Heena Sharma Blog

  The Maharashtra government has once again slashed the price of the RT-PCR test at Mumbai airport. In the beginning, the price was Rs 4,500. Then it was cut down to Rs 3,900. And now it is slashed to Rs 1,975, said a press release. Today the notification regarding the same will be issued and airport authorities will be informed. Before this, Mumbai airport had the highest RT-PCR rates and this was burning a hole in the wallets of the passengers. Especially those passengers who were from the same group or family. Meanwhile, Maharashtra reported 684 new Covid-19 cases, 686 recoveries, and 24 deaths in the last 24 hours, said the state health bulletin on Tuesday. 8 more patients were found infected with Omicron in the state on Tuesday. Out of these 7 are from Mumbai and one patient is from Vasai Virar. Read More

  Zydus Cadila's COVID-19 vaccine ZyCoV-D will initially be used in seven states, including Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal, which have been recommended to identify the districts with a high number of of beneficiaries who have not received a single dose of a Covid vaccine for its introduction Union Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan, who reviewed the status and progress of the "Har Ghar Dastak" campaign with the health secretaries and National Health Mission (NHM) directors of the states and Union territories through a video-conference on Thursday, advised the seven states to identify the districts with a high number of first dose left out for the introduction of ZyCoV-D, a statement issued by the health ministry said. The seven states are Bihar, Jharkhand, Maharashtra, Punjab, Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal. ZyCov-D, which is the first COVID-19 vaccine to be cleared by India's drug regulator for those aged 12 years and above, w

  India's Covid tally rose to 3,44,47,536 with 10,229 more people testing positive for coronavirus , while the active cases have declined to 1,34,096, the lowest in 523 days, according to the Union Health Ministry's data updated on Monday. The death toll reached 4,63,655 after 125 new fatalities were reported, the data updated at 8 am showed. The daily rise in new coronavirus infections has been below 20,000 for 38 straight days and less than 50,000 daily new cases have been reported for 141 consecutive days now. The active cases have declined to 1,34, 096 comprising 0.39 per cent of the total infections, the lowest since March 2020, while the national COVID-19 recovery rate was recorded at 98.26 per cent, the highest since March 2020, the Health Ministry said. A decrease of 1,822 cases has been recorded in the active COVID-19 caseload in a span of 24 hours. The daily positivity rate was recorded at 1.12 per cent. It has been less than 2 per cent for the last 42 days.

  India added 10,423 new coronavirus cases , the lowest in 259 days, while the active cases declined to 1,53,776, the lowest in 250 days, according to the Union Health Ministry data updated on Tuesday. With the fresh cases, India's COVID-19 tally climbed to 3,42,96,237. The death toll climbed to 4,58,880 with 443 fresh fatalities, according to the data updated at 8 am. The daily rise in new coronavirus infections has been below 20,000 for 25 straight days and less than 50,000 daily new cases have been reported for 128 consecutive days now. The active cases comprise 0.45 per cent of the total infections, the lowest since March 2020, while the national COVID-19 recovery rate was recorded at 98.21 per cent, the highest since March 2020, the ministry said. A decline of 5,041 cases has been recorded in the active COVID-19 caseload in a span of 24 hours. The daily positivity rate was recorded at 1.03 per cent. It has been less than two per cent for last 29 days. The weekly po

  With 14,348 people testing positive for coronavirus in a day, India's total tally of COVID-19 cases rose to 3,42,46,157, while the active cases were recorded at 1,61,334, according to the Union Health Ministry data updated on Friday. The death toll climbed to 4,57,191 with 805 fresh fatalities, according to the data updated at 8 am. The daily rise in new coronavirus infections has been below 30,000 for 35 straight days and less than 50,000 daily new cases have been reported for 124 consecutive days now. The active cases comprise 0.47 per cent of the total infections, the lowest since March 2020, while the national COVID-19 recovery rate was recorded at 98.19 per cent, the ministry said. An increase of 345 cases has been recorded in the active COVID-19 caseload in a span of 24 hours. India's COVID-19 tally had crossed the 20-lakh mark on August 7, 2020, 30 lakh on August 23, 40 lakh on September 5 and 50 lakh on September 16. It went past 60 lakh on September 28, 70

