Family members of people who committed suicide within 30 days of being diagnosed with COVID-19 will be entitled to Rs 50,000 ex-gratia assistance as per the guidelines, the Centre told the Supreme Court on Thursday.
Under the nationwide mega vaccination drive launched on January 16, a total of 4,319 (53 per cent) health workers against a target of 8,117, were administered the shots at 81 centres across the city on day one.
"Pregnancy doesn't increase the risk of acquiring SARS-COV-2 infection but appears to worsen the clinical course as compared to non-pregnant women'
The famous Lord Ayyappa temple in Sabarimala, opened for the annual Mandala-Makaravilakku pilgrimage season, is all set to receive more pilgrims now with the Kerala government deciding to allow more devotees for darshan by adhering to Covid-19 protocols.
As many as 29,557 COVID-19 patients have recuperated in the past 24 hours.
Singh had taken the two doses of the COVID-19 vaccine on March 4 and April 3.
Amid an uptick in daily cases of COVID-19 in Delhi and the positivity rate going beyond two per cent, there has been a rise of nearly 48 per cent in the number of home isolation cases in the last one week, according to official data.
Tope also admitted that the "chalta hai" (laidback) attitude had creeped in after the government flattened the infection curve.
According to health ministry officials, over 92 per cent of the adult population have received at least one dose while over 68 per cent have been fully vaccinated.
The "COVID Vaccination Amrit Mahotsav" to provide free precaution doses of the vaccines to everyone aged 18 years and above at government vaccination centres commenced on Friday.
A June 11 survey by cLocalCircles across 299 districts puts overall vaccine hesitancy levels at 18 per cent, with 11 per cent of the respondents saying they were not convinced if the currently available vaccines would protect them against the new strains; and 5 per cent said they do not plan to take the vaccine at all.
Results of an interim study recently published in The Lancet showed that two doses of Covaxin, also known as BBV152, had 77.8 per cent efficacy against symptomatic disease and present no serious safety concerns.
The daily rise in new coronavirus infections has been below 30,000 for 36 straight days and less than 50,000 daily new cases have been reported for 125 consecutive days now.
The Centre on Saturday directed the states and UTs that no fresh registrations of healthcare and frontline workers will be allowed since some ineligible beneficiaries were getting their names enlisted for vaccination against COVID-19, under this category, in violation of rules.
The daily positivity rate was recorded as 0.20 per cent and the weekly positivity rate was recorded as 0.25 per cent, according to the ministry.
The state's economic health is in focus as it has consistently breached the fiscal deficit in eight of the last 10 years since Telangana's formation.
NITI Aayog's attempt to bust coronavirus myths provokes a virtual storm of controversy.
Even when China's widely-publicised exchange with the World Health Organisation (WHO) in response to the queries over the reports of surging cases of mycoplasma pneumonia and influenza flu triggered the worldwide alert, including in India, China said the spike in respiratory diseases was due to an 'immunity gap'.
The Centre told the apex court that it has fast tracked the emergency approvals for foreign produced COVID-19 vaccines that have been granted approval in other countries
The Kerala Assembly on Wednesday unanimously passed a resolution demanding that the Centre provide COVID-19 vaccines free of cost to all states, even as the ruling and opposition members clashed over the COVID-19 fatality numbers in the state.
According to the advance visibility provided by the Centre to states and Union territories, a total of 5.86 crore Covid vaccine doses will be provided free of cost to them from May 1 to June 15, the Union health ministry said on Wednesday.
More than 75 per cent of those who succumbed to the novel coronavirus infection in the current wave in Delhi were unvaccinated, health minister Satyendra Jain said on Friday.
The active cases have further reduced to 31,29,878, comprising 12.14 per cent of the total infections, while the national COVID-19 recovery rate has improved to 86.74 per cent, the data updated at 8 am showed.
While the infection has been mild in most reported cases, those below two years of age are showing signs of acute infection.
The urgent need to address a large number of beneficiaries waiting for second dose of vaccine was stressed in a meeting held by Union Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan and Dr R S Sharma, the Chairman of Empowered Group on Technology and Data Management to Combat COVID-19, with state officials to review the status of COVID-19 vaccination on Tuesday.
The death toll due to the disease climbed to 3,25,972 in the country with 3,460 fatalities being recorded in a span of 24 hours, the data updated at 8 am showed.
Asserting repeatedly that the second wave of the pandemic is not over, the government said that though the situation is plateauing, the country is still reporting as high as 20,000-odd new infections every day.
Delhi Health Minister Satyendra Jain said coronavirus cases have stabilised in the national capital and there is a possibility of the infections declining soon. In Mumbai, Mayor Kishori Pednekar also said the numbers of COVID-19 cases and its fast spreading variant Omircon were slowing down.
The Centre had earlier the apex court that the ex-gratia compensation of Rs 4 lakh cannot be paid to the families of those who have died of COVID-19 as the finances of state governments and the Centre are under severe strain.
The death toll has climbed to 4,65,082 with 459 daily fatalities, according to the data updated at 8 am.
The death toll climbed to 4,69,724 with 477 fresh fatalities including, 403 from Kerala, according to the data updated at 8 am.
With 8,439 more people testing positive for COVID-19 in a day, India's infection tally rose to 3,46,56,822 on Wednesday, while the count of active cases declined to 93,733, the lowest in 555 days, according to the Union Health Ministry data.
The number of active cases remained below 5 lakh for the fifth consecutive day.
On when vaccination for children could start as Zydus Cadila's Covid vaccine has been granted emergency use authorisation for those 12-year-old and above, he said children were not being inoculated against COVID-19 on a large scale anywhere in the world though it has been initiated in some countries in a limited manner.
The active cases comprise 0.11 per cent of the total infections, while the national COVID-19 recovery rate further improved to 98.69 per cent, the ministry said.
The infected students are studying in classes 8, 9 and 10, and they were tested for COVID-19 after a majority of them exhibited symptoms of cold and cough, she said, adding that the district administration and health authorities have been informed about it.
The Union health ministry has directed states to identify all left-out people and ensure everyone gets their Covid jab through initiatives such as workplace vaccination, as part of the government's "Har Ghar Dastak" campaign. Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya held a review meeting on vaccination progress with Manipur, Meghalaya, Nagaland and Puducherry on Monday. In a tweet, the minister said, "Spoke about augmenting Govt's #HarGharDastak vaccine campaign. Requested help from religious leaders, NGOs & political groups to speed-up vaccination coverage." Health secretary Rajesh Bhushan has asked state officials that workplace vaccination should be organised for targeting people due for their doses.
The death toll climbed to 4,62,690 with 501 fresh fatalities, including 419 from Kerala, according to the data updated at 8 am.
The death toll climbed to 4,62,189 with 340 fresh fatalities, according to the data updated at 8 am.
A total of 5,15,385 COVID-19 patients have recovered so far with 19,870 patients having been cured and discharged in the last 24 hours till 8 am.