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As COVID-19 cases in India continue to show an upward trend, India reported 58,097 new coronavirus cases on Wednesday, 5 January, significantly higher than the 37,379 cases on Tuesday.
Meanwhile, NITI Aayog Member (Health) Dr VK Paul announced on Wednesday, 5 January, that the precautionary COVID-19 vaccine dose will be the same vaccine as has been given previously.
The country also reported 534 deaths in the last 24 hours. On Tuesday, 124 deaths had been reported.
A total of 2,135 cases of the Omicron variant of the coronavirus have been detected across 24 states and Union territories in India so far.
Meanwhile, Delhi Health Minister Satyendar Jain has indicated that the capital city is likely to record 10,000 new infections on Wednesday.
A weekend curfew has been imposed in Delhi, the AAP government announced on Tuesday
Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal has tested positive for COVID-19 and has said that he's experiencing mild symptoms
The Karnataka government has announced a weekend curfew in the state
Several states have announced COVID curbs in light of the rise in cases.
International passengers arriving in Mumbai from at-risk nations, high-risk countries and the UAE will be asked to take the rapid RT PCR test at the Mumbai International Airport, as per the latest guidelines announced by the Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai.
If negative, they will be allowed to leave and asked to stay under a seven-day home quarantine. Those found positive will have to undergo institutional quarantine.
The Delhi Disaster Management Authority (DDMA) on Tuesday announced a weekend curfew, which will remain in force from 10 pm on Friday to 5 am on Monday.
Further, as per the latest orders, the metro and buses are permitted to operate at 100 percent seating capacity. However, no standing passengers will be allowed in the metro.
Fifty-nine more doctors of Nalanda Medical College and Hospital (NMCH) in Patna have tested positive for COVID-19, news agency ANI reported, citing the state authorities. A total of 159 doctors at the Patna hospital have tested positive in the past two days.
After a Crisis Management Committee of the Bhopal district on Tuesday, it was decided that a mask campaign would be restarted in Bhopal district from Wednesday.
Those who are seen without a mask in public places will be fined Rs 200.
Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shri Shivraj Singh Chouhan appealed to the people of the state to practise caution amid the third COVID-19 outbreak.
The Uttar Pradesh government on Tuesday announced fresh guidelines for the management of COVID-19.
As per the new rules, for districts in the state that cross 1,000 active cases, public places like restaurants, cinema halls, and spas will function at 50 percent of their total capacity. Gyms and pools will remain closed.
Moreover, in districts with over 1,000 cases:
COVID-19 help desks will be set up at religious institutions and masks will be mandatorily worn at these sites.
For weddings and other functions taking place in closed spaces, not more than 100 people can assemble. For functions taking place in open spaces, only 50 percent of a ground's total capacity can be filled.
Night curfew hours will be extended in the state from Thursday. Instead of the previously stipulated 11 pm to 5 am, the curfew will remain in place from 10 pm to 6 am.
School for classes up to the 10th grade will remain shut from 6 January to 14 January.
A 48-hour-old negative RT PCR test will be required for anyone visiting the Magh mela in Prayagraj later this month, the government has announced.
India reported 58,097 fresh coronavirus cases on Wednesday, significantly higher than the 37,379 cases on Tuesday.
The country also reported 534 deaths in the last 24 hours. On Tuesday, 124 deaths had been reported.
A total of 2,135 cases of the Omicron variant of the coronavirus have been detected across 24 states and Union territories in India so far, with Meghalaya reporting its first case of the variant.
While Maharashtra tops the chart with 653 Omicron cases, Delhi comes next with 464 cases so far.
Shiromani Akali Dal (Sanyukt) president and Rajya Sabha MP Sukhdev Singh Dhindsa has tested positive for COVID-19.
Dhindsa had been his way to Ferozepur to attend Prime Minister Modi's rally, but returned home after the receiving the test report, ANI reported.
Bihar Deputy Chief Ministers Renu Devi and Tarkishore Prasad have tested positive for COVID-19
Ministers Ashok Choudhary, Vijay Choudhary, and Sunil Kumar have also tested positive for coronavirus.
Madhya Pradesh has reported 594 COVID-19 cases in the last 24 hours, taking the number of active cases in the state to 1544.
Sixty employees of BEST including bus drivers have tested positive for COVID-19, news agency ANI reported.
