Coronavirus India Cases: Daily Deaths Climb Back To 4,000; New Infections Stay Above 3 Lakh
Track the second wave of Covid-19 in India and the containment and immunisation efforts here.
India’s daily deaths due to coronavirus climbed back to more than 4,000 after a day’s blip as the deadly pathogen spreads at an aggressive pace amid a lack of critical healthcare infrastructure and vaccines, triggering concerns that the world’s fastest growing outbreak would derail the nation’s budding economic recovery.
India reported 4,077 casualties in the last 24 hours, taking the total death toll to 2.7 lakh in the world’s second-worst infected country, according to the Health Ministry’s update as of 8 a.m. on May 16.
New Covid-19 infections remained above 3 lakh for a week, with the total case count at 2.47 crore. While that’s less than the 4 lakh fresh infections being reported till last week, India is still adding more coronavirus cases in a day than any country has since the pandemic began.
Single-day recoveries surpassed new infections for the third straight day. That helped the active cases, accounting for nearly 15% of the total caseload, to stay below 37 lakh for the second consecutive day. The South Asian nation with 130 crore people is only behind the U.S. in the number of confirmed infections.
Key figures:
Total confirmed cases: 2,46,84,077
Total number of active cases: 36,18,458
Total patients cured/discharged/migrated: 2,07,95,335
Total deaths: 2,70,284
Number of fresh cases in last 24 hours: 3,11,170
One-day recoveries: 3,62,437
One-day deaths: 4,077
To be sure, data on Covid-19 cases and related deaths may be severely deficient as several states have inadequate testing, chronic underreporting and have been attributing the casualties to other causes.
Among the states that are witnessing a massive surge in cases, Maharashtra has extended the current strict restrictions, along with some additional curbs such as any person entering the state will have to carry a negative RT-PCR test report, till 7 a.m. on June 1, 2021.
Delhi, too, has extended the lockdown, which was set to end on May 17, by another week; metro services have been suspended during this period. Karnataka and Tamil Nadu are also under a two-week shutdown effective May 10, while West Bengal from May 16-30.
Meanwhile, India has vaccinated a total of 18.2 crore people. The country has increased the gap between two doses of Covishield, the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine manufactured in the country by the Serum Institute.
The guidance comes at a time the central government’s supply of vaccines has dried up, prompting states to prioritise second doses for those above 45 by halting inoculation of those aged 18-44.
Based on available real-life evidence, particularly from the U.K., the Covid-19 working group has agreed to increase dosing interval to 12-16 weeks between the two doses of Covishield, the Ministry of Health has said. However, no change in interval has been suggested for Covaxin.
Read more on India’s vaccination timeline...
Global Update
Globally, coronavirus cases passed 16.2 crore, with more than 33.6 lakh deaths.
Singapore plans to vaccinate children under 16 years old after a recent rise of Covid-19 infections among students in the island state.
Brazil, still fighting off a major outbreak driven in part by a virus variant, will restrict flights from India, the U.K. and South Africa to avoid the spread of a strain first found in India.
The U.K. aims to double the pace of vaccination to hit as many as 1 million shots a day, in part to combat the rapid spread of a virus variant first found in India.
Overall infections in the U.S. continued their decline to the lowest levels since early autumn.
For more global updates, read here...
No Vaccination Drive In Mumbai Amid Cyclone Alert
The Mumbai civic body on Sunday decided to keep its Covid-19 vaccination drive suspended for the third day on May 17 in view of the warning about cyclone Tauktae, municipal commissioner Iqbal Singh Chahal said.
The vaccination programme will now be implemented on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, Chahal said.
(Source: PTI)
Covid-19: Rajasthan's Quota Of Oxygen
Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot spoke to Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday and requested him to increase the state's quota of oxygen in view of a rising number of Covid-19 cases.
Gehlot informed on Twitter that he spoke to Modi regarding the Covid-19 situation in the state over the phone and said oxygen should be allotted to states on the basis of the number of patients.
(Source: PTI)
Delhi Registers 6,456 New Covid-19 Cases
The national capital recorded 6,456 fresh Covid-19 cases and 262 fatalities on Sunday, while the positivity rate dropped to 10.40%, the lowest in over a month, according to a Delhi government health bulletin.
With this, the total number of cases in the city has risen to 13,93,867 and the death toll to 21,506, it said. This is the third consecutive day when Delhi has recorded less than 10,000 cases.
(Source: PTI)
Covid-19: Goa Takes Over Admissions In All Private Hospitals
The Goa government on Sunday issued an order requisitioning the premises of the private hospitals in the state for providing treatment to Covid-19 patients under the Disaster Management Act.
The order stated Covid-19 patients will be admitted in 50% cent of the total beds in these hospitals as per the directions of designated officers of the government and the payment for the treatment of DDSSY (state-run insurance scheme) beneficiaries will be made by the government.
(Source: PTI)
Uttar Pradesh Vaccination
Over 4.5 crore Covid-19 tests have been conducted in Uttar Pradesh so far, while 1.5 crore people have been vaccinated for coronavirus, Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath said on Sunday.
The chief minister said the state did not have "much capacity" for Covid testing till March last year but is now conducting 2.5 lakh to 3 lakh tests every day.
Besides, vaccination for people aged above 45, he said, is being done at 2,500 centres, and for the 18-plus category, the government had started the process in seven districts in the first phase where active cases and positivity rate were the highest.
(Source: PTI)
Delhi Will Take Necessary Steps To Check Black Fungus Cases: Kejriwal
Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Sunday said the Delhi government will take all necessary steps and precautions to check cases of black fungus or mucormycosis in the city.
The fungal infection is caused by a group of moulds known as mucormycetes present naturally in the environment.
Recently, several states, including Delhi, have reported a rise in the number of black fungus cases among people recovering from Covid-19.
(Source: PTI)
Punjab Extends Covid Curbs Till May 31
The Punjab government on Sunday extended all the existing Covid restrictions in the state till May 31, amid a high positivity and fatality rate due to the disease.
The announcement in this regard was made by Chief Minister Amarinder Singh. He also gave directions for strict enforcement of all the curbs.
(Source: PTI)
Congress MP Dies After Recovering From Covid-19
Congress MP Rajiv Satav died at a private hospital in Pune on Sunday, days after recovering from coronavirus infection, hospital sources said.
The 46-year-old leader was on ventilator support at the hospital after his health deteriorated.
Satav, considered close to Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, had tested positive for coronavirus infection on April 22. Satav was later diagnosed with a new viral infection and was in a critical condition.
(Source: PTI)
177 Fresh Covid-19 Cases, 2 More Deaths In Ladakh
Ladakh's Covid-19 tally mounted to 16,333 with 177 fresh cases, while the death toll climbed to 165 as two more people succumbed to the viral disease in the union territory, officials said on Sunday.
Of the latest deaths, one each was reported from Leh and Kargil districts. So far, Leh has reported 119 deaths and Kargil 46.
Leh reported 174 of the fresh cases and Kargil three, the officials said.
They said that the number of active cases in Ladakh stands at 1,549 — 1,260 in Leh and 289 in Kargil.
(Source: PTI)