Archives for 2021

KOLKATA: West Bengal on Friday registered the highest single-day COVID-19 deaths with 96 people succumbing to the disease, the health department said in a bulletin.

Of the fresh fatalities, 28 were reported from Kolkata, 20 from North 24 Parganas district and 14 from Hooghly district, the bulletin said.

The remaining deaths were registered in several other districts.

The bulletin said that 50 out of the 96 deaths were due to comorbidities where COVID-19 was incidental.

In the last 24 hours, 13,932 recoveries were registered in West Bengal.

The discharge rate slipped to 84.91 per cent.

So far, 7,03,398 people have been cured of coronavirus in the state.

The number of active cases in the state currently is 1,13,624.

The new positive cases included 3,932 from North 24 Parganas and 3,924 from Kolkata.

Since Thursday, 53,248 samples have been tested for COVID-19, taking the total number of such tests to 1,04,32,553, the bulletin said.

Outgoing Trinamool Congress MLA of Baruipur East constituency, septuagenarian Nirmal Chandra Mondal, succumbed to COVID-19 at a government hospital in Kolkata on Friday.

Meanwhile, the state government on Friday issued an order stating that last rites of all COVID-19 victims will be carried out free of cost amid complaints of fleecing by middlemen at crematoriums and burial grounds.

According to the government order, the urban development and municipal affairs department has appointed nodal officers for all 124 municipal corporations in the state’s 23 districts, including Kolkata, to supervise the cremation and burial processes.

Also, coordinators have been appointed for arranging hearses for the deceased.

“There were reports that middlemen at crematoriums and burial grounds are fleecing families of COVID-19 victims. After conducting a probe into the matter, the department has decided to appoint nodal officers to supervise the cremation process,” a senior official said.

A state control room number (033-2214-1995) and another helpline (18004191198) have been launched by the department to answer people’s queries and address their grievances, he added.

NEW DELHI: Batting great Sachin Tendulkar has contributed Rs 1 crore to ‘Mission Oxygen’, an initiative on the medical fundraising website Ketto aiming to help procure oxygen cylinders for hospitals in India for Covid-19 patients.

“It is heartening to see how people are rising to the occasion. A group of 250+ young entrepreneurs have launched Mission Oxygen to raise funds for importing oxygen concentrators and donating them to hospitals across the country. I’ve helped by contributing to the cause and hope that their effort soon reaches out to many more hospitals across India. Today, we have to stand together behind everyone that is working hard to fight this pandemic,” he further said

Tendulkar’s name appears at the top of the list of donors on the initiative’s page on the website. It shows that it has thus far raised over Rs 17 crore as on Friday with a target of Rs 35 crore.

It said on Thursday that it has already placed “an order for 3,900 concentrators”.

A few days back, Australia and Kolkata Knight Riders pacer Pat Cummins had donated USD 50,000 to purchase oxygen supplies for Indian hospitals.

On a day the US promised medical supplies landed in India, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar held a telephonic conversation with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Friday. 

The supplies were promised on a day the US president addressed the Congress and said that US was leading the world in the fight against the pandemic. It had earlier stalled supply of raw materials  for vaccines to India, with focus on domestic self-sufficiency first.

JAIPUR: The Rajasthan government on Friday extended the lockdown till May 17 due to the soaring coronavirus infections. Principal Secretary (Home) Abhay Kumar issued the order, calling it ‘Pandemic Red Alert- Public Discipline Fortnight’.

The restrictions, which were imposed from April 19 to to May 3, were extended for 15 days. All workplaces, except a few government offices engaged in COVID management, and markets would remain closed, according to the guidelines.

Retail and wholesale shops of grocery, flour mills, cattle feed will continue to open for five hours from 6 am to 11 am from Monday to Friday, while dairy shops would operate daily from 6 am to 11 am and from 5 pm to 7 pm.

Wholesale markets, vegetable and fruit shops, garland vendors will continue to open daily from 6 am to 11 am. Vendors who sell fruits and vegetables on pull carts, e-rickshaws and others would also be allowed from 6  am to 11 am daily.

Optical shops will also be allowed to open on Tuesday and Friday from 6 am to 11 am. Only 31 people will be allowed in marriage ceremonies and the wedding functions will be allowed for only three hours. If anyone who is not under exempted category is found roaming, that person will be shifted to institutional quarantine facility till the RT-PCR report is negative.

CHANDIGARH: The Haryana government has imposed weekend lockdown in nine of the 22 districts of the state. The nine districts are: Gurugram, Faridabad, Sonipat, Rohtak, Karnal, Hisar, Sirsa, Fatehabad and Panchkula. As per the orders issued by Chief Secretary Vijai Vardhan, the weekend lockdown will come into force from 10 pm on April 30, (Friday) and continue till 5 am on May 3 (Monday).

The restrictions are covered under the Disaster Management Act (DMA), 2005. Any person violating the restrictions will be liable to be proceeded against as per the provisions of Sections 51-60 of the DMA, besides legal action under Sec. 188 of the IPC and other legal provisions as applicable. An official said during the lockdown, residents must stay indoors.

No person shall leave their homes or shall move on foot or by vehicle or travel or stand or roam around on any road or public places during the restriction hours. Those exempt from the measure are persons and services tasked with law and order, emergencies and municipal services, duties including executive magistrates, police personnel, military/CAPF personnel in uniform, health, electricity, fire, media persons with accreditation and government machinery tasked with COVID-related duties.

He said those exempted for appearing in examination and on exam duties would have to produce admit/ identity cards. Those engaged in the manufacture of essential goods will also be exempt. There shall be no curbs on movement (inter-state and intra-state) of essential and non-essential goods.

All vehicles or persons in bona fide transit (inter-state or intra-state) shall be allowed to pass, but only after verification of point of origin and destination. Haryana Health Minister Anil Vij said all chief medical officers should ensure that treatment and admission of Covid patients is not affected during the VIP movement in hospitals.

NEW DELHI: The coronavirus-induced suspension of scheduled international passenger flights has been extended till May 31, aviation regulator DGCA said on Friday.

Scheduled international passenger services have been suspended in India since March 23, 2020, due to the coronavirus pandemic.

But special international flights have been operating under the Vande Bharat Mission since May and under bilateral “air bubble” arrangements with selected countries since July.

India has formed air bubble pacts with around 27 countries including Kenya, Bhutan and France.

Under an air bubble pact between two countries, special international flights can be operated by their airlines between their territories.

The DGCA circular also said that the suspension does not affect the operation of international all-cargo operations and flights specifically approved by it.