Coronavirus India Updates, 30 July: Maharashtra records 11,147 fresh cases in 24 hours, highest for any state

The number of tests have crossed the 18-million mark in the country. According to ICMR, a total of 1,81,90,382 samples have been tested including 4,46,42 samples being tested on Wednesday. Meanwhile, the government on Wednesday issued Unlock 3 guidelines, allowing gymnasiums and yoga institutes to function from August 5 and revoking night curfew even as all other activities banned earlier continue to remain prohibited.

Operation of metro rail, cinema halls, swimming pools, entertainment parks, theatres, bars, auditoriums, assembly halls and similar places shall continue to remain prohibited, the guidelines issued by the Ministry of Home Affairs have said. Schools and colleges too shall remain shut till August 31. Social/ political/ sports/ entertainment/ academic/ cultural/ religious functions and other large congregations shall also not be allowed.

Here are the top stories of the day: 

Bihar extends lockdown till Aug 16

Amid nearly a five-time surge in the number of Covid cases over a month, the Bihar government Thursday decided to extend the lockdown in the state till August 16 — the lockdown began on July 16 and was scheduled to end on July 31.

As part of the new restrictions which will come into effect on August 1, government and private offices will be allowed to function with 50 per cent workforce as against the total closure of government and private offices under the current lockdown till July 31.

Air and railway services will continue as usual while public transport will remain off the roads, except taxis and auto-rickshaws. Private vehicles will be allowed without any passes.

Covid cases have increased from 10,205 on July 1 to 48,001 on July 30, with 203 of the total 285 deaths reported in the last 28 days. The high positivity rate of eight to 12 per cent during the lockdown has remained a matter of grave concern.

“In view of the present situation of Covid-19 in the state, following guidelines imposing further restrictions are being issued…” an order by Special Secretary (Home) Sunil Kumar said, adding that “night curfew would be in place from 10 pm to 5 am except for essential services and trade activities”.

TN reports 5,864 new COVID-19 cases, 97 deaths

In a dip in fresh COVID-19 cases in Tamil Nadu, a total of 5,864 people tested positive on Thursday compared to around 7,000 in the last few days while the total infection count rose to 2,39,978. The toll due to the disease shot up to 3,838 with 97 more deaths, a health department bulletin said. The state recorded 5,295 recoveries, taking the cumulative number of those discharged to 1,78,178.

Active cases, including those in isolation, were 57,962. Testing of samples continued to remain high as 61,202 specimens were examined on Thursday, taking the total to 25,97,862 the bulletin said. Chennai saw 1,175 people contracting the contagion to touch an aggregate of 98,767. On Monday, the state recorded an all-time high of 6,993 fresh COVID-19 cases, followed by 6,962 on Tuesday and 6,426 cases on Wednesday.

More than 1 million Covid-19 recovery in India: Health Ministry

The Health Ministry on Thursday said coronavirus recovery rate has shown positive trends. From 7.85 per cent in April, it is now at 64.4 per cent. Addressing a press conference,  health secretary Rajesh Bhushan said, “More than 1 million people have recovered from #COVID19 in the country. This landmark recovery has been achieved because of the selfless work and dedication of our doctors, nurses and frontline workers.”

He said six states of the country have a recovery rate that is more than the national average. Of these, Delhi has recovery rate of 88 per cent, Ladakh 80 per cent, Haryana 78 per cent, Assam 76 per cent, Telangana 74 per cent, Tamil Nadu and Gujarat 73 per cent, Rajasthan 70 per cent, MP 69 per cent and Goa 68 percent. The case fatality rate in India today is 2.21 per cent and it’s among the lowest in the world. Talking about herd immunity, Bhushan said, ” it is not a strategic option for a country of the size and population of India. It can only be achieved through immunisation.”

So far, three vaccine candidates are in phase 3 clinical trial. These 3 are in US, UK & China. In India, 2 indigenously developed vaccine candidates are in phase 1 & 2 clinical trials. The 1st is being tested on 11,050 subjects at 8 sites, the 2nd on 1000 subjects at 5 sites

Karnataka: Sanitation workers to get PPE kits, regular health monitoring, insurance benefits

Sanitation workers in Bengaluru and other parts of Karnataka can now avail benefits from the Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Yojana or the state government’s insurance scheme, an order issued Wednesday stated.

“In the case of untimely death of pourakarmikas during this pandemic, they are entitled for benefits under the Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Yojana or the insurance scheme of the State Government,” the order issued by Karnataka Health Commissioner Pankaj Kumar Pandey read.

Earlier last week, the Karnataka High Court had directed Bengaluru’s local civic body the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) to check whether these schemes were applicable to sanitation workers, known locally as pourakarmikas.

Responding in a submission to the High Court during the hearing of a batch of public interest litigations (PILs) filed around the safety and welfare of pourakarmikas, especially in times of the Covid-19 pandemic, BBMP informed that a compensation of Rs 10 lakh each was given to the families of four pourakarmikas who succumbed to coronavirus infection.

Death toll in Maharashtra police rises to 100; total cases cross 9000-mark

The major chunk of the total caseload of Maharashtra police has been from the local police personnel in Mumbai.

The number of COVID-19 fatalities among the personnel of the Maharashtra police force has reached 100 as the total case count has crossed 9000 mark, as per the data shared on Thursday morning.