"Delhi is likely to report around 10,000 COVID infections today, with the daily positivity rate rising to nearly 10 percent. The third wave of COVID-19 has set in," Delhi Health Minister Satyendar Jain was quoted as saying by ANI on Wednesday.
Jain further said that the Delhi government has instructed private hospitals to reserve 40 percent of their beds for COVID-19 patients.
"Nearly 2 percent of beds are occupied in the government hospitals," the health minister said.
"Genome sequencing of all COVID samples is not possible now, only 300-400 samples being sequenced," Jain was quoted as saying by PTI.
A staff member working at actor Amitabh Bachchan's bungalow 'Jalsa' in Mumbai has tested positive for COVID-19. He is asymptomatic, as per the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation.
Amid a surge of COVID-19 cases in the country, the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare released new guidelines for the isolation of mild and asymptomatic coronavirus cases.
As per the government's advisory, patients who are asymptomatic or have mild disease will remain under home isolation for at least seven days after testing positive.
The Bihar government has cancelled chief minister's 'Janta Darbar' and all events of 'Samaj Sudhar Abhiyan' due to rising cases of COVID-19.
Two deputy chief ministers of Bihar and three state minister had tested positive for the viral disease earlier in the day.
Hong Kong has banned flights from eight countries amid a global Omicron outbreak.
As per news agency AFP, the ban applies to India, Australia, Canada, France, Pakistan, Philippines, United Kingdom, and the United States.
"The Congress has decided to postpone major rallies in Uttar Pradesh and other poll-bound states. We have asked state units to assess the COVID-19 situation in their states and take a decision on holding rallies," Congress General Secretary (Organisation) KC Venugopal told ANI.
The Gujarat High Court has banned the entry of general public into its premises, and has made it mandatory for the persons to produce a negative COVID certificate not older than 48 hours for entry.
Over 1 crore youngsters between 15-18 age group have received 1st dose of COVID-19 vaccine, Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya has shared.
Ministry of Health and Family Welfare informed on Wendesday, that there are 7.40 crore children between 15-18 years who are eligible for COVID-19 vaccination.
Bihar Cabinet has approved an ex-gratia compensation of Rs 4 lakh each to the next of kin of those who lost their lives to COVID-19.
Forty one out of 60 COVID-19 infected passengers on board a Cordelia cruise ship, which returned to Mumbai from Goa, have so far been shifted to institutional quarantine facilities, a civic spokesperson was quoted as saying by PTI on Wednesday.
The other 19 passengers who had tested positive for the viral infection are still on the ship, he said.
The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has conducted RT-PCR tests of 1,827 people who were on board the cruise on Tuesday night. Their reports were expected to come later on Wednesday.
In view of the evolving COVID situation and rising number of new cases in Kolkata, BJP national president JP Nadda's scheduled visit to West Bengal on 9-10 January stands postponed, the state's BJP unit said on Wednesday.
Quarantine period for home isolation patients reduced from 14 days to seven days in Delhi, as per Ministry of Health guidelines, news agency ANI reported.
In these seven days, if a patient doesn't have any symptoms for three consecutive days, then the patient can be discharged from home isolation without a COVID test.
The Ministry of Health listed the states of concern where there has been a rise in COVID cases.
These include Maharashtra, West Bengal, Delhi, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Jharkhand, and Gujarat.
The ministry further added that there are 28 districts in the country that are reporting more than 10 percent weekly positivity rate.
Tamil Nadu government has announced night curfew from 6 January between 10pm and 5am.
All commercial complexes, establishments, shops, hotels will not be allowed to function during this time. Public and private transport will be allowed.
All government and private events for 'Pongal' harvest celebration and related cultural shows have also been postponed.
Ministry of Health and Family Welfare informed on Wednesday, that 108 Omicron-related deaths have been reported globally so far.
The 27th Kolkata International Film Festival was called off in light of the rising COVID cases in West Bengal.
The film festival was scheduled to be held between 7-14 January.
NITI Aayog Member (Health) Dr VK Paul announced on Wednesday that the precautionary COVID-19 vaccine dose will be the same vaccine as has been given previously.
He was quoted by ANI as saying, "Those who've received Covaxin will receive Covaxin, those who've received primary two doses of Covishield will receive Covishield."
