This Article is From May 03, 2021

Coronavirus India Highlights: Supreme Court Directs Centre To Fix Oxygen Supply To Delhi By Today

Coronavirus Highlights: On Sunday, the country launched the third phase of the world's biggest vaccination drive, extending the coverage to those in the age group of 18-44.

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COVID-19 Cases in India: India has recorded over 2.11 lakh Covid-linked deaths so far.

Deficit supply of oxygen to Delhi - where 12 people died Saturday and 25 last week, because of a shortfall triggered by the second wave of coronavirus cases - must be rectified on or before midnight of May 3, the Supreme Court has told the centre.

The top court also directed the centre to work with state governments to create a buffer stock of oxygen to be used for emergency purposes, and decentralise locations of these reserves.

The directions on oxygen supply - a detailed 64-page order passed by Justices DY Chandrachud, LN Rao and S Ravindra Bhat, after their hearing on Friday - came as Delhi hospitals, including the Madhukar Rainbow Children's Hospital, continue to send out frantic SOSs.

India is witnessing a frightening surge in dalily Covid cases with a large parts of the country getting affected by a devastating second Covid wave. 

With 4.01 lakh cases recorded on Saturday, India hit a new grim world record; 2,15,542 people have died so far. Maharashtra continues to be the worst-hit state followed by Kerala, Karnataka and Uttar Pradesh.

Here are the Highlights on coronavirus cases in India:

May 03, 2021 04:38 (IST)
13 Opposition Leaders Request Centre To Launch Free Mass Vaccination Drive
Leaders of 13 Opposition parties Sunday urged the Centre to launch a free mass vaccination drive across the country in view of the unprecedented surge in COVID-19 cases.

In a joint statement, they also called upon the Centre to ensure uninterrupted oxygen supply to all hospitals and health centres as they manage the staggering patient loads in view of the rising cases.

The signatories include Congress president Sonia Gandhi, JDS leader and former prime minister HD Deve Gowda, NCP leader Sharad Pawar, Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray and TMC supremo Mamata Banerjee.

"In times of the uncontrollable surge of the pandemic across our country, we call upon the Central government to focus all attention in ensuring the uninterrupted flow of Oxygen supplies to all hospitals and health centres across the country," they said in a joint statement.

"We call upon the Central government to immediately launch a free mass vaccination programme across the country," they added.

The opposition leaders said the budgetary allocation of Rs 35,000 crore for the vaccination programme must be utilised for this drive.
May 03, 2021 01:23 (IST)
Doctor Arrested For Breaking Covid Rules In Haryana, Released On Bail
A doctor, who had tested positive for coronavirus a few days ago, was arrested on Sunday for allegedly breaking COVID-19 guidelines when he went to the deputy commissioner's camp office along with relatives of his patients when he knew that he had tested positive for the virus, police said.

Police said the group created a ruckus over alleged lack of oxygen at the doctor's hospital while the district administration claimed that an enquiry by the Chief Medical Officer found that oxygen was sufficient.

Lokender Goel, owner of a private hospital in Kurukshetra, whose facility had been admitting COVID patients, was arrested after a case was registered against him under various provisions of the Indian Penal Code and the Disaster Management Act, 2005.
May 02, 2021 23:50 (IST)
May 02, 2021 23:15 (IST)
Covid Negative Report Must For Air Travellers To UP

Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Sunday announced that buses of the Uttar Pradesh State Roadways Transport Corporation will ply only within the state for the next 15 days, while a negative COVID-19 test report has been made mandatory for those travelling to UP by air.

Chairing a high-level meeting virtually, Mr Adityanath directed the officials that a statewide campaign be run in the rural areas, after the panchayat elections are over, to screen the people infected with COVID-19. The campaign will run for five days, the UP government said in a statement issued here.
May 02, 2021 22:38 (IST)
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May 02, 2021 22:22 (IST)
Bihar To Vaccinate Journalists On Priority, Says Nitish Kumar

Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Sunday said journalists will be given the COVID-19 vaccine on priority in the state.

Taking to Twitter, Mr Kumar said that journalists have been properly performing their duties during the pandemic by spreading awareness about the virus among people.

