Delhi to get 44 oxygen plants within a month announces CM Kejriwal 2
Amid the rising demand for medical oxygen due to an increase in the number of COVID-19 cases, the Delhi Government on Tuesday announced that it will set up 44 oxygen plants in the national capital within one month.
Addressing a digital press conference Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said, “We’re going to set up 44 oxygen plants in Delhi within the next one month – 8 of these are being installed by Centre. The remaining 36 are being installed by Delhi government, 21 plants coming from France and 15 plants from within the country itself.”
He said that the Delhi government is importing 21 ready-to-use oxygen plants from France and 18 oxygen tankers from Bangkok. “We are importing 21 ready-to-use oxygen plants from France. They can be brought to use immediately. These will be installed at different hospitals and this will help us in resolving the oxygen crisis in those hospitals,” said Kejriwal.
“The Delhi government has decided to import 18 oxygen tankers from Bangkok, they’ll start arriving from tomorrow. We’ve requested the Centre to allow the use of Air Force planes for this. Talks are on, I’m very hopeful that talks will be successful. This will resolve the issue of transport,” said the Delhi Chief Minister.
“I had written to many industrialists of the country in last four to five days. I had also written to chief ministers and sought help. We are receiving tremendous support; we have received offers from many people. Many of them are helping. I thank everyone who is helping Delhi Govt,” he added.
ऑक्सीजन की कमी दूर करने के लिए दिल्ली सरकार बैंकॉक से 18 ऑक्सीजन टैंकर और फ़्रांस से 21 ऑक्सीजन प्लांट मंगवा रही है | Press Conference | LIVE https://t.co/pGEqBNmDME
Kejriwal had earlier on Tuesday visited the Ramlila Ground to inspect the construction work of an additional COVID Care Centre. He was accompanied by Health Minister Satyendar Jain. “Almost all ICU beds in Delhi are occupied right now. 500 ICU beds each are coming up at the ground near GTB hospital and the main Ramlila Ground, 200 ICU beds at Radha Soami complex. So, around 1200 proper ICU beds will be ready by 10th May,” Kejriwal had said while speaking to reporters after he visited the Ramlila ground.
Visited GTB hospital. We are constructing 500 ICU beds. Should be ready by 5 May. Work going on 24 hrs at war footing. I salute all those who are making it happen. pic.twitter.com/fcKZ7oyHTz
Delhi is among the ten states that reported 71.68 per cent of the new cases in the country, said the Union Health Ministry on Tuesday. Delhi reported 20,201 new COVID-19 cases in the last 24 hours. As many as 380 deaths were reported in the last 24 hours in the national capital, according to the ministry.
Chitra Wagh should start reform by cleaning her own carpet 4
A firebrand politician who recently stood against the atrocities by seeking justice for women, she is not only popular on social media but has her strong existence. Now a BJP leader Chitra Wagh has been making allegations against Forest Minister Sanjay Rathore in the Pooja Chavan suicide case continuously, she cherry-picked only opposition leaders, for political motives ignoring her own party leaders who came under attack.
Messiah of justice got bare when her husband got arrested by ACB, she was hell-bent on proving him right but did not dare to speak for the victim from whom he demanded 4 lakhs. An open inquiry was conducted by the ACB into the assets of Kishor Wagh during his service period from December 1, 2006, to July 5, 2016. Those days BJP was ruling Maharashtra with the alliance of Shiv Sena.
The investigation found embezzlement of more than Rs 1 crore in the custody of Kishor Wagh. His wealth was found to be 90 per cent more than his total income. Chitra who randomly attacked all those leaders of opposition with her kind of social media trials, became submissive all of sudden. She could not handle the pressure.
Well, that was one long story, but the so-called political leader who always stood against injustice this time persisted with her husband by pleading him right. She took press conferences, she met NCP supremo Sharad Pawar, and she was running polls for her husband. In the pressure of this event, Chitra Wagh resigned from the post of Mahila Morcha as state president in the NCP party in January 2021 and joined BJP.
