A migrant labourer with her child returning to the city for work looks for transport in New Delhi(AP Photo/Manish Swarup)
High humidity can extend the airborne lifetime of medium-sized virus-laden droplets by as much as 23 times, according to a study which suggests that maintaining physical distancing would significantly remediate the spread of COVID-19.
The novel coronavirus that causes COVID-19 is thought to spread through natural respiratory activities, such as breathing, talking and coughing, but little is known about how the virus is transported through the air, the researchers said.
The study, published in the journal Physics of Fluids, analysed how airflow and fluid flow affect exhaled droplets that can contain the virus.
The model developed by researchers at the University of Missouri in the US includes a more accurate description of air turbulence that affects an exhaled droplet's trajectory.
"If the virus load associated with the droplets is proportional to the volume, almost 70 per cent of the virus would be deposited on the ground during a cough," said study author Binbin Wang.
Coronavirus vaccine update
India has asked developers of three vaccines that are currently undergoing human trials in the country to disclose estimates of the price at which their respective vaccines can be made available.
Two Indian companies, Hyderabad-based Bharat Biotech and Ahmedebad-based Zydus Cadila, are carrying out phase-1 and phase-2 human trials of their vaccine candidates. A third candidate, being developed by pharma major AstraZeneca and Oxford University, has also been approved for human trials in India, which are expected to begin soon.
NITI Aayog member V K Paul, who also heads the national expert group on vaccine administration, on Tuesday said the trials of the three vaccine candidates were “on track”, and that it was being reviewed regularly.
“Pricing is perhaps complex because some of them (candidate vaccines) are at an early stage (of development). This information will be refined as we move along. There is no firm information. But we have asked about the price range (of the potential vaccines) from individual manufacturers,” Paul said.
Pune-bases Serum Institute of India, the world’s largest manufacturer of vaccines by volume, has entered into an agreement with Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation which will enable it to make vaccines available for about Rs 240 per dose. According to this agreement, Serum would produce 100 million doses of one of the vaccines that would eventually become successful for supply to middle and low income countries. It is expected that at least 50 per cent of this tranche would be supplied within India.
Meanwhile, state-owned Chinese company Sinopharm has claimed that a candidate vaccine it is developing would be available in the market by December this year, and would be priced lower than 1,000 yuan (about Rs 10,000) for two doses, according to a report in The Global Times.
The vaccine being developed by Sinopharm is in phase-3 human trials which is being carried out in United Arab Emirates. It is one of the six Chinese vaccines that are currently undergoing human trials.
The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) modified its guidelines to make institutional isolation mandatory for all Covid-19 positive patients aged above 50 years in Mumbai
Amidst the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, the Maharashtra government has urged people to celebrate Ganeshotsav, beginning from Saturday, in a low-key manner and avoid crowding. Here's what Ganesh Chaturthi in Covid times looks like.
The Covid-19 death count in Punjab neared 1,000 mark on Friday as 34 more deaths were reported, driving up the total death count in the State to 991. Also, 1,513 fresh cases of infections were reported in the state, taking the total tally to 39,327 on Friday.
Kapurthala SSP Jaspreet Singh was among those who tested positive for the infection on Friday.
Eight more deaths were reported from Ludhiana, five each from Jalandhar and Patiala, four from Kapurthala, three from Amritsar, two from Moga and one each from Barnala, Faridkot, Fatehgarh Sahib, Ferozepur, Gurdaspur, Mansa and Mohali.
Uttar Pradesh's Gautam Buddh Nagar on Friday recorded 127 new Covid-19 cases which pushed the district's caseload to 6,901, news agency PTI reported. The number of active cases stood at 793, down from 794 on Thursday, 785 on Wednesday and 774 on Tuesday, according to the data released by the state health department. With this, the district dropped to the 15th position in the state in terms of active cases.
The University of Delhi (DU) is planning to reopen its hostels, however, due to the pandemic, the working of the hostels will be different. At first only “registered bonafide PhD students” will be allowed to come back to the hostels in a phased manner. The first preference will be given to senior PhD students followed by other PhD students, as per a notice issued by the varsity. Further final-year students who wish to vacate their hostel rooms will be allowed to visit their hostel rooms.
