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The UK variant (B.1.1.7) of the coronavirus did not appear to be more transmissible than the variant of the virus most common in India, according to a study by scientists at the National Institute of Virology, Pune.
The study was based on tests on Syrian hamsters, a commonly employed laboratory animal, and is yet to be formally peer-reviewed.
You can track coronavirus cases, deaths and testing rates at the national and State levels here. A list of State Helpline numbers is available as well.
Here are the latest updates:
London
World leaders call for international pandemic treaty
More than 20 heads of government and global agencies on March 30 called for an international treaty for pandemic preparedness that they say will protect future generations.
But there are few details to explain how such an agreement might actually force countries to act more cooperatively.
World Health Organization (WHO) Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus and leaders, including Boris Johnson of Britain, Mario Draghi of Italy and Paul Kagame of Rwanda, called for “a renewed collective commitment” to reinforce the world’s pandemic preparedness and response systems, that would be rooted in the U.N. health agency’s constitution.
“We are convinced that it is our responsibility, as leaders of nations and international institutions, to ensure that the world learns the lessons of the COVID-19 pandemic,” the authors wrote in a commentary that was published Tuesday. Although they called for “solidarity,” and greater “societal commitment,” there was no indication any country would soon change its own approach to responding to the pandemic. — AP
Turkey
Turkey reinstates restrictions after sharp virus cases rise
Turkey is reinstating weekend lockdowns in most of Turkey’s Provinces and will also impose restrictions over the Muslim holy month of Ramadan following a sharp increase in COVID-19 cases.
Virus infections in Turkey have soared less than a month after the country divided its 81 provinces into four colour-coded categories and relaxed restrictions in some provinces under a “controlled normalization” effort. The number of confirmed daily infections have since almost tripled to around 30,000, matching the record numbers that were reported in December.
The country is also reporting around 150 deaths per day, up from around 65 at the start of the month. — AP
New Delhi
PM Modi wishes Farooq Abdullah speedy recovery from COVID-19 infection
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday wished National Conference (NC) president and Member of Parliament Farooq Abdullah a speedy recovery from the COVID-19 infection.
“Praying for the good health and speedy recovery of Dr. Farooq Abdullah Ji. Also praying for your and the entire family’s good health,” PM Modi said in a tweet.
The Prime Minister’s message came in response to a tweet of NC vice-president Omar Abdullah, who announced on the micro-blogging site about his father contracting the infection. — Peerzada Ashiq
New Delhi
Impose fines on those flouting COVID-19 protocols: DGCA to airports
Aviation safety watchdog DGCA on Tuesday instructed airports to increase surveillance to ensure compliance of COVID-19 protocols on their premises and to levy spot fines.
“During the surveillance of some airports, it has come to notice that compliance is not satisfactory. All airport operators are requested to ensure that the instructions on COVID-19 protocol from the standpoint of wearing face-masks properly, covering nose and mouth, as well as maintaining social distancing within the airport premises are followed scrupulously.”
The DGCA has also asked airports to explore the possibility of imposing fines, along with local police authorities. — Jagriti Chandra
New Delhi
Over 700 fined in Delhi on Holi for not wearing face masks
Over 700 people were issued challans across the national capital on Holi for not wearing masks in public, police said on Tuesday.
People were also penalised for violating social distancing norms and spitting in public places, they said.
Till 4 pm on Monday, 730 challans were issued to people who were found without a face mask, nine were fined for not adhering to social distancing norms and three for spitting in public places, according to data shared by the police. — PTI
Syria
Syria says Assad, his wife have recovered from coronavirus
Syrian President Bashar Assad and his wife have recovered from COVID-19 and returned to their regular duties on Tuesday, three weeks after they had tested positive for the coronavirus, the president’s office said.
According to the statement, Syria’s first couple had their PCR tests and the results were negative, and the mild symptoms of the virus that they had experienced before were now gone.
