Coronavirus cases in India June 10 Highlights: Karnataka relaxes Covid-19 lockdown in all but 11 districts; Maharashtra reports 12,207 new cases

The gradual unlocking process across India is likely to restore about two-thirds of the 25 million non-farm jobs lost following the lockdown in May, according to the Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy (CMIE). “This relentless loss of employment can be expected to abate somewhat in the coming weeks as many parts of the country that were under a lockdown have started announcing cautious relaxations. “These could provide some succour to the daily wage labourers who have suffered during the calibrated and localised lockdowns of May 2021,” CMIE’s CEO Mahesh Vyas said in a report. As these restrictions on movement are relaxed, these workers can be expected to return in search of employment, he added. “We can expect a quick recovery of the informal jobs that were lost in the unorganised sectors because of the local lockdowns. But, there is also a steady fall in employment independent of the lockdowns,” Vyas noted. The total non-farm jobs lost since January 2021 works out to 36.8 million. Of this, daily wage labourers account for 23.1 million, according to CMIE data. (PTI)

The Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation (BMC) Thursday started supplying oxygen concentrators at the doorsteps of COVID-19 patients in home isolation and requiring oxygen, an official said. Twenty-one oxygen concentrators, which were pre-booked through a dedicated app, were delivered, the civic body said in a statement. A concentrator takes the oxygen from the room or nearby surroundings, purifies and produces it for the person in need. (PTI)

Gujarat sees 544 new COVID-19 cases; 11 fatalities (PTI)

Maharashtra reports 12,207 new COVID-19 cases, 393 deaths (PTI)

Terming the vaccine wastage figure of Jharkhand by the Centre at 33.95 per cent as “old data”, the Hemant Soren government Thursday said it has received permission from the central ministry to rectify the related data and the vaccine wastage was 1.5 per cent in the state. The efforts made by the state government including increasing the pace of inoculation has resulted in wastage of vaccine to 1.5 per cent from earlier 4.5 per cent, it said. As per the centre’s data Kerala and West Bengal recorded negative wastage of COVID-19 vaccines in May, saving 1.10 lakh and 1.61 lakh doses respectively, while Jharkhand reported maximum wastage of 33.95 per cent. “We have already raised the issue with the centre during several rounds of video-conferencing. The 33.95 per cent wastage data is old one. The union ministry has given us permission to rectify the data on the portal. (PTI)

Maharashtra Health Minister Rajesh Tope on Thursday asserted that the state government has not hidden the number of COVID-19 deaths. Talking to mediapersons over reports that 11,000 fatalities in the state have not been reported as COVID-19 deaths, Tope said the government was functioning in a transparent manner. “Every district has private and government COVID-19 hospitals. The update on coronavirus deaths in government hospitals is done regularly, while the update from private hospitals is delayed and hence there is a discrepancy in the numbers. All private hospitals have been asked to submit their list of COVID-19 deaths regularly,” he said. The minister said that the health department has directed chief civil surgeon in all districts that if the death updates are not done regularly, action would be taken. The portal is updated by data entry operators and unfortunately the update is sometimes not done on time, Tope added. (PTI)

Haryana reports 539 fresh #COVID19 cases,  1221 recoveries, and 32 deaths today

Active cases 6365
Case tally 7,64,633 (ANI)

Manipur reports 730 new #COVID19 cases, 668 recoveries and 10 deaths in the last 24 hours.

Total cases 58,081
Total recoveries 47,797
Death toll 925

Active cases 9359 (ANI)

The International Monetary Fund on Thursday welcomed a recent announcement by the Indian government to facilitate access to vaccination and ramp up the production of essential medicines to fight the COVID-19 pandemic. Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday announced that the central government will provide free coronavirus vaccine to states for inoculation of all above the age of 18 from June 21, and asserted that vaccine supply would be increased significantly in the country in coming days to fight the COVID-19 pandemic. India proved its mettle by making two made-in-India COVID-19 vaccines in a short time and over 23 crore doses have already been administered, the prime minister said. Efforts were being made on a war-footing to fight the COVID-19 pandemic at various levels and production of essential medicines was ramped up, Modi said, adding that India was fighting against the COVID-19 pandemic on multiple fronts and new health infrastructure has been created across the country. (PTI)