The varsity has asked hostels not to charge the mess and only 50 per cent of the monthly electricity and water charges for residents. Common room and gym will remain closed, however, the computer room, TV room, library, and reading will be open with safe distancing norms. The residents will not be allowed to leave the hostel premises except for a medical emergency.
Students coming back to hostels will have to mandatory follow 14-days self-quarantine in their respective hostel rooms followed by a screening by the WUS Health Center. Only after completing the quarantine period, the students will be allowed to attend their respective research laboratories. Fellows will have to provide evidence that they are visiting their respective research laboratories only in the form of a letter from their research supervisors. Read the full report here.
With schools shut in the wake of the novel coronavirus, Tripura became the first state in Northeast India to start makeshift schools for students in open ground, ensuring social distancing and Covid protocols.
Over 1 lakh students, most of whom cannot afford resources for online education, attended the ‘neighbourhood classes’ that commenced from Thursday. The classes start with an introduction to Covid-19 and precautionary measures against the virus. Click here to read our dispatch from Tripura.
In wake of rising Covid cases, Haryana Home and Health Minister Anil Vij Friday announced that as a precautionary measure, all offices and shops except those selling essential item will remain closed on Saturdays and Sundays.
"Despite best efforts, cases continue to rise. There is a need to re-impose the weekend restrictions. We hope that by doing this, at least the chain will break and there will be some impact," Haryana's Health and Home minister Anil Vij told The Indian Express.
The Covid-19 tally in the state currently stands at 50,926 with 578 deaths.
COVID-19 is causing significant dilation of the blood vessels of the lungs, contributing to the very low oxygen levels seen in patients with respiratory failure, according to new research that may help provide better treatment to those who are severely affected by the disease.
The pilot study of 18 patients, published in the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, helps explain how COVID-19 behaves differently than classic acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) in which lung inflammation leads to leaky blood vessels in the organ.
In ARDS, the study noted that the leaky blood vessels in the lungs flood the organ with fluid and make it stiff, impairing oxygenation. Click here to read the full report.
Nepal on Friday reported 838 new COVID-19 cases, taking the total number of infections in the country to 30,483, the health ministry said.
According to Jageshwor Gautam, spokesperson for the Ministry of Health, 250 coronavirus patients have been discharged from different health facilities in the past 24 hours.
With this, the total number of patients who have recovered from the disease stands at 18,214.
At present, there are 12,132 COVID-19 patients undergoing treatment at different isolation centres across the country. (PTI)
South Korea added its most new virus cases in months on Friday, driven by a surge around the capital that appears to be spreading nationwide.
The 324 new infections were its highest single-day total since early March and the eighth consecutive triple-digit daily increase.
Most of the new cases are in the densely populated Seoul region, where health workers are scrambling to track transmissions from sources including churches, restaurants, schools and workers. Click here to know more.
The Election Commission of India has issued guidelines for the conduct of general elections/by-elections during COVID-19.
* All voters are to wear face masks, which they will be asked to remove briefly for identification at the time of voting
* Only 2 people can accompany candidate at the time of nomination
* If a voter, on the day of voting, shows symptoms then they will be provided with a token and asked to come back at the last hour of polling
* Hand gloves will be provided to voters at the time of signing the register and pressing EVM button
* Only group of 5 people can campaign door to door
* Candidate convoy for roadshows restricted to 5 vehicles
* Max 1,000 voters, instead of 1,500, can vote at a polling station
* Quarantined Covid patients will be allowed to vote at the last hour of poll under supervision of health officials, strictly following preventive measures.
Millions of migrant workers made arduous journeys to their villages after India imposed the world’s largest lockdown in March. Back in the rural hinterland, many say caste discrimination is reversing even the small economic and social gains they eked out in the cities. Read this Bloomberg report to know more.
Over 300 personnel of the Maharashtra police tested positive for coronavirus, while five died of the infection in the last 24 hours, PTI reported on Friday. The latest casualties have taken the death toll in the police force to 136. (Click here to follow Covid-19 updates from Maharashtra)
Fourteen passengers who travelled from Delhi to Hong Kong on an Air India flight on August 14 have tested positive for COVID-19 till Thursday, the Hong Kong government said.
Due to this incident, Air India's passenger flights have been barred from landing in Hong Kong till August-end, it added on Friday.
