India
Coronavirus Latest News LIVE Updates: Indis Reports 3.79 Lakh New Covid Cases, 3,645 Deaths In New High
COVID-19 Cases in India: Vaccinations will begin on Saturday for everyone above 18 from May 1 (File)
New Delhi:
As India continues to see alarming surge in Covid infections, a record spike of 3,79,257 fresh cases and 3,645 deaths was reported in the last 24 hours.
Over 1.83 crore people have contracted the virus so far. Hospitals and crematoria are overwhelmed amid the uptick.
Nearly 1.33 crore people applied for vaccination on Wednesday as the government’s dedicated website, CoWIN, opened for registrations today. Those between 18 and 44 can get Covid shots from May 1 (Saturday).
After initial glitches, the CoWIN site was getting almost 27 lakh hits a minute, government sources said. Appointments will be based on slots made available by states and private vaccination centres, they said.
“More Appointment slots will soon be offered. If slots are not currently available, please check again after sometime. We request your patience and understanding,” said government sources.
Vaccinations will begin on Saturday for everyone above 18 from May 1 (Saturday) under a more “liberalised and accelerated Phase 3 strategy of COVID-19 vaccination”.
Here are the Latest News Live Updates:
The US government told its citizens to leave India as soon as possible because of the country’s escalating Covid crisis.
In a Level 4 travel advisory — the highest issued by the Department of State — U.S. citizens were told “not to travel to India or to leave as soon as it is safe to do so.” There are 14 direct daily flights between India and the U.S. and other services that connect through Europe, the department said.
India reports 3,79,257 new #COVID19 cases, 3645 deaths and 2,69,507 discharges in the last 24 hours, as per Union Health Ministry
Total cases: 1,83,76,524
Total recoveries: 1,50,86,878
Death toll: 2,04,832
Active cases: 30,84,814Total vaccination: 15,00,20,648 pic.twitter.com/ak1MKYUW7R
– ANI (@ANI) April 29, 2021
The COVID-19 pandemic has laid bare the issue of the digital divide and recast the world’s view of digital access as a critical component to an equitable society, according to Minister of Electronics and Information Technology Ravi Shankar Prasad, who underlined that technology is meant to be a “great equaliser” and not a source of division.
“In 2020, the year of the COVID-19 pandemic, the world embraced digital transformation at a pace never witnessed before,” Mr Prasad said at the UN High-Level thematic debate on ‘Digital Cooperation and Connectivity: Whole-of-Society Approaches to End the Digital Divide.’
“The pandemic has resulted in societies reimagining technology’s critical role in how we work, learn and live,” Mr Prasad said.
Requesting to pass immediate directions and orders for uniform guidelines on certain matters related to the COVID-19 pandemic, a group of law students from across India has sent a combined letter petition to the Chief Justice of India (CJI) Nuthalapati Venkata Ramana.
The group led by Aditya Kashyap, a final year law student at National Law University (NLU), Punjab, has pleaded to the CJI to pass immediate appropriate directions against rampant black-marketing of critical medicines, and how to provide oxygen cylinders to the people in need.
Tainted batches of Russia’s Sputnik V Covid vaccine sent to Brazil carried a live version of a common cold-causing virus, the South American country’s health regulator reported in a presentation explaining its decision to ban the drug’s import.
Top virologist Angela Rasmussen told AFP the finding “raises questions about the integrity of the manufacturing processes” and could be a safety issue for people with weaker immune systems, if the problem was found to be widespread.
Russia’s Gamaleya Institute, which developed the vaccine, has denied the reports.
The issue centers around an “adenovirus vector” — a virus that normally causes mild respiratory illness but in vaccines is genetically modified so that it cannot replicate, and edited to carry the DNA instructions for human cells to develop the spike protein of the coronavirus.
This in turn trains the human system to be prepared in case it then encounters the real coronavirus.
The states should consider aviation workers as a priority group for anti-COVID vaccination program that is going to start from May 1, Aviation Secretary Tuhin Kanta Pandey told chief secretaries of all the states on Tuesday.
The aviation sector has been at the forefront to extend services to the movement of people, essential medical cargo, including vaccines, medicines, medical equipment, during the COVID-19 pandemic, Mr Pandey’s letter to the states said.
The vital role played by the Vande Bharat Mission and the lifeline Udan flights has been noteworthy, the letter dated April 27 mentioned.
