India has crossed 20 crore cumulative COVID-19 vaccination coverage, making it only the second country to achieve the feat after the US, news agency PTI quoted the Union health ministry as saying on Wednesday. India achieved this in 130 days as against the US' feat in 124 days, said the ministry.
According to the ministry's morning data, new cases of coronavirus infection in India were recorded over 2.08 lakh, taking the total tally of COVID-19 cases to 2,71,57,795.
The COVID-19 active caseload is 24,95,591 which now comprises 9.19 per cent of the total infections.
The recovery rate is 89.66 per cent, the data stated.
A total of 2,40,842 new infections were registered in a day, while the death count increased to 3,11,388 with 4,157 daily new fatalities, the data updated at 8 am showed.
Meanwhile, Moderna is expecting to launch a single-dose COVID-19 vaccine in India next year and is in talks with Cipla among other Indian firms, while another US giant Pfizer is ready to offer 5 crore shots in 2021 itself but it wants significant regulatory relaxations including indemnification, sources said on Tuesday.
While Moderna has conveyed to Indian authorities that it does not have surplus vaccines to share in 2021, there are limited prospects of Johnson & Johnson exporting its jabs from the US to other countries in the near future, the sources privy to discussions added.
Here are the Highlights on India Coronavirus (Covid-19 Cases) Cases:
Assam reported 90 COVID-19 fatalities and 5,699 fresh infections on Wednesday, raising the death count and the caseload to 3,005 and 3,86,870, respectively, a health bulletin said.
The northeastern state now has 52,884 active cases, while 3,29,634 people have so far recovered from the disease, including 6,266 since Tuesday, it said.
The recovery rate stood at 85.21 per cent.
West Bengal continued to record a decline in single-day spike of COVID-19 cases on Wednesday, reporting 16,225 fresh infections, raising the tally to 13,18,203, a health department bulletin said.
The death count mounted to 14,827 after 153 more fatalities were reported from different parts of the state, it said.
One more case of mucormycosis was detected in West Bengal, taking the total number of people diagnosed with the fungal infection in the state to 13, a health department official said on Wednesday.
Two more persons, suspectedly died of the fungal infection while undergoing treatment in medical facilities, he said.
Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Wednesday asserted that all eligible persons in the state will be vaccinated against Covid and said a vaccine for those in the 12-18 age group is coming soon.
Currently, those above 18 years of age are being inoculated against the infection.
"Vaccine for people in the age group of 12-18 years is coming soon. We will vaccinate everyone," Yogi Adityanath said in Deoria.
COVID19 | Assam reports 5,699 new cases, 90 deaths today; active cases 52,884 pic.twitter.com/1M2ABESS2q
- ANI (@ANI) May 26, 2021
Indore's caseload went up to 1,47,345 with 623 new cases and Bhopal's tally increased to 1,19,241 with the addition of 433 fresh infections. With five fatalities each, the death toll in Indore and Bhopal rose to 1,323 and 921, respectively, officials said. Indore is now left with 8,484 active cases while Bhopal has 8,244 such cases.
Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan on Wednesday said the prohibitory orders in place under section 144 of the CrPC will continue to remain in force in the state despite the gradual unlocking of "Corona Curfew" from June 1, reported news agency PTI.
Section 144 of the Code of Criminal Procedure bans assembly of five or more persons at one place. In a bid to control the spread of the virus, the state government had imposed "Corona Curfew" in several districts of the state, including Bhopal and Indore, till May 31.
Our vaccine wastage is 4.65%, not 37%, as is being said. There is no factual basis in it, it's misleading publicity. Our wastage is less than other states. For vaccines, we've only 1.37 lakh vaccines left for 18-44 age group, which will be finished soon: Jharkhand Health Minister pic.twitter.com/EwMWRpxNIg
- ANI (@ANI) May 26, 2021
Punjab reports 4,124 fresh COVID cases, 6,397 patient discharges, and 186 deaths in the past 24 hours
- ANI (@ANI) May 26, 2021
Active cases: 50,549
Total discharges: 4,87,859
Death toll: 13,827 pic.twitter.com/51hp2SADjg
Karnataka Health Minister Dr K Sudhakar on Wednesday said using steroids in the first week of COVID treatment is one of the causes of Black Fungus infection, according to news agency ANI. Steroids must be used only from the second week, he said.
