The Centre said the upsurge of COVID-19 cases is happening in cities and the Omicron variant is the predominant circulating strain.
The country has reported the highest number of recoveries with 42,08,431 COVID-19 patients having recovered from the disease so far, pushing the national recovery rate to nearly 80 per cent, while the case fatality rate has further dropped to 1.61 per cent, the ministry said.
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'.
He pointed out that for every patient who is tested positive, there are 5 to 10 people who are positive but not tested. That means more than 15 to 20 lakh people are getting infected every day in India even now. Statistically, five per cent of the positive patients need an ICU bed, irrespective of their age. On an average, a patient in ICU spends at least 10 days there.
'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.'
One of the biggest lessons for cities fighting the Covid-19 pandemic has been the criticality of access to data. Mumbai, which has shown significant success in managing the second wave of the pandemic, is a case in point, reports Shivani Shinde.
The active cases have further reduced to 22,28,724 with a decline of 1,14,428 cases being recorded in the active caseload. It now comprises 8.04 per cent of the total infections, while the national COVID-19 recovery rate has improved to 90.80 per cent.
This is the fifth consecutive day that COVID-19 cases have increased by more than 50,000 in the country.
'We don't have any more time.' 'We should close down, and vaccinate as many people as possible.'
'Certain groups should be more cautious, especially the 60-plus population, and the population which suffer from co-morbidities like diabetes and hypertension.'
Hundreds of farmers, chiefly from Punjab, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh, continue to encamp Singhu, Tikri and Ghazipur border points of Delhi despite "a few" of them being removed after testing positive for COVID-19 and some symptomatic protesters undergoing medication.
'And they are going to be milder because we are dealing with the vaccinated and are much richer in terms of the immune response in the population.'
These events have to adhere to COVID-19 guidelines, and organisers will be required to inform the local authorities about these, the official said.
Milk supplies could improve with the monsoon, provided the rains are not excessive.
A 39-year-old Chandigarh resident who had returned from South Africa a few days ago tested positive for COVID-19 on Monday and his sample will now be sent to Delhi for whole genome sequencing.
'There will be increases.' 'There is bound to be, but you have to bear with all this.' 'The focus should be to provide optimum care for those who are in the need.' 'We should focus more on care, better care. Not on testing.'
'Saibaba has 19 ailments, including severe heart and kidney problems.' 'Even healthy persons find their systems failing after Covid.' 'What will happen to someone like Saibaba?', Professor G N Saibaba's wife asks Jyoti Punwani.
Grisly videos have emerged showing stray dogs eating human corpses at Kedar Ghat on the banks of river Bhagirathi in Uttarkashi in Uttarakhand.
China's population growth has been slowing since 2016 as the high cost of raising children, a greater pursuit of individualism and a diversified lifestyle dampen enthusiasm to start a family.
One reason for the surge in cases is the spread of infection at large weddings. Weddings turned out to be super spreaders.
In a statement, the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) said it has issued fresh guidelines for surveillance with regard to COVID-19 that will remain in force till January 31, as it asked the states and union territories to keep a strict vigil to prevent any rise in cases during the New Year celebrations and the winter season.
Locals are overly concerned as horrifying tales emerge of patients running from pillar to post to secure hospital beds or even get themselves tested.
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.
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.
8 Asiatic lions in the zoo in have tested positive for COVID-19 after their saliva samples were thoroughly examined by CSIR-Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology in Hyderabad, Rakesh Mishra, advisor of the premier research institute said.
The minister said he was not supposed to say anything officially as he was still in touch with the union health ministry and the ICMR officials.
The number of recoveries has surged to 14,80,884 with 53,879 coronavirus patients having recuperated and discharged in 24-hours, the highest in a day so far.
The official said that the Centre needs to intervene as a large number of hospitals are affected due to the "stoppage of oxygen supply from Haryana".
The SC said it is not asking all the private hospitals to treat certain number of COVID-19 patients for free.
The SC said these shelters should be run by volunteers and not the police, and there should be no use of force and intimidation.
Meanwhile, the cumulative number of COVID-19 tests conducted in the country has reached nearly 3.9 crore, it added.
With economic problems and job cuts, Hangzhou locals and people in other parts of China are not very pleased about hosting the Asian Games.
Raksha Bandhan festivities were little subdued this year owing to the coronavirus pandemic, with siblings having to rely on technology to wish each other.
There is no use of the BJP targeting the likes of Mamata Banerjee and M K Stalin, directly by the party's political bosses, both in Delhi and the respective state capitals, or even using the Raj Bhavans to fire those salvos from. Successive elections have proved that it's counter-productive, if anything. But the BJP is yet to understand it, acknowledge it, points out N Sathiya Moorthy.
This will boost availability of these items as well as make them cheaper, it said, adding that Modi also directed the revenue department to ensure seamless and quick custom clearance of such equipment.
Terming it as a "world war" against COVID-19, the apex court said that due to the "unprecedented pandemic" everybody in the world is suffering one way or the other.
'Serial testing is much more valuable than a single test which reflects just a point in time.'
'We are already exhausted, but we can't give up.' 'The battle is still on.' 'We will see some respite by December 2021.'
Frontline healthcare staff, people over the age of 80 and care home workers will be among the first to get the vaccine as part of Phase 1 of the programme from Tuesday, which was approved for rollout by the UK's independent regulator earlier this week.
The recovery rate stands at 62.61 per cent.
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