Coronavirus news highlights: Karnataka records 39,998 new Covid-19 cases, 517 deaths

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. The Vijay Rupani government in Gujarat on Wednesday declared employees of crematoriums in the state as "corona warriors" and extended benefits including Rs 25 lakh assistance to the families of them in case of death due to Covid-19.

. Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai has issued a global bid today to acquire 1 crore Covid-19 vaccines to vaccinate citizens in Mumbai at the earliest on a massive scale in its decisive fight against Covid virus, saysMunicipal Commissioner IS Chahal (ANI)

. PM Modi chairs high level meeting to review availability and supply of oxygen and medicines.

. Uttarakhand will import 20 lakh doses of Sputnik V over next two months, says official.

. Karnataka records 39,998 new Covid-19 cases, 34,752 recoveries and 517 deaths in the last 24 hours.

. Due to insufficient supply, Maharashtra govt decides to temporarily suspend vaccination drive for 18-44 age group & divert available stock for above-45 age group, says Health Minister Rajesh Tope

. No Covaxin jab for 18-44 group from May 13 in Delhi; nine days of Covishield stock is left for this category, says AAP MLA Atishi.

. The catastrophic scale of the Covid-19 pandemic could have been prevented, an independent global panel concluded Wednesday, but a "toxic cocktail" of dithering and poor coordination meant the warning signs went unheeded.

. Himachal Pradesh has allowed private hospitals/ labs to conduct RT-PCR tests at Rs 500 for samples collected at these hospitals and their designated collection centres; Rs 750 for samples collected through home visits.

. State-owned power major NTPC on Wednesday said it has inoculated more than 70,000 of employees, workers and their family members across its operations.

The massive Covid-19 vaccination drive continues across plant locations, which also includes the company's associates and their dependents along with retired NTPC employees, it said in a statement.

. The Nepal government has extended suspension on operation of international flights till May 31 as coronavirus cases continue to rise at an alarming rate in the Himalayan nation.

The suspension period of international schedule flights has been extended till May 31, the Civil Aviation Authority said in a notification on Tuesday.

However, two weekly flights on the Kathmandu-Delhi sector -- one of Nepal Airlines and the other of Air India -- will remain operational under an air bubble arrangement between Nepal and India, it said.

. The head of the main Indian health agency responding to the coronavirus has said districts reporting a high number of infections should remain locked down for another six to eight weeks to control the spread of the rampaging disease.

. The government of India on Wednesday strongly opposed the use of the term 'Indian Variant' and said that this classification was not made by the World Health Organization, which, on Tuesday, had said that the variant was of 'global concern'.

. Puducherry posted 2,007 fresh cases of coronavirus on Wednesday, pushing the total positives to 77,031. Twenty-seven more people succumbed to the disease during last twenty-four hours raising the toll to 1025. The deceased were in the age groups ranging between 47 and 85 years.

. South Korea's struggle to boost coronavirus vaccine supplies is threatening to overshadow President Moon Jae-in's first summit with US President Joe Biden, with pressure mounting on Moon to secure more and faster deliveries of US-made shots.

Moon had hoped to use the Washington meeting next week as a chance to highlight South Korea's relatively successful response to the pandemic, a key legacy in his final year in office.

But uncertainties in the country's vaccine rollout amid global shortages and shipment delays are deepening public scepticism over Seoul's goal of reaching herd immunity by November.

. Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister Laxman Savadi's nephew Vinod Parappa Savadi succumbed to Covid-19 during treatment at a private hospital here on Wednesday. He was 36 years old.

Vinod was the son of Savadi's elder brother Parappa Savadi, chairman Krishna Sugars, Athani. After being infected with Covid-19, Vinod had been admitted in a private hospital in Belagavi for treatment. He succumbed during treatment.

Vinod was known for his social and philanthropic activities.

. An article exalting Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s handling of the Covid-19 pandemic made a sudden appearance on the Twitter timelines of BJP leaders. “PM Modi has been working hard; don’t get trapped in the opposition barbs,” read its headline in all capitals.

. India's coronavirus death toll surpassed 250,000 on Wednesday, official data showed, as the pandemic raged across the vast country of 1.3 billion people.

According to the health ministry, 4,205 people died in the past 24 hours -- a new record -- taking total fatalities to 254,197.

. India on Wednesday saw its highest rise in single-day Covid-19 deaths while new infections increased compared to the previous day but have remained off record highs for three days now.

. 30,75,83,991 samples tested up to May 11, 2021, for Covid-19.

. The World Health Organization said Wednesday that a variant of Covid-19 behind the acceleration of India's explosive outbreak has been found in dozens of countries all over the world.

. Mainland China reported 16 new Covid-19 cases on May 11, up from 14 cases a day earlier, the country's national health authority said on Wednesday.

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, fell to 11 from 25 cases a day earlier.

. “This is the biggest crisis India's ever seen. So, what I urge them to do is two things: One is make sure you support your family and friends in India. But this is the one time that everybody should do more,” Indiaspora founder M R Rangaswami, an entrepreneur and philanthropist who lost his sister in Chennai due to Covid-19, told PTI .

. Locals at Chausa in Bihar’s Buxar district were left horrified on Monday after they saw numerous bodies floating in the mighty Ganga.

Most of these bodies were suspected to be floating for the last 24 hours, and, as locals admit, could be of those who died due to coronavirus. The locals were scared that these bodies floating near their village could infect hundreds of villagers.

. Hospitals and public health centres in Bengaluru are turning away peoplewithconfirmed prior appointments for Covid vaccination. They cite the usual reason of vaccineshortages.

. Bengaluru’s new Covid cases came down to 15,879 on Tuesday, the third successive day of decline, but question marks persist around a trend of lower testing.

. America's top infectious disease expert Dr Anthony Fauci on Tuesday said that India is in such "dire straits" because it made the "incorrect assumption" that they were finished with the Covid-19 and opened up prematurely.

. Dr Reddy's Laboratories on Tuesday said it has inked a licensing pact with Eli Lilly and Company to produce Baricitinib in the country for treatment of Covid-19.

Coronavirus news highlights: Karnataka records 39,998 new Covid-19 cases, 517 deaths

Gujarat: Crematorium workers declared 'corona warrior'

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