Coronavirus roundup: Developments in India and rest of world

TIMESOFINDIA.COM | Jul 9, 2020, 20:04 IST

NEW DELHI: Amid a spurt in coronavirus cases, the government on Thursday said India has not yet reached the community transmission stage of COVID-19 and asserted that there have been localised outbreaks in some geographical areas.
The Centre's assertion came on a day India registered a record single-day surge of 24,879 COVID-19 cases, taking the caseload to 7,67,296. The death toll climbed to 21,129 with 487 new fatalities, the updated data showed.

Here are the top developments:

1

India

India's COVID-19 cases and deaths per million population are amongst the lowest in the world, the Union health ministry said.
The health ministry said that there is steady increase in the per day testing of COVID-19 in the country. During the last 24 hours 2,67,061 samples have been tested. As on date, 1,07,40,832 samples have been tested for identification of COVID-19 in the population.
COVID-19 recovered cases are 1.75 times that of active cases, the ministry said. People over 60 years account for 53 per cent of India's COVID-19 deaths.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi speaking at the India Global Week address said that "there is faith" that India has a leading role to play in global revival in the post-COVID-19 world.
In these times, it is natural to talk about revival. It is equally natural to link global revival and India. There is faith that the story of global revival will have India playing a leading role, the Prime Minister said.
Eight states, including Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Delhi, Karnataka and Telangana, account for around 90 per cent of the active COVID-19 cases in the country and 80 per cent of the active cases have been reported from 49 districts, the Group of Ministers on COVID-19 was informed.
With a recovery rate of over 72 per cent and doubling rate of nearly 30 days, the COVID-19 situation in the national capital has shown remarkable improvement in recent days because of joint efforts, the Union home ministry said.
Addressing a press conference, home ministry joint secretary Punya Salila Srivastava said the ministry has been holding regular meetings with the state governments in the Delhi-NCR region for improving the pandemic situation.
The Supreme Court refused to entertain a plea which claimed that Soap Aroma Aerosol Action Preventive Therapy mask was useful and would help in saving the world from COVID-19 pandemic.

2

States

West Bengal: A seven-day lockdown was imposed in all containment zones of West Bengal from Thursday evening, official sources said. Chief minister Mamata Banerjee had on Wednesday said the lockdown will be in place for a week from 5 pm on July 9, after which the situation will be reviewed.
Punjab: The Punjab government will set up a plasma bank to facilitate plasma therapy treatment in the state. The approval for the same was given by chief minister Amarinder Singh, while chairing a review meeting via video conferencing, of the COVID-19 situation in the state.
Assam: The Assam government has decided to impose a "total lockdown" in Golaghat town from Thursday evening for eight days to curb the spread of the coronavirus disease. The restrictions in Golaghat Municipal Board area will be in place from 7pm on Thursday to prevent further spread of the virus.
Puducherry: Lt Governor Kiran Bedi tested negative for coronavirus, a day after an employee of the Raj Nivas was found to be infected with the virus.
Maharashtra: A private laboratory in Pune has been stopped from conducting COVID-19 tests following some discrepancy in a report. District collector Naval Kishore Ram issued an order stating that one of Thyrocare's labs located in a rural area of Haveli tehsil in Pune district has been stopped from conducting COVID-19 tests.
Karnataka: Amid spike in COVID-19 cases in Bengaluru, chief minister B S Yediyurappa decided to appoint ministers as in-charge for each zone in the city, aimed at effectively managing the pandemic.
UP: Uttar Pradesh reported 17 more deaths and over 1,200 fresh cases of COVID-19, taking the state's infection tally to 32,362. So far, 862 deaths have been reported in the state.
Tamil Nadu: A central team led by a senior official of the Union health department reviewed the pandemic situation in Chennai. The team held discussions with state health minister Dr C Vijaya Baskar and senior officials.
Meghalaya: Meghalaya's COVID-19 caseload crossed the 100-mark with five more persons testing positive for the infection. Two of the new patients are BSF personnel. The northeastern state's virus count now stands at 104.
Andhra: A new single-day record spike of 1,555 cases pushed the Covid-19 tally further up to 23,814 in Andhra Pradesh. 13 more coronavirus patients succumbed in the last 24 hours, taking the overall toll to 277.
Tripura: Tripura reported 57 fresh cases of COVID-19, raising the state's tally to 1,774. The state now has 436 active cases, while 1,324 coronavirus patients have recovered from the disease.
Mizoram: Two BSF jawans have tested positive for COVID-19 in Mizoram's Serchhip district in the last 24 hours, pushing the tally in the state to 203.
Odisha: Odisha reported its highest single-day spike of 577 COVID-19 cases, taking the tally in the state to 11,201, while four more deaths pushed the toll to 52.
Rajasthan: Rajasthan reported seven more COVID-19 deaths and 149 fresh cases of coronavirus infection, taking the death toll to 489 and total tally to 22,212. There are 4,846 active cases in the state.
Arunachal Pradesh: Arunachal Pradesh reported 11 fresh COVID-19 cases, raising the state's tally of coronavirus patient to 287.
Bihar: A total of 704 new cases of coronavirus were reported in Bihar. With this, the state tally of coronavirus cases has climbed to 13,978, including 9,541 recovered cases.

3

World

The World Health Organization, which faced fierce US criticism over its handling of the coronavirus crisis, launched an independent panel on Thursday to review its response to the pandemic.
The Independent panel for Pandemic Preparedness and Response will be headed by former New Zealand Prime Minister Helen Clark and former Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf.
The novel coronavirus has killed at least 549,701 people since the outbreak emerged in China last December. At least 12,066,880 cases of coronavirus have been registered in 196 countries and territories.
The United States is the worst-hit country with 132,309 deaths from 3,055,144 cases. At least 953,420 people have been declared recovered.
Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan inaugurated country's first-ever specialised hospital for infectious diseases in Islamabad to meet the increasing challenges posed by the coronavirus that has claimed nearly 5,000 lives and infected over 240,000 people in the country. The 250-bed Isolation Hospital and Infectious Treatment Centre was built in a record 40 days.
Singapore reported 125 new coronavirus infections, including 21 community infections and the rest being foreign workers living in dormitories. As of Thursday, the total number of cases in Singapore reached 45,423 and the death toll stands at 26.
Amidst the rising number of coronavirus cases in Australia, authorities in Melbourne and some regional parts of the hardest-hit Victoria state entered into its first day of the second lockdown, imposing restrictions for next six weeks. Victoria recorded another 165 new COVID-19 cases in the last 24 hours including several hospital and aged care workers, on the first day of its second lockdown.