A record spike in COVID-19 cases in Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh on Friday triggered the biggest single-day jump of over to 17,000 infections in the country even as Maharashtra decided to undertake antigen and rapid antibody tests for the disease in the worst-hit State.
Meanwhile in the United States, which has reported the most number of cases in the world, health officials estimate that 20 million people have had the coronavirus.
Here is a list of State Helpline numbers. You can track coronavirus cases, deaths and testing rates at the national and State levels here.
Here are the latest updates:
Satyendar Jain to be discharged
Delhi Minister Satyendar Jain, who was admitted to hospital and found COVID-19 positive, tested negative for the virus today, according to AAP sources. He will be discharged from the hospital later in the day. - reports Nikhil M. Babu.
Commercial passenger air services suspended till July 15
DGCA says that scheduled international commercial passenger air services will now remain suspended till July 15. However, international scheduled flights may be allowed on selected routes, a DGCA circular said.
Occupancy in trains increasing day by day
Chairman Railway Board V.K. Yadav said, "Of the 230 special trains, 78 trains are running at an occupancy of over 100% as on June 26. Very soon we will announce more trains on routes considering the requirement of passengers. It may not be suitable to run trains at full strength, will depend on COVID-19 situation."
He said, "So far, Ministry of Railways has received ₹620 from Central COVID fund and if needed more can be sanctioned to us. Railways is spending about ₹2 lakh per COVID coach, mainly for maintenance, food protective gears."
"We are seeing a very encouraging trend in ‘reverse direction’. For example now trains running from Gorakhpur, UP to Mumbai are at full occupancy. Similar is the case with trains from Bihar to Mumbai, UP to Ahmedabad. This is a good sign that economic activity has started and people are returning to work. - reports Yuthika Bhargava.
Bihar's tally rises
123 more COVID-19 positive cases take the total number in the state to 8611. - reports Amarnath Tewary.
Working to employ UP’s all migrant workers in state: Yogi
Uttar Pradesh has enough potential to employ all migrant workers, said UP CM Yogi Adityanath. The Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh said barring those below 18 years of age, the skill mapping of remaining 30.47 lakh workers and labourers in the State has been completed. - PTI
Tamil Nadu could lose ₹85,000 crore in revenue: CM
Tamil Nadu could sustain a revenue loss of about ₹85,000 crore due to the COVID-19 pandemic this year, and the State has already incurred a loss of about ₹35,000 crore, Chief Minister Edappadi K. Palaniswami said in Tiruchi.
Chennai Police Head Constable Saravanan rides 40 kilometres in his bicycle every day for COVID-19 prevention duty and in his 25 years of service in the police department, he mentions that he has been travelling only in his bicycle. Seen at Guindy on Friday. | Photo Credit: B. Velankanni Raj
WB CM announces relaxation
West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee announces relaxation of night curfew hours. During the extended coronavirus lockdown till July 31, restrictions will be in place from 10 pm to 5 am in the state. Ms. Banerjee said, "We want Metro Rail services in Kolkata to resume from July 1."
Notice sent to Jaipur hospital for conducting trials of Patanjali drug
Rajasthan’s Health Department has served a notice to NIMS hospital here seeking an explanation on conducting trials of Patanjali Ayurved’s drug Coronil on coronavirus patients, an official said.
“We served notice to the hospital on Wednesday evening seeking explanation in three days. The hospital did not inform the state government nor sought permission,” Chief Medical and Health Officer, Jaipur, Dr Narottam Sharma said.
He said the reply from National Institute of Medical Science (NIMS), Jaipur is awaited.
The launch of the drug by yoga guru Ramdev on Tuesday triggered a debate after which the Ayush Ministry sought all information on its trial and put a ban on advertising it as a drug to cure coronavirus.
