At a testing centre in New Delhi (Express photo/Praveen Khanna)A day after Union Minister Dharmendra Pradhan’s letter to the Railway Minister requesting him to restart Shramik Special trains from Odisha to ferry migrant workers back to their workplaces in other parts of the country, the Railways announced three special trains for the eastern state. The three trains announced on Tuesday are from Puri to Ahmedabad (4 days a week), Puri-Gandhidhan Express (weekly) and the Puri-Okha Express (weekly) which will begin operations from September 12, PTI reported.
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After adding more than 90,000 infections for two consecutive days, India reported 75,809 cases in the last 24 hours which took the total number of Covid-19 cases to 42,80,423 on Tuesday. Also, as many as 1,133 new deaths in the same period pushed the death toll to 72,775. At present, India has 8,83,697 active cases while 33,23,951 people have been treated and discharged. The recovery rate has risen to 77.65 per cent, while the fatality rate stands at 1.7 per cent. Only the United States, where more than 61 lakh people have so far been found to be infected, is ahead of India.
On the global front, as many as 27,256,723 people have been infected with the virus and 891,308 have lost their lives. Also, 18,251,538 people have recovered.
Coronavirus India LIVE updates: At a testing center in New Delhi. (Express photo/Amit Mehra)
AstraZeneca Plc has stopped the process of testing its experimental coronavirus vaccine after a person participating in one of the company’s studies got sick. According to Bloomberg, the participant developed an unexplained illness. The pause will give researchers time to examine the safety data. Read more here
Three employees of a Chinese multinational company, Highly Electrical Appliances India Pvt Ltd in Sanand of Ahmedabad, tested positive for Covid-19 on September 3. The same day, two more employees of Chiripal Group tested positive for the virus, taking the total number of “industrial-linked” infections being reported from the industrial clusters of Ahmedabad district to 514. Read More
Continuing rapid antigen testing (RAT) at the Ahmedabad railway station for the second consecutive day, 16 arriving passengers tested positive out of a total of over 1,700 passengers who were tested on Tuesday. Read More
The coronavirus crisis will not end any time soon, said Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray on Tuesday.
“We were able to contain the number of cases between March and May, but it does not seem like the pandemic will be conquered in the near future. Even the World Health Organisation has indicated that it won’t end soon,” the chief minister said, during his speech before the conclusion of the curtailed monsoon session of the state Assembly. Read More
Nagpur registered yet another record surge in cases of novel coronavirus (Covid-19) on Tuesday, with 2,205 new cases. District Collector Ravindra Thakre has also tested positive for the infection. The total number of positive cases in the district is 43,237. Read More
In one of the highest single-day jumps in Covid-19 cases, 6,743 people tested positive on Tuesday, taking the total count to 2,78,473. Lucknow reported the highest fresh cases at 887 followed by Kanpur Nagar at 431 and Prayagraj at 306. Read More
The Ministry of Health has allowed a phased reopening of schools and colleges from September 21. In a recent notice, the ministry stated that skill or entrepreneurship training will be permitted from September 21. The ministry has also allowed the reopening of schools for class 9 to 12 on a “voluntary basis” from September 21.
The higher educational institutions conducting PhD or technical and professional programmes requiring laboratory or experimental works will be permitted too, however, the date will be finalised after a discussion between the Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Home Affairs.
Colleges reopening will have to keep their equipment six feet apart, further, the institutes will have to make marks on the floor to ensure students and teachers are at the required distance. Institutes are asked to conduct classes in the “intermix” mode of regular classroom teaching and online teaching or assessments. Staggering of the classroom, no sharing of objects, separate timing slots, to allow for adequate physical distancing and disinfection of classroom premises are suggested by the Ministry of Health. Read full report here.
A day after Union Minister Dharmendra Pradhan's letter to the Railway Minister requesting him to restart Shramik Special trains from Odisha to ferry migrant workers back to their workplaces in other parts of the country, the Railways announced three special trains for the eastern state.
The three trains announced on Tuesday are from Puri to Ahmedabad (4 days a week), Puri-Gandhidhan Express (weekly) and the Puri-Okha Express (weekly) which will begin operations from September 12, PTI reported.
Union Health Ministry Tuesday issued Standard Operation Procedures (SOPs) for partial reopening of Schools for students of 9th-12th classes on a voluntary basis.
