Coronavirus LIVE Updates: MPs Who Attended Parliamentary Meet Asked to Quarantine for a Week after Staffer Tests Positive

Himachal Covid-19 Cases | The number of Civid-19 cases reaches 1,302 in Himachal Pradesh out of which 345 cases are active: State Health Department

Kerala Covid-19 Cases | Kerala records 608 new Covid-19 cases today, and 151 patients recovered. One fatality was reported in the state from Alappuzha. Total number of positive cases rises to 8930, active cases stand at 4454:

80 Bengaluru Metro Workers Test +ve | About 80 workers associated with the Metro Rail work in Bengaluru have been found infected with the coronavirus, a Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation Limited official says. Most of those infected are migrant workers from different parts of the country, according to the official.

Andhra Covid-19 Cases | Andhra Pradesh logged 43 fresh Covid-19 deaths, a new single day high, taking the overall toll past 400 mark. Another 1,916 fresh infections took the coronavirus aggregate tally to 33,019, of them 15,144 being active cases, according to the latest bulletin.

Non-essential Shops, Markets to Stay Closed in Noida on Weekends | All government offices, except those providing essential services and banks, markets and shops would remain closed during weekends, from Friday 10 pm to Monday 5 am, across Gautam Buddh Nagar district, officials say. District Magistrate Suhas LY says new guidelines have been issued by the UP government.

MPs Who Attended Parl Meet Asked to Quarantine | All MPs who attended a PAC meeting in Delhi on July 10 have been called by Parliament to go into seven days self quarantine after a staff member of the secretariat tested positive for Covid-19. A large number of legislators from Delhi, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Surat and other places had attended the meeting.

Over 10,000 Cases in Palghar | The number of Covid-19 cases in Maharashtra's Palghar district crosses the 10,000-mark and reaches 10,164 after 431 more people tested positive for the disease, a senior official said.

K'taka's Bidar to Observe Lockdown | The Bidar district of Karnataka, which has the highest mortality rate, will be under lockdown for a week. Earlier, lockdowns were announced in other districts including Bengaluru, Yadgir and Dakshin Kannada.

Odisha to Start Plasma Therapy from Tomorrow | Odisha CM Naveen Patnaik takes the decision to begin plasma therapy for Covid-19 patients in the state tomorrow. SCB Medical College and Hospital, Aswini Hospital in Cuttack and KIIMS, SUM Hospital in Bhubaneswar will adopt plasma therapy.

Bishop Mulakkal Tests +ve for Covid-19 | A day after a court in Kerala's Kottayam issued a non-bailable warrant against Jalandhar's former Catholic bishop Franco Mulakkal, accused of sexually assaulting a nun between 2014 and 2016, for failing to appear before it, it was told that he has tested positive for Covid-19. Read full article here

Rajeev Chandrashekhar Quarantines Himself | BJP MP Rajeev Chandrashekhar says he is in quarantine for seven days after a staffer of the Committee Secretariat has tested positive for Covid-19.

Ok so i came to Delhi. Attended Parliamentary Commtee meeting on 10th.

Turns out one staff of Cmttee secretariat has tested Covid +ve tdy. So im headed to 7days quarantine🙏🏻

— Rajeev Chandrasekhar 🇮🇳 (@rajeev_mp) July 14, 2020

Haryana May Impose Restrictions on Dists Bordering Delhi | "We are thinking of imposing certain restrictions in four districts bordering Delhi, which are Gurugram, Faridabad, Sonipat and Jhajjar. These areas have 80& of Haryana's Covid-19 cases. A final decision will be taken after discussions," says Haryana Health Minister Anil Vij.

16% GST to be Levied on Alcohol-based Hand Sanitisers | The Authority for Advance Ruling has said that a GST of 18% will be levied on all alcohol-based hand sanitisers. The AAR, in its ruling, said since hand sanitisers manufactured by the applicant are of the category of 'alcohol-based hand sanitisers', a 18% GST would be applicable. The authority further said that although the Ministry of Consumer Affairs has classified hand sanitisers as an essential commodity, the GST law has a separate list of exempted goods.

Ram Madhav in Self-quarantine | BJP leader Ram Madhav says he is quarantining himself after J&K party chief tested positive for Covid-19. Earlier, Union Minister Jitendra Singh had annouced that he was in self quarantine.

