The Drug Controller of India has allowed clinical trial of Favipiravir medicine, developed indigenously a CSIR laboratory, on coronavirus patients, Director General Shekhar Mande said on Friday. He said the Indian Institute of Chemical Technology (IICT), Hyderabad has developed the technology to make the drug Favipiravir. The technology has been transferred to a private company, IICT Director S Chandrashekar said. The company will now tie up with hospitals for clinical trials so that the drug could be tested on patients suffering from COVID-19. Approval from patients will be necessary as per the protocols, he said. Mande said Favipiravir is used in countries such as China and Japan to treat influenza. Whenever, a virus enters a cell, it tries to create multiple replicas. Favipiravir stops the replication process, he explained. The CSIR has already tied up with Cadila Pharmaceuticals Ltd to evaluate Mycobacterium W (Mw) for faster recovery of hospitalised COVID-19 patients and minimise

Five people, who had travelled from Rajasthan to Silchar, tested positive for COVID-19 on Friday, taking the total number of cases in Assam to 58, Health Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said. Of the total 58 cases, 23 are active, he said. "There are two more COVID-19 patients who travelled in the bus which ferried people from Rajasthan. They are from Cachar district," the minister tweeted. Three other persons tested positive earlier in the day, while four others tested positive on Thursday and another on Wednesday, taking the total number of cases related to this group, who came from Ajmer to 10. The patients have been admitted to Silchar Medical College Hospital. A bus carrying 45 passengers and crew, arrived at Silchar on Wednesday, after being given permission by the Ajmer Deputy Commissioner. Of them 10 have tested positive so far. As the passengers had gone home briefly after screening, several areas in four villages of Cachar district has been declared as containment zones, he ...

Jharkhand on Friday reported its highest single-day spike in COVID-19 cases with 21 people testing positive, taking the total number of infections to 153 in the state, officials said. Of the total 455 swab samples tested during the day, 21 tested positive for COVID-19, said the Director of the Rajendra Institute of Medical Sciences (RIMS), Dr D K Singh. He said 25 more people recovered from the infection, bringing the total number of cured people in the state to 77. The officials did not provide any details of the 21 people who tested positive for COVID-19 in the state on Friday. Since the outbreak of the pandemic on March 31 in the state, two persons have died of the infection while one COVID-19 patient died due to underlying health condition after testing negative.

With Gujarat reporting a large number of COVID-19 cases and fatalities, medical experts from AIIMS, including its Director Dr Randeep Guleria, have rushed to Ahmedabad to provide expert guidance to doctors there on COVID-19 management. Following directions from the Centre, Dr Guleria, who is a pulmonologist, and Dr Manish Soneja from the AIIMS department of medicine left for Ahmedabad on special Indian Air Force flight on Friday evening, official sources said. With 390 more people testing positive for COVID-19 and 24 fatalities, the total number of cases in Gujarat climbed to 7,403 and the death toll reached 449 on Friday. Of the total coronavirus cases in the state, 5,260 have been reported from Ahmedabad district alone. "They will visit the Ahmedabad Civil Hospital and SVP hospital on Saturday to provide expert guidance and advice to the doctors on treatment for coronavirus-infected patients there," a source said.

Thirty people, including 25 from BSF's 86th battalion, tested positive for COVID-19 in Tripura on Friday, taking the total number of cases to 118, Chief Minister Biplab Kumar Deb said. Of the 118 cases, 116 are active while two persons have been discharged from hospital after recovery from the infection. The fresh COVID cases were found among the Border Security Force (BSF) personnel of the 86 battalion and 138 battalion in Ambassa of Dhalai district, both of which were earlier declared as containment zones. A truck driver was also found to be among the new cases. Deb earlier spoke to the reporters at the civil secretariat here and said, "Even as large number of BSF personnel was infected by the deadly virus, there is no transmission among civilians. "I hope all COVID-19 patients in the state would recover," the chief minister said.

Maharashtra Cyber has registered 363 offences of rumour mongering, spreading misinformation, hatred and fake news on social media during the COVID-19 lockdown, an official said on Saturday. The state police's cyber wing has been monitoring online activities to prevent the spread of misinformation about the COVID-19 pandemic. As many as 196 persons were arrested for sharing or uploading objectionable posts, videos and photographs on social media, the official said. In Sangli district, a case was registered against some people for uploading a Tik-Tok video about a particular community being responsible for the pandemic and also using abusive language against prominent social reformers, he said. At least 14 offences were registered by the cyber wing in the district since the lockdown was enforced, he added. Similarly, in Parli town of Beed district, some persons were booked for a social media post linking the spread of COVID-19 to a particular community, he said, adding that

