Coronavirus India Updates: Total Cases At 12,759; Death Toll At 420

Madhya Pradesh became the latest state to cross 1,000 confirmed Covid-19 cases. There are now five such states which have more than half of India’s total cases.

• Maharashtra: 2,919 cases ‬
• Delhi: 1,578 cases
• Tamil Nadu: 1,242cases ‬
• Rajasthan: 1,023 cases ‬
• Madhya Pradesh: 1,120 cases‬

Source Health Ministry

Tamil Nadu reported a fresh Covid- 19 death while 25 more people tested positive for the disease, taking the state's toll due to it to 15 and total cases to 1,267 on Thursday, Chief Minister K Palaniswami said.

He said the lower number of fresh cases showed the government was containing the spread of the contagion.

Fresh cases on Wednesday stood at 38, a little more than Tuesday's tally of 31, unlike higher numbers seen earlier in the week.

The state had reported 98 fresh cases on Monday and 106 on Sunday.

"This disease is a big challenge," the chief minister told a press conference after chairing a meeting of district collectors to take stock of the preventive measures being implemented across the state.

Source: PTI

Mumbai’s biggest slum Dharavi, recorded 11 new cases of Coronavirus on Thursday, as the highly contagious pathogen spreads rapidly through the cramped lanes.

Of these 11 new Covid-19 positive cases four cases were recorded from Mukund Nagar, two from Rajiv Nagar, one each from Sai Raj Nagar, Transit camp, and Ramji Chawl, said Kiran Dighavkar, assistant commissioner in charge of the G/North Ward in Central Mumbai. “Investigation for high-risk contacts is under progress.”

Among the latest to test positive for the virus include one 23 year old female and 10 men between 28 years and 70 years age.

Dharavi—a sprawl of shanties spread over 240 hectares with a population of 8.5 lakh and over 13,000 small businesses—has recorded 71 cases of COVID-19 including eight deaths.

Total Cases In Dharavi So Far: 71

Eight people, including six coronavirus patients and two suspects, escaped from an isolation facility set up at a hotel in Madhya Pradeshs Indore city, police said on Thursday.

Three of the Covid-19 patients were later traced and hospitalised.

"Eight people, in the age group of 40 to 60 years, escaped from the isolation center set up in a hotel in Rajendra Nagar area on Wednesday by scaling its rear end boundary wall. Police were on guard in front of the hotel," City Superintendent of Police Puneet Gehlot told PTI.

Three of these coronavirus patients were later traced by police and admitted to a private hospital. Two of them hail from Samastipur district of Bihar, while one belongs to Kota in Rajasthan, he said.

Search was on for the five others, all natives of Rampur district in Uttar Pradesh, the official said.

The Rampur district administration has been informed about them.

"The three patients who were traced said they were disturbed after staying in the isolation facility for last 17 days. Their coronavirus test report came out on Wednesday.

When they came to know they were going to be hospitalised, they fled out of fear," the official said.

Central Kotwali police station in-charge BD Tripathi said six of these eight people were earlier staying at a lodge near Ranipura area of Indore, while two were residing at a 'musafirkhana' (kind of a lodge).

"Since the local administration declared Ranipura as the epicenter of coronavirus in Indore, we had sent several people, including these eight, from the area and adjoining localities to the isolation facility," he said.

Rejecting reports that these eight people belonged to the Jamaat (an Islamic group), Tripathi said they had come to Indore in connection with trade.

Indore has reported the highest 586 cases in the state so far.

Source: PTI

A 66-year old man from the city, became the thirteenth Covid-19 related fatality in Karnataka, where 34 new positive cases have been confirmed, taking the total number of infections in the state to 313, the Health Department said on Thursday.

The elderly patient from Bengaluru, who was Covid-19 positive was referred from a private hospital to Victoria Hospital here.

He was on ventilator support since April 10 and died on April 15, it said.

According to the mid-day situation report by the department, 34 new positive cases have been reported since last evening to this noon.

"Till date 313 Covid-19 positive cases have been confirmed. This includes 13 deaths and 82 discharges," it said.

