Tamil Nadu on Friday extended its Covid-19 lockdown till June 21, but allowed several relaxations. State-run liquor shops can open in 27 districts between 10 am and 5 pm. In these districts, salons and spas will also be allowed to open from June 14 with 50% capacity.
The United Kingdom government said that the Delta variant of of the coronavirus is 60% more transmissible than the strain that was found in the country’s Kent county.
India on Friday reported 91,702 new coronavirus cases over the last 24 hours, taking its overall caseload to 2,92,74,823 since the pandemic broke out in January 2020. For the fourth consecutive day, the country recorded less than 1 lakh cases. Deaths rose by 3,403 to 3,63,079.
Globally, the coronavirus disease has infected over 17.40 crore people and killed more than 37.49 lakh since the pandemic broke out in December 2019, according to Johns Hopkins University.
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These are the helpline numbers for the states and Union Territories.
Here are the day’s updates:
10.38 pm: Punjab reports 1,230 new Covid-19 cases, 59 more deaths, reports PTI.
10.27 pm: French President Emmanuel Macron has called for an ease on the supply of raw materials for the production of Covid-19 shots to India and some other countries, saying such a step was necessary to ramp up manufacturing for their own requirement as well to help the African region, reports PTI.
10.15 pm: The Madras High Court has noted concerns on irregularities in the recording of Covid-19 deaths across the country, reports Live Law.
10 pm: The Covid-19 positivity rate in Karnataka, which had risen to around 40% in May, has fallen to 4.86%, says Health Minister Dr K Sudhakar.
8.29 pm: Mumbai registers 696 new coronavirus cases on Friday, taking its total count of infections since the outbreak of the pandemic last year to 7,15,146. The city’s toll rises by 24 to 15,146.
8.20 pm: Tamil Nadu extends its lockdown till June 21, but allows several relaxations, ANI reports.
State-run liquor shops can open in 27 districts between 10 am and 5 pm. In these districts, which include Chennai too, salons and spas will be allowed to open from June 14 with 50% capacity. Government parks can open from 6am to 9pm.
8.12 pm: Top United States infectious diseases expert Dr Anthony Fauci tells NDTV that extending the gap between vaccine doses could render people vulnerable to Covid-19 variants.
“The ideal interval between doses for mRNA vaccines is three weeks for the Pfizer and four for the Moderna,” he adds. “We’ve seen that in the UK [United Kingdom], where they extended that interval, in that period you can get infected by the variants. So we recommend staying on schedule.”
6.48 pm: Haryana Health Minister Anil Vij says the government will conduct a serosurvey in the state from June 15, including in children aged above six years to identify the percentage of people with antibodies.
6.43 pm: Delhi reports 238 new cases and 24 deaths in the last 24 hours, reports ANI. Active cases in the national Capital stands at 3,922.
6.41 pm: Mumbai records 696 new cases of coronavirus and 24 deaths in the last 24 hours, reports ANI.
5.37 pm: The United Kingdom says it will donate 100 million surplus Covid-19 vaccine shots to the world within the next year, reports PTI.
5.31 pm: NITI Aayog (Health) member Dr VK Paul reacts to the United States Food and Drug Administration’s decision to reject emergency use approval for India-made Covaxin.
“Every country’s regulatory system might have some things in common with others and some things different,” he says. “We respect it. Scientific framework is same but its nuancing is as per context.”
5.06 pm: The United Kingdom government says that the new Delta variant of the coronavirus is 60% more transmissible than the strain that was found in Kent, reports AFP.
3.18 pm: Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia accuses the Centre of “abusing” some state governments instead of supporting them, reports PTI. Sisodia calls the BJP the “Bharatiya Jhagda Party” after it objected to the Delhi government’s doorstep ration delivery scheme.
3.09 pm: The Centre advises vaccinators to mark the date and time of opening each vial of the Covid-19 vaccine and discard them within 4 hours after opening, reports ANI.
3 pm: The number of mucormycosis, or “black fungus”, cases have increased by 150% in the last three weeks, reports NDTV. There are 31,216 cases of the fungal infection and 2,109 related deaths.
2.53 pm: Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar says that essential and non-essential shops will remain open till 7 pm in Pune city from June 14 onward, reported The Indian Express. Restaurants, malls and libraries in Pune Municipal Corporation areas will also see relaxations in timings.
