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Coronavirus LIVE: Maharashtra reports 61,695 new cases; 16,699 in Delhi

Coronavirus live updates: India recorded 200,739 fresh Covid cases and 1,037 deaths in the last 24 hrs. Delhi govt has imposed weekend lockdown until further orders. Stay tuned for corona-related news

BS Web Team New Delhi

2 min read Last Updated : Apr 16 2021 | 3:29 AM IST

3:29 AM

Civic bodies to run sanitisation drives during weekend curfew

All three city municipal corporations will conduct sanitisation drives in their areas during the weekend curfew imposed to curb the spread of the Covid-19 infection in the national capital, the Delhi BJP chief said on Thursday.

The mayors of all three civic bodies held a joint press conference, where Delhi BJP chief Adesh Gupta was also present.

Gupta said the coronavirus cases are continuously increasing in Delhi and in this pandemic, all three municipal corporations are standing with the public.

All three corporation will conduct campaigns for sanitisation in their areas during the weekend curfew.

Sanitation work will be done in various markets, streets and wards, he added.

He said special arrangements have been made by the corporation also to lift bio-medical wastes in the areas where citizens are under home isolation so that they do not face any inconvenience.

Gupta said there are 130 corona vaccination centres under the jurisdiction of the three municipal corporations and they will be extended in the coming days so that the inoculation campaign can be expedited further.

He said doctors of the corporation hospitals will provide counselling to the citizens during home isolation.

North Delhi Mayor Jai Prakash said because of the increasing cases of Covid-19, a high-level meeting was held to chalk out a plan for sanitisation drive and take other anti-Covid measures.

He said a letter has also been written to the Delhi government and the Delhi Disaster Management Authority in this connection.

3:29 AM

Kumbh is over for Niranjani Akhada

Niranjani Akhada, one of the 13 akhadas of seers participating in the Haridwar Kumbh, on Thursday decided to opt out of the event because of the deteriorating Covid-19 situation in the state.

"The main Shahi Snan held on the occasion of Mesh Sankranti on April 14 is over. Many in our akhada are showing Covid-19 symptoms. So, for us the Kumbh Mela is over," Niranjani Akhada secretary Ravindra Puri said.

Rising cases of coronavirus infection in Uttarakhand has spared none with several seers testing positive.

President of the Akhil Bharatiya Akhada Parishad Narendra Giri is down with Covid and recuperating at AIIMS-Rishikesh while Mahamandaleshwar of Maha Nirwani Akhada from Madhya Pradesh Swami Kapil Dev who was suffering from Covid died at a private hospital here on April 13.

Meanwhile, Uttarakhand on Thursday recorded its highest single-day spike in Covid cases since the outbreak of the pandemic with 2,220 people testing positive.

3:29 AM

Covid-19: BMC appoints 6 coordinators for seamless oxygen supply in Mumbai

In the wake of a surge in demand for medical oxygen, the Mumbai civic body on Thursday said it has appointed six of its officers as coordinators for maintaining seamless supply of the life-saving gas used in treatment of critical Covid-19 patients.

The civic body also said up to 2,000 more hospital beds for Covid-19 patients will be added in the next one week.

According to a Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) release, civic commissioner Iqbal Singh Chahal informed about the appointments at a virtual meeting with Maharashtra Tourism and Environment minister Aaditya Thackeray, Food and Drugs Commissioner Abhimanyu Kale and others.

The release said the officials will give instructions to private hospitals and nursing homes on judicious use of oxygen to present wastage. They will also coordinate with oxygen suppliers, civic ward officers and the Food and Drugs administration for seamless supply of the gas.

In the meeting, Chahal said hospitals in Mumbai are currently being supplied with 235 metric tonnes of oxygen and they have asked the state government to increase the supply in view of its growing number, according to the release.

He informed that presently Mumbai has 20,000 beds available at 150 Covid-19 hospitals, including government, BMC and private hospital-run.

The number of hospital beds will go up to 22,000, in a week, the release quoted the civic chief as telling the meeting.

3:25 AM

Chhattisgarh records 15,256 new Covid-19 cases, 135 deaths

With 15,256 new coronavirus cases reported on Thursday, Chhattisgarh saw its highest single-day spike, taking the state's caseload to 5,01,500, a health official said.

With 135 deaths due to the viral infection recorded during the day, the statewide toll mounted to 5,442, he said.

The state has been witnessing over 10,000 daily cases since the last nine days.

The number of active cases in the state stands at 1,21,769 after 113 people were discharged from hospitals, while 9,530 others completed their home isolation period in the day. With this, the number of people who have recovered from the infection increased to 3,74,289.

The worst-hit Raipur and Durg districts reported 3,438 and 1,778 new cases, respectively, in the day. While the total count of infection in Raipur reached 1,06,319, including 1,431 deaths, Durg's caseload increased to 62,166, including 1,054 deaths.

Rajnandgaon recorded 1,319 new cases, Bilaspur 1,139 and Balodabazar 616 among other districts, he said.

3:25 AM

9,956 new Covid-19 cases in Pune district, 114 die

Pune district in Maharashtra reported 9,955 new coronavirus cases on Thursday, taking its caseload to 6,85,970, a health official said.