Odisha on Saturday reported 17 new COVID-19 cases, taking the total number to 287, the Health and Family Welfare Department said. Twelve new cases were reported from Ganjam district, three were detected in Mayurbhanj and one each in Bhadrak and Sundergarh district, it said. The total number of infected people rose to 83 in Ganjam district. The number of cases in Bhadrak stood at 25 and total 13 cases were detected in Sundergarh. At present, there are 222 active cases in the state and 63 people have recovered. Two people from Bhubaneswar have succumbed to the disease, an official said. There are currently 298 people in hospital isolation in the state, he said. The state health department had on Friday conducted 3,348 tests for COVID-19, he said, adding that Odisha has so far tested 56,322 samples. As per an analysis by the department, 240 of the state's total 287 cases have been reported from five districts. Ganjam reported 83 cases, Jajpur 55, Khurda 50, Balasore 27 and Bhadrak 25. In

The death toll due to COVID-19 rose to 1,981 and the number of cases climbed to 59,662 in the country on Saturday, registering an increase of 95 deaths and 3,320 cases in the last 24 hours, according to the Union health ministry. The number of active COVID-19 cases stood at 39,834, while 17,846 people have recovered and one patient has migrated, it said. "Thus, around 29.91 per cent patients have recovered so far," a senior health ministry official said. The total number of cases also include 111 foreign nationals. A total 95 deaths deaths were reported since Friday morning, of which 37 in Maharashtra, 24 in Gujarat, nine in West Bengal, seven in Madhya Pradesh, four each from Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh, three from Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu and two from Delhi and one each from Punjab and Haryana.

The Bombay High Court directed the Maharashtra government to take an appropriate policy decision to tackle the spread of COVID-19 at Arthur Road Jail in central Mumbai. At least 77 inmates and 26 personnel of Arthur Road Jail tested positive for coronavirus early this week. Justice Bharati Dangre on Friday was hearing a bail application filed by Ali Akbar Shroff, one of the inmates at the prison, seeking temporary bail on medical grounds. In his order, Justice Dangre noted that the situation was precarious and in such a contingency, the state government and the policy makers should take a decision. "If it is true that more than 100 patients have tested positive in Arthur Road Jail, then it is for the authorities to ensure that other inmates, who are presently lodged in the jail, are not infected by the virus on account of overcrowding," the court said. The authorities must remember that inmates had the right to a safe and healthy environment even when they were ...

Coronavirus infected patients developing severe illness or having compromised immunity will have to test negative through RT-PCR test before being discharged by a hospital, the Union health ministry on Friday said in its revised discharge policy for COVID-19 cases. Moderate cases of COVID-19 and pre-symptomatic, mild and very mild cases need not undergo tests before being discharged after resolution of symptoms. According to the rules till now, a patient was considered fit to be discharged if he or she tested negative on day 14 and then again in a span of 24 hours. "The revised discharge policy is aligned with the guidelines on the 3 tier COVID facilities and the categorisation of patients based on clinical severity," the ministry said. The death toll due to COVID-19 rose to 1,981 and the number of cases climbed to 59,662 on Saturday, registering an increase of 95 deaths and 3,320 cases in the last 24 hours, according to the Union health ministry. The discharge criteria for severe ...

The number of coronavirus positive cases in Nashik district of Maharashtra jumped to 622 after 50 more persons were found infected, officials said on Saturday. As many as 49 of the 50 new patients were from Malegaon and one from Nashik city, the district administration said in statement. Of the total 622 COVID-19 patients in the district, 497 are from Malegaon, 45 from Nashik city and 61 from other parts, it said. The death toll due to the virus is 19 so far in the district, the statememt added. There are 19 patients from outside the district who are receiving treatment in hospitals here. A total of 46 patients- 41 patients from Malegaon, three from Nashik Municipal Corporation limit and two from other parts of the district- have recovereed from the infection so far, it said.

The Nagaland government has assured the high court that the laboratory in Kohima for conducting COVID-19 detection tests will be functional by May 12. The state government informed the Kohima bench of the Gauhati High Court that finishing works for the lab have been completed and it would be functional by May 12. Additional Advocate General T B Jamir, however, told the bench comprising of Justice Songkhupchung Serto and Justice Hukato Swu that since the same technicians would be setting up the lab in Dimapur, at least two weeks are required to make that unit functional. The state government made the submission through an interim application filed on Thursday, praying for extension of time after the court on April 27 directed it to make the two labs functional within 10 days. The court on Friday directed the state government to make all efforts to make the lab at Kohima functional within five days and the one at Dimapur within two weeks. After two weeks, the state ...

A student of the Regional Dental College in Guwahati tested positive for COVID-19, taking the total number of positive cases in Assam to 59, Health Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said on Saturday. The student's test report came in on Friday night, following which the number of cases detected in Guwahati since Thursday rose to five. Only one person, a resident of a high- end apartment, was found to be COVID-19 positive in the city prior to that. "These are difficult times. My duty is to give finest attention to all. Following social distancing guidelines of the government, met the girl who tested positive at Regional Dental College and assured her best care," Sarma said. He urged other students of the college not to panic and ensure social distance. The girl was tested after she came in contact with a post-graduate student of the Guwahati Medical College and Hospital (GMCH) who had tested positive on Thursday, an official said. A 16-year old girl was found COVID-19 positive .