  India logged 14,306 new COVID-19 cases , taking the virus tally to 3,41,89,774, while the active cases declined to 1,67,695, according to the Union Health Ministry data updated on Monday. The death toll climbed to 4,54,712 with 443 daily fatalities, according to the data updated at 8 am. The daily rise in new coronavirus infections has been below 30,000 for 31 straight days and less than 50,000 daily new cases have been reported for 120 consecutive days now. The active cases comprise 0.49 per cent of the total infections, the lowest since March 2020, while the national COVID-19 recovery rate was recorded at 98.18 per cent, the highest since March 2020, the ministry said. A decrease of 4,899 cases has been recorded in the total active number of COVID-19 cases in a span of 24 hours. Read More

  India logged 14,623 new coronavirus infections , taking the total tally of COVID-19 cases to 3,41,08,996, while the active cases declined to 1,78,098, the lowest in 229 days, according to the Union Health Ministry data updated on Wednesday. The death toll climbed to 4,52,651 with 197 fresh fatalities, according to the data updated at 8 am. The daily rise in new coronavirus infections has been below 30,000 for 26 straight days and less than 50,000 daily new cases have been reported for 115 consecutive days now. The active cases comprise 0.52 per cent of the total infections, the lowest since March 2020, while the national COVID-19 recovery rate was recorded at 98.15 per cent, the highest since March 2020, the ministry said. A decrease of 5,020 cases has been recorded in the active COVID-19 caseload in a span of 24 hours. India's COVID-19 tally had crossed the 20-lakh mark on August 7, 2020, 30 lakh on August 23, 40 lakh on September 5 and 50 lakh on September 16. It wen

  India logged 13,058 new coronavirus infections , the lowest in 231 days, taking the total tally of COVID-19 cases to 3,40,94,373, according to the Union Health Ministry data updated on Tuesday. The death toll climbed to 4,52,454 with 164 fresh fatalities, while the active cases have declined to 1,83,118, the lowest in 227 days, according to the data updated at 8 am. The daily rise in new coronavirus infections has been below 30,000 for 25 straight days and less than 50,000 daily new cases have been reported for 114 consecutive days now. The active cases comprise 0.54 per cent of the total infections, the lowest since March 2020, while the national COVID-19 recovery rate was recorded at 98.14 per cent, the highest since March 2020, the ministry said. A decrease of 6,576 cases has been recorded in the active COVID-19 caseload in a span of 24 hours. India's COVID-19 tally had crossed the 20-lakh mark on August 7, 2020, 30 lakh on August 23, 40 lakh on September 5 and 50 l

  India added 18,833 new coronavirus infections taking the country's tally of COVID-19 cases to 3,38,71,881, while the active cases declined to 2,46,687, the lowest in 203 days, according to the Union Health Ministry data updated on Wednesday. The death toll climbed to 4,49,538 with 278 fresh fatalities, according to the data updated at 8 am. The daily rise in new coronavirus infections remained below 30,000 for the 12th straight day. The active cases comprise 0.73 per cent of the total infections, the lowest since March 2020, while the national COVID-19 recovery rate was recorded at 97.94 per cent, the highest since March 2020, the ministry said. A decrease of 6,215 cases has been recorded in the active COVID-19 caseload in a span of 24 hours. India's COVID-19 tally had crossed the 20-lakh mark on August 7, 2020, 30 lakh on August 23, 40 lakh on September 5 and 50 lakh on September 16. It went past 60 lakh on September 28, 70 lakh on October 11, crossed 80 lakh on O

  India recorded 18,346 fresh COVID-19 infections in the last 24 hours, the lowest in over 6 months, the Union Health Ministry informed on Tuesday. With this, the active caseload of the country stands at 2,52,902; accounting for less than 1 per cent of the total cases. As per the ministry, the recovery rate of India is at its highest since March 2020 and currently stands at 97.93 per cent. As many as 29,639 recoveries were reported in the last 24 hours, taking the total recoveries to 3,31,50,886. A total number of 57,53,94,042 tests have been conducted so far. Read More

