Covid-19 Highlights: Covid 3rd wave peak in France 'appears to be behind us': PM

Congress chief Sonia Gandhi on Thursday sent a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi asking if the Government of India has abdicated its responsibility to provide free vaccination for citizens between the age group of 18 to 45 years.

The letter reads, "As a consequence of this policy, the vaccine manufacturer, i.e. the Serum Institute of India announced a differential pricing mechanism today, viz ₹150/- per dose for the central government, ₹400/- per dose for state government and ₹600/- per dose for private hospitals."

The Supreme Court has taken suo motu cognizance on the supply of oxygen and essential drugs, method of vaccination and the judicial power to declare a lockdown. The top court asked the central government to present a national plan on the same after noting that at least six different high courts in the country have been hearing the matter with their own priorities.

Senior advocate Harish Salve has been appointed as amicus curiae in the matter. The matter will be heard tomorrow.

Solicitor General Tushar Mehta today told the Supreme Court that the country is in 'dire need' of oxygen. The apex court said that hearings by six different high courts on Covid-19 related issues may create some kind of confusion and noted that a national policy in place on issues relating to supply of oxygen, essential drugs & method and manner of vaccination

Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal on Thursday reiterated that the national capital is facing an oxygen crisis over the past few days and said that the increased quota fixed by the central government a day ago is still not enough to meet the spiralling demands amid a more infectious second wave of the coronavirus disease (Covid-19). In a press conference on this day, Kejriwal appealed to the Centre for more oxygen, pointing out that Delhi does not produce oxygen on its own and hence has to depend on other states for supply.

Amid a shortage of medical oxygen in the national capital, Delhi health minister Satyendar Jain on Thursday pointed out a crisis in ICU beds, as well. "There is a crisis of ICU beds. We have made a request to the Centre, I think they will give us 700-800 more ICU beds soon. We have demanded 7,000 beds in the central government-run hospitals, they have given us around 2,000," said the Delhi health minister.

Over 500 doctors and health workers of two leading hospitals in Bihar's Patna -- the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) and the Patna Medical College and Hospital (PMCH) -- have tested positive for Covid-19 during the second wave of the coronavirus, news agency PTI reported citing sources.

Haryana intends to hold a meeting with farmers, sitting at the state's borders and protesting against the central government's three contentious farm laws, regarding their Covid-19 testing and vaccinations. Haryana health minister Anil Vij on Thursday said that officers of the state health department will hold a meeting with protesting farmers in this regard and begin the aforementioned process once the farmers' leaders agree.

1,710 doses of Covid-19 vaccine, including 1,270 doses of Covishield and 440 of Covaxin, along with other files, were stolen from the PPC centre at Civil Hospital in Haryana's Jind, ANI reported. The centre's in-charge said, "I'll also check our main store that keeps supply for the entire district and inform officials."

The police have launched an investigation into the incident and said that video footage shows two individuals committing the crime. The probe is on.

Anil Baijal, the Lieutenant Governor of the union territory of Delhi, was scheduled to hold a Covid-19 review meeting with Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal and other senior government officials later in the day, news agency ANI reported. However, the meeting has now been postponed. No reasons for deferring the meet have been provided till now.

India on Thursday reported more than 300,000 coronavirus cases over the last 24 hours, the highest daily global total, while Covid-19-related deaths also jumped by a record.

India's total cases are now at 15.93 million, while deaths rose by 2,104 to reach a total of 184,657, according to health ministry data.

New cases: 314,835

New deaths: 2,104

Total cases: 15,930,965

Total recoveries: 13,454,880

Death toll: 184,657

Active cases: 2,291,428

Total vaccination: 132,330,644

The Union health ministry's dashboard at 9:30am on Thursday showed that India has recorded 314,835 new Covid-19 cases in the last 24 hours, the highest single-day spike in the world.

Before this, only one country had recorded a daily spike of over 3 lakh cases -- the United States, on January 8 earlier this year, when it clocked 307,581 new coronavirus disease infections, according to worldometers.info, an independent aggregator of the worldwide Covid-19 tally.

With several private and government hospitals in Delhi running low on medical oxygen for Covid-19 patients, the central government has raised the national capital's oxygen quota from 378 metric tonnes to 480 metric tonnes.

Dr AC Shukla, Head-ICU, Mata Chanan Devi Hospital, Delhi, said, "We've received two batches of 21 oxygen cylinders each today. We have 200 Covid-19 patients and oxygen consumption is very high. For us, priority is re-filling of the liquid oxygen plant so that there is an uninterrupted supply."

Since Delhi does not have its own source of oxygen, the capital's supply comes from Haryana and Uttar Pradesh.

(Inputs from agencies)

The Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) informed that 272,705,103 samples have been tested for coronavirus disease (Covid-19) in India till April 21, 2021. Of these, 1,651,711 samples were tested on Wednesday, the ICMR informed.

The 'Oxygen Express' has arrived in Andhra Pradesh's Visakhapatnam with its massive cryogenic tankers capable of loading more than 100 tonnes of Liquid Medical Oxygen (LMO). The tankers will be loaded with LMO at the Visakhapatnam Steel Plant facility under the Rashtriya Ispat Nigam Ltd (RINL).

Communist Party of India (Marxist) (CPI-M) leader Sitaram Yechury on Thursday took to his Twitter account to inform that his son, Ashish Yechury, has passed away due to Covid-19. "It is with great sadness that I have to inform that I lost my elder son, Ashish Yechury, to Covid-19 this morning. I want to thank all those who gave us hope and who treated him -- doctors, nurses, frontline health workers, sanitation workers, and innumerable others who stood by us," the veteran leader tweeted.

Polling for the sixth phase of the ongoing assembly elections in West Bengal began at 7am on Thursday across 43 constituencies in four districts. This comes amid a surge in Covid-19 cases with the state reporting record infections over the past few days, breaching the 10,000- mark of daily infections on Wednesday. The state registered its highest single-day spike of 10,784 new Covid-19 cases on Wednesday, while 58 more people lost their lives.

Senior Congress leader and former Delhi minister Dr AK Walia passed away of Covid-19 at the Apollo Hospital in the national capital, news agency ANI reported on Thursday.

The Central Armed Police Forces (CAPF) on Thursday informed that several of its jawans have contracted the coronavirus disease (Covid-19). Mukesh Saxena, ADG (Med), CAPF, said, "We have stopped admission of non-Covid patients and closed OPD services at the CAPF hospital in Greater Noida. 80 Covid-19 patients are currently admitted at the hospital."

"We have deployed our medical officers and paramedics at the DRDO Covid-19 facility in Delhi and Ahmedabad," he added.

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has issued a Level-4 Travel Health Notice for India due to Covid-19, indicating a very high level of COVID-19 in the country: US Dept of State Bureau of Consular Affairs