Health workers in mobile Covid-19 testing van take swab samples of the public to process Rapid testing in New Ashok Nagar, in New Delhi on Tuesday, July 21, 2020. Express photo by Abhinav Saha
Kerala, for the first time on Wednesday, breached the 1000-mark in Covid-19 cases in a single day after it declared 1038 more positive cases on Wednesday. Out of this, 785 cases are due to local transmission. While addressing a press conference, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan said the state may go for complete lockdown again as the Covid-19 cases are on the rise. “We had previously implemented a complete lockdown in the state. We are aware of such viewpoints (complete lockdown).Although it has not been decided yet, I think we will have to consider it,” he said.
India, the third ranked country, reported 37,724 new cases of the novel coronavirus and 648 deaths in the 24 hours ending 9 am Wednesday, the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare said. This took the country’s tally to 11,82,915, including 4,11,133 active cases, 7,53,050 recoveries and 28,732 deaths.
In other news, the Jammu and Kashmir administration has announced a six-day lockdown in the valley, except for Bandipore district, to stem the spread of virus. Bhopal will also be under lockdown from July 24 to August 3.
In New Delhi, the serological survey conducted by the National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) to assess the exposure of the coronavirus in the population showed an over 20 per cent prevalence of Covid in eight of the 11 districts in Delhi. Further, it also indicated that over 77 per cent were vulnerable to the virus.
Globally, the number of coronavirus infections in the world crossed 15 million Wednesday. There are now 15,009,213 cases of Covid-19, at least triple the number of severe influenza illnesses recorded annually. The country worst hit by the pandemic is the United States, followed by Brazil. At least 616,000 people have succumbed to the disease. President Donald Trump reiterated India was second after the United States in testing samples for Covid-19. “We’re going to be over 50 million tests,” Trump said at a news conference Tuesday, adding that the “second country is India with 12 million (tests)”. According to a tally released by the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) on Wednesday, India had conducted nearly 15 million tests.
Health team taking samples for testing in Panchkula. (Express photo: Jaipal Singh)
The Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) reported the highest number of Covid-19 cases in a city, 2,111, in India on Wednesday, as per data provided by the Maharashtra government. PMC reported over 700 more cases than the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) in Mumbai, the city with the second highest number of cases, at 1,310.
A day before, PMC had reported 1,678, cases over 600 more cases than BMC, which recorded 992 cases.
But while the number of new patients has increased in PMC areas, the number of deaths due to the infection is lower than BMC areas, with 22, 40 and 36 deaths reported on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, respectively, compared to the 41, 62 and 58 deaths reported by BMC. Read more
Punjab on Wednesday recorded 414 novel coronavirus cases, its largest single-day spike in infections, bringing the tally to 11,301, according to official medical bulletin. Earlier, the state had witnessed the biggest single-day jump of 411 cases on July 20.
Six more people succumbed to Covid-19, pushing the death toll to 269. The fatalities were reported from Jalandhar (men aged 74 and 78), Ludhiana (70-year-man), Patiala (62-year-man), Gurdaspur (80-year-man) and Hoshiarpur (52-year-man).
As per the bullletin, Hoshiarpur reported maximum new cases (81), followed by Ludhiana (73) and Patiala (50). Jalandhar reported 41 new cases, Mohali 30 and Fazilka 25. Ludhiana breached the 2,000 mark, with district tally reaching 2059 Wednesday.
The Centre on Wednesday informed the Madras high court that 58 more Vande Bharat Mission flights are scheduled to land in Tamil Nadu returning stranded residents of the state from across the globe due to the COVID-19 induced lockdown.
"Of them, 41 will land in Chennai, 11 in Trichy, 4 in Coimbatore, and 2 in Madurai," additional solicitor general of India R Sankaranarayanan said.
Recording it, a division bench of Justice M M Sundresh and Justice R Hemalatha cited a report published in an English daily.
According to the article, three flights from Dubai and Abu Dhabi were reported to have landed in Chennai empty as there were no passengers to take the flights.
To this, senior advocate P Wilson representing DMK said that travel agents are booking the whole flight and later selling the tickets at high rates.
Wilson further submitted that only because of court intervention more Vande Bharat Mission flights were provided which helped all the stranded passengers to reach their destinations till today. PTI
Manipur Chief Minister N. Biren Singh on Wednesday announced 7 days total lockdown in the entire state starting Thursday afternoon which may be extended upto 14 days. The lockdown will come into force from 2 PM. Briefing the media, the Chief Minister said that the decision was taken by the state cabinet in an emergency meeting held on Thursday evening in view of the rising cases of COVID-19 particularly cases without travel history.