Union Health Ministry Tuesday said that the government is following a phase-wise unlocking of activities including the partial resumption of activities in schools. "In days to come, this would involve partial resumption of activities in schools for students of classes 9-12 on a voluntary basis, for taking guidance from their teachers. This would be allowed from Sept 21," Health Ministry said.
Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal said he has directed the health minister that doctor’s prescription should not be asked for Covid-19 testing.
A fire broke out in the Covid-19 ward of civic run SSG hospital in Vadodara. The hospital is currently evacuating patients as fire tenders rush to the spot. Details awaited.
In wake of the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, the Karnataka government Tuesday decided to make the world-famous Mysore Dasara celebrations a low-key event this year.
In a high-level meeting attended by all three Deputy CMs, other ministers, and top government officials, Chief Minister Yediyurappa said: “It has been unanimously decided to hold the Dasara celebrations in Mysuru in a simple manner upholding the tradition. The popular food mela, Yuva Dasara, sports meet, and other cultural events will not take place this time to prevent people from gathering at the areas risking further spread of Covid-19.” Read the full report here.
Highlighting repeated complaints from states that people are becoming lax in taking precautions against COVID-19, the Centre on Tuesday said following public health measures like social distancing and wearing masks remains key to slow the pandemic.
NITI Aayog member V K Paul, who also heads the Covid-19 national task force, asserted that following social distancing, wearing masks, maintaining hand hygiene, and avoiding big gatherings remain vital in preventing the spread of the infection.
Hong Kong is further relaxing social distancing measures, as the territory’s number of new coronavirus cases dwindles. Hong Kong reported another six cases of the virus on Tuesday.
From Friday, the limit on public gatherings will be relaxed to four people, up from two people. Most indoor and outdoor sports facilities, as well as museums, will be allowed to re-open. The city has seen its coronavirus cases dwindle after a surge in locally-transmitted infections in July. Hong Kong has reported a total of 4,896 infections since the pandemic began, with 99 deaths.
Hong Kong officials said Tuesday that the city is in talks with 11 countries about setting up travel bubbles, which would allow residents to travel internationally even amid the pandemic. (Follow latest Coronavirus global updates here)
The death toll due to the novel coronavirus in Uttar Pradesh rose to 4,047 on Tuesday with 73 more fatalities, while 6,743 fresh cases pushed the state's infection tally to over 2.78 lakh, PTI reported.
According to the latest bulletin issued by the UP government, of the 73 deaths, 19 were reported from Lucknow followed by six from Prayagraj and four from Kanpur. Three deaths each were reported from Gorakhpur, Varanasi, Moradabad, Maharajganj, Unnao, and Rae Bareli among others, it said. The total number of cases in the state have now climbed to 2,78,473 out of which 63,256 are active cases.
The Delhi High Court Tuesday ordered that doctor's prescription will not be mandatory from now on for those going voluntarily for RT/PCR test to detect COVID-19 infection in the national capital.
Till now it was mandatory for a person to have a doctor's prescription or symptoms to get tested for the virus.
A bench of justices Hima Kohli and Subramonium Prasad said people need to carry Aadhaar card for Delhi address proof and fill up a form as prescribed by the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) for testing. The court has also ordered the Delhi government to ramp up mobile testing facilities, at least four in each district.
Dr. VK Paul, Member (Health), Niti Aayog on Tuesday said that the vaccine developed by Russia has been under consideration."The vaccine developed by Russia has been under consideration of the country. The government of Russia approached our govt and sought help on two counts- to consider its manufacturing through our network of companies, and phase 3 studies in India," Dr. Paul was quoted as saying by ANI.
"The government of India attaches great importance to this offer of partnership from a very special friend of this nation, and on both the tracks there has been significant movement," he further added.
British ministers and medics are urging the public to get serious again about the coronavirus after a sharp rise in infections raised fears the outbreak was slipping out of control in some parts.
Close to 3,000 new cases were recorded on Sunday and again on Monday - a sudden jump from numbers much closer to 1,000 for most of August, and the highest since May, news agency Reuters reported.
Health Secretary Matt Hancock said young people had become too relaxed about social distancing and could endanger older relatives through complacency.
Union Minister Dharmendra Pradhan has written to Railway Minister Piyush Goyal requesting him to restart Shramik Special trains from Odisha to ferry migrant workers back to their workplace in states like Gujarat, Karnataka and Maharashtra, PTI reported.