A passenger from India can arrive in Hong Kong only if he or she has a COVID-19 negative certificate from a test done 72 hours prior to the journey, according to the rules issued by the Hong Kong government in July.
Aarogya Setu app is being updated with new features every other day to smoothen the user experience. We had a look at some of the latest updates that have been added to the app. Click here to know about them.
Health authorities in China’s capital Beijing have removed a requirement for people to wear masks outdoors, further relaxing rules aimed at preventing the spread the novel coronavirus after the city reported 13 consecutive days without new cases.
Despite the relaxed guidelines, a large proportion of people continued to wear masks in Beijing on Friday.
Some said the mask made them feel safe, while others said social pressures to wear the masks were also a factor.”I think I can take off my mask anytime, but I’ll need to see if others accept it. Because I’m afraid that people would be scared if they see me not wearing mask,” one 24-year old Beijing woman surnamed Cao told Reuters.
Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Friday met the family members of a sanitation worker who recently died of coronavirus and handed over a cheque of Rs 1 crore as an ex-gratia to them. Talking to reporters during his visit in North Delhi's Majnu Ka Tilla area, Kejriwal said that sanitation worker Raju contracted the infection when he was on Covid-19 duty and died while serving the people of Delhi. "We are proud of such 'corona warriors' who are sacrificing their lives while saving the citizens of Delhi," he said.
India's coronavirus recovery rate soared past 74 per cent on Friday with a record 62,282 patients having recuperated and discharged in a day taking the total recoveries to 21.5 lakh, the Union Health Ministry said. The coronavirus case fatality rate has dropped further to 1.89 per cent as on date. With more patients recovering and being discharged from hospitals and home isolation, the total recoveries have surged to 21,58,946 and exceeds active cases of coronavirus infection by 14,66,918 as on date. India's Covid-19 recovery rate has risen to 74.30 per cent which is further bolstered by 33 states and UTs reporting recovery rate more than 50 per cent, it said.
The Supreme Court today allowed prayers at three Jain temples — in Dadar, Byculla and Chembur — on August 22 and 23 for the holy Paryushana season on condition that standard operating procedures to deal Covid will be strictly complied with.
With the daily growth rate continuing to slow down, the doubling time of novel Coronavirus cases in India has now dropped to 30 days. As on Thursday, there were 29.05 lakh confirmed cases in the country. The halfway stage was crossed on July 27, which means the present doubling has happened in 24 days. But the next doubling, at the current rate of growth, would happen only after 30 days, signalling a slowdown. Doubling time is a function of the growth rate. Lower the growth, higher is the doubling time. It is one of the several metrics used to assess the pace at which the epidemic has been spreading in the population. At the start of the outbreak, in April and May, when the cases were rising rapidly, a doubling period of ten days was considered healthy for the stage of epidemic India was in at that time. Click here to read more.
Vice Chancellor of the King George's Medical University in Lucknow, Lt Gen (Retd) Dr. Vipin Puri, has tested positive for coronavirus, a university spokesman said on Friday. The driver and another staff member of Dr. Puri had tested positive for Covid-19 after which he got himself tested and found that he had contracted the disease, university spokesperson, Dr Sudhir Singh, said. The vice chancellor is in home isolation as a precautionary measure and has appealed to all those who came in contact with him to take all precautionary measures and get themselves tested. Dr Puri had recently taken over as the new Vice Chancellor of the university.
A case has been registered against 17 persons, including three women, for allegedly defying prohibitory orders by holding a pre-wedding photoshoot at Kelve beach in Palghar district of Maharashtra, PTI reported. District collector Dr Kailash Shinde has issued an order prohibiting the movement of people near water bodies, including rivers, dams, waterfalls and beaches in Palghar. At least 17 persons, all from Mumbai, violated the order by gathering at Kelve beach for a pre-wedding photoshoot on August 19, Palghar police PRO Sachin Navadkar said.
The coronavirus disease has hit the four government mental hospitals in the state at Thane, Nagpur, Pune and Ratnagiri hard, with 21 patients and 50 staffers infected by the virus till August 19. While all the facilities have suspended group therapy and called off family visits to prevent the virus from spreading further, doctors said, maintaining physical distance and implementing habits, such as hand hygiene and wearing face masks, among the mentally ill patients has been difficult. Restrictions on travel during the lockdown, meanwhile, have also forced a large number of patients, declared fit for discharge, to continue to wait at the facilities inducing restlessness in some, they said.
