Delhi will go into a weekend curfew to tackle a record rise in Covid cases over the past few weeks. Essential activities, including weddings, will be allowed with curfew passes.
Auditoriums, malls, gyms and spas will be shut down and cinema theatres will be allowed with a third of the capacity.
Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal announced this after meeting with Lieutenant Governor Anil Baijal and other officials.
Delhi reported 17,282 fresh cases of COVID-19 on Wednesday in the highest single-day surge in the capital since the pandemic erupted. The figure makes Delhi the worst-hit city in the second wave of infections raging through the country.
Meanwhile, amid an alarming rise in coronavirus cases, the Uttar Pradesh government on Thursday tightened existing restrictions in worst-hit districts, including extension of night curfew hours and deferring the state board exams till next month.
At the meeting chaired by Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, a decision was also taken to extend the closure of schools till May 15.
"Due to a steady increase in COVID-19 cases, the Uttar Pradesh government has decided to postpone Class 10 and Class 12 board examinations and has said that the new dates will be decided in May after reviewing the COVID-19 situation in the state. For students of Classes 1 to 12, classroom teaching will remain suspended till May 15. No exam will be held during this period. The UP Board Class 10 and Class 12 examinations will be held after May 20 and the new time table will be decided in the first week of May," the government has said.
Here are the Live Updates on Coronavirus India Cases:
Over 300 Delhi Police personnel who are at the forefront of efforts to ensure that people are adhering to the Covid-19 restrictions, have been tested positive for coronavirus in the last few days.
"Over 300 Delhi Police personnel test positive for COVID-19. While 15 of them are admitted to the hospital, the rest are home quarantined," the Delhi police said.
Speaking on the situation, Delhi Police Commissioner SN Shrivastava had earlier said some of our police personnel have tested positive in the last few days amid a sudden surge in COVID-19 cases in the city.
The head of Pfizer said in an interview aired Thursday that people will "likely" need a third dose of his company's Covid-19 vaccine within a year of being fully vaccinated.
CEO Albert Bourla also said annual vaccinations against the coronavirus may well be required.
"We need to see what would be the sequence, and for how often we need to do that, that remains to be seen," Bourla told CNBC in an interview recorded on April 1.
"A likely scenario is that there will be likely a need for a third dose, somewhere between six and 12 months and then from there, there will be an annual revaccination, but all of that needs to be confirmed," he said, adding that variants will play a "key role."
Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray on Thursday thanked Prime Minister Narendra Modi for allowing Maharashtra-government owned Haffkine Institute to manufacture Bharat Biotech''s Covaxin, on the basis of transfer of technology.
The Maharashtra government made the announcement regarding the approval through their official Twitter handle.
"The Dept of Science and Technology, Government of India, has granted approval to Haffkine Institute to produce Bharat Biotech''s Covaxin vaccine on a transfer of technology basis," CMO Maharashtra tweeted.
The government on Thursday took decisions for easier availability of essential medical equipment and oxygen in the wake of rising cases of COVID-19 and said 100 new hospitals will have their own oxygen plant under PM-CARES Fund and another 50,000 MT of medical oxygen will be imported.
A meeting of Empowered Group 2 (EG2) was held on Thursday to review the availability of essential medical equipment and oxygen. The meeting identified 4880 MT, 5619 MT and 6593 MT for 12 high burden states for meeting their projected demand as on April 20, April 25 and April 30 respectively.
"I appeal to all to get tested and those eligible to get vaccinated. We are monitoring the COVID-19 situation in the state. On April 17, an all-party meeting will be held under the leadership of Governor Phagu Chauhan," Kumar told reporters.
At present, Bihar has 23,725 COVID-19 active cases.
Health and medical education Minister Dr K Sudhakar on Thursday declared that a programme has been designed for sportspersons in Karnataka to keep them healthy.
Speaking to the media, the minister said that the Department of Youth Empowerment and Sports and the Rajiv Gandhi University of Health Sciences (RGUHS) have entered a formal agreement in which health experts from RGUHS will guide the talented sportspersons.
He also informed that department of youth empowerment and sports has designed a programme to provide quality health care to resident sportspersons in 34 sports hostels in the state.
Will Extend Weekend Curfew In Delhi If Needed, Says Arvind KejriwalThe curfew in Delhi is only for this weekend and will be extended to the next weekend only if needed after a reassessment, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said today. In an exclusive interview to NDTV, he also ruled out any lockdown in Delhi unless th" itemprop="description
Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray writes to Prime Minister Narendra Modi suggesting various measures to be undertaken in view of the #COVID19 pandemic. pic.twitter.com/maXtfDdlR6
- ANI (@ANI) April 15, 2021
Gujarat: Vadodara receives 100 new ventilators, the machines are being assembled to be sent to hospitals. An engineer of Vadodara Municipal Corporation says, "We received ventilators day before y'day. 15 of them were assembled y'day & sent to hospitals. We're assembling the rest" pic.twitter.com/huKAipmM3m
- ANI (@ANI) April 15, 2021
Madhya Pradesh: 9,264 Remdesivir injections arrive at Indore airport, to be sent to different cities including Bhopal, Ratlam, Khandwa and Gwalior pic.twitter.com/9J8Kv4hcss
- ANI (@ANI) April 15, 2021
Gujarat: Ambulances seen at Civil Hospital premises in Ahmedabad
- ANI (@ANI) April 15, 2021
"Now there won't be any queue outside Civil Hospital as the Hospital has increased 70 beds, patients are also transferred to other hospitals according to their condition" says State Head-Ops, 108 Emergency Services pic.twitter.com/2iIoFZZxQY
Maharashtra: Relatives & families of #COVID19 patients in Pune sit on protest outside Collector's office demanding Remdesivir. A woman says "My father is hospitalised for last 6 days, his medications haven't begun completely. He's in ICU. I've looked for Remdesivir in all cities" pic.twitter.com/t3tkhoQI5y
- ANI (@ANI) April 15, 2021
Maharashtra: Relatives & families of #COVID19 patients in Pune sit on protest outside Collector's office demanding Remdesivir. A woman says "My father is hospitalised for last 6 days, his medications haven't begun completely. He's in ICU. I've looked for Remdesivir in all cities" pic.twitter.com/t3tkhoQI5y
- ANI (@ANI) April 15, 2021
Maharashtra Government's restrictions, in the wake of the #COVID19 situation, came into effect from 8 pm yesterday. Section 144 has been imposed in the entire state, restrictions will remain in place till May 1st. Visuals from Nagpur. pic.twitter.com/c5fHkXQ12O
- ANI (@ANI) April 15, 2021
The civil hospital campus in Asarva area of the city houses a dedicated 1,200-bed hospital for COVID-19 patients. Since the last week, a long queue of ambulances carrying coronavirus positive patients has been seen outside the hospital building. During a hearing on the overall pandemic situation in the state, the Gujarat High Court recently observed that "over 40 ambulances were found queued up outside the civil hospital".
