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

In the present context of increasing Covid cases, the inter-ministerial Empowered Group (EG2) has been meeting and facilitating the supply of essential medical equipment, particularly related to medical oxygen supply to the States, said the Union health ministry. The Empowered Group has been meeting and interacting frequently with the states, oxygen manufacturers and other stakeholders to facilitate medical oxygen supply to states are per necessity, it added.

He had tested positive for Covid.

With an aim to ensure adequate stocks of Remdesivir are available for hospitalised Covid-19 patients, the Centre has given fast-track approval to companies to ramp up production capacities to make around 78 lakh vials per month, double the currently installed capacity of 38.8 lakh vials. Manufacturers have also agreed to voluntarily reduce the price to less than Rs 3,500 by the end of this week. At present, seven Indian companies are producing the drug under a voluntary licensing agreement with the US company Gilead Sciences, which holds the patent for the product.

Sputnik V, the Russian vaccine which has received emergency use authorisation, will be available for use in India in the April-June quarter with doses expected to be shipped from Russia as early as mid-May. Local manufacturing will kick in from the July-September quarter, top officials of Dr Reddy’s Laboratories said Wednesday, reports Swati Bharadwaj. Discussions on pricing are under way with various stakeholders, including the Centre, they said. Globally, RDIF has been selling Sputnik V at $10 per dose, while the Centre has capped the prices of vaccines at Rs 150 ($2) per dose.

The current wave of Covid-19 is sparing no one. City hospitals say they are getting infants as young as eight months old with severe symptoms of the disease, including persistent fever and pneumonia, necessitating admission. Earlier, it was believed that Covid-19 in children was mostly harmless and moderate to severe symptoms, if any, were rare.

Amid widespread fears among public health officials of an emerging super-spreader, the chief medical officer of Haridwar, Dr SK Jha, on Wednesday said 1,278 people at the Maha Kumbh have tested positive for Covid-19 since April 10, among them 18 seers (nine tested positive on Tuesday and nine earlier). The figures don’t account for RTPCR reports of tests done on Kumbh attendees on April 13 and 14 as those are pending. According to state data, in Haridwar district, some parts of which come under the Kumbh Mela site, 2,167 have tested positive in the same time period. Wednesday’s shahi snan saw the lowest footfall among the three so far – 14 lakh, compared to 31 lakh at the first and 35 lakh on Monday (last one’s on April 27).

Covid cases are rising exponentially with a highly infectious strain stalking the city. Lack of Covid-appropriate behaviour, with people not wearing masks and showing indifference to maintaining social distancing, has aggravated the situation. In 24 hours, 17,282 more people have tested positive and 104 deaths have been reported.

With Uttar Pradesh facing a shortage of Remdesivir injection, used in the treatment of Covid-19, chief minister Yogi Adityanath directed the health department to procure 25,000 vials from Ahmedabad on Wednesday. As per the CM’s orders, a state aircraft was sent to Ahmedabad to pick up the consignment which returned to Lucknow the same evening. A government spokesperson said that other than Remdesivir, the government was keeping a close watch over availability of eight other medicines, prescribed for Covid patients.

The number of beds available for Covid-19 patients in the private sector increased by almost 50% to 6,139 in the last fortnight, according to BMC data. The overall bed strength has also increased by 35% to 20,022 in the same period. BMC chief I S Chahal had on March 26 said that the bed capacity would be increased to 21,000.