Page 30 - Coronavirus

With 40 new infections, Active Covid cases in country rise to 1,463

India has logged 40 new coronavirus infections, while the active cases have increased to 1,463, according to the Union Health Ministry data updated on Sunday. The death toll stood at 5,31,915, the data updated at 8 am stated. The Covid case tally stands at 4.49 crore (4,49,95,264). The national COVID-19 recovery rate has been recorded at 98.81 per cent, according to the health ministry website. The number of people who have recuperated from the disease surged to 4,44,61,886 and the case fatality rate was recorded at 1.18 per cent. According to the ministry's website, 220.67 crore doses of Covid vaccine have been administered in the country so far under the nationwide vaccination drive.

India reports 60 new Covid cases, active cases in country climb to 1,479

India has logged 60 new coronavirus infections, while the active cases have increased to 1,479 from 1,460 a day ago, according to the Union health ministry data updated on Saturday. The death toll stood at 5,31,915, the data updated at 8 am stated. The Covid case tally been recorded at 4.49 crore (4,49,95,224). The national COVID-19 recovery rate has been recorded at 98.81 per cent, according to the health ministry website. The number of people who have recuperated from the disease surged to 4,44,61,830 while the case fatality rate was recorded at 1.18 per cent. According to the ministry's website, 220.67 crore doses of Covid vaccines have been administered in the country so far under the nationwide COVID-19 vaccination drive.

No extra grains given to beneficiaries in Chhattisgarh during Covid: CAG

As many as 167.32 lakh beneficiaries holding priority household ration cards were not given additional food grains as envisaged under a central scheme during the COVID-19 pandemic in the Congress-ruled Chhattisgarh, national auditor CAG has said. The Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) of India's compliance audit report for the year ended March 31, 2021, was tabled in the state legislative assembly on Friday by Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel. The report also highlighted irregularities in the functioning of fair price shops. The Government of India launched the Pradhan Mantri Gareeb Kalyan Anna Yojana (PMGKAY) in March 2020 to mitigate the hardships faced by the poor and needy people due to economic disruptions caused by COVID-19 pandemic, the report said. Under the scheme, an additional 5 kg of free rice per person per month was to be provided for distribution to all the beneficiaries covered under the National Food Security Act (NFSA). Coverage under NFSA is under two categories

China eyes next pandemic in push for new medical emergency facilities

The facilities will be used for tourism, recreation and healthcare in normal times. During emergencies, they will serve as medical treatment and quarantine centers

ED arrests businessman Sujit Patkar in BMC Covid-19 centres' case

The Enforcement Directorate has arrested businessman Sujit Patkar, a friend of Shiv Sena (UBT) MP Sanjay Raut, and another person in connection with a money laundering case related to alleged irregularities in setting up of jumbo COVID-19 treatment facilities here, an official said on Thursday. Patkar and his three partners allegedly bagged Mumbai civic body contracts fraudulently for managing COVID-19 field hospitals in the city during the pandemic, officials earlier said. The ED arrested Patkar and doctor Kishore Bisure on Wednesday night after their alleged involvement in the case came to light, an official said. Bisure was the dean of the Dahisar jumbo COVID-19 centre, the official said. Both of them will be produced before a court later in the day, he said. The ED last month conducted raids at 15 locations in Mumbai in connection with the money laundering case against Patkar and others. The raids were conducted at locations of some officials of the Brihanmumbai Municipal ...

School closures caused extreme learning losses: World Bank prez Ajay Banga

School closures during the COVID-19 pandemic caused extreme learning losses, World Bank President Ajay Banga said on Wednesday, underlining the need to devise a mechanism to prevent such situations before the next pandemic hits. "We have a real challenge for the generation which was undergoing schooling during the pandemic," Banga said, responding to a question by PTI. "Developed and developing countries were learning how to deal with it when we were hit by the COVID-19 pandemic. There have been extreme learning losses due to prolonged school closures during the period...and dealing with the learning losses is not just India's problem, it is an issue across the globe," he said. "My view is that we must learn now. We have to fix what we have got, pretty much make sure we learn before the next pandemic, devise a mechanism...or we will make the same mistakes again. The next one (pandemic) will come fore sure. It is a question of how long before it does come? To me that is the bigger ..

India ends Covid-19 testing requirements for international travellers

Health ministry guidelines say travellers should be fully vaccinated and follow preventive measures

Govt eases Covid guidelines for i'ntl travellers, drops RT-PCR requirement

The Union Health Ministry has further eased COVID-19 guidelines for international visitors, dropping the earlier requirement for RT-PCR based testing of a random two per cent subset of international travellers. The guidelines have been eased after taking note of the prevalent coronavirus situation and the significant achievements made in the vaccination coverage across the globe. The new guidelines shall come into effect from midnight of July 20. However, the earlier advice for precautionary measures to be followed by airlines as well as international travellers in context of Covid shall continue to apply, the ministry said.

India logs 49 new Covid infections, total active cases climb to 1,464

India has logged 49 new coronavirus infections, while the active cases have increased to 1,464 from 1,453 a day ago, according to the Union Health Ministry data updated on Wednesday. The death toll stood at 5,31,915, the data updated at 8 am stated. The Covid case tally been recorded at 4.49 crore (4,49,95,004). The national COVID-19 recovery rate has been recorded at 98.81 per cent, according to the health ministry website. The number of people who have recuperated from the disease surged to 4,44,61,625 and the case fatality rate was recorded at 1.18 per cent. According to the ministry's website, 220.67 crore doses of Covid vaccine have been administered in the country so far under the nationwide vaccination drive.

