India Coronavirus Dispatch: 353,000 fresh cases in new daily high

Large firms gear up to vaccinate workforce, Centre-state volleyball on key issues needs to end, and more-news relevant to India's fight against Covid-19

Nearly 353,000 fresh infections in new daily record

India reported 352,991 fresh coronavirus infections on Monday, taking the cumulative caseload to about 17.3 million, according to central health ministry data. The country saw 2,812 deaths due to the pandemic, taking the death toll to about 195,000. The active caseload is at 2.8 million, while the total recoveries have surged to 14.3 million. As many as 141 million shots have been administered since the nationwide inoculation programme kicked off on January 16. Of these, nearly 1 million were given on Sunday. Read more here

Reliance, Maruti and others are gearing up to inoculate workforce from May 1

Several marquee firms in India will begin vaccinating their employees from May 1 including automaker Maruti Suzuki and Mukesh Ambani's Reliance Industries, a report in ThePrint said. “We will certainly vaccinate all our employees. Both regular employees and our casual workers, contract workers and contractors’ workers working in the plants will be vaccinated. I would have liked to start immediately but we will wait till 1 May,” R C Bhargava, chairman, Maruti Suzuki India Ltd, told ThePrint.

The Centre's decision to open up vaccinations for all and allow the private sector to directly purchase vaccines was a long pending demand of manufacturing firms in India. Read more here

OPINION: Centre-state volleyball needs to end

A volleyball game between the Modi government and the states on everything from vaccines to oxygen shortage is causing the loss of many lives in the second wave of the pandemic, says an opinion column in ThePrint. Figuring out who is accountable for what and when is becoming increasingly muddy. While public health is a state subject in India, some of its elements have been managed by the Centre. With a lack of clarity in policy, transparency, and accountability between the Centre and states, India’s Covid-19 pandemic response has suffered, the column says. Read more here

Google announces $18 million commitment for India's Covid fight

Google has announced a commitment of $18 million to support India's fight against the pandemic, a report in The Indian Express said. The commitment includes two grants from Google’s philanthropic arm—Google.org. The fund will help in arranging urgent medical supplies, including oxygen and testing equipment amid a surge in cases across the country. “The first (grant) is to GiveIndia to provide cash assistance to families hit hardest by the crisis to help with their everyday expenses. The second will go to UNICEF to help get urgent medical supplies, including oxygen and testing equipment, to where it’s needed most in India,” said Sanjay Gupta, Country Head and VP, Google India. The bulk of the funding is ad support for public health campaigns. Read more here

Set up Covid helpline for hospital beds: Centre to states

The Modi government has instructed the states to set up a centralised call centre-based service to allocate hospital beds for Covid patients amid surging caseloads across the country. The states have also been asked to maintain a real-time record of the number of available beds. Read more here