17-year-old Pratyusha Jha, wakes up scrambling for newspapers these days to look for any news about her pending board exams and is anxious about what the future has in store for her. Similar concerns are shared by Bipin Kumar, a class 12 student, who says the announcement of board exams from July 1 to 15 brought limited clarity as the larger questions remain unanswered. The COVID-19 lockdown, came with a different set of concerns for class 12 students, whose board exams were postponed midway following the outbreak of coronavirus, putting on hold their future plans as well. "Everyday I have been looking for news about the exams and about entrance exam dates. I feel unfortunate that this happened during the year I was supposed to take the big college leap. I don't want my future decisions to be shaped by this very year as what I opt to study now will remain with me lifelong," Pratyusha told PTI. Ending some uncertainty for students, HRD Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal 'Nishank' on Friday ...

Five Bihar Military Police (BMP) personnel have tested positive for novel coronavirus, taking the total number of COVID-19 cases in the state to 579, a top health official said. All the fresh cases are from Khajpura area of Patna and their infection trail is being ascertained, Health Department Principal Secretary Sanjay Kumar said. Kumar tweeted late on Friday evening, "5 more COVID-19 positive cases in Bihar taking the total to 579. 5-males 30,36,50,52 and 57 years from Khajpura Patna. All are BMP jawans. We are ascertaining their further infection trail." Coronavirus has spread to 36 of the 38 districts in the state, officials said. Five patients have died so far and 307 people are still afflicted with the disease, while 267 have recovered, they said. One death each was reported in Rohtas, Munger, Vaishali, East Champaran and Sitamarhi districts. All the deceased were males and barring one, every one of them was below 60 years of age and with pre-existing medical conditions, the ...

The AAP government has told the Delhi High Court that adequate ration was being provided to Rohingya families at three camps in south and north east parts of the city during the coronavirus-induced lockdown. The submission was made by the Delhi government before a bench of Justices Manmohan and Sanjeev Narula, which was hearing a plea seeking immediate relief for the Rohingya families at settlements in Khajuri Khas in north east Delhi and Shram Vihar and Madanpur Khadar in south Delhi. Delhi government additional standing counsel Sanjoy Ghose and advocate Urvi Mohan also told the court that four hunger centres were being run near the settlements mentioned in the plea. The petitioner, Fazal Abdali, claimed that the Rohingyas at these three camps were being denied relief under the various schemes announced by the Delhi government to combat the coronavirus pandemic. The bench, however, noted that the petitioner had not given any specific particulars of the neglect faced by these families

Thirty Six new COVID-19 positive cases have been confirmed in Karnataka, taking the total number of infections in the state to 789, health department said on Saturday. "36 new positive cases have been reported from last evening to this noon....Till date 789 COVID-19 positive cases have been confirmed. This includes 30 deaths and 379 discharges," the department said in its mid day situation report. The 36 new cases include- 12 from Bengaluru urban, seven from Bhatkal in Uttara Kannada, five from Davangere, three each from- Bantawal in Dakshina Kannada, Chitradurga and Bidar, and one each from Tumakuru, Davangere and Vijayapura. While most cases are contacts of patients already tested positive, three are with travel history to Ahmedabad, two are from a containment zone in Bengaluru, and one person's contact is under tracing.

Puducherry Health Minister Malladi Krishna Rao on Saturday said the Centre has lauded the performance of the territorial administration in keeping the spread of COVID-19 at bay as there had been only two to three active cases of the infection. Talking to reporters here, Rao said the Joint Secretaries of the Union Health Ministry had contacted him seeking to clarify as to whether Puducherry was "really having such a small number of active cases." The officials also wanted to know whether the figures furnished were really "correct." They raised eyebrows largely because of the high incidence of the pandemic in the neighbouring districts of Villupuram and Cuddalore in Tamil Nadu, he said. Rao said he had told them that the team work done by departments of Health, Police, Revenue and Disaster Management, Public Health and other line departments here has been chiefly responsible for the good achievement of Union Territory. He said he had apprised the officials of the meticulous

BJP corporators in the Thane Municipal Corporation (TMC) have refused to contribute to the COVID-19 relief fund, citing lack of transparency in the affairs of the civic body in Maharashtra's Thane city. Corporators from other parties have contributed Rs 5 lakh to the fund, following an appeal from Mayor Naresh Mhaske. In a letter to the Mayor, BJP leader Sanjay Waghule alleged that there was no transparency in the civic body's COVID-19 relief activities, which is why party corporators would not make any contribution to the TMC's COVID-19 fund. He further claimed that BJP corporators were not invited to the meeting called by Guardian Minister Eknath Shinde to discuss a 1,000-bed COVID-19 treatment facility. Meanwhile, the Mayor in a written communication pointed out that the BJP had welcomed the idea of a relief fund for COVID-19 and now it was backing away from it. There are 23 BJP corporators in the house of 131 corporators in the TMC.

