President of Public Health Foundation of India, Professor K Srinath Reddy said that India may see COVID-19 cases peaking as early as in two months if there are strong public health measures and people take all precautions like wearing face masks and maintaining physical distance.
Videos circulating in China's social media showed clinics in Beijing and some other cities flooded with patients with queues extending onto footpaths with people patiently waiting for their turn in the cold winter.
The Indian SARS-CoV-2 Genomics Consortium is closely tracking the new variant of COVID-19 called B.1.1.529 and its presence has not been detected in the country yet, officials said on Friday.
One of them, a 74-year-old man, died of the H3N2 sub-type while the other victim was infected by Covid-19 as well as the influenza virus, state Health Minister Tanaji Sawant told the assembly on Wednesday.
A bench of Justices D Y Chandrachud and M R Shah took serious note of Maharashtra government's shifting patients lodged in mental health institutes to homes for beggars and asked it to discontinue the practice immediately saying it is counter-productive and runs against the provisions of Mental Health Act.
The Centre has asked Andhra Pradesh, Odisha, Tamil Nadu, West Bengal and Andaman and Nicobar Islands to ensure that health facilities are stocked with essential medicines and supplies to meet any exigencies in the wake of Cyclone Yaas which is expected to make a landfall later this month.
In what appears to be an astonishing revelation, a US-based scientist who worked at a controversial research lab in China's Wuhan, has said that Covid-19 was a "man-made virus" that leaked from the facility.
He further said that stern action will be taken against people who do not wear masks and do not follow social distancing norms in the national capital.
The states and Union territories were also urged not to store, reserve, conserve or create a buffer stock of the COVID-19 vaccines, the Union health ministry said in a statement, a day after the start of the second phase of India's inoculation drive in which the coverage has been expanded to include everyone above 60 and those over 45 with specified co-morbidities.
The Centre has ruled out door-to-door vaccination of people and said the inoculation will be done at identified COVID Vaccination Centres, both government and private, registered on COWIN for 'good, germane and rational reasons'.
A total of 27,920 people have been cured of the disease with 1,685 in the last 24 hours, taking the recovery rate to 34.06 per cent, the ministry said.
As a proactive step, the government has already placed nations, where this VoC has been found, in the category of 'at risk' countries for additional follow-up measures of international travellers coming into lndia from these destinations, he said in a letter dated November 27.
A second wave of Covid driven by the Delta variant engulfed the country in May-June bringing the health system to its knees and leaving people gasping for help.
Eknath Shinde, a former auto-rickshaw driver, has emerged as a key leader in Maharashtra, culminating in his appointment as Deputy Chief Minister. His journey from a Shiv Sena rebel to a dominant figure in the state's politics is a testament to his resilience and political acumen. He gained popularity for his pro-people stance and his contributions to infrastructure projects and social welfare schemes, solidifying his position as a powerful player in the Mahayuti alliance.
Amid rising cases of Covid, the Centre on Friday asked eight states including Uttar Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Maharashtra to maintain a strict watch and take pre-emptive action in any area of concern to control any emerging spread of infection.
The COVID-19 case fatality rate has declined to 1.84 per cent.
Satara, Sangli, Panvel have stopped vaccination while Buldhana has only one day's vaccine doses left in stock, said Maharashtra Health Minister Rajesh Tope.
Speaking at the meeting called by the central government, Modi said India is in a better position than many other countries in terms of the ratio of the population hit by the disease but underlined the need to remain vigilant as he cited the resurgence of the infection in some countries like the UK, sources said.
The active cases comprised 0.03 per cent of the total infections, while the national COVID-19 recovery rate was recorded at 98.75 per cent, the health ministry said.
Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia in a late night tweet said that the direction was issued to withdraw the order to set up a COVID care facility for judges at the Ashoka Hotel.
The daily positivity rate was recorded at 4.44 per cent and the weekly positivity rate at 4.30 per cent, according to the ministry.
Thousands of athletes and staff roamed the Olympic village freely, mingling at cafes and swapping souvenir pins.
Under the new norms, passengers coming from 12 'at risk' countries/regions undergo an RT-PCR test and wait for result at the airport before leaving or taking a connecting flight
"To get a first-hand experience of the quality of food served to children, the (GNIDA) CEO tasted the mid-day meal that was served to the students. He also interacted with the students on matters of their school," a GNIDA official said.
Around 10 lakh people are expected to gather for the festival in the temple town from across the country, and some foreign nations, director of health service Bijay Mohapatra said.
Representatives from seven vaccine makers -- Serum Institute of India, Bharat Biotech, Dr Reddy's Laboratories, Zydus Cadila, Biological E, Gennova Biopharma and Panacea Biotech -- will be participating in the meeting.
This comes amid the rising concerns of the new COVID-19 variant 'Omicron' which is being reported by foreign countries.
Of the 46,164 fresh coronavirus cases recorded in the country in a 24-hour span, 31,445 were in Kerala. Maharashtra has reported 5,031 new cases and 216 fresh fatalities on Wednesday.
A person who returned to Kerala from abroad and was hospitalised after showing signs of monkeypox tested positive for the disease, state Health Minister Veena George said on Thursday.
With the new cases, the active caseload stands at 13,445 which accounts for 0.03 per cent of the country's total positive cases.
A total of 1,226 cases of COVID-19 sub-variant JN.1 have been reported in the country so far with Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh recording the highest number of cases till now, according to the Indian SARS-CoV-2 Genomics Consortium (INSACOG) on Thursday.
Asymptomatic positive patients have been included in the list of mild or pre-symptomatic coronavirus infection cases. However, patients suffering from immune-compromised status (like HIV, transplant recipients, cancer therapy) are not eligible for home isolation.
The active cases comprise 0.05 per cent of the total infections, while the national COVID-19 recovery rate has been recorded at 98.75 per cent, the ministry said.
The first nationwide mock drill was held on January 2 which, the health ministry said, helped to iron out any glitches in the final execution and further refinement of the operational procedures.
The active cases comprise 0.03 per cent of the total infections.
It is certain that the Chinese government was 'under-prepared' as it decided to end its zero-COVID policy abruptly after people held protests across the country, The Hong Kong Post reported.
The rate of doubling of COVID-19 cases has increased to 12.6 days
India logged 16,299 new coronavirus infections taking the total tally of cases to 4,42,06,996 while the active cases declined to 1,25,076, according to the Union health ministry data updated on Thursday.
The national average of COVID-19 tests per day per million population is 865, the ministry said, asserting that the country has demonstrated an exponential increase in the COVID-19 testing infrastructure since January 2020.
The epidemiologist estimates that more than 60 per cent of China and 10 per cent of Earth's population are likely to be infected over the next 90 days with deaths likely in the millions.
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