To strictly enforce the lockdown the cabinet has also resolved to impose a total curfew during the lockdown period, he said adding that essential service related activities will be exempted from the purview of the lockdown.
The Madhya Pradesh government on Wednesday announced lockdonw in Bhopal will remain from July 24 to August 3 to contain the spread of virus. The state has recorded 747 new COVID-19 cases, taking the cumulative count to 24,842 in the state, officials said. At 157, Bhopal reported the highest number of cases in the day, followed by 114 in Indore and 43 in Gwalior, they said. The total count of cases in Indore, Bhopal and Gwalior districts now stands at 6,339, 4,669 and 1,798, respectively.
With a very interesting point of view, RBI Chair Professor Sunny Jose says: " Pandemics create unforeseen disruptions and challenges and force us to resort to strategies or measures to offset their impacts which may create dependencies and disparities. However, such dependencies and disparities neither evolve naturally nor in a vacuum. They build on and exacerbate the prevalent hierarchies and inequalities. Intensive demand on care and domestic work by women during the present pandemic takes advantage of the patriarchal structure, which relegates care work largely to women in India. In multiple ways, COVID-19 has contributed to lowering women’s well-being and freedom, and to the regressive phenomenon of the housewife." Read more
While addressing a press conference, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan said the state may go for complete lockdown again as the Covid-19 numbers are on the rise."We had previously implemented a complete lockdown in the state. We are aware of such viewpoints (complete lockdown).Although it has not been decided yet, I think we will have to consider it," he said.
Kerala breached the 1000-mark in Covid-19 cases in a single day for the first time after it declared 1038 more positive cases on Wednesday. Out of this, 785 cases are due to local transmission, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan said while addressing a press conference.
Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur said he was going into self-quarantine after a deputy secretary in his office tested positive for the novel coronavirus on Wednesday, PTI reported.
— With 37,724 new cases, India’s COVID-19 caseload on Wednesday is 11,92,915. The country recorded 684 deaths in 24 hours.
— The country, however, recorded highest-ever COVID-19 recoveries in 24 hours and over 28,000 have been discharged
— The Govt has extended work from home norms for IT companies till Dec 31
- J&K imposed a six-day lockdown across Kashmir Valley, except for Bandipore district, to stem the spread of virus
— Delhi government plans more monthly sero-surveys, next to be done in August
— Globally, COVID-19 infections cross 15 million mark, death toll soars to 616,958
— US President Trump said that US is leading the world in testing and India is at second position
— Brazil approves clinical trials for potential Covid-19 vaccine
— Thailand to extend emergency decree until end of August
— Indian-origin nurse Kala Narayanasamy has been conferred with President’s Award in Singapore for serving on the frontline during pandemic
The Madhya Pradesh government will not organise traditional public functions to mark the Independence Day this year in view of the coronavirus crisis, state Home Minister Narottam Mishra said on Wednesday. Instead only an official flag hoisting programme will be held in the state capital which will be attended by chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan and other members of the Cabinet. The parade and other programmes also stand cancelled. This decision was taken in the cabinet meeting held here this morning.
The Delhi government has now decided to conduct more monthly sero-surveys to find greater percentage of such people who had got infected and recovered, so as to formulate better policies for tackling COVID-19, he said. On a query that there were reports of some people trying to indulge in monetary transactions for convalescent plasma, Jain warned that "strict action" will be taken if anyone tries to buy or sell plasma.
The Jammu and Kashmir administration has imposed a six-day lockdown across Kashmir Valley, except for Bandipore district, to stem the spread of COVID-19, officials said on Wednesday. The lockdown, which comes into effect on Wednesday evening, will be reviewed after six days, they said. There were 502 fresh cases in the Valley on Wednesday. The number of cases in Jammu and Kashmir has risen to 15,258, according to Union Health Ministry figures.
The railways has spent an additional Rs three lakh per non-AC coach and Rs 6 lakh per AC coach to ensure safety of passengers during and after the COVID-19 pandemic with these specially designed coaches, a senior official said Tuesday. Here's the break-up.