Two-wheeler major Yamaha Motor India Group (YMIG) on Saturday said its employees have voluntarily donated a day's salary to support the government in combating the coronavirus pandemic. The company's permanent employeesas well as some trainees based out of its three plants -- Kanchipuram (Tamil Nadu), Surajpur (Uttar Pradesh) and Faridabad (Haryana), and employees at its other offices donated a total of Rs 61.5 lakh from their pay for April, YMIG said in a statement. Out of the total amount, Rs 25 lakh each will be donated to the Chief Minister's Public Relief Fund (Government of Tamil Nadu) and Chief Minister Distress Relief Fund (Government of Uttar Pradesh). The remaining Rs 11.5 lakh will be donated to the PM-CARES Fund, it added. "This is a global crisis and Yamaha's task as a global company is enormous. During such time what COVID-19 has prompted, Yamaha feels that it is important for everyone to stand united against the pandemic and come forward to support the government in ...

The northeastern region, which has traditionally been disciplined, has emerged as the model of coronavirus management and the rest of the country should emulate it, Union minister Jitendra Singh said on Saturday. He said people in the eight northeastern states - Sikkim, Arunachal Pradesh, Mizoram, Manipur, Meghalaya, Nagaland, Tripura and Assam - have been following the lockdown-related guidelines in letter and spirit. "By tradition and by lifestyle, people of northeastern region are civilised and disciplined. That is why they could very easily follow the lockdown guidelines. There has been no problem in ensuring implementation of the lockdown-related guidelines there," Singh told PTI. He said within six years of the Modi government, the northeastern region has emerged as the model for development for the entire country. "Similarly, during the lockdown due to COVID-19, entire northeast has become model for the whole country to emulate it," he said, adding that the way people are ...

The funeral of a 33-year-old man, who died of COVID-19, was held after protests by residents who refused to allow the cremation, fearing spread of the disease. When the Health Department's ambulance carrying the man's body reached Swarg Ashram in Chharbagh on Friday evening, residents came to know about the cremation and they started protesting. Police were called in to bring the situation under control. The final rites of the man were held on the banks of Yamuna river late night in the presence of police personnel. "The police personnel pacified the protesters and allayed their fears over the spread of the infection. To ensure that situation does not deteriorate further, the last rites were held on the banks of Yamuna river," City Magistrate Pankaj Singh said.

The Uttar Pradesh Congress has launched a chat portal that will let people list the problems being faced by them amid the ongoing COVID-19-induced lockdown, the party said on Saturday. The complaints received from users of the UP Mitr' chat portal will be forwarded to Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath so that the state government can help the people, state Congress chief Ajay Kumar Lallu said in a statement. "The portal has been made to help the common public during the COVID-19 pandemic. Through it, problems of the common public will be listed and the UP Congress will help the complainants. The list of complaints will be sent to the chief minister, Lallu said. The Congress leader said that his party was committed to help every needy person in the state. "The party is running community kitchens at various places in the state including Ghaziabad, Hapur, Kanpur, Allahabad, Lakhimpur Khiri and Lucknow, he said in the statement. The party's district committee is making dry ration available ..

The Odisha government has trained 1.72 lakh health personnel to fight COVID-19 in the state, where a spike in the number of positive cases was recently witnessed following the return of Odia migrant workers from other parts of the country, a senior official said. The state government has trained 1,72,499 health personnel to deal with the novel coronavirus outbreak, Chief Secretary A K Tripathy said while launching the 'COVID-19 workforce portal' here on Friday. Altogether 129 fresh novel coronavirus cases were reported in the state since May 3, when the return of the stranded migrant workers began. Of these, around 114 COVID-19 patients are returnees who were stranded in Gujarat, a health official said. A total of 8,023 doctors, 8,296 staff nurses, 4,105 paramedical staff and laboratory technicians, 4,114 AYUSH doctors, 4,905 ambulance drivers, 1,35,820 ANM/ASHA/AWW workers and 7,236 sanitation workers have been drafted into the COVID-19 workforce, Labour and ESI ...

The Central Industrial Security Force reported 13 fresh cases of COVID-19 among its personnel on Saturday with the maximum being in its Delhi Metro protection unit, officials said. The 1.62 lakh personnel strong force has a total of 48 active cases of coronavirus with the addition of the new numbers. Two of its personnel have succumbed to the disease over the last two days. Among the 48 active cases, maximum 31 are in the unit that guards the Delhi Metro followed by 13 in the Mumbai international airport guarding unit. The maximum rise in cases, at 10, over the last 24 hours has also been reported from the Delhi Metro guarding unit. Coronavirus positive troops have also been reported at CISF units like Delhi airport (3), Ahmedabad airport (2), Kolkata Port Trust (3) and one at its VIP security unit based at GreaterNoida. The force is tasked to guard civil airports (63 at present) in the country and vital infrastructure in the aerospace and nuclear domain. The paramilitary forces or ...

