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12:30 (IST)
Coronavirus Latest Updates
Delhi HC asks DCGI to probe distribution of medicines by Gautam Gambhir
The Delhi High Court asks the Drug Controller General of India to conduct an investigation into the distribution of medicines by MP Gautam Gambhir, say reports. According to Bar&Bench, the court tells the DCGI to find out against whom action is to be taken in the entire chain. “Whatever investigation is done…let Drug controller look into it. He (Gambhir) has been a national player… we’re sure he had good intentions..the way he has gone about it, he has actually done a disservice, unintentionally may be,” Bar&Bench quotes the court as saying.
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12:23 (IST)
Coronavirus Latest Updates
Process of registration of migrant workers needs to be expedited,says SC
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12:07 (IST)
Coronavirus Latest Updates
Roche’s Antibody Cocktail launched in India at Rs 59,750 per dose
Drug majors Roche India and Cipla announced launch of Roche’s Antibody Cocktail in India priced at Rs 59,750 per dose for the treatment of mild to moderate COVID-19 in patients who are at high risk.
“The first batch of the Antibody Cocktail (Casirivimab and Imdevimab) is now available in India while a second batch will be made available by mid-June. In total they can potentially benefit 2,00,000 patients as each of the 1,00,000 packs that will be available in India offers treatment for two patients,” Cipla and Roche said in a joint statement.
As per the statement, the drug will be available through leading hospitals and COVID treatment centers.
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12:03 (IST)
Coronavirus Latest Updates
Japan opens mass vaccination centres 2 months before Games
Japan mobilised military doctors and nurses to give shots to elderly people in Tokyo and Osaka as the government desperately tries to accelerate its vaccination rollout and curb coronavirus infections just two months before hosting the Olympics, according to The Associated Press.
Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga is determined to hold the Olympics in Tokyo after a one-year delay and has made an ambitious pledge to finish vaccinating the country’s 36 million elderly people by the end of July, despite scepticism it’s possible. Worries about public safety while many Japanese remain unvaccinated have prompted growing protests and calls for cancelling the Games set to start on 23 July.
Suga’s government has repeatedly expanded the area and duration of a virus state of emergency since late April and has made its virus-fighting measures stricter. Currently, Tokyo and 9 other areas that are home to 40 percent of the country’s population are under the emergency and further extension is deemed unavoidable.
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11:44 (IST)
Coronavirus Latest Updates
Experts in Karnataka to study possible causes of black fungus
Experts in Karnataka will study whether the rise in the Mucormycosis cases is linked to use of industrial oxygen and its possible contamination. Deputy Chief Minister CN Ashwath Narayan, who is also the head of the state’s COVID task force, held a meeting with the treatment protocol committee where the possible sources of the infection were discussed.
Noting that the state has recorded about 700 cases of black fungus infections in the last week, he directed experts to find its source, with doubts being expressed about oxygen supply, quality of piping and cylinders used for it. Accordingly, a team of microbiologists will start to work towards this from Monday, his office said in a release.
The country used to record about 100 cases of black fungus a year earlier but the state has recorded about 700 cases in the last week. This surge has been the cause of anxiety, Narayan was quoted as saying. Also, black fungus cases are not spotted in other COVID-hit countries, but they are occurring only in India, he said.
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11:33 (IST)
Coronavirus Latest Updates
Daily infections dip to lowest in around 38 days
The number of new COVID-19 cases reported in a span of 24 hours dipped to the lowest in around 38 days, with health ministry figures saying over 2.2 lakh infections were reported on Sunday. India had registered 2,17,353 new infections on 16 April.
The death toll crossed the 3-lakh mark, with 4,454 daily deaths, the data updated at 8 am showed. The new fatalities include 1,320 from Maharashtra, 624 from Karnataka, 422 from Tamil Nadu, 231 from Uttar Pradesh, 192 from Punjab, 189 from Delhi, 188 from Kerala, 156 from West Bengal, 107 from Bihar, and 104 from Andhra Pradesh.
The number of people who have recuperated from the disease surged to 2,37,28,011, while the case fatality rate has increased to 1.14 per cent, the data stated.
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11:09 (IST)
Coronavirus Latest Updates
Two COVID-19 deaths, 130 cases in Ladakh
Ladakh has registered two more coronavirus deaths and 130 new infections, taking the tally to 17,407 and toll to 178, officials said on Monday. The latest fatalities were reported from Leh on Sunday.
Leh has accounted for 130 deaths and Kargil 48, officials said, quoting the bulletin released by the Directorate of Health Services.
Out of the new cases, 118 were in Leh and 12 in Kargil. The active cases stands at 1,522 – 1,304 in Leh and 218 in Kargil.
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10:50 (IST)
Coronavirus Latest Updates
Police officer wears PPE kit to shift COVID patient to hospital
A police officer donned a PPE kit and carried a COVID-19 positive patient, whose oxygen level had dropped to critical level, to an ambulance for shifting him to a hospital in Assam’s Chirang district, Director General of Police Bhaskar Jyoti Mahanta told PTI.
The Officer in Charge of Dhaligaon police station Prasenjit Das received a call seeking help on the Chirang Police COVID helpline on Saturday night from a coronavirus positive patient who was in a critical condition with his SPO2 level falling and had reached the 50s.
Das rushed to the patient’s house with an ambulance and found that there was nobody to carry the semi-conscious positive patient to the vehicle. The police officer, realising that the condition of the patient was deteriorating, decided not to waste anytime looking for people but immediately wore a PPE kit and carried the patient to the JSB Civil hospital.
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10:33 (IST)
Coronavirus Latest Updates
Andamans reports 24 new COVID-19 cases, 2 more deaths
Andaman and Nicobar Islands COVID-19 tally rose to 6,844 as 24 more people tested positive for the virus while two new fatalities pushed the death toll in the union territory to 103, a health department official said. All the new cases were detected during contact tracing, he said.
The archipelago now has 268 active COVID-19 cases of which 260 are in South Andaman district and eight in North and Middle Andaman district, the official said.
Thirty-two people were cured of the disease during the period, taking the total number of recoveries in the archipelago to 6,473.
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10:17 (IST)
Coronavirus Latest Updates
UP villagers jump into river to escape ‘poisonous’ COVID-19 vaccine
A group of people in Barabanki’s Sisaurha village jumped into the Saryu river after seeing a team of health officials coming to inoculate them against coronavirus.
Sub-Divisional Magistrate of Ramnagar tehsil Rajiv Kumar Shukla said the incident took place on Saturday.
Shukla said he made the villagers understand the importance and benefits of vaccination, and tried to dispel the myths, following which 18 people in the village got the jabs.
The villagers said they jumped into the river because some people had told them that this was not a vaccine, but a poisonous injection.