The Rajasthan government has clarified that the drug cannot be not used as a medicine in the state without the permission of the Ministry of AYUSH. - PTI
Shopping malls in Gurugram to be opened in a week's time. State government to issue SOPs on this, says Gurugram Municipal Commissioner. - reports Ashok Berwal
Only a small proportion of young children, adolescents develop severe symptoms: study
A multicentre study involving 82 health-care institutions across 25 European countries carried out between April 1 and April 24 has found that children (including infants) younger than 18 years generally have only mild COVID-19 disease symptoms, and deaths were less than 1%. However, 8% of children develop a severe symptoms of the disease that may require intensive care support and prolonged ventilator support.
The study led by Marc Tebruegge of University College London, which addresses the scarce data on COVID-19 in children and adolescents, was published in the journal The Lancet Child & Adolescent Health.
Maharashtra govt asks AMC to deploy staff to verify COVID-19 bills
The Maharashtra government has asked the Aurangabad Municipal Corporation (AMC) to deploy its staff in the city’s private hospitals to verify the medical bills being charged from the COVID-19 patients.
Shiv Sena leader and Member of the state Legislative Council (MLC), Ambadas Danve, told this to PTI.
He said the instructions were given to the AMC during a meeting of all-party representatives in Aurangabad with Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray on Thursday.
Huge circles are painted on a street to mark physical distancing in a market place at Grant Road in Mumbai. Painting in yellow is an initiative by a group of architects, urban planners with Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation to help address the issue of social distancing post COVID-19 lockdown. | Photo Credit: Vivek Bendre
No COVID-19 deaths in 4 NE States so far: Health Ministry
The North-Eastern (NE) States have a comparatively lower number of COVID-19 cases in the country, with 3,731 active cases and 5,715 recoveries. Also the death rate continues to be low, with no deaths in Manipur, Mizoram, Nagaland and Sikkim, the Union Health Ministry said on Friday.
Union Minister V. Muraleedharan questions Kerala's containment strategy
Union Minister of State for External Affairs, V. Muraleedharan on Friday said the number of COVID-19 positive cases in Kerala could be much higher than officially reported given the State's "dismal" record in random population testing.
Escalating his war of words with Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan over Kerala's containment strategy, Mr. Muraleedharan said in a Facebook post that the number of random tests in Kerala (372 per lakh of the population) was much lower than the national average (553 per lakh of the population).
If the number of tests conducted was any yardstick of effective pandemic control, Kerala ranked 28th among States. The low number of tests belied the Kerala government's claim that it had successfully controlled community spread in the State.
Seized vehicles will be released only after lockdown is lifted, Chennai police say
As Chennai and parts of its adjoining districts are under a complete lockdown, the city police have prohibited gathering of more than five people in public places and have been implementing restrictions on the movement of vehicles on the roads from June 19. At 288 places, the police have set up vehicle check points, with iron barricades and check the vehicles moving on the roads. As of Thursday, 33,455 vehicles that have been seized, are parked at police stations or on roadsides or private parking lots hired by the police.
Total lockdown in Guwahati for 2 weeks
Assam Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma announces total lockdown in Guwahati from June 28 midnight to July 12. A curfew from 7 p.m. to 7 a.m. will be imposed from today. No vehicle movement will be allowed in the city. No commercial and industrial establishment will be allowed to function. Grocery stores will also be shut. Hospitals, pharmacies will be allowed to function. Banks will be allowed to function with limited staff.
Total lockdown to be strict during the first week, which maybe relaxed on situation assessment. There will be a weekly lockdown on Saturdays and Sundays, in rest of the state of Assam and night curfew will be imposed everywhere. The decision is in view of rising COVID-19 cases. - reports Rahul Karmakar
Delhi's situation is under control: Kejriwal
Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal says, "Delhi has reported 74,000 COVID-19 cases so far, but situation is under control. We have increased COVID-19 testing in Delhi; hence, cases are rising. Delhi govt has set up 3,500 beds for COVID-19 patients in hotels in last 10 days."
"The good thing is that of the total 74,000 cases so far as many as 45,000 have recovered; people are getting cured very quickly too. Of the total 26,000 active cases only 6,000 are in hospitals and the rest and getting treated at home.
