Coronavirus LIVE: Govt panel advises sustainable pricing model at hospitals

Coronavirus update: US is the worst-hit country with 12,268,678 coronavirus cases, followed by India, which has 9,050,442 cases, Brazil (5,912,903), France (2,109,170), Russia (2,039,926)

5:02 PM

130 mn Covid-19 tests done so far, cumulative positivity rate falling steadily: Health Ministry

The total number of tests conducted in India for the detection of COVID-19 infection has crossed the 13-crore mark with last one crore done in just 10 days, while the cumulative positivity rate remained low and continues a downward trajectory, the Union Health Ministry said on Saturday. According to the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), over 13.06 crore samples have been tested till November 20 with 10,66,022 being tested on Friday.

The cumulative national COVID-19 positivity rate has declined and stood at 6.93 per cent as on date while the daily positivity rate on Friday was just 4.34 per cent. Higher volumes of testing eventually lead to low positivity rate, the ministry said. "An average of more than 10 lakh tests conducted daily has ensured that the cumulative positivity rate is sustained at low levels and is presently following a downward trajectory," the ministry underlined.

The last one crore COVID-19 tests were conducted in a span of just 10 days. Twenty-four states and Union Territories have conducted more tests per million population than India as a whole. Twelve states have lower tests per million population than the national average and they have been advised to substantially ramp up the levels of testing, the ministry underscored. According the the health ministry data updated at 8 am on Saturday, 46,232 people were found to be infected with COVID-19 in a span of 24 hours.

3:59 PM

Parliament panel on Covid-19: Pvt hospitals charged exorbitantly; spending on health abysmally low

Amid rising COVID-19 cases, inadequate beds in government hospitals and absence of specific guidelines for COVID treatment resulted in private hospitals charging exorbitant fees, a parliamentary panel on Saturday said, asserting that a sustainable pricing model could have averted many deaths. Chairperson of the parliamentary standing committee on health Ram Gopal Yadav submitted the report on 'Outbreak of Pandemic Covid-19 and its Management', to Rajya Sabha Chairman M Venkaiah Naidu.

This is the first report by any parliamentary committee on the government's handling of the COVID-19 pandemic. Underlining that healthcare spending in the country with a population of 1.3 billion is "abysmally low", the panel said fragility of Indian health ecosystem posed a big hurdle in generating an effective response against the pandemic.

"The committee, therefore, strongly recommends the government to increase its investments in the public healthcare system and make consistent efforts to achieve the National Health Policy targets of expenditure up to 2.5 per cent of GDP within two years as the set time frame of year 2025 is far away and the public health cannot be jeopardised till that time schedule," the report stated. The National Health Policy 2017 has set a target of government expenditure on healthcare up to 2.5 per cent of GDP by 2025 from just 1.15 per cent in 2017.

3:44 PM

15 security personnel among 66 new Covid-19 patients in Mizoram

Mizoram's COVID-19 tally rose to 3,607 on Saturday as 66 more people, including 15 security personnel, tested positive for the infection, an official statement said. Aizawl district reported the highest number of new cases at 46, followed by Lawngtlai (eight) and Serchhip (six), the statement issued by the state Information and Public Relations Department said.

Forty-two infections were detected during RT-PCR tests, seven during TrueNat and 17 during rapid antigen tests, it said. Eleven policemen, three Assam Rifles personnel and one Army jawan are among the new patients, the statement said.

3:41 PM

278 more Covid-19 positive cases have been reported on 20th November, taking the total count of active cases in Bihar to 5,881: State Health Department

3:25 PM

Churches in Mumbai to restart mass for public from Nov 29

All churches in Mumbai will resume Sunday masses and other celebrations from November 29 with strict adherence to all the government regulations and necessary COVID-19 protocols, according to a circular issued by the Archbishop of Bombay on Friday. Although the Maharashtra government allowed religious places to reopen from November 16, churches in Mumbai remained shut for the public and only private prayers were allowed inside the church premises till now.

"The government suddenly announced the reopening of religious places at a time when we were not prepared with the necessary infrastructure in regard to COVID-19 precautions. So we took our time for all the necessary arrangements like foot pedal sanitiser dispenser, demarcation for social distancing and availability of spare masks for the visitors," Father Nigel Barrett, spokesperson for Archbishop of Bombay, told ANI. Father Barrett said the church will continue with online masses despite the reopening of churches for people who cannot step out as of now.

3:23 PM

Officials at Nehru Place imposing fine of Rs 2,000 on people for not wearing a mask in public.

2:52 PM

Social isolation amid Covid outbreak linked to high BP: Study

The Covid induced lockdown and social isolation is associated with an increase in high blood pressure (BP) among patients admitted to emergency, researchers have found. According to the study, admission to the emergency department during the mandatory social isolation period was linked with a 37 per cent increase in the odds of having high blood pressure - even after taking into account age, gender, month, day and time of consultation.

