Coronavirus in India Live News: India reports highest single-day spike of 3,86,452 cases; PM Modi to hold crucial meeting with ministers today on Covid-19

Jharkhand reported a record 149 COVID-19 deaths in a single day, pushing the toll to 2,395, while the tally climbed to 2,21,489 with 8,075 fresh cases, a health department official said on Friday. The state now has 54,816 active cases, following the recovery of 1,64,278 patients, he said. State capital Ranchi reported the maximum number of new fatalities at 46, followed by East Singhbhum (23), Koderma (11), Ramgarh and Dhanbad (9 each). The remaining deaths were recorded from several other districts. (PTI)

Haryana Health Minister Anil Vij on Friday directed the chief medical officers (CMOs) across districts to ensure that treatment and admissions of COVID-19 patients are not affected during visits of VIPs to hospitals. He said the patients and their treatment should be the first priority. This comes a day after the attendant of a patient at Jind Civil Hospital brought it to Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar’s notice that in view of his visit to the facility, authorities had put in place strict protocols that caused some inconvenience to patients’ attendants. Khattar had immediately directed the officials to ensure that no patient or attendant faces any inconvenience. “All CMOs should ensure that treatment and admissions of corona patients are not affected during VIP movements in hospitals. Our first priority is the patients and their treatment,” Vij said in a tweet. (PTI)

For Covid-19 patients, an “oxygen langar” has been set up at a gurdwara located in Ghaziabad’s Indirapuram. The oxygen can be availed by patients who need the life-saving gas for free. The oxygen langar has been set up in the gurdwara premises by non-profit Khalsa Help International. The service is available 24X7 and can cater to around 80 people at a time. The founder of the non-profit and the gurdwara committee’s president, Gurpreet Singh Rummy was quoted in an IE report saying that at present, they are not offering oxygen cylinder refilling or take-away, thus patients are required to come to the gurdwara to avail the service. READ FULL STORY

A PIL has been moved in Delhi HC seeking directions for framing guidelines for affording health services incl oxygen cylinders, medical consultations, injections, testing, plasma therapy to homebound patients & who have been denied admission due to unavailability of hospital beds. (ANI)

Delhi: 5 arrested for making fake  COVID19 reports using forged means. Two of the accused are lab technicians while a third is a doctor & application scientist at a testing lab. They used to collect samples, test at a lab without an entry & print report on fake letterhead of lab. (ANI)

आप सभी की शुभेच्छा और चिकित्सकों की देखरेख से अब मैं कोरोना निगेटिव हो गया हूँ।आप सभी के द्वारा मुझे दिए गए सहयोग व शुभकामनाओं के लिए धन्यवाद।

— Yogi Adityanath (@myogiadityanath) April 30, 2021

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Four months ago, America’s most populous state was struggling to combat a surge in coronavirus hospitalisations that packed patients into outdoor tents and killed hundreds of people each day. On Friday, Disneyland, California’s world-famous theme park, will reopen to visitors after an unprecedented 13-month closure in what tourism officials hope is a sign of the state’s rebound from the pandemic. For now, the park is allowing only in-state visitors and operating at limited capacity. “It has such a symbolic nature to really quantifying that we’re finally rolling out of COVID,” said Caroline Beteta, president and CEO of the state tourism agency Visit California. The news comes as California boasts the country’s lowest rate of confirmed coronavirus infections and more than half of the population eligible for vaccination has received at least one dose of the shots. It’s a dramatic turnaround from December, when hospitals across the state were running out of ICU beds and treating patients at overflow locations. Now, children are returning to school, shops and restaurants are expanding business, and Gov. Gavin Newsom set June 15 as a target date to further reopen the economy, albeit with some health-related restrictions. Theme parks were among the last businesses allowed to reopen in California, and Universal Studios and others have already thrown open the gates. That’s a contrast to states with fewer restrictions such as Florida, where Disney World’s Magic Kingdom resort has been up and running, though at lower-than-usual capacity, since last July. Another major U.S. amusement park, Ohio’s Cedar Point, opened last summer and will do so again for the upcoming season — only this time, it won’t require masks on rides or outdoors where crowds can be avoided. (AP)

