Coronavirus India Updates: Total Covid-19 Cases At 5,865, Death Toll At 169

The government on Thursday removed customs duty and health cess on ventilators, face and surgical masks, personal protection equipment and Covid-19 test kits with a view to boost availability of these products in the country to fight coronavirus pandemic.

These exemptions will also be applicable on inputs used to manufacture these items. The exemptions will be available till Sept. 30.

The Group of Ministers on Covid-19 in a meeting on Thursday discussed the containment and management plans for the novel coronavirus, the government said in a statement.

The group, headed by Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan, also discussed the actions taken so far by the central and state governments to check the spread of the disease.

The GoM was informed that all districts have been asked to prepare and strengthen their contingency plans to combat the pandemic. Several other measures about strengthening capacity of states, including devoting adequate resources for creating dedicated Covid-19 hospitals, equipping medical institutes with PPE, ventilators and other essential equipment, were also discussed in detail.

Source: PTI

Asia’s most crowded slum recorded three deaths from coronavirus in over a week as the highly contagious pathogen spreads rapidly in an environment where people live close together.

A 70-year-old woman, who lived in Kalyanwadi area in Dharavi, died at KEM Hospital on Thursday, said Kiran Dighavkar, assistant commissioner in-charge of the G/North Ward in Central Mumbai. “Investigation is in progress to find out the high-risk contacts.”

The tally of Covid-19 cases in Mumbai’s biggest slum has now reached 17, including the three deceased.

As a proactive measure, BMC has set up health camps where positive cases were found as well as in other densely populated areas of Dharavi.

Follow the outbreak in Dharavi here.

India has tightened the already strict lockdown measures and enhanced surveillance at many areas that it termed as virus hotspots.

• In areas of Mumbai and Delhi, authorities have sealed settlements, lanes and apartments, allowing in only medical services and those delivering food and essential items.
• In Maharashtra, more than 3,600 squads are working in close to 1,000 containment zones to identify symptomatic patients and help with contact tracing.

Read the full story here.

The vegetable, fruit, onion and potato markets run by the Agriculture Produce Market Committee in Vashi, will remain shut from April 11 until further orders, the Mumbai APMC has said.

This has been done keeping in mind the rising number of Covid-19 cases, Anil Chavan, secretary of Mumbai APMC was quoted as saying in a statement.

Farmers, however, can directly sell their produce to traders in Mumbai and there won’t be any shortage, Chavan said.

More details here.

The Indian government has sanctioned the Rs 15,000 crore for responding to Covid-19—an announcement that was made by Prime Minister Narendra Modi last month.

The Covid-19 Emergency Response And Health System Preparedness Package has been approved today, joint health secretary Lav Agarwal said in a press briefing. "We have written to states about this," he said.

The emergency package is a fully-funded scheme by Centre to provided support to states.

According to a government statement, Rs 7,774 crore of these funds will be used for immediate Covid-19 response. The rest will be provided for medium-term support, between 1-4 years, under a mission-mode approach.

Agarwal said that the package will be used by states to strengthen health infrastructure, support prevention and preparedness, procure of essential medical equipment, consumables or drugs, strengthen surveillance activities and upgrade labs.

States can also procure PPEs, N95 masks, ventilators, and any other supplies can also be brought that will also be fully-funded by central government, Agarwal said.

The health ministry has already disbursed Rs 4,113 crore to all the states and union territories for dealing with the emergency Covid-19 response, Agarwal said.

India's health ministry today reiterated that there is no dearth of personal protective equipment in the country.

There is sufficient quantity of PPEs in the country and that has been provided to the states, joint health secretary Lav Agarwal said in a press briefing. "We need to understand that not everyone requires PPE."

Agarwal said that PPEs are a mix of components including boots, N95 masks, coveralls, and headgear related components. All of these components are only used in high-risk scenarios.

PPEs are used based on risk profiles and have issued guidelines on the same, Agarwal said. Only in emergency rooms, mortuary related activities or where there is a sample being collected, that’s where we require all the components, he said.

Agarwal added that the supply of PPEs, masks and ventilators has started coming in. There are 20 domestic manufacturers of PPEs. The government has already placed an order of 1.7 crore PPEs and 49,000 ventilators.

How Much Financial Flexibility Do States Have To Deal With Covid-19 Strain?

Police have stepped up vigil and barricades were erected in eight major and four minor Covid-19 hotspots in the Uttar Pradesh capital that have been completely sealed to check the spread of the the deadly virus.

Police teams are carrying out patrolling in these localities to ensure that nobody ventures out of their homes, Police Commissioner, Lucknow, Sujit Pandey said.

"All the hotspots in the city are already barricaded and are being sealed completely till the morning of April 15. All establishments will be closed in these localities and the media's entry too will be restricted," he said.

Only basic minimum supply of essential commodities will be maintained in these localities, Pandey said.

He said fire brigade vehicles will sanitise these areas and only select cleaning staff will be allowed to enter the hotspots.

The eight major hotspots in the state capital included localities near eight mosques where Tablighi Jamaat members were found staying.

The minor hotspots are in Vijay Khand and Gomti Nagar, where four members of a family including a two and a half years old child tested positive for Covid-19.

A locality near Alina Enclave in Khurramnagar, where a local tested positive, has also been marked as minor hotspot.

Another minor hotspot is in a locality in the Madiaon area after a man tested positive there. A locality near a clinic at Munshipulia, where a man infected with Covid-19 was treated for some time, has also been declared a hotspot.

Uttar Pradesh has so far reported over 360 coronavirus cases.

Source: PTI

The total number of coronavirus cases in Gujarat has risen to 241 with 55 new cases being found in the last 12 hours, an official said on Thursday.

