COVID-19 in India: Steady rise in deaths, too

India for the second consecutive day reported over two lakh cases According to the Union Health Ministry data updated on Friday morning 1185 new fatalities were registered in the past 24 hoursThe constant rise in cases and hospitalisations for the past 37 days has resulted in huge demand for oxygen So far 4880 MT 5619 MT and 6593 MT have been identified for the 12 highburden states for meeting their projected demand as on April 20 April 25 and April 30 respectively Sources of medical oxygen and their production capacity was mapped to match the requirement of statesThe government said there has been increasing demand for medical oxygen especially from 12 states with high burden of active cases Maharashtra Madhya Pradesh Gujarat Uttar Pradesh Delhi Chhattisgarh Karnataka Kerala Tamil Nadu Punjab Haryana and RajasthanldquoIn view of increasing demand for medical oxygen the government has decided to float a tender for import of 50000 MT of medical oxygen Union health ministry has been directed to finalise the tender for the same and also explore possible sources for import identified by the missions of MEArdquo the ministry saidMeanwhile Serum Institute of India SII CEO Adar Poonawalla on Friday said the US needs to lift its embargo on raw material exports to help ramp up vaccine productionSII is currently manufacturing anticoronavirus vaccine Covishield developed by Astrazeneca and Oxford University The vaccine is not only being used in India but exported to a number of countriesGive actual data Gujarat HCStressing on the need to be honest and transparent in the wake of a sudden spike in cases in Gujarat the High Court has asked the state government to publish actual data on RTPCR tests and people found positive for COVID19 according to an order made available on FridayVirus spreads mainly via airThere is consistent strong evidence to prove that the SARSCoV2 virus behind the COVID19 pandemic is predominantly transmitted through the air according to a new assessment published on Friday in The Lancet journalldquoThe evidence supporting airborne transmission is overwhelming and evidence supporting large droplet transmission is almost nonexistentrdquo said JoseLuis Jimenez from the University of Colorado Boulder in the US The analysis was done by six experts from the UK the US and CanadaSecurity forces see fivefold jump in 10 daysParamilitary forces have almost witnessed fivefold increase in active cases in the past 10 days As of April 5 522 Central Armed Police Forces jawans had contracted the virus but the tally now stands at 2915 The singleday tally also increased over five times Fifty seven jawans had tested positive on April 5 while on Thursday the figure stood at 301The Border Security Force BSF which had only 20 cases on April 5 had 117 daily cases on April 15 The total number of active cases in BSF stands at 1850 against 166 10 days back Similarly CRPF CISF SSB and NSG have also witnessed a massive spike Meanwhile all hospitals of the IndoTibetan Border Police have been ldquoactivatedrdquo and a COVID Care Centre has been operationalised in Delhi for serving and retired personnel of the forceKrsquotaka CM gets COVID twice in eight monthsKarnataka Chief MinisterB S Yediyurappa on Friday tested positive for Coronavirus for the second time in eight months and has been shifted to a private hospital for treatment The 78yearold BJP leader was earlier hospitalised for COVID19 on August 2 2020 Meanwhile Union minister Prakash Javadekar Congress leaders Randeep Surjewala and Digvjaya Singh tested positive for Coronavirus on FridayBengal polls wonrsquot be clubbed CEOA senior poll official on Friday said there will be no rescheduling of the remaining phases of voting in West Bengal Chief Electoral Officer CEO Ariz Aftab had called an allparty meeting following a Calcutta High Court directive to ensure strict implementation of COVID19 protocols during campaigns He asked political parties to strictly follow the rules while campaigning Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee had sought clubbing of the remaining phases of polling In the first 15 days of this month West Bengal registered 49970 new cases of the contagion and 151 COVID19 fatalities14291917Total no of coronavirus cases in India so far174308Total no of deaths due to the virus in India so far12547866Total no of patients Recovered and discharged in India so far117223509Total no of people vaccinated so farThis 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