Chinese province saw cremations surge 73% as Covid hit, says report

Most people who die in China are cremated, with burials banned in some areas

India records 54 new Covid infections, active case count now at 1,408

India has recorded a single-day rise of 54 new COVID-19 infections and the count of active cases now stands at 1,408, according to Union Health Ministry data updated on Saturday. The death toll due to the disease has increased to 5,31,914 and the tally of the infections is at 4.49 crore (4,49,94,819), the data updated at 8 am showed. The national COVID-19 recovery rate was recorded at 98.81 per cent, according to the health ministry website. The number of people who have recuperated from the disease has surged to 4,44,61,497, while the case fatality rate is at 1.18 per cent, according to the data. According to the ministry's website, 220.66 crore vaccine doses have been administered in the country so far under the nationwide COVID-19 vaccination drive.

What causes long Covid-19? Researchers may have found the guilty gene

Researchers compiled data from 24 studies involving a total of nearly 6,500 people diagnosed with long Covid-19

Delta Air forecasts stronger earnings on post-pandemic travel boom

Shares of other airlines also followed Delta's gains, with American Airlines, United Airlines and Southwest Airlines all up about 1.8% before the bell

Global spending on Covid predicted to touch $500 bn by 2027: Dr Reddy's

Though the World Health Organisation lifted the emergency tag on COVID-19, global spending on the disease, including research to improve the understanding of long-term complications and the presence of post-acute sequels of the killer virus, is expected to touch USD 500 billion by 2027, pharma major Dr Reddy's Laboratories has said in its latest annual report. The report, released on Monday, further said the health systems have responded well by developing vaccines with significant efficacy, safety, and speed. However, with the inconsistent use of vaccines and therapeutics, the next few years are not without uncertainties, especially with the periodic emergence of infections and viral variants. "At the same time, research has been ongoing to improve the understanding of the long-term complications and the presence of post-acute sequels of COVID-19. Considering this, it is believed that COVID-19 will still be a major driver for global medicine spending in the coming years. Global ...

Covid cases in India lowest since Feb 2020 as active cases dip to 1,431

India has recorded 24 new coronavirus infections, the lowest since February 2020, while the count of active cases has dipped to 1,431, according to the Union Health Ministry data updated on Monday. The first case of coronavirus infection in the country was recorded on January 30, 2020 from Kerala and the first death was reported on March 10, 2020 from Karnataka. The health ministry started issuing daily Covid data from March end onwards. According to the data updated at 8 am on Monday, the death toll was recorded as 5,31,913. The Covid case tally has been recorded at 4.49 crore (4,49,94,599) while the national recovery rate has been recorded at 98.81 per cent, the ministry said. The number of people who have recuperated from the disease surged to 4,44,61,255 and the case fatality rate was recorded at 1.18 per cent. According to the ministry's website, 220.66 crore doses of Covid vaccine have been administered in the country so far under the nationwide vaccination drive.

Azerbaijan's Covid curbs turn into moneyspinner despite it being over

The self-isolation from its neighbors that include Russia and Iran is the last remaining safety measure imposed by Azerbaijan during the pandemic

'Districts' performance in school education sees notable drop during Covid'

The performance of districts in school education saw a significant drop during the Covid pandemic, with none of the districts figuring in the top two categories in the Ministry of Education's Performance Grading Index for Districts (PGI-D) for 2020-21 and 2021-22 released on Sunday. Punjab with 18 districts in "Ati-Uttam" category (the third grade out of total 10), in 2021-22 has outperformed Rajasthan whose number of districts in this category came down to five from 26 in 2020-21. Punjab too has one less district in this category compared to 2020-21. The report on PGI-D assesses the performance of school education system at the district level by creating an index for comprehensive analysis. It graded 742 districts during 2020-21 and 748 districts during 2021-22 across the states and Union territories. PGI-D grades the districts into 10 grades with the highest achievable grade being "Daksh", which is for districts scoring more than 90 per cent of the total points in that category or

Top headlines: Rail freight's 1st dip after Covid, Kharif sowing falls 9%

Business Standard brings you the top headlines at this hour

Several Indian-Americans among 14 charged in $52 mn Covid relief fund fraud

Around 14 people, including several Indian-origin business owners and employees have been charged in a USD 53 million fraud scheme involving a COVID-19 pandemic relief programme in the US state of Texas. This case is the largest investigated by the Pandemic Response Accountability Committee (PRAC) Fraud Task Force to date, US Attorney for the Northern District of Texas Leigha Simonton said in a press release. The defendants were arrested on Tuesday and Wednesday in Texas, California, and Oklahoma, the release said. Simonton said the 14 people allegedly bilked the Paycheck Protection Program, a COVID-era financial program, and numerous financial institutions out of more than USD 53 million in loan proceeds. Defrauding the government is an affront to American taxpayers. Defrauding the government during a pandemic at a time when millions of hardworking entrepreneurs struggled to make payroll and rent is pouring salt in a wound, Simonton said. These defendants allegedly conspired to

Rail freight sees first YoY decline since Covid in June; sea cargo flat

For the Railways, the reduced loading was primarily on account of thermal coal, the mainstay of its freight operations