Page 80 - Coronavirus

Delhi hospitals 'fully equipped' to fight any surge in Covid cases: Sisodia

Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia on Tuesday said that the city government-run hospitals are "fully equipped" to fight any surge in Covid cases as mock drills were conducted at various medical facilities in the national capital to assess their preparedness to deal with the viral disease. Sisodia, who also holds the health portfolio, visited the Delhi government-run Lok Nayak Jai Prakash Narayan (LNJP) Hospital around noon to assess the drill, and later told reporters that the Delhi government is "prepared for any kind of emergency". "At the LNJP Hospital, there are 2,000 beds and 450 of those are dedicated to COVID-19. If need arises, we can dedicate all 2,000 beds for COVID-19... We can also increase this number by using nearby banquet halls and add an additional 500 beds for COVID-19 fight, so there would no shortage," he said. Sisodia said that the availability of medical oxygen at LNJP Hospital has been "increased manifold" as compared to the capacity last time. Five PS

Doctors urge govt to allow fourth booster dose for medical fraternity

They say protective effect of vaccine lasts nine months to a year. For health workers that period is already over and this is the right time to boost their immunity

Deja-vu moment as govt hospitals start mock drills to test Covid infra

The move comes even as India has only 3,421 active Covid-19 cases currently, and reported 157 fresh cases in the past 24 hour

Maha's active Covid tally reaches 165, with 26 new cases; zero fatality

Maharashtra on Tuesday recorded 26 new cases of coronavirus that raised the tally of infections to 81,36,552, an official from the state health department said. The toll remained unchanged at 1,48,415 and the count of recoveries reached 79,87,972 after 15 patients recovered from the infection during the day, he said. With 9,681 swab samples tested in the last 24 hours, the total number of tests conducted in the state so far rose to 8,58,76,790, the official said. As per the health department's report, Pune logged the highest eight cases, followed by seven cases in Mumbai circle, four each from Nashik and Latur, and one each from Nagpur, Aurangabad and Kolhapur circles. Maharashtra now has 165 active cases, of which Pune accounts for the highest 54 cases, followed by 44 in Mumbai and 11 in Thane district, it said. The recovery rate in Maharashtra is at 98.17 per cent and fatality rate stands at 1.82 per cent, the report said. According to the health department, 44,666 passengers .

Academic load enough, can do without Covid deployment: Teachers on order

A section of teachers on Tuesday wondered, burdened as they are with academic work, why they were chosen over civil defence volunteers for COVID duty at IGI Airport, even as the DDMA withdrew its order that asked for their deployment at the Delhi Airport. The Delhi Disaster Management Authority (DDMA) had on Monday issued an order directing government school teachers' deployment at the Indira Gandhi International (IGI) airport to enforce COVID protocols. After facing criticism from teachers, the DDMA on Tuesday withdrew its order that was meant to be enforced from December 31 to January 15, and exempted teachers from the COVID duty. The original order had been issued by the district magistrate (West) on behalf of the DDMA. District Secretary (West-A) of the Government School Teachers Association Sant Ram said that teachers should not be involved in duties other than academics and that government staff apart from teachers should have also been deployed at the airport. "Why involve

Covid mock drill held in Telangana hospitals as cases jump, says official

Telangana is fully geared up to tackle any situation with regard to COVID-19, Dr Ramesh Reddy, Director of Medical Education said on Tuesday. Speaking to reporters, Reddy said Covid mock drill to check infrastructure and preparedness to combat in case there is any spike in coronavirus cases has been conducted across all teaching, private, district, area and community hospitals in the state. "Telangana registers Covid cases hardly in single digit. There are no hospital admissions. There is nothing to worry. But we have to take precautions. We are fully geared up to tackle any situation. The state has not reported any case of BF.7 variant," he said. The mock drill started at state-owned Gandhi Hospital and Medical College in the morning. He said Gandhi Hospital, a COVID-19 nodal facility has genome sequencing centre and as when any new variant is detected, tracing and subsequent action will be initiated. Replying to a query, the official said the state has created over 28,000 oxyge