As we all know, BJP is best at safeguards bivouacked politicians once they join their party. Remember the dialogues of veteran BJP politician Nitin Gadkari stating that the “criminals change for good in BJP, and the party always faces criticism for admitting criminals into the party. If criminals enter the party, we lessen their faults and increase their merits… In our party, criminals change for good, in the same way in which Valya, a robber, turned into Valmiki.” Keeping this in mind, Prasad Lad, who was an NCP MLA a few years ago and now a BJP MLA, has played a mediating role in the entire matter.
Unfortunately, Chitra Wagh when she was in opposition never attacked BJP leaders who are accused of rape and molestation. As per the ADR report, 48, 45 MLAs and three MPs have cases of crimes against women. Among various recognized parties, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has the highest number of MPs, MLAs (12) with cases of crime against women followed by Shiv Sena (7) and All India Trinamool Congress (6).
There are many famous examples like Kuldeep Singh Sengar who is no longer associated with the BJP, but his wife is an active member of the party who was supposed to get a ticket to contest elections. Kuldeep Sengar was an elected BJP MLA when he was accused of sexual abuse.
Self-proclaimed religious leader and BJP leader Swami Chinmayanand is accused by a post-graduate student of sexual abuse. The accuser claimed that the BJP leader exploited her physically for over a year. The accuser had released a video in which she accused Chinmayanand of raping and threatening her and her family.
In March 2017, Bhojpal Singh and two of his aides were booked for gang-raping a Dalit woman after promising to get her a BPL card in Madhya Pradesh’s Morena. Former Delhi BJP MLA Vijay Jolly booked for sexual abuse after a woman accused her of drugging and raping her in February 2017.
BJP Corporator Kashimira Anil Bhosale was booked for raping and forcing unnatural sex on a 44-year-old woman in January 2017. BJP leader Venkatesh Maurya was accused of rape by a woman in October 2016. The woman also alleged that Maurya had introduced himself to her as a BJP leader and a member of the National Executive Council of BJP’s SC Morcha in 2010. Another BJP leader Hamid Sardar along with five others were arrested in a case of trafficking and sexual assault of a minor in August 2014.
Nihal Chand, then the Rajasthan MP and a minister in Modi’s cabinet, Chand was accused of sexually assaulting a 20-year-old in June 2014. Pramod Gupta, Former BJP leader and Cooperative Bank Chairman, Gupta was convicted in a rape case of a 5-year-old child. He was sentenced to life imprisonment. The BJP has the highest number of MPs and MLAs facing cases of crime against women, but Madam Chitra Wagh had no problem with those cases because those criminals belong to BJP. When she was in Opposition, I mean in the NCP the same Chitra was silent against all the crime against women, have you ever seen her ranting so much?
You don’t need any guess to understand why she is vocal on selective politicians; anyways the hypocrisy of so-called women’s right leaders is exposed time and again. I don’t advocate any criminal, but I expect politicians should have the guts to call sped a sped irrespective of any politician.
Chitra Wagh, who claims to be a voice of women, should know Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has the greatest number of MPs/MLAs with cases of crimes against women. About 30% of them face very serious charges, like those related to rape and other crimes against women, murder, kidnapping. The BJP has 116 MPs or 39% of its winning candidates with criminal cases. She should start reform by cleaning her own carpet.
Maharashtra’s newspaper industry has suffered irrecoverable losses during the lockdown, which is spinning under the impact of circulation and advertising both tumbling swiftly during the lockdown. Mythoi and mistrust about coronavirus spreading through newspapers have only added to the problem.
Print media shut their print editions and the printing press went out of order. There are many small to big newspapers asking their staff to leave. The Times of India has reduced staff with at least three employees of Times Life, its Sunday supplement, including two editors and a designer, having been verbally asked to leave. Times Life, initially a four-page supplement has been reduced to one page.
