'If a doctor is kind of trying to say that there's an urgency, relatives should definitely get a second opinion.'
As the death toll in the country from coronavirus jumped by a record 445 to 13,699, the Centre maintained that the number of infections per lakh population was among the lowest in the world. The new cases surged by over 10,000 for the 11th day in a row and rose by 14,821 to take the total to 4,25,282, according to health ministry data.
Delhi has been seeing a steady rise in coronavirus cases with official figures being pegged at over 19,000 on Monday. Delhi remains the third worst-affected state by the coronavirus pandemic -- only Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu have more confirmed COVID-19 cases. Amid this situation, here are scenes from Max Smart Super Speciality Hospital in New Delhi, where some 200 patients are being treated.
Convert the Haryana result into a blessing in disguise; make the calamity into an opportunity. Maharashtra was always the big ticket game in town; MVA must win it. The Congress should shift headquarters to Mumbai for the entire month. Show urgency and a hunger to win, asserts Sanjay Jha.
The rate of doubling of COVID-19 cases has increased to 12.6 days
'We started analysing young patients and realised that they had causes like undetected diabetes, which suddenly flares up during COVID-19.' 'Secondly, hypothyroidism was one of the factors.' 'And obesity.'
Each state has its own weak areas that need attention. Some states have already identified the gaps and sought the Centre's help. Vinay Umarji, Ishita Ayan Dutt, Samreen Ahmad and Sohini Das report.
'Given the first-time healthcare emergency of this nature and scale, we don't have enough experienced hands to deal with the situation.' 'The models, policies and protocols keep changing everyday depending upon the evolving situation.' 'We are all in trial-and-error mode where we do some right things as well as wrong things.' 'We cannot have an ideal environment to fight this pandemic.'
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 Maharashtra government has decided to stop home quarantining of COVID-19 patients in 18 districts where the positivity rate is high and all active patients in these areas would be admitted to COVID Care Centers, health minister Rajesh Tope said.
"Omicron has been detected in all countries where we have good sequencing and it's likely to be in all countries around the world. It is quickly, in terms of its circulation, overtaking Delta. And so Omicron is becoming the dominant variant that is being detected," Kerkhove said during a virtual questions and answers session.
The doubling time of coronavirus cases in India has improved to 15.4 days from 13.3 days, the Union health ministry said on Saturday, as the country's COVID-19 death toll climbed to 4,971 and the total cases rose to 1,73,763. The doubling time has improved during the past three days, it said. As many as 11,264 COVID-19 patients have been cured in the last 24 hours till Saturday 8 am, the highest number of recoveries recorded in one day, pushing India's recovery rate to 47.40 per cent, it said.
A plea was filed in the Supreme Court on Wednesday challenging the Delhi high court's May 31 verdict which dismissed a petition seeking to suspend all construction activity of the Central Vista Avenue redevelopment during the COVID-19 pandemic while describing it as a 'vital' and 'essential' project of national importance.
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.
A total 87,374 people have recuperated in a span of 24 hours in the country, while the number of new confirmed cases reported is 86,508, according to the data updated at 8 am.
The fatality rate has further dropped to 2.07 per cent, the data stated.
The rise in the number of coronavirus cases has gained pace significantly. It took 110 days for the number of cases in the country to reach one lakh but just 53 days more to race past the eight-lakh mark.
In a massive surge, Delhi on Thursday recorded 15,097 fresh COVID cases, the highest single-day rise since May 8, and six deaths while the positivity rate mounted to 15.34 per cent, according to data shared by the city health department.
All medical establishments like medical colleges (allopathic, homoeopathic and AYUSH), health centres, private healthcare units and polyclinics have been asked to send the list of workers, the senior official of the Health department told PTI.
The total number of recoveries crossed the 19 lakh-mark with 57,937 patients having recuperated in a span of 24 hours, the highest recorded in a day so far, it said.
Around 25,000 total of all paramilitary paramedics and doctors will be vaccinated in the first phase.
Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray on Monday said curfew will be imposed in the entire state from Monday midnight as the fight against coronavirus has reached a "turning point".
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.
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.
Hockey India had earlier donated 25 lakhs towards the cause on April 1. The decision to donate an additional 75 lakhs was taken by the Hockey India Executive Board.
The Centre has shared a set of parameters with all states and UTs to enable service providers and monitoring teams under the national COVID-19 vaccination programme to identify any fake COVID-19 vaccines so that they are not administered in the country.
"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'
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.
The court said the situation is "going out of control" in Gujarat.
Abbas had contracted COVID-19 while travelling from Dubai to London.
Olympic Council of Asia has postponed the 19th edition of the multi-sports Games
Paul noted that "three to four months from now, there will be other vaccines and the stockpile will be even bigger. "And more acceleration can be brought about in the vaccination programme," Paul added.
With around 2 million Covid vaccine doses likely to get wasted in December, leading hospital chains have now started to give it gratis to citizens. Sohini Das and Ruchika Chitravanshi report.
Most workplaces, with the exception of essential services and key economic sectors, will be closed. Food establishments, markets and supermarkets, clinics, hospitals, utilities, transport and key banking services will remain open.
India's sports fraternity joined the nation on Sunday in saluting its essential services providers engaged in the fight against COVID-19 by clapping for them and sharing messages and videos of gratitude on social media.
Experts emphasise on the need to curb the spread of the novel coronavirus using strategic and pragmatic approaches in villages as well as Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities and towns, which are reporting increased COVID-19 infections and deaths during the ongoing second wave of COVID-19 pandemic.
President Droupadi Murmu administered him the oath at a brief ceremony held at the Rashtrapati Bhavan.
Delhi on Monday sounded an alert of its depleting vaccine stock, with Health Minister Satyendar Jain saying that the national capital has only one day's Covaxin jabs left and its Covishield doses will last for just three to four days.
"The Central government thought that the COVID-19 pandemic has ended and they were also applauded by the World Economic Forum. However, they didn't know that there would come a stage when there would be no testing and there would be no oxygen," said the senior Congress leader.
From connectivity woes to infrastructure advancements and the startup boom, there is a gulf between claims and reality in India's economic landscape, points out Devangshu Datta.