Covid-19 Cases in India: On Thursday, Madhya Pradesh recorded 62 new cases of covid.
Forty eight cases of the new Delta Plus variant of Coronavirus have so far been identified in India, according to the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR)'s director general Balram Bhargava. "More importantly, they have been very localised. This virus has also been isolated and cultured now," he said during a briefing Friday.
At least seven cases of the new Delta Plus variant of Coronavirus have been confirmed in Madhya Pradesh, two of whom have died, it was reported earlier. Doctors said they had not received any vaccination. Three patients, who received single or double doses of vaccine earlier, are cured or are under home isolation without any complication. Two others who did not receive any vaccination have also managed to defeat the infection, doctors said. One of them is a 22-year-old woman and the other a toddler aged two years.
Meanwhile, workers and residents in Sydney were ordered to stay home for a week on Friday, as authorities locked down several central areas of Australia's largest city to contain an outbreak of the highly contagious Delta variant of Covid-19. Sixty-five Covid-19 cases have been reported so far in the flare-up linked to a limousine driver infected about two weeks ago when he transported an international flight crew from Sydney airport to a quarantine hotel, AFP reported.
Here are the updates on coronavirus (COVID-19) cases:
Covid-19: Nagaland reports 130 new cases, two more deathsNagaland on Friday reported 130 new COVID-19 cases, which pushed the tally in the state to 24,759, a health department official said.
At least 127 people were cured of the disease during the day, taking the total number of recoveries to 22,072, State Nodal Officer for Integrated Disease Surveillance Project Dr Nyanthung Kikon said in a bulletin.
The recovery rate among coronavirus patients in the state stands at 89.15 per cent, he said.
Two more fatalities due to the infection were reported in Kohima district, raising the death toll to 481, the official said.
Delhi Records 115 New COVID-19 Cases In 24 Hours, Positivity Rate 0.15 Per Cent
Delhi recorded four more COVID-19-related deaths, the lowest since March 21, and 115 new cases on Friday with a positivity rate of 0.15 per cent, according to a health bulletin issued.
The new fatalities pushed the deaths due to the infection to 24,952, it said.
The case fatality rate stands at 1.74 per cent, it added.
The national capital had recorded four deaths on March 30 and an equal number of fatalities on March 23, while it recorded a single fatality on March 21.
Delhi recorded eight deaths and 109 fresh cases of coronavirus on Thursday as the city's positivity rate dipped to 0.14 per cent.
80% Of Eligible Population In Tripura Gets At Least One Dose Of Covid Vaccine
Nearly 80 per cent of the total eligible population in Tripura has received at least the first dose of a COVID-19 vaccine, a senior official said on Friday.
The state has received 24.9 lakh vaccine doses so far, of which 2.10 lakh is yet to be administered, Siddhartha Shiv Jaiswal, director, National Health Mission, said.
"As on June 24, a total of 18.31 lakh people have received the first shot, which is around 80 per cent of the total eligible population," Mr Jaiswal said during a press meet.
Tax Relief On Money Received For Covid Treatment From Employers
The government on Friday extended deadlines for various income tax compliances and said the amount paid by an employer to employees for COVID-19 treatment would be tax-exempt.
Also, payment received from employer by family members in case of death of an employee due to COVID-19 would be exempt from income tax.
The income tax department, in a statement, said the payment deadline for Vivad Se Vishwas direct tax dispute resolution scheme has been extended by two months till August 31.
Pregnant Women Can Be Vaccinated Against COVID-19: Centre
The Union Health Ministry on Friday said that pregnant women can be vaccinated against the COVID-19.
While addressing a press conference on behalf of the Union Health Ministry, Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) Director-General Dr Balram Bhargava said, "The Ministry of Health has given guidelines that the vaccine can be given to the pregnant woman."
"The vaccine is useful for the pregnant woman and it should be given," Dr Bhargava said.
Dr Bhargava said that in terms of administering COVID-19 vaccines to children is still debatable until relevant data is available.
Coronavirus LIVE Updates: Maharashtra Reports First Death Due To Delta Plus VariantMaharashtra on Friday reported the first death from the "Delta Plus" variant of COVID-19, with an octogenarian woman succumbing in Ratnagiri civil hospital, a senior official said, according to news agency
PTI. The woman hails from Sangameswar and was admitted to the hospital, over 330 kms from Mumbai, a few days ago, Sanjay Shinde, Additional Collector, Ratnagiri told
PTI.
He said the woman's death was being audited to see if she suffered from co-morbidities. Mr Shinde said district officials have been told to increase awareness as well as sensitize people about appropriate COVID-19 behavior.
Forty-eight coronavirus cases of 'Delta Plus' variant have been detected from 45,000 samples sequenced so far in the country, with Maharashtra reporting the highest number of such cases at 20, the Centre said on Friday.