Experts from the All India Institute of Medical Sciences visited the civil hospital in Gujarat's Ahmedabad city on Saturday and interacted with frontline staff amid concerns over the rise in COVID-19 fatalities. The city's COVID-19 mortality rate stands at 6.5 per cent, which is almost double that of the country's death rate of 3.3 per cent. AIIMS director and pulmonologist Dr Randeep Guleria and Dr Manish Soneja of AIIMS' department of medicine, flew in on a special Indian Air Force plane on Friday, an official said. The duo visited the civil hospital and met doctors and staff, who were attending to COVID-19 patients and offered them guidance, the release stated. Principal secretary (health) Jayanti Ravi also interacted with frontline medical staff at the hospital, which has the highest number COVID-19 patients in the city. The AIIMS doctors were also scheduled to visit Sardar Vallabhai Patel Hospital in the city. Chief Minister Vijay Rupani had urged Union Home ...

Former India captain and coach Anil Kumble compared the fight against the dreaded COVID-19 pandemic to the "second innings" of an intense Test match where people can't afford let their guard down. The coronavirus outbreak has wreaked havoc, claiming over 2,76,000 lives so far while infecting more than four million people. Among other things, the unprecedented health crisis has also brought sport to a standstill, leading to cancellation and postponement of several events, including the Tokyo Olympics and European Football Championships and the Indian Premier League. "If we have to fight this coronavirus pandemic, we need to be in this together. It's like a Test match. Cricket Test matches are of five days but this has been longer," Kumble said in a video posted on his Twitter account. "Cricket Test matches are only two innings each, but this can be even more. So don't be complacent that we had a slender lead in the first innings because the second innings can be really rough." "We ...

A 55-year-old woman died of COVID-19 in Madhya Pradesh's Indore district on Saturday, taking the toll in the region to 87, an official said. A COVID-19 patient died on Thursday after undergoing treatment at a city hospital for 10 days, chief medical and health officer (CMHO) Praveen Jadia said. The woman was already suffering from high blood pressure, sepsis and other ailments, he added. With 53 persons testing positive for COVID-19 in the last 24 hours, the count in the district has reached 1,780, of which 732 patients have recovered from the infection, the official said. According to the latest data, the COVID-19 mortality rate in Indore was 4.89 per cent, which was a decline of 5.44 per cent registered last month.

Three members of a family in Dakshina Kannada district of Karnataka tested positive for coronavirus on Saturday, taking the total number of cases receiving treatment in the district to 15. The three identified are two women, aged 70 and 60, and a 30-year-old man from Kasba village of Bantwal taluk They are relatives of a 69-year-old man of the same family who tested positive for the virus on May 1. The family is related to the 50-year-old woman who died of the disease on April 19. Eight members of the family have been quarantined after the 69-year-old man tested positive. Three of them have now been confirmed with the infection. The source of the infection has been traced to the First Neuro hospital at Padil. A total of 16 coronavirus cases reported in the district has been linked with the hospital so far. An expert medical team has already been formed to find the origin of the infection from the hospital. With three more persons testing positive, the number of COVID-19 ...

Minority communities are contributing equally in the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic along with others in the society, Minority Affairs Minister Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi said on Saturday. He also announced that the Minority Affairs Ministry will launch 'Jaan Bhi, Jahan Bhi' nationwide awareness campaign soon to make people aware of social distancing and other guidelines for safety from coronavirus. More than 1,500 healthcare assistants, who have been trained under the skill development programme of the Minority Affairs Ministry, are assisting in treatment and wellbeing of COVID-19 patients. Naqvi said these healthcare assistants include 50 per cent girls who are helping in treatment of coronavirus patients in various hospitals and healthcare centres across the country. This year, more than 2,000 other healthcare assistants will be trained by the Minority Affairs Ministry, he said in a statement. The ministry is providing one-year training to healthcare assistants through various health

Four more people tested positive for COVID-19 in Uttarakhand on Saturday taking the total number of coronavirus cases in the state to 67. The cases were reported from Udham Singh Nagar district, a health department bulletin here said. With this, COVID-19 cases in Uttarakhand have risen to 67 out of which 46 patients have been discharged after recovery and one has died. The number of active cases in Uttarakhand currently stands at 20, it said.