Among 34 patients newly tested positive, 22 are contacts of patients already tested positive, five are with travel history to Delhi (repeat test), three are linked to pharma company in Mysuru.

While contact history of three is being traced, one is with history of Severe Acute Respiratory Infection.

Four out of 34 new cases are children (below 18), one of them is a one-and-half-year old baby girl.

Of the 34 new cases, 17 are from Belagavi district, seven from Vijayapara.

Source: PTI

At least 165 new coronavirus cases were found in Maharashtra on Thursday, taking the total number of such cases in the state to 3,081, a health official said.

Out of the new cases, 107 were reported from Mumbai city and 19 from Pune, he said.

Besides, 11 new cases were reported from Nagpur, 13 from Thane, four each from Pimpri-Chinchwad (Pune) and Malegaon (Nashik), two each from Navi Mumbai and Vasai-Virar (Palghar), and one each from Ahmednagar, Chandrapur and Panvel (Raigad), he said.

Source: PTI

Six Indian companies are working on a vaccine for Covid-19, joining global efforts to find a quick preventive for the deadly infection spreading rapidly across the world, says a top Indian scientist.

Nearly 70 ‘vaccine candidates' are being tested and at least three have moved to the human clinical trial stage, but a vaccine for the novel coronavirus is unlikely to be ready for mass use before 2021. As Covid-19 infects more than 2 million in the world, Indian scientists are also part of the global fight against the disease.

“While Zydus Cadila is working on two vaccines, Serum Institute, Biological E, Bharat Biotech, Indian Immunologicals, and Mynvax are developing one vaccine each,” Gagandeep Kang, executive director of the Translational Health Science and Technology Institute, Faridabad, told PTI.

Kang is also vice chair of the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations, which noted in a recent study that the “global vaccine R&D effort in response to the Covid-19 pandemic is unprecedented in terms of scale and speed”.

But it is a complicated process with many stages of testing and many challenges, explained experts. A vaccine for the new coronavirus, SARS-CoV-2, may not take 10 years that other vaccines do but it could be at least a year before it is proven safe, effective, and made widely available, they said.

“Vaccine development is a lengthy process which often takes years, with many challenges,” said E. Sreekumar, chief scientific officer at the Rajiv Gandhi Centre for Biotechnology in Kerala.

Source: PTI

Rajasthan on Thursday reported 25 fresh cases of coronavirus, taking the state's virus tally to 1,101, officials said.

Of the new cases, 11 are from Tonk, 10 from Jodhpur, 2 from Jhunjhunu and one each from Bikaner and Ajmer.

With the new 25 cases, the number of positive cases in the state has gone up to 1,101, they said.

A total of 37,860 samples have been collected in the state so far. 1,101 were positive and 31,902 were negative while 4,857 samples are under processing.

As many as 157 patients have been cured so far and 82 of them discharged.

Source: PTI

The AIIMS administration has accepted the proposal by its Resident Doctors' Association to make donation to the PM-CARES fund voluntary, saying there will be no mandatory salary deduction for the contribution and those interested can "Opt-In".

The AIIMS RDA had written to the hospital administration earlier, demanding that donations to PM-Citizen Assistance Relief in Emergency Situations fund be made a voluntary exercise/opt-in and the money collected be used locally for procuring protective gear for them after the administration appealed to all resident doctors to contribute their one-day salary to the PM-CARES fund to aid the government's effort to fight Covid-19.

"In continuation of the appeal dated April 7 and the Resident Doctors Association request letter dated April 8 wherein the RDA has declined to donate one day salary to the PM-CARES fund with an opt-out option.

"The Resident Doctors Association is hereby informed that no deduction will be made from salaries of resident doctors. Those residents who wish to donate to the PM-CARES fund should inform the Academic Section, in writing, by April 20," the letter signed by the Registrar said on Wednesday.

Source: PTI

As its factories resumed operations after over a two-month grim battle against the coronavirus, China is busy tapping into the vast business opportunities of export of key medical goods, especially ventilators and personal protection equipment, across the world, including India, where both private and government bodies are placing orders for the import of these products.

Two major consignments of medical kits were reported to have been sent to India from China earlier as part of efforts to step up testing specially in hotspots during the current lockdown in the country.

