Coronavirus LIVE: PM announces vaccination festival between April 11 and 14

Live updates: Mumbai has recorded 8,938 cases and, Delhi 7,437 cases in the last 24 hours. PM Modi is meeting CMs to discuss rising cases. Stay tuned for all coronavirus updates

12:26 PM

Assam CM Sarbananda Sonowal takes his first shot of the Covid-19 vaccine

Assam CM Sarbananda Sonowal takes his first shot of the Covid-19 vaccine at Gauhati Medical College and Hospital today.

12:21 PM

DATA STORY: India sees biggest jumps in total Covid tally, active cases

India on Thursday reported a net increase of 66,846 in active coronavirus cases, the most in a day so far, to take its count to 910,319. That is nearly 90 per cent of the September 18 peak of 1,017,754. India’s share of global active coronavirus cases now stands at 3.96 per cent (one in 25). The country is 4th among the most affected countries by active cases. On Thursday, it added 126,789 cases, the most in a day so far, to take its total caseload to 12,928,574. And, with 685 new fatalities, its Covid-19 death toll reached 166,862, or 1.29 per cent of total confirmed infections. Read on...

12:02 PM

Odisha coronavirus update: 879 new Covid-19 cases reported

Total positive cases: 345,526

Total recoveries: 338,662

Active cases: 4,888

Total death: 1,923

11:48 AM

Labourers losing jobs amid Covid-19 resurgence, reports IANS

The labourers have started losing jobs amid the Covid-19 resurgence across the country, news agency IANS reported.

 

Fentus Kumar (29), a native of Bihar's Khagaria district, came with his group of 45 fellow labourers from Hanumangarh in Rajasthan.

 

"Since the manufacturing unit where we were working was partially operational so our employer asked us to return to home. The company is not receiving ample amount of work orders, therefore, limited labourers were required," Fentus said while waiting for Katihar bound train to Khagaria at Patna after reaching from Delhi.

 

52-year-old Vinod Sharma, who is also part of the group, said: "Once we lost our jobs, there was no reason for us to stay there. Hence, we decided to return. The situation in industrial areas of Hanumangarh was almost similar. Too many labourers lost jobs."

11:27 AM

One-fifth of active Covid cases in Delhi and Mumbai need hospitalisation

Though Delhi has only a fourth of Mumbai's active caseload, 4.6% of active cases in Delhi require ICU beds and 3.3% require a ventilators.

 

On Sunday, India became only the second country in the world to cross 1 lakh daily cases. While India tops the world in terms of daily case additions, many researchers have claimed that the second wave in the country is not as severe as the first one. Indeed, the number of deaths are low. As against a high of 1,247 deaths when cases were close to 90,000 on September 19, India recorded only 478 deaths on Sunday. But analysis of hospitalisation rates in some cities indicates that high hospitalisation rates, coupled with galloping active cases, can spiral into a problem. Read on...

11:14 AM

Union Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar takes his second dose of Covid-19 vaccine at RML Hospital

Union Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar takes his second dose of Covid-19 vaccine at RML Hospital

11:12 AM

Uttarakhand coronavirus update: 5 children, 7 teachers test Covid-19 positive in Doon School

Five students and seven teachers have tested positive for Covid-19 at Doon school, ANI reported. District Magistrate, Dehradun Ashish Srivastav said that the administration is taking precautionary steps to tackle the situation in the school.

 

"As per the instructions issued by the government, Doon School is ensuring compliance with all necessary steps and protective measures. The school had implemented its action plan for all its students, teachers, staff under the care of the residential doctor to prevent the pandemic spread," the official said.

 

The district magistrate said that all staff members and students will undergo a mandatory RT-PCR test. "Those who tested positive have been quarantined and are adhering to the government guidelines. Contact tracing of those who came in contact with them has been initiated," he added.

 

10:57 AM

Allow vaccine for all adults: Arvind Kejriwal to Centre

CM Arvind Kejriwal had written to Centre that vaccination should be opened for all. We've made 2 more requests that vaccination should be allowed at least for all adults. Secondly, it should be allowed even at camp settings and not only at health care facilities: Delhi Health Minister

10:54 AM

Labourers losing jobs amid Covid-19 resurgence

The labourers have started losing jobs amid the Covid-19 resurgence across the country.

 

Fentus Kumar (29), a native of Bihar's Khagaria district, came with his group of 45 fellow labourers from Hanumangarh in Rajasthan.

 

"Since the manufacturing unit where we were working was partially operational so our employer asked us to return to home. The company is not receiving ample amount of work orders, therefore, limited labourers were required," Fentus said while waiting for Katihar bound train to Khagaria at Patna after reaching from Delhi.

 

52-year-old Vinod Sharma, who is also part of the group, said: "Once we lost our jobs, there was no reason for us to stay there. Hence, we decided to return. The situation in industrial areas of Hanumangarh was almost similar. Too many labourers lost jobs."