A special committee has been formed by the Kolkata Municipal Corporation for containing the spread of COVID-19 in different parts of the city, a member of the panel said. Chairperson, caretaker board of administrators of the civic body and Municipal Affairs minister Firhad Hakim, former deputy mayor Atin Ghosh, four community medicine experts and KMC health officials are members of the newly formed committee. The panel was formed after Hakim assumed charge as chairperson of the caretaker board of administrators (BOA) of the KMC on Friday. The state government appointed the board since elections could not be held to the KMC owing to the coronavirus outbreak. The Calcutta High Court on Thursday allowed the BOA to act as the KMC's caretaker board for a month. Ghosh told PTI on Saturday, "We will sit every afternoon to take stock of the situation and decide accordingly. "Apart from containment zones, we will review the situation in other areas of the city as well. There ...

The number of COVID-19 fatalities in Maharashtra's Amravati district rose to twelve on Saturday with the death of a 53-year-old man at the COVID facility here, an official said. The deceased, a resident of Masanganj locality in the city, tested positive for coronavirus on Friday night, he said. He was suffering from fever and breathing difficulty, the official said, adding that swab samples of the patient were taken on May 7. "There are now 60 active patients at the COVID ward. While five have been recovered, another patient was referred to Nagpur," the official added.

Amid a spurt in coronavirus cases in the national capital, the Delhi government has roped in three more private hospitals with a total of 150 beds to treat COVID-19 patients. In an order issued on Saturday,Delhi Health Secretary Padmini Singla declared Fortis in Shalimar Bagh, Saroj Medical Institute in Sector 19, Rohini and Khushi Hospital in Dwarka for admitting confirmed or suspected cases. The decision was taken due to the "shortage of isolation beds in private hospitals", te order read. The three hospitals will have 50 isolation beds each. Medical superintendents of these hospitals have been directed to make the isolation facility functional before Monday. On April 30, Singla had declared Maha Durga Charitable Trust Hospital and Sir Gangaram City Hospital as COVID-19 hospitals. LNJP Hospital, Rajiv Gandhi Super Speciality hospital, Sir Gangaram Kolmat Hospital and Max Hospital in Saket are some of the COVID-19 dedicated facilities in Delhi, where 6,318 people have tested positive

The COVID-19 pandemic has brought life to a screeching halt for many, but those with serious ailments such as blood disorders have been pushed to the edge with their lives now hanging by a thread in the absence of necessary medical interventions. Sonia Ghakkar, a Gurgaon resident, had been desperately looking for help, as her husband, a leukemia patient, waits for bone marrow transplant (BMT). "About two months ago, my husband was diagnosed with leukemia. Bone marrow transplant is his only chance of survival. We have sought permission from the health ministry for transport of blood stem cells, but to no avail. The match cannot reach the hospital under the present circumstances," she said. Stem cell transplant is the only cure for many patients suffering from blood disorders. According to a hematologist, it takes months, sometimes years, to find a donor, and many "high-risk" patients have limited time left. Transplants have come down to a meager 20 per cent nationwide, as most ...

Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Saturday stressed on the need to understand the "chemistry of corona while administering its treatment". The chief minister chaired a high-level meeting of UP government officials at his residence here to review the situation arising out of the coronavirus outbreak in the state. "The need is to understand the chemistry of corona, while administering its treatment," he said. Asserting that increasing the immunity level of the body can prevent the infection, Adityanath said the 'Aayush Kavach COVID' app launched by the state government has a host of information on ayurveda, which can be adopted by people to boost their immunity. He added that the application should be widely publicised and people encouraged to download it. The UP chief minister also stressed on working on all possibilities for revenue generation, and directed officials to prepare a plan to identify alternate sources of revenue. He said an elaborate work plan should be ...

Filmmaker Satyanshu Singh has launched a unique initiative to raise relief money for those affected by the coronavirus pandemic. The director has started online classes for budding cinema students and has roped artistes from different fields of filmmaking for the initiative. Actor Vinay Pathak, screenwriters Anjum Rajabali and Sudip Sharma, cinematographer Siddharth Diwan and director Shoojit Sircar have come aboard the initiative. Since April 1, more than a dozen lectures have been conducted with students from cities like Bokaro, Kota, Bhilai, Almora, and Coimbatore taking part in them. Overseas students have also showed interest in the lectures. Through the initiative, Satyanshu has so far raised Rs 15 lakhs which has been donated to non-for-profit organisations like Milaap, Goonj, Sarvahitey, and Sneha, providing food and support to out-of-work labourers, women and children in slums, and the homeless. The daily wage workers from the film industry are also benefitting from this ...

In a bid to tackle the spread of coronavirus in a more effective manner, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation has put additional commissioners in charge of seven zones in the city. As per the order, seven additional commissioners will work towards improving the double rate of positive cases from 10 days to 20 days by May 17. These officials will be responsible for mapping positive cases, contact tracing, strict enforcement of norms in containment zones,door-to-door surveillance,identifying senior citizens with comorbid conditions and fever clinics, the circular dated May 7 said. They will also have to facilitate operations at private nursing homes, clinics, hospitals, ensure testing of symptomatic persons and creation of COVID care centres (CCC). Additional commissioners will have to personally visit their zones every day from morning till 2 pm, attend office post 3 pm and brief the municipal commissioner at 6 pm, the order stated. Of 19,063 COVID-19 cases in ...

