Coronavirus Omicron LIVE Updates | Seven-hour relaxation in 64-hr weekend lockdown announced in J-K
The Jammu and Kashmir administration on Sunday announced a seven-hour relaxation in the restriction on non-essential movement amid concerns raised by traders over the 64-hour long weekend Covid lockdown hampering their businesses. A fortnight ago, the administration had imposed complete a restriction on non-essential movement from Fridays 2 pm to Mondays 6 am to rein in the surge in COVID-19 cases. Traders of Jammu and Srinagar had sought a review of the weekend restrictions, stating they have already suffered huge economic losses owing to the outbreak of the pandemic. The new lockdown restrictions on non-essential movement would be from every Friday 9 pm to Monday 6 am, said the State Executive Committee (SEC) which met under the chairmanship of Chief Secretary A K Mehta to review the overall Covid situation. This will come into effect from next weekend, the SEC said. Jammu and Kashmir on Sunday recorded 4,615 fresh coronavirus cases that took its infection tally to 4,32,875, while seven more fatalities pushed the death toll to 4,659.
Coronavirus Omicron LIVE Updates | 787 fresh Covid cases, 9 deaths in Himachal Pradesh
Himachal Pradesh’s COVID-19 tally increased to 2,70,078 on Sunday as 787 more people tested positive for the viral disease, while the death toll climbed to 3,978 with nine fresh fatalities, a health official said. Of the latest deaths, four were reported from Shimla, two from Kangra and one each from Chamba, Solan and Kullu. Seven men and two women in the 40-80 age group were among those who died, the official said. The number of active COVID-19 cases in Himachal Pradesh stands at 9,452, he said. As many as 779 more patients have recovered from the disease. With this, the total number of recoveries in the state stands at 2,56,630, he said.
Coronavirus Omicron LIVE Updates | Mumbai sees 1,160 new COVID-19 cases, 10 deaths
Mumbai on Sunday reported 1,160 new coronavirus positive cases, taking its overall tally to 10,45,630, while the death of 10 such patients increased the toll to 16,612, the civic body said. A total of 2,530 patients were discharged during the day post-recovery. So far, 10,15,451 patients have recuperated from the infection in the city, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation’s health department said in a statement. There are 10,797 active COVID-19 cases in the city. With 46,307 tests carried out on Sunday, the overall test count reached 1,52,43,823. Of the 1,160 new cases, 1,009 patients are asymptomatic, while 160 are hospitalised. Of them, 29 are on oxygen support. Out of the 37,573 beds, 2,268 are occupied. Mumbai’s recovery rate is 97 per cent and the case doubling rate is 375 days. Mumbai civic commissioner I S Chahal said the city’s positivity rate has come down to 2.5 per cent.
Coronavirus Omicron LIVE Updates | Kerala records 51,570 new COVID-19 cases
COVID-19 cases in Kerala continued to rise with the southern state reporting 51,570 new infections on Sunday taking the total number of affected people to 59,83,515. The state has reported 14 coronavirus-related deaths in the last 24 hours taking the death toll to 53,666, the state health department said. The state has tested 1,03,366 samples in the last 24 hours, a release issued by the health department said. On Saturday, Kerala had reported 50,812 cases. On January 25, Kerala had registered 55,475 cases, the highest ever single-day spike in the infection count since the outbreak of the pandemic in 2020.
Coronavirus Omicron LIVE Updates | Newborn, infant among 19 Covid deaths in Odisha
Odisha recorded the highest daily coronavirus deaths in five months as 19 people, including two babies, succumbed to the infection on Sunday when it logged the lowest number of new cases in 20 days, the state health department said. A three-day-old boy in Bhadrak district and a 1-year-old girl in Ganjam died from the pathogen. Four out of the new fatalities were in Bhubaneswar, a bulletin by the health department said. The toll in the state due to the pandemic has now mounted to 8594, it said. Odisha logged 4,843 new COVID-19 cases in the past 24 hours, the lowest in 20 days and the positivity rate was 7.7 per cent, the bulletin stated.
Coronavirus Omicron LIVE Updates | Andhra Pradesh adds over 10,000 new Covid-19 cases and 12 deaths
Andhra Pradesh registered 10,310 fresh cases of Covid-19 on Sunday. In 24 hours ending 9 AM on Sunday, 9,692 infected people had recovered while 12 more succumbed in the state, according to the latest bulletin. The state Covid-19 chart now showed a total of 22,70,491 positives, 21,39,854 recoveries and 14,606 deaths till date. The active caseload is now 1,16,031, the bulletin said. Only four districts reported new coronavirus cases in excess of 1,000 each, with the highest being 1,697 in Kadapa. Eight districts registered fresh cases in three digits each while the remaining one added 99, the lowest in the state.