  The World Health Organisation has said that it is closely monitoring a new coronavirus "variant of interest" named Mu, warning that the new variant shows signs of possible resistance to vaccines. Mu - also known by its scientific name as B.1.621 - was first identified in Colombia in January 2021, and since then, there have been "sporadic reports" of cases and some larger outbreaks in South America and Europe, the UN health agency said in its weekly bulletin on the pandemic on Tuesday. The cases of the Mu variant have also been reported in the UK, Europe, the US and Hong Kong. The new 'variant of interest' is being closely monitored, the UN health agency said. Although the global prevalence of the Mu variant among sequenced COVID-19 cases is currently below 0.1%, its prevalence in Colombia (39%) and Ecuador (13%) has consistently increased, it said. The new variant was added to the WHO's watchlist on August 30 after it was detected in 39 cou

  India's drug regulator has given approval for a study to be conducted by the Christian Medical College (CMC), Vellore on mixing of COVID-19 vaccines Covaxin and Covishield , official sources said on Wednesday. An expert panel of the Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation (CDSCO) on July 29 had recommended granting permission for conducting the study. The trial will involve 300 healthy volunteers. "The aim of the study is to assess the feasibility on whether a person can be given two different vaccine shots -- one each of Covishield and Covaxin -- to complete the inoculation course," a source said. Separately, a recent study by the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) involving 98 people, 18 of whom had inadvertently received Covishield as the first dose and Covaxin as the second in Uttar Pradesh, showed that combining these two COVID-19 vaccines elicited better immunogenicity than two doses of the same vaccine. Read More    

  Digital assistant Amazon Alexa can now help users in India with COVID-19 -related information, including details of nearest testing centres and vaccination points as well as answer queries about inoculation. In 2020, Alexa was able to share information about COVID-19 related symptoms and cases in India, a statement said. Amazon Alexa is now updated with the latest COVID-19 related features for users in India. "Now, Alexa will be able to provide information about testing and vaccination centres, as well as information on vaccination availability, COVID-19 helpline numbers, details to contribute towards COVID-19 relief, and much more. The information is sourced from CoWIN portal, the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare website as well as MapmyIndia," the statement said. Amazon has teamed up with MapmyIndia to help users find the nearest COVID-19 testing centre along with the travel distance. Read More

  India logged 43,509 new coronavirus infections taking the total tally of COVID-19 cases to 3,15,28,114, while the active cases registered an increase for the second consecutive day, according to the Union Health Ministry data updated on Thursday. The death toll climbed to 4,22,662 with 640 fresh fatalities. The active cases have increased to 4,03,840 and comprise 1.28 per cent of the total infections, while the national COVID-19 recovery rate was recorded at 97.38 per cent, the data updated at 8 am showed. An increase of 4,404 cases has been recorded in the active COVID-19 caseload in a span of 24 hours. The weekly positivity rate was recorded at 2.38 per cent, according to the ministry. The number of people who have recuperated from the disease surged to 3,07,01,612, while the case fatality rate stands at 1.34 per cent, the data stated. Cumulative vaccine doses administered so far has reached 45.07 crore under the nationwide vaccination drive. Read More

  With a single-day ris e of 35,342 cases, India's COVID-19 tally climbed to 3,12,93,062 on Friday, while 483 more fatalities pushed the death toll due to the viral disease to 4,19,470, according to the Union Health Ministry. The number of active cases has declined to 4,05,513, accounting for 1.3 per cent of the total caseload and the national COVID-19 recovery rate was recorded at 97.36 per cent, the ministry's data updated at 8 am showed. A decline of 3,881 cases was recorded in the active COVID-19 caseload in a span of 24 hours. Also, 16,68,561 tests to detect the infection were carried out on Thursday, taking the total number of such tests conducted so far in the country to 45,29,39,545, while the daily positivity rate was recorded at 2.12 per cent. It has been less than three per cent for 32 consecutive days, the ministry said. The weekly positivity rate was recorded at 2.14 per cent. Read More