Opening a new front to the debate whether N95 masks can really offer protection from the novel coronavirus, the Union Health Ministry has warned against the use of such masks with valved respirators, which is basically the raised plastic disk that is embedded in the fibre. What are N95 masks? How many types of N95 masks are there? What is the function of the valve in an N95 mask? What is the concern raised by the Health Ministry? Read Abhishek De's explainer
Across the country, a little less than 38,000 new cases were detected on Tuesday, taking India’s total caseload to 11.93 lakh, of which 7.53 have recovered from the disease. The sharpest rise continued to come from Andhra Pradesh, which reported close to 5,000 new infections.
Results of two different serological surveys, one in Delhi and the other in Mumbai, were announced on Tuesday. Both the surveys found the presence of novel Coronavirus-specific antibodies in slightly less than 25 per cent of those tested. This could mean that in either of these cities, there were chances that about 25 per cent of the city’s population had already been infected by the virus, if we assume that the disease was uniformly spread in the population. Read Amitabh Sinha's explainer
The Goa education department is likely to begin the new session in September, state education director Santosh Amonkar told PTI. The calendar has been advanced due to Covid-19. It usually begins in June. Higher classes are likely to begin first, and the syllabus may be reduced.
"We are expecting that at least by September we should be able to start the schools," Amonkar said. "Even if we start the schools, it would be in a staggered manner."
The Tamil Nadu government has issued an order with guidelines for pooled testing of Covid-19 in 21 districts in the state. These are areas with a positivity rate of 2-5 per cent.
The districts where pooled testing can now take place include Pudukottai, Tirunelveli, Tiruvhirapalli, Villupuram, Thiruvarur, Tenkasi, Ariyalur, Nagapattinam, Perambalur, Salem, Kanyakumari, Tirupattur, Krishnagiri, Coimbatore, The Nilgiris, Thanjavur, Dharmapuri, Tiruppur, Karur, Namakkal and Erode.
As long queues and hustle bustle returns to the Golden Temple, the authorities are in a fix on how to make the pilgrims at Golden Temple to wear masks, a critical protection that can go a long way in breaking the Covid-19 chain. Currently both the pilgrims and even those performing sewa at the Golden Temple could be seen moving around without masks, reports Kamaldeep Singh Brar.
“We gave clear instructions to the devotees to wear the mask. Our sewadar, standing inside the premises of Golden Temple, repeatedly keep telling the devotees to put on masks and follow all other Covid-19 protocol. We can only advise not force the devotees to wear masks,” said SGPC secretary Mahinder Singh Ahali.
The number of trains running with over 100 per cent occupancy in India fell to 23 on Monday. Last Friday, at least 68 trains were operational. This is because people are only undertaking essential travel. The Indian Railways operates 230 "special trains" on important routes now, as compared to before the pandemic, when over 13,000 daily trains would run. Read more here
A new study has found that respiratory droplets from a cough or sneeze travel farther and last longer in humid, cold climates than in hot, dry ones. Conducted by researchers from University of California San Diego (UCSD) Indian Institute of Science (Bengaluru) and University of Toronto, the study is published in the journal Physics of Fluids. Read this explainer by Kabir Firaque
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee Tuesday urged the people of the state not to fear Covid-19, and said her administration would ramp up testing and contact tracing to control its spread. Speaking at her party’s online Martyrs’ Day rally, Mamata said she would ensure testing is increased to 25,000 samples a day by August 15. At present, the state is testing an average of 12,000 samples a day.
“More testing and (contact) tracing is necessary to control this disease. Don’t panic. It’s true that the number of Covid-infected people is increasing, but we are doing well,” she said.
The number of coronavirus infections in the world crossed 15 million Wednesday, according to Reuters tally. There are now 15,009,213 cases of Covid-19, at least triple the number of severe influenza illnesses recorded annually. The country worst hit by the pandemic is the United States, followed by Brazil. At least 616,000 people have succumbed to the disease.
A new study published in the New England Journal of Medicine has found Covid-19 immunity does not last long for patients who experienced mild symptoms of the disease. The researchers found that antibody levels fell quickly, and, in fact, fell faster than with SARS. Read more here
On Tuesday, India reported 37,724 new cases of the novel coronavirus and 648 deaths, the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare has said. This takes the country's tally to 11,82,915, including 4,11,133 active cases, 7,53,050 recoveries and 28,732 deaths.
President Donald Trump Wednesday reiterated India was second after the United States in testing samples for Covid-19. “We’re going to be over 50 million tests,” Trump said at a news conference, adding that the “second country is India with 12 million (tests)”. According to the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), India has conducted close to 11 million test.
Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao Tuesday directed officials to file an affidavit in court with the state's Covid-related information. This includes the number of tests and courses of treatment being performed in the state. Rao's direction came a day after the Telangana High Court pulled up the government for failing to implement its earlier orders on Covid issues. The next hearing is on July 28.
The Centre has extended norms for work from home for IT and BPO companies till December 31. The norms were to expire on July 31. 'DoT has further extended the relaxations in the terms and conditions for other service providers up to 31st December 2020 to facilitate work from home in view of the ongoing concern due to COVID-19,' the Department of Telecommunications tweeted.
According to news agency PTI, around 85 per cent of the IT workforce is currently working from home. Very few people, wo are in charge of critical functions are going to offices.
India and Spain on Tuesday agreed to strengthen bilateral economic relations for post-COVID recovery and exchanged views on key global issues including counter-terrorism and multilateral cooperation at international fora.
The sixth Foreign Office consultations between India and Spain were held virtually with the Indian side led by Vikas Swarup, Secretary (West) in the Ministry of External Affairs, and the Spanish side by Cristina Gallach, Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, Ibero-America and Caribbean.
Both sides exchanged views on COVID-19 response and in the context of post-COVID recovery priorities, they discussed their reforms and opportunities for enhancing bilateral economic cooperation, the MEA said in a statement.
The two sides reviewed agreements under consideration and ways to strengthen economic, business, cultural, scientific, educational and people-level cooperation, it said.
They also agreed to take forward the bilateral agenda, including through exchanges between the two sides, the MEA said. PTI
The Manipur Government Thursday imposed a total curfew in Thoubal district following the rise in COVID-19 cases Manipur Chief Secretary issued an order stating that the curfew will be in place until further order. The order said that no inter-district movement including passing through Thoubal district would be allowed except for essential services.
The curfew was imposed a day after four persons including a Gram Rozgar Sewak (GRS) and representatives of Panchayati Raj Institute (PRI) in Thoubal tested positive for the virus.
Manipur Health department has said that as many as 25 persons were tested positive for COVID-19 in the last 24 hours of which four are non-returnees with local contacts histories.
Immediately after the confirmation of the positive cases without travel history, the district authority has closed down all banks and post offices Meanwhile, the general OPD of the Regional Institute of Medical Sciences (RIMS) Imphal was closed till Saturday after an attendant of the department of Respiratory Medicine of the Institute tested positive for COVID-19. This is the second positive case at the institute without travel history and not assigned for COVID-19 duty.
(Report from Leivon Jimmy, Imphal)
Updates COVID-19 tally in different states on Tuesday
* 210 new COVID-19 cases in Uttarakhand, tally 4,849, active cases 1,459
* 381 new COVID-19 cases in Punjab, tally 10,889, active cases 3,237; toll rises to 263 with 2 more deaths
* West Bengal's COVID-19 death toll rises to 1,182 with 35 more fatalities; 2,261 fresh cases push infection tally to 47,030
* 604 new COVID-19 cases in Haryana, tally 27,462, active cases 6,164; toll rises to 364 with 9 more deaths
* 9 more COVID-19 cases in Nagaland, tally 1,030, active cases 545
* Highest single-day spike of 1,026 COVID-19 cases in Gujarat, tally 50,465, active cases 11,861; toll rises to 2,201 with 34 more deaths
* With 199 new coronavirus cases, Ahmedabad's tally rises to 24,767; 6 patients die, taking toll to 1,557
* 4,965 new COVID-19 cases in Tamil Nadu, tally rises to 1.80 lakh, active cases 51,344; toll rises to 2,626 with 75 more deaths
* 25 new COVID-19 cases in Sikkim, tally 330, active cases 222
* Maharashtra's COVID-19 tally rises to 3,27,031 with 8,369 fresh cases; 246 new deaths take toll to 12,276
* 720 new COVID-19 cases in Kerala, tally 13,994, active cases 8,056
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Tuesday promised more policy interventions to revive the economy, and emphasised that green shoots are visible and the agriculture sector is driving growth. Indicators like electricity and fuel consumption, inter and intra-state movement of goods, PMI data and retail financial transactions are witnessing a pick-up, she said.
