Tag: COVID-19 pandemic

  • Pat Cummins donates $50k for COVID-hit India

    Pat Cummins donates $50k for COVID-hit India

    Pat Cummins, who has enjoyed plenty of gripping battles with India on the cricket pitch, has delivered a classy show of unity with the struggling country as it faces one of the toughest fights in the nation’s history.

    The Australian fast bowler has pledged a generous $50,000 donation to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s ‘PM Cares Fund’ to supply oxygen to hospitals overwhelmed by the COVID-19 pandemic.

    In a touching message posted on social media, Cummins announced the donation and urged fellow cricketers to donate as well.

    “India is a country I’ve come to love dearly over the years and the people here are some of the warmest and kindest I’ve ever met,” said Cummins. “To know so many are suffering so much at this time saddens me greatly.”

    Talking about the ongoing edition of Indian Premier League (IPL), Cummins said: “There has been quite a bit of discussion over here as to whether it is appropriate for the IPL to continue while COVID-19 infection rates remain high. I’m advised that the Indian government is of the view that playing the IPL while the population is in lockdown provides a few hours of joy and respite each day at an otherwise difficult time for the country.”

    “As players, we are privileged to have a platform that allows us to reach millions of people that we can use for good. With that in mind, I have made a contribution to the ‘PM Cares Fund’, specifically to purchase oxygen supplies for India’s hospitals,” said Cummins, encouraging his fellow cricketers to contribute as well.

    “I will kick it off with $50,000,” said Cummins. “At times like this, it is easy to feel helpless. I’ve certainly felt that of late. But I hope by making this public appeal we can all channel our emotions into action that will bring light into people’s lives.

    “I know my donation isn’t much in the grand scheme of things, but I hope it will make a difference to someone,” he concluded.

    Cummins, who was the most-expensive foreign player purchased in the IPL auction, has repaid the faith with some impressive performances for the Knight Riders including striking an unbeaten 66 off 34 balls in a recent match.

    Meanwhile, India in the last four days has seen fresh COVID-19 cases numbering over 300,000 per day – the worst numbers of any country since the pandemic began. The nation has tallied nearly 17 million cases in total, and hospitals have been overrun in the latest wave of infections.

    While three Australian cricketers – Kane Richardson, Adam Zampa, and Andrew Tye – abandoned the league and returned to Australia, Cummins opted to stay there and contribute towards the cause.

    IPL will continue its 2021 edition as per schedule, organisers said on Sunday, even as the tournament faced heavy criticism for the plan as India grapples with a massive surge in coronavirus cases.

  • Indian actor thanks Pakistan for ‘bada dill’ amid COVID

    Swara Bhasker has thanked Pakistan for showing kindness to India “during this devastating times”.

    “Heartening to see Pakistani civil society and social media reach out in solidarity and kindness to India, during this devastating time,” wrote the actor on social media.

    She continued: “This despite the fact that our media and mainstream public discourse have consistently mocked and vilified Pakistanis.”

    “Thank you for your bada bada dil padosi,” she added.

    Twitter in Pakistan trended with hashtags showing solidarity to India, which also melted Kangana Ranaut’s heart, prompting her to thank Pakistan for extending prayers.

    Prime Minister Imran Khan and other cabinet members also extended their prayers for India and Faisal Edhi had also written a letter to Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi offering help in tackling COVID-19 in India.

    Atif Aslam also extended his prayers for the neighbouring country.

    India recorded over 350,000 new COVID-19 cases in the last 24 hours ending 8 am Monday, taking the country’s total infections to over 1.73 crores. Of these, over 28 lakh cases are currently active while 1.43 crore people have recovered after testing positive. With 2,812 new fatalities, the death toll is now over 1.95 lakh, The Indian Express has reported.

    As per Indian media reports, from the first wave of COVID-19, the demand for medical oxygen had increased from 700 metric tonnes per day to 2,800 metric tonnes per day. However, in the past few days, the demand has reached nearly 5,000 metric tonnes per day.

  • Indian woman gets married to COVID positive man in PPE kit

    Indian woman gets married to COVID positive man in PPE kit

    An Indian couple recently tied the knot inside a coronavirus ward at the Alappuzha Media College in Kerala. Sarath Mon and Abhirami got married inside the Covid ward after the groom tested COVID-19 positive a few days back. The bride showed up at the hospital in a PPE kit.