The Covid-19 pandemic has brought to the fore the acute shortage of specialists in rural healthcare centres across the country. In a move that is being hailed by medical experts as a “radical reform” in the field of higher medical education, the central government and the Medical Council of India (MCI) have given the go-ahead for launching post-graduate diploma courses that can be undertaken after completing MBBS. A gazette notification was issued by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, introducing post-graduate diploma courses in eight medical specialties under the National Board of Examinations on August 6. On Thursday, medical experts from across the country participated in a webinar and welcomed the move, with noted cardiac surgeon Dr Devi Shetty terming it a “radical reform”.
A senior officer of Kolkata Police died due to Covid-19 on Friday, taking the total number of its personnel succumbing to the virus to nine, officials said. Assistant Commissioner of Police, Uday Shankhar Banerjee, in his mid 50s, died at a private hospital here in the early hours, they said. Kolkata Police Commissioner Anuj Sharma expressed grief over his demise and described Banerjee as a "corona martyr". "Extremely saddened to share the news of untimely demise of an outstanding Officer ACP (Central Div) Uday Shankar Banerjee who was under treatment in hospital due to COVID-19. TeamKP stands by the family of the deceased Officer #Sad #CoronaMartyr #RIP," Sharma said on Twitter.
Aslam Khan, younger brother of veteran Bollywood actor Dilip Kumar, passed away on Friday morning in Mumbai due to coronavirus-related complications, Lilavati Hospital said in a statement. The statement reads, “Aslam Khan, younger brother of Dilip Kumar, passed away early morning in Lilavati hospital under Dr Jalil Parkar due to covid19 with diabetes, hypertension and ischaemic heart disease.” Dilip Kumar’s spokesperson Faisal Farooqui confirmed the news on Twitter. Dilip Kumar’s brothers Eshan and Aslam Khan were admitted to Lilavati hospital last Saturday after testing positive for coronavirus.
Normal life came to a grinding halt in Kolkata on Friday after a complete shutdown was enforced across West Bengal for the second consecutive day. Incessant overnight rain owing to a low-pressure system that continued this morning also forced people to stay indoors in the city and most other places in south Bengal, PTI reported. All public transport, government and private offices, banks and other commercial establishments, barring those dealing with essential services, remained shut while flight operations in and out of the Kolkata international airport were suspended for the day. Long-distance trains were also rescheduled. Essential services like medicine shops and health establishments remained open as these were kept out of the purview of the complete shutdown. In several district towns, police personnel were seen checking papers of those vehicles that were out on the streets despite the restrictions. At least 2,687 people were arrested from across the state, 541 of them in Kolkata, for violating lockdown rules.
A 107-year-old woman and her 78-year-old daughter were among those who recovered from coronavirus in Maharashtra's Jalna district, an official said on Friday. The centenarian, her daughter, 65-year-old son and two grandchildren, aged 27 and 17, were undergoing treatment for the virus for more than a week at the hospital, district civil surgeon Archana Bhosale said. All of them had tested positive on August 11. "We had lost all hope. We survived because of the dedication shown by the medical staff...it is nothing short of a miracle," the centenarian woman's son was quoted as saying by news agency PTI.
The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has modified its guidelines to make institutional isolation mandatory for all Covid-19 positive patients aged above 50 years in Mumbai, irrespective of whether they have any symptoms of the infection. Patients may choose either government or private hospitals to undergo institutional isolation, said the civic body. In the first 15 days of August, Mumbai had recorded 588 deaths due to Covid-19. Of the 244 people who died in private hospitals, 94 per cent were above the age of 50 years. Among the 588 deceased, while 75 per cent sought admission within two days of testing positive, 6.6 per cent got admitted two to four days later and 11 per cent got admitted after six days.
The West Bengal Health Commission on Thursday issued an order against a private hospital in Kolkata and asked the authorities to deposit a fine of Rs 10 lakh for overcharging a Covid positive patient. The Commission, headed by Retired Justice Ashim Kumar Banerjee, was hearing a case of a patient who had died inside an ambulance after DESUN Hospital allegedly demanded Rs 3 lakh as admission fees. West Bengal Clinical Establishment Regulatory Commission Chairman Justice (retd) Ashim Banerjee said, “The licence of DESUN Hospital should have been suspended. However, as it was not a case of wrong treatment, so there was no suspension order.” The commission has further directed the hospital not to take any advance payment from any patient till the case is closed.
