Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday announced that the central government will provide free coronavirus vaccine to states for inoculation of all above the age of 18 from June 21, and asserted that vaccine supply would be increased significantly in the country in coming days.
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The affected nurse is being treated and is recovering well, junior foreign minister V Muraleedharan said. Meanwhile, China has locked down five cities, including Wuhan, suspending all public transport in an unprecedented move to contain the coronavirus that has infected over 630 people and left 17 others dead.
The triple lock involves a combination of technology and human surveillance and restricting movement of people in three stages.
"Both the number of new patients and that of deaths are highest for a single day so far," an official said. 79 persons tested positive for COVID-19 during the day, taking the number of such cases in the country's financial capital to 775, the civic body said.
As the national capital reported 93 new cases taking the total number of infections to 669, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal held an emergency meeting with senior ministers and top officials of the Delhi government Wednesday evening and took a series of decisions to check the spread of the virus.
Though the government claims there are more beds than needed, the national capital's COVID-19 reality, retold through social and other media, is also about the anguish of sons, daughters, wives and others trying desperately to get medical help for their unwell family members.
'At its peak, COVID-19 in Korea felt like half-disaster, half-disaster movie.'
'The situation has improved because oxygen tankers are now coming.' 'Before this it was chaotic.'
'You cannot easily be stricter than we are. You can put everyone into a complete quarantine, that is a scenario that has been debated in several countries'
While the virus out there meddling big-time with our lives, danger is lurking in our email boxes too.
In a review meeting through video conference with chief ministers and representatives of seven states with a high burden of COVID-19 cases, Modi said having micro containment zones will help states in dealing with the spread of the infection and also allow normal activities to continue.
'We will see a kind of disaster which the country has not seen in the last 100 years.'
Rarely have we seen such intoxication over power, which ignores the cries of those dying, notes Jyoti Punwani.
'Mamata has used minorities only as her vote bank.' 'In her entire election campaign Mamata did not utter a single sentence against the RSS.'
On the COVID-19 tests, the Home Ministry also said from Thursday tests will be done with the new Rapid Antigen method approved by the Indian Council for Medical Research and Delhi will be given priority for these tests. It said 169 testing centres have also been set up across the national capital.
'While the farmers are reeling under a huge debt burden, crop loss due to locust attacks and erratic rainfall, the state is also facing a COVID-19 challenge.' 'In this situation, you have Congress and BJP MLAs trying to outwit each other in a game of thrones'
Addressing a meeting of the Congress Working Committee, Gandhi said it should worry every Indian and her party will have to work hard to repair this damage.
'On January 17, we had our first meeting with the Cabinet secretary.' 'Different secretaries belonging to different departments attended it.' 'It was only two weeks when China had said there is a new disease.' 'So, we gave the quickest response.'
"I practice chess based on what I think is a priority, and what I feel like doing. I also read some chess books -- 'Saying No to Chess Principles' by Evgeny Bareev and 'Life and Games of Mikhail Tal"
'People are just putting the mask below their nose.' 'They are only protecting the mouth, but not the nose.' 'People need to understand that it is the nose which has to be protected.'
In Jaipur, the combination of lopinavir and ritonavir, both second-line HIV drugs, was administered was administered on an elderly Italian couple undergoing treatment for Covid-19 at the SMS Hospital.
'It is a political failure, and not a medical failure.'
In her weekly QnA with Rediff readers, life coach and mental health guru Anu Krishna addresses issues relating to mental health and offers solutions.
'The lockdown was for both: To flatten the curve or more correctly, delay the rapid spread of COVID outbreak, and to create healthcare infrastructure.'
The bench said that there are reports coming that many areas doctors are not being paid. "We saw report that doctors went on strike. In Delhi, some doctors have not been paid for past three months. These are concerns that should have been taken care off. It should not require court intervention."
'Our party cadre does not want her in the party.'
If the precautions are not taken and guidelines are not followed properly, there can be chances of spike in cases, the government said.
A high voter turnout was recorded in West Bengal, Assam Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Puducherry assembly elections on Tuesday. The massive polling exercise following COVID-19 health protocol and involving lakhs of personnel began at 7 am and the last hour from 6 pm to 7 pm was set aside for COVID-19 patients and those under isolation. The counting of votes in the states will be held on May 2.
The Great Indian Kitchen is one of the most powerful films Divya Nair has watched in recent times. One that will unsettle you long after you've watched it. And that's why everyone -- married or single, man or woman -- must watch it.
Companies have activated a comprehensive pandemic response plan with requisite risk mitigation protocols for keeping networks working as telecom is an essential service.
In his second national broadcast in a week on the pandemic raging across much of the world with the number of infections rising in India, Modi made a fervent appeal to the countrymen not to cross the 'lakshman rekha' of their homes in the next three weeks.
'There are many people languishing in jail under these draconian laws, where it takes them 10 years, 15 years, to finally be acquitted.' 'And, who is going to account for those years?' 'The home ministry's statistics says that between 2016 and 2019, the conviction rate (under UAPA) is only 2 per cent and the use of UAPA has increased by more than 70 per cent.' 'There are many people languishing in jail under these draconian laws, where it takes them 10 years, 15 years, to finally be acquitted.'
'Who is going to account for those years?'
'The home ministry's statistics says that between 2016 and 2019, the conviction rate (under UAPA) is only 2 per cent and the use of UAPA has increased by more than 70 per cent.' 'The government statistics itself is so revealing what the purpose of this law (UAPA) is.'
The tally of 114 includes two fatalities and 17 foreigners as well as 13 people who were discharged after they recovered from the infection.
Modi had on Friday urged people to turn off lights at their homes for nine minutes at 9pm to display the country's collective resolve and solidarity to defeat the virus.
These captivating photos snapped by photographers across the globe amid the coronavirus pandemic showcase how different nations have experienced a life under lockdown. In total, 15,697 photos have been submitted to the contest. The power is now in the global community's hands to cast their votes and decide which photo should win #StayHome. The most-voted photo will be revealed through the Agora app on May 27 and will win the top prize of $1,000. Octavi Royo, CEO and co-founder of the app Agora, which is running the competiton, said the photos gave 'a point of view on the confinement and to share a message of hope to humanity through their photograph'. Take a look at some of the best entries here.
'Many are coming hungry and thirsty.' 'Some told us they were stopped from filling water at roadside village handpumps because villagers told them 'tum Carona ho'.'
'If you delay the diagnosis even by 24 hours, in that 24 hours individuals would have affected more people.' 'So, contact tracing, testing, isolation, quarantine needs to continue.'
''We had three positive cases, but our success was the three not going up to 30 or 100.' 'Also, all the three survived the virus,' says Kerala's Health Minister K K Shailaja.
Coronavirus is the biggest story of our lives and a billion plus people expect us to be around, watching, reporting, editing, recording this for posterity and blowing the whistle to draw attention to injustices and State failures, notes Shekhar Gupta.
