Over 2 lakh new cases, weekend lockdown in Delhi | Covid-19 in top 10 headlines

Here are the top 10 developments related to spike in Covid-19 cases in India.

India continues to reel under the massive Covid-19 surge as the nation reported a record single-day surge on Wednesday with over 2 lakh new cases. Restrictions have been imposed on several cities to curb the spread of Covid-19, exams have also been cancelled across several states and several regions are also reporting issues with hospitalisations and shortage of medical oxygen, hospital beds and medicines like remdesivir.

India reported more than 2 lakh cases on Thursday creating alarm among state governments and the Centre. ( Sanjeev Verma/ Hindustan Times)

Here are the top 10 developments related to Covid-19 in India:

• Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal on Thursday announced a weekend curfew in the city. The Capital recorded 16,699 new Covid-19 cases and active cases stood at 54,000.
• Maharashtra chief minister Uddhav Thackeray wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi asking him to declare the Covid-19 a natural disaster in the state of Maharashtra. He also asked PM Modi to disburse funds from SDRF to help the state recover from the effects of Covid-19.
• Maharashtra recorded more than 60,000 cases once more on Thursday. The state’s current active caseload stood at 620,060. Pune, Mumbai, and Thane reported more than 80,000 active cases.
• Telangana joined 10 other states which cancelled exams for class 10 students and postponed exams for students of class 12. The other states which took a similar decision in view of the pandemic are - Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, Gujarat, Himachal Pradesh, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh, Punjab, Jharkhand, Tamil Nadu, Odisha and Jammu and Kashmir.
• The National Eligibility cum Entrance Test for postgraduate students has also been cancelled in the wake of the rising Covid-19 cases. Union minister Harsh Vardhan said that the dates for the exams will be announced later.
• Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd (BPCL) and Reliance Industries Ltd will divert oxygen produced at its refineries to help out states worst hit by Covid-19 like Kerala and Maharashtra respectively to help them overcome the shortage of medical oxygen in hospitals.
• States are racing against time to secure Remdesivir injections as several states reported a shortage of the drug which helps shorten recovery time for patients for people affected with Covid-19.
• 100 new hospitals will have their own Oxygen plant under PM-CARES Fund, the Centre announced as the demand for medical oxygen is rising from Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, Uttar Pradesh, Delhi, Chhattisgarh, Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Punjab, Haryana and Rajasthan.
• Madhya Pradesh recorded a 79% increase in weekly Covid-19 cases in the last two weeks as 44 districts reported that they have crossed their previously recorded highest cases over the last 30 days, news agency PTI reported.
• Epidemiologists believe that the spike in Covid-19 cases in India is being recorded due to mutations in the virus due to which a single infected person is infecting many more people than before, news agency ANI reported.