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Thursday demanded that every person walking into a COVID-19 vaccination centre should get the jab, drawing a sharp retort from Union minister Smriti Irani who said the government has already allowed it. In a tweet in Hindi, Gandhi said, “Online registration is not enough for the vaccine. Every person walking in at a vaccination centre should get the vaccine. Those who do not have access to internet also have the right to life.” Irani, the BJP leader who had defeated him in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls from his family pocket borough of Amethi, was quick to hit back. She used a Hindi idiom to take a swipe at him, saying mangoes cannot grow on an acacia tree. “The Central government has already permitted states to have walk-in registration. Don’s spread confusion, get the jab,” Irani said, replying to Gandhi. (PTI)

A group of public health experts, including doctors from AIIMS and members from the national taskforce on COVID-19, have said that mass, indiscriminate and incomplete vaccination can trigger emergence of mutant strains and recommended that there is no need to inoculate those who had documented coronavirus infection. READ MORE

Over a dozen entities, including large digital companies like Paytm and MakeMyTrip, are looking at approval for offering vaccine bookings, according to CoWIN head RS Sharma. The government had, last month, released new guidelines for the integration of CoWIN with third-party applications, easing the way for such apps to offer vaccine bookings. Nearly 15 entities are eyeing approval to provide online appointment booking for vaccination, including Paytm, Infosys and MakeMyTrip, Sharma said. When contacted, MakeMyTrip Group CEO Rajesh Magow said that with millions already using MakeMyTrip app, ‘we want to leverage the API integration to help people easily book their vaccination slots and do our bit to make the entire process more convenient’. ‘Integration has also been opened up for download of vaccination certificate that will be useful as travel opens up further and all documentary requirements can be accessed in one place,’ he added. Paytm declined to comment, while Infosys did not respond to queries. (PTI)

Maharashtra reports 12,207 new #COVID19 cases, 11,449 discharges, and 393 deaths in the last 24 hours.

Active cases 1,60,693
Case tally 58,76,087
Death toll 1,03,748
Total recovered cases 56,08,753 (ANI)

Haryana to launch the third round of the Sero survey on June 15, to determine the prevalence of SAR-CoV-2 antibodies in the community and to estimate the prevalence in the children aged 6-17 years: CMO (ANI)
  

In the view of COVID19 situation, Jharkhand Academic Council has decided to cancel the class 10th & 12th examinations for this session: State’s Directorate of Information and Public Relations (ANI)

Karnataka reports 11,042 new #COVID19 cases, 15,721 recoveries and 194 deaths in the last 24 hours.

Total cases 27,39,290 
Total recoveries 24,96,132
Death toll 32,485
Active cases 2,10,652 (ANI)

Germany on Thursday started rolling out a digital vaccination pass that can be used across Europe as the continent is gets ready for the key summer travel season. The country’s health minister said starting this week vaccination centers, doctors practices and pharmacies will gradually start giving out digital passes to fully vaccinated people. The CovPass will let users download proof of their coronavirus vaccination status onto a smartphone app, allowing them easy access to restaurants, museums or other venues that require proof of immunisation. The vaccination passport should be available to everyone in Germany who is fully vaccinated by the end of this month, Health Minister Jens Spahn said. “The goal is that this certificate can also be used in Helsinki, Amsterdam or Mallorca,” Spahn told reporters in Berlin. (AP)

Telangana on Thursday recorded 1,798 new COVID-19 cases, pushing the tally to 5,98,611, while the toll rose to 3,440 with 14 more deaths,as 2,524 people recovered. The Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) accounted for the most number of cases with 174 followed by Khammam (165) and Nalgonda (151) districts, a state government bulletin said, providing information as of 5.30 PM today. It said 2,524 people recovered from the infectious disease on Thursday, taking the cumulative number of recoveries to 5,71,610. The number of active cases was 23,561. (PTI)

Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia on Thursday directed the Health department to tie-up with various e-commerce firms, including Amazon and Flipkart, to get delivery persons vaccinated against COVID-19 at the earliest in view of the “extra risk” faced by them. Delhi has received vaccines for the 18-44 years age group and has begun vaccination drives for this segment of the population, a Delhi government statement quoting Sisodia said. “Those working as delivery persons are an important demography that we now need to focus on,” he said. The deputy chief minister on Thursday directed the Health department to tie-up with e-commerce companies such as Amazon, Flipkart, Zomato, Swiggy and Dunzo to ensure vaccination of the delivery persons working with them, the statement said. (PTI)

Three more deaths linked to COVID-19 were recorded in Ghaziabad in a span of 24 hours, while no such fatality occurred in adjoining Gautam Buddh Nagar district, official data showed on Thursday. With this, the death toll has reached 457 in Ghaziabad, while it stands at 464 in Gautam Buddh Nagar, according to the data issued by the Health department of Uttar Pradesh. Gautam Buddh Nagar recorded 24 new COVID-19 cases in a day that pushed its overall tally to 62,852, while 53 more patients recovered from the infection in the district. Its count of active cases stands at 281, it stated. (PTI)

Mumbai reported 660 new coronavirus cases on Thursday, the lowest since February 23 this year, and 22 fatalities, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) said. With this, the city’s infection tally rose to 7,14,450 and death toll to 15,122. On Wednesday, Mumbai had recorded 788 cases and 27 deaths. The country’s financial capital had reported 643 new infections on February 23 this year. After that, the daily COVID-19 infection count in the city had remained in four to five digits for a sustained period during the second wave. According to the BMC officials, the city currently has 15,811 active cases of COVID-19 as 768 patients recovered during the day. With this, the tally of recovered patients jumped to 6,81,288 and the recovery rate is 95 per cent, they said. As 25,396 tests were conducted in the last 24 hours, the overall test count in Mumbai reached 65,34,969. Mumbai’s average growth rate of COVID-19 cases between June 3 and 9 was 0.12 per cent, while the average doubling rate was 566, they said. (PTI)

Yoga guru Ramdev, who had said he does not need the Covid vaccine as he has protection of yoga and ayurveda, on Thursday did a summersault, saying he will soon get the jab and described doctors as “God’s envoys on earth”. READ MORE

• Based on positivity rate, districts that have more than 15% of positivity rate (about 11 districts ) we’ve continued with the existing lockdown guidelines. In the remaining districts including Bengaluru city we’ve relaxed the guidelines: Karnataka Health Minister K Sudhakar 
• Chikmagalur, Shivamogga, Davanagere, Mysore, Chamarajanagar, Hassan, Dakshina Kannada, Bengaluru rural, Mandya, Belagavi & Kodagu are in complete lockdown till June 21. From June 14, these 11 districts will have some relaxation like opening of essential shops: K Sudhakar
• There will be relaxation for parks as well till 10 am. The night curfew is going to be continued. Similarly, weekend curfew which starts from Friday 7 pm till Monday 5 am will continue till June 21: Karnataka Health Minister K Sudhakar (ANI)
  

Tata Sons Chairman N Chandrasekaran on Thursday said group companies have collectively extended a help of Rs 2,500 crore towards COVID-19 relief across both the waves of the pandemic that started in March 2020. Speaking at the Annual General Meeting of its cash cow TCS, Chandrasekaran said more than the financial commitments, the work done on the ground by the Tata group companies, like helping build new hospitals and expanding oxygen capacity, has been the focus area. He said the group’s holding company Tata Sons and the string of philanthropic trusts which majority own the company had committed Rs 1,500 crore after the first wave of the pandemic. Later, as the pandemic continued in the country, group companies including larger ones like TCS and Tata Steel made additional contributions to the tune of Rs 1,000 crore. “So, the group overall has made a commitment and spent to the order of Rs 2,500 crore approximately,” he said. (PTI)

The COVID-19 caseload in Madhya Pradesh on Thursday rose to 7,87,175, with 420 fresh cases coming to light. The death toll reached 8,475 with 34 new fatalities, the state Health Department said. A total of 1,332 patients were discharged from hospitals, taking the count of recoveries to 7,72,375. With 129 new cases, Indore district’s caseload went up to 1,52,224, while that of Bhopal rose to 1,22,417 with addition of 107 cases. The COVID-19 death toll in Indore rose to 1,364 with one more death while the toll in Bhopal went up to 962 with two fatalities. Indore is now left with 1,045 active cases while Bhopal has 1,712 such cases. The number of active cases in the state stands at 6,325. (PTI)

