Covid LIVE: Maharashtra sees biggest single-day spike of 43,183 new cases

Coronavirus live updates: Maharashtra, Chhattisgarh, Karnataka, Punjab, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Gujarat and MP account for 84.61% of the new cases are reported in India. Stay tuned for corona-related news

11:10 PM

Covid-19: Karnataka suspends physical classes for std six-nine students in Bengaluru

With coronavirus cases surging in Bengaluru, the Karnataka government on Thursday announced suspending regular classes for standard six to nine in Bengaluru urban district with immediate effect.
 

"Keeping in view the increasing Covid cases, the physical classes for standard six to nine has been stopped with immediate effect till the next order," state Primary and Secondary Education Minister S Suresh Kumar said in a statement.
 

The decision was taken in view of the health of students in this age group, he added. However, the regular classes for Class 10 students will continue.
 

The regular physical classes for standard six to nine in other parts of the state will continue as it is subject to the condition that decisions will be taken keeping in view the situation in future.
 

Regarding exams, the minister clarified that the directions on holding the exams for classes six to nine will be taken in the coming days.
 

The regular classes for class six to nine started from January 1 in the state after the primary and secondary schools remained shut more than half of the 2020-21 academic year.
 

Virtual classes or the online classes were the only means to impart education to the students between Class six and 10 to contain coronavirus cases last year.
 

The decline in cases encouraged the government to conduct regular classes but the sudden spurt in cases, which the Karnataka Health Minister called 'Second Wave of Coronavirus' has now forced the education department to suspend regular classes for standard six to nine.
 

11:10 PM

Chhattisgarh logs highest one-day spike of 4,617 Covid-19 cases

Chhattisgarh on Thursday reported 4,617 coronavirus cases, the highest single-day spike since the outbreak of the pandemic last year, which pushed the state's caseload to 3,53,804, a health official said.
 

The death toll also rose to 4,204 with 34 more people succumbing to the infection and co-morbidities, he said.
 

Amid the spike in cases, Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel has directed district Collectors to decide upon imposing lockdown in their respective areas, taking into account the situation at the local level, an official statement said.
 

The number of recoveries reached 3,20,613 after 57 people were discharged from hospitals and 950 completed home isolation.

The number of active cases in Chhattisgarh now stands at 28,987, he said.
 

The worst-hit Raipur and Durg districts accounted for 1,327 and 996 of the new cases, respectively, for the day.
 

While the total count of infections in Raipur has reached 66,999, including 914 deaths, Durg's caseload has increased to 40,068, including 754 deaths.
 

11:09 PM

Nine deaths, 2,600 fresh virus cases in UP

Uttar Pradesh reported 2,600 new Covid-19 cases and nine fatalities on Thursday, pushing the state's infection tally to 6,19,783 and the death toll to 8,820, according to a Health Department bulletin.
 

Meanwhile, the district courts campuses of Lucknow and Kaushambi were closed after some judges and staff members tested positive for coronavirus.
 

According to Additional Chief Secretary (Health) Amit Mohan Prasad, the number of active cases in the state has gone up to 11,918, of which 6,722 are in home isolation, 287 in private hospitals and the rest in government facilities.
 

A total of 5,99,045 people have so far recovered from the infection in the state, he said.
 

Two deaths each were reported from Lucknow and Allahabad and one each from Kanpur Nagar, Varanasi, Gorakhpur, Barabanki and Ghazipur on Thursday, the bulletin said.
 

The maximum 935 cases were reported from Lucknow followed by 242 from Allahabad, 198 from Varanasi and 103 from Kanpur Nagar, the bulletin said.
 

So far, over 3.49 crore samples have been tested for Covid-19 in the state, including over 1.24 lakh on Wednesday, Prasad said.
 

He said the vaccination drive against coronavirus is going on at over 5,000 centres and asked people above 45 years of age to get themselves registered through a dedicated portal.
 

Stressing the importance of the vaccination, he said over 11 lakh people have so far taken its second doses.
 

11:08 PM

8,011 new Covid-19 cases in Pune district, 65 people die

Pune district in Maharashtra reported as many as 8,011 new coronavirus cases on Thursday, which pushed its cumulative count to 5,42,422, a health official said.

This is for the second consecutive day the district has recorded more than 8,000 cases.
 

On Wednesday, the district had reported 8,605 new infection cases, its biggest single-day spike ever since the pandemic began last year.
 

Its fatality count reached 10,039 as 65 patients succumbed to the infection during the day.
 

"Of the total number of new cases, 4,103 were reported from the areas located within the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) limits, where the caseload has gone up to 2,73,446," the official said.
 

Pimpri Chinchwad, Pune city's neighbouring industrial township, reported 2,113 new cases, which pushed its overall count to 1,42,251.
 

A total of 2,077 patients were discharged from hospitals in the district, the official added.
 

11:08 PM

Mumbai sees record 8,646 new Covid-19 cases, 18 deaths

Mumbai on Thursday reported 8,646 new coronavirus cases, its highest one-day rise since the outbreak of the pandemic, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) said.
 

This took the city's overall caseload to 4,23,360.
 

The death of 18 patients during the day, the highest single-day figure since the first week of December last year, took the fatality count to 11,704, it said.
 

On March 28, the city had reported 6,923 new Covid-19 cases, which was the highest till then. On December 5, 2020, the metropolis had reported 18 fatalities, but later witnessed a gradual decline in the number of deaths.
 

As 5,031 people got discharge from hospitals during the day, the recovery count jumped to 3,55,691, the BMC said.

Mumbai's Covid-19 recovery rate is now 84 per cent.
 

The infection growth rate has worsened to 1.38 per cent and the doubling rate has dropped to 49 days.
 

There are 80 active containment zones in the city, where 650 buildings have been sealed to curb the spread of the virus.
 

A total of 46,758 people were tested for Covid-19 in the last 24 hours, which took Mumbai's overall test count to 41,29,931, the civic body said.
 

10:11 PM

World trade body chief says vaccine inequity ''unacceptable''

The head of the World Trade Organisation called Thursday for expanded capability in developing countries to manufacture vaccines, saying the gaping imbalance in access to coronavirus vaccines that mostly favours rich, developed countries was unacceptable.
 

WTO Director-General Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala said she supports the creation of a framework that would give developing countries "some automaticity and access to manufacture vaccines with technology transfer" during future pandemics, decrying the "vaccine inequity" of the current one.
 

"The idea that 70% of vaccines today have been administered only by 10 countries is really not acceptable," Okonjo-Iweala told reporters while hosting French Economy Minister Bruno Le Maire at WTO's Geneva headquarters.
 

Scores of the trade body's member nations have backed efforts led by South Africa and India to get the WTO to grant a temporary waiver of its intellectual property pact to help boost Covid-19 vaccine production at a time of insufficient supplies.
 

Some wealthier countries and those with strong pharmaceutical industries oppose the idea, saying it would crimp future innovation.
 

10:00 PM

Covid: 60 more deaths, 3,187 more cases in Punjab

Punjab on Thursday reported 3,187 fresh Covid-19 cases, the highest single-day spike so far, and 60 more fatalities due to it.

On March 26, the state had seen the maximum daily surge of 3,176 infections.
 

As there was no sign of abating in fresh cases of infection, the tally rose to 2,42,895 with 3,187 cases.
 

The death toll also jumped to 6,926 with 60 fatalities, a medical bulletin issued by the Punjab government said.
 

The number of active cases rose from 23,832 on Wednesday to 24,644 on Thursday.
 

Jalandhar reported a maximum of 416 cases, Mohali 409, Ludhiana 376, Amritsar 332 and Patiala 268, among new cases.
 

The districts which saw deaths included Amritsar (11), Hoshiarpur (9), Jalandhar (9) and Ludhiana (8).
 

A total of 2,291 coronavirus patients were discharged after recovering from the infection, taking the number of cured persons to 2,11,325, the bulletin said.

There are 33 critical patients who are on ventilator support while 334 are on oxygen support, it added.
 

A total of 59,72,667 samples have been collected for testing so far in the state, it said.
 

Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh on Wednesday had warned of imposing stricter restrictions if the Covid situation in the state does not improve in the next one week.
 

