Coronavirus: West Bengal forms expert panel to monitor evolving pandemic situation

10.09 pm: Pimpri Chinchwad Municipal Corporation in Maharashtra says that Covid-19 vaccination will take place in the civic body area on Tuesday, reports ANI.

10.07 pm: Karnataka administered over 2 crore Covid-19 vaccine doses, says Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa. “Our aim is to vaccinate every eligible citizen by the end of this year and we are very much on course to accomplish it,” he adds.

10.01 pm: Here are the daily Covid-19 updates of a few states:

• Karnataka: 3,709 new cases, 8,111 recoveries and 139 deaths
• Uttarakhand: 171 new cases, 221 recoveries and eight deaths 
• Kerala: 12,617 new cases, 11,730 recoveries and 141 deaths
• Himachal Pradesh: 188 new cases, 314 recoveries and five deaths
• Telangana: 1,175 new cases, 1,771 recoveries and 10 deaths 

9.50 pm: The West Bengal government forms a 10-member expert committee to supervise and monitor the coronavirus situation and suggest means for effective management of the third wave, reports ANI.

9.45 pm: Maharashtra records 8,473 new cases in the last 24 hours, pushing the infection tally to 5,987,521, reports the Hindustan Times. This is 2,203 more than the state’s Covid-19 case count on Monday. The toll climbs by 188 to 1,18,795.

9.38 pm: The Union health ministry has categorised the Delta plus variant of the coronavirus as a “variant of concern”. In a statement, the ministry says it has advised Maharashtra, Kerala and Madhya Pradesh against the variant. Cases of the Delta plus variant have been reported in these states.

9.32 pm: Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray directs the school education department in the state to evaluate resuming 10 and 12 classes in villages that have been free of the coronavirus for the past few months and are adhering to strict Covid-19 protocols, reports ANI, citing the chief minister’s office.

7.45 pm: Delhi registers 134 new coronavirus cases, eight deaths, reports PTI, citing the city’s health department bulletin. The Capital’s overall case count stands at 14,32,778 and fatalities at 24,933.

7.43 pm: Mumbai reports 570 new coronavirus infections and 10 fatalities, data from the city’s civic body Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation shows, according to PTI. The tally of cases goes up to 7,22,461 and toll to 15,315.

6.35 pm: Pfizer Chief Executive Officer Albert Bourla says the company is in the final stages to get approval for its coronavirus vaccine in India, reports ANI. “I hope very soon we will finalize an agreement with the government,” he adds.

5.15 pm: Union Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan says that the Delta Plus variant cases have been found in nine countries – United States, United Kingdom, Portugal, Switzerland, Japan, Poland, Nepal, China and Russia. He says that there are 22 such cases in India.

Bhushan adds that the Delta variant is found in 80 countries, including India.

4.59 pm: VK Paul says that we can keep ourselves protected to avoid the next wave but the aspect of transmissibility is not under our control. He adds that this is because we need to collectively keep ourselves protected and less susceptible.

4.52 pm: The coronavirus situation is improving, says VK Paul. The number of districts with more than 100 cases has come down from 531 to 135, he says, adding that the districts where the positivity is below 5% has increased to 533.

4.49 pm: VK Paul says that 92% of the vaccines on Monday took place in government centres. He adds that 46% of those who received shots a day ago were women.

4.45 pm: The Centre has emphasised the coverage of vaccine drive in rural areas, says NITI Aayog member VK Paul. He adds that 63.7% of the total vaccination on Monday was in rural areas and the remaining un urban regions.

4.43 pm: India achieved a historic milestone of 88.09 lakh Covid-19 vaccine doses administered in a single day on June 21, says Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan.

4.42 pm: Watch Union health ministry briefing on Covid-19

4.38 pm: Odisha registers 2,957 new Covid-19 cases, the lowest single-day infection tally in the last two months, reports News18. With this, the overall case count increases to to 8,83,490. Thirty-eight fresh fatalities take the toll to 3,671.

4.35 pm: Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav alleges under-reporting in coronavirus deaths in Uttar Pradesh. “According to information accessed through the Right to Information, it has come to light that the toll in 24 districts of Uttar Pradesh in the nine months of the pandemic till March 31, 2021 is up to 43 times higher than the government figures,” he tweets. “Actually, the BJP government is not hiding the death figures but its face.”

4.33 pm: The Indo-Tibetan Border Police closes its Covid-19 centre in Delhi’s Chhawla area due to no admission of patients in the past few days, reports ANI. The quarantine centre for soldiers will remain active.

4.31 pm: Andhra Pradesh records 4,169 new Covid-19 cases, 8,376 recoveries and 53 deaths, reports ANI.

4.29 pm: The Supreme Court dismisses petitions challenging the decision of the Central Board of Secondary Education and the Council for the Indian School Certificate Examinations to cancel board examinations, reports ANI.

4.18 pm: A 13-member expert committee, set up by the Karnataka government for prevention and management of the third wave of Covid-19, has recommended reopening schools and colleges in a phased manner, reports The Hindu.

“It is recommended to open schools physically to optimise learning, physical health, mental health and nutritional aspects of children,” the 92-page reports says. “Any further delay in school reopening may push children into malnutrition, child labour, child marriage, child trafficking, begging, making their condition worse.”

3.27 pm: Union minister Hardeep Singh Puri criticises Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal for the Capital’s low vaccination numbers on Monday.

