Coronavirus: Centre to increase bed count, double tests conducted daily in Delhi

Here are the top updates of the day.

10.54 pm: FIFA cancels Women’s Under-17 World Cup in India, which was postponed to 2021 due to coronavirus pandemic, reports PTI. The world football governing body gives India the hosting rights of the 2022 edition. The organisation also cancels Under-20 World Cup in Costa Rica and gives the country the right to hold the 202 edition.

10.51 pm: Delhi residents flout physical distancing norms as they throng Sarojini Nagar Market.

10.47 pm: Delhi reports 99 deaths and 6,396 new coronavirus infections, taking the cases tally in the Capital to 4,95,598, according to ANI. The overall tally includes 42,004 active cases, 4,45,782 recoveries and 7,812 deaths.

10.47 pm: Rajasthan says schools, colleges and educational and coaching institutes in the state will remain closed for students and regular class activities till November 30, reports ANI.

10.45 pm: Jharkhand reports 261 new Covid-19 cases, 343 recoveries and 3 deaths on Tuesday, according to ANI. The tally in the state is now 1,06,491, including 2,669 active cases, 1,02,891 recoveries and 931 deaths.

9.22 pm: Madhya Pradesh registers 922 new coronavirus cases, taking the tally in the state to 1,85,446, reports ANI. The toll climbs by 10 to 3,102. There are 9,060 active cases and 1,73,284 recoveries.

9.21 pm: Karnataka reports 1,336 new Covid-19 cases, 2,100 discharges and 16 deaths on Tuesday, according to ANI. The overall tally in the state now stands at 8,64,140, including 25,323 active cases, 8,27,241 discharges and 11,557 deaths.

9.19 pm: The Panchkula administration in Haryana bans Chhath Puja celebration in public places in view of the coronavirus pandemic, reports ANI.

9.16 pm: The coronavirus tally in Manipur rises 22,208 after the state registers 159 new infections, reports ANI. The toll climbs by 1 to 255. There are 2,918 active cases and 19,065 recoveries in the state.

9.14 pm: Punjab reports 515 new Covid-19 cases, pushing the tally in the state to 1,42,597, according to ANI. The overall tally includes 5,821 active cases, 1,32,266 recoveries and 4,510 deaths.

9.11 pm: The Congress seeks immediate steps to contain the spread of coronavirus in the Delhi, favouring a complete lockdown of markets, public transport and government offices, instead of a partial one, reports PTI. Congress senior spokesperson Ajay Maken says there cannot be a worse decision than Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal’s proposal to impose partial lockdown in markets and hotspots in the Capital.

9.05 pm: Gautam Buddh Nagar administration says that people coming from Delhi to Noida will be randomly tested for Covid-19 from Wednesday, reports PTI. District Magistrate Suhas LY adds that there is no restriction on movement of people between the two places.

8.49 pm: Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren says Chhath Puja can be celebrated at river banks and ponds, while following all Covid-19 protocols, including wearing masks and maintaining physical distancing, reports ANI. The Jharkhand government had on Monday ordered a ban on Chhath Puja celebrations in waterbodies.

8.47 pm: The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation says Chhath Puja will not be allowed at beaches, riverbanks or ponds in Mumbai, reports ANI.

5.44 pm: Russia says mutations in the coronavirus were appearing in Siberia, according to Reuters. “We see certain changes...in Siberia which allow us to assume that in this region it is forming its own version with specific mutations,” says, Anna Popova, head of Rospotrebnadzor, the country’s consumer health watchdog.

5.41 pm: World Health Organization Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus says the fight against the coronavirus is not a choice between life and livelihoods and that the quickest way to open up economies is to defeat the virus, according to Reuters. “It is not the time for inaction,” he adds.

5.36 pm: South Korea will impose stricter physical distancing restrictions for the greater Seoul area a month after easing them, Reuters reports, citing officials. The curbs include restricting public gatherings of 100 people or more, limiting religious services and audiences at sporting events to 30% capacity and asking high-risk facilities such as karaoke bars and clubs to broaden distance among guests.

5.33 pm: All MLAs and ministers in Odisha undertake Covid-19 tests ahead of the winter session of the state Assembly scheduled for November 20 to December 31, reports ANI. “There are subjects like supplementary budget which will be moved on November 20 and passed on [to] November 29 by FM [Finance Minister Shashi Behera],” says Assembly Speaker SN Patro

5.29 pm: The Union health ministry says that India reported three new deaths per million on an average in seven days, while the global average was eight deaths per million. It adds that 211 new cases per million were reported in the country on an average in the last seven days whereas the global figure was 510.

5.25 pm: The Union health ministry says that the trend of new daily recoveries exceeding the daily new cases continues with 40,791 patients recovering in the last 24 hours against 29,163 newly detected infections.