Afternoon Despatch and Courier closed its print edition and somehow resumed online publication but financial crunch has forced it to close the online edition too by asking all its staff to quit. The Indian Express and The Business Standard and many other regional publications have announced pay cuts up to 50 per cent in internal emails.
The Hindustan Times has made changes to the salary component of its employees by diverting a percentage of fixed pay to the variable component, which is linked to the company’s performance. Among the regional troupes, the Pune-based Sakal Media Group last month asked 15 employees from the editorial team of its Sakal Times to leave.
Hamara Mahanagar, a Hindi newspaper published from Mumbai, has shut down three editions — from Mumbai, Pune and Nashik. Similarly, Free Press Journal shut its Sunday special edition, reduced their print and also staff, the paper is running with freelancers.
English daily Star of Mysore, a 43-year-old evening publisher published from Mysore, has stopped publishing since 13 April. The newspaper industry had suffered from loss of circulation in Mumbai, but, by and large, across the rest of the country. The Covid-19 crisis has been so sudden and severe that it forced the Indian Newspaper industry to shrink.
After eight months of long lockdown, Mumbai gave way to a steady re-opening, many people resumed to work with minimum wages but again lockdown was announced to break the chain and they hit the spine of the business.
But there is no hope in industry people. The Indian economy came to a virtual halt on 25 March when the government announced its decision to implement a nationwide lockdown to stop the spread of Covid-19 and again when it continued in April 2021. Although the lockdown has impacted businesses across the board, the print media, cinema and live entertainment industry are hit especially hard.
Afternoon Voice spoke to some Mumbai-based printing press factories to know how they are dealing with the lockdown crises, here is what they had to say.
Abhishek Brid, owner of Rajesh Printouch in Mumbai said, “Printing press is a labour-intensive business and due to COVID-19 lockdown the industry has come to standstill. Our industry hasn’t overcome the previous lockdown and yet again the state government has announced new restrictions to curb. According to the government SOP, only essential workers can travel by public transport, but what about us? How our labour will travel? The lockdown crises have been so sudden and severe that it forced printing press media to shrink.”
“Earlier we used to get several orders from the Pharma companies and doctors to print their pamphlet and cards but due to labour shortage (As they cannot travel) the business has shut, and now everything is available online starting from visiting card to the pamphlet. So, the condition is quite deplorable and frustrating, I am not even able to pay to my workers as there’s no income”, added Brid.
“In the printing press, most of the people are belong to a middle-class family and everyone cannot afford to own a vehicle. In my factory, most of the labourers are reside in Virar, Dombivali and Vashi areas. It’s quite tough for them to travel from roadways. I am not saying that the government should allow it fully but at least they can give permission to 25 per cent of the staff. Around 60-70 per cent of the industry are suffering loss due to lockdown and restriction. The government should think once and provide some relief measures to us, said Shridhar Kurtadkar, owner of Shri Printers & Sudhir Book Binder in Byculla.
Owner of Jamali printers press, Zulfikar Kutbuddin Bhopalwala told Afternoon Voice, “The printing industry has been suffering huge losses in a backdrop of COVID 19 lockdown and after seeing the current scenario there is no hope in industry people. Due to lock down the 70% of offices are shut and people are working from home which has affected the business to a great extent. Secondly, the digital media has taken all the market and due to this the print media is either on the decline or showing stunted gains.”
Mahesh Naik owner of Mauli Printing, “Earlier the govt has said that if you have taken the permission from Maharashtra industrial development corporation (MIDC) to run the factory then you don’t have to ask them again. But now the govt is not allowing our workers to travel by the public transport. One day the govt allows and the very next they’ll not restrict them to travel on the train. The government itself is not cleared with its SOPs. The government should come with up some solution or relief measure for the printing industry.”
The Indian newspaper industry is in loss of Rs 4,000-5,000 crore in just March and April due to the lockdown. The media and entertainment sector’s annual revenue is likely to decline by 16% in the financial year 2020-2021. Diminishing advertising revenues and circulation of print copies have led major media houses to shut or scale down operations that were non-profitable further restructuring the organization. A major impact of this was seen on print publications.
