Oman lifts ban on eggs from India

New Delhi, May 6: The death toll due to COVID-19 rose to 1,694 and the number of cases climbed to 49,391 in the country on Wednesday, registering an increase of 126 deaths and 2,958 cases in the last 24 hours, the Union Health Ministry said.

The number of active COVID-19 cases is 33,514. A total of 13,160 people have recovered and one patient has migrated, it said.

"Thus, around 28.71 per cent patients have recovered so far," a senior health ministry official said.

The total number of cases include 111 foreign nationals.

A total of 111 deaths were reported since Tuesday evening, of which 49 fatalities were reported from Gujarat, 34 from Maharashtra, 12 from Rajasthan, seven from West Bengal, three from Uttar Pradesh, two each from Punjab and Tamil Nadu and one each from Karnataka and Himachal Pradesh, the ministry said.

Of the 1,694 fatalities, Maharashtra tops the tally with 617 fatalities. Gujarat comes second with 368 deaths, followed by Madhya Pradesh at 176, West Bengal at 140, Rajasthan at 89, Delhi at 64, Uttar Pradesh at 56 and Andhra Pradesh at 36.

The death toll reached 33 in Tamil Nadu, 29 in Telengana, while Karnataka has reported 29 fatalities.

Punjab has registered 25 COVID-19 deaths, Jammu and Kashmir eight, Haryana six and Kerala and Bihar four deaths each.

Jharkhand has recorded three COVID-19 fatalities.

Meghalaya, Chandigarh, Himachal Pradesh, Odisha, Assam and Uttarakhand have reported one fatality each, according to the ministry data.

According to the health ministry data updated in the morning, the highest number of confirmed cases in the country are from Maharashtra at 15, 525, followed by Gujarat at 6,245, Delhi at 5,104, Tamil Nadu at 4,058, Rajasthan at 3,158, Madhya Pradesh at 3,049 and Uttar Pradesh at 2,880.

The number of COVID-19 cases has gone up to 1,717 in Andhra Pradesh and 1,451 in Punjab.

It has risen to 1,344 in West Bengal, 1,096 in Telengana, 741 in Jammu and Kashmir, 671 in Karnataka, 548 in Haryana and 536 in Bihar.

Kerala has reported 502 coronavirus cases so far, while Odisha has 175 cases. A total of 125 people have been infected with the virus in Jharkhand and 111 in Chandigarh.

Uttarakhand has reported 61 cases, Chhattisgarh 59 cases, Assam 43, Himachal Pradesh 42 and Ladakh 41.

Thirty-three COVID-19 cases have been reported from the Andaman and Nicobar Islands.

Tripura has registered 43 cases, Meghalaya has reported 12 and Puducherry nine, while Goa has seven COVID-19 cases.

Manipur has two cases. Mizoram, Arunachal Pradesh and Dadar and Nagar Haveli have reported a case each.

"Our figures are being reconciled with the ICMR," the ministry said on its website.

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

Tehran, May 17: As many as 310 Indian pilgrims departed from Tehran, Iran for New Delhi by Mahan Air on Saturday. The group hails from Ladakh and will later go home to Leh by special flights.

"A group of 310 Indian pilgrims, hailing from Ladakh, departed Tehran for New Delhi by Mahan Air tonight (16th May). 
Thereafter, they'll go home to Leh by special flights," Embassy of India in Iran wrote on Twitter.

On Saturday, Minister of Civil Aviation, Hardeep Singh Puri said that over 13,000 people have returned under the Vande Bharat repatriation mission till date.

"More than 13,000 people have already returned on various flights under Mission Vande Bharat so far. Today, 812 citizens have returned on Air India and AirIndia Express flights from Newark, London, Dubai and Abu Dhabi. More flights continue," Puri wrote on Twitter.

Vande Bharat Mission, which started on May 7 to bring back stranded Indian nationals back home from other countries, initiated its second phase of the operation from Saturday (May 16) by sending three Air India flights to Dubai and Abu Dhabi.

Under the second phase of Vande Bharat Mission a total of 149 flights, including feeder flights, will be operated to bring back Indians from 40 countries. 

Thiruvananthapuram, Apr 27: Over 1.5 lakh Non-Resident Keralites (NRK)s, stranded in various countries, have registered online for returningto the state, once the Centre gives the nod and air services resume

The Norka (Non Resident Keralites Affairs) department had commenced the registration process at around 6pm on Sunday and within an hour 25,000 had registered, government sources said.

Till Monday morning, over 1.5 lakh NRKs have registered, the maximum is from UAE-- over 60,000.

The aged, pregnant women, children, critically ill patients, those with expired visas and those who had gone abroad on visiting visa are among thelarge numbers of people who are waiting to return.

Those wanting to return, have to get themselves tested for COVID-19 in the respective countries, where they are and register after getting a negative certificate for the infection.

Theregistration is for arranging quarantine facilitiesin the state, if necessary, and not for getting any priority on flight bookings,the sources said.

After the NRKs register themselves, the government would draw up a list on how to bring them back as per priority.