Speaking at the India Ideas Summit, Sitharaman said the government has announced a stimulus package totalling 10 per cent of the GDP which was having its impact on economic revival. "All options are open...interventions will happen in future," Sitharaman said, assuring the industry that the government will not shy away from taking more steps to ensure early revival of the economy. The minister further said the "agriculture sector is driving the growth." (PTI)
The Jammu and Kashmir government Tuesday cancelled this year’s Amarnath Yatra in wake of the coronavirus pandemic.
At the 39th Board meeting of the shrine chaired by Lieutenant Governor Girish Chandra Murmu, it was decided to cancel the annual Hindu pilgrimage this year “in larger public interest”.
“The Board was informed that the arrangements were on track since February 2020, but due to nationwide lockdown and the pandemic, the State Executive Committee, J&K has still continued to keep religious places and places of worship closed for the public. These prohibitions continue till 31st July,” said a government press release.
Last week, the Supreme Court had declined to entertain a plea seeking its intervention to restrain public participation in the Amarnath Yatra and left it for the administration to decide, keeping in view the relevant factors.
The coronavirus tally in Mumbai's slum colony of Dharavi surpassed the 2,500-mark on Tuesday with the addition of 10 new cases, the city civic body said.
According to a senior BMC (Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation) official, the tally of COVID-19 cases in the slum -dominated area rose to 2,502 with 10 new infections.
He said Dharavi now has 151 active COVID-19 cases, while the number of recovered patients stood at 2,101.
The civic body has, however, stopped sharing figures of COVID-19 deaths, if any, in Dharavi since last month.
Spread over 2.5 square kilometres, Dharavi is considered as one of the largest slums in Asia with a population of over 6.5 lakh. (PTI)
Gujarat adds over 1,000 COVID-19 cases in a day, taking overall tally to 50,400 cases.
1) An additional 3 lakh per non-AC coach, 6 lakh per AC coach to ensure safe travel
2) Specially designed coaches include foot-operated washbasins, dispensers, toilet flushes
3) Provision for plasma air equipment in AC ducts to sterilise interiors using ionised air
4) Nano structured titanium dioxide coating on all surfaces to kill viruses, bacterias
Karnataka CM B S Yediyurappa Tuesday ruled out the extension of a week-long shutdown in Bengaluru and elsewhere, PTI reports. He also said lockdown is not the solution for controlling COVID-19.
The Assam Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has ordered the chief secretary and inspector general of police (prisons) to submit a report on the alleged violation of COVID-19 safety guidelines for prisoners in the state. The AHRCs order came after Leader of the Opposition in Assam Assembly, Debabrata Saikia, lodged a complaint in this regard.
In a letter to the Commission on July 14, the Congress leader had also alleged that the inmates of Guwahati Central Jail and other prisons are not getting proper healthcare services and diet.
Taking cognizance of the complaint, the AHRC on Monday directed the chief secretary and the IGP (Prison) to submit the report on or before August 5.
The Commission order stated that Saikia had drawn the attention of the AHRC to media reports claiming that COVID-19 safety measures are not being followed in Guwahati Central Jail and the authorities are not providing the inmates with proper diet and healthcare services.
In Kerala, 720 new COVID-19 positive cases reported today. The total number of positive cases in the state is now 13,994 including 8,056 active cases. Number of COVID-19 clusters goes up to 101 in the state. Of them, 18 are large clusters.
On July 20, the West Bengal government had announced a statewide lockdown that would be imposed on July 23, July 25 and July 29 from 6 am to 10 pm on each day. Today, the state government issued further directives for the rigorous implementation of the lockdown to contain the spread of COVID-19. On these designated days of the lockdown, across the state, all government and private offices, commercial establishments, public and private transport will remain closed, with the exception of health services, including movement of health personnel and patients using public and private transport.
Medical shops and pharmacies will remain open, as well as law & order, correctional services, courts, fire department and other emergency services. Electricity, water and other conservancy services will remain open. Industries with in-house workers will remain open. Operations in agriculture and tea gardens will continue in the field. Intrastate and interstate movement of goods will also operate. E-commerce, capital and debt market services will operate as notified by SEBI.
Print, electronic and social media operations will be allowed to remain open. Home delivery of home-cooked food is also allowed. Norms of physical distancing, wearing face masks and other health and hygiene protocols must be maintained at all times. As ordered earlier, movement will be restricted between 10 pm to 5 am, applicable for all with the exception of emergency and essential activities.
Student activist Sharjeel Imam, lodged in the Guwahati central jail, has tested positive for Covid-19.
