Separate lanes for VIPs, judges at toll plazas across India: Court orders NHA

New Delhi, Jun 17: With an increase of 10,974 new cases and 2,003 deaths in the last 24 hours, India's COVID-19 count reached 3,54,065 on Wednesday while the toll due to the virus stands at 11,903.

This includes 1,55,227 active cases and 1,86,935 cured, discharged and migrated patients, according to the Union Health Ministry.

While the spike in the number of cases has stayed below the 11-thousand mark, the death toll has increased manifold today as compared to the 380 death reported on Tuesday.

Maharashtra with 1,13,445 cases continues to be the worst-affected state in the country with 50,057 active cases while 57,851 patients have been cured and discharged in the state so far. The toll due to COVID-19 has crossed the five thousand mark and reached 5,537 in the state.

It is followed by Tamil Nadu with 48,019 and the national capital with 44,688 confirmed cases.

New Delhi, Feb 11: Celebrations broke out at the AAP headquarters here as early vote-counting trends for the Delhi Assembly polls on Tuesday showed a comfortable victory for the Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal-led party.

The headquarters were decorated with blue and white balloons and big cut-outs of Kejriwal were placed in different parts of the party office.

"We knew it. We have changed the politics of this country. Now it is Delhi, next is India," said Sanjeev Singh, a party volunteer from Hari Nagar.

Another volunteer Fareen Khan said, "We hope we get such a clear majority that a message goes out that doing Hindu-Muslim politics will not work anymore."

The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) is leading in 26 seats while the BJP is leading in 14 seats, according to early trends by the Election Commission.

According to the EC's website, AAP convenor Kejriwal is leading in his New Delhi constituency.

Kejriwal reached the party office as the counting of votes got underway.

Counting centres are spread across 21 locations, spanning 70 constituencies.

Polling for the 70-member Delhi Assembly was held on Saturday.

Patna, July 1: A wedding ceremony in rural Patna a fortnight ago where the groom was running high fever, two days before he died and his body cremated without being tested for COVID 19, appears to have set off the biggest infection chain in Bihar so far, health department officials said on Tuesday.

More than 111 people have tested positive in Paliganj sub-division of Patna district, about 55 km from the state capital, in the last few days, out of over 350 who have been tested upon contact tracing, they said. Fifteen of his relatives who attended the wedding tested positive for the contagion and apparently infected others.

The officials, who requested anonymity, said the groom was a software engineer based in Gurugram and had returned home for his marriage in the last week of May. A few days after the ''tilak'' ceremony, he started showing symptoms of the disease.

On June 15, the date of wedding, he was running high fever and wanted the ceremony to be deferred, but relented upon the insistence of family members who made him swallow paracetamol tablets and go through the rituals.
On June 17, his condition deteriorated significantly and family members made a dash to AIIMS, Patna, but he died on the way.

The body was cremated in a huff, without the authorities being informed. But somebody telephoned the district magistrate and narrated the whole episode. All close relatives of the deceased, who attended the ceremony, were tested on June 19. Of them 15 tested positive, the officials said.

As a measure to contain the spread of the disease, a special camp was set up at the village where the marriage took place on June 24-26 during which samples of 364 people were collected. Of them, 86 tested positive, the officials added.

The sudden explosion of the dreaded coronavirus has triggered panic in the area. Although most who tested positive were asymptomatic, they have been admitted to isolation centres in Bihta and Phulwarisharif.

Block Development Officer Chiranjeev Pandey said Meetha Kuan, Khagari Mohalla and parts of Paliganj Bazaar have been sealed for thorough sanitisation.

Patna district happens to be the worst-affected in Bihar with 699 confirmed cases till date and five casualties, according to figures provided by the administration. The number of active cases is 372.

On Monday, when the state witnessed its biggest single day spike with 394 cases, Patna district accounted for more than 20 per cent of these. About eighty cases were reported from Paliganj alone.