Maharashtra announces summer vacations in schools till June 13

Railway Ministry has said that Oxygen Expresss will deliver a record 250 tonnes of liquid medical oxygen to Delhi, Telangana and Uttar Pradesh by today. Accelerating its pace of delivering liquid medical oxygen to various states, Indian Railways has delivered more than 813 tonnes of Liquid Medical Oxygen in 56 tankers to various states across the country. According to Railway, 174 tonnes of liquid medical oxygen have been delivered to Maharashtra, more than 356 tonnes to Uttar Pradesh, over 134 tonnes to Madhya Pradesh, more than 79 tonnes to Haryana and 70 tonnes to Delhi. The Ministry said, 14 Oxygen expresses have already completed their journey and five more loaded Oxygen express are on the run carrying 342 tonnes of oxygen. Delhi is set to receive its 2nd Oxygen Express with 120 tonnes of Liquid Oxygen by Sunday evening.

-Government has said 84 thousand 599 beneficiaries of the age group 18 to 44 years received their first dose of COVID vaccine on Saturday. The Liberalised and Accelerated Phase-3 Strategy of Covid-19 Vaccination came into force on May1. The registration for the newly eligible population groups has commenced on April 28. Union Health Ministry said, the total vaccination across the country has crossed more than 15 crore 66 lakh mark. These include over 94 lakh 28 thousand Healthcare Workers who have taken the 1st dose and more than 62 lakh Health care workers who have taken the 2nd dose. Over one crore 26 lakh Frontline Workers have taken the 1st dose and more than 68 lakh front line workers have taken the 2nd dose.The Ministry said, the country has administered more than 16 lakh vaccine doses till 8 pm yesterday. Out of which around ten lakh beneficiaries were vaccinated for 1st dose and six lakh 58 thousand beneficiaries received 2nd dose of the vaccine. The Central Government has advised the States and Union Territories to set up Help Desks with the aid of Volunteer Groups, NGOs, and Civil Society Organisations. The Help Desk Team set up at the hospitals can support in managing the patients being admitted in the hospital effectively and facilitate better interaction between hospital staff and patients’ attendants.

-In the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir, the Administration of Government Medical College Hospital (GMC), Jammu has decided to suspend OPD services, including in its Associated Hospitals in view of increased COVID Patient load. In view of the recent surge of COVID 19 pandemic and increase in patient load, the routine OPDs in GMC & its Associated Hospitals shall remain suspended from 3rd May till further order. However, in order to avoid inconvenience to general public, the emergency services shall continue to remain functional 24x7 as per routine. The single day highest ever 3,832 new Covid positive cases were reported on Saturday in the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir. Out of these cases, 1,231 were reported from Jammu Division while 2,601 were reported from Kashmir Division. Besides, 47 COVID deaths, the highest during a day till date since the outbreak of the pandemic were reported in Jammu and Kashmir today with 30 fatalities having been reported from Jammu Division and 17 reported from Kashmir Division.

-Maharashtra government has announced summer vacations in schools till June13. The next academic semester for schools will start on June 14. Considering the surge in temperature in the month of June, the schools in Vidarbha will reopen after  June 28. However, as per the official statement, the Education board has decided to reduce the duration of Diwali vacation from school and instead demands to give vacations for Ganesh Utsav and Christmas for this year. The total number of vacation days should not exceed 76 days in school. The government has therefore decided on shifting the days from certain festivals for other important holidays.

-The number of active cases of COVID-19 in India continues to rise and presently comprises nearly 17.06 per cent of the total reported cases. In the last 24 hours, the nation registered a total of 4 lakh one thousand 993 new COVID cases and over 2 lakh 99 thousand people have recovered. So far, over 1 crore 56 lakh people have recovered from the COVID-19 infection in the country. With this, the recovery rate has further slipped to stand at 81.84 per cent. The Health Ministry has informed that over 32 lakh 68 thousand people are suffering from COVID and are either hospitalised or under home isolation. According to ICMR, more than 19 lakh 45 thousand samples were tested in the country in the past 24 hours.