Coronavirus LIVE: Delhi sees 5,000-plus new cases; over 10,000 in Mumbai

Coronavirus live updates: Maharashtra reported 47,288 new coronavirus cases in the last 24 hours. Delhi govt has imposed night curfew in the national capital. Stay tuned for corona-related news

3:13 AM

Major reason for surge in cases is laxity in following Covid-appropriate behaviour: Vardhan

Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan on Tuesday said one of the major reasons for the surge in cases was people becoming lax towards following Covid-appropriate behaviour and urged them take up mass awareness campaigns to re-instill the importance of such measures among the masses.
 

Vardhan, who reviewed the Covid-19 situation and progress of vaccination in Chhattisgarh, Delhi, Gujarat, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Jharkhand, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Punjab and Rajasthan, said these 11 states together contributed 54 per cent of the total cases and 65 per cent of the total deaths in the country, with a disproportionately high number of deaths in Maharashtra and Punjab.
 

A high test positivity rate was being seen in Maharashtra (25 per cent) and Chhattisgarh (14 per cent), he said, according to a Health Ministry statement.  Vardhan noted that since February, these states have witnessed a steep increase in cases, majority of which have been reported in the younger population of 15-44 years, the ministry said in a statement.
 

Also, it was pointed out that majority of the deaths have been reported among those over 60 years.
 

Vardhan appreciated the increase in tests in the last four weeks but cautioned against the high RAT proportion in Gujarat, Himachal Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Maharashtra
 

3:12 AM

Biden to move Covid-19 vaccine eligibility date to April 19

President Joe Biden was announcing Tuesday that he's bumping up his deadline for states to make all adults in the US eligible for coronavirus vaccines.
 

With states gradually expanding eligibility beyond such priority groups as older people and essential, front-line workers, the president will announce that every adult will be eligible by April 19 to sign up and get in a virtual line to be vaccinated, said White House press secretary Jen Psaki.
 

That's about two weeks earlier than Biden's previously announced May 1 deadline.
 

Biden was making the announcement at the White House later Tuesday after a visit to a Covid-19 vaccination site at Immanuel Chapel at Virginia Theological Seminary in Alexandria.
 

Psaki said the change will clarify things for the public.
 

“It reduces confusion and it ensures that Americans who are not yet vaccinated, who are looking to get vaccinated, they know they are all eligible, all adults, I should say, on April 19,” she said.
 

3:12 AM

UP registers 5,928 fresh Covid cases, 30 deaths in a day

The Covid-19 death toll in Uttar Pradesh rose to 8,924 on Tuesday with 30 more people succumbing to the disease while 5,928 fresh cases in a day pushed the infection tally to 6,39,928.
 

In view of the recent surge in daily coronavirus cases in the state capital, the Lucknow bench of the Allahabad High Court has stopped physical hearing of cases and decided to conduct hearing of only urgent matters through videoconferencing.
 

As of now, the decision is for this whole week.
 

Of the 30 Covid-19 deaths reported in a day in Uttar Pradesh, seven were reported from Lucknow, four from Kanpur, three from Allahabad, two each from Varanasi, Muzaffarnagar and Sitapur, and one each from Gautam Buddh Nagar, Moradabad, Hardoi, Pratapgarh, Basti, Sultanpur, Unnao, Bijnor, Jalaun and Kanpur Dehat.
 

Of the 5,928 fresh Covid-19 cases, Lucknow reported 1,188, Allahabad 915, Varanasi 711 and Kanpur 306. So far, 6,03,495 Covid-19 patients in the state have recovered from the disease, the Uttar Pradesh government said in a statement here on Tuesday.
 

3:10 AM

Biden says over 80% of teachers, school staff received at least one shot by end of March

US President Joe Biden said on Tuesday that more than 80% of teachers and school staff had received at least one vaccination shot but that variants of the coronavirus are spreading and generating a rise in cases.
 

"We aren't at the finish line. We still have a lot of work to do. We're still in a life-or-death race," Biden said at a White House event.
 

He said that by no later than April 19, every adult 18 or older will be eligible to be vaccinated. "No more confusing rules," Biden said.

11:06 PM

Covid-19 scare: AIIMS to lose down walk-in OPD registrations from April 8

The AIIMS has decided to temporarily lose down routine walk-in OPD patient registrations, including speciality clinics and all centres, with effect from April 8 to minimise the possibility of community spread of coronavirus and optimise diversion of available manpower and resources for the treatment of affected patients.
 

It said OPDs/speciality clinics will continue to provide requisite services only for such patients (new and follow-up) having prior appointments.
 

"In view of increased need to minimise possibility of community spread of ongoing Covid-19 pandemic and also to optimise diversion of available manpower and materials, resources for the care and treatment of suspected/confirmed patients of Covid-19 disease, it has been decided to temporarily lose down routine walk-in OPD patient registrations, including speciality clinics in AIIMS hospital and all centres with effect from April 8," a communique sent to all chiefs of Centres and Heads of all clinical departments said.
 

Respective departments may fix the limits of daily new and follow-up patients in outpatient department (OPD) for the next four weeks, depending on available strength of residents after contributing to Covid-19 pool.
 

