The terrorists have been identified as local residents Ashiq Hussain, a rape accused who was released on bail from Kishtwar Central Jail three weeks ago, and Basharat Hussain.
Of those who were willing to pay, two-third said they can pay up to Rs 500 for two doses of the vaccine, whenever it is available.
Stressing on the need to protect both lives and livelihoods, he said public health action in India and across the world must be continually guided by evidence from four key questions -- how transmissible is the variant, severity of the disease it causes, how well vaccines and prior SARS-CoV-2 infection protect and how common people perceive risk and follow control measures.
Union Health Secretary Preeti Sudan held a high-level review meeting through video conference with the chief secretaries, health secretaries and National Health Mission (NHM) directors of these states, the health ministry said. 'These states are witnessing a surge in COVID-19 cases since the last three weeks as lockdown rules have been eased and inter-state migration has been allowed,' the ministry said in a statement.
Maharashtra has reported 3,75,799 coronavirus cases, the highest among states in the country.
Harsh Vardhan said that 51 crore COVID-19 vaccine doses will be made available by July and 216 crore more between August and December.
With 78,877 people having recuperated from COVID-19 in a span of 24 hours, India's total recoveries surged to 53,52,078 pushing the recovery rate to 83.70 per cent, according to data updated at 8 am.
September witnessed 24,33,319 people recuperating from coronavirus infection contributing to around 46.15 per cent of the total 52,73,201 recoveries registered so far in the country.
The national average of COVID-19 tests per day per million population is 865, the ministry said, asserting that the country has demonstrated an exponential increase in the COVID-19 testing infrastructure since January 2020.
China still faces an enormous challenge with a lack of immunity among a majority of Chinese, Dr Zhong Nanshan said.
In just one day, more than 1,550 Americans lost their lives, taking the fatalities to over 7,380. Overall, the US on Friday in a single day added more than 33,000 new COVID-19 cases, taking the total to 276,500, the highest for any country in the world.
The move came after Prime Minister Narendra Modi told chief ministers of the seven worst affected states on Wednesday that his government has increased the states' limit to spend the SDRF to boost infrastructure to fight the pandemic.
The maiden coronavirus case in Mumbai was detected on March 11, while the first fatality was recorded on March 17.
At a video conference with chief ministers and representatives of these 10 states, including Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu, Modi said the recovery rate has gone up which, he added, meant that government efforts have proved to be effective.
With as many as 2,30,599 COVID-19 cases, Maharashtra continues to remain the worst-affected state, followed by Tamil Nadu (1,26,581) and Delhi (1,07,051).
The overall death toll stood at 4,633 and no new fatalities were reported on Sunday.
The government has to focus on real solutions, not make a mockery of the crisis through 'vaccine festivals',' asserts T N Ninan.
Chinese officials hope the cases will come down in the coming days with more specialised hospitals being set up in Wuhan. China's ministry of science and technology said that a batch of Remdesivir, an antiviral drug, which will be put into clinical trials to test its efficiency on the novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV), is expected to arrive in China soon.
The COVID-19 caseload zoomed to 5,08,953, while 384 fresh fatalities were recorded in the last 24 hours. The number of active cases stands at 1,97,387, while 2,95,880 people have recovered and one patient has migrated, according to the updated figure at 8 am.
'I am so proud of her. She says it is like running a marathon every day. She has been working five days a week, sometimes day shifts, sometimes night shifts, 12-hour shifts and it is tough but she has to do the job as best as she can'. 'It is my humble request to every citizen of the world to respect the frontline workers because they are there to help us, whether it is the doctors, police, people who pick up garbage ... we must be respectful, kind and grateful to them and make sure they are taken care of'.
The Delta plus variant of COVID-19 has greater affinity to lung tissues as compared to other strains but it does not mean that it will cause severe disease or is more transmissible, head of coronavirus working group National Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation (NTAGI) Dr N K Arora said.
'India has registered the highest recoveries in a single day. 68,584 COVID-19 patients have recovered and been discharged in the last 24 hours. 'This has led to a surge in the total number of recovered patients which is nearly 30 lakh (2,970,492). 'With this, India's Recovery Rate amongst the COVID-19 patients has crossed 77 per cent (77.09 per cent), the govt said.
Monday also saw the new confirmed infections of COVID-19 outside Hubei reduced to a number lower than 100 for the first time, Mi told the media..
With the hybrid model in place, employees can take advantage of the working from office to build better working relationships, trust, and comradeship.
Many of the tragedies occurred in the dark, which is when it is cooler to walk, and many people were caught in their sleep. The combination of no traffic and speeding vehicles has led to havoc, endangering the lives of those who found themselves without work or money in the coronavirus-induced lockdown and were frantic to get home, any which way.
"Keeping a close pace with the potential availability of vaccine, a plan of action on which sections are to be given priority has been discussed. Importantly, it would be monitored through a scientific approach," Dr Harsh Vardhan told ANI about the strategy being discussed on vaccine distribution.
The highest number of vaccines were administered in UP at 21,291 followed by Andhra Pradesh at 18,412, Maharashtra at 18,328, Bihar at 18,169, Odisha at 13,746, Karnataka at 13,594, Gujarat at 10,787, Rajasthan at 9,279, West Bengal at 9,730, Madhya Pradesh at 9,219, Kerala at 8,062.
The state has allowed industrial units in special economic zones (SEZs) to lay off workers without government's sanction, regardless of the number of workers
'A balanced head plus heart approach would be a full opening up of the economy including manufacturing and internal travel in the country but excluding COVID-19 hotspots,' recommends Jaimini Bhagwati.
'Now you see a patient, 10 minutes later the patient is dead.' 'The second wave is definitely much more dangerous, brutal and fatal than the first wave.' 'The number of deaths and infections in India today are very, very, high; the actual numbers are not being reported.'
Parts of Raigad, Ratnagiri districts in the coastal Konkan region and Kolhapur district in western Maharashtra, have been worst affected by the floods. Besides that, heavy rains have been pounding parts of Satara district.
People aged 45 and above account for about 88 per cent of all COVID-19 deaths in India making them the most vulnerable section, the Union health ministry said on Wednesday, a day after the government opened up vaccinations for all those in the age bracket from April 1.
The Director General of Health Services (DGHS) in the ministry of health, in a letter to the Principal Secretaries of health and medical education of states, said it has been observed that there is 'inappropriate use' of N-95 masks, particularly those with valved respirators, by the public other than designated health workers.
The pandemic has changed the way people see the government. It has eroded trust in the administration's ability to tackle a crisis, any crisis, observes Devangshu Datta.
India registered a 13 per cent decrease in new COVID-19 cases in the past week but the number of fresh infections was still the highest around the world, the World Health Organisation has said.
Giving rise to fresh worries about the COVID-19 pandemic rearing its head again, the R-factor, which indicates the speed at which the infection is spreading in the country, has risen recently leading to a sluggish pace in the decline of active cases while Kerala and northeast states have emerged as regions of concern.
The fatality rate is down to 3.1 per cent and the recovery rate has improved to 37.5 per cent, he said.
A local Bharatiya Janata Party leader was today shot dead by two unidentified assailants while he was out for a morning walk, sparking protest by party workers.
The fungus, also called `black fungus', is present in the environment, but those with suppressed immunity or co-morbidities are more vulnerable to its infection, he said.
The Tamil Nadu chief minister, who is in Pudukottai on an official visit to review anti-COVID-19 measures and development projects in the district told reporters that vaccination shall cover all sections of the society.