The Covid-19 tally in India rose to 2,905,823 after 68,898 fresh cases were registered within a single day.
An India and UK headquartered genomics biotech company is among four worldwide projects awarded the USD 1-million 2020 Roddenberry Prize designed to advance the vision of 'Star Trek' creator Gene Roddenberry to better humanity, PTI reported. Launched this year in the early weeks of the coronavirus pandemic, the prize pivoted to engage organisations who demonstrated their agility and innovation on the frontlines of Covid-19.
Adding over 1,100 cases on Thursday, the Covid-19 tally in Gujarat crossed 83,000. Besides, the health department also conducted a press briefing after more than 45 days in Gandhinagar. Addressing mediapersons, principal secretary, health and family welfare, Jayanti Ravi shared the best practices adopted in the state and claimed that in a month, the state has managed to increase testing and reduce positivity in all its 33 districts and eight municipal corporation areas. The health department, in an analysis, compared test per million versus test positivity during a week in July vis-a-vis a week in August.
Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee will hold an administrative meeting through video conferencing with nine district administrations on August 24 and 25. According to sources, the CM will review the progress of different development projects and Covid situation in those districts. Sources said on August 24, Banerjee will hold a meeting from Nabanna with the district administrative officials of North 24 Parganas, South 24 Parganas, Howrah and Hooghly at 3 pm. The next day, she will continue the meeting with officials of Purba Bardhman, Paschim Bardhman, Birbhum, Bankura and Purulia.
IIT-Kharagpur has asked students to vacate hostels by August 23 after one of them tested positive for Covid-19 on Wednesday. At present, 200 to 250 students are living in the campus residence halls. In a notification posted on Wednesday, the authorities also announced that the residence halls would be sealed. “In view of a Covid-19 positive case detected in one of the halls, and since the student took dinner in the private mess, we are compelled to seal all the halls of residence. Accordingly, all students who are presently staying in the campus must vacate the halls latest by August 23 and proceed to their hometowns,” read the notice. IIT-Kharagpur Registrar BN Singh told The Indian Express that the infected student had been sent to Kolkata. “The student was staying in one of our hostels. He was staying with five to six other students in the entire hall. He has been sent to Kolkata for treatment. Meanwhile all halls have been sealed. We feel that the rest of the students in that hall have not been infected. However we will carry out sanitisation work in every hall,” he said.
Over 11.2 lakh Indians have returned from abroad after the government launched the "Vande Bharat" evacuation mission on May 7 in view of the coronavirus pandemic, the Ministry of External Affairs said on Thursday Ministry of External Affairs Spokesperson Anurag Srivastava said the bilateral air bubbles arrangements with US, Canada, UK, France, Germany, UAE, Qatar and Maldives are functioning well An air bubble is a bilateral arrangement with a set of regulations and restrictions in which the carriers of the two countries can operate international flights Referring to an announcement by the Minister of Civil Aviation earlier this week, Srivastava said negotiations on air travel arrangements with 18 more countries -- Australia, Italy, Japan, New Zealand, Nigeria, Bahrain, Israel, Kenya, Philippines, Russia, Singapore, South Korea, Thailand, Bangladesh, Afghanistan, Bhutan, Nepal and Sri Lanka -- are ongoing.
Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar has gone into quarantine for three days after Union Jal Shakti Minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat tested positive for corona virus. Khattar had attended a meeting on the Sutlej Yamuna Link with Shekhawat on Tuesday, reported PTI.
The chief minister will undergo another COVID-19 test just before the Haryana Assembly's monsoon session commences on August 26, as has been made mandatory by the Vidhan Sabha speaker for anyone entering the complex, the official said.
With 996 new cases and 11 deaths, the total number of COVID cases in Haryana rose to more than 50,000. However, only 7,555 are active cases, the State Health Department said.
Antibodies against the COVID-19 infection have been found in 27.7 per cent of people in Punjab's containment zones, according to the findings of a sero-survey. This was Punjab's first exclusive survey and was conducted in five containment zones from August 1 to 17 among a systematically selected random sample population of 1,250 people. The latest survey's findings were submitted to Chief Minister Amarinder Singh at a COVID review meeting on Thursday.