The Railways started Shramik Specials on May 1 to transport stranded migrant workers to their native states after thousands tried to reach home on foot due to the coronavirus-induced lockdown. The last Shramik Special train was operated on July 9.
In his letter to the rail minister, Pradhan said that he has received a number of requests from migrant workers in Odisha who have urged that train services be started from Odisha so that they can reach their workplace.
Researchers have found that chest C-rays could aid in rapid diagnosis of Covid-19. Their findings are published in Radiology: Cardiothoracic Imaging.
Radiologists at Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center (LSU Health) New Orleans conducted a retrospective study of nearly 400 persons under investigation for Covid-19 in New Orleans. They reviewed the patients’ chest X-rays along with concurrent RT-PCR virus tests.
Using Covid-19 imaging patterns, they categorised each chest X-ray as characteristic, nonspecific, or negative in appearance for Covid-19.
Speaking loudly can also help spread coronavirus, said Himachal Pradesh Assembly SpeakerVipin Singh Parmar on Tuesday as he asked the legislators to strictly abide by the COVID-19 protocol, especially during the session.
On Monday, the BJP’s Indora MLA Reeta Devi tested positive for the viral disease. According to the legislator, she attended the Assembly session before her COVID-19 test was conducted on Monday evening, but maintained physical distance from other legislators in the Assembly complex.
At the beginning of the Assembly session on the second day, Parmar said, “As per standard operating procedure, speaking loudly could also help spread the virus. So, talk in a normal way to check spread of novel coronavirus.”
For the first time in more than three months, the novel coronavirus numbers in Maharashtra have now started to grow at a faster rate than the country as a whole. The daily growth rate (seven-day compounded rate) in Maharashtra has gone up to 2.21 per cent, while at the national level this has remained at 2.14 per cent.
The increase in daily growth rate has been the result of big jump in the number of daily detection of new cases in Maharashtra in the last three weeks. From a level of about 10,000 to 12,000 cases per day, Maharashtra has beginning to report more than 20,000 cases now. Maharashtra has been the main driver for the surge in national numbers as well. In the last two weeks, India has begun to report more than 75,000 cases per day, even reaching 90,000 cases over the past weekend.
With numerous protocols in place, countries around the world are making sure they do everything in their power to contain the spread of the the COVID-19 infection. In Italy, for instance, you will be subjected to a test to make sure you have not contracted the infection, before you leave the country. And if you are found to be COVID-19 positive, you will be made to stay back until you are fit to fly out again.
According to a report published in The Independent, Italian health officials have announced plans to test every passenger departing from Rome airport for COVID-19. The move is believed to follow the positive results of a pilot trial, wherein 25,000 travellers arriving from countries that have high infection rates were swabbed. In fact, passengers from Spain, Malta, Greece and Croatia have been tested since mid-August, after Italian citizens returning from these countries tested positive, thereby leading to a surge in new cases in the country.
Corporate sector debt worth a whopping Rs 15.52 lakh crore, or 29.4 per cent of the banking sector debt to the industry, has come under stress after Covid-19 hit India and lockdown was imposed across all the states since the last week of March this year.
The KV Kamath committee, which worked out the financial parameters for loan restructuring, has said banking debt worth Rs 23.71 lakh crore, or 45 per cent of banking sector debt, was already under stress before Covid-19 hit the economy. This effectively means, according to the industry matrix in the report, 72 per cent of the banking sector debt worth Rs 37.72 lakh crore remains under stress. This is almost 37 per cent of the total non-food bank credit.
The Kamath panel has said companies in sectors such as retail trade, wholesale trade, roads and textiles are facing stress. The sectors that have been under stress pre-covid include NBFCs, power, steel, real estate and construction among others.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi Tuesday said, "Not only Indian products but India's voice also has become global, Indian media too needs to be global. The world is now paying more attention to India, we have a strong presence at most global bodies. Media served people in an 'unprecedented way' by spreading awareness on the coronavirus pandemic."
Chinese leader Xi Jinping on Tuesday praised China's role in battling the coronavirus pandemic and expressed support for the World Health Organisation, in a repudiation of US criticism and a bid to rally domestic support for Communist Party leadership. Xi told a televised assembly at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing that China's battle against COVID-19 demonstrated the strengths of its socialist system and traditional Chinese culture in stirring motivation, building consensus and pooling resources.
