO, if 140 tests per million are being conducted per day and case positivity rate is 5 per cent or below, it means the COVID-19 pandemic is under control. We are very close to that mark with the present overall case positivity being 5.11 per cent,” he said. NITI Aayog member (Health) V K Paul urged people to come forward and get vaccinated to break the chain of transmission, while stressing that public compliance for COVID-19 appropriate behaviour cannot be diluted.

He said a large proportion of the population was still susceptible to disease and cautioned against any laxity. He said one of the reasons for the surge in cases in some states are large gatherings, parties and weddings. He urged people to maintain social distance and avoid gatherings, stating these can act as super-spreading events.

Bhushan said India has recorded 113 COVID-19 deaths per million and conducted 1,57,684 tests per million population. According to the Health Ministry figures updated at 8 am, India’s total COVID-19 active caseload was recorded at1,68,358 comprising1.51 percent of India’s total infections.



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