    According to details, Sarath, who was working abroad, had tested positive during the arrangements of his wedding. Later, his mother was also tested positive for the virus. Both Sarath and his mother Jijimol were admitted to the Covid ward.

    After taking necessary permissions from the District Collector and other concerned authorities, the marriage was held inside the ward. The bride and a relative entered inside the Covid ward in a PPE.

    The family and relatives decided to hold the marriage on the fixed date on April 25 instead of delaying it further.

    Read more – ‘Distance makes the heart grow fonder’: Mumbai Police tells man wanting to see girlfriend amid lockdown

    The groom’s mother handed over the garlands to the couple and they tied the knot.

  • The deadly COVID-19 third wave

    The deadly COVID-19 third wave

    On Sunday, 5,611 people tested positive for COVID-19. The third wave of coronavirus seems to be spreading quite fast. On Saturday, 157 people died due to coronavirus in Pakistan. This was the highest number ever recorded since the pandemic broke out in the country. Last year the highest number of deaths was 153 in June. 
    On the other hand, people are not following basic SOPs like wearing masks or sanitising hands or maintaining social distancing. The interior ministry has notified army deployment for the implementation of COVID-19 SOPs. Hopefully, people will now follow SOPs. 

    In the wake of the third coronavirus wave, the government has started walk-in vaccination for those between the age of 60 to 64. But the problem is that the vaccination process in Pakistan is quite slow. According to a report in Dawn, if Pakistan continues its vaccination drive at this rate, “it will take more than three years to cover 20 per cent of the country’s population”. Even the private vaccines are not much in numbers. Unless and until we accelerate our vaccination drive, it will be very difficult to deal with this pandemic.
    We have seen how horrible the situation is in neighbouring India. Prime Minister Imran Khan and several cabinet ministers as well as many Pakistanis expressed their solidarity with India. Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi tweeted: “As a gesture of solidarity with the people of India in the wake of the current wave of COVID-19, Pakistan has officially offered relief and support to India, including ventilators, Bi PAP, digital X-ray machines, PPEs and other related items.” Qureshi added that Pakistan believes in a policy of humanity first. 
    We should not take the situation in India lightly. No hospital beds and acute oxygen shortage in India is scary. Unfortunately, the hospital capacity in Pakistan as well as oxygen supply is  also reaching its capacity. Some hospitals in cities like Islamabad are full. ICU beds were more than 90 per cent full a few days ago in Lahore. Oxygen supply ended in two hospitals in Quetta. This is all frightening but real. 
    We need to be more careful and follow SOPs strictly while the government needs to focus more on the vaccination process.

  • Twitter censors tweets of lawmakers, filmmakers, MPs on Modi govt orders

    Twitter censors tweets of lawmakers, filmmakers, MPs on Modi govt orders

    At the request of the Modi government, Twitter has removed almost 50 tweets by influential people that criticised Modi for mishandling the COVID-19 pandemic.

    According to reports, the Indian government issued an emergency order to Twitter on Friday to censor 52 tweets.

    Among them were tweets from a lawmaker named Revnath Reddy, a minister in the state of West Bengal named Moloy Ghatak, and a filmmaker named Avinash Das.

    According to a spokesperson of Twitter, the accounts were notified in advance that their content will be withheld at the request of the Indian government.

    The spokesperson further added that the company made these tweets unable to be viewed because they violated the local law.

    Indian government cited Information Technology Act, 2020 that were violated by these Twitter accounts.

    “When we receive a valid legal request, we review it under both the Twitter Rules and local law. If the content violates Twitter’s Rules, the content will be removed from the service,” said the Twitter spokesperson. “If it is determined to be illegal in a particular jurisdiction, but not in violation of the Twitter Rules, we may withhold access to the content in India only. In all cases, we notify the account holder directly so they’re aware that we’ve received a legal order about the account.”

    Besides, this is not the first time Twitter has bowed down against the pressure of the Indian government. In February, when framers were protesting in Delhi, more than 500 Twitter accounts were removed at the request of the Indian government.

