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India surpasses 2 lakh fatalities

The Health Ministr y said Maharashtra also reported the highest 66,358 infections in 24 hours, pushing the tally of total infections to 44.10 lakh and the death toll of 66,179.

‘Charitable’ Adar cuts price

In their PIL, Mumbai lawyer Fayzan Khan and three law students alleged "organised loot" by the two pharma companies and sought the court's intervention to protect public health by fixing a single price under the Essential Commodities Act. In a tweet, SII Ceo Adar Poonawalla said: "As a philanthropic gesture on behalf of @SerumInstIndia, I hereby reduce the price to the states from Rs 400 to 300 per dose, effective immediately; this will save thousands of crores of state funds. This will enable more vaccinations and save countless lives."

Serum price for private hospitals, however, remains unchanged at Rs600 per dose.

HC tries to rein in Yogi yet...

The court has fixed May 3 as the next date for hearing the case.

Expressing concern over the covid-19 situation getting out of hands, the two-member bench said that “if things are not in control then we request you again to impose a two-week lockdown.”

“Please suggest it to your policy makers. It is blowing out of proportion. There is a shortage of doctors, staff, oxygen, beds and medicines. Ever ything looks good on paper but the fact remains that there is a shortage of ever ything. With folded hands, we request you to exercise your discretion,” urged the two-member bench. Earlier, the High Court had suggested a twoweek lockdown in five cities about a week ago but the Yogi Adityanath government had moved the Supreme Court which granted a stay against the Allahabad High Court order.

The Bench obser ved that the steps taken by the Yogi adityanath government are not sufficient to tackle the crisis.

It has suggested some steps that the state government needs to follow.

The High Court has accordingly directed a Secretar y-level officer to submit a detailed report on its implementation at the next hearing on May 3. Refusing to accept the blueprint submitted by the state government to control the situation, the High Court has directed District Judges in Lucknow, Prayagraj, Varanasi, Kanpur, Agra, Gorakhpur, Ghaziabad, Gautam Budha Nagar and Jhansi to appoint a Senior Civil Judge as Nodal Officer and directed them to submit a weekly report on the current pandemic situation to the Registrar General of the Allahabad High Court.

“We will not tolerate your paper work anymore for tacking the situation. Now you do what we order,” declared the High Court, suggesting following directives for the state government to follow:

1. Medical bulletins in major cities to reduce the burden on hospitals

2. Vacant bed information on portal

3. Hospitals should not deny admissions to critical patients on negative antigen report

4. Recruit more medical staff on contracts and regulate supply of medicines, oxygen etc in hospitals

5. Duties of Doctors, health workers should rotated ever y six hours

6. Set up more Covid Hospitals and Centres

7. Submit details of actual figures of fatalities to Nodal Officers appointed by the High Court.

8. SHOs should ensure cremation of dead as per Covid-19 guidelines and make available details to local bodies for registration of deaths.