Indian fatalities mount, Delhi extends lockdown
India’s COVID-19 deaths rose by more than 4,000 for a second consecutive day on Sunday as calls for a nationwide lockdown to curb the spread of the virus mounted.
India’s health ministry reported 4,092 fatalities over the past 24 hours, taking the overall death toll to 242,362.
New cases rose by 403,738, just shy of the record and increasing the total since the start of the pandemic to 22.3 million.
India is to recruit hundreds of former army medics to support its overwhelmed healthcare system, the defence ministry said on Sunday.
Some 400 medical officers are expected to serve on contract for a maximum of 11 months, the ministry said in a press release, adding that other defence doctors had also been roped in for online consultations.
Amid crisis for medical services and oxygen supply in Delhi’s hospitals for over last three weeks, the city will remain under lockdown till next Monday (May 17) as part of measures to break the chain of corornavirus infections.
Announcing ‘lockdown extension’ through a digital press conference on Sunday, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said, “Delhi had imposed lockdown on April 20 and has been extended again. With the support from people of Delhi cases have started to come down in the last few days and the positivity rate is also down to 23 per cent.
However, we are not in a situation to give any relaxation in restrictions. I will request people of Delhi to continue to follow lockdown rules, otherwise, we will lose what we have gained (medical facilities) in the last few days.”
The UAE Ministry of Health and Prevention (MOHAP) announced that it conducted 203,147 additional COVID-19 tests and detected 1,572 new coronavirus cases.
MOHAP also announced three deaths due to COVID-19 complications.
The Ministry also noted that an additional 1,560 individuals had fully recovered from COVID-19.
The Ministry also announced that 19,045 doses of the COVID-19 vaccine were administered during the past 24 hours.
The total number of doses provided up to Sunday stands at 11,145,934 with a rate of vaccine distribution of 112.69 doses per 100 people.
Saudi Arabia will organise the pilgrimage to Makkah this year, but under special conditions to guard against the spread of COVID-19, state TV reported on Sunday.
“The mechanism and conditions for holding the Hajj this year will be announced later,” it said, citing the ministry of pilgrimage.
Last year, Saudi Arabia allowed a limited number of domestic pilgrim to perform the Hajj.
Emirates airline said on Sunday it will fly medical supplies from Dubai to nine cities in India free of charge from this week to help batle a devastating upsurge in the coronavirus.
International aid has poured in for India, where record infection rates have overwhelmed hospitals, depleting medicines, oxygen tanks and other supplies.
Emirates will provide free spare capacity to transport supplies from charities based in Dubai, divisional senior vice president Nabil Sultan told reporters, saying the mechanism could later be extended to bring aid from other parts.
French President Emmanuel Macron welcomed the decision from the European Union not to renew its order for the Astrazeneca COVID-19 vaccine.
Macron said the EU policy is aiming at “responding in particular to the variants... We see that some other vaccines are more efficient.”
The bloc’s Internal Market Commissioner, Thierry Breton, said Sunday the EU Commission has not ordered Astrazeneca shots for ater June. Two weeks ago, the EU launched legal proceedings against the pharmaceutical group for allegedly failing to respect the terms of its contract.
The Emergency, Crisis and Disaster Prosecution at the UAE Public Prosecution ordered the imprisonment of two young men for violating the preventive and precautionary measures in force against COVID-19 in Abu Dhabi.
Spain has lited a state of emergency in place since October to fight the pandemic, allowing Spaniards to travel between regions for the first time in months.
“It’s like New Year’s,” said 28-year-old Oriol Corbella in Barcelona, where the liting of the curfew was met with shouts, applause and music.
Saudi to organise Hajj under special conditions; 2 held in Abu Dhabi for violating curbs; UAE reports 1,572 new cases, 3 deaths; Emirates to fly aid to India for free; France hails EU move on Astrazeneca.