    The Indian government issued a notice of noncompliance to Twitter, and the employees could face jail time if the company refused to comply with the order.

    India is in the midst of a deadly second wave of COVID-19 cases, which has made ventilators, medicine, and oxygen scarce.

    According to the Johns Hopkins coronavirus resource centre, India reported 346,786 new cases of the coronavirus on Friday, a new record high, and 2,624 deaths, also a new record. Less than 1.5 per cent of the country’s population has been fully vaccinated.

  • In a first, Kangana thanks Pakistan for extending prayers

    Bollywood actress Kangana Ranaut has made headlines every now and then. Apart from her argument on nepotism, the actress has also been very vocal about her dislike of Pakistan. However, as Twitter in Pakistan trends with hashtags showing solidarity to India, Kangana’s heart, too, turned soft. But she was still misinformed about one detail.

    Taking to Twitter, Kangana wrote: “Heartwarming to see top trend from Pakistan #PakistanstandswithIndia. Narendra Modi provided the country with the vaccine. Nice to see them appreciate his kindness and reciprocate with love. We too acknowledge their empathy in these testing times.” But the actress was misinformed about the vaccine available in Pakistan.

    Pakistan is currently administering Sinopharm and Sputnik, which have been sent from China and Russia, respectively. Some users also clarified that the vaccines in Pakistan were not supplied to them by India.

    https://twitter.com/Little_knightss/status/1385846303574269953?s=19
    https://twitter.com/talkingcurves/status/1385834239837540352?s=19

    As of Saturday, the coronavirus death toll in India stood at 1,66,10,481 with 2,624 fatalities reported in 24 hours, out of which Maharashtra saw the maximum casualties (773) followed by Delhi with 348 daily deaths, reported the Hindustan Times.

    People across the country are scrambling for life-saving oxygen supplies, while patients lay dying outside hospitals. There is a shortage of life-saving medicines and hospital beds too.

    Meanwhile, Prime Minister Imran Khan has also expressed solidarity for the people of India in the current wave of COVID-19.

  • Prayers for India: PM Imran, cabinet ministers tweet in solidarity

    On Saturday, Prime Minister (PM) Imran Khan tweeted:

    “I want to express our solidarity with the people of India as they battle a dangerous wave of COVID-19. Our prayers for a speedy recovery go to all those suffering from the pandemic in our neighbourhood & the world. We must fight this global challenge confronting humanity together.”

    Information Minister Fawad Chaudhry tweeted that in these difficult times, “our prayers are with people of India”.

    Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi expressed support for the people of India in the current wave of COVID-19.

    Apart from PM Imran and cabinet ministers, Pakistanis also expressed their solidarity with India. #PakistanStandsWithIndia trended as number 1 on Twitter.

    Yesterday, Faisal Edhi wrote to Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi offering help in tackling COVID-19 in India.

    According to BBC, India has recorded nearly a million infections in three days, with 346,786 new cases overnight into Saturday. [hyperlink

  • VIDEO: Indian police officer requests Muslims to pray for coronavirus pandemic to end

    VIDEO: Indian police officer requests Muslims to pray for coronavirus pandemic to end

    A video of a police officer in Mumbai requesting the Muslim community to pray for the coronavirus pandemic to end during Ramzan on a loudspeaker has gone viral on social media.

    “Main ne suna hai kay taraweeh ki namaz mein bohat jaldi suni jati hai to aap namaz me yahi mangna ke COVID hamare shehar se, hamare daish se jaldi chala jae (I have heard that Taraweeh prayers are heard, so please that COVID leaves our city and the country soon), the policeman can be heard saying in the video.

    Meanwhile, Pakistanis are extended their prayers for residents of it’s neighbouring country as India fights a deadly second wave.

    Prime Minister Imran Khan, Minister for Information and Broadcasting Fawad Chaudhry and Minister for Foreign Affairs Shah Mahmood Qureshi also extended their prayers for India.

    #PakistanstandswithIndia and #IndiaNeedOxygen were some of the top trends on the microblogging website.

    Farhan Saeed, Shaan and Shoaib Akhtar were also among those who prayed for those suffering in India.