Over the last week, the total number of occupied beds has been around 6,000 or thereabouts; though 3000 to 3500 new patients are surfacing every day, the requirement of hospitals beds has more or less remained the same.
There seems to be a mild form of the Coronavirus in Delhi; that is why the number of people getting infected is around the same number of those getting cured; we have 13,500 hospital beds ready in Delhi.
Over the coming days, we will attach banquet halls to hospitals in different parts of Delhi. We are preparing for the future."- reports Jatin Anand.
Central team visits micro-containment zones in Ahmedabad
A central team, led by Joint Secretary in the Health Ministry Lav Agarwal, visited different areas of Ahmedabad city on Friday morning to review the measures undertaken by the authorities to contain the spread of coronavirus, said officials.
The team is on a one-day visit of Gujarat and expected to visit containment zones as well as civil hospital in the city, the worst-hit by COVID-1 in the state.
The team started its visit from Vasantnagar township in the Gota area of the city, a micro-containment zone, and collected information about the steps taken by the authorities to contain the spread of virus, said the officials.
The team also understood the functioning of mobile clinic vans, named as’Dhanvantari Arogya Rath’, launched earlier this month by the Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation to conduct health check-up of people and distribute medicines. - PTI
A medical technologist testing a modern automated RNA extraction machine, set up at Thoothukudi Medical College on Friday.
| Photo Credit: N. Rajesh
U.P. govt’s efforts during COVID-19 helped save 85,000 lives, says Narendra Modi
“If Yogi ji and his teammates had not prepared well, if U.P. would have also faced destruction like in America, then today in U.P. not 600 but 85,000 persons could have lost their lives,” the PM said. - reports Omar Rashid
Can online learning replace the school classroom?
As the number of COVID-19 cases in India continues to rise, the school system in the country has seen a massive upheaval. The Supreme Court today permitted CBSE and ICSE to cancel the board exams of Classes 10 and 12, which were scheduled to be held in July. Many State governments — including Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh — have already taken a similar step.
E-learning, however, comes with its own challenges like disparity in access to education and worries of screen addiction. Keeping this in mind, is it feasible to replace class room learning with online classes? Kiran Bhatty, a Senior Fellow at the Centre for Policy Research, and Reeta Sonawat, an Executive Director at the Early Childhood Association, discuss the pros and cons of online learning.
Serological survey to begin in Delhi on Saturday
A serological survey to undertake a comprehensive analysis of COVID-19 in Delhi and prepare a broad strategy to combat the pandemic will be carried out in the national capital from Saturday, the Union Home Ministry has said.
The announcement came a day after Union Home Secretary Ajay Bhalla reviewed implementation of various decisions on the coronavirus-related situation in Delhi, which were taken on June 21 in a meeting chaired by Union Home Minister Amit Shah.
Serology (antibody) tests are largely used for surveillance among the community. They can be used on people who have already been tested positive for the virus or even those who are asymptomatic, and can reveal insights on immunity against coronavirus.
Bengaluru not to see another lockdown, for now
Rumours and speculation of another complete lockdown in Bengaluru over the past few days owing to a surge in COVID-19 cases, were spiked on Thursday with the government ruling out the possibility for now.
Deputy Chief Minister C.N. Ashwath Narayan said the question of another complete lockdown did not arise.
“Revival of the economy has only just started and livelihoods are important. The situation in the City is under control and not alarming. There is no need for a complete lockdown again,” he said.
Going for swab test? you might share space with positive patients
How safe are those going to take swab test for novel coronavirus infection at the COVID-19 wing of Government Rajaji Hospital? It looks, the chances of a “doubtful” patient contracting the virus is high.
The State Health Department is encouraging people with symptoms like fever, cold, cough and breathing problem to take swab test at the earliest to confirm whether or not they were infected with the deadly virus. But, at the COVID-19 wing of the GRH, patients who go for testing could get infected as they need to mingle with already tested and confirmed positive patients who come there seeking admission.
Store positive samples for 30 days before destroying: ICMR to govt labs
The ICMR has advised government laboratories to retain all samples testing positive for coronavirus infection for a minimum of 30 days before destroying them.