The Economic Times Hindi and Sandhya Times have stopped publishing their Delhi editions while Maharashtra Times in Marathi has shut down its three editions — Kolhapur, Jalgaon and Ahmednagar.
The TV Today Network announced ceased operations and transmission of Delhi Aaj Tak from 30 June 2020 onwards. The group may also close down all its niche print products, including Harper’s Bazaar, Cosmopolitan magazines, and the Mail Today newspaper.
Mint Lounge has disengaged a couple of regular columnists, and senior journalists Priya Ramani and Natasha Badhwar have been asked to leave. Dainik Bhaskar has temporarily closed its 4-page pullouts and merged the Gurugram and Faridabad news in its Delhi edition. Amar Ujala’s Gurgaon and Faridabad editions have also been merged.
The Telegraph in English shut down its Jamshedpur, Ranchi, and Guwahati editions from 1 June 2020. The ABP (Anandabazar Patrika) Group, which also owns The Telegraph and Fortune India, sent an internal email announcing vacating its rented offices in Delhi, Bengaluru, Noida, Chennai, and Hyderabad. The ABP Group shut down its Infocomm department and is most likely to close the iconic Bengali magazines — Sananda and Desh.
ABP also shut all offices other than Kolkata as a large number of employees have been sacked, and the rest are working from home. Network18 has announced the shutdown of its lifestyle channel FYI TV18 from 8 July, while Firstpost has shut its business desk. Forbes India suspended print operations beginning its issue dated 27 March. Bloomberg-Quint announced shutting down its television division. The move leads to 100 people losing their jobs.
Municipal workers sanitize at platform at Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus in the view of rising number of COVID-19 cases, in Mumbai. | Image Courtesy: PTI Photo
With lockdown, vaccination drive and stringent rules, Maharashtra government is able to control COVID-19 cases. The cases are reducing day by day in the state. Maharashtra reported 67,160 cases of COVID-19 disease and 676 deaths in the last 24 hours, according to the state health bulletin on Saturday. With this, the total active cases in the state reached 6,94,480. As many as 63,928 people have died due to the virus in the state so far.
Maharashtra, which continues to be the worst-hit state by the pandemic, now has 42,28,836 infections in total and 34,68,610 patients have recovered from the disease so far.
The Central government has approved the supply of 4,35,000 vials of Remdesivir to Maharashtra till April 30th. Meanwhile, the vaccination drive is going smoothly in the state. Above all Serum Institute of India (SII) has assured Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray of ‘maximum support’ in vaccinating the people in the state at the earliest, chief minister’s office (CMO) said on Saturday.
Maharashtra is the worst-hit state in the country with 6,94,480 active cases of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) is now seeing a dip in the cases.
To curb this surge, the Centre has asked states to ramp up their vaccination drive and Prime Minister Narendra Modi has on several occasions reiterated the need to spread awareness among the masses and ensure people get both their doses of the vaccine. May 1 onwards, everyone above the age of 18 will be considered eligible for getting a vaccination.
Still from a Netflix documentary ‘Searching for Sheela’ featuring Ma Anand Sheela | Image Courtesy: Netflix
Today there are hundreds of documentaries and news reports and interviews of Sheela Ambalal Patel, who later become Ma Anand Sheela. She was the youngest of six children of the Gujarati couple Ambalal and Maniben Patel. At the age of 18, she moved to the United States and pursued her education there.
Her father was a staunch follower of a self-styled Godman, Acharya Rajnish.
That’s how she was introduced to Osho. In 2018, the documentary Wild Wild Country was released, which includes interviews with Sheela, she says her father insisted she stay in Rajnish Aashram. that how later on she became the spokeswoman of the Rajneesh movement.
Sheela married Marc Harris Silverman, an American and She moved to India in 1972 to pursue spiritual studies with her husband. They became disciples of the Indian guru Rajneesh and Sheela took the name Ma Anand Sheela. After her husband died, Sheela married a fellow Rajneesh follower, John Shelfer.