"After social isolation began, we observed that more patients coming to the emergency had high blood pressure. We conducted this study to confirm or reject this impression," said study author Matias Fosco of Favaloro Foundation University Hospital in Argentina. The frequency of high blood pressure among patients aged 21 and above during the three-month social isolation (20 March to 25 June 2020) was compared to two previous time periods: the same three months in 2019 and the three months immediately before social isolation (13 December 2019 to 19 March 2020).

Blood pressure is a standard measurement on admission to the emergency department and almost every patient (98.2 per cent) admitted between 21 March 2019 and 25 June 2020 was included in the study. The most common reasons for admission were chest pain, shortness of breath, dizziness, abdominal pain, fever, cough, and hypertension.

2:07 PM

Fight against Covid-19 in crucial phase, India can't relax now: Ambani

Reliance Industries Chairman and Managing Director Mukesh Ambani on Saturday said India has entered a crucial phase in its fight against coronavirus and cannot afford to let the guard down at this juncture.

 

He said the bold reforms undertaken by the government will lead to swift recovery and rapid progress in the years to come.

 

The remarks come amid growing number of COVID-19 cases in certain pockets of the country, which has led authorities to re-introduce restrictions on movements like in the case of Ahmedabad and also mull restricting travel to cities like the national capital.

1:45 PM

ICMR increases RT-PCR testing capacity on directions of Amit Shah: MHA

ICMR has increased RT-PCR testing capacity from 27,000 tests/day to 37,200 RT-PCR tests per day on directions of Home Minister Amit Shah. 30,735 RT-PCR samples collected in Delhi on 19 November as compared to 12,055 RT-PCR samples on 15 November: Ministry of Home Affairs

1:27 PM

Delhi: Officials at Delhi-Noida border imposing fine of Rs 2,000 on people for not wearing masks while travelling

1:23 PM

Odisha reports 778 new COVID-19 cases, 17 fresh fatalities

Odisha's COVID-19 tally rose to 3,13,323 on Saturday as 778 more people tested positive for the infection, a health official said.

 

Seventeen fresh fatalities pushed the coastal state's coronavirus death toll to 1,625, he said.

 

As many as 446 new cases were reported in quarantine centres, while 332 fresh infections were detected during contact tracing, the official said.

 

Angul district reported the highest number of new cases at 68, followed by Sundergarh (64) and Khurda and Balasore (61 each), he said.

1:14 PM

Maharashtra mulls halting flights, trains to & from Delhi over rising Covid cases in the national capital

The Maharashtra government is toying with the idea of suspending train and flight operations to and from Delhi in view of the rising coronavirus cases in the national capital, a senior official said on Saturday.

This is one of the steps being considered by the state government to curb the spread of the virus, he said.

"Various measures are being discussed in order to curb the virus spread in the state, and suspension of train and flight operations to and from Delhi is one of them," Principal Secretary Sanjay Kumar told PTI.

"However, no decision has been taken so far on this," he added.

12:56 PM

Number of confirmed Covid-19 cases in Germany surpasses 900,000: Robert Koch Institute

Germany has confirmed 22,964 new Covid-19 cases over the past 24 hours, with the total count reaching 902,528, the Robert Koch Institute said on Saturday.

 

The death toll has grown by 254 to 13,884 people within the same period of time. More than 593,000 patients have recovered from the disease.

 

A day earlier, the country confirmed 23,648 new coronavirus cases and 260 fatalities.

12:43 PM

One-fourth of UP's active Covid-19 cases are in its eight NCR districts

Uttar Pradesh's eight districts that lie in the National Capital Region (NCR) account for over 25 per cent or one-fourth of the state's active COVID-19 cases and nearly 11 per cent of the deaths linked to the disease, according to official data.

 

UP's Gautam Buddh Nagar, Ghaziabad, Hapur, Bulandshahr, Meerut, Muzaffarnagar, Baghpat and Shamli districts are a part of the NCR, a wider region that also comprises districts from Haryana, Rajasthan and entire Delhi.

 

According to UP's official data updated till Friday, there were a total of 5,21,988 COVID-19 cases in the state, while the number of active cases stood at 23,357, of which 5,863 (25.10 per cent) were in its NCR districts.

 

Meerut has the highest number of 2,102 active cases among these eight districts, followed by Gautam Buddh Nagar (1,401), Ghaziabad (1,195), Muzaffarnagar (431), Bulandshahr (304), Shamli (168) Hapur (167) and Baghpat (149), according to the data.

12:31 PM

Recent breakthroughs on COVID-19 vaccines offer ray of hope: UN chief Guterres

UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres has described the recent breakthroughs towards development of COVID-19 vaccines as a "ray of hope that needs to reach everyone and called on the G-20 nations to support the global collaboration to accelerate development of coronavirus treatments and drugs.

 

This week, global drugmakers Pfizer and BioNTech said their COVID-19 vaccine candidate is 95 per cent effective, including in adults over 65 years of age.

 

The recent breakthroughs on COVID-19 vaccines offer a ray of hope. But that ray of hope needs to reach everyone, Guterres said at a news conference on Friday.

 

That means ensuring that vaccines are treated as a global public good accessible and affordable to everyone, everywhere. A people's vaccine. This is not a do-good' exercise. It is the only way to stop the pandemic dead in its tracks, he said.