Constable dies in Calcutta

A constable of Kolkata police who was undergoing treatment for Covid-19 at a state-run hospital died Saturday, a source at the health department said.

The constable, who was posted at the Shakespeare Sarani police station, succumbed late Saturday evening but the cause of his death was not stated by the health department, he said.

'Whether he died of any comorbidity also needed to be checked,' the source said.

India registered its highest single-day spike of Covid-19 cases for the fifth consecutive day on Sunday, with 9,971 new infections taking the country's tally to 2,46,628, while the death toll rose to 6,929, according to the Union health ministry.

India registered 287 deaths in the last 24 hours since Saturday morning.

India had raced past Spain on Saturday to become the fifth worst-hit nation by the Covid-19 pandemic. Now, only the US, Brazil, Russia and the UK are ahead of it.

The number of active Covid-19 cases stands at 1,20,406, according to the health ministry.

A total of 1,19,292 people have recovered and one patient has migrated, the ministry said.

'Thus, around 48.36 per cent patients have recovered so far,' a senior ministry official said.

The total number of confirmed cases includes foreigners.

Of the 287 deaths reported since Saturday morning, 120 were from Maharashtra, 53 from Delhi, 29 from Gujarat, 19 from Tamil Nadu, 17 from West Bengal, 15 from Madhya Pradesh, 13 from Rajasthan, 10 from Telangana, three from Jammu and Kashmir, two each from Karnataka, Punjab and Chhattisgarh and one each from Kerala and Bihar.

Of the total 6,929 fatalities, Maharashtra tops the tally with 2,969 deaths followed by Gujarat with 1,219 deaths, Delhi with 761, Madhya Pradesh with 399, West Bengal with 383, Uttar Pradesh with 257, Tamil Nadu with 251, Rajasthan with 231, Telangana with 123 and Andhra Pradesh with 73 deaths.

The death toll reached 59 in Karnataka and 50 in Punjab.

Jammu and Kashmir has reported 39 fatalities due to the disease, Bihar has 30, Haryana has 24 deaths, Kerala has 15, Uttarakhand has 11, Odisha has eight and Jharkhand has reported seven deaths so far.

Himachal Pradesh and Chandigarh have registered five Covid-19 fatalities each. Assam and Chhattisgarh have recorded four deaths each.

Meghalaya and Ladakh have reported one Covid-19 fatality each, according to the ministry data.

According to the ministry's website, more than 70 per cent of the deaths are due to comorbidities.

The highest number of confirmed cases in the country are from Maharashtra at 82,968, followed by Tamil Nadu at 30,152, Delhi at 27,654, Gujarat at 19,592, Rajasthan at 10,331, Uttar Pradesh at 9,733 and Madhya Pradesh at 9,228, according to the health ministry data updated in the morning.

The number of Covid-19 cases has gone up to 7,738 in West Bengal, 5,213 in Karnataka, 4,915 in Bihar and 4,510 in Andhra Pradesh.

It has risen to 3,952 in Haryana, 3,496 in Telangana, 3,467 in Jammu and Kashmir and 2,781 in Odisha.

Punjab has reported 2,515 coronavirus infections so far, while Assam has 2,397 cases. A total of 1,807 people have been infected with the virus in Kerala and 1,303 in Uttarakhand.

Jharkhand has registered 1,000 cases, Chhattisgarh has 923, Tripura has 747, Himachal Pradesh has 400, Chandigarh has 309 cases, Goa has 267, Manipur has 157, Nagaland has 107, and Puducherry and Ladakh have 99 cases.

Arunachal Pradesh has 47 Covid-19 cases, while Andaman and Nicobar Islands and Meghalaya have registered 33 infections each.

Mizoram has reported 24 cases and Dadar and Nagar Haveli has 19 cases, while Sikkim has reported seven cases till now.

'8,605 cases are being reassigned to states,' the ministry said on its website adding, 'our figures are being reconciled with the ICMR.'

State-wise distribution is subject to further verification and reconciliation, it said.

Patients with severe pneumonia should be considered shifting to ICU

Symptomatic Covid-19 patients who have 'severe pneumonia' with a respiratory rate of 30 breath per minute should be considered for shifting to ICU, according to a clinical management protocol for adult patients suffering from the disease.

A Covid-19 patient with sever pneumonia also has an oxygen saturation level (Spo2) of less than 90 per cent, on room air, it said.

An office memorandum, dated June 5, has been issued regarding Clinical management protocol for adult patients with confirmed Covid-19 infection using best practices, ICMR revised national clinical management guidelines and available evidence for patient care, prepared by the Department of Medicine, Maulana Azad Medical College (MAMC), the Delhi heath department said.

LNJP Hospital, a dedicated Covid-19 facility under the Delhi government, is attached to MAMC.

According to the protocol, a symptomatic Covid-19 patient with severe pneumonia with a respiratory rate of 30 breath per minute and Spo2 level of less than 90 per cent should be considered for shifting to an ICU.

The protocol prepared by the MAMC also mentioned that patients with comorbidities, like diabetes, hypertension, should be managed as per the existing standard protocol.

The demographic factors associated with comorbidities are age of 60 and above; obesity with a BMI of over 30, pre-existing pulmonary disease, hypertension, chronic kidney disease, cardiovascular disease, immune suppression, HIV infection, pregnancy.

Kanpur IG fined for not wearing mask

Setting an example, inspector-general of police (Kanpur range) Mohit Agarwal got himself challaned for not wearing a mask in public.

Agarwal asked the Station House Officer of Barra police station, Ranjeet Singh, to fine him for stepping out without wearing a mask.

The SHO made the challan and handed over a copy to the IG who paid Rs 100 as fine on the spot.

Agarwal later told PTI that he had gone to Barra on Friday for inspection and had stepped out of his vehicle without a mask.

'I had discussion with the subordinates, including circle officers, and later realised my mistake that I was not wearing a mask,' the IG added.

'I immediately took out my mask from my official vehicle and put it on,' he said.

'But I felt it was ethical to get myself challaned and fined to set an example for police and public,' he said.

Workers carry out cleaning work at the V3S mall as it prepares to re-open amid ongoing Covid-19 lockdown, in east Delhi, Sunday, June 7, 2020. PTI

Quarantine centre for pregnant women in Bilaspur

A quarantine centre exclusively for pregnant women, among the groups most vulnerable due to the coronavirus outbreak, has been set up in Bilaspur in Chhattisgarh, an official said on Sunday.

The facility has come up at a community health centre in Kesla village, some 120 kilometres from Raipur, and presently houses eight pregnant women, all migrant workers who had returned from different states amid the lockdown, a public relations department official said.

'On the instructions of chief minister Bhupesh Baghel, special facilities are being provided to pregnant women, children and senior citizens in quarantine centres. The first quarantine centre for pregnant women has come up in Kesla village of Bilaspur district,' he said.

Nutritional food, screening facilities and protective gear are available at the centre, which is sanitised three times a day, and medical personnel have been deployed round the clock, he added.