As the secretary of Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh from 1981 through 1985, she managed the Rajneeshpuram ashram in Wasco County, Oregon, United States.
In 1986, she pleaded guilty to attempted murder and assault for her role in the 1984 Rajneeshee bioterror attack. Not everyone at Rajneeshpuram was comfortable with Sheela’s attitude and the way she handled public relations.
And many people were not happy with her administration at the Ranch. In fact, quite a few people left. But Osho himself is probably to blame, at least partly. He left Sheela with total power for too long. He encouraged her to be provocative with the media. He enjoyed being provocative himself.
During the first winter of the sannyasins arriving at the Ranch, some of the residents living in the little town of Antelope, 20 miles from the Ranch complained that the sannyasins who had moved into the town were holding parties and complained that the sannyasins’ lovemaking was too loud for them.
Anti-Rajneeshpuram meetings were held in nearby towns, and the atmosphere became tense. Sheela, and some of the other coordinators used to tell people that every instruction she gave came from him which was later found out to be untrue. She was like the dictator, of the commune and if they tried to disobey or argue with her, they would likely get into trouble or be punished.
She also had another group of women working underneath her, who shared her living space, who had been given the top positions of power in the commune. These were known as the ‘moms’. However, Osho did not encourage or order Sheela to carry out the many crimes that she and her gang carried out or planned to carry out to ‘protect’ the commune.
In my opinion, after watching Wild Wild Country Documentary and listening to her interviews and conference clips, it is quite clear that she proved to be a misfortune for Osho in the United States.
After breaking his silence Osho expressed a very compassionate outlook about the local Oregonians and did not intend to take over the Antelope that she tried to do. I believe that if Osho had gone in public silence, the local Oregonians would probably have reconciled well with the commune.
The local battles between Sheela along with her gang and the people living over there sadly created a huge mania about Osho across the United States and in reaction to which he was eliminated and deported in the end.
1986, she pleaded guilty to attempted murder and assault for her role in the 1984 Rajneeshee bioterror attack. She was sentenced to 20 years in
Federal prison and paroled after 39 months. Sheela later moved to Switzerland and purchased two nursing homes.
Sheela told aka Swami Krishna Deva during a trip to India which they took in 1985, that she had injected her first husband Marc Harris Silverman with an injection that caused his death. After prison, Sheela married Urs Birnstiel, a Swiss citizen, who died of AIDS shortly after their marriage.
In 1981, Rajneesh appointed her as his personal assistant. In the same year, she convinced Rajneesh to leave India and establish an ashram in the United States. In July 1981, Rajneesh Foundation International purchased the 64,000-acre (260 km2) Big Muddy Ranch in Wasco County, Oregon, which became the site for the development of the Rajneeshpuram commune. Overnight the commune became popular, Hollywood stars to big businessmen all became part of it. By 1984, the ashram was coming into increasing conflict with local residents and the county commission.
With all criminal activities, jealousy and revenge Sheela started losing her grip on Osha. She was extradited to the US in February on charges of immigration fraud and attempted murder. Sheela pleaded guilty to setting fire to a county office and wire-tapping at the commune. For these crimes, Sheela was sentenced to three 20-year terms in federal prison, to be served concurrently. Also, she was fined USD 470,000.
The lady who enjoyed the peaks of power lost it all due to jealousy, hate anger and the scheme, today once again in demand by filmmakers.
In the past eight days, the Aam Aadmi Party Mumbai team has helped 2000+ patients who have had a COVID emergency. It may not seem like a very large number in the sea of this Pandemic, but in a resource-starved city, we are proud and relieved of every single life we could help save.
When, in the first two weeks of April, AAP Mumbai leaders, like Preeti Sharma Menon and Ruben Mascarenhas, were overwhelmed with the calls for help; AAP Mumbai Task Force Members Mithila Naik Satam, Kunal Pawar, and Manu Pillai conceptualized and launched the #AAPDegaSaath Helpline 7718812200, on 15th April 2021.
