The Union health minister said of the total active COVID-19 cases in the country, 1.5 per cent are on oxygen support and 2.34 per cent are in ICUs.
Non-performers were not punished, performers were not rewarded, points out Utkarsh Mishra.
The government has undertaken a study to find out toxicity levels in soft toys after some non-government organisations reported the presence of cadmium and lead in them.
India achieved this coverage in 130 days as against the USA's feat in 124 days.
The Centre on Wednesday deployed multi-disciplinary teams in bird flu-affected areas of Kerala and Haryana, while Madhya Pradesh, where crows have died due to the influenza, banned the entry of chicken consignments from southern states for 10 days as a precautionary measure.
A day after the WHO declared emergency over the "explosive" spread of the mosquito-borne Zika virus, the Centre on Tuesday issued detailed guidelines for combating the disease, including a travel advisory that asks pregnant women to either defer or cancel their travel to the affected areas.
While Maharashtra and Gujarat continue to top the nationwide tally, Tamil Nadu has now crossed the 5,000 mark. The death toll of the southern state has reached 37, with two more women succumbing to COVID-19 during the day.
Health Minister Harsh Vardhan advised people to refrain from non-essential travel to Iran, Italy, South Korea and Singapore.
Delhi, Uttar Pradesh and Jammu reported one case each, officials said.
Union minister Jitendra Singh assured the members of the Rajya Sabha on Thursday that there is better nuclear safety in India as compared to many other countries and there are enough safeguards in the Indian nuclear plants.
'The pace of disbursement and project recommendation picks up as the tenure of the House draws near and usually all amount is released.'
The ministry said 151 out of the 578 people who contracted the infection have recovered or migrated.
People must be vigilant, follow all safety norms and not let a sense of complacency set in, several doctors said a day after the positivity rate in the city was --- the highest in two months.
Modi said India has taken an important step forward in protecting its youth population against the disease.
Gandhi and his Congress party have been asking the government to shelve its plans on the Central Vista project and give priority to improving the country's medical infrastructure amid the COVID-19 pandemic to save people's lives.
Three more positive cases of novel coronavirus have been reported in India.
The number of recoveries also surged with 2,48,189 patients cured so far, while there were 1,78,014 active cases, according to the updated official figures at 8 am.
At the briefing by senior officials from the Ministry of External Affairs, Ministry of Health and Family Welfare and the Ministry of Home Affairs, the envoys and representatives of international organisations were also provided clarifications related to government advisories.
India is the seventh worst-hit nation by the COVID-19 pandemic in terms of the number of infections, after the US, Brazil, Russia, the UK, Spain and Italy. While the recovery rate in coronavirus infections is improving and has reached 48.19 per cent in India, there has been steady decline in the case fatality which is now 2.83 per cent, the health ministry said.
As per the ministry's updated data on coronavirus cases Saturday morning, six fresh deaths were reported -- three from Maharahtra, two from Delhi and one from Gujarat.
The death toll climbed to 15,301 with 407 new fatalities, according to the Union health ministry data.
Of the 1,48,266 beneficiaries who were administered the vaccine on Monday, 8,656 were from Bihar, 1,822 from Assam, 36,888 from Karnataka, 7,070 from Kerala, 6,665 from Madhya Pradesh, 7,628 from Tamil Nadu, 10,352 from Telangana, 11,588 from West Bengal and 3,111 were from Delhi.
Bharat Biotech said that it is disheartening to listen to some states complaining about company's intentions regarding supply of COVID vaccine Covaxin.
A memorandum with over two lakh signatures of people favouring a complete ban on the weedicide has been submitted to Union minister for agriculture and farmers welfare Narendra Singh, SJM co-convenor Ashwani Mahajan said.
The issue of "not inviting" Punjab government to the foundation stone laying event of a cancer hospital in Sangrur snowballed into a controversy with Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal accusing the Centre of "grave and avoidable political impropriety involved in keeping Punjab in the dark".
The death toll rose to 5,394 after a record single-day spike of 230 fatalities in the 24 hours since Sunday 8 am, the Union Health Ministry said in its morning update. It showed the number of confirmed cases rising by 8,392 to 1,90,535. However, a PTI tally of figures announced by states and union territories, as of 9.35 pm, showed a higher death toll of 5,501.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday reviewed the preparedness to deal with the situation arising out of the likely formation of Cyclone Jawad that is expected to hit the North Andhra Pradesh-Odisha coast and directed officials to take every possible measure to ensure that people are safely evacuated.
The fatality rate is down to 3.1 per cent and the recovery rate has improved to 37.5 per cent, he said.
The National Clinical Registry for COVID-19 will collect systematic data on clinical signs and symptoms, laboratory investigations, management protocols, the clinical course of COVID-19, disease spectrum and outcomes of patients.
The government on Thursday announced a 27 per cent quota for OBCs and 10 per cent reservation for the economically weaker sections in the all-India quota scheme for undergraduate and postgraduate medical and dental courses from the current academic year, 2021-22.
A delegation of Trinamool Congress leaders on Wednesday met Election Commission officials here and alleged that the use of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's photo on advertisements of various central schemes and the COVID vaccination certificates, distributed by the Union health ministry, violated the model code of conduct.
The GoM was apprised that as of now, the death rate is around 3.1 per cent while the recovery rate is more than 20 per cent, which is comparatively better than most of the countries and may be taken as a positive effect of the lockdown in the country, along with the cluster management and containment strategy.
Authorities also said the recovery rate of COVID-19 patients was improving consistently in India and it was in a much better position in handling the pandemic, which has seen more than 63 lakh people testing positive for this virus since its emergence in China last December and over 3.7 lakh having lost their lives.
The number of hotspot districts comes down to 129 from 170 in a fortnight. But the number of infection-free districts or green zones too decreased from 325 to 307. During this time, the number of non-hotspot districts, also known as orange zones, increased from 207 to 297.
The Union health ministry officials also said India was at the second stage as there is still no 'hard evidence' to say that there has been community transmission of the fast-spreading coronavirus, remarks which may provide anxious citizens with much needed assurance and hope.
Harsh Vardhan said that 51 crore COVID-19 vaccine doses will be made available by July and 216 crore more between August and December.
Governor Banwarilal Purohit administered the oath of office and secrecy to 68-year old Stalin, for whom this would be the first stint as CM
The National Human Rights Commission sent notices to the Union health ministry and the Bihar government over reports of increasing number of deaths of children in Muzaffarpur.
Fresh guidelines were issued by the government on Wednesday for enforcing the second phase of the coronavirus lockdown, with the Union home ministry barring all kinds of public transport and prohibiting opening of public places during this period.
Ahead of Lok Sabha polls, the Centre today reviewed the security situation in Naxal-affected states and directed security forces to foil any attempt by the rebels to disrupt the election process.
© 2026 Rediff.com - Advertise with us - Disclaimer - Privacy Policy - Sitemap - Feedback - About us - Terms of use - Grievances