New Delhi: India recorded 3,66,161 fresh Covid-19 cases and 3,754 related deaths in the last 24 hours, the Union Ministry of Health said on Monday.

With the fresh cases and fatalities, the country’s cumulative total has mounted to 2,26,62,575 and 2,46,116, respectively.

India presently accounts for 37,45,237 cases.

However, as compared to the usual 18-19 lakh samples a day, only 14.74 lakh samples were tested on Sunday, ICMR data stated, adding that 30,37,50,077 samples have been tested up to May 10.

Total 17,01,76,603 people have been administered COVID-19 vaccines since January 16, 2021, with 6,89,652 being inoculated against the virus in the past 24 hrs.

World Health Organization’s Chief Scientist Soumya Swaminathan has said that B.1.617 variant of the coronavirus, which was detected in India back in October last year, is the reason behind the devastating Covid surge in the country. Though WHO has not added the new mutant in its ‘variant of concern’ list, Swaminathan said that B.1.617 has a higher degree of transmission rate and may also escape the vaccine immunity.

The Modi govt has so far said that the double mutant is a key factor for the second wave. But it needs more clinical research on the same, she added.

Srinagar: Urging Union Government to grant compulsory license for COVID-19 vaccines and drugs, the Doctors Association Kashmir (DAK) on Monday said that would make vaccines and life-saving Covid medicines accessible to people and save lives.

“Compulsory licensing is a provision under the patent act that enables a government to allow other pharma companies to produce the patented drugs in times of public health emergency,” he said DAK President and influenza expert Dr Nisar ul Hassan in a statement here this afternoon.

“A pharma company that develops a drug gets patent protection that prohibits other manufacturers from producing the drug for a period of 20 years,” he said adding “We should go for compulsory licensing now,”..

Dr Hassan said we are in a grave public health crisis and precious lives are being lost each day. The lives of people should take priority over everything else.

He said in order to respond to the huge demand for vaccines and drugs, there is a need to rapidly upscale production, which can only happen when there are more companies involved in manufacturing and this is possible by issuing compulsory licenses.

He said Tocilizumab, a life-saving drug for Covid is one of the patented drugs for which the government should invoke a compulsory licensing clause. “The drug which costs Rs 40,000 for a single dose is manufactured by Switzerland based pharma company Roche and is marketed by Cipla in India. Despite being on clinical protocol, there is a shortage of the drug,” he added.

The DAK President said though the patent owner of Remdesivir Gilead, a US based Pharma Company has allowed few Indian pharma houses to produce the drug, there is an increased demand amid severe second wave of the pandemic and we need to permit others to manufacture the drug.

He said in order to reach herd immunity we need to vaccinate three in five and for that the country needs 150 to160 crore doses of the vaccine. And we need them quickly. Currently, India is producing 65 million doses every month,” he said.

“This makes a crying need for patent wavering and granting of compulsory licensing for other manufacturing units to produce the vaccine,” said Dr Nisar.

Toronto: Coronavirus will become a part of the viral ecosystem — akin to the seasonal endemic flu — due to the spread of several variants of concern, according to a Canadian health expert, as per media reports.

To deal with such a spread, vaccine makers will have to adapt and modify their shots over the coming years, Dr. Alan Bernstein, an expert on Canada government’s Covid-19 Task Force, was quoted as saying to Globalnews.ca.

Canada is already negotiating with vaccine suppliers for it, he said.

“We’ve been in this journey before, of course, with [the] flu, we all get the influenza vaccine every year and every year is a different vaccine because the influenza virus changes every year,” said Bernstein.

“So those are variants, and some years, of course, the flu variants can be very serious and some years are quite mild — the ones that are serious, we don’t call them variants of concern, but we could.

“And so I think we’re going to enter into that world now with the Covid-19 variants of concern and the ones that we know about now,” Bernstein, CEO of CIFAR, a Toronto-based global research organisation, was quoted as saying.

Canada has seen the spread of the B117 variant. First discovered in the UK, B117 has become the main Covid variant in the country. It is of more concern as it is up to 65 per cent more transmissible. Another variant in the country is the more vaccine-resistant B1351 variant, initially found in South Africa.

LG urges people to strictly adhere to ‘Covid curfew’

699 people fined, 30 arrested for violating curfew: Police

Srinagar: Strict restrictions continued for the twelfth successive day on Monday in view of extension of the ‘COVID curfew’ once again till May 17 following an unabated rise in the number of fresh coronavirus cases and death in the Kashmir valley.

Lt Governor Manoj Sinha on Monday appealed to the people to strictly adhere to COVID curfew and follow all the guidelines — including wearing masks, maintaining social distance and hand hygiene — to curtail the spread of the virus.

Sinha said despite the time of festivals — including Ramadan and Eid – the decision to extend the lockdown was taken to keep everyone safe. “I once again appeal all the people to adhere to the COVID curfew and other guidelines so that precious lives can be saved and the spread of the virus can be curtailed,” he added.

