Archives for April 2021

The Delhi government on Monday announced a six-day lockdown in the national capital to help break the chain.

Addressing the residents, CM Arvind Kejriwal said, “Delhi is faring well in tests per million but is seeing a dearth of key drugs and hospital beds. Delhi’s health system is under intense stress, we have to reverse this,” he said adding, we will have a lockdown for six days from tonight.

Kejriwal also emphasised that he has always been against the lockdown but the current situation has forced him to save the health sector.

He appealed to the migrant workers to stay in Delhi with folded hands. “You will waste your time, money and energy if you scramble to leave the city. I request you to stay put in Delhi,” Kejriwal

On Monday morning, the Delhi government deployed two teams of officers to monitor procurement and supply of oxygen and the Remdesivir drug amid a shortage of both following an exponential rise in COVID-19 cases here.

The national capital on Sunday recorded the biggest jump in its daily COVID-19 tally with 25,462 fresh cases, while the positivity rate shot up to 29.74 per cent.

Earlier, Kejriwal wrote toPrime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Commerce and Industries Minister Piyush Goyal urging them to ramp up bed capacity in central government- run hospitals and to ensure “uninterrupted” supply of medical oxygen.

“The Covid situation has become very serious in Delhi. There is a huge shortage of beds and oxygen. I request that at least 7,000 out of 10,000 beds in central government hospitals in Delhi be reserved for Covid patients and oxygen be immediately provided in Delhi,” he wrote to the PM.

JAIPUR: In view of the growing coronavirus cases, a lockdown has been imposed in Rajasthan from April 19 to May 3rd with some exemptions. However, the Ashok Gehlot government has named it ‘jan anushasan  pakhwada’ (Public Discipline Fortnight). During this time, all government offices except the essential services will be closed. Markets, workplaces and cinemas will also remain shut. The construction sector is allowed to carry on in order to stop the migration of labourers.

The Chief Minister soon carried out an open review and decided to put a lockdown late in the night. “The government will take strict steps to curb the Corona surge in the state. The way the infections are rising along with the death rate is alarming. People need to follow the guidelines of the government and the instructions of the medical professionals strongly”, said Gehlot in a press release.

In smaller cities where the infection is less, the weekend curfew can be reduced to two to three days.

The pandemic situation in the state of Rajasthan is turning grim. As the number of cases continue to surge, the state recorded 10,514  new positive cases on Sunday including 42 deaths. Jaipur, Udaipur, Jodhpur and Kota have emerged as the major hotspots of Corona infection. The total number of Corona deaths in the state has now risen to 3151 while the number of active cases has gone beyond 67000. 

BENGALURU: Chief minister BS Yediyurappa on Friday morning called for an emergency meeting on the COVID19 situation in Karnataka following which a set of new restrictions and orders were decided upon.

“Cases are increasing by the day and we reviewed the situation in the meeting. Night curfew will continue but no other decision has been made. Depending on what Prime Minister Narendra Modi suggests and what action other States are taking, we will decide on the next course of action. A meeting will be held on April 20, when night curfew ends, to decide on its extension and expansion,” BS Yediyurappa said.

Minister for Health Dr K Sudhakar, however, said that a few new decisions, including seeking additional oxygen cylinders from Central government, restricting number of people at gatherings and reservation of hospital beds for COVID19 patients, were taken at the meeting.

Indoor events cannot have more than 100 people while gathering for outdoor events has been capped at 200 persons only instead of the earlier 500 limit. Corporate hospitals have been asked to tie up with at least 10 hotels nearby to convert them as makeshift isolation and treatment centres for patients with mild and moderate symptoms. Only those with severe and serious symptoms to be admitted to hospitalised

“About 95% of COVID19 patients do not need hospitalisation. It is my humble appeal to patients with mild and moderate symptoms to get treated, if you have to, in these makeshift hospitals at hotels. The same doctors who treat at hospitals will supervise you there as well. Some 3000 beds will be arranged in these hotel-turned-hospitals,” said Dr Sudhakar, Health and Medical Education minister.

About 50 per cent of beds in private hospitals have to be reserved for COVID19 patients referred from the government. 1000 beds in government medical colleges and 5000 in private medical colleges will be reserved for COVID19 patients.

One IPS officer, one IAS officer, officials from BWSSB, BESCOM and Suvarna Karnataka trust will be appointed as Nodal officials to supervise admissions in each big hospital. “The officials will ensure smooth admission and treatment process at all times for patients. They will take shifts and one of them will be at the hospital at any given point in time,” Sudhakar added.

Hearse vehicles and crematorium services will be extended at no cost for families of COVID19 victims.

Adding that there is no shortage of Remdesivir in the State, the minister said tender has been called for another 80,000 vials for procurement. The State will also submit a request to the union government for the supply of 5000 oxygen cylinders.

An agreement for jumbo cylinders will be made with commercial oxygen suppliers too to ensure there is no shortage. Direct recruitment on a contract basis for the next six months will be ensured to hire Doctors, nurses and paramedical staff. Hand stamping for patients in home isolation will be restarted apart from increasing testing and tracing processes. “We appeal to people to practise janata curfew voluntarily and help us bring down the number of cases,” Sudhakar said.

BENGALURU: The state on Friday recorded 14,859 new COVID-19 cases, with 78 deaths and 4031 discharges in the last 24 hours. The total positive cases are now at 1,124,509 and toll at 13,190. The state has reached one million discharges so far with the total recoveries reaching 10,03,985.

Karnataka is on the fourth spot in the country in terms of active cases, after Maharashtra which has 6,38,034 active cases, followed by Uttar Pradesh with 1,50,676 active cases, Chattisgarh at 1,21,769 active cases and Karnataka with 107315 active cases.

Bengaluru urban continues to be on the limelight recording the highest number of covid cases amongst the districts. The city recorded 9917 new positive cases and the total positive are now 5,22,438 with 57 covid deaths.

Bengaluru urban now has 79,616 active cases, is one of the many cities in the country which have high active cases.

In Maharashtra, Pune has the highest active cases 1,16,665, followed by Mumbai with 84,738, Thane at 84,038 and Nagpur at 71,539.

The positivity rate of the day for the state shot up to 11.11%, however, the case fatality rate of the day was low at 0.52%.