Dr Sudhakar said a new discharge policy and post-COVID precautions have been formulated for recovered patients. "During discharge, Covid patients will be tested for any fungal infection and will also be subjected to MRI scan if necessary. All district hospitals have been instructed to have a dedicated post-Covid ward," he was quoted as saying.
After the first week of discharge, Covid-recovered persons should get themselves tested at post-Covid ward or can get a tele-consultation, he said, adding that the recovered persons will be contacted to check for symptoms of fungal infection. "If symptoms are found, they'll be called to hospitals," he said.
Karnataka reports 26,811 fresh COVID cases, 40,741 patient discharges, and 530 deaths in the past 24 hours
- ANI (@ANI) May 26, 2021
Active cases: 4,09,924
Total discharges: 20,62,910
Death toll: 26,929 pic.twitter.com/dYRbeeGFdy
Tamil Nadu reports 33,764 fresh COVID-19 cases, 29,717 patient discharges, and 475 deaths in the past 24 hours
- ANI (@ANI) May 26, 2021
Active cases: 3,10,224
Total discharges: 16,13,221
Death toll: 21,815 pic.twitter.com/CRnv1afcWN
Maharashtra recorded 24,752 new cases of COVID-19 and 453 more deaths, according to a health department bulletin on Wednesday. The state also saw 23,065 patients being discharged today, which pushed the total recovery to 52,41,833 so far. Recovery rate in the state is now 92.76 per cent and case fatality rate is 1.62 per cent. Out of 3,38,24,959 laboratory samples, 56,50,907 have been tested positive (16.71 per cent) for COVID-19 until today, according to the bulletin. Currently, 23,70,326 people are in home quarantine and 19,943 people are in institutional quarantine.
The Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation has said that the vaccination programme under its jurisdiction will be held as per schedule on May 27 and 28, according to news agency ANI.
#TheNews | Covishield + Covaxin: Villagers Get Mixed Shots In UP Government Hospital
- NDTV (@ndtv) May 26, 2021
NDTV's Alok Pandey reports
Read more: https://t.co/nVIFUaDJwf pic.twitter.com/znU6VEwmhI
Himachal Pradesh on Wednesday reported 44 more fatalities due to COVID-19 infection, which raised the death count to 2,917, news agency PTI reported quoting an official. Besides, 1,365 fresh cases increased the infection count to 1,84,347, they said. According to the state health department, there are 22,181 active COVID-19 cases in the state. The recovery count rose to 1,59,227 with 2,192 patients recuperating from the disease in the past 24 hours, the official said.
Gujarat records 3,085 cases of COVID-19, 10,007 patient discharges, and 36 deaths in the past 24 hours
- ANI (@ANI) May 26, 2021
Active cases: 55,548
Total discharges: 7,32,748
Death toll: 9,701
Rajasthan reports 3,886 new COVID cases, 13,192 patient recoveries, and 107 deaths in the past 24 hours
- ANI (@ANI) May 26, 2021
Active cases: 78,126
Total recoveries: 8,41,602
Death toll: 8,018 pic.twitter.com/i8Ailju042
Goa records 1,487 new COVID cases, 1,363 recoveries, and 39 deaths in the past 24 hours
- ANI (@ANI) May 26, 2021
Active cases: 15,971
Total recoveries: 1,32,607
Death toll: 2,499 pic.twitter.com/XgWSeXkcOS
Telangana reports 3,762 new COVID cases, 3,816 patient recoveries, and 20 deaths in the past 24 hours
- ANI (@ANI) May 26, 2021
Active cases: 38,632
Total recoveries: 5,22,082
Death toll: 3,189 pic.twitter.com/hunim67ZRx
214 vaccination centers have been established in Himachal Pradesh for vaccinating people above 18 years of age: State government
- ANI (@ANI) May 26, 2021
As against 18,285 fresh infections of COVID-19, Andhra Pradesh saw a record 24,105 persons recovering from the infection on Wednesday, news agency PTI reported. The state also recorded 99 new fatalities in the 24 hours ending 9 am today, according to the latest bulletin. Cumulatively, the state has reported so far 16,27,390 infections, 14,24,859 recoveries and 10,427 deaths, according to the COVID-19 chart. Active cases in the state has dropped further to 1,92,104. The infection positivity rate, which has been showing a declining trend for over a week now, now stands at 20 per cent.