A consortium of four city clusters  Bangalore, Hyderabad, New Delhi and Pune  has been established to upscale SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus genomic surveillance, complementing national efforts led by INSACOG. The consortium is established with support and seed funding from Rockefeller Foundation, the city-based CSIR-Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology (CCMB), which is leading the endeavour, said in a release on Thursday. INSACOG (Indian SARS-Cov-2 Genomic Consortium) is a consortium of national laboratories established by the Centre.It has been carrying out genomic sequencing and analysis of circulating COVID-19 viruses. The new alliance would track the emergence of viral variants correlated to epidemiological dynamics and clinical outcomes. The consortium aims to develop targeted sampling strategies based on granular epidemiological and clinical data, the release said. (PTI)

Delhi received 28,900 more doses of Covaxin on Wednesday for the 18-44 age group and the stock is enough to cover those eligible for the second dose in the next four days, AAP MLA Atishi said on Thursday. At present, Delhi has more than 50,110 doses of Covaxin in stock for this category, she said. There are 1.24 lakh doses of Covishield available for this age group and these can last up to eight days, Atishi said. She said 47,978 doses of vaccine were administered in Delhi on Wednesday. A total of 58,30,579 jabs have been given in the city so far since the inoculation exercise against coronavirus started on January 16. Of this, 13,63,193 people have received both the doses. The capital has 28,620 doses of Covaxin and 5,20,860 doses of Covishield in stock for those aged above 45, frontline workers and healthcare workers, the AAP leader said. These can last up to two days and 26 days respectively, she added. (PTI)

The Madhya Pradesh government on Thursday issued orders to vaccinate all prisoners lodged in various jails of the state against COVID-19 by July 15, a senior official said. The vaccination for prisoners had already commenced on June 1 and the state government has set a target to administer the first dose to all of them by July 15, additional chief secretary (ACS) Home Dr Rajesh Rajora told PTI. The order was issued by the state government following a directive by the Supreme Court on the issue. The second jabs will be administered after the stipulated gap, as per the health ministry’s guidelines, the official said. (PTI)

The COVID-19 death toll in Jammu and Kashmir rose to 4,143 on Thursday with 25 more fatalities, while 1,117 new cases pushed the infection count to 3,04,866, officials said. Out of the fresh cases, 332 were from Jammu division and 785 from the Kashmir division, they said. Srinagar district recorded the highest 194 cases followed by 121 in Budgam district, officials said. The number of active cases dropped to 18,581, while the overall recoveries have reached 2,82,142 so far, officials said. The death toll rose to 4,143 after 25 patients died in the past 24 hours, they said. (PTI)

Tamil Nadu reports 16,813 new COVID19 cases, 358 deaths, and 32,049 discharges today; active cases at 1,88,664 (ANI)

Himachal Pradesh reports 533 new #COVID19 cases, 862 recoveries and 15 deaths in the last 24 hours.

Total cases 1,97,438
Total recoveries 1,87,734
Death toll 3342

Active cases 6338 (ANI)

Over 1,300 people were fined in Delhi on June 9 for violation of COVID-19 guidelines, police said on Thursday. According to data shared by the police, 1,349 challans were issued in the city on Wednesday, of which 1,167 were for not wearing face masks, 180 for not maintaining social distance and two were against large public gatherings. “The process of unlocking has been started and we urge people to follow COVID-appropriate behaviour. Use a face mask while coming out of the house, maintain social distancing and regularly sanitise their hands. People should not come out of their homes unnecessarily,” Delhi Police Additional Public Relations Officer (PRO) Anil Mittal said.    A total of 1,538 people were fined in the city on Tuesday — 1,279 for not wearing face masks and 259 for violating distancing norms, the police said. As many as 1,27,083 challans were issued by the police from April 19 to June 9, the data showed. While 1,06,886 people were fined for not wearing face masks, 18,473 were penalised for not maintaining social distancing, 1,531 for large public gatherings or congregations, 72 for spitting and 121 for consumption of liquor, pan, tobacco, etc., it stated. (PTI)