However, Pawar said that the relaxations would come into place if the positivity rate falls below 5%. by Sunday. It is currently 5%.
12.04 pm: A hotel that is reportedly being used by members of Germany’s delegation to the G7 summit in England has temporarily closed after staff members tested positive for Covid-19, its owners tell Reuters.
12.02 pm: The Uttarakhand government has ordered an inquiry against all private labs conducting rapid antigen tests after discrepancies were found in testing during Mahakumbh, reports ANI.
11.55 am: Arunachal Pradesh logs 245 fresh infections and five more fatalities.
11.54 am: Jharkhand reports 293 new cases and five deaths.
10.42 am: The Pedn Olva hotel in St Ives in England says it has closed the hotel after members of staff tested positive for Covid-19, reports Reuters. The hotel was being used by members of Germany’s delegation to a Group of Seven summit in England.
10.34 am: United States President Joe Biden says his country has contributed more than any other to COVAX, a collective global effort that is delivering Covid-19 vaccines across the world, reports ANI. “We’ve supported [vaccine] manufacturing efforts abroad through our partnerships with Japan, India & Australia – known as Quad,” he adds.
10.31 am: The West Bengal government directs officials to follow Covid-19 vaccination guidelines issued by the Centre with regard to students going abroad for study and sportspersons participating in the Tokyo Summer Olympics, reported The Indian Express.
10.25 am: People from rural areas of Katihar in Bihar express reluctance to take Covid-19 vaccine jabs due to lack of awareness, reports ANI.
“There is hesitancy among people regarding the vaccine,” said a local resident in Budhel area of the district. “We have heard that some people died after taking jabs.”
9.20 am: India reports 91,702 new coronavirus cases and 3,403 deaths over the last 24 hours. With this, the country’s tally rises to 2,92,74,823 since the pandemic broke out in January 2020. For the fourth consecutive day, India records less than 1 lakh cases. The toll rises to 3,63,079.
9.19 am: Brazil President Jair Bolsonaro says the country’s health minister is preparing a measure to allow those who have been vaccinated against the coronavirus or previously infected to not wear face masks, reports Reuters.
9.15 am: The Group of Seven nations or G7 leaders are expected to commit to sharing at least 1 billion coronavirus vaccines with the world, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has announced, reports AP. Half of the doses will be coming from the United States and 100 million from the United Kingdom.
9.10 am: The United States Food and Drug Administration has rejected Bharat Biotech’s proposal for emergency use authorisation of its coronavirus vaccine in the country, Covaxin, reports The Mint.
Ocugen Inc, the company co-developing Covaxin for the US market, says it would now aim to file for a full approval of the shot. The company also says that the drug regulator requested more information and data for the full approval, according to Reuters.
“While this will extend our timelines, we are committed to bringing Covaxin to the US,” says Ocugen Chief Executive Officer Dr Shankar Musunuri.
A quick look at the developments from Thursday:
- India reported a record rise in Covid-19 deaths as the toll rose by 6,148 to 3,59,676 since the pandemic broke out in January 2020. The rise came after as many as 3,951 backlog fatalities were added to Bihar’s toll. For the third consecutive day, India recorded less than 1 lakh cases. With 94,052 new infections, the country now has total 2,91,83,121 cases.
- Union Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan said low vaccination coverage among the healthcare and frontline workers, especially for the second dose, was a cause of “serious concern”. In a meeting with states and Union Territories, he asked officials to expedite the second dose coverage among priority groups. Bhushan also said that the participation of private sector in the vaccination drive was “less than adequate”.
- The Centre said that Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh wasted 33.95% and 15.79% of their Covid-19 vaccine doses in May – the highest among the states. On the other hand, Kerala and West Bengal recorded negative vaccine wastage at -6.3% and -5.4%, respectively.
- In a detailed guideline for management of the coronavirus disease in children, the health ministry advised to avoid use of the remdesivir drug. The guideline also said that steroids should be used to treat only moderately severe and critically ill patients who are hospitalised.
- Congress leader Rahul Gandhi demanded that every person walking into the Covid-19 vaccination centres should get a jab, saying that online registration was not enough for the inoculation drive. Soon after, Union minister Smriti Irani hit back at the Congress leader, pointing out that the central government has already given permission to states to allow walk-in registration for the vaccination programme.