"We are willing to do whatever it takes to protect people's lives!" Xi told participants, most of whom wore masks and exercised social distancing. The coronavirus was first detected in the central city of Wuhan late last year, and the US and others have alleged the outbreak spread out of control because China withheld information about it. China says it acted swiftly and responsibly but has rejected calls for an independent investigation into its handling of the emergency.
President Xi Jinping honoured the "heroes" of China's "people's war" against COVID-19 at a ceremony on Tuesday, lauding the country's resilience as well as the decisive role played in containment efforts by the ruling Communist Party. Defying charges from the United States and elsewhere that early failures enabled the coronavirus pandemic to spread more quickly, Xi said that China acted in an open and transparent manner throughout, and took decisive actions that saved lives. "China has helped save the lives of tens of millions of people around the world with its practical actions, showing China's sincere desire to build a common future and community for humanity," Xi said at a ceremony in the Great Hall of the People in Beijing.
Telangana posted 2,392 fresh coronavirus cases and 11 more deaths, taking the tally of infections to1.45 lakh in the state. Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) accounted for the most number of cases with 304, followed by Rangareddy 191, Karimnagar 157 and Medchal Malkajgiri 132 districts, a government bulletin said on Tuesday, providing data as of 8 pm on September 7. With 11 fatalities, the toll rose to 906, it said. The cumulative recovered cases stood at 1.12 lakh while 31,670are under treatment. As many as 60,923 samples were tested on September 7.
Covid-19 patients have active and prolonged gut viral infection, even in the absence of gastrointestinal symptoms, scientists in Hong Kong showed. The coronavirus may continue to infect and replicate in the digestive tract after clearing in the airways, researchers at the Chinese University of Hong Kong said in a statement Monday. The findings, published in the medical journal GUT, have implications for identifying and treating cases, they said.
Senior Samajwadi Party leader and Member of Legislative Council SRS Yadav died due to COVID-19 here, the party said. The 87-year-old tested positive for COVID-19 on September 1 and breathed his last at the Sanjay Gandhi Post Graduate Institute of Medical Sciences (SGPGI) here on Monday night, SP national spokesperson Rajendra Chaudhary said.
A native of Unnao district, he is survived by wife and three sons. SRS Yadav, who worked as an administrative officer till 1992, joined the Samajwadi Party after his retirement. He was considered close to?SP founder Mulayam Singh Yadav. He held various posts in the party. Presently he was a member of the party's national executive.
SP President Akhilesh Yadav, while condoling the demise of the senior party colleague, said he dedicated his entire life to the Samajwadi Party after his retirement. He said SRS Yadav was a true socialist and always worked for the well being of the downtrodden and deprived sections of the society.
After 277 labourers tested Covid-19 positive from two construction sites managed by PSP Projects, the Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation (AMC) on Monday issued show-cause notice for flouting social distancing and other Covid-19 norms.
The urban local body has given the construction company three days to respond to the showcase notice as to why should they not be penalised Rs1 crore for flouting the norms to be followed with respect to construction sites, as was framed in an office order dated August 13.
The order stipulated social distancing norms as well as appointing a Covid-19 coordinator at the site, who will be deemed responsible for adherence to measures to avoid contracting the virus.
Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation (AMC) has reported four cases of Covid-19 reinfection between August 18 and September 6, nearly four months after they tested positive for the first time.
The four who tested positive again are two male resident doctors aged 33 years from the Gujarat Cancer and Research Institute (GCRI) and LG Hospital, a 26-year-old woman resident doctor from LG Hospital and a 60-year-old homemaker from Behrampura. They had first tested positive between April 13 and April 21. All had subsequently recovered and were discharged after testing negative through RTPCR tests at the time.
The resident doctor and the homemaker were also part of the recent seroprevalence survey conducted in AMC jurisdiction that found an absence of antibodies in 40 per cent cases of the 1,816 known confirmed cases’ samples which were studied. The 60-year-old was among the 60 per cent in whom antibodies were found and the resident doctor was in the 40 per cent in whom no antibodies were found.
After adding more than 90,000 infections for two consecutive days, India reported 75,809 cases in the last 24 hours which took the total number of Covid-19 cases to 42,80,423 on Tuesday. Also, as many as 1,133 new deaths in the same period pushed the death toll to 75,775. At present, India has 8,83,697 active cases while 33,23,951 people have been treated and discharged.
The increase in new Covid cases in the city can be attributed to the “lackadaisical attitude” of people, head of the Delhi government’s expert committee on Covid-19, Dr Mahesh Verma has told The Indian Express.
