13 May,2021 06:08 AM IST | New Delhi | Agencies
Relatives mourn as they arrive for cremation of their loved one who died of COVID, in Delhi. Pic/AFP
India saw a record rise in Covid-19 deaths with 4,205 fresh fatalities, while 3,48,421 new infections were reported, according to the Union Health Ministry data updated on Wednesday.
The active cases have reduced to 37,04,099, comprising 15.87 per cent of the total infections, while the national Covid-19 recovery rate has improved to 83.04 per cent, the data updated at 8 am showed.
Seven more bodies were found floating in Ganga, taking the count of total corpses retrieved from the river in Uttar Pradesh's Ballia district to 52, an official said on Wednesday.
The district administration is immediately performing last rites of the deceased, as there is a possibility that they had contracted Covid-19. According to Ballia residents, at least 45 bodies were seen floating near the Ujiyar, Kulhadia and Bharauli ghats in the Narahi area on Tuesday evening. Late on Tuesday night, seven more bodies were found, an official said.
Bihar's water resources minister Sanjay Kumar tweeted on Wednesday that a "net has been placed" in the river on the state border with UP and patrolling increased, after 71 corpses were recovered in Buxar district. District administration had claimed that the bodies had floated downstream from UP. The discovery of corpses has stoked fears among locals.
Locals suggested to AFP that relatives immersed the bodies in the river because they could not afford wood for traditional Hindu cremations or because crematoriums were overwhelmed by the number of funerals.
Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia on Wednesday said Covaxin maker Bharat Biotech has refused to provide "additional" vaccine doses to the Delhi government. The Covaxin stock in Delhi is over and as a result around 100 vaccination centres set up in 17 schools have been closed, he said.
A man looks at a notice stating non-availability of vaccines at a centre in New Delhi on Wednesday. Pic/PTI
"The Covaxin manufacturer has in a letter said that it cannot provide the Delhi government vaccines due to unavailability, under instruction of government officials concerned. It means that the central government is controlling supply of the vaccine," Sisodia said.
Joint Secretary in the Union health ministry Lav Agarwal had on Tuesday denied Centre's role in the purchase of vaccines by the states.
Sisodia accused the Centre of vaccine mismanagement and reiterated that exporting 6.5 crore doses to foreign countries was the "biggest mistake". The BJP on Wednesday accused Congress and the AAP of spreading misinformation on India's vaccination programme and said over 84 per cent of the vaccine doses sent abroad were part of the commercial and licensing liabilities of the two Indian manufacturers.
BJP spokesperson Sambit Patra said 1.07 crore vaccine doses sent abroad were India's aid to different countries and noted that of those, 78.5 lakh were dispatched to seven neighbouring countries. Sending over 5.50 crore vaccine doses abroad were the compulsion of the two Indian manufacturers as it was part of their commercial and licensing liabilities, Patra said.
A day after AAP MLA Kultar Singh Sandhwan posted a photo of "ventilators lying unused" at Faridkot's Guru Gobind Singh Medical College and Hospital, Baba Farid University of Health Sciences, Vice-Chancellor Raj Bahadur on Wednesday said majority of them are faulty. Out of 82 ventilators received from the Centre under the PM-Cares Fund, 62 weren't working since the beginning, he said, adding that they're ânot of good quality'.
After several media reports referred to B.1.617 strain as âIndian variant', the World Health Organization on Wednesday clarified that it doesn't identify viruses or variants with names of countries they are first found in. It urged all to refer to the variants by their scientific names. The clarification came after the Centre said the WHO has not associated the term "Indian" with the B.1.617 variant in its weekly epidemiological update on the pandemic. "In fact, the word âIndian' has not been used in its report," it said.
2,33,40,938
Total no. of coronavirus cases in India so far
2,54,197
Total no. of deaths due to the virus in India so far
37,04,099
Total no. of active cases in India
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