After the introduction of the new COVID-19 vaccine policy, the inoculation rate has increased significantly in India. From June 21 to 30, 5.57 million doses were administered every day on average, the highest for any 10-day period since the vaccination drive started.
The seven-day rolling average of doses administered per day reached a peak of 6.44 million on June 26. However, the rate could not be sustained in the final days of June. By June 30, the average doses dropped below the 5 million-mark.
You can track coronavirus cases, deaths and testing rates at the national and State levels here . A list of State Helpline numbers is available as well.
Here are the latest updates :
'80% new cases from 90 districts'
At the weekly COVID-19 press briefing, Health Ministry spokesperson Lav Agarwal says 80% of new cases were coming from 90 districts across the country. This includes 19 districts from Maharashtra, 15 from Tamil Nadu, 14 from Kerala, 11 from Odisha, 10 from Andhra Pradesh, nine districts from Karnataka and eight districts of Assam.
We are looking at strict local containment in these areas, he says. - Bindu Shajan Perappadan
Kejriwal launches scheme to provide relief to families who lost kin
Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Tuesday urged government officials to establish a relationship with families who had lost their kin to COVID-19 in the process of providing financial relief to them.
The Aam Aadmi Party supremo launched the government’s scheme to provide financial relief to such families via video conference even as the paperwork of such beneficiaries began at the offices of district administrations across the city.
Rural India sinks deeper into debt as COVID-19 wipes out work
Asha Devi doesn’t remember how many meals she has skipped as she struggles to feed her family of seven in a remote corner of Northern India where the novel coronavirus is compounding old problems of rural debt and poverty.
Devi, 35, had to mortgage her land for a ₹20,000 loan and six month on, as the money runs out, she has stopped buying milk, halved her use of cooking oil and can afford lentils only about once every 10 days.
SC refuses to intervene against Odisha order restricting Jagannath Rath Yatra to Puri
The Supreme Court on Tuesday refused to intervene against an Odisha government order restricting the Puri Jagannath Rath Yatra to the temple city due to the COVID-19 pandemic situation.
A Bench led by Chief Justice of India N.V. Ramana said the trajectory of the virus was unpredictable.
Kerala revives the classic drive-in restaurant concept
Layers of flaky Kerala porotta soaked in spicy gravy served in a thooku paathram (a traditional steel container with a handle, easy to carry) is Kaasa Kitchen’s USP. The restaurant, serving fusion food in Fort Kochi, is not willing to let the pandemic beat its business.
Canada, US easing pandemic border-crossing restrictions
Pandemic restrictions on travel between Canada and US began to loosen since Monday. Canada Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said plans to reopen the border would be announced over the next few weeks.
Canadian citizens and permanent residents who have had a full dose of a coronavirus vaccine approved for use in Canada can skip a 14-day quarantine that has been a requirement since March 2020. Eligible air travellers no longer have to spend their first three days in the country at a government-approved hotel.
Sydney COVID lockdown call looms as new case numbers drop
The premier of Australia’s NewSouth Wales (NSW) said on Tuesday she aims to decide within the next 24 hours whether to extend a COVID-19 lockdown in Sydney that is due to end on Friday as new infections dropped in the country’s most populous state.
Just 18 new locally acquired COVID-19 cases were detected in NSW on Tuesday, half of the previous day’s number. But Premier Gladys Berejiklian said the decision would also take into account her administration’s determination to make the current lockdown in the city of five million people the last, as it aims to step up vaccinations.
Lajpat Nagar market closed
The Delhi government has closed the popular Lajpat Nagar market in south Delhi till further orders for violation of COVID-19 norms, officials said on Monday.
Sub-Divisional Magistrate, South East District, Padmakar Ram Tripathi said an inspection was carried out by the COVID-19 appropriate behaviour enforcement teams at the Lajpat Nagar market wherein “gross violations” of guidelines were observed. “It is, hereby, directed that Lajpat Nagar Central Market is closed with immediate effect until further orders,” the DDMA order said.
Representatives of various trader bodies claimed that crowding is mainly due to the presence of street vendors and it is up to the administration to prevent it.
Andhra Pradesh reports lowest single-day COVID-19 tally in last 90 days
The State reported 2,100 new coronavirus infections in the last 24 hours, ending on Monday morning, the lowest single-day tally in the last 90 days . The virus claimed 26 lives during the period, the lowest in the past 77 days.
The daily positivity rate of the 72,731 samples tested in the past day was 2.89%, the lowest in the past 100 days. The cumulative tally increased to 19,05,023, while the death toll reached 12,870.
