Bihar will go into a lockdown till May 15, Chief Minister Nitish Kumar said today amid the incessant rise of COVID-19 cases in the state. His government has formed a Crisis Management Group to finalise the details of the move and to guide it.
The Chief Minister made the announcement today through social media posts a day after a meeting of all ministers and top officials to take a call on the matter. It also comes on a day the state reported 11,407 fresh COVID-19 cases and 82 deaths, taking the state's overall case load to over 5.09 lakh and more than 2,800 fatalities.
Meanwhile, India registered a slight dip in COVID-19 cases as it registered 3,57,229 new coronavirus infections in the last 24 hours, informed the union health ministry on Tuesday morning. With this, the cumulative count of the cases has gone up to 2,02,82,833.
The daily spike had reached its peak of over four lakh cases on May 1 but came down to 3,68,147 cases yesterday.
As many as 3,449 people succumbed to the disease in the country in the last 24 hours, taking the cumulative death count to 2,22,408. Currently, there are 34,47,133 active cases of COVID-19 in the country, as per the government data.
The country also witnessed as many as 3,20,289 recoveries in the said period, taking the cumulative recoveries to 1,66,13,292.
Here are the updates on coronavirus (COVID-19) cases:
The COVID-19 situation in Assam is "a little alarming" with nearly 5,000 positive cases and the biggest one-day spike in fatalities with 41 deaths reported on Tuesday, Health Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said, reported news agency PTI.
Mr Sarma said that with about 5,000 COVID-19 cases reported everyday the "situation in Assam is becoming a little alarming". However, "we are prepared and measures are on to scale up ICU and hospital beds", he said.
The facility has been set up in a parking lot at Kohinoor Tower in Dadar for inoculating those above the age of 45 years.
A special staff team of the Delhi Police's North-West district on Tuesday busted a gang of four persons, including a nurse, for their alleged involvement in black marketing of Remdesivir injections, reported news agency ANI
Seven Remdesivir injections have been recovered from their possession and a case has been registered.
The nurse procured doses of Remdesivir, an anti-viral drug used in the treatment of COVID-19, from the hospital she works at and gave them to the other members of the gang, the police said. They then sold it for around Rs 70,000 for one dose, they added.
The accused have been identified as Vipul Verma (29), Vishal Kashyap (22), Shubham (23) and Lalitesh (24).
Three "Oxygen Express" trains arrived in the Delhi division of Northern Railway on Tuesday as Covid-19 cases rise, reported news agency ANI.
"Oxygen Express trains arrive at Faridabad, Gurgaon and ICD, Okhla today," said an official press release on Tuesday.
The "Oxygen Express" carrying 85.23 tonnes of liquid oxygen in four tankers arrived at Gurgaon at 03:10 am. The second one from Rourkela Junction carrying 41.74 tonnes of oxygen in three tankers arrived at Faridabad at 7:47 am. The third train carrying 120 tonnes of the lifesaving gas in six tankers arrived at Okhla at 9:44 am.
Facebook has partnered with the Indian government to roll out a vaccine finder tool on its mobile app in India that will help people identify nearby places to get vaccinated.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday called Uttarakhand Chief Minister Tirath Singh Rawat to enquire about the pandemic situation in the state and assured further help from the Centre, reported news agency ANI.
In a tweet, Mr Rawat said that PM Modi enquired about the steps taken by the state government to control the spread of the virus.
"Today, Prime Minister Narendra Modi Ji called and enquired about the status of COVID-19 in the hills and plains of Uttarakhand and the work being done to prevent it," Mr Rawat tweeted.
"The Prime Minister has assured to extend further help from the Centre for curbing COVID-19. I express my heartfelt gratitude to the Hon''ble Prime Minister," he added.
To supply oxygen at the earliest amid a massive Covid upsurge, East Coast Railway has carried 329 tons of Liquid Medical Oxygen (LMO) from different Steel Plants in its jurisdiction to different states, including Maharashtra, Telengana, Haryana and Delhi, reported news agency ANI.
In a release, the East Coast Railways on Tuesday said that a total of 187 tonnes of LMO has already been transported from Tata Bhusan Siding in Angul along with 105 tonnes of LMO from Rashtriya ISpat Nigam Limited in Visakhapatnam and 31 tonnes of LMO from Jindal Steel in Angul.
The Gujarat government on Tuesday decided to impose a night curfew and other restrictions in seven more cities of the state and also extended till May 12 the existing lockdown-like restrictions in 29 cities to break the chain of the coronavirus infection, reported news agency PTI.
Residents of Noida and Greater Noida can apply online for e-pass for "essential" outdoor movement during the lockdown which has been imposed due to COVID-19, Gautam Buddh Nagar administration said. People can apply for the e-pass using the link rahat.up.nic.in or rahat.up.nic.in/epass and they will not be required to go to any government office, the administration said.
A daughter wept loudly as she fought her own mother to try and give water to her Covid positive father, who had been shunned by their village, in a video from Andhra Pradesh.
The Karnataka government has declared all journalists in the state as frontline workers and will consider them for priority vaccination against COVID-19, state Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa said.
Tamil Nadu continued to witness a sharp rise in COVID-19 infections, with 21,228 new cases being added in the last 24 hours, pushing the caseload to 12,49,292. As many as 144 COVID related deaths were reported in the last 24 hours, taking the death count to 14,612, the health department said.
Questioning the government's priorities during the COVID-19 crisis, the Congress today said it should deploy all resources in saving the lives of the people instead of building a new prime minister's residence.
Kerala recorded 37,190 new COVID-19 cases, while 26,148 people were cured of the infection, taking the caseload to 17,01,979 and recoveries to 13.39 lakh, the state government said. The death count rose to 5,507 with 57 more deaths. With cases rising steeply, the government's earlier announcement of lockdown-like restrictions from today till May 9 have come into force.
People who have been fully vaccinated against Covid-19 will no longer have to abide by curfews and contact restrictions in Germany under a draft law agreed by the cabinet. They will also be allowed access to shops and other facilities without first providing a negative test result as is currently required of the rest of the population, Justice Minister Christine Lambrecht said while announcing the measures, which may come into force as early as this weekend if approved by parliament.
Sikkim's COVID-19 caseload rose to 8,698 as 230 more people tested positive for the infection while one new fatality pushed the death toll to 151, a health department bulletin said. East Sikkim district registered 186 new COVID-19 cases followed by South Sikkim, 19, West Sikkim, 17, and North Sikkim district, eight.
Several hospitals in Bengaluru have been sending out appeals for oxygen, some of them even asking patients, who have already been admitted, to find a bed elsewhere as they are running out of the life-giving gas.
Kerala Police chief Lokanath Behara on Monday directed all district police chiefs and station house officers to strictly enforce the COVID-19 restrictions in the state, reported news agency ANI. The state will observe stringent restrictions starting today in order to curb the spread of the coronavirus in the state.
The Pune Police on Monday arrested three doctors for charging a family of a Covid patient Rs 1 lakh for a ventilator bed at a hospital in the city's Pimpri Chinchwad area, reported news agency ANI.
As per the police, a complaint has been lodged by the Municipal Corporation and a probe is underway.