 

Bhim Mehta, a native of Saharsa district ,said: "During normal days, the garment factory where we worked was operating 24 hours. Now, due to the night curfew the manufacturing is done only during the day. Therefore, our employer shut the manufacturing unit for the night shift and reduced the numbers of labourers."

 

Mehta's friend Vikas Kumar, who was also employed in the same garment factory, remembering the plight of the last year said: "During the last year's lockdown, our landlord held us captive inside the room and released us after we paid the room rent for the entire month. We had to walk for 60 km to reach Anand Vihar bus station to board the bus for our village. We not lucky enough to get the bus so we had to further walk till Lucknow. We reached Lucknow after nine days. The UP government had arranged a bus for us till Bihar border."

 

"We didn't want to undergo the same plight this year. Despite possibilities of lockdown have been ruled out but the resurgence of Covid has led to a kind of partial lockdown and the pandemic is even more lethal. So we decided to return before the situation goes beyond our control," he added.

10:26 AM

Maharashtra coronavirus update: Pune district reports 10,907 new Covid-19 cases, 62 deaths

With the addition of 10,907 new coronavirus cases in Pune district of Maharashtra on Wednesday, its overall case count reached 6,04,037, a health official said.

 

The death toll due to the virus mounted to 10,402as 62 patients succumbed to the infection in the last 24 hours, he said.

 

"Of these new cases, 5,651 are in areas located within the PuneMunicipal Corporation limits, where the caseload has grown to 3,05,372 now. However, 4,361 patients recovered and got discharge from hospitals," he said.

 

With 2,784 new cases in Pimpri Chinchwad, an industrial township near Pune city, the COVID-19 tally there stands at 1,58,768, the official said.

10:17 AM

Possible link between AstraZeneca's Covid vaccine and clots: EU regulator

Europe's drug regulator on Wednesday found a possible link between AstraZeneca's Covid-19 vaccine and rare blood clotting issues in adults who had received the shot and said it had taken into consideration all available evidence.

“One plausible explanation for the combination of blood clots and low blood platelets is an immune response, leading to a condition similar to one seen sometimes in patients treated with heparin,” the European Medicines Agency (EMA) said.

Meanwhile. a government committee in the UK advising on coronavirus vaccinations has said people under the age of 30 should be offered an alternative to the AstraZeneca vaccine.

 

Altogether, 79 such cases have been reported in the country. Read on...

10:13 AM

Despite high vaccination rate, Gujarat adds 12% of its overall cases in March

On Tuesday, the daily coronavirus infections declined to 53,480—India had touched a high of 68,020 just two days ago—but the country has added over a million cases in the last month. And, 60% of these have come from the state of Maharashtra alone. While Maharashtra added 22.5% cases to its overall infection tally in March, Punjab tops the states with maximum additions. Nearly a quarter of case additions to the state’s total tally have been in this month.

 

However, amidst surging infections from these two states, the rising cases in Gujarat have gone unnoticed. While the state, to an extent, had curbed the rise in infections in the first two months of the year, daily cases started rising again in March. The compounded daily growth rate of cases has tripled in the state, with the state adding 12% additional infections to its tally in just a month. In absolute numbers, Gujarat ranks far behind Karnataka and Kerala; however, it ranks third in the country, along with Madhya Pradesh, in terms of daily growth rate of infections. Read on...

10:07 AM

Covid-19 vaccine shortage: Maharashtra, Centre in a war of words

The Centre on Wednesday hit back at the Maharashtra government and accused it of creating panic and spreading lies after it raised serious concerns about Covid-19 vaccine shortage in the state.

 

The Centre's reaction came hours after Maharashtra health minister Rajesh Tope said that the state had barely 2-3 days of vaccine stock left and urged the central government to hasten supplies. A day earlier, other non-Bharatiya Janata Party ruled states including Andhra Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Odisha had expressed similar concerns of vaccine shortage.

 

The development comes as India surpassed the US to become the fastest vaccinating country in the world with an average daily rate of 3.09 million vaccine doses. In all 87 million doses have been administered to date, including 3.3 million on Tuesday, Union health ministry said in a statement. Read on...

10:00 AM

ICU beds: Maharashtra struggles, others fare better as Covid-19 cases rise

At Maharashtra, the epicentre of the second wave of Covid-19 in India, the health infrastructure is facing a fresh challenge as cases multiply.

 

The civic body in Mumbai has already operationalised 3,000 beds last week and added another 69 private hospitals on board. “These beds would not come on stream at one go. The hospitals have been asked to activate their Covid beds, and we can expect some additions every week. In total, around 200-300 new Covid beds can be added in the private nursing homes already identified,” said a civic official.

 

MCGM is also trying to activate 400 ICU beds within a week. As on April 5, Mumbai had only 136 ICU beds available in the city. Read on...

9:51 AM

Coronavirus in India: Latest update by MoHFW

Active cases: 910,319 (Net increase: 66,846)

Deaths: 166,862 (Net increase: 685)

Cured: 11,851,393 (Net increase: 59,258)

Total cases: 12,928,574 (Net increase: 126,789)

Total vaccination: 90198,673 (Increase over previous day: 2,979,292)