Kerala reports 28,798 new COVID cases and 151 deaths in the past 24 hours
- ANI (@ANI) May 26, 2021
Active cases: 2,48,526
Death toll: 7,882
Uttarakhand CM Tirath Singh Rawat inaugurates 500-bedded 'Jaswant Singh Rawat Covid Care Center' in Rishikesh, set up by Defence Research and Development Organisation. "It has been set up in 14 days with medical support extended by AIIMS Rishikesh", CM says#COVID19
- NDTV (@ndtv) May 26, 2021
(ANI) pic.twitter.com/O1yAkCd8Qr
IMA in a letter to PM Modi, "Misinformation campaign on vaccination by Patanjali owner #Ramdev should be stopped. He claimed that 10,000 doctors and lakhs of people have died despite taking both doses of vaccine. Action under sedition charges should be taken against him"
- NDTV (@ndtv) May 26, 2021
(ANI) pic.twitter.com/sqpbxbKPEw
The Gujarat High Court has termed the state government's notification on the distribution of Amphotericin-B injections to hospitals for the treatment of Mucormycosis (or Black Fungus) "quite vague and defective", stating that all districts should have their own expert committees to decide on the requirement of the medicine, according to news agency PTI.
Cases of Mucormycosis, a serious infection, have been found in COVID-19 patients in various states. According to data shared by Union Minister for Chemicals and Fertilisers D V Sadananda Gowda on Wednesday, Gujarat has the maximum number of the fungal infection patients in India.
#COVID19Vaccine | Delhi Gets First Drive-Through Vaccine Centre, Arvind Kejriwal Flags Shortage
- NDTV (@ndtv) May 26, 2021
NDTV's Shonakshi Chakravarty reports
Read more: https://t.co/E2BWveW8WF pic.twitter.com/zUXhbAvHfV
#COVID19 | Delhi Chief Minister, @ArvindKejriwal, says it is the Centre's responsibility to provide vaccines, not states pic.twitter.com/0ZtDNSX4nC
- NDTV (@ndtv) May 26, 2021
#COVID19 | "No state has managed to procure a single vaccine dose apart from those provided by the centre, then why is the country not buying vaccines?": @ArvindKejriwal, Delhi Chief Minister pic.twitter.com/jxGf7H4HtJ
- NDTV (@ndtv) May 26, 2021
The Union health ministry said today that India has become the second country after the US to cross 20 crore cumulative COVID-19 vaccine coverage with over 42 per cent of the population above 60 years age having received their first doses of the jab, according to news agency ANI.
The ministry said India is the second country after the US to achieve this coverage in just 130 days. The US had take 124 days to reach the 20 crore mark, the agency quoted the ministry as saying.
It said that cumulatively, 17,831 oxygen concentrators, 18,111 oxygen cylinders, 19 oxygen generation plants, 13,489 ventilators/BiPAP, 6.9 lakh Remdesivir vials and 12 lakh Favipiravir tablets have so far been delivered or dispatched to the states and Union Territories.
#covid pic.twitter.com/rLeQK9Yqtu
- NDTV (@ndtv) May 26, 2021
Punjab unit of Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) on Tuesday launched ''Doctor Helpline'' campaign to deal with COVID-19 and Black Fungus (Mucormycosis) infections in the state, news agency ANI reported.
Under this campaign, a helpline number 782-727-5743 has been launched through which one can get information about prevention and treatment of COVID-19 infection.
The West Bengal government has declared mucormycosis or black fungus as a ''notifiable disease'' considering the gravity of the situation and following the advice of the union health ministry, an official said on Tuesday.
Citing an order issued by the health department, the official said that it has been made mandatory for a doctor to notify the authority on diagnosing a case of a confirmed or suspected mucormycosis.
Moderna is expecting to launch a single-dose COVID-19 vaccine in India next year and is in talks with Cipla among other Indian firms, while another US giant Pfizer is ready to offer 5 crore shots in 2021 itself but it wants significant regulatory relaxations including indemnification, sources said on Tuesday.
While Moderna has conveyed to Indian authorities that it does not have surplus vaccines to share in 2021, there are limited prospects of Johnson & Johnson exporting its jabs from the US to other countries in the near future, the sources privy to discussions added.
