Covid-19 Wrap-up: India records 4,329 deaths, the highest single-day toll

The most vulnerable among us are often the most neglected.

Overcrowded prisons in Jammu and Kashmir are turning into Covid-19 epicentres with 92 inmates testing positive in two prisons of the Union Territory.

The Karnataka government decided to rehabilitate children up to the age of 18 years orphaned by the second Covid-19 wave and set up special pediatric Covid care centres in 30 districts of the state.

The Indian Medical Association said that 270 doctors across the country had succumbed to the Covid-19 infection in the second wave of the pandemic.

Five police constables in Uttar Pradesh were suspended after a body recovered from the Ganga in Maldepur village was cremated in their presence using a tyre and petrol.

To contain the spread of Covid-19 cases in rural areas of Uttar Pradesh's Mathura, an 'Oxygen on Wheels' programme was flagged off in the district for prompt supply of the life-saving gas. New York-based social activist Prem Bhandari is spearheading and lending support to efforts to ship oxygen concentrators and other essential medical supplies to cities and towns across the country. Karnataka, meanwhile, is looking at reviving defunct oxygen plants. Places like Kodagu require 4,000 litres of oxygen per day.

India's Covid-19 death toll crossed 2.78 lakh with a record 4,329 lost to the disease in one day. Meanwhile, the single-day rise in Covid-19 cases stood at 2.63 lakh, the lowest in 28 days, according to Union Health Ministry data updated as of Tuesday morning. The country also recorded more than 4 lakh Covid-19 recoveries in a single day for the first time.

In the backdrop of the government facing flak from Opposition-ruled states on vaccine availability, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said that attempts were being made to provide a 15-day advance schedule of the vaccination programme to states to give them enough time to prepare, assuring that all efforts were being made to ramp up the Covid-19 vaccine supply.

Serum Institute of India CEO Adar Poonawalla said that the institute had never exported Covid-19 vaccines at the cost of the people in India and reiterated his commitment to the nation's vaccination drive.

As the pace of vaccinations slows down, there is growing concern that a third wave will hit India between October and December this year. Eminent virologist Dr V Ravi said that there was strong evidence to suggest that the hardest hit would be children. This could result in egregious scenes unless the country can scale up its paediatric healthcare infrastructure.

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal announced that an ex-gratia of Rs 50,000 would be paid to families who have lost a member due to Covid-19.

The Centre dropped the use of plasma therapy from its Covid-19 treatment protocol providing some relief to patients' families who often have to run from pillar to post in search of plasma.

The nation's economy will do well once vaccination reaches a critical mass as pent-up demand, global recovery and easy financial conditions will boost activities, according to RBI's Monetary Policy Committee member Ashima Goyal.

A Spanish study on mixing Covid-19 vaccines found that giving a dose of Pfizer's drug to people who already received a first shot of the AstraZeneca vaccine was highly safe and effective, the researchers said.

A unit of Japan's Fujifilm Holdings Corp said that it could develop detection kits for new Covid-19 variants in about a month, responding to concerns over the spread of more infectious strains of the virus.

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