Covid-19 testing on full swing in New Delhi on Wednesday. (Express photo by Praveen Khanna)
Coronavirus India Live Updates: Amid an unprecedented surge in Covid-19 cases, the Maharashtra government Wednesday announced fresh restrictions on office attendance, marriage ceremonies and travel. As per the Break the Chain Order, government offices can operate only with 15 per cent attendance. Marriage ceremonies are to be conducted only as a single event not extending beyond 2 hours and with a maximum of 25 persons. Private buses are to operate with 50% seating capacity with no standing travellers.
Meanwhile, amid the ongoing spat among different over the transport of oxygen supplies, the Delhi High Court Wednesday directed the Centre to ensure safe passage of oxygen supplies from the place of production to place of delivery throughout the country.
In another tragic incident, at least 22 Covid patients have died at Zakir Husain Hospital in Nashik after an oxygen tanker leaked, shutting down supply. District officials said they tried to divert jumbo and smaller cylinders for patients but they depended largely on the storage tanker for oxygen supply where the leakage was reported.
In the biggest daily increase yet, India reported 2.95 lakh cases of the novel coronavirus and 2,023 deaths in the 24 hours ending 9 am Wednesday. India’s Covid-19 tally is now 1,56,16,130, with a death toll of 1,82,553. There are 21,57,538 active cases in the country.
On Wednesday, Serum Institute of India said it would sell Covishield at Rs 400/dose to state governments and Rs 600/dose to private hospitals. It is currently selling its vaccine at Rs 150/dose to the central government. The Pune-headquartered company also said it would allocate 50 per cent of its capacities to the Centre’s vaccination programme, while the remaining 50 per cent would be for states and private hospitals. The statement came days after the Centre decided to allow anyone above the age of 18 to get vaccinated from May 1.
fernguts on April 21st, 2021 at 11:17 UTC »
Does anybody know why this is happening now, as opposed to 3 or 6 months ago? Is it simply Covid-fatigue, or is it the new strains?
pikime on April 21st, 2021 at 10:26 UTC »
I'm in Australia but working closely with some Indian suppliers. Everytime I talk to them on the phone it gets a little worse over there. It started with oh yeah vivid is ok we are dealing to yeah pretty much everyone can see it's going crazy and they might go into full lockdown any day now... I feel bad for them cause the guys I work with are trying to do the right thing with distance and masks but they are fighting a loosing battle...
lucifer-ase on April 21st, 2021 at 05:08 UTC »
This is scary, seems India is about to lose control of COVID-19. Considering that mortality is a trailing measure death toll could skyrocket in about two weeks.