India has extended its ongoing lockdown to fight the coronavirus till May 3. It has reported 414 deaths due to the disease and 12,380 people have been infected by the disease in the country.

Considering the importance, Misri said the Indian Embassy is facilitating commercial procurements besides coordinating flight linkages for their timely arrival in India.

On Tuesday, Misri told media here that India has placed orders to procure 15 million personal protection gear from China for medical personnel treating Covid-19 patients besides three million testing kits.

The orders are being placed with bonafide firms with the help of the Chinese government.

Source: PTI

Two more persons have tested positive for Covid-19 in Bihar, raising the total number of cases in the state to 72, a top official said on Thursday.

The fresh cases were reported from Patna and Vaishali districts, he said.

Reports of a 60-year-old man from Patna and 35-year-old man from Vaishali, which came in late Wednesday night, were positive, according to Principal Secretary, Health, Sanjay Kumar.

The Patna patient had come in contact with a Dubai-returnee who had tested positive last month and discharged after recovery more than a week ago, the official said.

Contact tracing was on for the patient from Vaishali, which has reported its first coronavirus case, Kumar added.

Close to 8,500 samples have been tested at five centres across the state so far, he said.

AIIMS-Patna, which has been approved as a testing centre by the ICMR, will start conducting tests from Thursday, he added.

Source: PTI

The total number of coronavirus cases in Madhya Pradesh rose to 980 with 42 more people testing positive for the disease in Indore, health officials said on Thursday.

Two more deaths were also reported from Indore late Wednesday night, taking the toll in the state to 55.

The viral infection has now spread in 26 out of total 52 districts in the state. Agar Malwa and Alirajpur districts reported first coronavirus cases on Wednesday.

Indore has reported the highest 586 cases in the state so far, a health official said. Of the total 55 deaths in the state, 39 have been reported there.

Besides, five persons have so far died in Bhopal, six in Ujjain, three in Khargone and one each in Chhindwara and Dewas. So far, 64 people in the state have recovered from the disease, the official said.

There are total 290 containment zones formed across various cities of the state.

Source: PTI

Ghebreyesus expressed gratitude to Health and Family Welfare Minister Harsh Vardhan “for his leadership and collaboration” with WHO. “Through these joint efforts we can defeat the #coronavirus and save lives. Together!” India eliminated polio in 2014.

According to a WHO press release, Vardhan said in New Delhi that “time and again the Government of India and WHO together have shown our ability, competence and prowess to the whole world. With our combined meticulous work, done with full sincerity and dedication, we were able to get rid of polio.” “All of you in the field – IDSP (Integrated Disease Surveillance Project), state rapid response teams and WHO - are our ‘surveillance corona warriors'. With your joint efforts we can defeat the coronavirus and save lives,” Vardhan added.

WHO South-East Asia Regional Director Poonam Khetrapal Singh said the National Polio Surveillance Project played a critical role in strengthening surveillance for polio that generated useful, timely and accurate data to guide policies, strategies and interventions until transmission of the poliovirus was interrupted in the country,” adding that the other WHO field staff involved with elimination of tuberculosis and neglected tropical diseases and hypertension control initiative were also significant resources.

Singh added that “it is now time to use all your experience, knowledge and skills, with the same rigor and discipline that you showed while monitoring polio activities, to support districts with surveillance, contact tracing and containment activities.” The WHO release said strengths of the NPSP team – surveillance, data management, monitoring and supervision, and responding to local situations and challenges – will be utilized to supplement efforts of National Centre for Disease Control, IDSP and Indian Council of Medical Research to strengthen Covid-19 surveillance.

The NPSP team will also support in sharing information and best practices and help states and districts calibrate their response based on transmission scenarios and local capacities.

The WHO field staff will continue to support immunization and surveillance and elimination of Tuberculosis and Neglected Tropical Diseases, Singh said, adding, “disease outbreaks can negatively impact progress in a range of areas, from maternal and child mortality to vaccine-preventable diseases and other treatable conditions. India had been making stupendous progress in these areas and we cannot afford for India's remarkable progress to be set back or reversed.”

Source: PTI

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