Coronavirus news highlights: Virat Kohli, Ishant, Pujara get first dose of Covid-19 vaccine

Congress MP Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury has written to Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla urging him to convene a special session of the Parliament over the Covid-19 crisis. ( ANI )

. Just In | West Bengal reports 19,445 fresh Covid cases, 18,675 recoveries, and 134 deaths in the last 24 hours

. India captain Virat Kohli, senior pacer Ishant Sharma and Test specialist Cheteshwar Pujara on Monday received their first doses of Covid-19 vaccine.

While Kohli, who now lives in Mumbai, posted a photo on instagram, Ishant and his wife Pratima, a former India hoopster, also uploaded their selfies in front of their vaccination centre. ( PTI )

. Madhya Pradesh reports 9,715 fresh Covid cases, 7,324 recoveries, and 81 deaths in the last 24 hours

. Thirteen hospitals in Solapur in Maharashtra have been dropped from the list of Covid-19 empanelled facilities as they do not have oxygen plants in their premises, an official said on Monday.

A Solapur Municipal Corporation said these 13 hospitals have less that 20 Covid-19 patients and they have been directed to treat them till discharge while not admitting new ones. ( PTI )

. Jharkhand to launch free vaccination for 18-44 age group on May 14: Chief Minister Hemant Soren

. West Bengal on Monday reported record 134 Covid-19 deaths, besides registering the highest single-day spike of 19,445 new cases, the state Health Department said.

The cases were detected after testing 62,186 samples in the last 24 hours, taking the positivity rate to 31.26 per cent. ( PTI )

. Puducherry CM N Rangasamy has been admitted at MGM Healthcare hospital, Chennai with symptoms of Covid-19. He is being monitored by an expert team of clinicians and is maintaining normal oxygen saturation and continues to be stable: MGM Healthcare

. Karnataka has reported39,305 new positive cases, 32,188 recoveries and 596 deaths in the last 24 hours.

. Kerala CM Pinarayi Vijayan has written to PM Modi requesting allocation ofthe entire 219 MT oxygen produced in Kerala to the state after May 10.

. Dozens of bodies believed to be Covid-19 victims have washed up on the banks of the Ganges river in northern India, officials said Monday.

The pandemic has been spreading fast into India's vast rural hinterland, overwhelming local health facilities as well as crematoriums and cemeteries.

Local official Ashok Kumar said that about 40 corpses washed up in Buxar district near the border between Bihar and Uttar Pradesh, two of India's poorest states.

"We have directed concerned officials to dispose of all bodies, to either bury or cremate them," Kumar told AFP.

Some media reports said the number of corpses could be as high as 100.

. Japanese opposition lawmakers slammed Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga on Monday for what they called his "Olympics first" attitude in prioritising the event even as Covid cases continue to rise on the country.

Suga pushed back at the criticism during a question and answer session in the Japanese parliament, saying his role is to do his utmost to ensure the health and safety of all during the July 23rd-August 8th games. ( AP )

. "We are increasing oxygen beds.We must prepare for the third wave. In this wave, Delhi recorded maximum 28,000 cases in a day. The scale at which we are creating infrastructure, we will be able to deal even if 30,000 daily cases are reported in the next wave,"Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal has said.

"We are left with vaccine stock vaccines for 3-4 days. We request Centre to give us more vaccines," he added. ( ANI )

. "Today BJP alleged that Delhi govt ordered only 5.50 lakh doses of vaccine. The Centre decided in April that the 2 companies can sell vaccines to states directly, states were also told the same. We ordered 1.34 crore doses for Delhi for people above 18 yrs,"Dy CM Manish Sisodia said.

. JUST IN | Delhi reports 12,651 new Covid-19 cases, 319 deaths and 13,306 recoveries in the last 24 hours

. "The second wave of Covid-19 is not a sort of great calamity and is andirect consequence of the Modi government's insensitivity andincompetence. It is a direct result of the govt's wilful disregard of scientific advice, its premature declaration of victory over pandemic," KC Venugopal ofCongress has said.

"Congress Working Committee is deeply concerned about Modi government's vaccination strategy. Vaccine supplies are grossly insufficient yet the government denies the hard facts. The pricing policy is opaque anddiscriminatory, and contrary to economic andall other logics," he said. ( ANI )

. Lieutenant Governor of Puducherry Tamilisai Soundararajan has wished Chief Minister N Rangasamy a speedy recovery from Covid-19. Rangasamy had tested positive for the infection and got admitted to a private hospital in Chennai on Sunday. On Monday, Soundararajan spoke to the Chief Minister over phone and enquired about his health and the treatment he was getting, a press release from the Lieutenant Governor's office said

. "Vaccines should be free for everyone, including children. We currently don't have vaccines for children but the preparations to vaccinate them must begin now," Nobel laureate Kailash Satyarthi told NDTV .

