Coronavirus: Curfew in Rajasthan from 6 pm on April 16 to 5 am on April 19

Maharashtra, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh administered more than one crore COVID-19 vaccinations during the four-day 'Tika Utsav', the health ministry said on Thursday.The vaccination festival from April 11-14 saw intense vaccination activity with 29,33,418 doses being given on April 11, and another 40,04,521 jabs administered the next day, the ministry said.

Maharashtra Health Minister Rajesh Tope on Thursday said they have requested the Centre to allow the Remdesivir stock, which has not been exported after a ban on it, to be distributed in the domestic market to bridge the gap in its demand and supply. "We have requested the Centre to allow the exportable Remdesivir stock to be distributed in the domestic market. It will help in bridging the gap between the demand and supply of the medicine," Tope told reporters.

Covid symptoms have been milder and undergone subtle changes during the second wave along with a much higher transmission rate, often making it difficult to identify the virus, according to doctors in Kolkata. While cough, cold and fever had been the most common symptoms during the first wave, weakness, body ache and mild diarrhoea have been more frequent this time.

Remdesivir is not the lone life-saving drug against Covid-19. Instead, it has been a careful mix of oxygen therapy, vitamin supplements, steroids and blood thinners that has been helping patients recover faster, medical experts have said. In fact, the state task force, in a meeting on April 12, made it clear that it is absolutely possible to save patients without even using remdesivir.

Two hundred boxes containing 9,264 Remdesivir injections (a key anti-viral drug) have arrived at the Indore airport, an official from the Chief Minister's Office said.Out of these, 42 boxes will be airlifted to Bhopal, 39 to Jabalpur, 19 to Gwalior, 18 to Rewa, he said.

"Pilgrims returning to the state after taking part in the holy Kumbh Mela at Haridwar must isolate themselves at home and undergo tests for coronavirus. I urge pilgrims to continue with their regular activities only after their Covid negative test report," Karnataka health minister Dr K Sudhakar tweeted. The Commissioner of Health and Family Welfare Services K V Thrilok Chandra too issued a circular to this effect.

The numbers include both RT-PCR and Rapid Antigen Test reports of devotees and seers of different akharas (ascetic groups) over the five-day period in the entire Mela Kshetra extending from Haridwar to Devprayag, Haridwar Chief Medical Officer Shambhu Kumar Jha said on Thursday. More RT-PCR test reports are awaited and the trend shows that the number of infected persons in the Kumbh Mela Kshetra is likely to climb to 2,000, he said.

According to the health ministry, 11,44,93,238 vaccine doses have been administered through 16,98,138 sessions, as per the provisional report till 7am today. During the four-day-long Tika Utsav, which started on Sunday, the total vaccination figures saw a jump of 1,28,98,314 vaccine doses being administered to people of the eligible population groups across the country.