The sudden spike in the number of new cases is due to the intensive surveillance in areas which have been declared as 'hotspots' in Ahmedabad and other major cities of Gujarat, principal secretary (health) Jayanti Ravi said.

Out of the 55 new cases, 50 are from Ahmedabad, two from Surat, and one each from Dahod, Anand and Chhotaudepur district, she said.

Ahmedabad has so far reported 133 cases out of the total 241.

Source: PTI

Read More.

An 80-year-old woman, who was diagnosed with coronavirus after developing severe respiratory problems died of cardiac arrest in Gadag district early on Thursday, taking the toll in Karnataka to six, district officials said.

According to a senior official in that district, the patient was admitted to a designated hospital a few days ago with severe respiratory problems.

On April 6, test reports confirmed that she was infected with Covid-19. At 12.55 am on Thursday she died of cardiac arrest."

With this, the number of deaths caused by Covid-19 reached six in the state, whereas the total positive cases as on Wednesday evening stood at 181.

Source: PTI

Rajasthan recorded 30 more cases of coronavirus on Thursday, taking the state's tally to 413, an official said.

The virus has so far claimed six lives in the state. However, officials maintain that deaths occurred due to co-morbidity -- more than one illness or disease occurring in one person at the same time.

"Thirty new cases have come up today in seven districts of Rajasthan. All have travel and contact history," Additional Chief Secretary Rohit Kumar Singh said.

He said the total number of coronavirus positive cases in the state has risen to 413.

Seven cases each have been reported in Jhalawar, Tonk and Jhunjhunu besides five in Jaisalmer, two in Banswara and one each in Barmer and Jodhpur.

Entire state is under lockdown from March 22 and massive survey and screening is underway to trace the contagion.

Source: PTI

A 72-year-old man died of coronavirus in Bokaro district, the first Covid-19 death reported in Jharkhand, a health official said on Thursday.

The patient died on Wednesday night, Bokaro District Chief Medical Officer Ashok Kumar Pathak said.

The man was kept in the isolation ward of a hospital after he showed symptoms of the virus on April 5. He was later tested positive for Covid-19, he said.

Source: PTI

Total confirmed cases of the Covid-19 infection rose to 5,734 as of 8 a.m. on April 9, according to the data made available by the Health Ministry. That includes 472 people cured or discharged and 166 dead.

Eight deaths were reported from Maharashtra, three from Gujarat, two from Jammu and Kashmir and one each from Punjab, Uttar Pradesh, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu, it said.

Maharashtra has reported the most coronavirus deaths at 72, followed by Gujarat at 16, Madhya Pradesh at 13 and Delhi at 9. Punjab and Tamil Nadu have reported eight fatalities each while Telengana has reported seven deaths.

West Bengal and Karnataka have registered five deaths each. Andhra Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir and Uttar Pradesh have reported four deaths each while Haryana and Rajasthan have recorded three deaths each.

Two deaths have been reported from Kerala. Bihar, Himachal Pradesh and Odisha reported one fatality each, according to the health ministry data.

The death toll on Wednesday evening was 149.

However, a PTI tally of figures reported by various states as on Wednesday late evening showed at least 181 deaths.

There has been a lag in the Union Health Ministry figures, compared to the number of deaths announced by different states, which officials attribute to procedural delays in assigning the cases to individual states.

According to the ministry's data updated at 8 am, the highest number of confirmed cases in the country are from Maharashtra at 1,135, followed by Tamil Nadu at 738 and Delhi at 669 cases.

The cases have risen to 427 in Telengana, while Rajasthan has 381 cases.

Uttar Pradesh has 361, while Andhra Pradesh reported 348 coronavirus cases. Kerala has reported 345 Covid-19 cases so far.

Novel coronavirus cases have risen to 229 in Madhya Pradesh, 181 in Karnataka and 179 in Gujarat.

Jammu and Kashmir has 158 cases, Haryana 147, West Bengal 103 and Punjab 101. Odisha has reported 42 coronavirus cases.

Thirty-eight people were infected with the virus in Bihar, while Uttarakhand has 33 patients and Assam 28.

Chandigarh and Himachal Pradesh have 18 cases each, while Ladakh has 14 positive patients so far.

Eleven cases have been reported from the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, while 10 were reported from Chhattisgarh. Goa has reported seven Covid-19 cases, followed by Puducherry at five.

Jharkhand has reported four cases, while Manipur, Tripura, Mizoram and Arunachal Pradesh have reported one case each.

"State-wise distribution is subject to further verification and reconciliation," the ministry said on its website.

With inputs from PTI

India Mulls Deferring Some Taxes to Aid Firms Salvage Growth

Hydroxychloroquine has been identified by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration as a possible treatment for the Covid-19 and it is being tested on more than 1,500 coronavirus patients in New York. Anticipating that it will work, given initial positive results, Trump has bought more than 30 million doses of Hydroxychloroquine for potential treatment of Covid-19 patients.

Trump, in a phone call last week, had requested Prime Minister Modi to release the hold on American order of the malaria drug, of which India is the major producer. India lifted the hold on Tuesday.

India on Monday agreed to lift the ban on export of Hydroxychloroquine to the U.S. Three Gujarat-based companies would export these tablets to the US, Chief Minister Vijay Rupani said on Tuesday. India manufactures 70 per cent of the world's supply of Hydroxychloroquine, according to Indian Pharmaceutical Alliance secretary-general Sudarshan Jain.

The country has a production capacity of 40 tonnes of Hydroxychloroquine every month, implying 20 crore tablets of 200 mg each. And since the drug is also used to auto-immune diseases like rheumatoid arthritis and lupus, manufacturers have good production capacities that can also be ramped up.

Source: PTI