"A total of 27.7 per cent of the people in Punjab's containment zones are found to be positive for COVID antibodies, indicating that they have already been infected and have recovered from the coronavirus," as per the sero-survey's findings.
The findings showed that the SARS-CoV2 (COVID-19) antibodies' prevalence in the containment zones to be the highest at 40 per cent in Amritsar district, followed by 35.6 per cent in Ludhiana, 33.2 per cent in SAS Nagar, 19.2 per cent in Patiala and 10.8 per cent in Jalandhar district.
Kerala logged 1,968 fresh COVID-19 cases, including 48 health workers, and nine related deaths, taking the infection count in the state to 52,199 so far. As many as 1,737 were infected through contact and the source of infection of 100 people was not yet known, Health Minister K K Shailaja said.
Of the positive cases, 71 had come from abroad, while 109 had come from other states, the minister said in a press release. So far 33,828 people have tested negative for the infection, including 1,217 who were discharged today. At present 18,123 people are under treatment. As many as 1.73 lakh people are under observation of whom 1.58 lakh are in home or institutional quarantine and 14,646 in various hospitals, including 2198 admitted today, the minister said. In the last 24 hours, 37,010 samples have been tested and so far 12.12 lakh have been sent for testing. The total hotspots has touched 585 as of today.
Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh on Thursday ordered a series of emergency measures, including extension of weekend lockdown, with daily night curfew from 7 pm to 5 am in all 167 cities and towns in the state from August 21. Besides, the chief minister also ordered a total ban on all gatherings except weddings and funerals across the state till August 31. As of Wednesday, the state reported 36,083 coronavirus cases with 920 deaths.
The Mumbai police have recently issued a tweet warning action against non-essential vehicular movement, leaving several netizens with the question of whether the coronavirus-induced lockdown was still in force or the unlock phase was on. On their official Twitter handle, the city police on Tuesday night had warned that strict legal action would be taken against people who step out for non-essential purposes.
The message was criticised by many on social media, with some Twitter users asking the police to classify what is essential and non-essential movement. People also asked the police if the coronavirus-induced lockdown was still in force or the unlock phase was on. "Both the government and cops are confused about what to follow and ignore. It's a complete failure of communication and expected considering the level of mismanagement which happens," a Twitter user said.
Just before the start of the brief Monsoon Session of Uttar Pradesh Legislature, the Samajwadi Party on Thursday staged a protest in the Vidhan Bhawan against the law and order situation and the government's handling of the coronavirus pandemic. Party members of both houses of the legislature staged a protest in front of the statue of former prime minister Chaudhary Charan Singh, holding banners against the state government. The also stopped state Health Minister Jai Prakas Singh while he was going to attend first day of monsoon session of state assembly in Lucknow on Thursday. (Express Photo by Vishal Srivastava)
West Bengal has over 2300 containment zones even as recovery percentage of Covid-19 patients in the state is better than the national rate, the government said.The highest number of containment zones are in Nadia district followed by East Burdwan and NorthDinajpur districts, as per the state government's website 'Egiye Bangla'. The total number of containment zones in West Beengal is 2304, it said.West Bengal has witnessed 2,581 Covid-19-related deaths out of which 2,277 were due to comorbidities where the disease was incidental, the website said. Till Wednesday, there were 1,25,922 active cases and over 95,000 people have recovered from the disease. The discharge rate in the state is 76 per cent while nationally it is 74 per cent, it added.
Jal Shakti Minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat, who tested positive for Covid today, had held two important meetings on Tuesday., PTI reported One was on the Sutlej Yamuna Link (SYL). Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh attended the meeting virtually while his Haryana counterpart M L Khattar was physically present at the meeting with Shekhwat, his deputy in the ministry Rattan Lal Kataria, and senior officials.