Coronavirus Omicron LIVE Updates | Lata Mangeshkar has recovered from COVID and pneumonia: Maharashtra Minister Rajesh Tope
Coronavirus Omicron LIVE Updates | No major impact of fresh COVID-19 wave on housing sales, say property consultants
Housing sales are expected to remain strong during this current quarter and there will not be any major impact on demand from the fresh wave of the COVID-19 pandemic, according to industry experts. Many states imposed restrictions like weekend curfew to curb the spread of the Omicron variant of coronavirus, affecting visits of prospecting customers to project sites. However, real estate developers and consultants said there was a minor impact in the first two weeks and sales enquiries are strong. “The impact of Omicron on housing sales is not expected to be significant as compared to the last two waves,” Anarock Chairman Anuj Puri told PTI. Anarock is one of the leading housing brokerage firms in the country. “Unlike the last two waves, we have not had a complete lockdown and mobility has not been severely impacted. The sentiments have remained broadly positive as the fatality rate has been very low and so has the hospitalisation rate,” he observed. “Unlike the last two waves, we have not had a complete lockdown and mobility has not been severely impacted.
Coronavirus Omicron LIVE Updates | Tamil Nadu minister tests COVID-19 positive
Tamil Nadu Housing and Urban Development Minister S Muthusamy on Sunday tested positive for COVID-19 and has gone into quarantine at his camp office in Periyar Nagar here. Muthusamy, the DMK MLA representing Erode West assembly constituency, regularly took part in all programmes conducted by the government apart from collecting grievance petitions to send to the district collector. On Sunday, he developed slight fever and underwent a test. Doctors declared that he tested COVID-19 positive and advised him to isolate at his residence.
Coronavirus Omicron LIVE Updates | 2 yrs on, vaccines, following protocols remain most effective weapons against COVID-19
As India completed two years since the outbreak of COVID-19, vaccines and following COVID Appropriate Behaviour remain the most effective weapons against the deadly virus. Though a number of drugs and other methods have been tried, no definitive treatment has emerged as yet. The country saw its first case of COVID-19 on January 30, 2020, when a third-year medical student from Wuhan University tested positive. She had returned home following semester holidays. Since then, India has witnessed three waves of COVID-19, though the line of treatment has remained the same throughout. Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya on Saturday said irrespective of the COVID-19 variants, ‘Test-Track-Treat-Vaccinate and Adherence to COVID Appropriate Behaviour’ continue to remain the tested strategy for COVID-19 management. Several medical treatments were also tried to tackle COVID-19 but no widely accepted treatment has been seen till now. Recently, at a press briefing, NITI Aayog Member (Health) Dr V K Paul expressed concern over the “overuse and misuse” of drugs. “The use of steroids can increase the chances of Mucormycosis (black fungus). Steroids are very potent life-saving drugs but they also have side effects and they disturb the immunological protection. They disturb many biochemical pathways. So, it was a very big lesson…we were learning at that time but now we know it,” he had said. “For fever, paracetamol is given, and for cough, AYUSH syrup can be used. This is what we have prescribed in the home care module too. If the cough continues for more than three days, there is an inhaler called Budesonide. These are the only three things that need to be done. Other than that, gargle and take rest. Do not overdo, it has a cost,” he had warned. The country tried treatments such as plasma therapy, Remdesivir, DRDO’s anti-Covid drug 2-deoxy-D-glucose (2-DG) and most recently Molnupiravir, but there has been no definitive medicine to cure COVID-19 patients.
Coronavirus Omicron LIVE Updates | Lockdown-like restrictions have been in place in Kerala today (Sunday, January 30) to curb the spread of COVID-19 as the state logged in over 50,000 new infections and eight COVID-related deaths on Saturday. Kerala logged 50,812 new infections and eight COVID-19-related deaths yesterday, taking the infection count to 59,31,945 and the death toll to 53,191. (PTI)
Coronavirus Omicron LIVE Updates | Second Ukrainian biathlon coach tests positive for COVID in Beijing
Another Ukrainian biathlon coach, Igor Yashchenko, has tested positive for COVID-19 after arriving in Beijing for the Winter Olympics, the Ukrainian biathlon federation has said late. On anuary 28, the chief men’s biathlon coach, Yuraj Sanitra, went into self-isolation after a positive coronavirus test. The Ukrainian Olympic team, including 45 athletes, travelled to Beijing on January 23. (Reuters)