"Corona vaccine will be given to journalists on priority basis in the state. Journalists have been performing their roles in a good way during the pandemic. They are making people aware of the dangers of corona infection," he tweeted.
May 02, 2021 22:16 (IST)
May 02, 2021 21:42 (IST)
Madhya Pradesh Congress MLA Brijendra Singh Rathore Dies Of Covid

Madhya Pradesh Congress MLA and former state minister Brijendra Singh Rathore died while undergoing treatment for COVID-19 at a private hospital on Sunday, a party leader said. He was 63.

He was party's in-charge for the last month's Damoh Assembly bypoll.

Mr Rathore, who represented Prithvipur Assembly seat in Tikamgarh district, died in the evening following a cardiac arrest, State Congress general secretary Rajiv Singh said.

The legislator had tested positive for the infection and was air-lifted to Bhopal from Jhansi about a week back, he said.
May 02, 2021 21:19 (IST)
Punjab Government Provides 809 Ventilators To Districts Amid Covid Spike

Amid a second surge of COVID-19 pandemic, the Punjab Government has provided 809 more ventilators to the districts in the state.

After chairing a high-level meeting to review the current COVID situation and vaccination status in the state here on Sunday, Chief Secretary Vini Mahajan directed all the Deputy Commissioners to install the new ventilators today itself and ensure that not even a single oxygen concentrator and ventilator remain unutilised.

She also ordered to impose work from home for private offices so that the chain of Covid transmission could be arrested, according to an official statement.
May 02, 2021 20:45 (IST)
May 02, 2021 20:11 (IST)
No Shortage Of Funds To Fight COVID-19 Pandemic: Chhattisgarh Chief Minister

There would be no shortage of funds to fight the COVID-19 pandemic in Chhattisgarh and the state government was making all-out efforts to contain it by ramping up tests as well as health infrastructure, Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel said on Sunday.

He said that, as on May 1, a total of 72,06,500 coronavirus tests have been conducted in the state, which had led to the detection of 7,28,700 cases.

The chief minister added that 6,01,161 people had been discharged post recovery, leaving the state with an active caseload of 1,18,958.

Currently, 31 government and five private laboratories have TrueNat facility and seven state-run and five private can carry out RT-PCR tests, while rapid antigen test facilities were available in the primary health centres, he added.
May 02, 2021 19:33 (IST)
May 02, 2021 18:52 (IST)
May 02, 2021 18:27 (IST)
Ensure Medicines, Equipment For Covid Not Sold Above MRP: High Court To Delhi Government

The Delhi High Court on Sunday directed the Delhi government to ensure that medicines and equipment like oxygen cylinders and concentrators needed for COVID-19 treatment not be sold above the maximum retail price (MRP).

A bench of Justices Vipin Sanghi and Rekha Palli directed the government to book those persons found hoarding or black-marketing medicines and equipment related to COVID-19 and be brought before the court for taking independent contempt action against them.

The direction was issued after the court was informed by some lawyers that there was rampant overcharging of medicines and equipment.
May 02, 2021 17:38 (IST)
May 02, 2021 17:14 (IST)
2 Arrested For Black-Marketing Of Oxygen Concentrators In Delhi

Two men have been arrested for their alleged involvement in black marketing oxygen concentrators, an equipment used for treatment of Covid patients, police said on Sunday.

The accused has been identified as Anuj Minda, 41, a resident of Ashok Vihar, and Gurmeet Singh, 36, a resident of Rohini, they said.

The police said the accused were charging Rs 1.65 lakh for an oxygen concentrator against its actual price of Rs 31,000.
May 02, 2021 16:51 (IST)
May 02, 2021 16:07 (IST)
UK To Send 1,000 More Ventilators To India: Report

The UK said Sunday it was sending an extra 1,000 oxygen ventilators to Covid-struck India, as a group of doctors staged their own intervention by offering long-distance telemedicine from Britain.

Britain has already sent 495 oxygen concentrators and 200 ventilators to India as the country grapples with a devastating surge in coronavirus cases, and is shipping three larger production units, dubbed oxygen factories.

"We're going to be sending out another package of 1,000 ventilators, very shortly," Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab told BBC television.
May 02, 2021 15:40 (IST)
May 02, 2021 15:33 (IST)
Bhopal COVID-19 deaths: Government says 104, crematoriums say 2,557

Crematoriums in Bhopal claim that the last rites of as many as 2557 coronavirus victims from Bhopal district were performed in April, sharply contradicting the BJP-led state government's data which puts the COVID-19 deaths in the district last month at 104, PTI reported.



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