5.23 pm: Union health ministry Secretary Rajesh Bhushan says 10 states – Maharashtra, Kerala, Delhi, West Bengal, Karnataka, Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh and Andhra Pradesh – account for 76.7% of the total active cases.

5.16 pm: NITI Aayog member VK Paul says the number of intensive care unit beds in Delhi will be increased from 3,500 to 6,000 in the next few days, reports ANI. He adds that 7000-8000 teams will conduct house-to-house surveys in containment zones as well as other vulnerable areas of the Capital.

5.02 pm: Union health ministry lists actions taken by the Centre to tackle the coronavirus situation in Delhi, including increasing the number of all beds and doubling the tests conducted daily to 1-1.2 lakhs.

4.59 pm: NITI Aayog member VK Paul says the vaccine being developed by the Serum Institute of Indian is in the third phase of clinical trials, reports ANI. “At least five vaccines are under trail in the country of which two are in the third phase,” he adds.

3.19 pm: Odisha’s coronavirus tally mounts to 3,10,052 on Tuesday, after 644 people tested positive for the virus, while 17 more fatalities pushed the toll to 1,560, PTI reports.

3.11 pm: South Korea says it will impose stricter physical distancing rules for the greater Seoul area a month after easing them, warning of an “even bigger crisis” if containment efforts fail to curb the rise in coronavirus infections, Reuters reports.

Starting Tuesday, the government will ban public gatherings of 100 people or more, limit religious services and audiences at sporting events to 30% capacity, and require high-risk facilities including clubs and karaoke bars to broaden distance among guests.

3.07 pm: The United Kingdom has secured 50 lakh doses of an experimental Covid-19 vaccine developed by Moderna, after it reported positive trial results, health minister Matt Hancock said on Monday, Reuters reports. Interim data from a late-stage trial indicated Moderna’s vaccine was 94.5% effective in preventing the coronavirus disease.

Britain had previously secured supply deals for a total of 350 million vaccine doses from six different suppliers, including Pfizer Inc, whose vaccine was found to be more than 90% effective, and 100 million doses of an AstraZeneca/Oxford candidate expected to report late-stage results in coming weeks.

3.00 pm: Pharmaceutical firm Pfizer has launched a pilot delivery program for its experimental Covid-19 vaccine in four American states, as the United States drugmaker seeks to address distribution challenges facing its ultra-cold storage requirements, Reuters reports.

It picked Rhode Island, Texas, New Mexico, and Tennessee for the program after taking into account their differences in overall size, diversity of populations, immunisation infrastructure, and need to reach individuals in varied urban and rural settings.

Pfizer’s vaccine, which was shown to be more than 90% effective in preventing Covid-19 based on initial data, must be shipped and stored at -70 degrees Celsius, significantly below the standard for vaccines of 2-8 degrees Celsius, the company said.

2.55 pm: India has seen less than 50,000 daily new Covid-19 cases for the past ten days, the Union Health Ministry says. “While this signifies the wide adoption of COVID-19 appropriate behaviour among the population, it also assumes significance in view of the high number of daily cases being continuously reported in many countries in Europe and America,” the government adds.

2.50 pm: Two Bharatiya Janata party legislators have tested positive for the coronavirus in Uttar Pradesh’s Bareilly district, PTI reports.

“On Monday, MLA Arun Kumar was participating in a programme on the ‘jayanti’ of Chitragupt, when he started feeling ill,” Bareilly Chief Medical Officer Vineet Kumar Shukla said. “He was immediately shifted to a 300-bed hospital, and tested positive. He has been admitted to a private hospital.”

BJP MLA from Faridpur, Shyam Bihari Lal, on the other hand, tested positive on Monday and is now isolating himself at home, Shukla added.

1.02 pm: With 72 new coronavirus cases recorded on Tuesday, Puducherry’s tally of infections rises to 36,409, PTI reports.

1.00 pm: The Supreme Court refuses to entertain a plea seeking directions to the Central Board of Secondary Education and the Delhi government to waive examination fees for students of classes 10 and 12 in the current academic year in view of the pandemic, and financial problems being faced by some parents, PTI reports.

12.58 pm: Arunachal Pradesh records 56 new coronavirus cases, including nine security personnel and a healthcare worker, pushing the tally to 15,868 in the state, PTI reports.

12.41 pm: Kejriwal thanks the central government for providing 750 intensive care unit beds to the city immediately, reports ANI. “All government agencies have doubled their efforts to control covid-19 but it can’t be done till people take precautions,” he adds. “I appeal all to wear masks and follow social distancing.”

12.40 pm: The Delhi government has also sent a proposal to the Centre, saying that if required, the city can shut down markets areas that are turning into coronavirus hotspots because norms are not being followed.

