As cases of 'black fungus' among COVID-19 patients in the country rise to cross 7,000, the Centre on Thursday urged all states and union territories to declare it as a notifiable disease under the Epidemic Diseases Act to ensure mandatory surveillance to tackle the 'new challenge'.
The minister said there has been no cases of Nipah reported from anywhere in the country
The association said that 25 states have laws on attacks on doctors and hospitals but these are mostly ineffective on the ground and do not serve the purpose of deterrence.
India is set to experience extreme heat during the April to June period, with the central and western peninsular parts expected to face the worst impact, the IMD said on Monday as the country prepares for seven-phase general elections from April 19.
The National Immunisation Day, commonly known as Pulse Polio Immunisation programme, was scheduled for January 17 across India.
Those whose names were mentioned during Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Mann ki Baat radio broadcast, swacchagrahi or foot soldiers who have played a key role in cleanliness drives and women sarpanches (village heads) are also part of the list shared by the Union ministry of home affairs to be invited for the function.
Two months after a junior doctor was brutally raped and killed, the doctors' protest in Kolkata rages on.
He urged people not to panic and clarified that there was no change in the guidelines for international air travel so far.
All these persons have been kept in single room isolation at designated health care facilities by respective state governments and their close contacts have also been put under quarantine, the ministry said.
Healthcare services remained affected at state-run hospitals in West Bengal as junior doctors continued their cease-work protest.
The minister will review the COVID-19 situation at 11:30 am on Wednesday 'considering the international scenario', they said.
Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar on Thursday said future decisions on COVID-19 SOPs will be taken in consultation with the Union Health Ministry and the state Task Force, amid a difference between the Centre and the state over guidelines for international travellers in the wake of the new variant of SARS-CoV2.
'iNCOVACC' is priced at Rs 800 for private markets and at Rs 325 for supplies to the government of India and state governments.
Non-emergency services, such as OPD and diagnostics, and elective surgeries at city-based health facilities, including at Centre-run AIIMS, Safdarjung hospital and RML hospital, are hit since Monday.
SII has so far provided more than 170 crore doses of Covishield to the government for the national immunisation programme.
While asserting that the CoWIN portal is completely safe with adequate safeguards for data privacy, it said an internal exercise has been initiated to review the existing security measures of CoWIN.
The prime minister was happy that the assurance given by the Serum Institute that it will make India self-sufficient in vaccines at the lowest possible price in the world was fulfilled.
Gujarat reported 2,165 cases, Maharashtra 1,188, Uttar Pradesh 663, Madhya Pradesh 590, Haryana 339 and Andhra Pradesh 248 cases.
States and Union Territories would aggregate the demand of private hospitals for COVID-19 vaccines based on which the Centre will facilitate supply to these governments for timely and equitable distribution to smaller and remoter private healthcare facilities, according to the revised guidelines issued.
A 37-year-old man accused of raping a woman inside a bus at Swargate bus station in Pune was arrested after a days-long manhunt. The accused, Dattaray Ramdas Gade, was hiding in a paddy field in his native Shirur tehsil. Police used drones and sniffer dogs to track him down.
'Reports in a section of media regarding Union Minister Shri Arun Jaitley's health condition are false and baseless. Media is advised to stay clear of rumour mongering,' Government Spokesman Sitanshu Kar tweeted.
The needle-free vaccine will be available at private centres.
The tests have to be conducted within 72 hours of undertaking the journey to India, Mandaviya said.
Recent documents by NITI Aayog and periodic labour force surveys on employment show that the importance of agriculture is rising in the Indian economy.
Modi's government is also working on a universal health coverage plan that would provide all citizens with free drugs and diagnostic treatment.
"To make sure there isn't a Covid surge in the country, PM Modi has asked us to be careful. The government is also preparing if at the Covid cases increase. Today, mock drills are conducted across Covid hospitals in the country to make sure people get proper treatment," Mandaviya said.
A mock drill will be held on Tuesday across a number of health facilities in several states and Union Territories to ensure their readiness to deal with any eventuality related to COVID-19, following an advisory by the Centre.
The doubling time of coronavirus cases has slowed down to 13.9 days in the last three days.
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.
Omicron has started replacing Delta variant in the country in terms of the number of COVID-19 cases and positive international travellers are almost 80 per cent Omicron now, official sources said on Friday.
Maharashtra has reported 31 positive cases, Kerala 19, Uttar Pradesh 11, Delhi and Karnataka six each, Ladakh three, Jammu and Kashmir, Rajasthan and Telangana two each; and Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh and Punjab one case each. The total number of confirmed cases also includes 17 foreigners -- 16 Italian tourists and a Canadian, it said.
He claimed that the Shiv Sena MPs were asking the Centre for more vaccines while the state has only utilised 44 per cent of what has already been delivered.
Union Home Secretary Ajay Bhalla also flagged a few heinous instances of unruly behaviour by people where the families and relatives of medical professionals, suspected to have died due to COVID-19 infection, were prevented from performing the last rites of the deceased.
Expenditure on health in India is at a global low of 1.2% of GDP.
'The finance minister missed yet another opportunity to simplify the income tax structure in the Budget.' 'This was an opportune moment to get rid of the old tax system entirely and move fully to the new system,' asserts M Govinda Rao, member of the 14th Finance Commission.
With an eye on improving quality assurance in the wake of increased global scrutiny on Indian pharma products, the Centre on Tuesday said that Schedule M of the Drugs and Cosmetics Act, 1940 will be made compulsory for small and medium scale manufacturers in a phased manner. Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya has asked micro-small and medium enterprises in pharma manufacturing to move towards good manufacturing practices (GMP) through self regulation. "This will help in quality assurance and also reduce compliance burden," Mandaviya.
Goods and Services Tax (GST) collections in September, in gross terms, were at Rs 1.73 lakh crore, with a yearly jump of 6.5 per cent, according to data from finance ministry released on Tuesday. In September 2023, the total collection was to the tune of Rs 1.62 lakh crore. CGST, SGST, IGST, and cess all increased year-on-year in September, official data made available on Tuesday showed.
Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Delhi, Telangana, Gujarat, Uttar Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh and West Bengal -- contribute 85.5 per cent of active caseload and 87 per cent of total deaths in India.
The home minister said the central forces deployment will be increased, if required, and that they should be deployed strategically to restore peace and tranquillity in the state, according to an official statement.
In a communication to the chief secretaries of the states and Union territories, Union Home Secretary Ajay Bhalla said the guidelines for the fourth phase of the lockdown were issued after taking the views of the states, following a video-conference held by Prime Minister Narendra Modi with chief ministers on May 11.
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