Of the total 9096 COVID police cases in the two lakh strong police force of Maharashtra as reported till Thursday morning, 7084 have till now recovered and 1912 remain active cases. 100 cops including eight officers and 92 constabulary staff have till now succumbed to COVID infection. A large chunk of the police force continues to be deployed for imposing movement restrictions, enforcing containment zones and also at hospitals and COVID care centres across the state. Close to 140 cases were reported among the personnel of Maharashtra police throughout the day on Wednesday.

Multiple police entities like police stations and various branches from jurisdictions across the state have been facing the problem of severe staff crunch after detection of cases among their staff and subsequent hospitalisation of COVID positive cops and isolation of their immediate contacts.

The major chunk of the total caseload of Maharashtra police has been from the local police personnel in Mumbai, its surrounding areas and the personnel of the Maharashtra SRPF deployed in these high risk areas and who later repatriated to their home units. Other than Mumbai and the SRPF, cases have continued to rise among cops in Nashik Rural, Thane City, Pune City, Navi Mumbai, Mumbai Railway and Solapur police jurisdictions.

Odisha’s COVID-19 tally crosses 30,000-mark; death toll mounts to 169

Odisha’s COVID-19 count crossed the 30,000-mark with 1,203 fresh infections reported in a day, while 10 more deaths due to the disease pushed the toll to 169, a Health Department official said on Thursday. The fresh cases were reported from 28 of the state’s 30 districts, he said. Ganjam district reported the highest 250 new cases, followed by Khurda 220, Cuttack 97, Sundergarh 74, Gajapati 72 and Malkangiri 65, the official said.

48-year-old man dies of COVID-19 in Manipur; toll mounts to 2

Manipur registered its second COVID-19 death on Thursday as a 48-year-old patient succumbed to the infection at a state-run hospital here, a senior doctor of the medical establishment said. The man, a resident of Leimakhong area in Kangpokpi district, was admitted to the Regional Institute of Medical Sciences (RIMS) on June 8 with chronic kidney disease and lung infection and he had tested positive for COVID-19 on July 26, the hospital’s director, Dr Ahanthem Santa Singh, said.

The fresh fatality comes a day after the state registered its first COVID-19 death as a 56-year-old patient succumbed to the disease early on Wednesday.

At a Covid-19 testing center in Mankhurd on July 27, 2020. (Express Photo: Amit Chakravarty)

Flight operations to remain suspended on lockdown days: Kolkata airport

Amid the bi-weekly lockdown, Kolkata Airport on Thursday announced that flight services will remain suspended on August 5th, 8th, 16th, 17th, 23rd, 24th and 31st. Passengers are requested to contact concerned airlines for changes in flight schedule, it said.

Telangana logs 1,811 new COVID-19 cases, 13 deaths

Telangana recorded 1,811 fresh COVID-19 cases and 13 fatalities, pushing the state’s gross further up to 60,717. Out of the new positive cases, 521 were from the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC), followed by Ranga Reddy (289) and Medchal-Malkajgiri (151) districts, a state government bulletin said on Thursday, providing data as of 8 PM on July 29. With 13 more deaths, the COVID-19 toll in the state rose to 505.

India coronavirus numbers explained: 50,000-figure breached, recoveries cross one million

Andhra Pradesh detected more than 10,000 new cases of novel Coronavirus infections on Wednesday, and it was the first time since mid-March that any state had reported more cases than Maharashtra on any day. Maharashtra found 9,211 new cases on Wednesday, and the number of people who have been infected in the state so far went past 4 lakh.

It was also only the second time that any state had reported more than 10,000 positive cases in a single day. On July 22, Maharashtra had detected over 10,500 new cases.

Ever since the first infections in Maharashtra were detected in the second week of March, the state has been contributing the highest number of positive cases in the country. Even in the initial days, there were only a couple of occasions when other states –the outbreak was confined to Kerala, Delhi, Telangana and Rajasthan at that time – had reported more cases than Maharashtra, but those days daily new discoveries were still in single digits.

ICMR plans national registry of Covid patients to help improve treatment

The Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), in collaboration with the Health Ministry and All India Institute of Medical Sciences, plans to roll out a project to create a rigorous database of Covid-19 patients admitted in hospitals across the country in an effort to understand how treatment can be improved.

The project, a national clinical registry, will also serve as a crucial platform to conduct clinical trials to study the effectiveness of newer therapies being used as part of treatment for this disease.

Around 15 institutions are expected to help create this network and get hospitals and medical colleges on board as part of the exercise, which is awaiting clearances from a common ethics committee of the ICMR.

3,000+ Covid cases for fourth straight day, Uttar Pradesh sixth worst-hit

Uttar Pradesh continued to record more than 3,000 coronavirus cases for a fourth consecutive day on Wednesday, taking the total count to 77,334. The new case count was 3,260 on Sunday, 3,578 on Monday, 3,490 on Tuesday and 3,570 on Wednesday.

With this, Uttar Pradesh became the sixth state to surpass the 75,000 mark after Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Delhi, Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka. It also saw at least 33 new Covid-related deaths in the last 24 hours, taking the toll to 1,530.

Ten districts witnessed 100 or more cases and two of them over 200 cases since Tuesday. Lucknow and Kanpur Nagar witnessed 262 and 260 new cases. Gorakhpur saw 177 new cases, followed by 162 in Bareilly, 150 in Prayagaraj, 148 in Jaunpur, 144 in Moradabad, 127 in Varanasi, 103 in Bhadohi and 100 in Ballia.