Though the apex court opined that 'cost of the treatment should not be higher at the present time', it also said that court is not equipped to either regulate cost of treatment or say what should be the best model of treatment for patients infected with coronavirus.
Speaking to reporters, Raut said, "A special Parliament session should be held. I am demanding this because I have been holding discussons with several prominent leaders since yesterday over the COVID-19 situation in various states. All the leaders accepted that the situation in their states is tense and is going out of control. Only pyres are burning everywhere. There is no space left in cemeteries. It's nothing but total chaos."
On the basis of feedback from the teams, the ministry has written to the states highlighting the areas of concern, including sub-optimal containment operations and contact tracing, skewed testing and shortage of health workers. Authorities need to work in these areas, it said.
The Indian Medical Association states that cases are likely to rise further before coming down in Kerala as about 50 per cent of its population is still susceptible to the virus.
The health system is trying to ensure that it isn't caught by surprise -- the way it was last time. So, hectic preparations are on.
India logged 6,990 new coronavirus infections, the lowest in 551 days, taking the country's total tally of COVID-19 cases to 3,45,87,822, while the active cases have declined to 1,00,543, the lowest in 546 days, according to the Union health ministry data updated on Tuesday.
The Union health ministry said the emerging scenario calls for immediate measures by states and UTs to ensure optimal availability of medical oxygen at all health facilities.
The Indian Council of Medical Research will start national-level sero surveys to assess the spread of Covid-19 and all states/Union territories should also be encouraged to conduct them so that information from all geographies can be collected, the Union health ministry said on Friday.
The Olympics postponement must have hit some athletes hard, particularly those who looked at Tokyo as their swansong. But athletes must prioritise their health and family's well-being over competing at the Tokyo Olympics
The active cases comprise 1.18 per cent of the total infections, while the national COVID-19 recovery rate was recorded at 97.48 per cent, the ministry said.
The number of people who have recuperated from the disease surged to 1,07,75,169
The weekly positivity rate has declined to 8.21 per cent. The active cases have reduced to 17,93,645 comprising 6.34 er cent of the total infections, while the national COVID-19 recovery rate has improved to 92.48 per cent.
The Centre stressed that the next three weeks will be critical for the country reeling from the worst health crisis as it announced a series of measures to shore up medical infrastructure and supplies and scale up vaccination.
The total recoveries have surged to 58,27,704 while there are 9,02,425 active cases of coronavirus infection in the country.
Stating that the fight against COVID-19 is at the final stage, Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya on Thursday cautioned against letting the guard down before it is completely over and requested states to enhance the vaccination coverage and motivate the over 12 crore beneficiaries who are due for their second dose to take it.
The first COVID-19 vaccine shots in India were given on Saturday to nearly two lakh frontline healthcare and sanitary workers as Prime Minister Narendra Modi rolled out the world's largest inoculation drive against the pandemic that has caused 1,52,093 deaths and upended millions of lives in the country.
There has been a 4.36 per cent increase in Omicron cases since Thursday, the ministry said.
The number of people who have recuperated from the disease surged to 98,07,569 pushing the national recovery rate to 95.92 per cent, while the COVID-19 case fatality rate stands at 1.45 per cent.
Chairperson of the COVID Task Force for All India Institute of Medical Sciences, Dr Naveet Wig on Thursday said that the COVID-19 crisis is 'a dynamic situation' and to prevent a third wave of the pandemic, there is a need to keep changing strategies.
The death toll from the pandemic has climbed to 5,14,878 with 289 fatalities being reported in a span of 24 hours, according to the data updated at 8 am.
A coronavirus positive woman allegedly managed to give the slip to authorities in New Delhi after her arrival from London and reached Andhra Pradesh by train only to be picked up by authorities and admitted to a hospital.
India added 8,954 new coronavirus infections taking the total tally of COVID-19 cases to 3,45,96,776, while the active cases were recorded at less than a lakh after 547 days, according to the Union Health Ministry data updated on Wednesday.
Expressing concern over the COVID-19 situation, the chief minister urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to widen the vaccination ambit to cover those younger than 60 as the mutant has been found to be infecting young people more, an official statement quoting him said.
The government is likely to soon reduce the gap between the second dose of Covid-19 vaccine and the precaution dose from the current nine months to six months, official sources said on Wednesday.
Proactive measures adopted by BMC reduced COVID-19 growth rate to 4.3 per cent in May 2020 & further to 1.02 per cent in June. These measures also ensured an improved case doubling time to 43 days in May 2020 and 78 days in June 2020.
The daily positivity rate was recorded 3.24 per cent. It has been less than 5 per cent for 11 consecutive days, the ministry said, adding the weekly positivity rate has declined to 3.80 per cent.
The death toll climbed to 4,74,111 after 159 fresh fatalities were reported, the data updated by the Union Health Ministry at 8 am showed.
Only 30 ICU beds for COVID patients were available in hospitals across Delhi at 10 pm, according to government data.
The next phase of the COVID-19 vaccination drive for people above 60 years and those aged 45 and above with comorbidities will begin from March 1 and registration on the Co-WIN2.0 portal will open at 9 am on Monday.
Vardhan noted that COVID-19 infection among those vaccinated would be very mild and not progress to an advanced stage.
Modi gave directions to officials during a high-level meeting to review the status of COVID-19 and Omicron, the new variant of concern (VOC), and said "we should be 'satark' (vigilant) and 'saavdhan' (cautious)".
The governor had earlier conveyed to Deshmukh his concern over the manner in which Goswami was arrested, the statement said.
The ministry, however, said it could not be sufficiently established yet if these variants were behind the recent spike in COVID-19 cases in some states.
A number of European countries have banned flights from the UK as the British government warned that the potent new strain of the virus was "out of control" and imposed a stringent new stay-at-home lockdown from Sunday.
The death toll climbed to 4,46,918 with 260 daily fatalities, according to the data updated at 8 am.
The exercise will be carried out jointly by the National Centre for Disease Control and the Delhi government and will be held till July 10.
The number of people who have recuperated from the disease surged to 2,75,04,126, while the case fatality rate has increased to 1.22 per cent, the data stated.
In his remarks in New Delhi at an all-party meeting held virtually, Modi said healthcare workers involved in treating COVID-19 patients, frontline workers, who include police personnel and municipal staff, and old people suffering from serious conditions would be inoculated on priority.
Few finance ministers announce any taxation measure that could upset the stock market. Ms Sitharaman decided to take that risk, observes A K Bhattacharya.
Kate's last public event was a visit to Wimbledon on Friday in her role as patron of the All England Lawn Tennis Club and a keen tennis fan.
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