Coronavirus India Live Updates: 3.62 lakh cases, 4,120 deaths on Wednesday

Coronavirus (Covid-19) India Lockdown News Live Updates: The country reported 4,120 deaths on the same day, led by Maharashtra (843) and Karnataka (517). Active cases have increased to 37.10 lakh.

Coronavirus India Live Updates: India reported 3.62 lakh cases of the novel coronavirus on Wednesday. Maharashtra’s count remained under 50,000 for the fourth consecutive day, while Kerala and Tamil Nadu recorded new highs of over 43,000 and 30,000 cases, respectively. The country reported 4,120 deaths on the same day, led by Maharashtra (843) and Karnataka (517). Active cases have increased to 37.10 lakh.

As India grapples to contain the second wave of Covid-19, records analysed by The Indian Express show a pattern of vaccine inequality, with seven states accounting for a staggering 85 per cent of all doses administered to those in the 18-44 age group so far. Of the 34.66 lakh doses administered from May 1-May 12, over 85 per cent were administered in seven states: Maharashtra (6.25 lakh), Rajasthan (5.49 lakh), Delhi (4.71 lakh), Gujarat (3.86 lakh), Haryana (3.55 lakh), Bihar (3.02 lakh), and Uttar Pradesh (2.65 lakh).

Leaders of 12 Opposition parties, including four chief ministers, have written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi asking the Centre to procure vaccines centrally from global and domestic sources and begin a free, universal mass vaccination campaign across the country.

The Supreme Court, meanwhile, has deferred hearing the suo motu matter on the Covid situation in the country after Justice D Y Chandrachud contracted the infection.

Niti Aayog CEO Amitabh Kant, in an interview to The Indian Express, said aid is limited, and optimal use of resources will have to be made. “Priority will be given to high-case burden states,” he said.

Coronavirus India Live Updates: 3.62 lakh new cases, 4,120 deaths; Vaccine inequality deepens among young; Opposition leaders write to PM Modi asking for universal mass vaccination campaign; Supreme Court defers hearing on Covid-19 situation; and more. Read latest news and updates today below

The Sterlite plant in Tamil Nadu has dispatched its first tanker carrying 4.8 MTs of Liquid Medical Oxygen to Tirunelveli.

An ex-member of the National Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation has moved the Supreme Court against the “coercive vaccine mandate”, adding that the two vaccines available in India (Covishield and Covaxin) are “inadequately tested”. Jacob Puliyel, in his plea, sought a ruling from the apex court that the mandate is repugnant to people’s right to autonomy and ability to self-determine what may be infected into their body.

The World Health Organization has said among the potential contributing factors to India’s Covid surge is “several religious and political mass gathering events which increased social mixing”.

“A recent risk assessment of the situation in India conducted by WHO found that resurgence and acceleration of COVID-19 transmission in India had several potential contributing factors, including increase in the proportion of cases of SARS-CoV-2 variants with potentially increased transmissibility; several religious and political mass gathering events which increased social mixing; and, under use of and reduced adherence to public health and social measures (PHSM). The exact contributions of these each of these factors on increased transmission in India are not well understood,” WHO said. Read more here

India reported 3.62 lakh cases of the novel coronavirus on Wednesday. Maharashtra’s count remained under 50,000 for the fourth consecutive day, while Kerala and Tamil Nadu recorded new highs of over 43,000 and 30,000 cases, respectively. The country reported 4,120 deaths on the same day, led by Maharashtra (843) and Karnataka (517). Active cases have increased to 37.10 lakh.

This morning, Haryana became the latest state to say it would float global tenders for the procurement of Covid-19 vaccines. State Health Minister Anil Vij tweeted: “Haryana will float Global tenders to purchase Corona Vaccine for people of Haryana so that free vaccination could be provided to every 18+ citizens of the State at the earliest.”

On Tuesday, Mumbai’s civic body and Tamil Nadu, too, said they would issue a global Expression of Interest (EoI). 

Rae Bareli is among the predominantly rural districts in India’s most populous state that have been buffeted by the second Covid wave. In Sultanpur Khera village, 17 out of 18 people who died in one month showed flu-like symptoms, such as fever, cough, cold, headache and breathlessness, before death. Of the 17, local residents say 15 were not tested for Covid, or taken to a hospital. And this is why, they say, official records show only two Covid deaths from the village of 3,000 in April.

“For days, we believed it was the usual sardi-khasi (cold and cough). Then, people started dying, and we panicked,” Dinesh Singh, a bank employee, says. Read Dipankar Ghose’s report

Good morning and welcome to our live blog on the Covid-19 situation in India. Here are the states that reported the most number of cases and deaths on Tuesday.

A worker prepares a bed at an oxygen centre for COVID-19 patients, operated by Hemkunt Foundation, in Gurugram, Wednesday, May 12, 2021. (PTI Photo)

Mumbai civic body’s global tender for 1 crore shots keeps China out

The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has issued a global Expression of Interest (EoI) for procurement of one crore doses of vaccines for Mumbai. The EoI includes a condition that bids from companies in countries that share land borders with India will not be considered, which effectively bars any company from China.

Interested companies are required to respond by May 18. The company finalised will have to deliver the vaccines within three weeks of the issue of work order, according to the EoI.

From vaccine plan to compensation: Allahabad HC wants answers from Uttar Pradesh

Hearing a PIL on Uttar Pradesh’s handling of the Covid pandemic, the Allahabad High Court on Tuesday issued a string of directions to the state government — from giving 48 hours to set up a three-member grievance committee in each district, to seeking a roadmap from the state and central government on how they plan to vaccinate “illiterate labours and other villagers” in the 18+ category “if they are not able to register online for vaccination”.

A two-judge bench of Justices Siddhartha Varma and Ajit Kumar also took note of discrepancies in death figures submitted by the government in its affidavit to court, saying they don’t match with what the court-appointed judicial officers have submitted.

Night ‘horror’: Patients, doctors all had raised alarms on Goa oxygen crisis

Saligaon resident Ashley Delaney’s former teacher Avito was among the 26 Covid-19 patients who died Tuesday at Goa Medical College and Hospital (GMCH), the state’s largest Covid facility, of suspected oxygen shortage. Delaney, whose father-in-law is admitted in the same ward of GMCH, has been going to the hospital every day since April 21. He said he has been flagging the drop in oxygen levels at night to the administration for days.

“I used to keep pointing it out. At one point my father-in-law survived only because he got the cylinder of someone who didn’t make it,” said Delaney.

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