Coronavirus live updates: Vaccine availability to see exponential rise in coming months, says Harsh Vardhan

“Just the idea that you have to provide written justification for why you have prescribed plasma therapy makes doctors and hospitals careful. The idea that there is a written record of your treatment decision, which might or might not be audited,” explained RIMS director Dr Kameshwar Prasad. In convalescent plasma therapy, plasma from patients who have recovered from Covid, which is rich in antibodies is transfused into Covid patients to induce immunity. However, several studies have shown that the treatment has no impact on mortality or severity of illness.

A notifiable disease means the government has to be mandatorily informed about all cases. This will enable it to collect data, analyse the surge and initiate policy as well as clinical measures to tackle the issue. Apart from Covid-19, tuberculosis, cholera and diphtheria are among the other notifiable diseases in the country. The ministry has also asked all government and private health facilities, medical colleges to follow guidelines for screening, diagnosis, management of mucormycosis, issued by the ministry and ICMR.

"Vaccination response wasn't good in Gwalior when it began, so we took it to villages and it worked well. As of now, we have very less Covid cases here," CEO and additional collector said

The total positive cases in the state has reached 3,24,884.

The Covid-19 death toll in Punjab reached 12,716 on Thursday with 193 more Covid-related fatalities, while 5,566 fresh infections took the infection tally to 5,23,423, according to a medical bulletin.The number of daily caseload was lower on Thursday compared to the day before when 6,407 cases were registered.The state's single-day recoveries of 8,736 were also more than the single-day infections of 5,566.The number of active cases also declined from 70,499 on Wednesday to 67,041, as per the bulletin.

Haryana on Thursday reported 129 COVID-19-related deaths, taking the cumulative toll to 7,205 and 6,457 fresh infections, which pushed the total case count to 7,22,964, officials said. The total active cases in the state is 62,352 while 6,53,40 people have recovered so far.

Mizoram has reported 192 new Covid-19 cases and one death. The state now has 2,073 active cases of the disease. The infection tally rose to 9,444 and the death toll stands at 30.

West Bengal has registered 162 Covid-19 fatalities and 19,091 fresh cases. Infection tally has risen to 12,09,958 and death toll to 13,895. The state now has 1,31,510 active cases.

India's own vaccine woes notwithstanding, the government may have to find a way to bail its key neighbours out even if it means arranging vaccines for them from abroad. Apart from Nepal and Bangladesh, India's most solid friend in the near Indian Ocean, the Maldives, too is in dire need of help.

Assam reported 74 deaths due to Covid-19 on Thursday, while the number of coronavirus cases rose by a record with 6,573 persons testing positive, pushing the total number of infections to 3,53,574, the National Health Mission (NHM) said.

The Centre has asked states and UTs to make mucormycosis a notifiable disease under the Epidemic Diseases Act, 1897 as cases are increasing rapidly across India. Some states, including Rajasthan and Telangana, have already made it a notifiable disease.

A total of 13,093 oxygen concentrators, 15,801 oxygen cylinders and nearly 6.1 lakh Remdesivir vials received as global aid have been delivered or dispatched to states and union territories from April 27 to May 19, the Union Health Ministry said on Thursday.

Karnataka has reported 28,869 new Covid-19 cases, 52,257 recoveries and 548 deaths in the last 24 hours. The total number of cases in the State stands at 23,35,524.The current death toll is 23,854.Active cases 5,34,954

Rajasthan has reported 7,680 new Covid-19 cases, 16,705 recoveries and 127 deaths in the last 24 hours. The total number of cases in the State reached 8,97,193. The death toll stands at 7,346 and the state has 7,45,873 total recoveries.Active cases 1,43,974

Karnataka health minister K Sudhakar on Thursday said Mucormycosis or black fungus infection is now a notifiable disease and no hospital or medical centre having the capacity to provide treatment should deny admission to patients. He said an official government order towards this will be notified soon.