Health

NEW DELHI, June 20 (NNN-UNI) – India’s federal health ministry said this morning that, 375 new deaths, due to COVID-19, besides fresh 14,516 positive cases, were reported during the past 24 hours across the country.

It took the number of deaths to 12,948 and total cases to 395,048.

This is the highest single day spike in terms of number of new COVID-19 cases in the country so far.

On Friday morning, the number of COVID-19 cases in the country was 380,532, and the death toll 12,573.

New Delhi, Jun 19 (PTI) Delhi Health Minister Satyendar Jain, who is in hospital for COVID-19 treatment, has been diagnosed with pneumonia and is being shifted to an ICU as his condition has deteriorated, a senior official said on Friday.

According to doctors treating him, the 55-year-old minister has now been kept full-time on oxygen support as his oxygen saturation level (Spo2) has dipped.

KANPUR: If Kanpur Municipal Corporation plans to boost its earnings by picking up junk out of the dry garbage, the IIT-K has aimed at producing N99 rated masks and N95 rated respiratory face masks on the campus. It has set up a target of delivering as many as 25000 pieces daily. What is considering is that the production unit remains completely automatic?

The production of the face masks will not only control the prices but also make the vital thing available quite easily to the public.

New Delhi, Jun 18 (PTI) The Delhi government has decided to cap the rate of COVID-19 RT-PCR test at Rs 2,400 with the city witnessing an alarming spurt in coronavirus cases.

In its meeting chaired by Lt Governor Anil Baijal, the Delhi Disaster Management Authority (DDMA) approved the recommendations of a high-level expert committee for fixing the COVID-19 testing rate at Rs 2,400 for all facilities including private and government.

Lucknow, Jun 18 (PTI) The Uttar Pradesh government on Thursday capped the rate of a coronavirus test by private laboratories at Rs 2,500.

"A maximum Rs 2,500 has been fixed as a charge for a single-step test for coronavirus by private labs," an official statement issued here said.

"For quality audit, private labs will have to provide samples, whenever demanded for referral labs of medical colleges," it said.

"Charging above Rs 2,500 will be considered a violation of the Epidemic Diseases Act, 1897," it added.

Chennai, Jun 19 (PTI) A 12-day lockdown without previous relaxations kicked in on Friday here and in a string of other localities in nearby three districts including Chengelpet with police deploying drones and intensifying patrols to check violations.

While arterial roads to neighbouhood streets were deserted, police placed barricades in key intersections and blocked free access to several main thoroughfares in the city and suburbs.

New Delhi, June 19 (PTI) India on Friday saw another record spike of 13,586 new COVID-19 cases in a single-day, pushing the tally to 3,80,532, while the death toll rose to 12,573 with 336 new fatalities, according to the Union Health Ministry data.

In some positive news, the number of recoveries crossed the two lakh mark and stands at 2,04,710, while there are 1,63,248 total COVID-19 active cases, according to the updated official figure at 8 am.

One patient had migrated.

ABUJA, June 19 (NNN-AGENCIES) — The World Health Organization (WHO) has certified Nigeria and Cameroon to be free of polio, a crippling disease that usually affects children under five.

Afghanistan and Pakistan are now the only countries with cases of the wild polio virus.

The UN health agency is expected to formally present Nigeria with a certificate and also declare Africa free of the wild polio virus.

Nigeria’s head of primary health care agency Dr Faisal Shuaib described the achievement as a “proud moment for us and indeed all Nigerians”.

BERLIN, June 19 (NNN-XINHUA) — German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Thursday presented a basic outline and goals of Germany’s presidency of the EU Council starting in July, setting tackling COVID-19 as the “leitmotif” for its term.

“Europe needs us as much as we need Europe,” said Merkel in a speech to the Bundestag, the lower house of the German parliament. “Europe is something that we can and must create. It is a dynamic order of peace and freedom.”

WASHINGTON, June 19 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Layoffs caused by the coronavirus pandemic in the United States have passed 45.7 million, raising fears that despite some positive signs, the economy faces a halting recovery from the downturn.

Another 1.5 million US workers filed new claims for unemployment benefits last week, the Labor Department said, a decrease of only 58,000 from the prior week and higher overall than analysts expected.