Navi Mumbai police on Wednesday arrested a man and seized over four lakh used hand gloves which were being washed and readied to be resold during the Covid-19 pandemic. The crime branch (Unit 1) also seized 17 packets of used blue-coloured latex gloves, packed as new, for sale. Senior Inspector Subhash Nikam said a raid was conducted on a godown in Gami Industrial Park in the MIDC area of the city following a tip-off and Prashant Surve, the owner of the godown used for printing and binding books, was arrested. “We found that the accused was using a washing machine to clean the gloves and a blower to dry them, before repackaging them to be sold in the market,” Nikam said. The value of the items seized is above Rs 6 lakh, he added. The senior inspector said considering the quantity of the latex gloves found with the accused, it is suspected that he had managed to procure the gloves disposed of by medical establishments.
Senior Congress leader P Chidambaram on Thursday accused the BJP-led government at the Centre of shielding the PM CARES Fund from any kind of scrutiny. "It is abundantly clear that the BJP government is making desperate efforts to shield PM-CARES Fund from any kind of scrutiny," he tweeted. "Was the Fund set up by the central government as concluded by the Ministry of Corporate Affairs? If not, who set up the Fund and in what capacity?" he asked. "If the Fund was not set up by the central government, why are the PM and three Ministers serving as Trustees? Who appointed them as Trustees?" the senior Congress leader asked. "If the Fund is a private established fund, why are donations to the Fund counted against CSR? Will donations to other privately-established funds be also counted against CSR," he posted on the micro-blogging site.
Jal Shakti Minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat announced that he tested positive for coronavirus today. Taking to Twitter, he said that he will be admitted to the hospital as per recommendations from the doctors. He also urged all his recent contacts to isolate and get themselves tested.
Pune is well-equipped to defeat Covid-19, said Rajesh Deshmukh, who took over as the new district collector on Wednesday, and added that he will continue with the various measures taken by his predecessor in the fight against the pandemic. “It’s true that Pune has the highest count of Covid-19 cases. But it’s also true that since the onset of the pandemic, Pune has been doing the highest per-day testing in the state and the more you test, more cases you tend to find. Also, the rate of recovery is the highest in Pune. In July, the rate of recovery was about 50 per cent, now it’s gone up to 75 per cent and the credit for this improvement goes to the health machinery of the district,” he said. Deshmukh, who most recently served as the managing director of Haffkine Institute in Mumbai, said he worked as a nodal officer for several aspects, including testing and receipt of equipment via CSR, since the pandemic began.
With the shadow of the Covid-19 pandemic looming large over the upcoming Ganesh festival, the Pimpri-Chinchwad Municipal Corporation (PCMC) on Wednesday prohibited Ganesh installation and immersion processions and urged local residents to instal idols at their home. “Coronavirus cases are rising rapidly… if we don’t want the virus to spread, we should avoid celebrations. There should be no installation or immersion processions in the city,” said Municipal Commissioner Shravan Hardikar. Urging people to celebrate Ganesh festival at home, the PCMC chief said, “People should install Ganesh idols at their home, do the pooja and make arrangements for immersion inside their home… the PCMC will not make any arrangements in the river ghat area for the immersion”.
A 35-year-old sub-inspector of Mumbai Police died of coronavirus on Thursday, an official said. With this, the Covid death toll in the Mumbai Police force has gone up to 60, he said. The sub-inspector was posted at Deonar police station. He tested positive on August 9 and was undergoing treatment at D Y Patil Hospital in Navi Mumbai. He succumbed to the disease on Thursday, the official said. Another constable who had also tested positive for the disease along with him was later discharged after treatment, the official added.
Kerala, once the most successful state in containing the spread of the novel Coronavirus epidemic, has been adding relatively large number of cases for several weeks now. On Wednesday, the state detected more than 2,000 cases in a day for the first time, and simultaneously reached 50,000-figure for confirmed cases. In the last one month, the number of confirmed cases have grown by almost four times, at a rate which is among the fastest in India. Even now, at 4.01 per cent per day it is growing much faster than the national rate. In fact, amongst the states with high caseloads, those with more than 20,000 confirmed cases, only Punjab has higher growth rate than Kerala right now. Click here to read more.
Jain added: "The prevalence of antibodies found in sero-survey showed that the antibodies were present in 29% of the people in the northeast districts, 27% in the south, 33% in the southeast and 24% in New Delhi. There was also an increase of 6% to 50% among people in various districts compared to the earlier survey. The sero-prevalence of antibodies was found in 28.3% of the males while 32.2% of the female population. As many as 15,000 people had participated in the survey."
