Covid-19 LIVE: Over 68,500 new cases in Maharashtra, another record spike

Coronavirus live updates: Modi asks civil servants to press entire national capacity for vaccine production as daily cases and deaths rise. Stay tuned for news on Covid-19

5:45 PM

Coronavirus LIVE: PM Modi to review coronavirus situation at 8 pm today

PM Narendra Modi will hold a meeting to review the coronavirus and vaccination situation in India, at 8 pm today. Top officers across various ministries will participate.

5:39 PM

Centre assisting Maharashtra in supply of Remdesivir in every manner, says Union Minister

Coronavirus LIVE: Centre assisting Maharashtra in supply of  Remdesivir in every manner, says Union Minister

5:37 PM

Coronavirus LIVE: Raipur declared as containment zone till 6 am of April 26

5:26 PM

Kejriwal warns strict action against labs taking too much time to give covid test reports

We are receiving complaints that some labs are taking two-three days to give coronavirus reports to patients. The reason is that these labs are taking more samples than their capacity. Strict action will be taken against such labs that will not give report within 24 hours, says Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal

5:13 PM

Coronavirus LIVE: If situation worsens, will take harsh steps in future, says Kejriwal

5:11 PM

Coronavirus LIVE: Severe shortage of Remdesivir in Delhi, says Arvind Kejriwal

5:08 PM

Coronavirus LIVE: Oxygen and ICU beds are decreasing sharply, says Kejriwal

Delhi has a limited number of ICU beds. Oxygen and ICU beds are decreasing very sharply. We are taking several steps to scale up beds capacity, says Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal

 

5:06 PM

Coronavirus LIVE: Around 24,000 cases have been reported in Delhi in the last 24 hours, says Kejriwal

Coronavirus LIVE: Around 24,000 cases have been reported in Delhi in the last 24 hours, says Kejriwal

5:05 PM

Watch: Kejriwal addressing media on coronavirus cases in Delhi

4:55 PM

Odisha CM urges PM Modi to make vaccines available in open market

Odisha CM Naveen Patnaik urges PM Narendra Modi to make vaccines available in open market; says move will help state govts streamline focus on vulnerable sections

4:24 PM

Coronavirus LIVE: Harsh Vardhan reviews oxygen, ventilators availability in high-burden states

4:13 PM

Virus mutated in Jan/Feb, spread more rapidly: AIIMS chief on Covid surge

As India witnessed a whopping 234,692 coronavirus cases within a span of 24 hours on Saturday, AIIMS Director explained why the country suddenly found itself in the grip of a severe second wave.

 

"The cause for the surge in Covid cases is multifactorial. But two main causes are when in January/February vaccination started, cases started going down and people stopped following Covid-appropriate behaviour and at this time the virus mutated and it spread more rapidly," said Dr Randeep Guleria.

 

He also spoke about the massive pressure on the country's health infrastructure as the second Covid wave continues to intensify. Read here

3:45 PM

Delhi govt deputes bureaucrats in private hospitals for better Covid management

Seeking better Covid-19 management, the Delhi government has deputed bureaucrats in private hospitals too in view of the raging pandemic in the city, officials said on Saturday.

 

A total of 10 IAS officers have already been appointed nodal officers at various Covid hospitals of the Delhi government.

 

"About 15 DANICS officers have been posted in private hospitals across Delhi to handhold the management and oversee adherence of all Covid measures," the health department said in a statement. (PTI)

3:24 PM

Coronavirus LIVE: Many causes for the surge in cases, says AIIMS Director

3:18 PM

Global coronavirus deaths cross 3 million

Global Covid-19 deaths have crossed the 3 million mark, according to the latest update by Johns Hopkins University on Saturday.

 

According to the Covid-19 Dashboard by the Center for Systems Science and Engineering (CSSE) at Johns Hopkins University (JHU), as of 1.50 pm IST, the total Covid-19 cases worldwide stand at 139,979,449 and the deaths across the world stand at 3,000,225.

 

As many as 79,739,004 patients worldwide have recovered from the disease, according to the live dashboard.

 

The US continues to be the worst-affected country in the world reporting 31,575,640 cases. India, according to the tracker is the second-most affected country from the virus after the US reporting over 14.5 million cases. (ANI)