Dr VK Paul, Member (Health), NITI Aayog: "India's two COVID-19 vaccines are in phase 1 and 2 of trials. Discussions have already begun how will the vaccines be made available to all those who need it."
"The government will leave no stone unturned to ensure people of India and international community have access to an Indian vaccine as early as possible. Every possible facilitation will be ensured making sure trials conducted scientifically and ethically, and we arrive at an affordable option."
"In Delhi, eight districts have more than 20% prevalence of COVID-19. The central, northeast, north and Shahdara district has found almost 27% prevalence indicating that the population in these districts have been exposed to COVID-19," NCDC chief Sujeet Kumar.
"The sero surveillance was done in Delhi to estimate the prevalence of COVID-19 infection among general community of Delhi. Nearly 6 months into the pandemic, 22.86% people affected; 77% population susceptible," he added.
Rajesh Bhushan, OSD, Health Ministry: Aggressive testing is necessary to bring down the COVID-19 positivity rate; the aim is to maintain this level of testing so as to bring down positivity rate below 5 per cent.
Rajesh Bhushan, OSD, Health Ministry: 19 states and Union Territories are performing more than 140 tests per day per million population. 30 states/UTs have positivity rate lower than India average. Our death rate is 2.43 per cent which is very less in comparison to other countries.
Rajesh Bhushan, OSD, Health Ministry: The actual COVID-19 caseload of the country is 4,02,529. We should care more about the active cases instead of the outstanding figures.
The uncertainty of the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic has generated fear among citizens, however, the joy of a loved one recovering from the infection overpowers it all. And a video of a woman rejoicing on her sister returning home after successfully beating Covid-19 shows exactly that.
The clip, which was shared by IPS officer Dipanshu Kabra, shows a woman wearing a mask returning to her home unaware of the surprise planned by her sister and family. As the woman approaches her home, she is welcomed by her sister, who breaks into a dance to the beats of ‘Tai Tai Phish‘ from the film Chillar Party in order to celebrate her sister’s recovery. The woman is also seen dancing along her sister.
“No Pandemic can reduce a nanometer of a smile, of any family that cherishes such Warmth, love and energy,” wrote Kabra while sharing the clip.
The World Health Organization (WHO) voiced alarm on Monday about the spread of coronavirus in Africa, particularly in sub-Saharan countries.
“I am very concerned right now that we are beginning to see an acceleration of disease in Africa, and we need to take that very seriously,” WHO emergency operations chief Mike Ryan told a press briefing from Geneva. “Many of those countries exist in the midst of fragility and conflict.”
Until recently, Africa had been relatively unscathed by the pandemic in comparison to other parts of the world that have been hard-hit, such as Europe and the Americas.
The continent has so far registered close to 725,000 COVID-19 cases and more than 15,000 deaths.
Over 200 more people, including 19 BSF personnel, have tested positive for COVID-19 in Tripura, taking the total number of cases in the state to 3,094, officials said on Tuesday. The state also reported two fresh deaths due to the disease in the last 24 hours, they said.
Two women, aged 80 and 62 years, died at the Agartala Government Medical College on Monday. They both were suffering from heart ailments, the officials said.
The state had registered its first COVID-19 death on June 9. All the coronavirus patients who have died till date in the state had comorbidities, the officials said. The fresh infections have taken the number of active cases in the state to 1,228, while 1,845 people have recovered and 14 have migrated to other states, the officials said. (PTI)
A coronavirus vaccine the University of Oxford is developing with AstraZeneca Plc showed promising results in early human testing, and is now set to move into larger trials that are likely to be decisive on how effective they truly are.
The results weren’t enough to convince the market, however. AstraZeneca Plc fell from a record high in New York trading on concerns over whether its vaccine can match the progress seen in programs from Pfizer Inc. and BioNtech SE, as well as Moderna Inc.
The vaccine increased levels of both protective neutralizing antibodies and immune T-cells that target the virus, according to the study organizers. The results, published Monday in The Lancet medical journal, are a key milestone for one of the fastest-moving vaccine projects globally. Read more
The serological survey conducted in Delhi has shown that 23.48 per cent of the people surveyed had developed IgG (Immunoglobulin G) antibodies, indicating they had been exposed to the coronavirus. The study also indicated that a large number of infected persons remain asymptomatic.