12.39 pm: Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal says the Delhi government has sent proposal to Lieutenant Governor Anil Baijal to consider allowing only 50 people to attend wedding functions against the earlier limit of 200.

11.13 am: US President-elect Joe Biden on Monday warned that more coronavirus deaths will take place, if incumbent President Donald Trump does not cooperate in transition, The Washington Post reports.

“More people may die if we don’t coordinate,” he said. Biden warned of a “very dark winter” where “things are going to get much tougher before they get easier.”

11.09 am: Top US infectious diseases official Anthony Fauci says the results of Moderna’s Covid-19 vaccine are “stunningly impressive”, AFP reports. “I had said, and I must admit, that I would have been satisfied with 70, or at the most 75 percent efficacy,” he tells the news agency.

Also read: Moderna’s Covid-19 vaccine shows 94.5% efficacy against virus, says company

11.06 am: Jain adds that the positivity rate in Delhi has fallen below 13% from 15.33% last week. “Though we’re in the third wave, the peak is now over,” he says. “From here, we’ll definitely see a downtrend.”

The Delhi health minister says that 16,500 beds have been reserved for coronavirus patients and now nearly 8,000 beds are available.

11.03 am: Delhi Health Minister Satyendar Jain says more cases are being reported in the Capital because people from other places are getting their tests done here, ANI reports. “There are many patients who are from outside but they get tests conducted here using Delhi address,” he says. “We can’t refuse anyone for tests. So, that results in an increase in numbers. Almost 25-30% outsiders are getting their tests done in Delhi.”

9.31 am: India records 29,163 new coronavirus cases – the lowest in over four months – taking the country’s total to 88,45,127, data from the health ministry showed. The toll rises to 1,30,519 with 449 more deaths. The number of active cases stand at 4,53,401. As many as 82,90,370 people have recovered from the disease so far.

8.53 am: The Winter Session of Parliament is likely to be adjourned, reports NDTV. An unidentified minister tells the news channel that there was no urgency to hold a session. The Parliament is expected to be convened in the last week of January ahead of the Union Budget on February 1.

Also read

Parliament: Monsoon Session ends a week ahead of schedule due to Covid-19

8.50 am: Bharat Biotech says it has begun the phase 3 clinical trials of its coronavirus vaccine candidate, Covaxin. “The Phase III trials will involve 26,000 volunteers across India, conducted in partnership with ICMR,” Bharat Biotech adds. “It is the largest clinical trial conducted for a Covid-19 vaccine in India. This is India’s first phase 3 efficacy study for a Covid-19 vaccine, and the largest phase III efficacy trial ever conducted in India.”

8.45 am: The World Health Organization is investigating a possible cluster after five staff members tested positive last week, reports Reuters. “To my knowledge the cluster being investigated is the first evidence of potential transmission on the site of WHO, but we can’t completely protect ourselves from our own social and other engagements with family and school and so many other things,” adds Mike Ryan, WHO’s top emergency expert.

8.42 am: Below is Manipur’s tally till Tuesday morning.

8.40 am: Here are the top updates from Monday

• India recorded 30,548 new coronavirus cases, taking the country’s total to 88,45,127 on Monday, data from the health ministry showed. The toll rose to 1,30,070 with 435 more deaths. The number of active cases stood at 4,65,478. As many as 82,49,579 people have recovered from the disease so far.
• Maharashtra on Monday registered 2,525 Covid-19 cases, taking the tally in the state to 17,49,777. The toll climbed by 60 to 46,304. This is the lowest daily case count in the state in more than five months.
• Preliminary data from biotechnology company Moderna showed that its Covid-19 vaccine candidate is nearly 95% effective. The company said they were planning to apply for approval to use the vaccine in the next few weeks.
• World Health Organization Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus on Monday said that a coronavirus vaccine alone would not end the pandemic. Continued surveillance, testing and quarantining would be needed to effectively control the crisis, he said.
• The Ministry of Home Affairs on Monday constituted multi-disciplinary teams to visit all private hospitals in Delhi to check the status of compliance issued by the health ministry for testing and treating Covid-19 patients and also to contain the spread of the infections in the Capital. The home affairs ministry added that the teams will start their visit immediately and submit their report within two days.  
• Delhi Health Minister Satyendar Jain on Monday said that the government will not impose a lockdown in the Capital, even as coronavirus cases continue to rise sharply. He added that the third wave of the coronavirus in Delhi had passed its peak.  
• The Jharkhand government on Monday ordered a ban on Chhath Puja celebrations in water bodies, in view of the coronavirus crisis. The government said it issued the order because it would have been impossible to maintain distance while performing the rituals.   
• Globally, the coronavirus has infected more than 5.43 crore people and killed more than 13 lakh, according to the Johns Hopkins University.