Assad, 55, and his wife, Asma, who is 10 years younger and had announced her recovery from breast cancer in 2019, had isolated themselves since testing positive on March 8. — AP
New Delhi
CSIR suggests sewage, air surveillance systems in Parliament to detect COVID-19 prevalence
A presentation suggesting the setting up of sewage and air surveillance systems in Parliament to detect the prevalence of COVID-19 was made before Vice-President M. Venkaiah Naidu on March 30.
Elaborating on the relevance of sewage surveillance in his presentation, Director General of Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) Shekhar C. Mande said, “COVID-19 patients shed SAR-CoV-2 in stools. Apart from symptomatic individuals, asymptomatic people also shed the virus in their stools.” Sewage surveillance provides a qualitative as well as a quantitative estimate of the number of people infected in a population and could be used to understand the progression of COVID-19 even when mass scale tests for individuals are not possible, an official statement said quoting the CSIR chief.
Mr. Mande also suggested setting up an air sampling system to monitor viral particles and potential infectivity threat. — PTI
USA
90% U.S. adults to be eligible for vaccine by April 19, says Joe Biden
President Joe Biden has announced that 90% of the adults in the U.S. would be eligible for COVID-19 vaccination by April 19 and the final 10% no later than May 1.
The vaccination drive under the Biden administration has been going in at an unprecedented pace. As many as 100 million shots have been administered in less than 60 days of his administration and they are now moving on to the next 100 million shots in just 40 days.
“I’m pleased to announce that at least 90% of all adults in this country will be eligible to be vaccinated by April the 19th, just three weeks from now, because we have the vaccines,” Mr. Biden told reporters at the White House on Monday. — PTI
New Delhi
Health Minister Vardhan takes second dose of COVID-19 vaccine
Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan and his wife took the second dose of COVID-19 vaccine at the Delhi Heart and Lung Institute on Tuesday.
India opened up vaccination for those over 60 years and within the age bracket of 45 to 59 years with specified co-morbidities from March 1.
His wife Nutan Goel first took the jab of Covaxin after which Mr. Vardhan also took the vaccine shot.
They had taken the 1st dose of of indigenously developed Covaxin by Bharat Biotech on March 2. – PTI
Canada
Canada pauses AstraZeneca vaccine for under 55
Canada on March 29 suspended the use of the Oxford-AstraZeneca coronavirus vaccine for people under age 55 following concerns it might be linked to rare blood clots.
The National Advisory Committee on Immunisation had recommended the pause for safety reasons and the Canadian Provinces, which administer health in the country, announced the suspension on Monday.
Jammu and Kashmir
Farooq Abdullah tests positive for COVID-19
National Conference president and Lok Sabha member from Srinagar Farooq Abdullah has tested positive for COVID-19, his son Omar Abdullah said on Tuesday.
Omar urged everyone who came in contact with his father recently to get tested.
“My father has tested positive for COVID-19 & is showing some symptoms,” Omar, who is also vice president of the party, said in a tweet.
“I will be self-isolating along with other family members until we get ourselves tested. I request anyone who has come in to contact with us over the last few days to take all the mandated precautions,” he added.
New Delhi
India records 56,211 fresh COVID-19 cases
India’s COVID-19 tally climbed to 1,20,95,855 with 56,211 more people testing positive for the infection in a span of 24 hours, according to the Union Health Ministry’s data updated on Tuesday.
With 271 more fatalities, the death toll rose to 1,62,114, the data updated at 8 a.m. showed.
Registering a steady increase for the 20th day in row, active cases have increased to 5,40,720 comprising 4.47% of the total infections, while the recovery rate has further dropped to 94.19%. – PTI
Harmanpreet Kaur tests positive for COVID-19
The Indian women’s T20 team captain Harmanpreet Kaur has tested positive for COVID-19 and is experiencing mild symptoms.
Kaur, who did not play in the T20 series against South Africa in Lucknow after injuring herself in the fifth ODI on March 17, got herself tested on Monday after developing mild fever.
“She is self-isolating at home. She got tested yesterday and the report came positive today morning. She had mild fever since four days so thought it was best to get tested. She is doing fine otherwise and should recover soon,” a source close to the player told PTI. “She was getting tested regularly during the South Africa series so she must have caught the virus after that only,” the source added. – PTI
(With inputs from Agencies)
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