9:59 PM

Italy reports 501 coronavirus deaths on Thursday, 23,649 new cases

Italy reported 501 coronavirus-related deaths on Thursday against 467 the day before, the health ministry said, while the daily tally of new infections decreased to 23,649 from 23,904.
 

Some 356,085 tests for Covid-19 were carried out in the past day, compared with a previous 351,221, the health ministry said.
 

Italy has registered 109,847 deaths linked to Covid-19 since its outbreak emerged in February last year, the second-highest toll in Europe after Britain and the seventh-highest in the world. The country has reported 3.6 million cases to date.
 

Patients in hospital with Covid-19 - not including those in intensive care - stood at 28,949 on Thursday, down from 29,180 a day earlier.
 

There were 244 new admissions to intensive care units, down from 283 on Wednesday. The total number of intensive care patients were down to 3,681 from a previous 3,710.
 

9:46 PM

India for comprehensive, expert-led mechanism to investigate origin of Covid-19

India on Thursday said it shares the need for a comprehensive and expert-led mechanism to expeditiously investigate the origin of the coronavirus, days after the World Health Organization (WHO) came out with a report on it.
 

WHO officials said data was withheld from its investigators, who travelled to China to study the origin of the coronavirus that causes Covid-19.
 

"We share the need for a comprehensive and expert-led mechanism that would expeditiously investigate the origin of Covid-19 in cooperation with all stakeholders," Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) Spokesperson Arindam Bagchi said.
 

He was replying to media queries on the issue.
 

Bagchi said the WHO report represents an important first step in establishing the origins of the Covid-19 pandemic.
 

"It has listed four pathways concerning the emergence of the disease but has stressed the need for next-phase studies across the region. The report also stresses the need for further data and studies to reach robust conclusions," he said.
 

The MEA spokesperson also mentioned the WHO director general's comments on delays and difficulties in accessing raw data by the team conducting the study.
 

"It is pertinent to note that the director general of the WHO has separately raised the issue of delays and difficulties in accessing raw data for the team conducting the study," he said.
 

"We fully support the director general's expectation that future collaborative studies will include more timely and comprehensive data-sharing. In this connection, we also welcome his readiness to deploy additional missions," Bagchi added.
 

9:42 PM

Subject Expert Committee seeks more information for Russia's Covid-19 vaccine Sputnik V

9:38 PM

Chhattisgarh: Secretariat, directorate offices to function with 50 pc staff

In light of the rise in Covid-19 cases, the Chhattisgarh government on Thursday directed the secretariat and directorate offices to function with 50 per cent staff strength, an official here said.
 

An order has been issued in this regard by D D Singh, the secretary of the general administration department, the official said.
 

"Information has been received that several employees of Mantralaya (secretariat) and offices of head of departments (HoDs) have contracted the Covid-19 infection. In view of this, these offices will function with 50 per cent of their staff strength," the order read.
 

Employees who are above 45 years of age will have to get vaccinated against coronavirus, it stated.
 

"The facility for vaccination has been arranged in Mahanadi (secretariat) and Indravati (directorate) buildings, and vaccination should be made compulsory," it said.

According to the order, a roster of 50 per cent of the total staff of concerned offices should be made on a weekly basis.
 

Fifty per cent of the staff will attend office, while the remaining 50 per cent will work from home, it was stated.
 

The employees should use their own vehicle as far as possible to ensure that the social distancing protocol is followed, it said.
 

Buses for these offices should run with half their occupancy and if required, buses can be run twice on the same route, it said.
 

Chhattisgarh on Wednesday had recorded the highest single-day spike of 4,563 coronavirus cases since the pandemic began in March last year.
 

The state's Covid-19 caseload stood at 3,49,187 till Wednesday. 
 

9:37 PM

IOA working with AIIMS authorities to vaccinate Olympic-bound athletes

Concerned at the increasing number of athletes contracting Covid-19 at top training centres, the Indian Olympic Association has asked the authorities to expedite the process to get the Olympic-bound athletes get vaccinated soon at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) here.
 

Thirty sports persons and support staff across disciplines returned positive after 741 precautionary tests were conducted at the National Centres of Excellence in Patiala and Bengaluru on Wednesday.
 

Even though the positive results in both the centres do not include any Tokyo Olympic-bound athlete, the IOA does not want to take chances as they are training at the same facilities.
 