Walmart-owned Flipkart has announced a new policy for employees that includes extended medical coverage and support for families of deceased employees as part of its COVID-19 relief efforts. Flipkart continues to prioritise employee well-being with a slew of measures extending care and wellness initiatives to all employees, including supply chain staff, across the country, the company said in a blogpost on Wednesday. Providing details of the policy, the company said its Family Support Policy for India extends additional support for the families and dependents of Flipkart employees who have lost their lives to the COVID-19 pandemic. The family of the employee who succumbed to COVID-19 will be provided with a life insurance cover to the value of 5X of the employee’s CTC along with a notice period settlement as per their contract, and professional financial assistance programmes. Flipkart said it will provide education support of up to Rs 1.2 lakh per annum for up to two children of the deceased employee until the children reach 22 years of age, as well as sponsor and extend the current medical insurance cover for the family for a period of 60 months. (PTI)

Meghalaya’s COVID-19 tally rose to 40,586 as 603 more people tested positive for the infection on Wednesday while 10 new fatalities pushed the coronavirus death toll to 704, a senior health department official said. Of the 10 new COVID-19 deaths, six were reported from East Khasi Hills district and two each from East Jaintia Hills and West Jaintia Hills district respectively, Health Services, Director, Aman War said. The state now has 5,015 active COVID-19 cases, he said. (PTI)

Parisodhana Technologies Private Limited has developed hybrid multiply face masks that provide high particulate and bacterial filtration efficiency, the Department of Biotechnology (DBT) said on Thursday. The masks have been developed to ensure high breathability, comfortable ear loops and are convenient to be used even in tropical conditions since they are prepared from purely hand-weaved cotton contact materials, it said. “Parisodhana Technologies Pvt Ltd was supported partly by BIRAC and IKP Knowledge Park under the Fast-Track COVID-19 fund to develop hybrid multiply face masks. “These ‘Made in India’ face masks provide high particulate (over 90 per cent) and bacterial filtration efficiency (over 99 per cent),” the DBT said. (PTI)

UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson on Thursday warned that COVID-19 cases and hospitalisations are “very clearly” on the rise in the country and that he continues to assess the vaccination data to decide on whether to end all lockdown measures by June 21. Speaking in Cornwall ahead of the G7 Leaders’ Summit, Johnson told reporters that arguments continue to be made “one way or another” as to whether all restrictions can be lifted as planned. The government is due to make an announcement on the planned unlocking on Monday. “What everybody can see very clearly is that cases are going up and, in some places, hospitalisations are going up,” said Johnson. “What we need to assess is the extent to which the vaccine rollout, which has been phenomenal, has built up enough protection in the population in order for us to go ahead to the next stage,” he said. (PTI)

COVID19 | Rajasthan reports 538 new cases, 23 deaths and 2,268 recoveries today; active case tally at 10,079 (ANI)

Karnataka High Court orders to not conduct Mysuru mayoral elections till June 21st due to the present COVID19 situation; The election to elect a new mayor of Mysuru City Corporation was scheduled to be held on June 11 (ANI)

Terming the low Covid vaccination coverage among the healthcare and frontline workers, especially for the second dose, a cause of “serious concern”, the Centre advised the states and Union territories on Thursday to sharpen their focus and prepare effective plans for expediting the second dose coverage among these priority groups. At a high-level meeting chaired by Union Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan with the states to review the progress of vaccination, it was highlighted that while the national average for the first dose administration among the healthcare workers (HCWs) is 82 per cent, for the second dose, it is only 56 per cent, a statement issued by the health ministry said. Further, the coverage in 18 states and Union territories, including Punjab, Maharashtra, Haryana, Tamil Nadu, Delhi and Assam, is below the national average in this aspect. For the frontline workers (FLWs), the national average of first-dose coverage is 85 per cent but for the second dose, it is only 47 per cent, the statement said. Nineteen states and Union territories, including Bihar, Haryana, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Puducherry, Telangana, Karnataka and Punjab, have reported a second-dose coverage of FLWs below the national average, it added. (PTI)