Coronavirus in India Live News: Biden administration working to expand oxygen supply chain in India 

The Biden administration is working to expand the oxygen supply chain in India to save lives and wage a successful battle against what has now become one of the worst outbreaks of the COVID-19 pandemic in the world, a USAID official has said. India on Friday reported 3,86,452 new coronavirus infections, the highest single-day rise so far, pushing the total tally of COVID-19 cases to 1,87,62,976, while active cases crossed the 31-lakh mark. The death toll increased to 2,08,330 with 3,498  daily new fatalities. Obviously this is now one of the worst COVID-19 outbreaks in the world.  The numbers are extremely high and continuing to grow,” Jeremy Konyndyk, Senior Advisor coordinating agency-wide COVID efforts at the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) told PTI in an interview on Thursday. (PTI)

People stayed indoors and streets wore a largely deserted look on Friday as a four-day-long lockdown came into force in Goa to bring down the rising COVID-19 cases in the coastal state. The COVID-19-related curbs came into force at 9 pm on Thursday and will remain applicable till 6 am on Monday (May 3). The state government has said all essential services would be allowed to function during the period. A senior police officer said there was hardly any traffic on roads and strict patrolling was underway to implement the restrictions, especially in urban areas. People have cooperated and are staying inside their homes, he said. Goa has been witnessing a consistent rise in COVID-19 cases and deaths during the second wave of the pandemic, forcing the state administration to restrict movement of people and other public activities. “Weekly markets will not be allowed during the lockdown. Casinos will also remain shut. However, industrial activities will be allowed to function,” Chief Minister Pramod Sawant had said while announcing the curbs on Wednesday. Vaccination centres will function normally during the period, he had said. (PTI)

Maharashtra: NESCO vaccination centre in Mumbai remains closed. A board, reading ‘vaccine is not in stock from 30.04.2021 till 02.05.2021’ put up at the centre. (ANI)

Haryana: 2 Oxygen tankers airlifted from Bhubaneswar yesterday & 2 today. Tankers to also reach from Angul Tata Plant, 4 Oxygen tankers from Rourkela Plant reaching tomorrow. CM held a meeting over Oxygen supply last night. Oxygen quota of the state has been increased to 232 MT. (ANI)

Maharashtra: BKC jumbo #COVID19 vaccination centre in Mumbai remains closed, beneficiaries being sent back by Police. As per BMC’s order, there will be no vaccination here for three days. pic.twitter.com/9JbJwezl8q

— ANI (@ANI) April 30, 2021

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Covid-19: Phase 3 vaccination (for all above 18 years), which will begin from May 1, may remain slow in Karnataka as the state faces a delay in vaccine supply. “We gave orders to SII, Pune for over 1 cr doses. But they’re not prepared to give it to us from tomorrow. We request people, especially those b/w 18-44 yrs of age, to refrain from going to hospitals thinking that you may be vaccinated tomorrow. said Dr Health Minister K Sudhakar, as reported by ANI. “We will definitely intimate people after the confirmation that we obtain from the Serum Institute,” he said.

With the addition of 3,384 new coronavirus cases, the infection count in Thane district of Maharashtra mounted to 4,64,135, an official said on Friday. These new cases were reported on Thursday, he said. As the virus claimed the lives of 60 more patients, the death toll in the district rose to 7,526, the official said. The mortality rate in the district stood at 1.62 per cent, he added. (PTI)

A video showing members of RSS-affiliated Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) in PPE kits purportedly inside the COVID ward of Doon Medical College Hospital here and offering juice to patients has gone viral on social media. Principal of Doon Medical College Ashutosh Sayana said the ABVP had taken permission to help the hospital administration in maintaining order but it had not been allowed to enter the COVID ward. In the video that went viral on Thursday, the men with ABVP stickers pasted on their PPE kits are seen removing oxygen pipes of the patients and handing them glasses of juice. (PTI)

Indian Railways has expanded their ‘Oxygen Express’ operations to Haryana and Telangana after Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Delhi to bring relief to the states as India battles the second wave of Covid 19. Presently, four ‘Oxygen Express’ trains are on the run. READ FULL STORY

