Covid LIVE: Kerala govt issues guidelines ahead of lockdown starting May 8

Coronavirus live updates: Among states with a rapid surge in infections, Maharashtra reported 57640 cases, Karnataka 50112 cases, Kerala 41953 cases, UP 31165 cases. Stay tuned for corona-related news

9:54 AM

Spain finds 11 cases of variant first identified in India

Spain's health minister says the European country has detected 11 cases of the new strain of the coronavirus first identified in India.

 

Minister Carolina Darias says the cases were two separate outbreaks discovered by health officials in recent days.

 

She added a plane carrying medical supplies, including oxygen and breathing machines, for hard-hit India will leave on Thursday.

 

Last week, Spain's government approved a shipment of seven tons of medical supplies to help India combat it surging wave of infections.

9:45 AM

India's tragic Covid-19 situation should raise alarm bells for all: UNICEF

The tragic" COVID-19 situation in India should raise the alarm bells for all of us and there will be reverberations across the region and the world in terms of virus-related deaths, virus mutations and supply delays unless the world steps up and helps the country now, the head of the UN children's agency has said.

 

United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) has sent additional critical lifesaving supplies to India, including 2 million face shields and 200,000 surgical masks.

 

The tragic situation in India should raise alarm bells for all of us, UNICEF Executive Director Henrietta Fore said on Tuesday. Read on...

9:37 AM

Plea in Bombay High Court seeks Z+ security for Adar Poonawalla, his family

A writ petition on Wednesday has been filed in the Bombay High Court seeking Z plus security for Serum Institute of India CEO Adar Poonawalla and his family.

 

The petitioner has said Poonawalla should be given Z plus security for himself and his family, and his assets should be protected keeping the threats which were made to Poonawallah as per media reports.

 

The plea requested the court to give order to Maharashtra government and Pune Police Commissioner to file an FIR in the matter based on the petitioner's complaint which he has already submitted. Read on...

9:33 AM

Coronavirus in India: Summary of MoHFW data (May 6)

Active cases: 3,566,398 (Net addition: 79,169)

Deaths: 230,168 (Net increase: 3,980)

Cured: 17,280,844 (Net increase: 329,113)

Total cases: 21,077,410 (Net increase: 412,262)

Total vaccination: 162,513,339 (Increase over previous day: 1,955,733)

9:25 AM

Global Covid-19 caseload tops 154.7 mn; deaths surge to more than 3.23 mn

The overall global Covid-19 caseload has topped 154.7 million, while the deaths have surged to more than 3.23 million, according to the Johns Hopkins University.

 

In its latest update on Thursday morning, the University's Center for Systems Science and Engineering (CSSE) revealed that the current global caseload and death toll stood at 154,763,588 and 3,237,435, respectively.

 

The US continues to be the worst-hit country with the world's highest number of cases and deaths at 32,557,299 and 579,265, respectively, according to the CSSE. Read on...

9:17 AM

Former Union Minister and RLD Chief Chaudhary Ajit Singh passes away due to Covid

Former Union Minister and RLD Chief Chaudhary Ajit Singh passes away due to Covid

9:05 AM

Indian Navy warships fan out to friendly nations to get oxygen amid Covid

Nine capital warships of the Indian Navy have been pressed into service on a medical relief operation called Operation Samudra Setu II (Ocean Bridge II) to help combat the Covid-19 pandemic. With medical supplies running low in Indian hospitals, these vessels were sent to West Asia and South East Asia to bring back liquid medical oxygen bottles, oxygen concentrators and other medical stores.

 

“As a part of the ongoing national effort to fight the Covid-19 pandemic, the Indian Navy has launched Operation Samudra Setu II to bring in by sea much-needed oxygen and associated medical supplies from friendly foreign countries,” said Vice Admiral MS Pawar, the deputy chief of Naval Staff on Wednesday, upon the arrival of the first consignment of Liquid Medical Oxygen onboard Indian Naval Ship (INS) Talwar at New Mangalore port. Read on...

8:58 AM

India's struggle to track new Covid-19 variants could worsen the crisis

The good news is that the vaccines work against a new virus strain circulating in India that’s spread to several other countries.

 

The bad news is it won’t be only the new version of the pathogen to emerge from an outbreak of this scale, underscoring the urgency of mapping other possible variants that may be currently racing through India’s tightly-packed population of 1.4 billion people. Read on...

8:47 AM

Canada becomes first country to allow Pfizer Covid-19 vaccine for children aged 12-15

Canada becomes first country to allow Pfizer Covid-19 vaccine for children aged 12-15

 

8:37 AM

Corporate India jittery about Q1 amid a relentless second Covid-19 wave

Early signals from the results of the fourth quarter of FY21 have been encouraging, but corporate India isn't celebrating. Reason: A broad swathe of companies across sectors believe that the first quarter of the current financial year will severely test their resilience amid a relentless second Covid-19 wave that has pushed India to the top of the list of the worst-affected countries in the world.

 

Since April, India has seen multiple strains of the coronanavirus sweep the nation, upending life and businesses alike. Out-of-home retail and discretionary categories such as durables, auto, fashion, lifestyle, hospitality, food services, travel, and tourism have been the worst-hit as Covid cases remain high, leaving state governments with no option but to curtail mobility and economic activity. Read on...

8:01 AM

3rd wave of Covid-19 pandemic is inevitable, says top scientist

The pathogen has adopted "hit and run" tactics to breach the immunity many people developed during the first wave as also due to vaccination, Prof Vijay Raghavan said, pointing to changes in the virus and the role of new variants with higher transmissibility and disease severity in the second wave."A phase three (of Covid-19 pandemic) is inevitable given the high levels of circulating virus but it is not clear on what timescale this phase three will occur. "

7:58 AM

US component supplies to enable India manufacture 20 mn doses of Covishield

The US on Wednesday said the vaccine components it has supplied to India this week will enable the manufacturing of two crore doses of the Covishield vaccine even as the sixth shipment of American medical aid arrived as part of the Biden administration's assistance to the country's response to a rising number of COVID-19 cases.

 

The United States also sent a separate shipment of over 81,000 vials of Remdesivir injections that was delivered in Mumbai.

 

As India continues to reel under a record-breaking wave of the coronavirus infection, the European Union (EU) announced an initial Euro 2.2 million (approximately Rs 19 crore) in emergency funding to support the World Health Organization's (WHO) measures to curb the spread of the coronavirus in the country. Read on...

7:36 AM

US backs waiving intellectual property rules for Covid-19 vaccines

The Biden administration is throwing its support behind efforts to waive intellectual property protections for Covid-19 vaccines in an effort to speed the end of the pandemic.

 

United States Trade Representative Katherine Tai announced the government's position in a Wednesday statement, amid World Trade Organisation talks over easing global trade rules to enable more countries to produce more of the life-saving vaccines. Read on...

7:26 AM

Karnataka remdisivir supply to increase to 20K vials per day for next 5 days

The four companies which are supplying anti-viral remdisivir to the government have agreed to increase the supply to 20,000 vials for the next five days starting from May 6 (Thursday), said Deputy Chief Minister and State Covid task force head Dr CN Ashwatha Narayana, on Wednesday.

 

Addressing press conference Narayana said, "I have spoken to company heads of these four companies and put together, they have agreed to increase the supply to 20,000 vials. Till now these companies were supplying 10,000 vials in total per day."

 

He also informed, the companies have agreed to further increase the supply after May 9. Read on...