A man walks past a wall with graffiti painted to raise awareness regarding Covid-19, in Mumbai on Sunday. (Express Photo: Ganesh Shirsekar) Coronavirus India Live Updates: Addressing the media at the end of the Congress Working Committee’s meeting, Congress leaders Randeep Surjewala and K C Venugopal briefed them about the party’s latest resolutions on the Covid-19 pandemic. Blaming the central government’s ” indifference, insensitivity, incompetence” for the aggressive second wave of the pandemic, the CWC raised several concerns about the Modi government’s strategy to combat the spread of the deadly infection.
“The CWC noted with concern that the data on Covid deaths is horribly wrong and afflicted by massive non-reporting of deaths. The solution lies in facing the challenge and stopping the casualties from Covid-19 and not in concealing the truth by burying the data on deaths and infections,” the resolution read.
India, in the last 24 hours, recorded 3,66,161 fresh Covid-19 cases and 3,754 related deaths. This is for the first time after four straight days that India’s Covid-19 count has risen by less than 4,00,000 fresh infections. The country’s daily death toll, too, was more than 4,000 in the last two days. However, only 14.74 lakh samples were tested on Sunday, compared to the usual 18-19 lakh samples a day.
The Uttarakhand government on Monday decided to impose curfew from 6 am on May 11 to 6 am on May 18 as cases continued to rise across the state. During this time, shops selling fruits, vegetables and dairy items will remain open from 7 am to 10 am, while shopping malls, market complexes, gyms, theatres, assembly halls, bars and liquor shops will stay shut until further orders.
Several bodies, decomposed, bloated and suspected to be of people who succumbed to COVID 19, were on Monday found floating in the river Ganga in a Bihar district.
Officials in Chausa block of Buxar, which borders Uttar Pradesh, rushed to the spot of the unseemly sight upon hearing the news.
“We were alerted by the local chowkidar that many bodies have been spotted floating from upstream. We have so far recovered 15 of these. None of the deceased happens to be a resident of the district,” Chausa BDO Ashok Kumar told PTI over phone. Read the full report.
Days after the Kerala High Court expressed concern over the high fees levied by private hospitals on COVID-19 patients, the State government said on Monday it has put a cap on the charges and introduced a universal pricing system for its treatment. The state government said this in the Court when it considered a plea alleging that private hospitals and testing centres were charging high bills to "exploit the pandemic situation and fear of people in the society."
The petitioner, a lawyer, had sought directions from the court to take remedial measures to regularise the high charges imposed by private hospitals for COVID-19 treatment.
On Monday, the government counsel informed the court that it has decided to put a ceiling on prices to be charged by private hospitals for COVID-19 treatment.
The counsel said government has issued an order on Monday in this regard. (PTI)
The Congress Working Committee unanimously decided on Monday to defer the crucial election to the post of party president until the COVID-19 situation in the country improves, sources said.
After a section of leaders had last year pressed for an organisational overhaul, the Congress had decided to hold elections for the new party president by June-end and its central election authority chaired by Madhusudan Mistry proposed June 23 for the exercise.
The CWC, the apex decision-making body of the Congress which met in the backdrop of the recent drubbing in four assembly polls, considered the schedule for electing the AICC president prepared by the party's election authority.
However, top Congress leaders at the meeting were of the view that holding the election right now would not be proper as the coronavirus situation in the country was very grim, the sources said. (PTI)
Addressing the Covid-19 situation in Uttar Pradesh, Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath said, "Oxygen Express is being run, tankers being sent on large aircraft of Air Force. Y'day, we supplied 1000 MT of oxygen in the state. But it shouldn't remain restricted to supply, Oxygen Plants should be established too. Work is underway to set up 300 Oxygen Plants in state."
Andhra Pradesh reported 14,986 new Covid-19 cases and 84 deaths in the last 24 hours. Meanwhile over 16,000 Covid positive patients recovered from the infection, according to official figures released by the Andhra Pradesh government.
Accusing the central government of denying vaccines to state government's and selling them to abroad instad, Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia said, "In what greed were 6.50 crore vaccines supplied to foreign countries when people in our own country are dying?"
He further accused the BJP of 'lying' that the Delhi government had only ordered 5.5 lakh Covid-19 vaccine doses, when it had in fact ordered 1.34 crore.
In the last 24 hours, Delhi reported 12,651 new Covid-19 cases and 319 deaths. With this the total number of cases soared to 13,36,218, while the death toll rose to 19,663.
"At a time when nation’s resources should be devoted to ensuring expansion of vaccination coverage and supply of essential medicines and oxygen, Modi Government is indulging in criminal waste of money by continuing with personal vanity project of PM in the national capital," the CWC resolution read.
Citing the CWC's concerns about the Centre's strategy to vaccinate citizens that fall between the 18-44 age group, Congress General Secretary KC Venugopal said: "Vaccine supplies are grossly insufficient, yet the government denies the hard facts. The pricing policy is opaque and discriminatory. And contrary to economic and all other logic, the government has passed on the financial responsibility for vaccinating the 18-44 year population to the State governments, which are already facing severe financial stress."
"Worse, the mandatory online registration without a walk-in option will exclude — and may have already excluded —millions of our citizens, particularly those in rural areas and those belonging to the weaker sections of society," he added.