“A virus has a pattern and right now, Delhi is going through that phase where cases have gone up once again. This can also be attributed to the lackadaisical attitude of the public. The fear of catching Covid-19 has weaned off and, therefore, a rise in the cases is bound to happen. But we all must remember that the economy has to be back on the track. We will have to maintain a balance and ensure that all precautions are being followed well,” said Dr Verma.
New cases have increased over the past week as the number of tests being done were scaled up from around 18,000 a day to around 37,000 a day.
On Monday, the number of confirmed cases of novel coronavirus infection in Pune reached the two-lakh mark. The infection count in Pune (2.03 lakh) is not just more than any other city, including Delhi (1.93 lakh) or Mumbai (1.57 lakh), but is even more than every state except the five with the highest caseload.
What explains Pune’s high Covid-19 count?
Pune has a substantially lower population than either Delhi or Mumbai, the two cities with the second and third highest number of confirmed cases, and it is less densely packed as well. Both Mumbai and Delhi have a higher number of migrants, a far higher number of international travellers coming in, and much more economic activity.(Follow Covid-19 LIVE UPDATES here)
The emergence of Pune as the city with the highest number of cases is somewhat intriguing, although not entirely a surprise since it was always among the five worst affected cities.
As the Centre and non-BJP ruled states continue to face off over the mechanism to meet the compensation deficitunder the Goods and Services Tax (GST) regime, the Union Finance Ministry is unlikely to cede to the states’ demand that the borrowing should be done by the Central government. In fact, government officials pointed out that states had parked about Rs 1.8 lakh crore in T-Bills, suggesting that they were not short of funds.
“While it is true that states too are keeping the powder dry, just like the Centre, for the coming quarters, they cannot complain that they do not have money to spend,” said a government official who did not want to be named. The official said states have, on an average, borrowed about 2.75 per cent of their GSDP so far, against 3 per cent of their GSDP.
States, however, said not all of them had huge funds invested in T-Bills. “There is also a variance in the expenditure needs of states. For some, the committed expenditure (salaries, pensions and interest payments) as a percentage of total expenditure is high. On top of this, their revenues have taken a bad hit,” said a state government official.
The Centre has received detailed feedback from officers at the district level, identifying loopholes in the implementation of containment, surveillance, and clinical management strategies for Covid-19 in several states. These lapses, sources said, were among the key reasons for the massive spike in cases in recent weeks.
Following the detection of nearly 6 lakh new infections in the week beginning August 31, the Centre has over the last few days made a significant change in targeting its messaging on tackling the novel coronavirus.
It has moved away from addressing states at the level of their health secretaries, and has instead begun to communicate directly with administrative officials and chief medical officers (CMOs) who are fighting the pandemic at the level of the district.
In wake of the Covid-19 pandemic, Mumbai's Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport (CSMIA) has become the first Indian airport to be accredited under the Airport Council International (ACI) Health Accreditation programme. This accreditation comes after the airport authorities took numerous health and safety initiatives to safeguard passengers in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic.
A plea has been filed in the Supreme Court seeking a direction to the Election Commission to postpone assembly elections scheduled in October and November in Bihar due to COVID-19 pandemic and worsening flood situation.
The top court on August 28 had junked a similar PIL seeking postponement of the assembly polls in the state till it is free from the novel coronavirus, saying that it cannot be a ground and moreover, the Election Commission will consider everything before taking any decision
The fresh plea has been filed by one Rastravadi Janta Party, a registered political party through its President Anil Bharati and has sought a direction to the poll panel “to postpone the Bihar Legislative Assembly Election which is scheduled to be held in the month of October- November”. Read the full report here.
While Russia and China may have stolen a march in the race to develop a Covid-19 shot, granting regulatory approval to vaccine candidates even before Phase III human trials, all eyes are on the other leading vaccine candidates by Pfizer, Oxford University-AstraZeneca, and Moderna. All three are currently undergoing late-stage trials and it has become evident that a vaccine would be made available this year itself. Read the full report here.
The presence of antibodies indicates previous exposure to the SARS-CoV-2 virus but may not always translate into protection against the disease, say scientists, citing imponderables such as what kind of antibodies, how many, and how long they last.
Antibody presence in itself tells us nothing about disease progression in individuals, said the scientist from New Delhi’s National Institute of Immunology (NII).
