A commuter sits inside an empty Monorail, after authorities allowed its services open to people involved in essential services only, as coronavirus cases surge, in Mumbai, Friday. PTI Photo/Shashank Parade
MUMBAI: The Covid-19 tally in Mumbai increased by 7,221 on Friday to touch 6,16,221, while 72 deaths during the day took the toll to 12,648, an official said.
The day also saw 9,541 people getting discharged, taking the recovery count to 5,20,684, leaving the metropolis with an active caseload of 81,538, BMC data revealed.
The city s recovery rate is 84 per cent, while the daily case growth rate stands at 1.31 per cent, it showed.
With 41,826 samples being examined in the last 24 hours, the number of tests in Mumbai went up to 51,63,852, as per civic data.
In view of a major spurt in new coronavirus cases in the state, the Maharashtra government on Thursday evening announced stricter curbs on movement of people. Among key measures, all government offices in the state, except those directly involved in handling of the Covid-19 pandemic, were asked to operate with only 15 per cent of their employees or just five – whichever is higher.
Making addition to the ‘Break the chain’ order of April 13, the state government has even asked offices falling under the ‘essential services’ categorisation to work with the lowest required capacity in no scenario exceed 50 per cent of their strength.
However, the issue of home quarantine has, in recent times, proven tricky as it is difficult to keep tabs on those who are in quarantine and ensuring that they do not slip out stealthily, as has been witnessed in some cases.
BMC officials pointed that a routine call is made to those in home isolation to check on their health status. “In many cases, we have also informed the secretary or chairman of the housing society about flats where there are patients in home quarantine so that they can seal it and such patients do not step out,” said a civic official.
Over 93,000 fresh cases reported India reported 93,249 fresh coronavirus infections on Sunday the highest since mid-September taking the cumulative caseload to 1,24,85,509, according to a report in the Scroll. The country saw 513 deaths due to the pandemic, taking the death toll to 1,64,623, according to central health ministry data. The active caseload is at 6,91,597, while the total recoveries have surged to 1,16,29,289. As many as 74.4 million shots have been administered since the nationwide inoculation programme kicked off on January 16.
45+ or not, teachers want to be included in vaccine drive Calls to open up the vaccination programme to teachers of all ages are getting louder, a report in ThePrint said. In the new phase of the rollout that started on Thursday, all people above the age of 45 are eligible, but this leaves out a large chunk of school teachers, many of whom are in the 25-40 age group. This has prompted private schools, state teachers associations and other
Global infections: 130,784,257
Global deaths: 2,846,403
Nations with most cases: US (30,671,843), Brazil (12,953,597), India (12,485,509), France (4,802,545), Russia (4,520,879).
Blood clots and the AstraZeneca Covid vaccine: is there a link? Even as the United Kingdom reported more blood clot cases in people who received the AstraZeneca vaccine, the health regulator said that the benefits of the jab far outweigh the risks. However, many governments are still concerned about the jab. The main condition causing alarm is when blood forms clots in the veins that run from the brain, a potentially fatal complication. This has also been combined with patients having unusually low platelets, resulting in heavy bleeding. One hypothesis, put forward by a team of researchers in Germany, is that the AstraZeneca vaccine could be provoking an overexcited immune response in some people, causing them to generate antibodies that target blood platelets.