LIVE: Yogi Adityanath says may move SC after HC setback on ULB polls in UP

Live news updates: The delay in getting Central govt's clearance for the semi high-speed rail project SilverLine may also be discussed in the meeting

Covid-19 mock drill: 100k beds, 15,000 ICUs ready in Gujarat if needed

At least one lakh beds and 15,000 ICUs with ventilators are ready to be converted for the use of COVID-19 patients if needed in Gujarat as the state reviewed operational readiness on Tuesday during a mock drill conducted across various health facilities. Amid a spike in COVID-19 cases in some countries, the Centre has asked states and Union Territories to conduct mock drills at all COVID-19 hospitals as part of precautionary measures. State Health Minister Rushikesh Patel said Gujarat has prepared a comprehensive plan and reviewed the preparedness of the existing health infrastructure in case of any eventuality on the pandemic front. The government will also launch a fresh drive for administering booster doses after receiving 12 lakh doses of Covaxin and Covishield vaccines for which it has placed a fresh order, the minister told reporters. Patel reviewed preparations at Gandhinagar civil hospital and said a mock drill was held at health facilities including the community health ..

Companies welcomed China's decision to end quarantine for visitors

Companies welcomed China's decision to end quarantines for travellers from abroad as an important step to revive slumping business activity while Japan on Tuesday announced restrictions on visitors from the country as infections surge. The ruling Communist Party's abrupt decision to lift some of the world's strictest anti-virus controls comes as it tries reverse an economic downturn. It has ended curbs that confined millions of people to their homes and sparked protests, but hospitals have been flooded with feverish, wheezing patients as the virus spreads. Monday's announcement that quarantines for travelers from abroad will end Jan. 8 is the biggest step toward ending limits that have kept most foreign visitors out of China since early 2020. Quarantines were reduced last month from seven days to five. Also Monday, the government downgraded the official seriousness of COVID-19 and dropped a requirement for people with the virus to be quarantined. That added to a rapid drumbeat of ..

Hospitals across India hold mock drills to verify Covid readiness

Many hospitals across the country held mock drills on Tuesday to check preparedness of health facilities to deal with any spurt in COVID-19 cases, with Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya saying it was important to gauge operational readiness of equipment and human resources. Mandaviya oversaw the drill at the Centre-run Safdarjung Hospital here, while health ministers reviewed the drill in their respective states. The Centre has asked states and union territories to conduct the drill as part of precautionary measures following an increase in infection in China and other countries. Officials said the mock drill focused on parameters such as the availability of health facilities in all districts, the capacity of isolation beds, oxygen-supported beds, ICU beds and ventilator-supported beds, and optimal availability of doctors, nurses, paramedics, AYUSH doctors, and other frontline workers, including ASHA and Anganwadi workers. Mandaviya said the drill was necessary to know how ..

DDMA withdraws order on deployment of teachers at airport to enforce norms

The Delhi Disaster Management Authority (DDMA) on Tuesday withdrew its earlier order directing teachers to be deployed at the Indira Gandhi International Airport to enforce Covid protocols, officials said. The new order said teachers and other teaching staff, who were to be deployed, are exempted from airport duty for the period of December 31 to January 15. "Further, in case required, civil defence volunteers from district west may be deputed on call out duty basis," the order issued by the district magistrate (west) stated. The earlier order on deployment was withdrawn after the DDMA faced criticism from a section of teachers. It had been issued by the district magistrate (West) on behalf of the DDMA. The now-withdrawn order had said several Delhi government school teachers would be stationed at the IGI Airport from December 31 to January 15 to ensure people follow Covid-appropriate behaviour. At least 85 teachers from various schools were to be deployed, it had said. The ...