“The results of the sero-prevalence study show that on average, across Delhi, the prevalence of IgG antibodies is 23.48 per cent. The study also indicates that a large number of infected persons remain asymptomatic. Nearly six months into the epidemic, only 23.48 per cent of the people are affected in Delhi, which has several pockets of dense population. This can be attributed to the proactive efforts taken by the government to prevent the spread of infection including prompt lockdown, effective containment and surveillance measures, including contact tracing and tracking, as well as citizen’s compliance to Covid appropriate behaviours,” a statement issued by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare said.
The ministry also said the results show that a significant proportion of the population is still vulnerable to the virus. “Containment measures need to continue with the same rigour. Non-pharmacological interventions such as physical distancing, use of face mask/cover, hand hygiene, cough etiquette and avoidance of crowded places, etc., must be followed strictly,” it said.
It might still be early days, but it seems the growth rate of novel Coronavirus cases in Karnatakahas started to fall, following a trajectory that some other high-growth states have taken before it. Since June, these other states — Delhi, Tamil Nadu, and Telangana— have had relatively short phases of very rapid growth, before they began to slow down, and their daily new infections seem to have become much more stable now.
Karnataka also seems to be following a similar trajectory. Its daily growth rate had reached as high as 8.82 per cent on July 4, but has started to steadily come down after that. In terms of number of cases, however, the high has come only two days ago, when the state reported over 4,500 new cases.
Till three days ago, Karnataka was still the country’s fastest-growing state. That position has now been ceded to Andhra Pradesh, whose growth rate is still on the ascendant. Its case numbers are currently growing at 8.12 per cent per day (7-day compounded daily growth rate), compared to just about 5.7 per cent at the start of the month. It is too early to say whether the curve will begin to decline after a few days, as it has in the case of other states, or it will have a prolonged high-growth phase.
When it comes to protecting the world from the coronavirus, two doses of a vaccine may be better than one. But doubling the number of jabs each person needs could complicate efforts to immunize billions of people.
The latest results from front-runners in the sprint to come up with a vaccine, including the University of Oxford-AstraZeneca Plc partnership and Moderna Inc., highlight that prospect. Both efforts are conducting final-stage testing with two doses.
Producing vaccines and deploying them to the world’s population in the midst of a pandemic would be a massive challenge even if researchers are able to deliver one-dose inoculations. A need for two would make manufacturing and logistics even more complex.
After weeks of rising Covid-19 cases in Telangana, especially Hyderabad, the state’s recovery rate has now improved to 72 per centwhile the death rate is less than one per cent, according to government data. As on July 19, 32,438 patients of the 45,076 cases in the state had recovered, while 409 had succumbed to the virus.
Meanwhile, on Monday, the first dose of the vaccine Covaxin, developed by Bharat Biotech and currently in the trials phase— was administered to two volunteers at the Nizam’s Institute of Medical Sciences (NIMS). The blood samples and swabs of at least 12 healthy volunteers had been sent last week by NIMS to ICMR-designated labs in New Delhi for testing. ICMR had cleared two volunteers for the trial.
Milk prices are again in the news and this time the low realisations at farmer ends have brought them on the streets. Dairy farmers in Maharashtrahave started a series of protests from Monday against the low prices dairies are paying them at present. As farmers take to dumping their milk on roadsand stopping milk supply to urban areas, dairies blame the COVID-19 pandemic and the frequent lockdowns as the reason behind the recent price corrections. Parthasarathi Biswas takes a look into the problem and explains why a quick solution does not seem to be in the offing.
Tamil Nadu Health Secretary J Radhakrishnan's wife and son tested positive for Covid-19. Earlier, his father-in-law and mother-in-law tested positive. All four of them are admitted to King's Institute in Guindy, Chennai.
With 954 new cases, the total number of COVID-19 positive cases in Delhi rises to 1,23,747 and 1,04,918 have recovered till now. Recovery rate is at 84%: Delhi Health Minister Satyendra Jain.
The Centre has written to all states and union territories warning against the use of N-95 masks with valved respirators by people, saying these do not prevent the virus from spreading out and are “detrimental” to the measures adopted for its containment.
The Director General of Health Services (DGHS) in the Ministry of Health, in a letter to the Principal Secretaries of health and medical education of states, said it has been observed that there is “inappropriate use” of N-95 masks, particularly those with valved respirators, by the public other than designated health workers.
The DGHS referred to the advisory on the use of homemade protective cover for face and mouth available on the website of the Ministry of Health.