The recovery rate reached 97.54% with a total 18,58,189 recoveries so far. During the past day, 3,435 patients recovered, reducing the number of active cases to 33,964. The overall positivity rate of the 2.24 crore samples tested thus far was put at 8.49%.
Judges, Karnataka court staff contribute ₹3.38 crore to COVID-19 fund
Judges of the Karnataka High Court as well as the district and taluk judiciary and the staff working in all types of courts have contributed ₹3.38 crore to the Chief Minister’s COVID-19 Relief Fund.
While High Court judges have contributed ₹11.6 lakh, the judges in the district and taluk courts have contributed 1.15 crore in the form of three days’ salary, said a press release issued by T.G. Shivashankare Gowda, Registrar General of the High Court.
Curfew eased further in 11 dists. from July 8
Following a decline in COVID-19 cases in the State, the government on Monday decided to further relax curfew timings . The relaxation hours are from 6 a.m. to 10 p.m. from July 8, except for East and West Godavari districts.
During a review meeting on COVID-19, Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy gave the green signal for opening cinema theatres, restaurants, gyms and function halls from July 8 in strict compliance with COVID protocols, including 50% seating in cinemas and restaurants and mandating the wearing of masks and using sanitisers. However, all shops and commercial establishments should be closed by 9 p.m.
In East and West Godavari districts, the night curfew will be enforced from 7 p.m. to 6 a.m. and the restrictions would be in place till the positivity rate drops below five percent.
Sydney COVID lockdown call looms as new case numbers drop
The premier of Australia’s NewSouth Wales (NSW) said on Tuesday she aims to decide within the next 24 hours whether to extend a COVID-19 lockdown in Sydney that is due to end on Friday as new infections dropped in the country’s most populous state.
Just 18 new locally acquired COVID-19 cases were detected in NSW on Tuesday, half of the previous day’s number. But Premier Gladys Berejiklian said the decision would also take into account her administration’s determination to make the current lockdown in the city of five million people the last, as it aims to step up vaccinations.
“That will factor into our decision-making as to whether it(the two-week lockdown) finishes on Friday or whether we continue for a period longer,” Ms. Berejiklian told reporters. “I hope to be able to communicate to the community tomorrow on what next week looks like.”
Sri Lanka receives 26,000 doses of US-made Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine
Sri Lanka on Monday received the first batch of 26,000 doses of Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine, becoming the first South Asian country to get the US-made jab.
The consignment was part of the 800,000 COVID-19 jabs to be delivered to the island nation in the next few weeks.
Health officials said that the 26,000 doses of the COVID-19 vaccine was the start of the 5 million Pfizer jabs expected by year end.
Facial recognition used to verify vaccine beneficiaries: govt.
Even though the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW) has admitted in a recent RTI query response to the use of facial recognition technology (FRT) for online verification of beneficiaries at vaccination centres, it failed to provide any legislative or legal order that authorised the use of such technology.
The MoHFW has also said that no privacy impact assessment of the use of FRT was conducted prior to its deployment.
“Facial recognition authentication is used as one of the methods for Aadhaar Authentication for online verification of beneficiary prior to COVID-19 vaccination wherein facial template is captured and send to UIDAI for verification of image of beneficiary,” the Ministry said in response to an RTI filed by the not-for-profit Internet Freedom Foundation (IFF).
Tribal-dominated district takes lead in creating COVID-19 care facility for children
The tribal-dominated Banswara district in southern Rajasthan has taken the lead in creating first-of-its-kind paediatric COVID-19 care facility as part of preparations for a possible third wave of infection. Beautified with colourful drawings and cartoons depicted on the walls, the dedicated wards will cater to children with different stages of coronavirus infection.
The district administration identified the buildings and rooms lying in disuse in the premises of the Mahatma Gandhi Government Hospital and took up their extensive repairs and reconstruction. Following a month-long exercise, a 20-bedded paediatric ICU, a 40-bed children’s ward and a 35-bed special newborn care unit have been set up in the hospital.
In the light of warnings that the next wave may affect the children harder than the first two waves, all the paediatric wards have been connected to the central oxygen pipeline and the facilities of ventilators, BiPAP and CPAP machines and radiant warmers have been arranged for each bed.
Bengaluru Urban falls to second place in India
Bengaluru Urban, which had the highest number of active cases in the country for over two months, has finally managed to reduce its active caseload to 15,395 on Monday and has come down to the second position now.
Pune, which was second so far, now has the highest number of active cases with 16,960 still under treatment.
On April 23 with nearly 1.5 lakh active cases, Bengaluru Urban had become the district with the highest active caseload in the country, way ahead of Pune (1,16,602) then. The number of active cases crossed 1 lakh on April 19 and touched 1,49,624 on April 23.