Maharashtra Higher and Technical Education Minister Uday Samant said on Wednesday, "amid rising COVID cases, Maharashtra government to discontinue physical classes in colleges, universities till 15 February."
All exams in the said instituitions will be conducted online till then.
Andhra Pradesh reported 434 new cases and 102 recoveries in the last 24 hours.
Kerala reported 4,801 new COVID cases, 29 deaths, and 1813 recoveries on Wednesday. Active cases currently stand at 22,910.
The total death tally is at 48,895. Further, the Kerala government informed that 229 deaths were added to the tally as per the new guidelines of the Central government.
Karnataka reported 4,246 new COVID-19 cases and two deaths in the last 24 hours.
Delhi reported 10,665 new cases and 8 deaths in the last 24 hours. Active cases currently stand at 23,307. The positivity rate has risen to 11.88 percent.
418 new COVID cases and 140 recoveries were reported from Jammu & Kashmir on Wednesday. Out of these, 311 cases are from Jammu and 107 are from Kashmir. Active cases in the UT are currently at 1,819.
Mumbai reported 15,166 new cases of COVID-19, a 39 percent jump from Tuesday's 10,860 reported cases.
Mumbai also reported three deaths on Wednesday. Of the new cases, 87 percent are asymptomatic.
1,218 COVID patients were hospitalised on Wednesday and 80 of them are on oxygen support. The active cases currently stand at 61,923.
West Bengal reported a total of 14,022 cases, 17 deaths and 6,438 recoveries on Wednesday, with 6,170 cases reported in Kolkata alone.
The positivity rate in the state is at 23.17 percent.
Gujarat reported 3,350 new cases, one death and 236 recoveries on Wednesday. Active cases have crossed the 10,000 mark.
Further, 50 new Omicron cases were reported in the last 24 hours. Total Omicron cases stand at 204, recoveries 112.
123 of 1,827 passengers on board Cordelia cruise ship have tested COVID-19 positive in Mumbai in addition to the 66 others already infected, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) said.
The BMC added that the test result of 832 more samples is awaited. Later on Wednesday evening, 16 more passengers tested positive for COVID-19.
Maharashtra reported 26,538 new cases, eight deaths and 5,331 recoveries on Wednesday. Active cases currently stand at 87,505.
Meanwhile, state's Omicron case tally at 797 including 330 recoveries.
Himachal Pradesh reported 374 new COVID-19 cases, 15 recoveries and one death during the past 24 hours.
Chandigarh reported 229 new COVID-19 cases on Wednesday. Active cases stand at 665, with positivity rate at 12.07 percent.
Assam reported 591 new COVID cases, 4 deaths on Wednesday, Active cases currently stand at 1,979, with the positivity rate at 1.72 percent.
The Delhi government on Wednesday, directed government hospitals to increased their bed capacity from 3,316 to 4,350 beds.
In view of the surge in the national capital, the Delhi government directed to cancel all leaves granted, except medical leave, to all officers, officials and staff in all departments of the state government.
Further, state government employees will not be allowed to leave station and only medical leave will be granted, the government said.
Tamil Nadu reported 4,862 new COVID cases and 9 deaths on Wednesday. Active cases stand at 16,577.
An Omicron related death was reported in Rajasthan on Wednesday, 5 January.
Commenting on the same, Luv Aggarwal, Joint Secretary, Union Health Ministry, said, according to ANI:
Delhi National Zoological Park has been shut down temporarily amid rising numbers of COVID-19 cases, ANI reported a zoo official as saying.
Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) administration imposed fresh curbs in view of the rising number of COVID-19 cases and said in a statement, "There shall be a complete restriction on non-essential movement in the entire UT from 9pm to 6am till further orders".
The Odisha government issued new guideliens to be effective from 5am of 7 January till 5am of 1 February.
Schools and colleges up to 12th class shall be closed. Online classes to continue for classes 10 and 12.
Shops will be allowed operate from 5am to 9 pm.
Markets/ cinema halls/ similar public places to close at 9 pm.
28 MBBS students tested positive for COVID-19 on Wednesday, at North Bengal Medical College and Hospital.
Dr Sanjay Mallick, Medical Superintendent and Vice Principle of the health facility informed that seven nursing staff and 2 medical staff have also tested positive for the virus.
On Tuesday, 19 cases including 14 students were found positive for COVID-19 at the same institution.
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