At least 59 more people have tested positive for COVID-19 in Andaman and Nicobar Islands, taking the tally in the Union Territory to 5,875, a health department official said on Friday. Thirteen new patients have travel history, and 46 were detected during contact tracing, he said. The death toll remained at 67 as no fresh fatality due to the infection was reported in the last 24 hours. Thirty-seven people were cured of the disease during the period, taking the total number of recoveries in the archipelago to 5,643. The Union Territory now has 165 active cases. (PTI)

Telangana reported7,646 fresh COPVId-19 cases taking the tally to over 4.35 lakh while the toll stood at2,261 with 53 more casualties. The Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) accounted for the most number of cases with 1,441, followed by Medchal Malkajgiri (631) and Rangareddy (484), a government bulletin said on Friday providing details as of 8 PM on April 29. The total number of cumulative cases in the state stood at 4,35,606 while with 5,926 patients being cured, the total recoveries were at 3,55,618. The state has 77,727 active cases and over 77 thousand samples were tested on Thursday. (PTI)

#WATCH | A US Govt assistance flight arrives in Delhi. This is the first of several emergency #COVID19 relief shipments from the United States. pic.twitter.com/43x3rhaq9d

— ANI (@ANI) April 30, 2021

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Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel writes to Prime Minister Narendra Modi suggesting to him that an order of priority for vaccination be fixed in the age category of 18-44 years,  and priority be given to the socially and economically weaker sections, in the light of shortage of vaccine. The CM further suggests that on-site registration be also made available for this category so that no one is deprived of vaccination due to online registration alone.

Unless Maharashtra gets 25 to 30 lakh vaccine vials, it will not commence inoculation drive against COVID-19 for people in the 18-44 age group, said health minister Rajesh Tope on Thursday. The nationwide vaccination for people in the 18-44 age group is scheduled to start from May 1 and registration for the same is open on the CoWin app. READ MORE

Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot on Thursday night asked the officials to continue with the restrictions imposed under the lockdown and to make them more stringent in order to contain the spread of the coronavirus. Chairing a COVID-19 review meeting through video conference, Gehlot said stricter guidelines are required in view of the rapidly spreading infection in the state. READ MORE

The United States hopes its massive COVID-19 assistance to India has a catalytic effect on society and around the world to come to the country’s aid as it fights a severe outbreak of COVID-19, officials said. The US is delivering essential medical supplies worth more than USD100 million to India in the coming days, State Department spokesperson Ned Price told reporters on Thursday. READ MORE

Delhi: 2 arrested for hoarding & black marketing of Remdesivir. 10 vials recovered, they used to sell it at Rs 35,000-50,000 per piece. One accused worked as a housekeeping staff at a hospital while the other worked at a pharmaceutical supplier’s. Search underway to nab others. (ANI)

Senior Advocate, veteran jurist and former Attorney General of India Soli Sorabjee passed away today. He had COVID-19 infection and was under treatment. He served as the Attorney General for India twice – between 1989-90 and 1998 to 2004. READ MORE

India saw 3,86,452 new coronavirus infections in a span of 24 hours, the highest single-day rise so far, pushing the total tally of COVID-19 cases to 1,87,62,976, while active cases crossed the 31-lakh mark, according to the Union Health Ministry data updated on Friday. The death toll increased to 2,08,330 with 3,498 daily new fatalities, the data updated at 8 am showed. Registering a steady increase, the active cases have increased to 31,70,228 comprising 16.90 per cent of the total infections, while the national COVID-19 recovery rate has further dropped to 81.99 per cent. The number of people who have recuperated from the disease surged to 1, 53,84,418. The case fatality rate stands 1.11 per cent, the data stated. India’s COVID-19 tally had crossed the 20-lakh mark on August 7, 30 lakh on August 23, 40 lakh on September 5 and 50 lakh on September 16. It went past 60 lakh on September 28, 70 lakh on October 11, crossed 80 lakh on October 29, 90 lakh on November 20 and surpassed the 1-crore mark on December 19. India crossed the grim milestone of 1.50 crore on April 19.  (PTI)