The death toll reached 11,103 as 114 patients succumbed to the infection, he said.

"Of the 9,956 cases, 5,395 were from areas located within the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) limits, where the case count has grown to 3,49,424," the official said.

A total of 4,321 patients were discharged from hospitals during the day.

With 2,086 new cases, the tally in Pimpri Chinchwad township grew to 1,75,405.

3:24 AM

MP to get 450 MT of oxygen soon for Covid-19 patients: Chouhan

Madhya Pradesh would get 450 metric tonnes of medical oxygen from other states shortly for treatment of critical Covid-19 patients, Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan said on Thursday.

The new stock of medical-grade oxygen, whose demand has shot up due to the rising coronavirus cases, is being arranged after talking to the Centre, he said.

"I had requested Union Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal and Petroleum Minister Dharmendra Pradhan for oxygen supply to Madhya Pradesh. A consensus has been reached for supply of 450 metric tonnes (MT) of oxygen from Bhilai, Devri (Chhattisgarh) and Rourkela (Odisha) to the state shortly,” Chouhan told reporters here.

“I am thankful to them,” he added.

The chief minister said the private sector is being roped in to transport the life-saving gas in the state, which has been witnessing a surge in Covid-19 cases.

3:23 AM

France hits unwanted milestone: Over 100,000 virus deaths

France on Thursday became the third country in Europe after the UK and Italy to reach the unwanted milestone of 100,000 Covid-19-related deaths as new infections and deaths surged due to virus variants.

The country of 67 million is the eighth nation in the world to reach the mark after a year of overwhelmed hospitals, on-and-off coronavirus lockdowns and enormous personal losses that have left families nationwide grieving the pandemic's impact.

The moment prompted a message of solidarity from French President Emmanuel Macron.

“Since the start of the pandemic, 100,000 French women and men have succumbed to the virus. We all have a thought for their families, their loved ones, for the children who have lost a parent or a grandparent, the bereaved siblings, the broken friendships,” Macron said on Twitter. “We will not forget a face, a name,” he added.

France added 300 new deaths Thursday to the previous day's tally of 99,777, bringing the total to 100,077 deaths.

Lionel Petitpas, president of the group Victims of Covid-19 told The Associated Press that the number was “an important threshold.” After months of people getting accustomed to the virus, the figure “is piercing a lot of minds. It is a figure we thought would never be reached,” he said.

Petitpas, who lost his wife Joelle on March 29 last year from the virus, said families of victims "want the government to make a collective gesture to recognize our collective loss.” Macron told Le Parisien newspaper he thinks about all of the people who died in the pandemic and their families.

3:23 AM

Effective plan to be worked out to stem Covid-19 spread in MP: Chouhan

In view of a spurt in Covid-19 cases in Madhya Pradesh, the state government would chalk out an effective plan to stem the infection spread, Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan said on Thursday.

Along with creating public awareness about the pandemic, efforts were on to improve medical facilities, he said while chairing an online meeting of a state-level advisory committee on Covid-19, according to an official.

He said suggestions are being taken from senior doctors, other stakeholders and organisations to fight the unprecedented health crisis.

On advice of the committee, an effective plan would be drawn up to curb the infection spread, the official quoted Chouhan as saying in the meeting.

Nobel Peace Prize winner Kailash Satyarthi told the meeting that the mindset of the society needs to change for tackling the coronavirus outbreak and suggested creating more awareness about the pandemic.

He stressed on an effective mass communication strategy to combat the disease and said help of religious leaders should be sought to reach out to a large number of people.

3:21 AM

Brazil's hospitals running out of sedatives as Covid-19 rages

Brazil's hospitals were running out of drugs needed to sedate Covid-19 patients on Thursday, with the government urgently seeking to import supplies amid reports of the seriously ill being tied down and intubated without effective sedatives.

Health Minister Marcelo Queiroga said Brazil was in talks with Spain and other countries to secure the emergency drugs.

Hospitals, he added, were also struggling to get enough oxygen.

The scenes playing out across Brazil, one of the countries hardest hit by the Covid-19 pandemic, are placing growing international pressure on President Jair Bolsonaro.

Aid group MÃ©decins Sans FrontiÃ¨res (MSF) said Brazil's "failed response" had led to thousands of avoidable deaths and created a humanitarian catastrophe that could still get worse.

Brazil has recorded a total of 361,884 coronavirus deaths - only the United States has more - and 13,673,507 confirmed cases.

More Brazilians are currently dying of the virus each day than anywhere else in the world, with South America's largest country reporting another 3,560 deaths on Thursday. Bolsonaro has opposed lockdowns and held large events in which he often does not wear a mask. He has only recently embraced vaccines as a possible solution.

Brazil's hospitals are struggling to cope.

Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paulo have both sounded the alarm over shortages of sedatives, with Sao Paulo's Health Secretary saying the city's ability to care for seriously ill Covid-19 patients is on the verge of collapse.

8:45 PM

Coronavirus LIVE: West Bengal reports 6,769 new cases

West Bengal reports 6,769 fresh coronavirus cases, 2,387 recoveries and 22 deaths in the last 24 hours, according to the state health department.

8:28 PM