Am quarantining myself for a few days since my colleague n BJP J&K President Ravinder Raina tested +ve for Corona today n I was with him 48 hrs ago in Srinagar. I tested -ve for Corona 5 times in last two weeks. Yet taking precautions to ensure safety of me n others. 😀🙏

— Ram Madhav (@rammadhavbjp) July 14, 2020

HC Orders Postmortem of Boy's Body as Parents Allege Negligence | Calcutta High Court orders the postmortem of an 18-year-old boy who had Covid-19 after his parents alleged medical negligence. The HC also orders videography of the postmortem and the boy's last rites as per ICMR guidelines. The Court asks the state government to submit a report. The deceased's parents have alleged that he was turned away by four hospitals due to non-availability of beds

Physical Distancing, Use of Masks Imperative: ICMR | Covid-19 is a droplet infection. There has been hypothesis and suggestions by several scientists that there may be some airborne transmission with microdroplets (less than 5 microns in size). What remains important is physical distancing and the use of masks: ICMR DG Balram Bhargava

Over 20 Test +ve in Bihar BJP HQ | More than 20 people, including four senior office-bearers of the BJP, have tested positive for Covid-19 at the party's headquarters, said its Bihar unit chief Sanjay Jaiswal. Reports in a section of the media here, however, stated that the number of people found infected was as high as 75.

Jitendra Singh in Self-Quarantine | Union Minister Jitendra Singh says he is in self quarantine after news of J&K BJP chief Ravinder Raina testing positive for Covid-19.

Have gone into Self-Quarantine with immediate effect from 4 PM today, after receiving the news about #Corona positive test of J&K BJP President Sh Ravinder Raina who had accompanied us from Srinagar to Bandipora on 12th July.

— Dr Jitendra Singh (@DrJitendraSingh) July 14, 2020

Outpatient Services Cancelled in 2 Bengaluru Hospitals | The Karnataka government orders cancellation of outpatient services for 48 hours at Apollo hospital in Jayanagar and Vikram hospital in Bengaluru for allegedly not admitting Covid-19 patients. Yesterday, the government had served showcase notice to hospitals over the allegations but they did not reply.

Bihar Released Guidelines for Lockdown | The Bihar government issues guidelines for lockdown from July 16 to 31. Farming and construction-related activities allowed. Places of worship to remain closed. Commercial, private and government establishments to remain closed apart from mentioned exceptions. Essential services allowed.

Advise States, UTs to Increase Testing Criteria: ICMR | WHO says if you're testing 140 people per day, per 10 lakhs, that would be indicative of comprehensive testing. There are 22 states who test 140 or over tests per day, per million. We advise the states/UTs to increase testing to meet WHO criteria:Rajesh Bhushan, Ministry of Health

2 Indian Vaccines to Start Early Human Trials | There are two Indian indigenous candidate vaccines. They have undergone successful toxicity studies in rats, mice and rabbits. Data was submitted to DCGI following which both these got clearance to start early phase human trials early this month: Balram Bhargava, DG-ICMR

Recovery Rate Rising | Between May 2 to May 30, number of active Covid-19 cases was more than recovered cases. After that, the difference between number of active and recovered cases is rising. Today, number of recovered cases is 1.8 times higher than the active cases. In May, the recovery rate was around 26% which rose to 48% by May end and further increased to around 63 % by July 12 in the country: Rajesh Bhushan, OSD, Ministry of Health

20 States' Recovery Rate Greater than National Avg | There are 20 states that have a recovery rate which is more than the national average. India's national average is 63%. Of these states Uttar Pradesh has a recovery rate of 64%, Odisha 67%, Assam 65%, Gujarat 70%, Tamil Nadu has a recovery rate of 65%: Rajesh Bhushan, OSD, Ministry of Health.

Division of the number of cases in the states:

Maharashta, TN Have 50% of India's Cases | 86% of the total number of Covid-19 cases are confined to 10 states. Two of these have 50% of the cases - Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu - and eight other states have 36% cases: Rajesh Bhushan, OSD, Ministry of Health.

J&K BJP Chief Tests +ve | Ravinder Raina, president of the Jammu and Kashmir BJP party tested positive for Covid-19, doctors said. The doctors said Raina was being put under isolation in the Narayana hospital in the Katra town of Reasi district.

Lockdown in Dakshina Kannada | Lockdown will remain imposed in the Dakshina Kannada district of Karnataka from 8 pm of July 15 to 5 am of July 23, Deputy Commissioner of the district said.

Bihar Covid-19 Cases | As many as 1,432 new Covid-19 cases have been reported in Bihar, taking the total number of cases to 18,853. So far, 12,364 patients have recovered in the state: State Health Department

Lockdown in K'taka's Yadgir District for 1 Week | Karnataka's Yadgir district Deputy Commissioner Kurma Rao M orders lockdown for one week in the district starting July 15. A total of five districts in the state will be observing a one-week lockdown.