A boy, wearing mask, plays cricket in front of his house in Kolkata (Express Photo by Shashi Ghosh)
Coronavirus India News Live Updates: Stressing that the coronavirus crisis is not over yet, Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray on Sunday urged the residents of the state to continue to cooperate with the government to ensure that lockdown is not needed to be re-imposed. “Even if I am not using the term lockdown, do not misunderstand and lower your guard. In fact, we need to show more stringent discipline. Take care of senior citizens and children and leave home only if necessary. Even the youth must be careful,” he added.
In an interview to news agency ANI, Home Minister Amit Shah stressed that there is no community spread in Delhi. Shah also added that the government of India fought well against the virus and that the country will win both the battles (one against coronavirus and other along the India-China border) under the leadership of PM Modi.
With nearly 20,000 fresh infections reported in the past 24 hours, India now has over 5.28 lakh COVID cases. As many as 410 deaths were reported, taking the number of casualties to 16,095. While active infections stand at 2,03,051, there are 3,09,713 patients who have already recovered. The last one lakh cases have been added in less than a week. Globally, nearly 10 million cases have been reported with 4.98 deaths. Amid the surge, several states have reimposed full or partial lockdown
The speed at which Covid-19 cases rose in Delhi after the lockdown was eased in May was more than what the government had expected.
The Latin America region reported more than 1 lakh infections amid alarming spike in cases shows no signs of abating. (AP Photo/Achmad Ibrahim)
Thackeray also requested the senior doctors to shed any fear of contracting the disease and return to their duties. He said that the state needs their experience now and assured that there is no shortage of PPEs.
Stressing that the coronavirus crisis is not over yet, Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray on Sunday urged the residents of the state to continue to cooperate with the government to ensure that lockdown is not needed to be re-imposed. "Even if I am not using the term lockdown, do not misunderstand and lower your guard. In fact, we need to show more stringent discipline. Take care of senior citizens and children and leave home only if necessary. Even the youth must be careful," he added.
Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra on Sunday slammed the BJP government in Uttar Pradesh for its decision to resume classes for MBBS students and said it can jeopardise the safety of the students. 'At a time when coronavirus cases are rising across the country, UP government's decision to start classes for MBBS students can jeopardize their safety,' the Congress general secretary said in a tweet in Hindi.
COVID-19 is significantly associated with an increased risk of strokes, according to a study which says patients infected with the novel coronavirus should undergo aggressive monitoring for the neurological condition. According to the researchers, including those from the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in the US, COVID-19 infection is a risk factor for acute strokes.
In the study, published in the American Journal of Neuroradiology, the scientists assessed patients presenting to six New York City hospitals for suspicion of stroke between March to April. "We conducted a retrospective case-control study of 41 cases and 82 control subjects matched by age, sex, and risk factors," the scientists wrote in the study. (PTI)
The Palghar administration has decided to rope in teachers, National Cadet Corps and National Service Scheme members to help in efforts to contain the coronavirus outbreak. As on Saturday night, the district had 3,930 COVID-19 cases, of which over 3,000 were in Vasai-Virar and some 900 in rural areas, and 117 deaths. After a meeting chaired by Collector Kailas Shinde on Saturday, it was also decided to strictly enforce restrictions in place to combat the outbreak, officials said. Students of NCC, NSS will cooperate with police to control movement in restricted areas, a statement from the district administration said. (PTI)
A doctor of the city government-run LNJP Hospital died of COVID-19 in the ICU of a private dedicated coronavirus facility here on Sunday, sources said. The doctor, a consultant anaesthesiologist, died in the morning, they added. LNJP Hospital is a dedicated COVID-19 facility under the Delhi government. "He lost the battle today after a valiant fight," a hospital source said. Sources said the doctor died in the ICU of Max Smart, a dedicated COVID-19 facility in Saket. Several hundreds of healthcare workers have been infected with COVID-19 till date in Delhi. (PTI)
Malls in Gurgaon, Faridabad will be allowed to re-open from July 1. Cinema halls, children's play areas and gaming arcades inside will however remain closed. Visitors will need to install Aarogya Setu app, maintain social distance and use face masks.
Home-based COVID-19 testing kits could soon be a reality with the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Delhi and the National Chemical Laboratory (NCL) Pune working on an alternative testing method which can not only be performed by individuals at home but will also deliver quick results.
The collaborative project with the NCL, which comes under the aegis of the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), has also received financial support from Microsoft India and is expected to be ready in a month’s time.
According to the team, the project aims to develop an ELISA (Enzyme Linked Immunoassay) based diagnostic serological assay against COVID-19. If successful, it will create an economical, commercial process for manufacturing the antigens used in ELISA and home-based diagnostic kits to offer an effective, quick, robust and affordable diagnostic solution to manage the COVID-19 outbreak. Read more here
The gap between daily new cases and daily recoveries, which seemed to be closing down a few days ago, has begun to widen again from Friday, though there is no definitive trend as of now. If the daily recoveries exceed the daily new detections consistently for a prolonged period, at least two weeks, it could signal the arrival of the peak. But that does not seem to be on the horizon right now. There is a great degree of randomness in these two numbers, and no clear trend is observable, except for the fact that there is still a significant gap between the number of people falling sick every day and those who are recovering.