. The first 'Oxygen Express' to Karnataka with six cryogenic containers -- a total of 120 tonnes -- left Jamshedpur on Monday. The train is expected to reach Inland Container Depot, Container Corporation of India, Whitefield, here, on Tuesday, an official press release said. ( PTI )

. The vaccination strategy for Covid-19 has been formulated by the Centre in a "just, equitable, non-discriminatory" manner and any "overzealous" judicial intervention may result in unforeseen consequences, the government has told the Supreme Court.

. Nepal is so short of oxygen canisters that it has asked climbers on Mount Everest to bring back their empties instead of abandoning them on mountain slopes, an official said on Monday, as it struggles with a second wave of the coronavirus.

The country issued climbing permits to more than 700 climbers for 16 Himalayan peaks - 408 to Mount Everest - for the April-May climbing season in a bid to get the mountaineering industry and tourism back up and running.

. Maharashtra, Karnataka and Delhi are among 10 states that account for 73.91 per cent of the 3,66,161 new Covid-19 cases registered in a day, the Union Health Ministry said on Monday.

. Bharat Biotech has commenced direct supply of its Covid-19 vaccine 'Covaxin' to 14 states, including Delhi and Maharashtra, with effect from May 1, according to the company's Joint Managing Director Suchitra Ella.

. Around 20 people in France have been currently detected with the variant of Covid-19 first found in India, French Health Minister Olivier Veran told LCI TV on Monday.

The World Health Organisation has described the Indian Covid variant as a "variant of interest", suggesting it may have mutations that would make the virus more transmissible, cause more severe disease or evade vaccine immunity.

. Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa has appealed to the people to abide by the strict lockdown- like restrictions in Karnataka from Monday for the next fortnight to contain the spread of coronavirus, which is spreading in the state at an alarming proportion.

"As we begin the 14-day strict restriction to break the chain of infection, I request all citizens to follow the guidelines in letter and spirit. Your cooperation is crucial to contain the spread of the virus. Together we can defeat the pandemic," the Chief Minister tweeted.

. The Bengaluru Police's 'violent method' of enforcing Covid-19 restrictions in various parts of Bengaluru has met with sharp criticism from various quarters of the society. Activists, celebrities and common citizens have come out in the open expressing dissent against police atrocity on those defying the Covid-19 rules.

. The Vasai-Virar township is emerging as one of the worst Covid-19-hit areas within the Mumbai metropolitan region (MMR).

. Bengaluru police commissioner Kamal Pant on Sunday urged people to strictly abide by the guidelines and warned of strigent action against violators. "I urge my fellow Bengalureans to follow the lockdown guidelines from Monday more strictly. We can only be successful in our fight against #COVID19 if we work together, Stay Home, Stay Safe!" Pant tweeted.

. India's daily coronavirus infections were up by 3,66,161 on Monday while 3,754 more people died of the fatal disease.

According to data from the Ministry of Health and Welfare, there are 37,45,237 active cases of Covid-19.

. Getting people vaccinated is the only long-term solution to the current Covid-19 crisis in India, America's top public health expert Dr Anthony Fauci said on Sunday as he called for scaling up manufacturing of coronavirus vaccines both domestically and globally to fight the deadly pandemic.

. China reported 11 new Covid-19 cases on May 9, down from 12 cases a day earlier, the national health authority said on Monday.

The National Health Commission, in a statement, said all of the new cases were imported infections originating from overseas. The number of new asymptomatic cases, which China does not classify as confirmed cases, rose to 18 from 10 cases a day earlier.

. Uttar Pradesh Medical EducationMinisterSuresh Khanna on Sunday said that people who test positive for Covid-19 are spreading fear of the disease and that is also causing many deaths.

. Getting people vaccinated is the only long-term solution to the current Covid-19 crisis in India, America's top public health expert Dr Anthony Fauci said on Sunday as he called for scaling up manufacturing of coronavirus vaccines both domestically and globally to fight the deadly pandemic.

. Minister of State for Finance Anurag Singh Thakur on Sunday said the government has provided 17.56 crore Covid-19 vaccine doses so far to states and union territories for inoculation of people of all age groups and 46 lakh doses will be supplied to them in the next three days.

Coronavirus news highlights: Virat Kohli, Ishant, Pujara get first dose of Covid-19 vaccine

Kohli, Ishant, Pujara get first dose of Covid-19 vaccine

Follow us on :

Follow Us