Coronavirus LATEST Updates:Coronavirus LIVE Updates: Maharashtra reports 27,126 new Covid-19 cases, 92 deaths in 24 hrs
Coronavirus LATEST Updates: This is the highest one-day rise since the outbreak of the pandemic last year, said a health official. The previous highest one-day figure was 25,833, reported on Thursday.
At least two other state ministers -- Bacchu Kadu and Chhagan Bhujbal -- had tested positive last month
This order came in addition to a previous announcement where the city's municipal body announced random and mandatory testing at all crowded places in the city such as malls, bus stations and markets
Over 40 lakh people have received the COVID-19 vaccine jab in Maharashtra since the immunization drive commenced on 16 January, an official said on Saturday.
As per the data released by the state health department, 1,89,130 people received vaccine shots on Friday, raising the tally to 40,96,898.
Health experts have attributed this sudden rise to people turning complacent and not following COVID-19 appropriate behaviour
In wake of increasing COVID-19 cases, complete lockdown had been imposed in Nagpur City from 15 to 21 March, barring essential shops and movement of frontline workers
Khan, who was vaccinated on Thursday, has "a slight fever and cough", his spokesperson Dr Shehbaz Gill confirmed
A rising trajectory of daily new cases is visible in eight states and UTs, including Delhi and Maharashtra, while Kerala is showing a declining trend, the Health Ministry said on Saturday.
The ministry said Maharashtra, Kerala and Punjab cumulatively account for 76.22 percent of India's total active caseload, with Maharashtra contributing to 62 percent of such cases, while Kerala and Punjab account for 8.83 percent and 5.36 percent of active cases respectively.
The top five districts in Maharashtra recording the highest number of cases are Pune (37,384), Nagpur (25,861), Mumbai (18,850), Thane (16,735) and Nashik (11,867).
The Tamil Nadu government on Saturday ordered the closure of schools for classes 9, 10 and 11 with effect from 22 March "until further orders".
Hostels for the students of these classes will also be closed. However online/digital mode of education shall continue for these classes, the government said.
The COVID-19 vaccine should be able to give good protection from the infection for eight to ten months, AIIMS director Randeep Guleria said on Saturday. He also said that no major side-effect of the vaccine has been recorded.
The COVID-19 vaccine should be able to give good protection from the infection for eight to ten months and maybe, even more, Guleria said at an event organised by the IPS (Central) Association.
He said the biggest reason for the surge in cases is that people feel the pandemic is over and they are not following COVID-appropriate behaviour.
"There are multiple reasons for the surge, but the main reason is that there is change in people's attitude and they feel coronavirus is over. People should still restrict non-essential travel for some more time," the official asserted.
NITI Aayog member (Health) V K Paul said the chain of transmission has to be stopped and for that vaccine is one tool but another is containment and surveillance strategy.
"Not following COVID-19 behaviour and laxity is major reason for the surge," he said.
Responding to a question on vaccinating more people, Paul said the issue is vaccines are limited and that is why, prioritisation has been done.
"If we had unlimited supply, we would open the vaccination for everyone. That is the reason, not everyone, is getting vaccinated. Most countries in the world are not able to go beyond priority group because of this reason," he said.
The NITI Aayog member also said that the highest mortality was seen among people with co-morbidities and older age groups.
"These people must not delay taking the vaccine. So the message is that they need it more than others. That is the reason they have been prioritised for getting the COVID-19 vaccine," he said.
Talking about the effectiveness of the available COVID-19 vaccines, Covaxin and Covishield, Guleria said, "If we look at the two vaccines, they produce equal antibodies and are very robust. We should take the vaccine available to us because both are equally effective in terms of efficacy and long-term protection.
Over four crore people in the country have been vaccinated against the disease till now. Under the current phase of the inoculation drive, people above 60 years of age and those in the 45-59 years age bracket with co-morbidities, are being vaccinated.