There are neutralising antibodies (nAbs) and also ‘simple’ antibodies. While nAbs produced against the novel coronavirus can block its entry into the host cell, other antibodies are also generated against many parts of the virus, added Vineeta Bal from Pune’s Indian Institute of Science, Education, and Research (IISER). The ‘simple’ antibodies are an indication of the host response to viral presence but are not that useful to stop further spread of the virus, Bal told PTI.
The COVID-19 caseload in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands rose to 3,332, with 40 new coronavirus cases detected in the union territory, an official said on Monday.
Of the 40 new cases, 38 were detected during local contact tracing and two were airport arrivals, news agency PTI reported.
All passengers coming from the mainland have to mandatorily undergo a rapid antigen test for COVID-19 at the airport in Port Blair on arrival.
Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Monday inaugurated a 300-bed COVID-19 hospital at BRD Medical College in Gorakhpur.
The state government-run medical college already has 200 beds at the super-specialty block dedicated to COVID-19 patients, news agency PTI reported.
Adityanath told reporters that there was "no dearth of beds for coronavirus patients" and said that the state government was determined to defeat the virus.
Uttarakhand Cabinet Minister Madan Kaushik tested positive for COVID-19 on Monday, news agency PTI reported. Kaushik was admitted to AIIMS, Rishikesh on Sunday night after his antigen report came positive.
The minister, who is also the state government's official spokesman, has appealed to everyone who came in contact with him to get themselves tested. Kaushik had attended a cabinet meeting in Dehradun last week chaired by Chief Minister Trivendra Singh Rawat.
Sporting events are back on track as the world continues to fight against the novel coronavirus. While most of them are being conducted behind closed doors under proper Covid-19 guidelines, wearing face masks and maintaining social distancing is the new norm.
However, during the UEFA Nations League match played between Portugal and Croatia, star footballer Cristiano Ronaldo was pictured seated in the stands but without a mask.
Ronaldo, who was not included in Portugal’s squad because of a bee sting, was intervened and told by a member of staff inside the stadium to wear a face mask, keeping the safety of the players in mind. Read the full story here.
The COVID Care Centre at the Bengaluru International Exhibition Centre, that was touted to be the biggest such facility for the treatment of asymptomatic and mildly symptomatic patients in the country, will be shut from September 15, as it is not getting patients. In an order dated September 4, the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP), the city civic body has said the decision to close the facility with a potential capacity of over 10,000 beds was taken at a meeting chaired by the Chief Minister on the advise of the head of the Covid Care Care Task Force. It has been decided to give the furniture brought for the said centre like- beds, mattress, pedestal fans, dustbins, water dispensers among others to government-run hostels and hospitals at free of cost.
Myanmar leader Aung San Suu Kyi pulled out of the first event of her election campaign on Monday, citing a worsening outbreak of the novel coronavirus in the country. The Southeast Asian nation reported 100 new coronavirus cases on Sunday, the biggest daily increase since detecting its first infection in March, followed by 45 more on Monday.
Suu Kyi, who rules as state counselor, was set to tour the constituency where she is seeking re-election in the commercial capital of Yangon on Tuesday, the first official day of campaigning ahead of polls set for Nov. 8. But she said in a live broadcast on Facebook that the health minister had advised her to cancel the trip. “At the moment the ministry of health is the most powerful. We must follow the instructions of the ministry,” she said.
With education across schools, colleges and coaching classes moving to virtual platforms amid the coronavirus pandemic, homegrown mobile apps, many created by young tech entrepreneurs in Maharashtra, have found an opportunity in adversity. When the Covid-19 pandemic struck in March, founders of Pune-based NGO Vowels of the People Association decided to create a free website (ssc.vopa.in) for Class X students, especially those studying in Marathi and semi-English medium schools. Read more
Malaika Arora on Monday revealed she has tested positive for COVID-19. The actor added that she is asymptomatic and quarantined at home.
Malaika took to Instagram to share the news. Her note read, “Today I have tested positive for coronavirus but I want to inform you all that I am feeling fine. I am asymptomatic and following all the required protocols and will be quarantined at home as instructed by my doctor and authorities. I request all of you to stay calm and safe. Thank you for all your support. Much love, Malaika Arora.”
The Supreme Court was informed on Monday that Attorney General for India KK Venugopal is under self-quarantine after his colleague tested positive for COVID-19.
