Coronavirus LIVE updates: Medical staff examines residents of Chunabhatti at a health camp at Sainath Seva Mandals hall, Mumbai.
Coronavirus India LIVE News Updates: With 111 new deaths since Tuesday evening, the death toll due to the coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic rose to 1,694 on Wednesday while the total number of cases soared to 49,391 including the 14,182 people who have been treated and discharged so far. As many as 2,680 new infections have been reported since last evening.
In the highest single-day surge so far, 3,875 new cases and 194 deaths were reported across the country on Tuesday. While the third phase of the nationwide lockdown is scheduled to end on May 17, Telangana has become the first state to extend it until May 29.
Meanwhile, the government hiked excise duty on petrol and diesel to shore up revenues as demand remains subdued due to the lockdown. Starting Thursday, India will operate 64 flights until May 13 and use three Navy ships, as part of Phase I of an evacuation plan, to bring home nearly 15,000 Indians stranded overseas. For Kerala, this poses a new challenge given the large number of expatriates returning home. The state, which reported India’s first coronavirus case, has so far managed to flatten the curve, having recorded only 37 active cases and 462 recoveries, according to latest figures.
Globally, 257,277 people have died and a total of 3,663,824 confirmed cases have been reported so far with the United States crossing the 70,000-mark in the death toll, followed by the United Kingdom at 29,501, Italy at 29,315, Spain at 25,613 and France at 25,537. As many as 1,199,254 people have recovered globally. With scientists worldwide working on a vaccine, Israel’s Defence Minister Naftali Bennett has said the country’s main biological research institute has made a “significant breakthrough” in developing an antibody to the novel coronavirus.
Coronavirus India LIVE updates: Vendors donning PPE kits selling essential items from the other side of the barricades to residents of containment zone at Bapu Dham in Chandigarh.
A man waiting outside to open grocery shop in Kolkata (Express Photo Shashi Ghosh)
"A one-size-fits-all approach to the coronavirus pandemic is likely to increase inequalities in the long term."
Punjab government has ordered the opening of liquor vends in the state from Thursday with a provision to deliver liquor at the doorstep of residents. The vends would be opened only during the relaxation hours amid curfew. In an order issued by the government Tuesday evening, not more than two litres of liquor would be allowed to be delivered to a single buyer. Only two persons in a group of contractors would be allowed to deliver the wine at home. The delivery boys will require a curfew pass, ID proof and the vehicle used for delivery would also require permission from the district authorities. --reports Kanchan Vasdev
First suspected COVID-19 causality reported in Delhi Police. A 31-year-old constable, posted with North-West district, died on Tuesday evening in RML hospital. He tested positive when he was examined in Deep Chand Bandhu hospital after he complained of fever and cough. He again complained on Tuesday evening that he was feeling unwell, and was rushed to RML hospital where he was declared dead on arrival. His COVID test reports are awaited. Cops working with him have been asked to go for home quarantine.
On Tuesday, Gujarat crossed the 6000-figure mark, while Delhi reached 5000 and Madhya Pradesh 3000. Incidentally, Gujarat reported 49 deaths on Tuesday, the most that any state has done on any single day till now. Thirty nine of those deaths happened in Ahmedabad, which too is the highest single-day number for any city. On its worst day, Maharashtra had reported 37 deaths, while Mumbai had 27 on one day.
State
Total Cases
New Cases
Total Deaths
Maharashtra
15525
984
617
Gujarat
6245
441
368
Delhi
5104
206
64
Tamil Nadu
4058
508
33
Rajasthan
3095
97
89
Madhya Pradesh
3049
107
176
Uttar Pradesh
2880
114
56
Andhra Pradesh
1717
67
34
Punjab
1451
219
25
West Bengal
1344
85
140
For the last few days, Tamil Nadu has been adding to its Coronavirus numbers at a very fast pace, its number has nearly doubled in the last one week, from 2058 to 4058. The state reported over 500 new cases on each of the last two days and was the single biggest contributor to the national numbers after Maharashtra.
Unlike some other states like Punjab or West Bengal, where the sudden surge in the numbers in recent days could be attributed to specific reasons, it is not clear what is causing the rise in numbers in Tamil Nadu. After all, the number of new cases were increasing at a much more modest rate in Tamil Nadu earlier. Its previous doubling had taken 17 days.
A few hours after Karnataka Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa ‘requested’ migrant labourers to stay back, the state government decided to cancel all trains arranged to transport migrants to other states. The state government Tuesday wrote to the South Western Railway (SWR) withdrawing their request to arrange for train services scheduled for Wednesday.