"We are concerned at the athletes testing positive for Covid-19 though all the Olympic-bound athletes are safe. But we have to vaccinate them as soon as possible. We have written twice to health ministry in this regard but no headway till now," IOA Secretary General Rajeev Mehta told PTI.
 

"So, we already have two rounds of discussion with the AIIMS Resident Doctors' Association General Secretary (Dr. Rajeev Ranjan). He said the athletes can start vaccination. So, I am writing to AIIMS Director on Friday to hasten the process," he added.
 

Mehta had in February written to Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan, requesting him to consider vaccinating the Tokyo Olympics-bound athletes on a priority basis to give them sufficient time before leaving for the Games.
 

Around 80 Indian athletes have so far qualified for the Olympics, which will be held from July 23 to August 8 after being postponed last year due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
 

9:36 PM

Over 6.2 million people given Covid-19 vaccine in Maharashtra

As many as 62,45,860 people have been given coronavirus vaccine doses in Maharashtra so far, the state government said on Thursday.
 

Of them, 2,16,211 people were administered vaccines on Wednesday, it said in an official statement.
 

Of the total number of beneficiaries, 10,00,918 were health workers, who have received their first dose, of whom 4,79,298 have got their second dose as well.
 

Similarly 8,78,535 frontline workers have got their first dose, of which 2,64,659 also got their second dose, the government said.
 

In the 45 to 60 age group with co-morbidities 7,12,301 people have received their first dose, while 1,188 have got their second dose.
 

In the senior citizens category, 29,04,180 people have got their first jab, while 4,981 received the second dose, the government said.
 

9:34 PM

MEA on WHO's origin of coronavirus study

Report represents important first step in establishing origins of Covid-19 pandemic: MEA on WHO's origin of coronavirus study

9:31 PM

Mumbai logs record 8,646 new Covid-19 cases, 18 deaths

Mumbai on Thursday reported 8,646 new coronavirus cases, its highest one-day rise since the outbreak of the pandemic, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) said.

 

This took the city's overall caseload to 4,23,360.

 

The death of 18 patients during the day, the highest single-day figure since the first week of December last year, took the fatality count to 11,704, it said.

 

On March 28, the city had reported 6,923 new Covid-19 cases, which was the highest till then. On December 5, 2020, the metropolis had reported 18 fatalities, but later witnessed a gradual decline in the number of deaths.

 

A total of 46,758 people were tested for Covid-19 in the last 24 hours, which took Mumbai's overall test count to 41,29,931, the civic body said.

9:30 PM

Haryana records 1,609 fresh Covid-19 cases, 9 deaths

Haryana recorded 1,609 fresh Covid-19 cases on Thursday that took its tally to 2,92,409, while nine more fatalities pushed the death toll to 3,164, a health department bulletin said.

 

Of the latest deaths, two each were reported from Kaithal and Hisar districts, and one each from Gurgaon, Karnal, Yamunanagar, Bhiwani and Fatehabad.

 

Among the districts that reported a big spike in daily cases are Gurgaon (381), Karnal (214) and Panchkula (159).

 

The number of active cases in Haryana stands at 10,362. The state has a recovery rate of 95.37 percent, the bulletin said.

9:15 PM

Maharashtra reports 43,183 new Covid-19 cases, 32,641 recoveries

8:52 PM

Coronavirus LIVE: Punjab reports 3,187 new cases

Punjab reports 3,187 new coronavirus cases, 2,291 discharges and 60 deaths in Punjab today, according to the state health department.

8:49 PM

Jammu and Kashmir adds 461 Covid-19 cases, 4 more deaths

Jammu and Kashmir on Thursday recorded 461 fresh Covid-19 cases that took its tally to 131,421, while four more fatalities pushed the death toll to 1,998, officials said.

 

Of the fresh cases, 361 were reported from the Kashmir division and 100 from the Jammu division, they said.

 

Srinagar district recorded the highest number of fresh cases at 157, including 44 travellers, followed by 76 in Baramulla and 61 in Jammu, according to the officials.

8:36 PM

WHO: Europe's vaccination programme is 'unacceptably slow'

European nations' immunization campaigns against Covid-19 are unacceptably slow and risk prolonging the pandemic, a senior World Health Organization official said Thursday.