AAP leaders and volunteers take calls of citizens who seek hospital admission, move to an ICU, oxygen, medicines, and/or plasma. They then liaise with the authorities, hospitals, doctors, and suppliers on behalf of the patient, and resolve the issues.
? Help Us, Help People
? Call For Volunteers
AAP is calling out to people who are ready to help Mumbaikars in this pandemic. You will have to give few hours daily from your home to work on the AAP Covid Helpline.
In these past 8 days, they have received 700 calls daily on average, and they have managed to resolve approximately 300 cases daily. Led by Ruben Mascarenhas, the team includes so many more – youngsters like Manu Pillai, Mithila Naik Satam, Pravin Lotankar, Kunal Pawar, Ratnabh Mukerjei and senior leaders like Sumitra Srivastava and Dwijendra Tiwari who are working night and day.
“It is indeed sad that we cannot resolve all cases, because there is an acute shortage of all things, starting from O2 beds. Yesterday, the scene was so tragic that hospitals were hesitant to admit very serious patients, whose oxygen requirement was high, as they just didn’t have enough oxygen,” said Preeti Sharma Menon.
The volunteers are going through stress, heartache and even breakdowns, when they are unable to save a life, so much so that they are now starting counselling for them to deal with this trauma.
“Yet, the need to help people in this biggest crisis that has hit our beloved Mumbai, bigger even than terror attacks push us to do more and more.
We are sharing our story in the hope that more people choose to help out, and more people know there are many fellows’ beings that care.” said an AAP member who is volunteered to help COVID-19 patients.
“We are so relieved that, today, many NGOs like We the People Foundation, Switch India, and activists have joined us in this work, as well as many media persons. This not just extends the volunteer pool, but has also enabled us to set up a team of Doctors, under Dr Santosh Karmarkar, and young doctors with Switch India, who are calling and counselling every patient and their kin. When the administration is crumbling under the weight of policies, we, the citizens, are stepping up. Together we can!”, said AAP team member.
While there is growing concern over the unavailability of Remdesivir vials, some pharmacists are doing black-marketing on WhatsApp, while half a dozen states are currently reporting a shortage.
A person named Niraj Dnyaneshwar Khalkar, of Lakshya Pharma, is marketing Remdesivir on social media networks and WhatsApp, asking customers to call on 7387418909 for delivery of the vial.
There many forwards doing round that says Remdesivir is available to buy with them, but on the other hand black-marketing of Remdesivir has rampant in the city. This is a matter of concern since many who received the first dose in the first week of March when the vaccination drive started are supposed to take the second dose this week or in the next few days as per the vaccine protocol issued by the Health Ministry.
Recently Tulinj police arrested three people from Mira Road in Thane district of Maharashtra for black-marketing Remdesivir. The police also recovered three vials of Remdesivir and stock worth Rs 2.25 lakh from their possession. Police officer Rajendra Kamble said, “The detained accused were selling a vial of a Remdesivir for Rs 12,500.”
The officer continued, “This gang was eyeing the people in search of vaccines and the rates were quoted as per the emergency of buyer”.
Later Tulinj police had laid a trap on the orders of Mira Bhayandar Police, sent a fake customer for the purchase of Remedesivir vials and caught them. Earlier on Monday, Mumbai Police and Food and Drugs Administration (FDA) teams raided two locations and recovered 2,200 vials of Remdesivir.
The demand for Remdesivir has increased in India and the hospitals have been grappling with depleting supply of the antiviral drug amid surging COVID-19 cases. India is currently witnessing a second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic.
When Afternoon Voice called Lakshya Pharma posing as a patient, first they asked how much supply and where we want the delivery. Then they said each vial would cost Rs 10,000, after a lot of bargaining they came down to a final price of Rs 9000. We thought they would ask us to transfer money but surprisingly their phone was switched off ever since we contacted them.