China has reported two confirmed coronavirus cases and 20 new asymptomatic infections, including three imported ones, taking their total number to over 960, health authorities said on Wednesday. The National Health Commission (NHC) said on Wednesday that no new locally transmitted cases of COVID-19 were reported on Tuesday across the Chinese mainland. However, two confirmed cases arriving from outside the mainland were reported in China's Shaanxi Province, it said. Twenty new asymptomatic infections of the novel coronavirus were reported Tuesday, including three imported ones, the NHC said.
When President Donald Trump finally left his White House quarantine Tuesday to tour a plant in Arizona that makes protective equipment, he declined to wear a mask, something he’s been reluctant to do since the outbreak began. During a tour of a Honeywell plant making N95 respirators for health-care workers, the president donned safety goggles but no face covering, making good on his remarks that he didn’t need to do it and probably wouldn’t.
From stocking portable air filters to realigning beds according to the Nightingale ward philosophy and implementing epidemic SOPs reviewed by a microbiologist, all this was part of the process of bringing a COVID-19 hospital to life. Dr Ira Almeida, medical superintendent of Hospicio hospital in Margao, recalls a disaster drill on March 22, the day of Janta Curfew. But this drill was different. “It was specific… it was for an incoming pandemic,” she says. “Not the regular trauma drills we conduct where a bus falls into a steep valley.”
The third special Shramik Express departed from Vadodara for Lucknow in Uttar Pradesh shortly after 1 am on Wednesday with 1,270 passengers and 59 children on board.
With 111 new deaths since Tuesday evening, the death toll due to the coronavirus pandemic rose to 1,694 on Wednesday while the total number of cases soared to 49,391 including the 14,182 people who have been treated and discharged so far. As many as 2,680 new infections have been reported since last evening.
Starting Thursday, India will operate 64 flights until May 13and use three Navy ships, as part of Phase I of an evacuation plan, to bring home nearly 15,000 Indians stranded overseas. According to a schedule prepared by the Ministry of External Affairs, in coordination with the Ministry of Civil Aviation, the first of the 64 flights will carry 209 passengers from Abu Dhabi to Cochin International Airport on May 7. Another flight will transport 200 passengers from Dubai to Kozhikode the same day.
As India records the biggest single-day jump in numbers for both Covid-19 cases and deaths, data now indicate an early trend of reversal in gains made in the second half of April. According to figures shared by the Union Health ministry, the 7-day compounded daily growth rate (CDGR) of Covid-19 cases started dipping on April 8. The overall downward trend continued till May 1 when the curve started rising again. Since May 3, the 3-day CDGR curve has remained above the 7-day CDGR.
Asserting that the United States has flattened the curve on coronavirus, President Donald Trump said on Tuesday the country is now in the next stage of the battle, which is a "very safe phased and gradual reopening".
"Thanks to the profound commitment of our citizens, we have flattened the curve and countless American lives have been saved. Our country is now in the next stage of the battle. A very safe, phased and gradual reopening of our country," Trump said in his remarks at Honeywell International in Phoenix. According to the John Hopkins University, which tracks coronavirus patients, by Tuesday, more than 71,000 Americans had died due to the deadly virus and over 12 lakh had tested positive.
In the highest single-day surge so far, 3,875 new cases of the novel coronavirus disease (Covid-19) and 194 deaths were reported across the country on Tuesday. While the daily case count has remained over 2,000 since May 2 — it was 2,573 (83 deaths) on May 4; 2,487 (73 deaths) on May 3; and 2,411 (71 deaths) on May 2 — the last 24 hours have seen a sharp spike. Health Ministry officials attributed this to inclusion of pending data from West Bengal, which reported 296 cases and 98 deaths in the last 24 hours.
Good morning and welcome to our coronavirus LIVE blog. In the highest single-day surge so far, 3,875 new cases of the novel coronavirus disease (Covid-19) and 194 deaths were reported across the country on Tuesday. The total number of coronavirus cases in the country stands at 46,711, including 1,583 deaths and 13,160 recoveries. Follow to get all the latest updates from across the world here.
Following a sharp spike in COVID-19 cases in Chennai since Saturday, the Tamil Nadu government on Tuesday approved a recommendation from the public health department to issue guidelines to isolate asymptomatic patients or those with mild symptoms at their homes. It also decided to re-open liquor stores run by Tamil Nadu State Marketing Corporation Limited (Tasmac) in parts of the state from May 7.
Most of these new cases originated from the Koyambedu vegetable market — authorities shut it down completely on Monday. Tamil Nadu on Tuesday reported 508 positive cases, including 279 from Chennai. In another decision on Tuesday, the government also decided to allow Tasmac liquor stores to operate from May 7.