When asked about the bodies being taken in a garbage van for cremation, the CMHO said that the Nagar Panchayat was responsible for making the arrangements.
In a letter to states and UTs, Union Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan said such an exercise will enable timely detection of newer variants, if any, circulating in the country and will facilitate undertaking of requisite public health measures.
The oxygen shortage was inevitable to an extent given the tsunami of Covid cases, but the problem is the lack of even basic preparation by both the Centre and states, notes Shyamal Majumdar.
Union Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan said upcoming festivals and mass congregations in different parts of the country may potentially facilitate transmission of infectious diseases, including COVID-19.
India's total number of active COVID-19 cases has reached 1,64,511, which comprises 1.48 per cent of the country's total infections, the Union health ministry said on Sunday highlighting six states that have shown a surge in new cases in a span of 24 hours.
The Centre has asked states and union territories witnessing surge in new COVID-19 cases and high active caseload to continue with the strategy of 'test, track and treat' that had yielded rich dividends at the height of the pandemic and accelerate vaccination for priority population groups in districts reporting higher infections on mission mode.
It said the actual caseload of COVID-19 cases in the country as on date is 3,42,756, while more than 6.35 lakhs patients have recuperated from the disease.
The Sports Authority of India (SAI) on Monday said it has decided to close its 67 training centres across the country due to rising COVID-19 cases but national camps for elite athletes will continue in bio-bubbles.
Larger hospitals are not worried about a spike in cases, as they are now accustomed to converting ICUs and general wards into negative pressure zones or isolation rooms. For smaller hospitals, the task is tedious.
It is important to note that neither of the patients have any history of international travel, the ministry underlined.
Addressing a press briefing, Union Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan said Zydus Cadila, Sputnik V, Biological E and Gennova are other vaccines also in the pipeline which are in advanced clinical trials in India.
Union Health Secretary said that priority groups have been decided who are vulnerable to mortality.
The next Census' findings will help identify the extent of India's ageing population and vulnerability levels.
The Centre on Friday deputed multi-disciplinary teams to Kerala, Arunachal Pradesh, Tripura, Odisha, Chhattisgarh and Manipur in view of the high number of COVID-19 cases being reported by these states.
Even though the number of cases is rising and the JN.1 sub-variant has been detected in the country, there is no cause of immediate concern as 92 per cent of those infected are opting for home-based treatment, indicating mild illness, they said.
Over the last four days, the Indian arm of US pharmaceutical giant Pfizer, Pune-based Serum Institute of India and Hyderabad-based pharmaceutical firm Bharat Biotech have applied to the Drugs Controller General of India seeking emergency use authorisation for their COVID-19 vaccines.
Highlighting that the nation is close to administering a billion COVID-19 vaccine doses, the Centre has urged states and Union Territories to focus on increasing the coverage of the second dose in light of adequate availability of shots.
The entire wing where the OSD office is located is being sanitised and several staffers, including the OSD, is learnt to have been advised self-quarantine.
'A government whose policies are focused around making the life of ordinary citizens, specially the most deprived sections, richer; a government that prioritises education, health and transport, that doesn't treat its citizens as subjects who must come to it for everything, is rare in our country.' 'When such a government is thrown out, one is left stunned,' notes Jyoti Punwani.
No vaccination against Covid-19 will be held in Mumbai for the next three days as the existing stock of doses has been exhausted, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) said on Thursday evening.
India has flattened its Covid-19 graph and 146 districts have reported no new case of the viral disease in the last seven days, 18 in 14 days, six in 21 days and 21 districts in the last 28 days, Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan said on Thursday.
The Centre has deputed multi-disciplinary teams to states witnessing a surge in COVID-19 cases, including Maharashtra, Kerala, Gujarat, Punjab, Karnataka and Jammu and Kashmir, to support them in effectively tackling the pandemic.
Wang Guangfa, a respiratory expert from Peking University First Hospital, warned that Beijing may experience a spike in severe COVID-19 cases over the next fortnight.
Of the fresh cases, nine were caused by JN.1, increasing the number of infections tied to the new sub-variant in the state to 10, it said.
In the wake of Omicron cases being detected in a few places in the country, the Union health ministry on Wednesday wrote to states and union territories, stating that patients of the new coronavirus variant have to be treated in designated COVID facilities with separate isolation area.
The government's focus is on urban areas, so rural areas are neglected and the COVID situation in Bihar's villages -- neither the positive cases nor the deaths -- are reported, notes M I Khan.
The Centre on Thursday advised states slated to hold assembly polls in the next few months to ramp up COVID vaccination exponentially to protect the vulnerable population given the steady rise in cases of the Omicron variant of coronavirus in India.
Director-General of World Health Organisation (WHO) Dr Tedros Ghebreyesus on Friday said though COVID-19 is no longer a health emergency for the world, it is still a 'global health threat' and a new variant of coronavirus is already under the scanner.
According to a new set of guidelines issued on Monday, the patient should be clinically assigned as a very mild case or pre-symptomatic case by the treating medical officer.
SpiceHealth had on January 6 and January 7 tested 469 passengers who arrived on two charter flights from Italian capital Rome and found 298 of them to be COVID-19-positive.
There could be a paucity of isolation and ICU beds, and ventilators, according to a study.
Ten states and Union Territories have so far detected the presence of the JN.1 sub-variant of the virus.
He said though there is a spike in new cases, the situation is under control as not many people are developing severe disease or require hospitalisation.
'Pandemic has triggered interest and awareness among the people about the need for healthcare.'
The teams will visit the districts reporting high number of COVID cases and support the state's efforts towards strengthening containment, surveillance, testing, infection prevention and control measures, and efficient clinical management of positive cases.
Symptoms such as common cold, mild body ache and fatigue have emerged among patients and people tend to postpone their visit to a doctor when they notice these signs
The accused, a junior health inspector at a primary health centre, was arrested on Monday and a case under Indian Penal Code Section 376 (rape) registered against him, police said.
NITI Aayog Member (Health) Dr V K Paul said the pandemic situation in the country worsened with a sharp rise in cases and a large part of the population is still susceptible to the virus.
Tahawwur Rana, accused in the 2008 Mumbai terror attacks, has been extradited to India after the US Supreme Court denied his last-ditch effort to avoid being sent back. Rana, a close associate of David Coleman Headley, another key conspirator in the attacks, was expected to be extradited "shortly" after his legal appeals failed. This decision comes after a multi-agency team from India traveled to the US to complete all necessary paperwork and legalities with the US authorities. Rana's extradition marks a significant development in the pursuit of justice for the victims of the Mumbai attacks.
'Each state is unique, but when it comes to finance, the fundamentals cannot be different.'
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