Coronavirus LIVE Updates: Both Covidshield, Covaxin Effective Against Covid Variants: Top Medical's Body ChiefICMR Director General Balram Bhargava said both Covidshield and Covaxin work against the variants of SARS CoV 2 - Alpha, Beta, Gamma as well as Delta, according to news agency ANI. "Delta Plus is present in 12 countries; 48 cases have been identified in India but more importantly, they have been very localised," he said.
"This virus has also been isolated and cultured now. We are doing the same test that we have done for Alpha, Beta, Gamma and Delta. We are looking at the laboratory test to check the vaccine effect and we should have the results in about 7-10 days' time," he said. "The health ministry has given the guideline that vaccine can be given to pregnant women. Vaccination is useful in pregnant women and it should be given," Dr. Bhargava added.
On vaccines being given to children, he said there's only one country that has done so. "Whether very small children will ever need vaccine, is still a question. Till such time when we have more data on vaccination of children, we won't be in a position to vaccinate children at large," he said.
"However, we have started a small study on children between the age of 2-18 years and we shall have the results by September or so. However, international jury is still not out and they're still debating whether children need to be vaccinated. We have seen some complications in the US," he added.
Coronavirus LIVE Updates: India Now Has 48 Cases Of Delta Plus: Medical Body ChiefNational Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) Director Dr SK Singh said eight states are important where "we have found more than 50% of the variant of concern (Delta variant)," according to news agency ANI. These states are Andhra Pradesh, Delhi, Haryana, Kerala, Maharashtra, Punjab, Telangana and West Bengal, he said, adding that as of today, there are 48 cases of Delta Plus across the country.
Coronavirus LIVE Updates: Only 125 Districts In India Reporting Over 100 Cases: Health MinistryLav Agarwal, Joint Secretary, Health Ministry, said that in the week of May 4, 531 districts of the country were reporting more than 100 cases. "In the week of June 2, it fell down to 262 districts. Right now only 125 districts in the country are reporting more than 100 cases," he said, according to news agency ANI. He also said that recovery rate in India has increased to 96.7%.
Coronavirus LIVE Updates: 776 Doctors Died During Covid Second Wave: Top Medical BodyIn this photo shared by news agency ANI, the Indian Medical Association (IMA) says 776 doctors have died during second wave of COVID19 pandemic; maximum 115 doctors lost their lives in Bihar, followed by Delhi (109).
Coronavirus LIVE Updates: Maharashtra Becomes First State To Administer 3 Crore Vaccine DosesMaharashtra has become the first state in India to administer three crore COVID-19 vaccine doses since a nationwide inoculation drive began on January 16 this year, a senior state health official said on Friday, according to news agency PTI. Additional Chief Secretary (Health) Dr Pradeep Vyas said Maharashtra, till Thursday, had administered 2,97,23,951 doses, while the coveted 3-crore mark was reached around 2 pm on Friday. "The cumulative vaccination dose figure has reached 3,00,27,217 as of 2pm during the day," he said.
Delhi Exaggerated Oxygen Requirement Claims: Panel Tells Top CourtThe sub-group constituted by the Supreme Court to audit oxygen consumption in hospitals in national capital during the second wave of COVID-19 said the Delhi government "exaggerated" the consumption of oxygen and made a claim of 1140 MT, four times higher than the formula for bed capacity requirement of 289 MT, according to news agency PTI. The five-member panel headed by AIIMS Director Randep Gulleria said the Delhi government had made the claims for allocation of 700 MT oxygen on April 30 of medical grade Oxygen using a "wrong formula".
The panel, in its report, said four model hospitals in Delhi -- Singhal Hospital, Aruna Asaf Ali Hospital, ESIC Model Hospital and Liferay Hospital -- have claimed extremely high oxygen consumption with very few beds and the claims appeared to be clearly "erroneous, leading to extremely skewed information and significantly higher Oxygen requirement for entire state of Delhi".
Coronavirus LIVE Updates: Karnataka Setting Up 6 Labs For Genome Sequencing: MinisterKarnataka Health Minister Dr. K Sudhakar said six labs are being set up in the state for genomic sequencing, according to news agency ANI. These labs will be located at Bengaluru, Mysuru, Mangaluru, Hubli, Vijayapura, Shivamogga, he said.
Coronavirus LIVE Updates: Gujarat sets vaccination deadline for people involved in professional activities
The Gujarat government has made it mandatory for the people involved in "professional activities" in the state's 18 cities and towns, which continue to remain under coronavirus-induced night curfew, to get themselves vaccinated against the virus by June 30.
The government has set the deadline of July 10 for vaccination of such people in the remaining parts of the state, PTI reported.
Coronavirus LIVE Updates: Centre Provides 30.54 Crore Vaccine Doses To States, Union Territories
Over 30.54 crore vaccine doses have been provided by the Centre to States/Union Territories (UTs) so far, informed the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare on Friday.
A total of 1,50,28,186 balance and unutilised COVID-19 vaccine doses are still available with the states and union territories to be administered, ANI reported.