Similarly, main agents are making rounds around hospitals for the black-marketing of vaccines. Oxygen, essential drugs and now vaccines, everything is easily available in the black market.
Nashik Oxygen Tragedy: High-level probe ordered with Rs 5 lakh relief for kin of deceased 12
Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray has ordered a high-level probe into the entire incident while also announcing relief of Rs.5 lakh for the next of kin of each of the deceased patients over the leakage of oxygen at a municipal hospital in Nashik that claimed the lives of 24 people.
“While the incident has shocked everyone, it was also an eye-opener for the state administration about the need to tread cautiously at every phase of the battle with COVID-19. For over a year now we have been facing up to the COVID-19, wave after wave. The loss of lives due to carelessness is very annoying in the wake of the fact that all available doctors and medical personnel have been working tirelessly night and day to save the lives of patients. It is not merely enough to express mourning and consoling the relatives of the patients. The state administration will need to burn the midnight lamp, treading very cautiously to ensure such an incident, that could deplete the entire morale of the health system, is not repeated in the future,” Thackeray said.
“There is no need here to emphasize the importance of oxygen in combating the current wave of the Coronavirus. We are working day and night to ensure the supply of this life-sustaining. We have issued instructions at almost every meeting that there should be no leakages in the oxygen supply despite which this incident has occurred. I have instructed the Maharashtra Chief Secretary (Sitaram Kunte) to probe the entire incident and affix due to responsibility on those found guilty of carelessness,” the Chief Minister said.
Thackeray also instructed that careful handling of the oxygen stocks and its rational and proper usage protocols henceforth and emphasized that the shortfall in oxygen supply to patients should be immediately resolved.
On Wednesday, in a tragic incident at least 24 patients who were on life support have lost their lives in Nashik’s Dr Zakir Hussain Hospital owing to an acute shortage of oxygen tankers.
India reported on Thursday 314,835 new cases of the COVID-19 over the previous 24 hours; the highest daily increase recorded anywhere, as its second wave and similar surges elsewhere in the world raised new fears about the virus.
Hospitals across northern and western India including the capital, New Delhi, have issued notices to say they have only a few hours of medical oxygen required to keep COVID-19 patients alive.
More than two-thirds of hospitals had no vacant beds, according to the Delhi government’s online database and doctors advised patients to stay at home.
“COVID-19 has become a public health crisis in India leading to a collapse of the healthcare system,” Krutika Kuppalli, assistant professor at the Division of Infectious Diseases, the Medical University of South Carolina in the United States, said on Twitter.
The previous record one-day rise in cases was held by the United States, which had 297,430 new cases on one day in January, though its tally has since fallen sharply. India’s total cases are now at 15.93 million, while deaths rose by 2,104 to reach a total of 184,657, according to the latest health ministry data.
Television showed images of people with empty oxygen cylinders crowding refilling facilities in the most populous state of Uttar Pradesh as they scrambled to save relatives in hospital.
“We never thought a second wave would hit us so hard,” Kiran Mazumdar Shaw, the executive chairman of Biocon & Biocon Biologics, an Indian healthcare firm, wrote in the Economic Times.
“Complacency led to unanticipated shortages of medicines, medical supplies, and hospital beds.” India has launched a vaccination drive but only a tiny fraction of the population has had the shots.
Authorities have announced that vaccines will be available to anyone over the age of 18 from May 1 but India won’t have enough shots for the 600 million people who will become eligible, experts say. Similar surges of infections elsewhere, in South America in particular, are overwhelming health services there.
Health experts said India had let its guard down when the virus seemed to be under control during the winter when new daily cases were about 10,000, and it lifted restrictions to allow big gatherings.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government has come in for criticism for holding packed political rallies for local elections and allowing a religious festival at which millions gathered.
On Thursday, despite the biggest public health emergency the country has faced in a generation, people were voting in the eastern state of West Bengal for a new state assembly in an election that Modi has been campaigning in.