Departments in the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) main hospital have also been requested to inform the same to faculty-in-charge and OPD services through e-mail, so that computer facility can be intimated for modifications, the communique added.
 

10:18 PM

No rapid antigen test on asymptomatic persons, hospitals told

Private hospitals in Mumbai can conduct rapid antigen tests (RATs) on walk-in serious patients having influenza-like symptoms, but the same can not be done on asymptomatic persons, the city civic body has said.
 

RAT, considered a quick and cheap way to discover coronavirus, detects the presence of viral proteins in a sample from the respiratory tract of a person.
 

According to new guidelines of the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) issued on April 5, without permission from the local authorities, no hospital can start rapid antigen tests for detection of coronavirus in its premises.
 

"RAT shall not be done for any asymptomatic walk- in persons," the BMC said.
 

The guidelines said it has been observed that some private hospitals were carrying out RATs without permission from the local authorities or through the ICMR-approved laboratories.
 

Highlighting that RATs are done on admitted patients as per Indian Council for Medical Research (ICMR) guidelines, the BMC directed hospitals to upload negative or positive report of the patient on the ICMR portal within 24 hours after sharing it with the admitted persons.
 

"Subsequently, the list of positive patients should be shared with the Epid Cell of BMC on the day of sample collection by 23.59 hours," the guidelines said.
 

The BMC said if beds are available in hospitals and the RAT result comes positive, symptomatic patients may be admitted after consulting the respective Ward War Room.
 

10:17 PM

Maharashtra sees 55,469 new Covid-19 cases; 297 die

Maharashtra on Tuesday reported 55,469 fresh coronavirus positive cases, the second highest spike in the last two days, taking the tally of infections to 31,13,354while 297 deaths pushed the toll to 56,330, the state health department said.
 

Maharashtra is now left with 4,72,283 active cases.
 

Mumbai recorded 10,040 new cases and 32 deaths.
 

At the same time, 34,256 people were discharged on Tuesday, taking the count of the recoveries in the state to 25,83,331, the department said in a release.
 

The state'srecovery rate now stands at 82.98 per cent and the fatality rate is 1.81 per cent.
 

Maharashtra had reported the highest spike in daily cases on Sunday, when it added over 57,000 infections.
 

With 2,01,693 new tests, the number of samples tested so far in Maharashtra has gone up to 2,09,17,486, it said.
 

10:16 PM

Bayern forward Serge Gnabry tests positive for coronavirus

Bayern Munich forward Serge Gnabry has tested positive for the coronavirus and will miss Wednesday's Champions League quarterfinal against Paris Saint-Germain.
 

The German club said Tuesday that the 25-year-old Gnabry “is doing well and is isolating at home.” Bayern coach Hansi Flick said earlier that Gnabry sat out training after complaining of a sore throat.
 

Gnabry previously tested positive for Covid-19 in October, when he missed Bayern's Champions League opening game against Atlético Madrid and a 5-0 rout of Eintracht Frankfurt in the Bundesliga.
 

But it was later determined that the PCR test was a false positive after negative results in the following days. 

9:21 PM

Bangladesh records highest single-day Covid-19 deaths, cases

Bangladesh registered the highest Covid-19 deaths and infections on Tuesday with 66 more people succumbing to coronavirus, taking the nation-wide tally to 6,51,652, according to the health authorities.
 

Since March 8 last year, Bangladesh has recorded 9,384 Covid-19 deaths and 651,652 infection cases.
 

"The tally of infections has surged to 6,51,652 as 7,213 new cases were confirmed in the last 24 hours . . . 66 people died of Covid-19 during the period,” the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS) said.
 

The data showed 54 out of the 66 died in Dhaka division alone and 39 of them were men while 27 were women, it said.
 

A total of 21.02 per cent of the 34,311 samples collected in the past one day were tested positive while the lowest infection rate was 2.30 per cent, recorded on February 8 this year, it added.
 

A health ministry spokesman said the figures were highest in terms of both fatality and infection in a single day since the Covid-19 outbreak on March 8 last year, asserting the hospitals across the country have exhausted their capacity.
 

"We will not have any room in hospitals to set up an extra bed as we are adding overnight 1,200 extra beds to treat coronavirus patients," health minister Zahid Maleque said, asking people to stay indoors as much as possible.
 

He said the government-run hospitals have 5,000 beds and the work was underway to set up another 1,200 beds, while the private facilities have 1,000 beds for the coronavirus patients.
 

Maleque warned that the situation may go out of control soon, unless the existing lockdown was strictly enforced.
 

Bangladesh had previously recorded the highest 64 deaths on June 30 last year.
 

9:08 PM

Mumbai records 10,030 Covid-19 cases, highest deaths since Oct

Mumbai reported 10,030 new Covid-19 cases on Tuesday, the second highest daily count so far, while 31 patients succumbed to the infection, the most in a day since October-end, the city civic body said.

 

The new cases took the cumulative tally to 4,72,332, while the death toll jumped to 11,828, according to the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) data.