Karnataka reported an unusually high number of new cases on Saturday, more than double the number of its previous highest single-day figure, as almost 20,000 new cases were discovered across the country.
In the last one week, there has been a rise in the number of cases in Karnataka, mainly in Bengaluru, and the daily detections had increased from the level of 150-200 every day to between 300 and 400. On Thursday and Friday, it had reported close to 450 cases each. On Saturday, the state reported as many as 918 new cases, 596 of which came from Bengaluru alone. It was not immediately clear, but the unusual surge could be the result of clearing of some backlog, which has been piling up in the state. Results of more than 11,500 samples are awaited as two key government laboratories had to close down after employees tested positive. The state is likely to report high numbers for the next few days, as the pendency is cleared.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has added three new COVID-19 symptoms to its existing list. The US health protection agency has included congestion or runny nose, nausea, and diarrhea as possible indicators of the infection. Till now 12 symptoms of the virus have been identified by the agency.
The new symptoms will join the federal agency’s list that already included fever or chills, cough, shortness of breath or difficulty breathing, fatigue, muscle or body aches, headache, new loss of taste or smell and sore throat. According to the health body’s website, people suffering from COVID-19 could exhibit a varying combination of symptoms and the severity of the illness may differ from case to case.
"Since lockdown began, both PM Modi and I spoke to all CMs and told them to make stay and food arrangements for migrants. Arrangements were made for around 2.5 crore people. Rs 11,000 crores from the National Disaster Relief Fund was transferred to the states. It was ensured that hospitals and quarantine centres were operational in the receiving states. Soon after, PM decided to run ‘Shramik Special train’ services, and till now, around 63 lakh migrants have travelled by 4594 trains," he said.
Talking about Centre and Delhi's coordination to tackle the virus, Shah said, "There is coordination...Arvind Kejriwal is always kept in the loop. He is also involved in decision making. Some political statements may have been made but no impact on decision making. After Manish Sisodia’s statement (of 5.5 lakh cases by July-end), PM Modi also asked Home Ministry to help Delhi Govt. Soon after, a coordination meeting was called and a number of decisions, including testing of all individuals in containment zones, were taken."
Taking a dig at the opposition, Shah in an interview to ANI, said, "Indian government fought well against Coronavirus. I can't advise Rahul Gandhi, that's the job of his party leaders. Some ppl are 'vakradrashti', they see wrong even in the right things. India fought well against and our figures are much better compared to the world."
In an interview with news agency ANI, Home Minister Amit Shah said that there is no community transmission in Delhi and that there is nothing to worry about. "After Delhi Deputy CM made a statement that by July 31 we will have 5.5 lakh COVID19 cases in Delhi...there was panic. I am sure now we will not reach that stage and will be in a much better situation because we stressed preventive measures. There is no such situation (community transmission) in Delhi today, there is no need to worry," Shah said, adding that the country is "going to win both the wars"(against the virus and along the border) under the leadership of PM Modi.
31 officials from the Assam Police have tested positive for the novel coronavirus, including an SP rank officer, authorities said. Additional DGP (Law and Order) GP Singh said that were “all in good health.” As per Singh, one commandment of an Assam Police Battalion (APB) has tested positive. “He was deployed at Dhubri Inter-State border to facilitate Inter-State movement of people by road,” he said. Among the 30, 24 are from Guwahati, 1 from Lakhimpur, 2 from Karimganj, 2 from Tezpur and 1 from Dhubri. The ranks range from Sub-Inspector to Constable. There are 1,090 police personnel in quarantine as of July 27.
Around the world, Covid-19 lockdowns cleaned up the air as a plethora of economic activities were brought to a standstill. However, new research shows that while NO2 and PM2.5 levels plummeted during this period, pollution from ozone shot up. On Wednesday, the New Delhi-based Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) said since the starting of the national lockdown on March 25, pollution from ozone in 22 mega and metropolitan cities in India “increased and even breached standards in several cities”. Read more
When India and China clashed in their worst stand-off in four decades, leaving 20 Indian soldiers dead, the ripples were felt in Ladakh. The tensions are set to further delay recovery in the UT that, instead of tourists, is seeing huge losses, a 20 times surge in Covid-19 numbers since May, and a strict lockdown. The Indian Express takes the road from Leh to Pangong.
Addressing the nation during his monthly radio address, Mann ki Baat, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said that India has always emerged out stronger from adversities. "People are commonly talking about one thing- when will 2020 end. They feel it has been a year of many challenges. There could be any number of challenges but our history shows that we've always overcome them. Guided by its strong cultural ethos, India has turned challenges into successes."
Mumbai has started reporting symptoms similar to Kawasaki disease among young patients with coronavirus. Reports regarding this had first appeared in the West, but it is the first time these symptoms are being reported in India. One such patient, a 14-year-old, was first brought to a private hospital in Mumbai this week with rashes and high fever, two classic Kawasaki symptoms. She subsequently tested positive for Covid-19, and was transferred to ICU on Friday night after her condition worsened. The US, UK, Spain, Italy and China have been reporting cases of children with Covid-19 showing Kawasaki-like symptoms since April.
Kawasaki disease, whose cause remains unknown, mainly affects children aged below five years. It results in high-grade fever and inflammation in blood vessels, and can sometimes cause permanent damage to coronary arteries.