Cases hit 4 lakh for the first time, new high

India witnessed the highest spike of 401999 fresh cases of COVID19 and 3523 fatalities in the last 24 hoursIt is the first time that India has crossed the four lakh figure in a day For the last nine days over three lakh COVID19 cases were being reported while over 3000 casualties have been reported for the past four days On Friday India witnessed 3498 deaths the second highest fatality figure in a dayGujarat sees 14K new casesGujaratrsquos COVID19 tally reached 567777 with 14605 fresh cases on Friday while the death toll also jumped to 7183 with 173 more succumbingIn April Gujarat registered 260079 cases at an average of 8669 cases daily With a decline in recoveries compared to new cases the rate of recovery fell to 7372 per cent with active cases at 142046Krsquotakarsquos highest oneday spikeKarnataka reported an alltime high singleday spike of 48296 cases in the last 24 hours including a staggering 26756 infections in Bengaluru alone the state health bulletin said on Friday ldquoWith 48296 new cases registered on Thursday the statersquos COVID19 tally shot up to 1523142 including 382690 active cases while recoveries increased to 1124909 with 14884 discharged during the dayrdquo said the bulletinRajasthan curbs extendedThe lockdown restrictions in Rajasthan have been extended till May 17 with new guidelines where guests in a marriage party has been reduced to 31 Announcing the guidelines late on Friday night the home department termed it as Red Alert Public Discipline Fortnight in which new norms are far stricter than in the Public Discipline Fortnight announced from April 28 to May 3 Weekend curfew will continue During this period no one will be able to go out between noon and 5 pm and those caught roaming will be institutionally quarantined till they test negativeTelangana stops vaxTelangana reported 7754 new COVID19 cases and 51 deaths during the last 24 hours The number of cases has been on the decline for the last few days as the authorities brought down the daily testing to less than one lakhHowever vaccine shortage forced health authorities to stop the vaccination programme on Saturday and Sunday On a day when phase 3 of the COVID19 immunisation for those between 1844 years was scheduled for a roll out across the country Telangana had to stop vaccination even for those above 45 yearsVax for 18 above in six statesIndia on Saturday started the third phase of the vaccination drive covering those above the age of 18 years However the exercise began mainly in six states Maharashtra Rajasthan Uttar Pradesh Chhattisgarh Gujarat and Odisha All other states and Union Territories UTs have deferred vaccination for the age group of 1844 by a few days due to vaccine shortage Even in these six states the drive is ldquotokenrdquo limited to just a few districts States are reporting shortage contrary to the Centrersquos report available till yesterday that more than 79 lakh doses are still available with themDrought leaves vegetable growers high and dry in HimachalVegetable growers in the state are facing losses PicIANSVegetable growers in Himachal Pradesh are sowing crops but reaping despair Last year it was the nationwide lockdown owing to the Coronavirus pandemic and this time drought has left them high and dry ldquoOwing to scanty rainfall from January to end of March crops have been severely hit in the entire areardquo Nasib Singh Thakur a marginal vegetable grower in Kandaghat tehsil in Solan district said He said almost 60 per cent of the crops in Rabi season like peas cabbage capsicum beans cauliflower and cucumber are damaged due to long spells of drought from December onwards ldquoIn this season during last year we had left so much food on farms to just rot in the fields owing to the lockdown This time hostile weather took a heavy toll on the cropsrdquo another vegetable grower CD Verma of Jubbarhatti village on the outskirts of the state capital said19164969Total No of cases in the country as of Saturday211 853Total no of deaths due to the virus in India15684406Patients recovered and discharged in India by SaturdayThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever