COVID-19 Highlights: This is the fourth time in five days when India reported over one lakh new cases.
With 1,45,384 fresh coronavirus infections, India has recorded the highest-ever single-day surge since the start of the pandemic, taking the tally to 1,32,05,0926. In the last 24 hours, 794 people died; 1,68,436 people have died so far.
Over the last week, night curfews have been imposed in parts of Gujarat, Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Delhi, West Bengal, Karnataka and Maharashtra, among others.
Maharashtra Health Minister Rajesh Tope said, the state is heading towards a lockdown if the situation does not change, the
Private vaccination centres in Mumbai will remain shut till Monday "due to insufficient supply of COVID-19 vaccine", the city's civic body BMC said in a statement. However, vaccinations will continue as scheduled at all government and municipal hospitals.
Here are the Highlights on Coronavirus India Cases:
Expect to receive more COVID-19 vaccine doses within 2 days, says Odisha vaccination In-charge
Amid a surge in coronavirus cases, Odisha COVID-19 vaccination In-Charge Bijay Panigrahi on Friday said the state is left with only two days of vaccine stock and expects to receive more vaccine doses from Centre within two days.
Speaking to reporters about the situation of vaccine stock, Mr Panigrahi said, "We have 3.2 lakh doses of Covishield and 1 lakh doses of Covaxin in Odisha. With this stock, we can continue vaccination for two days. We expect to receive more vaccine doses from the Government of India within two days."
"On Thursday we gave 1,32,872 doses of vaccine to people more than 45 years of age. Including yesterday''s count, we have completed 34,39,878 doses to all groups of people including healthcare workers, frontline workers and citizens above 45 years of age," said Mr Panigrahi further speaking about the status of vaccination in the state.
Sanjay Pandey gets additional charge as Maharashtra Director General of Maharashtra State Security Corporation
Senior IPS (Indian Police Service) officer and Director General of Maharashtra State Security Corporation, Sanjay Pandey has been given additional charge as the Maharashtra Director General (DGP) of Police.
The state Home Department issued the order late on Friday evening.
Sanjay Pandey was earlier DG, Home Guards with an additional charge of Maharashtra State Security Corporation.
Hemant Nagrale earlier held the additional charge of state DGP, but when he was transferred as the Mumbai Police Commissioner last month, the charge was given to the Director-General of Anti Corruption Bureau Rajnish Seth, a 1988 batch IPS officer.
Avoid Haridwar route if not visiting Kumbh: Uttarakhand Director-General of Police
Uttarakhand Director-General of Police on Friday stated that those who are coming to the state but are not visiting Kumbh needs to go to Dehradun, Garhwal, or Kumaon Mandal, from April 9 to 15 - which are the important days for ''Shahi Snan''.
The DGP, Ashok Kumar said that during the time, whoever does not have to come for Kumbh Snan and needs to go to Dehradun, Garhwal, or Kumaon Mandal should avoid the Haridwar route in view of the ''Somati Amavasya'' on April 12 and on other important days.
"People who are coming to the State but not visiting Kumbh, we request them to avoid the Haridwar route. We have uploaded all route-related information on Uttarakhand Police''s social media pages," said DGP.
DGP also said that April 14 is an important day for the Mahakumbh 2021, the day of the biggest royal bath. Also, April 12, marking Somati Amavasya, is also an important day and for that 19 kilometres, a long ''ghat'' has been prepared.
Restaurants owners in Bengaluru urge government to reconsider timings of night curfew
Owners of different restaurants in Bengaluru on Saturday urged the state government to reconsider the timing of the night curfew that will come into effect from April 10.
"For the last few months, it is only in the evening that we find some people coming in. For the 10 pm curfew, we will have to shut down our restaurants by 9:30 pm. We will make a representation to the CM to request him to reconsider the timing," Mukesh Tolani, a restaurant owner said.
"We urge the government to reconsider timing and maybe push it to 11 pm so that we can do some business," he added.
"The current situation is people come out for lunch or dinner either in the evening or by 9 pm, now with this 10 pm curfew, how anyone would step out at 9 pm for dinner. No one would consider going out at 8 pm or 9 pm when the curfew is starting from 10 pm," said a customer who came to the restaurant.
Sonia Gandhi to hold meeting with Chief Ministers of Congress-ruled states to discuss COVID-19 situation
Congress interim president Sonia Gandhi will hold a virtual meeting on Saturday with Chief Ministers of Congress-ruled states on the issue of the COVID-19 situation as the country witnessed a surge in coronavirus cases.
Senior party leader Rahul Gandhi will also be attending the meet.
In the meeting, the status of the COVID-19 in the states will be reviewed. The Congress leadership will also make suggestions to help the public, as per the sources.
Several states including Maharashtra, Odisha, Andhra Pradesh, Punjab, Rajasthan, UP, Uttarakhand, Chhattisgarh, Bihar are facing vaccine shortages.
The meeting comes a day after Congress leader Rahul Gandhi has written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi asking him to place an immediate moratorium on the export of vaccines, fast track approval of other vaccines and open up vaccination to everyone who needs it.
Criticising the PM, Gandhi asked whether the export of vaccines was an effort to garner "publicity".
12 new cases take COVID-19 tally of Andamans to 5,161
The COVID-19 tally of Andaman and Nicobar Islands rose to 5,161 on Saturday as 12 more people tested positive for the infection, a health official said. Two new patients have travel history, while 10 fresh infections were detected during contact tracing, he said. One more person has been cured of the disease, the official said.
Night Curfew Imposed In 9 Cities Of Rajasthan Till April 30
To prevent the surge in COVID-19 cases, Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot has imposed night curfew in nine cities of Rajasthan with effect from today till April 30.
As per an order by the Rajasthan government, "Night curfew imposed in 9 cities-Ajmer, Alwar, Bhilwara, Chittorgarh, Dungarpur, Jaipur, Jodhpur, Kota and Abu Road starting from 8 pm to 6 am, till April 30."
"In Udaipur, the night curfew will start from 6 pm to 6 am", the order informed.