The second serological survey which was conducted between August 1 and 7 showed that 29.1% of people in Delhi have developed antibodies against the virus, Health Minister Satyender Jain announced on Thursday. A total of 15,000 samples were collected during the survey, he added.
With the bi-weekly lockdown underway, all government and private establishments, shops, markets and banks remained closed in West Bengal on Thursday. Medical shops, milk booths and petrol pumps, however, were kept out of the purview of the lockdown. According to PTI, Kolkata and other districts wore a deserted look as people remained indoors and public transport and other vehicles, barring those engaged in essential services, were off the roads. Police personnel kept a strict vigil on major intersections in Kolkata and other districts and put up guard rails to prevent people from venturing out without any valid reason. Flight services out of the Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose International Airport here remained suspended, while long-distance trains were rescheduled at Howrah and Sealdah termini.
Inter-district bus services of the Maharashtra State Road Transport Corporation (MSRTC) resumed on Thursday morning after almost five months, officials said. The Maharashtra government on Wednesday permitted the state-owned undertaking to re-start inter-district bus operations, which were stopped in March after the enforcement of lockdown to contain the spread of COVID-19. On Thursday, the first bus from Mumbai Central depot, where the MSRTC headquarters is located, left around 8.30 am for Chiplun in Ratnagiri district with six passengers boarding at the starting point, a transport corporation official said. More passengers were expected at Dadar and other stops, he said.
The second serological survey which was conducted between August 1 and 7 shows that 29.1% of people developed antibodies against coronavirus, Delhi Health Minister Satyendra Jain said. A total of 15,000 samples were collected during the survey, he added.
After the recent sero-survey in Pune revealed that nearly 50 per cent of samples of local residents from five high-incidence areas had antibodies for coronavirus infection, the Indian Institutes of Science Education and Research (IISER)-led survey has now begun a study to detect ‘neutralising antibodies’ in an effort to understand the human body’s response to the virus. This will possibly be the first of its kind survey in the country. “The sero-survey has been completed in the five highly-affected areas. It was found that 51.5 percent of the 1,664 residents from whom samples were collected had developed antibodies against SARS-CoV-2 infections, ie coronavirus, but it does not indicate immunity through it. So, this is a further study to detect ‘neutralising antibodies’ that protect from the viral infection,” said Professor L S Sashidhara of IISER.
Continuing with its six-day streak of recording more than 3,000 cases, West Bengal on Wednesday added 3,169 coronavirus positive cases, pushing the total count to 1,25,922. With an addition of 53 deaths linked to the virus in the last 24 hours, the death toll rose to 2,581. Nine districts recorded more than 100 fresh cases, of which four had over 200 cases. Kolkata and adjacent four districts continued to account for a major share. As many as 666 people tested positive in Kolkata, 657 in North 24 Parganas, 213 in South 24 Parganas, 172 in Howrah and 151 in Hooghly. Besides these, 225 people tested in Dakshin Dinajpur, 137 in Purba Midnapore, 121 in Murshidabad and 111 in Paschim Bardwan.
Jharkhand's Covid-19 caseload rose to 26,300 as 967 more people tested positive for the infection, while 13 fresh fatalities pushed its coronavirus death toll to 278, a health official said on Thursday. The fresh infections have pushed the total number of active Covid-19 cases in the state to 9,456, while 16,566 people have recovered from the disease so far, he said. A total of 12,282 samples have been tested for Covid-19 in the last 24 hours, the official added.
G R Chintla, chairman of the National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development, on Wednesday said the lender had taken several measures to ensure unhindered flow of credit to financial institutions and farmers in the coronavirus times and was working towards achieving the Atmanirbhar dream — a recurring theme in Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s speeches to make India self-reliant. Chintla said while launching the Atmanirbhar package announced by Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman. “Out of Rs 25,000 crore already allocated by RBI under Special Liquidity facility, NABARD has disbursed Rs 22,977 crore to 23 state cooperative banks and 27 RRBs, and Rs 985 crore to 9 MFIs (microfinance institutions) as front ended liquidity support to augment banks’ resources in financing farmers and to tackle liquidity crunch due to the pandemic. The loans extended to NBFC-MFls are in the form of an 18-month term loans. The RBI has been approached for additional Rs 5,000 crore for extending further assistance to these RFIs,” said Chintla.