“It’s a festival of democracy and everyone is participating. You can see the queues,” said Krishna Kalyan, a candidate from Modi’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party.
Police checking vehicles at Mulund toll naka amid travelling restrictions for non-essential travellers in the state. | Afternoon Voice / Akshay Redij
The Maharashtra government on Wednesday issued several new restrictions including a ban on inter-city and inter-district travel and curbs on office attendance in an attempt to bring the spiralling coronavirus infections under control.
Central, state and local governing body offices shall function with 15 per cent attendance. But emergency services dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic will be exempted from this rule.
Other government and private offices, allowed to operate as per the earlier rules, can function with 15 per cent strength or five people – whichever is more, stated the notification.
As to inter-city and inter-district travel ban, exemption will be made for travel for medical emergency, essential services, funeral or medical attendance, the government said.
Contrary to expectation, Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray did not announce the new restrictions himself, unlike last time. The government notification also did not use the world ‘lockdown’.
The new restrictions under the government’s ‘Break- the-Chain’ program will come into effect from Thursday 8 pm and will remain effective till 7 am on May 1, the notification said.
What the new restrictions are like:
Govt / Private offices
All government offices (State, Central, under local authority) to operate only with 15 per cent attendance except for emergency services directly connected to the management of the COVID-19 pandemic. Other essential services office also to have 15% staff or 5 people whichever is less.
Private buses can ply with 50% of seating capacity with no standing travellers.
Private Bus Operators
Bus service operator must restrict the stoppages to a maximum of two in a city and shall inform the local District Management Authority (DMA) about the same and the schedule. Local DMA may ask to change these if so desired.
At the stoppages where passengers are alighting all passengers shall be stamped on the hand for 14 days home quarantine. This stamping must be done by the operator.
Thermal scanners shall be used and anyone with symptoms shall be moved to corona care centres or to a hospital.
Local DMA may decide to do the RAT test at the alighting point by appointing one of the authorised labs to give these services. The cost of the test, if so decided shall be borne by the passenger/ service provider.
If an operator is found to be flouting these guidelines, then DMA may levy a fine of 10000/-. Repeated defaults will lead to the cancellation of the license to operate till the end of notification of COVID-19 as a pandemic.
The local Disaster Management Authority can waive off the rules regarding mandatory stamping for buses arriving from certain origins as per the local conditions.
Public Transport
Only the following categories of people will be allowed to use local trains, metro and monorail services (excepting long-distance trains):
All government personnel (state/ central/ local), tickets/ passes to be issued to the above category of personnel on the basis of a Government-issued identity card only.
All medical personnel (Doctors/ paramedics/ lab technicians/ hospital and medical clinic staff etc). Tickets/ passes to be issued on the basis of an identity card issued by the concerned medical organization.
Any persons needing medical treatment or specially-abled persons and one person accompanying the needy.
State government or local government-owned public buses shall ply at 50 per cent of the capacity with no standing passengers.
Marriage function
The marriage ceremony may be conducted only as a single event in a single hall not extending beyond 2 hours with a maximum of a total of 25 persons attending the same. Any family seen to be flaunting the restraints or not following these in letter and spirit may be fined Rs 50000/-, and any location that is misused or is defaulting in the spirit of the restrictions shall be closed till the promulgation of COVID-19 as a disaster remains in force.
Private Travellers
Private Passenger transport excluding buses can ply only for emergency or essential services or valid reasons with driver plus of the seating capacity. These are not expected to be inter-district or inter-city and should be confined to the city of residence Of the travellers. Inter-district or inter-city travel is allowed only if required for performing an essential service or in case of medical emergencies or attending unavoidable events like funerals or severe sickness of family. Anyone flouting the order in letter or spirit shall be punishable by fine of Rs 10000/-.
Meanwhile, Maharashtra on Wednesday recorded 67,468 fresh COVID-19 cases, taking its tally beyond the 40 lakh mark. With 568 more patients succumbing to the deadly contagious virus, the death toll increased to 61,911.
