India records new high of 1,26,789 cases, PM Modi takes second jab

New Delhi, Apr 8
India detected 1,26,789 new cases of the novel coronavirus in the last 24 hours, the highest so far. Of the total, Maharashtra recorded a new high of 59,907 cases, while Chhattisgarh’s count went past the 10,000-mark for the first time. Karnataka and Uttar Pradesh, too, reported more than 6,000 cases. The country also recorded 685 related deaths, pushing up the toll to 1,66,862.
India’s caseload now stands at 1,29,28,574. Registering a steady increase for the 29th day in row, the count of active cases has gone up to 9,10,319, which is 7.04% of the total infections, while the country’s recovery rate has further dropped to 91.67 per cent, the Union Health Ministry stated.
India’s Covid-19 tally had crossed the 20 lakh-mark on August 7 last year, 30 lakh on August 23, 40 lakh on September 5 and 50 lakh on September 16. It went past 60 lakh-mark on September 28 last year, 70 lakh on October 11, 80 lakh on October 29, 90 lakh on November 20 and the one crore-mark on December 19. According to the Indian Council of Medical Research, 25,26,77,379 samples have been tested for Covid-19 in the country so far, including 12,37,781 on Wednesday.
Prime Minister Modi receives second shot of Covid-19 vaccine
Prime Minister Narendra Modi Thursday received his second dose of coronavirus vaccine at Delhi’s premier All India Institute of Medical Sciences. The Prime Minister was administered the first dose of Covaxin on March 1.
“Got my second dose of the COVID-19 vaccine at AIIMS today. Vaccination is among the few ways we have, to defeat the virus. If you are eligible for the vaccine, get your shot soon,” PM Modi tweeted and shared a link to the CoWin website, a portal to register for the vaccine.
The two nurses who administered the vaccine to the Prime Minister today are P Niveda from Puducherry and Nisha Sharma from Punjab.
Madhya Pradesh announces lockdown from 6 pm tomorrow to 6 am on Monday
A lockdown will be enforced in all cities of Madhya Pradesh from 6 pm on Friday to 6 am on Monday to check the spread of the coronavirus infection, Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan said on Thursday.
Talking to reporters after chairing a meeting to review the Covid-19 situation in MP, Chouhan said his Government aims to increase the number of beds for Covid-19 patients in the State to one lakh.
“A lockdown will be enforced in all cities of the State from 6 pm on Friday to 6 am on Monday,” Chouhan said.
In the past three weeks, the State Government imposed lockdowns in Bhopal, Indore, Jabalpur and Gwalior on Sundays and extended the curbs to some other cities last Sunday.
Chouhan said various crisis management groups will hold meetings to review the situation in cities where there has been a spurt in Covid-19 cases and will decide the course of action to contain it.
New Zealand PM suspends entry for travellers from India from April 11
New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern on Thursday temporarily suspended entry for all travellers from India, including its own citizens, following a high number of positive coronavirus cases arriving from that country. The suspension will start from April 11 and will be in place until April 28. During this time the Government will look at risk management measures to resume travel.
The move comes after New Zealand recorded 23 new positive coronavirus cases at its border on Thursday, of which 17 were from India. “We are temporarily suspending entry into New Zealand for travellers from India,” Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said in a news conference in Auckland.
“I want to emphasize that while arrivals of Covid from India has prompted this measure, we are looking at how we manage high risk points of departure generally. This is not a country specific risk assessment…,” Ardern said.
Ardern added that the rolling average of positive cases has been steadily rising and hit 7 cases on Wednesday, the highest since last October.  The Indian Express