Oil prices hit three-week high as China eases Covid-19 restrictions

Brent crude was up 22 cents, or 0.3%, at $84.14 a barrel by 0911 GMT and U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude gained 7 cents to $79.63

Govt using Covid-19 as an excuse to stop Bharat Jodo Yatra: K C Venugopal

The Congress on Tuesday charged that the Government was using Covid as an excuse to stop the Bharat Jodo Yatra as the long march spearheaded by Rahul Gandhi was gaining momentum every passing day. We are very much concerned about the health of the people of this country and the Covid situation as well. This entire drama (of Covid spread) is created to stop the Bharat Jodo Yatra, AICC general secretary K C Venugopal told reporters here. Venugopal, who was here to review the preparations for the Jammu and Kashmir leg of the yatra, said Prime Minister Narendra Modi was attending public meetings and flights were coming in even from China. Flights are coming from China, there is no problem. There is no national level (Covid) protocol suggested by the World Health Organisation (WHO). The PM is attending public meetings and all other government programmes are happening everywhere there is no problem, he added. He said why was the government only writing letter to Rahul Gandhi while other

India Inc takes steps to protect supply chain as Covid-19 rages in China

Keeps adequate inventory levels for now; onboards multiple vendors to mitigate risk

Amid Ukraine conflict, Covid-19, India emerges as voice of Global South

India emerged as a voice of the Global South during its two-year term in the powerful UN Security Council, which acrimoniously deliberated on Russia's invasion of Ukraine that led to unprecedented levels of global food and fuel insecurity as the world continued to grapple with inequalities amplified by the pandemic. Before relinquishing its non-permanent seat in the 15-member Council on December 31, 2022, India presided over the powerful UN body in December with the country's first woman Permanent Representative to the UN Ambassador Ruchira Kamboj sitting in the President's seat at the horse-shoe table. Just about two months into India's second year of its 2021-2022 term on the Council as elected non-permanent member, Russian President Vladimir Putin launched a 'special military operation' in eastern Ukraine on February 24. UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres made a direct and strong appeal to Putin to stop your troops from attacking Ukraine and give peace a chance as the UN chief

Shares advance in Asia after China relaxes more Covid Zero policy

Shares advanced Tuesday in Asia after China announced it would relax more of its pandemic restrictions despite widespread outbreaks of COVID-19 that are straining its medical systems and disrupting business. China's National Health Commission said Monday that passengers arriving from abroad will no longer have to observe a quarantine, starting Jan 8. They will still need a negative virus test within 48 hours of their departure and to wear masks on their flights. But it was the latest step toward dropping once-strict virus-control measures that have severely limited travel to and from the world's No. 2 economy. China has joined other countries in treating cases instead of trying to stamp out infections, dropping or easing rules on testing, quarantines and movement as it tries to reverse an economic slump. But the shift has flooded hospitals with feverish, wheezing patients, and authorities are going door to door and paying people older than 60 to get vaccinated against COVID-19. The

China could bring down potential death toll to less than 200,000: Study

The researchers said that without the "flatten the curve" strategy, more than 1.27 billion people would be infected within three months and 1.49 million people would die within half a year

Mandaviya visits Safdarjung Hospital to review Covid-19 preparedness

Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya on Tuesday visited Safdarjung Hospital to review a mock drill carried out to assess Covid management preparedness.

Twitter suppressed Covid-19 info, suspended top experts: Twitter files

According to David Zweig, both Joe Biden and former Donald Trump administrations pressured Twitter and other tech giants like Google, Facebook and Microsoft to disseminate Covid information

India logs 157 new Covid-19 infections, active cases tally at 3,421

India recorded a single-day rise of 157 new COVID-19 cases, while the count of active cases of the disease has marginally decreased to 3,421, according to Union Health Ministry data updated on Tuesday. The tally of Covid cases in the country has now gone up to 4.46 crore (4,46,77,459). The death toll due to the disease stands at 5,30,696 with one fatality being reconciled by Kerala, the data updated at 8 am showed. The daily positivity rate was recorded at 0.32 per cent, while the weekly positivity was pegged at 0.18 per cent, the health ministry said. It said 49,464 tests for detection of COVID-19 were conducted in the last 24 hours. Active cases now comprise 0.01 per cent of the total infections, while the national COVID-19 recovery rate has increased to 98.80 per cent, according to the ministry. A decrease of seven cases was recorded in the active COVID-19 caseload in a span of 24 hours. The number of people who have recuperated from the disease has surged to 4,41,43,342 whi