Confusion prevailed over the number of deaths due to coronavirus in the national capital, with data from four hospitals showing that 92 people succumbed to the infection as against 68 fatalities reported by the Delhi government. The toll of 68 shared by the Delhi government in its health bulletin on Friday is based on data collected from 10 hospitals, including AIIMS, Safdarjung Hospital, Ram Manohar Lohia (RML) Hospital and Lady Hardinge Medical College. According to the bulletin, AIIMS (Delhi and Jhajjar) reported two deaths, Safdarjung Hospital reported four, RML 26 and Lady Hardinge Medical College had none till Friday. However, officials from these hospitals said the number of people who died due to coronavirus in the national capital till Friday is higher than that reflected in the Delhi government's bulletin. AIIMS (Delhi Trauma Centre and Jhajjar) has recorded a total of 14 deaths, an official said. According to All India Institute Of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) Medical ...

The Congress on Saturday said there was "confusion" within the central government in its fight against the novel coronavirus and wondered how would India tackle the pandemic if officials continued to speak in different voices. Referring to "differing" comments made by some officials on the COVID-19 situation in the country, Congress senior spokesperson Ajay Maken said the government should tell the people clearly about the exact state of the pandemic to enable them to prepare accordingly. He also came down heavily on the Arvind Kejriwal-led government in Delhi and asked it to be more transparent in reporting cases of the novel coronavirus. His comments came as confusion prevailed over the number of deaths due to the coronavirus in the national capital, with data from four hospitals showing that 92 people succumbed to the infection as against 68 fatalities reported by the Delhi government. He said it was a "matter of shame" that the national capital was witnessing "a sorry state of ...

One more person has tested positive for COVID-19 in Meghalaya, taking the total number of cases in the state to 13, Chief Minister Conrad K Sangma said on Saturday. Of the total 13 COVID-19 cases, only two are active including the fresh case in Shillong. "Unfortunately we have another positive case in Shillong. Its a person working in the same house. As a precaution health department was retesting all the primary contacts and in the process we found this positive case. The person is safe and healthy and showing no symptoms," the chief minister tweeted. Senior Health department officials said the person had tested negative twice in the past. Meghalaya has reported 13 COVID-19 cases till date with one death. Ten persons have recovered from the disease. The first COVID-19 positive case in the state was Dr John Sailo Ryntathiang, who tested positive on April 13. The 69-year-old doctor died two days later and eight of his family members and two of his domestic help have also ..

: The number of active COVID-19 cases slid below the 1,000 mark to 999 in Andhra Pradesh on Saturday though the overall tally rose to 1,930 with the addition of 43 in the last 24 hours ending 9 am. The COVID-19 toll in the state also increased by three to 44 while 45 more patients were discharged from hospitals, according to the latest bulletin. Chittoor district saw a sudden spurt in cases, with 11 reported in the last 24 hours ending 9 am on Saturday, as some people who returned from Koyambedu wholesale market in Chennai city tested posted for coronavirus. It is suspected that these people contracted the disease at Koyambedu and several others who also returned from the place were sent to quarantine, sources here said. Visakhapatnam too continued to show an upward trend as five fresh cases were registered, taking the total in the district to 62. The major hotspots Kurnool, Krishna and Guntur reported six, 16 and two fresh cases. In the last 24 hours, Krishna reported two

The Delhi High Court on Saturday extended the interim bail of 2,177 under-trial prisoners by 45 days to de-congest jails in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic. A bench of Justices Siddharth Mridul and Talwant Singh passed the order in view of a high-power committee's recommendation that it would be dangerous to put the prisoners back in jail as the risk still remains high. The committee, headed by Justice Hima Kohli, on May 5 opined that since there was a paucity of space in jail premises to create sufficient number of isolation wards for the prisoners returning after expiry of their interim bail, the relief should be extended by another 45 days. During the hearing, Delhi government standing counsel Rahul Mehra and advocate Chaitanya Gosain, appearing for the prison authorities, said they have no objection to the extension of bail. "Accordingly, it is ordered that the interim bails for a period of 45 days granted to 2,177 UTPs, in view of the recommendations of HPC...are hereby ...

Eleven more COVID-19 fatalities have been recorded in West Bengal, raising the death toll in the state to 99, Home Secretary Alapan Bandyopadhyay said on Saturday. At least 108 more people have tested positive for the virus in the state, taking the number of confirmed cases to 1,786, he said. The number of active cases stands at 1,243, the official said. Forty-nine patients have been discharged in the state since Friday following complete recovery from the disease, Bandyopadhyay said.