3.19 pm: Chhattisgarh health minister the state aims to vaccinate around 2 lakh people daily.

3.14 pm: Pakistan signs an agreement with Pfizer to procure 1.3 crore doses of its coronavirus vaccine, reports Dawn. The jabs will be delivered during 2021.

3.12 pm: The Maharashtra government tells the Bombay High Court that it will finalise a policy on starting door-to-door vaccination drive within a week, reports PTI.

3.11 pm: Puducherry reports 284 new cases, 433 recoveries and 1 death.

1.14 pm: Bombay High Court directs the Maharashtra government and Mumbai’s civic body Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation to form a policy on an “SOS basis” to avoid incidents of frauds or fake vaccination drives, reports PTI.

12.41: Goa Chief Minister Pramod Sawant says the government will consider resuming tourism activities only after first dose of vaccine has been administered to everyone in the state. Sawant expects to achieve the target by July 30, reports ANI.

11.50 am: Madhya Pradesh Health Minister Prabhuram Choudhary says the state has recorded five cases of the Delta plus variant of Covid-19, reports ANI.

“Four out of five people who got the vaccine are healthy,” he adds. “One has died.”

11.47 am: The Modi government has claimed the record number of Covid-19 vaccinations on Monday is a result of the Centre taking back charge of vaccine procurement from the states.

Data, however, shows that the record of 86 lakh vaccinations was enabled by slowing down vaccinations in Bharatiya Janata Party-ruled states in the run-up to Monday.

Read more here: How India created a world record for highest number of vaccinations in a single day

11.45 am: Rahul Gandhi says it is clear that the Modi government’s management of the first and second wave of Covid-19 was disastrous, reports ANI. “...I would even go so far as to say that there might be waves even after the third wave of Covid-19 as the virus is mutating,” he adds.

11.40 am: Congress leader releases a “white paper” to help the Modi government prepare for a third wave of the coronavirus pandemic.

“The whole country knows that a third wave will strike,” he says.

11.30 am: Bharat Biotech has submitted phase 3 trial data for Covaxin to the Drug Controller General of India, NITI Aayog (Health) member VK Paul tells The Economic Times. “Covaxin follow-up studies should be available too in peer-reviewed journals soon,” Paul adds.

The Subject Expert Committee under the drug regulator will meet today to discuss the results.

The indigenously developed vaccine was granted an emergency use authorisation in January – despite there being no phase 3 trial data.

10.13: India administers 86.16 lakh doses of the Covid-19 vaccine on Monday. The health ministry claims this is the highest-ever single day vaccination recorded in the world so far.

10.12 am: The country’s Subject Expert Committee is expected to meet on Tuesday to review the Phase 3 data of Bharat Biotech’s Covid-19 vaccine Covaxin, ANI reports citing unnamed government sources.

10.09 am: British Prime Minister Boris Johnson warns the country of a “rough winter” ahead, reports PTI. He, however, indicates that lockdown in the country will be lifted on July 19.

“You can never exclude that there will be some new disease, some new horror that we simply haven’t budgeted for or accounted for,” says Johnson, when asked about further lockdowns in future.

10.07 am: Face masks will no longer be compulsory in Italy from June 28, AFP reports, citing the country’s health ministry.

10.05 am: Cases of the “Delta plus” variant of the coronavirus have been detected in the three states of Madhya Pradesh, Kerala and Maharashtra, reports the Hindustan Times.

10.01 am: West Bengal Chief Minister says several bodies have floated to the state downstream river Ganga from Uttar Pradesh.

“In Malda, we have spotted quite a few bodies...We performed the last rites of some of them with due respect,” says Banerjee.

Last month, there were several reports of dead bodies, suspected to be of Covid-19 patients being floated in the Ganga or buried on the banks of the river in Uttar Pradesh and Bihar.

9.35 am: India reports 42,640 new coronavirus cases, taking its overall count of infections since the pandemic broke out in January 2020 to 2,99,77,861. Daily cases have dropped below 50,000 for the first time in 91 days, according to NDTV.

The country’s toll rose by 1,167 to 3,89,302.

9.17 am: A total of 16,64,360 Covid-19 tests were conducted in India on Monday, ANI reports, citing Indian Council of Medical Research data.

9.15 am: United States President Joe Biden announces plan for the next tranche of 5.5 crore Covid-19 vaccine doses it will send to countries in need, reports AFP.

Forty one million (4.1 crore) of the doses will be distributed through the United Nations’ Covax initiative, while the remaining 1.4 crore will be shared with countries the US chooses to prioritise.

9.10 am: Two labs accused of conducting fake Covid-19 tests during the Kumbh Mela approach the Uttarakhand High Court seeking to quash a First Information Report against them, reports the Hindustan Times.

9.05 am: Here are the top updates from Monday:

• India reported 53,256 new coronavirus cases, taking its overall count of infections since the pandemic broke out in January 2020 to 2,99,35,221. This was India’s lowest daily rise in cases in 88 days. The country’s toll rose by 1,422 to 3,88,135.
• The Union health ministry said over 80 lakh doses had been administered on the first day of the implementation of the new vaccination guidelines.
• Twenty-four districts in Uttar Pradesh recorded 1,97,000 more deaths between July 2020 and March 2021 than in the corresponding period the previous year, Article 14 reported.
• The Amarnath Yatra has been cancelled for a second consecutive year in view of the coronavirus pandemic.