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Coronavirus News Updates: Maharashtra reports 14,123 new cases, lowest since 10 March; caseload now at 57.6 lakh

Coronavirus News Updates: The state also reported 477 deaths, including previously unreported fatalities. Out of the 477 deaths, 340 occurred in the last 48 hours and 137 in the last week. The state's toll now stands at 96,198

FP Staff|Jun 02, 2021, 00:02:28 IST

Coronavirus Live News Updates: Maharashtra on Tuesday recorded 14,123 new COVID-19 cases, the lowest since March 10, and 477 fresh deaths and also added 377 previously unreported fatalities, the state health department said.The Jharkhand government on Tuesday extended the lockdown-like restrictions till June 10 with some relaxations, an official said. This is the fourth time that the restrictions, first imposed on April 22 for a week, were extended. The ongoing measures were scheduled to end on June 3CISCE's decision comes hours after the Centre, citing 'uncertain conditions due to COVID-19 and feedback obtained from various stakeholders', cancelled this year's CBSE Board examination for Class 12The National Commission of Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) told the Supreme Court on Tuesday that there are 9,346 children, who have been abandoned, orphaned or lost a parent to the COVID-19 pandemic as per the data submitted to it by different states till May 29.The government on Tuesday decided to cancel the CBSE Class XII board exams amid the continuing COVID-19 pandemic across the country with Prime Minister Narendra Modi asserting that the decision has been taken in the interest of students and the anxiety among the students, parents and teachers must be put to an endApparently unable to find suitable bidders for its global tenders to procure COVID-19 vaccines from leading manufacturers in the world, the Odisha government on Tuesday sought the Centre's statutory clearance for the purpose as demanded by the companies.The Centre on Tuesday said that mixing vaccines is not a protocol till further update and there is no change in the schedule of the two-dose Covishield and Covaxin vaccines.The Delhi High Court told the AAP government that the vaccination drive for the 18 to 44 year age group was mismanaged. "We are on our way out now, we saw how the second wave affected the youth more. Yet the vaccine policy didn't prioritize them. Your 80-year olds aren't going to carry this country forward. They've lived their lives," the court said.Indian Council of Medical Research Director-General Dr Balaram Bhargava says that there is no vaccine shortage in the country. He says that there will be enough vaccine doses to vaccinate 1 crore people by mid-July or August.Lav Agarwal, Joint Secretary, Union Health Ministry, on Tuesday said, “Active cases are down by 50%, there is a 1.3 lakh decrease in active cases in a day. In 30 states/UTs, cases have been consistently declining for one week. This is a positive trend.”Eli Lilly and Company India on Tuesday said it has received permission for emergency use of its antibody drugs combination used for treatment of mild to moderate COVID-19, in the country.The government on Tuesday imposed curbs on export of Amphotericin-B injections that are used for treatment of mucormycosis or black fungus infections.According to a notification issued by the Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT), export of the injections have been put in the restricted category. This means that an exporter would need permission or licence from the directorate for its outbound shipments."The export of Amphotericin-B injections... is restricted, with immediate effect," it said.London's busy Heathrow Airport opened a dedicated new terminal on Tuesday for arrivals from countries designated as "red list", such as India, for a higher risk of COVID-19 transmission. Travellers on direct flights from such destinations will now go through Terminal 3 and then move directly to a government-approved quarantine facility booked at the passengers' own expense.It comes after the London airport's staff had raised fears for their safety because of overcrowding, amid concerns that travellers arriving from red list countries from where travel is effectively banned except for British and Irish nationals or limited exceptions were mixing with those from green and amber."Red list routes will likely be a feature of UK travel for the foreseeable future as countries vaccinate their populations at different rates, a Heathrow Airport spokesperson said.The Supreme Court Tuesday stayed a Delhi High Court order holding as "unconstitutional the imposition of Integrated Goods and Services Tax (IGST) by the Centre on import of oxygen concentrators by individuals for personal use.A special bench of Justices DY Chandrachud and MR Shah issued notice on the plea and sought response from the petitioner, who filed a PIL before the high court. "We are staying the operation of the Delhi High Court order till further orders," the bench