English हिन्दी
Connect with us

India News

Covid-19: With 1,45,384 fresh infections, India logs highest daily spike since outbreak of pandemic

The Union Health Ministry on Saturday said that as many as 1,45,384 people tested positive for Covid-19 in the span of 24 hours, the highest-ever single day surge, taking the cumulative tally to 1,32,05,926. With 794 deaths, the total fatalities have reached 1,68,436, the government said.

Published

on

Covid-19 cases

The Union Health Ministry on Saturday said that as many as 1,45,384 people tested positive for Covid-19 in the span of 24 hours, the highest-ever single day surge, taking the cumulative tally to 1,32,05,926. With 794 deaths, the total fatalities have reached 1,68,436, the government said.

Since the outbreak of the pandemic, it is the biggest jump that India has witnessed in the last 24 hours. This is the fifth consecutive day that the country has recorded more than 1 lakh cases in a single day. The Covid graph is continuing to see a steep rise with over 6.16 lakh infections reported in the last five days.

The daily fatalities have also been recording high jump as the second wave of coronavirus rages across the country. Also, with 77,567 more people recuperated from the disease, the total number of recoveries now stands at 1,19,90,859, while the number of active cases has reached 10,46,631.

However, Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan has said that no new cases have been reported in 149 districts in a week, while eight districts have not registered any new infection in a fortnight. 

How do different states fare?

Over 83 percent of the fresh cases have been recorded from ten worst-hit states including  Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh, Delhi, Chhattisgarh, Karnataka, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Gujarat, and Rajasthan. These states have shown a steep hike in daily Covid-19 cases. 

Among those, Maharashtra is reporting the highest number of cases across the country. On Friday, the state recorded nearly 59,000 new cases and 301 related deaths, taking the total cases to 32,88,540. The state has contributed to maximum overall morbidity and mortality in the country, every fourth Covid-19 infected person is from Maharashtra.

Other most affected states by total cases are Kerala with 1,154 594, Karnataka with 1,033,560, Tamil Nadu with  911,110, and Andhra Pradesh with 913,274 cases.

What are the measures taken so far?

The surge in Covid-19 cases has triggered fresh curbs in the number of states across the country.  Maharashtra, the worst hit, is headed towards a lockdown if the Covid cases continue to rise in the state said Maharashtra Health Minister Rajesh Tope. The weekend lockdown has already begun to contain the ongoing surge in the Covid-19 cases in the state.

Several other states have initiated precautionary measures like night curfews, travel restrictions, banning social gatherings, ramping up of vaccinations to minimise the spread of the coronavirus. So far, night curfews have been imposed in parts of Gujarat, Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Delhi, West Bengal, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, and Maharashtra, among several others.

Amid the Covid surge, the Delhi government has announced closing of all schools and colleges till further notice. Meanwhile,  the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) is facing criticism for going ahead with the board exams despite the spike. 

How is the vaccination drive going?

In the ongoing Covid-19 vaccine drive, more than 9.43 crore vaccine doses have been administered in the country till Friday morning, the health minister said during a virtual 24th meeting of the High-level Group of Ministers. 

Several states, however, are grappling with vaccine shortage vaccines, with several running vaccination centres below capacity and demanding that the Centre give them stocks to last at least seven days.

Pointing out the vaccine shortage, Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot has sought an immediate supply of 30 lakh Covid-19 vaccines to the State. He said the inoculation drive will have to be halted due to insufficient stock. The Centre’s claim of no shortage of Covid-19 vaccines in the country is wrong and demanded that a status report on the availability of doses be made public. 

Maharashtra Health Minister Rajesh Tope said the State would require at least 40 lakh doses per week. The state had only around 12 lakh doses left as of Thursday afternoon, he said.

For the past three days, Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik, Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy and Cabinet ministers have been sending SOS to the Centre to replenish vaccines as the states were running out of stocks. 

In a letter to the Prime Minister,  Congress leader Rahul Gandhi had asked for an immediate moratorium on exports as he claimed that the country is facing vaccine starvation. He asked the government to open up vaccination to everyone who needs it and increase the capacity of allocation to ₹35,000 crores for the vaccination program. 

However, the Centre has maintained that there is no shortage of shots in India. All the claims of states are baseless and the Centre is supplying vaccines to all states equitably irrespective of the ruling party, said Harsh Vardhan. 

The central government is working very hard in controlling the pandemic and pacing the nationwide Covid-19 vaccination program and states should support it instead of playing politics. Whichever states are reporting to us about shortage we are supplying the adequate vaccines without delay, he added.

Read Also: West Bengal Election: PM Modi, CM Banerjee appeal to eligible voters to step out in large numbers and vote

India began its vaccination drive on January 16 with health workers and frontline workers getting inoculated in the first phase of the rollout. The second phase of the vaccination commenced on March 1 for those who are above 60 years of age and for people aged 45 and above with specified comorbid conditions. The vaccination drive extended to include everybody aged 45 from April 1.

2024 Lok Sabha Elections

Lok Sabha elections 2024: 102-year-old man walks to polling booth to cast his vote in Jammu

The lowest voter turnout so far was noted in Ramgarh at 1.53%.

Published

on

A 102-year-old man showed up at a Jammu polling place to cast his vote in the second phase of the Lok Sabha elections on Friday. Haji Karam Din arrived at the Reasi district polling place in the Jammu constituency with a walking stick in hand and a family member who assisted him with the pre-voting process.