    Earlier on Friday, the Managing Trustee of Edhi Foundation Faisal Edhi wrote a letter to Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and offered help to manage the deadly second wave of coronavirus in India.

    India posted a record tally of 346,786 coronavirus cases in the last 24 hours, while daily deaths from COVID-19 also jumped by a record, government data released on Saturday showed.

    As per Indian media outlets, from the first wave of COVID-19, the demand for medical oxygen had increased from 700 metric tonnes per day to 2,800 metric tonnes per day. However, in the past few days, the demand has reached nearly 5,000 metric tonnes per day.

  • Learn how to wear a mask from Madhuri Dixit

    India is in the grip of a deadly second wave of the coronavirus. During the ongoing crisis in the country, people are trying to help in every way they can.

    Madhuri Dixit also stepped in to play her part by posting a video of herself showing how to properly wear a mask to avoid getting infected with the virus.

    In the video, Madhuri can be seen showing the right and the wrong way of wearing a mask.

    On Thursday, India marked a grim milestone in the COVID-19 pandemic reporting 314,835 new cases in the last 24 hours, the highest one-day tally anywhere, Reuters has reported. The previous record one-day rise in cases was held by the United States, which had 297,430 new cases on one day in January, though its tally has since fallen sharply.

    Meanwhile, India will let all citizens aged over 18 get COVID-19 vaccinations from May 1, the government said on Monday.

    Meanwhile, at least 22 patients died on April 21 in a hospital in western India after a disruption to their oxygen supply caused by a leaking tank, the health minister said, as a nationwide surge in coronavirus cases soaks up supplies of the crucial gas.

  • 22 COVID patients die after oxygen leak in Indian hospital

    22 COVID patients die after oxygen leak in Indian hospital

    At least 22 patients died on Wednesday in a hospital in western India after a disruption to their oxygen supply caused by a leaking tank, the health minister said, as a nationwide surge in coronavirus cases soaks up supplies of the crucial gas.

    The incident in the city of Nashik, one of India’s worst-hit areas, happened after the tank of gas leaked, said Rajesh Tope, the health minister of Maharashtra, the richest state, where the city is located.

    “Patients who were on ventilators at the hospital in Nashik have died,” Tope said in televised remarks.

    “The leakage was spotted at the tank supplying oxygen to these patients. The interrupted supply could be linked to the deaths of the patients in the hospital.”

    The world’s second-most populous nation reported 295,041 new infections on Wednesday for the world’s highest daily rise, stretching its hospitals to breaking point, officials said.

    On Tuesday, hospitals in Delhi, the capital, said they had enough oxygen left for just another eight to 24 hours, while some private institutions had enough for only four or five.

    The situation was so severe that some people had tried to loot an oxygen tanker, forcing authorities to beef up security, said the health minister of the neighbouring state of Haryana.

    “From now, I’ve ordered police protection for all tankers,” Anil Vij told Reuters.

    Television showed images of people with empty oxygen cylinders crowding refilling facilities as they scrambled to save stricken relatives in hospital.

    “We were completely blocked out of supplies yesterday but by the end of the day we received some and it is helping us today,” said Charu Sachdeva, an official at the state-run Rajiv Gandhi Cancer Institute & Research Centre in the capital.

    In the northern city of Lucknow, one man said a hospital had asked him to arrange oxygen supplies for his uncle or take him away since it had run out.

    Delhi, a city of 20 million people, recorded 28,395 new cases and 277 deaths on Tuesday, its highest tally since the pandemic began. Every third person tested for coronavirus proved positive. Several high-profile figures like former PM Manmohan Singh and former Congress president Rahul Gandhi have also tested positive for the virus.

    Read more – PM Imran wishes Manmohan Singh a speedy recovery

    About 80 of 142 hospitals in Delhi had no beds left for virus patients, government figures showed.

    India faces a coronavirus “storm” overwhelming its health system, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said in a national address overnight, adding that authorities were working with states and private firms to deliver oxygen with “speed and sensitivity”.

    Delhi, like large parts of India, let its guard down when the virus seemed to be under control, allowing big gatherings such as weddings and festivals as daily infections fell to fewer than 1,000 during the winter, health experts said.