 

Dr Hans Kluge, WHO's regional director for Europe, said vaccines present our best way out of this pandemic, but noted that to date, only 10 per cent of Europe's population has received one dose and that only 4 per cent have been fully protected with two doses.

 

As long as coverage remains low, we need to apply the same public health and social measures as we have in the past, to compensate for delayed schedules, Kluge said.

 

Even those numbers hide the true scope of the problems facing the European Union's 27 nations, where only about 5.6 per cent of its people have had a first vaccine shot, according to the bloc. In Britain, that figure is 46 per cent of its population.

8:32 PM

Bangladesh reports highest single-day spike in coronavirus cases

Bangladesh on Thursday reported 6,469 Covid-19 cases, the highest single-day spike since its outbreak in the country on March 8 last year, taking the tally of infections to 617,764.

 

The death toll climbed to 9,105 after 59 fatalities were registered on Thursday, according to data released by the government.

 

The 59 deaths were second highest in terms of fatality since June 30 last year when the virus killed 64 people, Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS) said in a statement.

 

The DGHS said 40 out of the 59 died in central Dhaka division alone.

8:16 PM

Coronavirus LIVE: Mumbai sees nearly 8,646 cases in biggest single-day spike

8:05 PM

Covid cases in Karnataka breache a million mark; 4,234 new cases, 18 deaths

The number of Covid-19 cases in Karnataka breached the 10 lakh mark on Thursday, with Karnataka reporting 4,234 cases and 18 more deaths, taking the death toll to 12,585, the Health department said.

 

The day also saw 1,599 patients getting discharged after recovery.

 

Bengaluru Urban alone reported 2,906 cases today.

 

A total of over 2,15,26,958 samples have been tested so far, out of which 1,15,732 were tested on Thursday alone.

7:47 PM

Coronavirus LIVE: Delhi reports 2,790 fresh Covid-19 cases

Delhi reports 2,790 fresh Covid-19 cases 1,121 recoveries, and 9 deaths in the last 24 hours, according to the health department

7:38 PM

Nagaland reports 5 new Covid-19 cases, tally rises to 12,345

Nagaland on Thursday reported five new Covid-19 cases, pushing the coronavirus tally to 12,345, a senior health department official said.

 

The five new cases were reported from Dimapur and Kohima, the official said.

 

"5 positive cases of Covid-19 was reported today, including one in Kohima and four in Dimapur district," said Director of Health Department, Dr Denis Hangsing in the daily Covid-19 bulletin.

7:21 PM

Coronavirus LIVE: Goa reports 265 new cases

Goa reports 265 new coronavirus cases, one fatality. Infection tally rises to 58,304, death toll 831. There are 1,716 active cases in the state at present, according to the state health department.

7:13 PM

AP clocks 1,271 new coronavirus cases, three deaths

Andhra Pradesh reported 1,271 fresh Covid-19 cases, 464 recoveries and three deaths in 24 hours ending 9 am on Thursday.

 

The latest bulletin said the gross positives now climbed to 9.03 lakh after 1.51 crore tests, at an overall rate of 5.98 per cent.

 

The total recoveries increased to 8,87,898 and toll to 7,220, it said.

7:08 PM

US jobless claims rise to 719,000 as virus still forces layoffs

The number of Americans applying for unemployment benefits rose by 61,000 last week to 719,000, signalling that many employers are still cutting jobs even as more businesses reopen, vaccines are increasingly administered and federal aid spreads through the economy.

 

The Labour Department said Thursday that the number of claims increased from 684,000 the week before. Though the pace of applications has dropped sharply since early this year, they remain high by historical standards: Before the pandemic flattened the economy a year ago, jobless claims typically ran below 220,000 a week.

6:52 PM

Amid Covid surge, Delhi govt says students must not be called to schools in new academic session

Students of any class in Delhi schools not be called in new academic session till further orders: Directorate of Education

6:51 PM

Coronavirus LIVE: Uttarakhand reports 500 new cases

Uttarakhand reports 500 new Covid-19 positive cases including 236 infections in Dehradun and 149 in Haridwar today, taking the total number to 100,911, according to the state health department.