Coronavirus LIVE Updates: Dehradun District Magistrate orders COVID-19 tests for passengers arriving at Jollygrant Airport
In view of the detection of new variants of the coronavirus in many states of the country, the District Magistrate (DM) of Dehradun, Dr Ashish Srivastav on Friday issued strict instructions for Covid-19 testing of air passengers, especially those coming from Maharashtra, Kerala and Madhya Pradesh.
The Medical Superintendent has been instructed to conduct Covid tests for all the passengers who land at Jollygrant Airport of the district, ANI reported.
Coronavirus LIVE Updates: 298 new COVID-19 cases push Arunachal Pradesh's tally to 34,214
Arunachal Pradesh's COVID-19 tally rose to 34,214 as 298 more people tested positive for the infection while two new fatalities pushed the death count to 162, a senior health official said here on Friday. The two new COVID-19 deaths were reported from Lohit district, PTI reported.
Coronavirus LIVE Updates: Fiji says Covid-19 now widespread as cases spike
Fiji health chiefs have admitted for the first time that Covid-19 transmission is widespread in the community after the Pacific nation recorded more than 300 new daily cases.
But authorities continue to reject calls for a nationwide lockdown, saying the 930,000-strong population's failure to obey health rules designed to contain the virus would render it ineffective, AFP reported.
Coronavirus LIVE Updates: Lockdown ordered in central Sydney areas hit by Covid surge Workers and residents in Sydney were ordered to stay home for a week on Friday, as authorities locked down several central areas of Australia's largest city to contain an outbreak of the highly contagious Delta variant of Covid-19.
Sixty-five Covid-19 cases have been reported so far in the flare-up linked to a limousine driver infected about two weeks ago when he transported an international flight crew from Sydney airport to a quarantine hotel.
Read here.
Coronavirus LIVE Updates: Andaman and Nicobar Islands report only 2 new COVID-19 cases
The Union Territory of Andaman and Nicobar Islands reported only two new COVID-19 cases in the last 24 hours, pushing the tally to 7,440, a health department official said on Friday. The COVID-19 death count remained at 127 as no new fatality due to the infection was reported in the last 24 hours, PTI reported.
Coronavirus LIVE Updates: Thane district's COVID-19 tally up by 462, death count by 15
With the addition of 462 coronavirus positive cases, the infection count in Thane district of Maharashtra mounted to 5,29,800, an official said on Friday.
These new cases were reported on Thursday, PTI reported.
Coronavirus News: Seven Cases Of Delta-Plus Covid In Madhya Pradesh, Two Patients Died
At least seven cases of the new Delta Plus variant of Coronavirus have been confirmed in Madhya Pradesh, two of the patients have died. Doctors said they had not received any vaccination. Three patients, who received single or double doses of vaccine earlier, are cured or are under home isolation without any complication.
Read Here For Now Priority Remains Utilising Domestic Vaccines For Own Vaccination Drive: Centre
India on Thursday said its stand on COVID-19 vaccine exports has been that it would depend on its domestic needs and asserted that right now the priority remains utilising made-in-India jabs for its own inoculation drive. The assertion by Ministry of External Affairs Spokesperson Arindam Bagchi came at an online media briefing in response to queries on media reports on possible exports of vaccines from India to Bangladesh.
Coronavirus: Mamata Banerjee Asks PM Modi To Get WHO Nod For Covaxin Vaccine
Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Thursday urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to intervene in securing WHO approval for the Covaxin coronavirus vaccine. Ms Banerjee flagged concerns of Indian citizens - students in particular - unable to travel abroad for now because the vaccine had not yet been approved by the World Health Organization.
Read Here Mizoram reported 4,331 active cases, 1 death and 121 recoveries, yesterday. Recovery rate at 76.29% and total cases at 18,635.
COVID-19: British PM Boris Johnson Hints At Unrestricted Travel For Fully Vaccinated PeopleBritish Prime Minister Boris Johnson hinted on Thursday that the UK was close to permitting unrestricted travel abroad for fully vaccinated people, in what would be a huge boost for airlines and holiday companies brought to their knees by COVID-19.
Johnson said he was not ruling out going abroad for his summer holiday and said there would be an announcement later on Thursday.
"I think that the whole double jab process is offering the real prospect of opening up to travel, and we'll be setting out a bit more later on," he told reporters.
COVID-19: Delhi reports 109 new cases, positivity rate down to 0.14%
Delhi reported 109 new COVID-19 cases in the last 24 hours and the positivity rate has come down to 0.14 per cent, the least so far.
The metropolis also witnessed eight deaths and 131 recoveries in the last 24 hours.According to the Delhi Health Department bulletin, the cumulative number of cases in Delhi has gone up to 14,33,475, including 1,767 active cases.
The national capital had reported 111 new cases on Wednesday.
The bulletin said that total recoveries stand at 14,06,760 and the case fatality rate is 1.74 per cent. The death toll has gone up to 24,948.