Haji Karam Din, who is 102-year-old, showed his inked finger and posed for pictures outside the polling booth after casting his vote. He said voting at this polling place at this age makes him very happy. He has always cast his vote. Even at the age of 102, this experience is still ongoing, he said.

Reasi district is a part of the Jammu parliamentary constituency, and 22 candidates are up for vote with around 17.81 lakh eligible voters.

BJP’s sitting member Jugal Kishore Sharma is aiming for a third term in office following wins in the elections of 2014 and 2019. Former minister and Congress candidate Raman Bhalla is his main opponent.

Voting in the Jammu-Reasi Lok Sabha constituency began with eager voters showing up at the polling places. Some of them were wearing traditional Dogra attire.

In 2,416 polling places around the constituency, voting got underway at 7 a.m., and 10.39% of the total votes were cast by 9 a.m. In the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, Jammu recorded a 74% voter turnout.

Following the repeal of Article 370 and the division of the former state into two Union Territories five years ago, this is Jammu’s first significant election.

The Akhnoor segment received the highest percentage of votes, 14.24%, followed by Reasi (14.13%), Gulabgarh (13.53%), Shri Mata Vaishnodevi (12.71%), Marh (12.31%), Samba (8.56%), R S Pura Jammu South (8.17%), and Suchetgarh (5.67%), according to the officials. Ramgarh recorded the lowest voter participation of 1.53% so far.

Low attendance was observed in the border areas of the districts of Jammu and Samba till nine in the morning, according to poll data.

The officials said that big lines of voters were observed at several polling places throughout Jammu city. Voters were observed heading towards polling places early in the morning.

Continue Reading

India News

Salman Khan house firing case: NIA interrogates arrested shooters Sagar Pal, Vicky Gupta for three hours

Published

on

The investigation into the shocking firing incident that took place outside Salman Khan’s house on April 14 keeps bringing new updates with every passing day. In this case, Sagar Pal and Vicky Gupta, the two suspected shooters, have already been taken into custody.

The two shooters have reportedly been questioned by the National Investigation Agency (NIA), according to a new development. Every day that goes by, more information is revealed about the inquiry into the shocking firing incident that happened outside Salman Khan’s house on April 14. Sagar Pal and Vicky Gupta, the two accused shooters, are being held in custody after their first arrests.

It was recently discovered that the two shooters were questioned by the National Investigation Agency (NIA).

NIA has reportedly begun questioning Sagar Pal and Vicky Gupta, who were detained a few days ago for firing openly outside Salman Khan’s Galaxy Apartments in Mumbai, according to a recent update posted on their X (Twitter) account. NIA has interrogated shooters Vicky Gupta and Sagar Pal, arrested in the firing case, the tweet said.

According to the reports, two Punjabi residents were taken into custody by the Mumbai Crime Branch yesterday on suspicion of being involved in the recent shooting incident outside the house of Bollywood actor Salman Khan.

The two men, Sonu Subhash Chander and Anuj Thapan, provided guns to Sagar Pal and Vicky Gupta, the shooters, according to information released by the Mumbai Crime Branch. It was also reported that they had communication with the Bishnoi gang. For those who don’t know, hours after the incident, Anmol Bishnoi, the brother of gangster Lawrence Bishnoi, allegedly took credit for the firing in a Facebook post.

The shooters’ custody has been extended by Mumbai’s Esplanade Court until April 29.

Meanwhile, on the workfront Salman Khan was last seen in Tiger 3 alongside Katrina Kaif.

Continue Reading

2024 Lok Sabha Elections

PM Modi calls for high voter turnout in second phase of Lok Sabha elections 2024, says your vote is your voice

Prime Minister Narendra Modi urges citizens to participate in record numbers during the second phase of polling for the Lok Sabha Elections 2024.

Published

on

Prime Minister Narendra Modi took to social media as the second phase of voting for the Lok Sabha Elections of 2024 got underway across the country to encourage voters to cast votes in huge numbers. PM Modi emphasized in his speech the value of voting in preserving democracy and notably urged women and young people to cast votes.

Taking to social media X, formerly Twitter, PM Modi wrote, urging everyone in constituencies to participate in record numbers in today’s second phase of the Lok Sabha elections. He said our democracy is strengthened by high voter turnout. He especially urged female and youth voters to cast votes in large numbers. Your vote is your voice, he added.

It is important to remember that 88 Lok Sabha constituencies—spread among 13 states and Union Territories—are presently holding polls. Twenty seats in Kerala, fourteen in Karnataka, thirteen in Rajasthan, eight in Uttar Pradesh and Maharashtra, six in Madhya Pradesh, five in Assam and Bihar, three in Chhattisgarh and West Bengal, and one in each of Tripura, Jammu & Kashmir, and Manipur are currently up for election. Notably, the untimely death of a Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) candidate has resulted in the Madhya Pradesh constituency of Betul being spared from voting on April 26.

Meanwhile, Chief Election Commissioner Rajiv Kumar emphasized the thorough planning that has taken place over the previous two years and reassured the public of careful security measures at every voting place. They have been preparing for the last two years, he said. At each booth, the arrangements are ready. Everything has been prepared for the voters, including fans and drinking water. Voters must turn out to cast their votes. Safety has been considered. There is zero information available anywhere regarding violence. However, there will be forces at every booth.

Continue Reading

Trending

-->

© Copyright 2022 APNLIVE.com