  The prevalence of the highly-transmissible Delta variant of COVID-19 among specimens sequenced over the past four weeks exceeded 75 per cent in many countries worldwide, including India, China, Russia, Israel and the UK, the WHO has said. In the COVID-19 Weekly Epidemiological Update published July 20, the World Health Organization said that despite efforts to extend vaccination coverage, many countries across all six WHO regions continue to experience surges in coronavirus cases. Over the past week, the highest numbers of new cases were reported from Indonesia (350,273 new cases; a 44 per cent increase), the UK (296,447 new cases; 41 per cent increase), Brazil (287,610 new cases; 14 per cent decrease), India (268,843 new cases; 8 per cent decrease) and the US (216,433 new cases; 68 per cent increase). The update noted that as of July 20, a total of over 2.4 million SARS-CoV-2 sequences have been submitted to GISAID, the global science initiative and primary source that provi

  India recorded a single day rise of 3,998 coronavirus fatalities with Maharashtra carrying out its 14th Covid data reconciliation exercise, pushing the country's death toll to 4,18,480 while 42,015 new infections were reported, according to the Union Health Ministry data updated on Wednesday. India's total tally of COVID-19 cases has climbed to 3,12,16,337. The ministry said that Maharashtra has carried out its 14th reconciliation exercise of Covid data in the state. As a result, the state's positive case tally has increased by 2,479 while the death tally has increased by 3,509. The active cases have increased to 4,07,170 and comprise 1.30 per cent of the total infections, while the national COVID-19 recovery rate was recorded at 97.36 per cent,the data updated at 8 am showed. An increase of 1,040 cases has been recorded in the active COVID-19 caseload in a span of 24 hours. As many as 18,52,140 tests were conducted on Tuesday taking the total cumulative test

  The overall global Covid-19 caseload has topped 190.8 million, while the deaths have surged to more than 4.09 million and vaccinations soared to over 3.64 billion, according to the Johns Hopkins University. In its latest update on Tuesday morning, the University's Center for Systems Science and Engineering (CSSE) revealed that the current global caseload, death toll and the total number of vaccine doses administered stood at 190,853,085, 4,095,437 and 3,646,500,394, respectively. The US continues to be the worst-hit country with the world's highest number of cases and deaths at 34,129,516 and 609,233, respectively, according to the CSSE. In terms of infections, India follows in the second place with 31,144,229 cases. The other worst countries with over 3 million cases are Brazil (19,391,845), France (5,931,923), Russia (5,908,691), Turkey (5,537,386), the UK (5,494,850), Argentina (4,769,142), Colombia (4,655,921), Italy (4,289,528), Spain (4,155,987), Germany (3,753

  India recorded 30,093 new coronavirus infections , the lowest in 125 days, taking the total tally of COVID-19 cases to 3,11,74,322, according to the Union Health Ministry data updated on Tuesday. The death toll climbed to 4,14,482 with 374 daily fatalities, the lowest in 111 days, while the active cases have declined to 4,06,130, the lowest in 117 days. The active caseload comprises 1.30 per cent of the total infections and the national COVID-19 recovery rate stands at 97.37 per cent, the data updated at 8 am showed. A decrease of 15,535 cases has been recorded in the active COVID-19 caseload in a span of 24 hours. As many as 17,92,336 tests were conducted on Monday taking the total cumulative tests conducted so far for detection of COVID-19 in the country to 44,73,41,133. The daily positivity rate was recorded at 1.68 per cent. It has been less than three per cent for 29 consecutive days, the ministry said, adding the weekly positivity rate has declined to 2.06 per cent.

  More than 2.60 crore balance and unutilised COVID-19 vaccine doses are still available with states and union territories and private hospitals to be administered, the Union health ministry said on Monday. Over 42,15,43,730 vaccine doses have been provided to states and UTs so far, through all sources. Of this, the total consumption, including wastage, is 39,55,31,378 doses (according to data available at 8 am on Monday). More than 2,60,12,352 balance and unutilised COVID-19 vaccine doses are still available with states and UTs and private hospitals to be administered, the ministry said. The Union government is committed to accelerating the pace and expanding the scope of COVID-19 vaccination throughout the country. The new phase of universalisation of COVID-19 vaccination commenced from June 21. Read More