Coronavirus in India: West Bengal reports 14,281 new Covid-19 cases, highest one-day spike

With nearly 1.5 lakh Covid active cases, Bengaluru Urban has become the district with the highest active caseload in the country, way ahead of Pune (1,16,602) as of Friday. The surging count triggered calls from public health experts for establishment of temporary care centres where patients can be stabilised at early states as any increase in severity can overwhelm the city’s health infrastructure.

The government on Friday said Remdesivir production was being ramped up and soon 3 lakh vials would be produced every day. The government has approved 25 new manufacturing sites for Remdesivir since April 12 to increase production. Besides, it has also stopped export of the drug to cater to local demand.

"The patients have been shifted, they are fine," said Kaushlendra Vikram Singh, District Collector.

The state health department additional secretary, Ravi Shankar Choudhary, died of Covid-19 complications on Friday. He was among the 54 fatalities officially reported even as Bihar created yet anotherrecord with 12,672 people testing positive in a day out of 1,0,8147 samples tested.

Hundreds of people have been lining up at a gurdwara in Indirapuram since Thursday night because it has been offering what many hospitals are struggling with Oxygen.People’s desperate search for oxygen beds, which hospitals pulverised by the pandemic have run out of, prompted the Gurdwara Sahib to start an ‘oxygen langar’. Through a network of other gurdwaras, it has stocked cylinders and is administering oxygen to anyone with respiratory distress.

About 59% samples of the newly identified and infectious Indian variant of SARS-CoV-2 called B.1.617 have been found in Maharashtra, although the double mutant strain is dominant only in selected districts and cities, not the entire state. Significantly, scientists have also found that both Covaxin and Covishield are able to protect against the strain.

In the wake of reports of hold-ups and disputes over oxygen supplies, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday asked every state to ensure that no oxygen tanker, irrespective of which state it was meant for, was stopped or got stranded. In an interaction with CMs of high burden states, the PM urged them to set up a high-level coordination committee to oversee oxygen supply to hospitals.

The Biden White House on Thursday said it is working closely with New Delhi to identify ways to help India with its ongoing pandemic crisis amid and criticism that it is being tone deaf in responding to the country urgent needs.