said.The top court was hearing an appeal field by Ministry of Finance (Department of Revenue) against the 21 May high court order. Attorney General KK Venugopal said the GST council will meet on 8 June and deliberate on granting exemption to essential items related to COVID-19, including oxygen concentrators.Upset over yoga guru Ramdev's remarks on allopathy, resident doctors at several Delhi hospitals launched a protest as part of a nationwide stir on Tuesday and sought an unconditional public apology or action under the Epidemic Diseases Act.Banded under the Federation of Resident Doctors Associations (FORDA), which had called for the protest on May 29 and stressed that healthcare services would not be hampered, the doctors wore black armbands, ribbons and held up placards."Our protest began on Tuesday morning against the remarks made by Ramdev, who is not qualified to even speak on the discipline of allopathy. It had affected the morale of doctors, who are fighting day in and day out in the (COVID-19) pandemic. We demand an unconditional public apology from him or action against him under the Epidemic Diseases Act," a senior FORDA official said.Education Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank has been admitted to AIIMS due to post-COVID complications. He had contracted the coronavirus in April, but resumed office after recovery.The Delhi High Court sought response of the city government and police on a plea seeking to restrain beggars and vagabonds from begging at traffic junctions and markets to prevent spread of COVID-19 as many of them do not wear masks or maintain social distancing.Maharashtra reported 500 fatalities, its lowest in 42 days, while Tamil Nadu and Karnataka recorded 478 and 411 deaths respectively.The COVID-19 recovery rate continues to increase, at 92.09 percent today, while the daily positivity rate dipped to 6.62 percent, and has been less than 10 percent for seven consecutive days.Bihar, Uttarakhand and Chhattisgarh on Monday extended COVID-induced lockdown or curfew though there will be some relaxation in curbs.Andhra Pradesh has decided to continue with curfew till 10 June, while the complete shutdown in Lakshadweep will remain till 7 June.Almost all states and Union Territories have extended the curbs which they first started imposing in mid-April as the second COVID wave hit the country."In view of the corona outbreak, a decision has been taken to extend the lockdown by a week, till June 08. However, some extra concessions will be made for business activities," Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar tweeted in Hindi.As per the revised guidelines, which would come into effect from 2 June, shops dealing in essential items like grocery, vegetables, dairy products, meat and fish, will be allowed to do business from 6 am to 2 pm.Similar relaxations have also been announced by other states. Shopping malls, cinema halls, gyms, stadiums, clubs and swimming pools will, however, remain closed.Restrictions also remain on the number of people who could attend weddings and funerals.The Chhattisgarh government said that the lockdown, which was scheduled to end on Monday, will continue with some relaxation in restrictions in those districts where the COVID-19 case positivity rate is less than five percent.The Rajasthan government also issued guidelines on Monday to start the "unlock" process by easing certain restrictions from 2 June.According to the guidelines for the modified lockdown, exemption for various activities will be given only in areas where the positivity rate is less than 10 percent or the use of oxygen, ICU and ventilator beds is less than 60 percent.Uttarakhand Chief Secretary Om Prakash said the COVID curfew has been extended in the state till 8 June. The period of the ongoing curfew in the state was scheduled to come to an end at 6 am on Tuesday morning.The Lakshadweep administration announced the extension of the complete shutdown for seven more days, beginning 31 May.The complete shutdown was first announced on May 24 for a week.The Andhra Pradesh government decided to extend the COVID curfew till June 10, with the same set of restrictions.The curfew, which was first clamped from May 5 as the coronavirus cases were on a steep upward spiral, was supposed to end on May 31.Meanwhile, the Uttar Pradesh government extended the relaxations announced in the coronavirus curfew to six more districts from June 1, allowing shops and markets outside the containment zones to open for five days a week.The relaxations will apply to a total of 61 districts from Tuesday, while 14 districts with an active COVID-19 caseload of over 600 have been kept outside the purview of the order for the time being.The 14 districts where there would be no relaxation in curbs are Meerut, Lucknow, Saharanpur, Varanasi, Ghaziabad, Gorakhpur, Muzaffarnagar, Bareilly, Gautam Buddh Nagar, Bulandshahr, Jhansi, Lakhimpur-Khiri, Jaunpur and Ghazipur, the spokesperson said.

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