Addressing the media at the end of the Congress Working Committee’s meeting, Congress leaders Randeep Surjewala and K C Venugopal briefed them about the party’s latest resolutions on the Covid-19 pandemic as well as the upcoming elections for party president. Blaming the central government’s ” indifference, insensitivity, incompetence” for the aggressive second wave of the pandemic, the CWC raised several concerns about the Modi government’s strategy to combat the spread of the deadly infection.
"The CWC noted with concern that the data on Covid deaths is horribly wrong and afflicted by massive non-reporting of deaths. The solution lies in facing the challenge and stopping the casualties from Covid-19 and not in concealing the truth by burying the data on deaths and infections,” the resolution read.
Congress leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury wrote to President Ram Nath Kovind on Monday, urging him to convene a special session of Parliament to discuss the ensuing Covid crisis. “Corona pandemic in the country is in a grave situation and you must be well informed about the exact scenario,” the letter read.
The first shipment of Covishield vaccines directly procured by the Kerala government arrived at Kochi airport today. Take a look.
The ruling NCP and Congress in Maharashtra on Monday hit out at the Centre over its handling of the COVID-19 situation in the country and called for "one nation, one policy" to fight the pandemic.
State Minority Affairs Minister and NCP leader Nawab Malik also demanded that the Narendra Modi government convene an all-party meeting to chalk out the policy. "The coronavirus cannot be eradicated only through advertisements at a time when there is a need to work out 'one nation, one policy' considering the current COVID-19 situation in the country," a statement said quoting Malik.
He claimed the situation in Uttar Pradesh and Bihar was such that the last rites of COVID-19 victims were being performed in rivers instead of crematoriums. (PTI)
Three Indian Navy warships are bringing to India on Monday 80 tonnes of liquid oxygen, 20 cryogenic oxygen tanks, 3,150 cylinders and a large amount of other medical supplies from abroad as the country reels under a severe second wave of the coronavirus pandemic.
The medical supplies being brought by the ships included 900 oxygen-filled cylinders and 10,000 rapid antigen COVID-19 test kits, 54 oxygen concentrators, 450 PPE (personal protective equipment) kits, Indian Navy spokesperson Commander Vivek Madhwal said. Indian Navy ship Airavat is reaching Visakhapatnam from Singapore carrying eight cryogenic oxygen tanks each having a capacity of 20 metric tonnes of oxygen and other supplies.
Another warship, INS Kolkata, is arriving at New Mangalore port carrying 40 metric tonnes of liquid oxygen, 400 Oxygen cylinders and 47 oxygen concentrators from Qatar and Kuwait, Commander Madhwal said. INS Trikand is reaching Mumbai with 40 tonnes of oxygen from Qatar, he said. Last week, the Indian Navy deployed nine warships to bring liquid medical oxygen and other supplies from several countries in Persian Gulf and south-east Asia. (PTI)
Odisha's Covid-19 caseload on Monday rose to 5,44,873 after 10,031 more people tested positive for the infection, while 17 fresh fatalities pushed the toll to 2,197, a senior health department official said. Monday was the fifth consecutive day when the state registered more than 10,000 new cases.
Of the 10,031 new cases, 6,623 were reported from various quarantine centres, and the rest detected during contact tracing, the official said. Khurda district, of which the state capital Bhubaneswar is a part, recorded the maximum number of new cases at 1,329, followed by Sundergarh at 824, Cuttack at 720 and Cuttack at 708. (PTI)
The Covid-19 death toll in Himachal Pradesh rose to 1,906 on Monday with 34 fresh fatalities, while 1,340 new cases pushed the infection tally to 1,32,763, a senior official said. According to the data updated till 2 pm, the number of active cases in the state stands at 31,629. The official said the total recoveries in the state have climbed to 99,188 with 2,143 more people recovering from the infection. (PTI)
Due to the aggressive second wave of coronavirus cases, the Congress Working Committee (CWC) has decided to further postpone elections for the party's president, sources told ANI. In the previous CWC meeting, the Central Election Authority had proposed 23rd June as the poll date.
The new schedule for elections is yet to be ascertained, sources said.
In a first, the Delhi Police has directed the DCPs of all 15 district to get data of cremations and burials — Covid or non-Covid — directly from cremation grounds. Senior officials claimed they are doing it to know the ground reality.
The indianexpress.com has confirmed from five to seven DCPs and their senior officials at police headquarters (PHQ) that they have started compiling data from May 1.
“The message to collect data to all the DCPs came from their concerned JCPs, and they received orders from their Special CPs of zones. All the SHOs are sending their concerned beat constables to the cremation ground of their area to collect data from the in-charge of cremation/burial ground, covering rural areas as well. After collection, all DCPs are providing details to their seniors during morning diary briefing, and later it is given to the Crime Records Office (CRO),” a senior police officer said. Read Mahender Singh Manral's report here.
Medicines and equipment required for treatment of Covid-19 patients should be treated as essential commodities, a PIL urged in the Delhi High Court which on Monday sought response of the Centre and Delhi government on the issue. A bench of Justices Vipin Sanghi and Rekha Palli issued notice to the Union Health Ministry and Delhi government on the plea which has also sought setting up of fast track courts to deal exclusively with cases of black marketing and hoarding of medicines and equipment.
The petition by Delhi resident Manisha Chauhan has also sought appointment of special public prosecutors for dealing with such cases before the special fast track courts. (PTI)