In its ‘Guidelines for storage of respiratory specimens collected for COVID-19 diagnosis by RT-PCR platforms in government laboratories’, the apex health research body said appropriate procedures to disinfect all samples prior to disposal must be followed and the labs should keep a record of the destruction.
According to the guidelines, all samples being stored for a long-term must be appropriately labelled indicating laboratory identifiers, date of collection and must be kept in properly functioning -80degreesC deep freezers.
A proper inventory (preferably electronic) of stored samples should be essentially maintained. - PTI
A brief update on the latest COVID-19 numbers:
India recorded the highest-ever daily spike of 17,296 COVID-19 cases, pushing the total tally to 4,90,401.
The death toll is now 15,301 with 407 new fatalities, as per data released by the Union Health Ministry.
India registered over 14,000 cases for the seventh day in a row and witnessed a surge of 2,99,866 infections from June 1 till 26.
The number of active cases stands at 1,89, 463 while 2,85,636 people have recovered. - PTI
Positive patient found dead in washroom of COVID-19 ward in Bengaluru
A 60-year-old COVID-19 positive patient ended her life in the washroom of the COVID ward in K.C. General hospital in Bengaluru early on Friday morning.
The woman, along with her daughter-in-law and granddaughter, was shifted from a quarantine centre to the hospital on June 18 after they tested positive.
This is the second instance of a COVID-19 patient ending life in a COVID ward in the city.
Northern Railway installs alarm system in COVID-19 isolation coaches
The Northern Railway has installed an alarm system in its isolation coaches at Shakur Basti station to alert doctors of any emergency situation involving a patient.
“Applying their ingenuity, the railway engineers have developed a circuit system whereby each COVID care coach is being provided with an alarm bell. On the other end, a display board with light and sound connection against each coach number has been installed in the coach housing doctors and specialized medical staff,” the Northern Railway said in a statement.
In case of emergency, as soon as the patient presses the emergency call bell, a red light fitted outside the coach will glow with a loud sound. This will also be simultaneously displayed on the board installed in the doctor’s coach, where the bulb against the coach number will light-up with an alarm sound. This will enable the caregivers to immediately rush to the particular coach to attend to the sick person.
On the demand of the Delhi government, the Northern Railway had placed 503 isolation coaches at nine stations of Delhi area for patients having very mild to mild symptoms of the novel coronavirus. The Shakur Basti isolation coaches currently have five patients with mild COVID-19 symptoms. - PTI
COVID-19 count rises, but recovery rate improves in Delhi
Delhi continued to be the city with the highest number of total COVID-19 cases, after it surpassed Mumbai on Wednesday.
Though the total number of cases in Delhi is high, 44,765 people have recovered and there are only 26,586 active cases, which is 36.03% of the total cases. Officials have started preparing for a 100% survey of households in containment zones and a comprehensive survey of the rest of the city.
TN CM denies possibility of community spread
There is no community transmission of COVID-19 in Tamil Nadu, Chief Minister Edappadi K. Palaniswami said on Thursday.
Addressing the media, he said, “If there is community spread of the virus in the State, you [the press] and I will not be standing here. The State government has been able to identify all COVID-19-positive persons and their contacts to control its spread.”
Madhya Pradesh to screen 8 crore people for COVID-like illnesses in July
Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan has announced the launch of a ‘Kill Corona’ drive in July to screen the State’s 8 crore people for COVID-19-like illnesses.
Nearly 14,000 health workers will survey families within a fortnight and spread awareness on containing the virus. The drive will kick off from Bhopal, said the State Directorate of Health Services.
Railways cancels all regular train services till August 12
All regular mail, express and passenger services as well as suburban trains have been cancelled till August 12, the Railway Board said on June 25. Sources said that the decision was taken keeping in mind the increasing number of coronavirus cases in the country.
However, all special trains — 12 pairs running on the Rajdhani routes since May 12 and 100 pairs operating since June 1 — will continue, they said.