More than 200 UN staff members have been infected by COVID-19 in Syria as the global body steps up its contingency plans to combat the fast spread of the pandemic in the country, medical workers, and UN officials said. UN Resident Coordinator and Humanitarian Coordinator in Syria, Imran Riza, last Tuesday told UN heads of agencies that the U.N. was in the final stages of securing a medical facility for treatment of cases.
The use of haphazard localised lockdowns by states in July and August, which badly impacted economic activity, has had little effect on tempering the Covid case count in these locations. State-wise data for states which imposed localised lockdowns during July 10-August 3 shows that the rise in new cases on a 7-day moving average basis, before and after the lockdown, ranged between 37-578 per cent in the seven regions which imposed localised lockdown during that period.
These localised lockdowns end up disrupting the supply chains and increase the level of uncertainty in the system, impacting the decisions by entrepreneurs to re-hire workers or scale up operations. West Bengal, Uttar Pradesh, Punjab and Haryana announced lockdowns, despite the Ministry of Home Affairs’ (MHA) directives to desist from imposition of these lockdowns and seek its clearance.
The state police force recorded the highest single-day spike in Covid-19 cases once again with 511 police personnel and staff testing positive for the novel coronavirus on Saturday. The police force also reported seven deaths on the same day. The total number of reported Covid-19 cases among personnel in the two lakh-strong force reached 16,912, while 173 have died of the viral infection to date. Officials said a significant number of cases were now being reported from among personnel in rural areas and district jurisdictions, in addition to cases from metros like Mumbai and Pune, their surrounding areas, and State Reserve Police Force (SRPF).
International passengers, who have to take connecting flights from Mumbai, will have to undergo reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) tests for Covid-19 at the airport on arrival, fresh guidelines issued by the state government on Sunday said. “They (passengers) can get tested and will be allowed to take connecting flights on having a negative test report,” the guideline states. Those found positive may not be allowed to take the connecting flight and sent for institutional quarantine in Mumbai, it further reads. The state government has also advised passengers to book connecting flights accordingly, preferably with a time gap of at least 8-12 hours, as an RT-PCR test takes 7 to 8 hours to generate the report.
In what could possibly be the world’s largest and fastest ever operation of its kind, UNICEF has announced that it will be leading the procurement and supply of coronavirus vaccines to ensure that all countries have safe, fast and equitable access to initial doses when they are available. UNICEF will also serve as procurement coordinator to support purchases by 80 higher-income economies, which have expressed their intent to participate in the COVAX Facility and would finance the vaccines from their own budgets, it said.
The vaccine procurement and distribution effort, involving over 170 economies, has the potential to become the world’s largest and fastest ever operation of its kind.
We are tracking the progress of covid-19 vaccines. Read our today's report, here
In possibly the first case of Covid-19 reinfection in Bengaluru, a 27-year-old woman who recovered from the infection has contracted the virus again, in the span of a month, a private hospital said. The case has been confirmed at Fortis Hospital in Bannerghatta Road. Dr Pratik Patil, consultant, Infectious Diseases, at the hospital said the patient was discharged on July 24. “However, nearly after a month, in the last week of August, she developed mild symptoms again and has tested positive again,” he said. “This is possibly the first reported case of Covid-19 reinfection in Bengaluru,” Dr Patil stated.
For the second day in a row, India has added more than 90,000 infections. With 90,802 new cases reported in the last 24 hours, the tally in India has now breached the 42 lakh mark. Of the 42,04,614 cases, over 32 lakh patients have been discharged, while nearly 8.9 lakh infections are still active. The toll stands at 71,642 with 1016 deaths reported on Sunday. Only the United States, where more than 61 lakh people have so far been found to be infected, is ahead of India. Haryana leader Deepender Hooda, Kerala Finance Minister Thomas Isaac are among the politicians who tested positive on Sunday.
Former Kalakote MLA and National Conference leader Rachpal Singh died of Covid-19 on Monday. Expressing grief, National Conference leader and former Chief Minister Omar Abdullah said that he had spoken to him yesterday. "He was on oxygen support but in good spirits. Less than 24 hours later he is no more. My prayers are with his family," the tweet read.
Australia expects to receive its first batches of a potential COVID-19 vaccine in January, Prime Minister Scott Morrison said on Monday, as the number of new daily infections in the country’s virus hotspot fell to a 10-week low. Morrison said his government has struck a deal with CSL Ltd to manufacture two vaccines – one developed by rival AstraZeneca and Oxford University, and another developed in CSL’s own labs with the University of Queensland.