 

At 10,030 new cases, Mumbai registered its second highest daily count after a record 11,163 infections were reported on April 4.

 

The 31 fresh deaths were the highest in a 24-hour period since October-end, the data showed.

 

Also, 7,019 more people were discharged from hospitals, taking the number of recovered patients to 3,82,004, the civic body said.

 

According to the BMC, the number of active Covid-19 cases increased to 77,495.

 

The data pointed out that 47,922 more Covid-19 tests were carried out in Mumbai, pushing the number of samples examined so far to 43,53,975.

 

The Covid-19 recovery rate in Mumbai has gone down to 81 per cent, according to the BMC.

 

The growth rate of Covid-19 has increased to 1.79 per cent, while the case doubling rate has dropped to 38 days, it said.

 

The civic body said the city currently has 73 active containment zones in slums and 'chawls' (old tenements) and 740 sealed buildings.

9:06 PM

Covid-19 spreading at fast pace, next 4 weeks critical: Centre

An increase in the intensity of the pandemic has led Covid-19 to spread at a faster pace than last year and the next four weeks are very critical, the Centre said on Tuesday as it stressed on people's participation to control the second wave of the contagion.
 

At a press conference, NITI Aayog Member (Health) Dr V K Paul said the pandemic situation in the country has worsened with a sharp rise in cases and a large part of the population is still susceptible to the virus.
 

The tools to fight the pandemic remain the same. Covid-appropriate behaviour, containment measures, testing have to be implemented more efficiently, medical infrastructure has to be ramped up and vaccination drive intensified, he said.
 

Covid-appropriate behaviour like wearing masks, staying away from crowds have to be followed in a campaign mode, Paul reminded people.
 

"The intensity of the pandemic has increased and it is spreading faster than last time. In some states, it (the condition) is worse than others but the upswing (in cases) can be observed across the country," he said.
 

"People's participation is vital to control the second wave. The next four weeks are going to very critical. The entire country has to come together and make efforts to fight the pandemic." Paul said the number of coronavirus cases is increasing and along with that mortality is also on the rise. "Still, in terms of the population size and deaths per million we are doing well and the pandemic is in control." The government has been reiterating that reduced testing, tracking and tracing as well as non-adherence to Covid-appropriate behaviour and large congregations have been the major reasons behind the recent spike in cases.
 

Detailing the Covid-19 situation in India, Union Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan said Chhattisgarh's Durg is among the top 10 districts with high active Covid cases while seven are in Maharashtra and one in Karnataka.  Delhi, counted as one district, is also in the list, he said.
 

The 10 districts with the highest number of new cases are Pune, Mumbai, Thane, Nagpur, Nashik, Bengaluru Urban, Aurangabad, Ahmednagar, Delhi and Durg, he said.   Bhushan further said Maharashtra, Punjab and Chhattisgarh still remain the states of maximum concern.
 

9:05 PM

Gujarat sees highest daily spike of 3,280 Covid-19 cases

Gujarat reported 3,280 fresh coronavirus positive cases in the last 24 hours, the highest rise in a day, taking the tally of infections to 3,24,878 while 17 deaths pushed the toll to 4,598, the state health department said on Tuesday.
 

Gujarat is now left with 17,348 active cases.
 

Of the 17 fatalities, seven patients died each in Ahmedabad and Surat, while two succumbed to the infection in Rajkot and one died in Vadodara district.
 

With 2,167 people recovering in the last 24 hours, the count of recoveries in Gujarat went up to 3,02,932 on Tuesday, the department said in a release.
 

Gujarat's rate of recovery fell to 93.24 per cent, it said.
 

At 798, Ahmedabad city registered the highest number of cases in the state in the last 24 hours, followed by 615 cases in Surat, 321 in Rajkot, 218 in Vadodara, 196 in Surat district, 124 in Vadodara district and 107 in Patan district.
 

A total of 70.38 lakh people in Gujarat have been administered the first dose of Covid-19 vaccine while 8.47 lakh others have received the second dose so far, the release said.
 

Gujarat's Covid-19 figures are as follows: Positive cases 3,24,878 new cases 3,280, deaths 4,598, discharged 3,02,932, active cases 17,348 and people tested so far - figures not released.
 

A total of 16 new cases were reported in the adjoining union territory of Dadra, Nagar Haveli and Daman & Diu in the last 24 hours, officials said, adding that 28 patients were discharged during the day.
 

Of the total 3,760 Covid-19 cases registered in the UT so far, 3,567 patients have recovered and two patients have died, they said, adding that the UT has 191 active cases.
 

8:53 PM

Coronavirus LIVE: Haryana reports 2,099 new cases

Haryana reports 2,099 new coronavirus cases,1,115 recoveries and 9 deaths in last 24 hours, according to the state health department.

8:45 PM

Coronavirus LIVE: Punjab reports 2,924 fresh cases

Punjab reports 2,924 fresh coronavirus cases, 2,350 discharges, and 62 deaths in last 24 hours, according to the state health department.

8:44 PM

Madhya Pradesh CM Shivraj Singh Chouhan holds a review meeting over Covid situation