The Jammu and Kashmir administration on Sunday extended the ‘COVID curfew’, which was scheduled to end on Monday, till May 17 in all 20 districts of the Union Territory. Eid-ul-Fitr, the culmination of holy fasting month of Ramadan, also falls within the extended corona curfew period.

The extension in the lockdown in the UT has come in the backdrop of unabated rise in the number of Covid-19 cases in J&K, particularly the Srinagar, which has recorded the major chunk of positive cases during the last about 28 days.

Streets continued to wear a deserted look on Monday as shops and business establishments remained closed and traffic was off the roads in Srinagar and other parts of Kashmir valley, where security forces have closed majority of the roads with barbed wires and barricades to stop the movement of people.

All the roads and market places, including Lal Chowk, the nerve centre of Srinagar, remained sealed to prevent movement of people.

Meanwhile, 699 people were fined while 30 others were arrested during the last 24 hours in Kashmir valley for violating COVID curfew and other guidelines imposed by the administration to curtail the spread of the virus.

A police spokesperson said during last 24 hours, police has arrested 30 persons, lodged 22 FIRs and also realized fine to the tune of Rs 95,600 from 699 people for violating the guidelines/rules throughout Kashmir valley.

Besides, he said 64 vehicles were also seized in Budgam, Baramulla and Shopian for violating guidelines/restrictions and indulging in illegal extraction and transportation of minerals.

“Community members are once again requested to cooperate with the Police in containing the spread of Coronavirus by following the SOPs/ guidelines/ protocols for the safety of the people. The special drive shall remain continue throughout the districts of Kashmir Valley to strengthen the safety measures,” he added.

Srinagar:  The Advisor to Lieutenant Governor, Baseer Ahmad Khan Monday asked the police to implement the lockdown strictly and ensure that only those vehicles are allowed who carry valid passes issued by the competent authority.

The Advisor issued these instructions while inspecting various police nakas established by the district administration and the District police.

The Advisor directed the officers to get 100% passengers travelling from outside tested so that no positive case sneaks into the city.

He emphasized upon the importance of breaking the chain through such measures and stressed to put a message across for the people to adopt the COVID appropriate behaviour.

Advisor Khan said staying at home, wearing masks, keeping social distancing and vaccination are primary requirement for containing the pandemic and directed the officers to sensitize the people about these precautions.

The SP Srinagar (west)  Parpreet Singh briefed the Advisor about the measures taken for implementation of lockdown and the deployment of police personnel for making the exercise result oriented.

He informed that special nakas have been set up on both National highway and old National highway aimed to check the movements of vehicles during lockdown. He assured the Advisor that the arrangements put in place would be further strengthened so that the movement of vehicles without any emergency is checked.

Srinagar: The train service has been suspended between Baramulla in north Kashmir and Banihal in Jammu region for six days from Tuesday in view of unabated rise in the number of fresh COVID-19 cases and deaths in the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir.

A Railway official told UNI that the service on 137-km-long Banihal-Baramulla route, comprising of 17 stations, will be suspended from Tuesday till May 16 to curtail the spread of the virus.

However, he said trains are plying normally as per schedule on Monday though very few people have been using the service in view of ‘COVID curfew’ imposed by administration in the valley since April 29.

The railway service on Baramulla-Banihal track was partially resumed on February 22 after remaining suspended for over 11 months due to COVID-19 pandemic.

The railway authorities had ordered suspension of train services between Banihal and Baramulla in the Kashmir division with immediate effect in March last year in view of outbreak of COVID-19 pandemic in the Union Territory. The service was initially suspended till March 31. But, the duration of suspension was extended several times due to no let up in COVID-19 cases.

In 2020, only a special train run of Kashmir’s first Luxury Glass-roofed AC train was held in September last year between Baramulla and Banihal for a documentary that was filmed on the 137-km-long rail link, which before the restrictions used to ferry over 30,000 commuters every day.

In order to make train journey in Kashmir valley comfortable and exciting, the Northern Railways in 2018 introduced the first Air-Conditioned train fitted with a glass-rooftop and bigger windowpanes for sightseeing.

However, the full-fledged operation of the special coach was not possible, first due to unrest post abrogation of special status of J&K on August 5 in 2019 and later due to COVID-19 pandemic in 2020.

Srinagar: Former minister and senior Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) leader Naeem Akhtar was on Monday released after remaining under detention for over four months in Srinagar.

However, official sources said that Akhtar was placed under house arrest at his residence in the uptown.

They said the former minister was released from MLA hostel, which was turned into sub jail, on Monday afternoon and handed over to Police Station Saddar.

“Akhtar was later shifted to his residence in Humhama in city outskirts and placed under house arrest,” they added.

Akhter, Sartaj Madni, senior PDP leader and uncle of former chief minister Mehbooba Mufti and Peerzada Mansoor Hussain were detained on December 21, 2020 ahead of result of District Development Council (DDC) elections and were lodged at MLA hostel in Srinagar. Hussain was released earlier this year while Madni remained under detention.

Hussain later resigned from PDP and joined Sajjad Lone’s People’s Conference in March this year.

PDP chief Mehbooba Mufti  had last week written a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, seeking release of all political prisoners lodged in different jails in and outside J&K.