A 62-year-old man died due to coronavirus in Noida, becoming the second COVID-19 fatality in Uttar Pradesh's Gautam Buddh Nagar district, officials said on Saturday. The resident of Sector 66 was among the two people who tested positive for coronavirus in the last 24 hours, the officials said. "He expired yesterday (Friday) evening. The cause of the death was cardio-respiratory failure, District Surveillance Officer Sunil Dohare said in a statement. The other person who tested positive for COVID-19 is a 52-year-old man residing in Sector 45's Khajoor Colony, the officer said. "Total 100 reports have been received in the last 24 hours of which two were positive and the rest negative for COVID-19. The cumulative positive cases of coronavirus in Gautam Buddh Nagar are now 216," Dohare said. A 60-year-old man from Sector 22 died on Friday due to respiratory failure, becoming the first COVID-19 casualty in Gautam Buddh Nagar, officials had said.

The number of active cases of coronavirus in Uttar Pradesh went up to 1,800 on Saturday, while nearly 1,400 people have been discharged so far, a senior official said. Principal Secretary, Health, Amit Mohan Prasad said the national recovery percentage was 30 per cent but the figure was 43 per cent in Uttar Pradesh. "It is a matter of satisfaction that people are recovering and returning home," he said. The number of active infection cases is 1,800 as against 1,761 on Friday, while the number of people who have fully recovered has risen from 1,387 to 1,399, the official said. Prasad stressed that community surveillance will play an important role in coming days with the return of tens of thousands of migrants. There was a need for the 'gram nigrani samitis' in rural areas and 'mohalla nigrani samitis' in urban areas to work strictly, he said. "All those returning (to the state) are being kept in 21 days' home quarantine and those returning from abroad are also being put in quarantine.

Healthcare firm HLL Lifecare on Saturday said its arm HLL Infra Tech Services has floated a tender seeking supply of over 1 lakh units of medical supplies towards COVID-19 testing on behalf of the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR). "The tender is seeking quotations for 40,000 units of viral transport media, 33,000 RNA extraction kits and 29,000 Combo RT-PCR COVID-19 tests," HLL Lifecare Ltd said in a statement. The tender is closing by May 10, the state-owned company added. "The viral transport media is used for transport of swabs collected for testing, RNA extraction kits are used to draw out RNA, which are single strand genetic materials of viruses, from samples which are then converted into reverse-transcribed into DNA while Combo RT-PCR tests has proven to be the 'gold standard' of COVID-19 diagnosis,"it said. HLL Lifecare is the procurement agency for hospitals and healthcare organisations under the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.

The number of COVID-19 cases in Jammu and Kashmir climbed to 836 on Saturday as 13 more people, including two nurses, tested positive for the disease, officials said. While 12 of the fresh cases are from the Kashmir Valley, one is from Jammu, they said. "Thirteen new COVID-19 cases were detected in the union territory on Saturday," the officials said. The total number of cases in Jammu and Kashmir has now reached 836, they said. "Of these, 767 are in Kashmir, while 69 are in the Jammu region," they added. Among the fresh cases detected on Saturday, three are from Super Speciality Hospital, Shireen Bagh here -- including two staff nurses and an attendant of a patient from Shopian, said Dr Salim Khan, COVID-19 nodal officer at Government Medical College, Srinagar. According to the officials, there are 459 active cases in the union territory -- 446 in Kashmir and 13 in Jammu -- and 368 patients have recovered. A total of nine COVID-19 patients have died in Jammu and Kashmir.

A bulk of the COVID-19-related fact-checks in April were related to communal rumours, most of which were false allegations against Muslims of purposefully spreading the virus, claimed a report by BOOM Live. BOOM Live, a fact-checking platform that works with social media companies like Facebook, said its study analysed 178 fact-checks on COVID-19 related to misinformation/disinformation around the pandemic from January to May this year. "During April, a new trend was observed communally charged disinformation targeting Muslims became more frequent," the report said. By the end of April, a bulk of BOOM Live's fact-checks (34 unique fact checks) were on communal rumours, it claimed. The report further noted that after several members of the Tablighi Jamaat an Islamic missionary group tested positive, "Islamophobic rumours around them purposefully spreading the virus became viral on the internet". Other trends also witnessed in April were: spike in fake news related to politics, more .

The Prem Singh Tamang government in Sikkim has decided to reduce the salaries of the chief minister and ministers by 35 per cent for the next one year to mitigate the adverse impact of the coronavirus pandemic on the state's economy. As per decisions taken at a cabinet meeting presided over by the chief minister on Friday, utilisation of discretionary funds of the ministers have also been put on hold. The state government has decided to impose a ban on appointments under regular/work-charged/muster roll/adhoc/consolidated pay/ temporary basis for six months, a press release issued by the Information and Public Relations department said. The state government has also decided to impose a ban on replacement and purchase of new vehicles, computers and peripherals while the allocation under revenue expenditure in all departments will be curtailed by ten per cent. Among other things, there will be restrictions on advertisement or publication of notice inviting tender except ..