A Covid-19 ward in Delhi’s Lok Nayak Hospital.
Coronavirus India News Live Updates: The Covid-19 tally in India rose to 968,876 on Thursday after 32,696 fresh cases were registered within a span of 24 hours, the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare announced. The death toll stood at 24,915.
As many as 1,27,39,490 samples have tested for the virus till July 15, out of which 3,26,826 samples were tested on Wednesday, the Indian Council of Medical Research said. Click here for the top Covid-19 developments in India.
Globally, at least 13,512,692 people have been infected while 583,359 have died so far, according to the latest tally by the John Hopkins University. The United States continued to remain the worst-affected nation followed by Bazil, India, Russia and Peru. The economy in China, where the pandemic first broke out, rebounded from a painful contraction to grow by 3.2 per cent over a year earlier in the latest quarter as anti-virus lockdowns were lifted and factories and stores reopened.
People are tested for Covid-19 at a NDMC Dispensary in Pilanji Village, New Delhi. (Express Photo: Abhinav Saha)
Varavara Rao, the 80-year old Telugu poet-litterateur and activist who is behind bars since 2018 in the Elgaar Parishad case on Thursday has tested positive for Covid-19.
On Wednesday, he was taken to JJ hospital on Monday for a few tests after he complained of dizziness. Rao’s family had demanded that he be shifted to a hospital from the Tajola Central Jail in Navi Mumbai after receiving a call from him on July 11. The family told media persons on Sunday said that during the phone call, Rao was unable to speak coherently and spoke about events that had taken place decades ago. His co-inmates have informed the family that he had been unable to do any of his chores by himself and was dependent on others in the hospital ward where he was being kept.
Announcing the resumption of international commercial flights, Civil Aviation Minister Hardeep Singh Puri on Thursday said India had established individual bilateral bubbles with France and the US that would allow airlines of these countries to operate flights. Puri said air bridges or air bubbles would be the way to resume international air travel amid the Covid-19 pandemic.
“Till international civil aviation can reclaim its pre-COVID numbers, I think the answer will lie through bilateral air bubbles which will carry a possible number of people but under defined conditions as countries are still imposing entry restrictions incl India,” he said.
The concept of air bridges is based on reciprocity with the said countries allowing Indian citizens to fly into their borders and India allowing their citizens to fly into its borders. For more information click here.
The Meghalaya government has decided to close all entry points to the state from July 24 to 31 to intensify COVID-19 surveillance, as its caseload rose to 354 on Thursday with 16 more security personnel testing positive for the infection.
"It is hereby notified that all current operation entry point of the state located at Byrnihat, Ratacherra, Bajengdoba, Tikkrikkilla, Mirjumla and Hallidayganj shall remain closed from midnight of July 23rd to midnight of July 31st, 2020," an official order issued by the government said.
"Only movements related to emergency, medical and essential services, goods and inter-State transit vehicles will be allowed during this period," it added.
The government has also requested people visiting/returning to Meghalaya during this period to reschedule their travel plans.
Researchers at the University of Oxford believe they may have a breakthrough in their quest for a Covid-19 vaccine after the team discovered that the newly found agent could provide ‘double protection’ against the deadly coronavirus following early-stage human trials, PTI quoted media reports in the UK as saying.
Blood samples taken from a group of UK volunteers given a dose of the vaccine showed that it stimulated the body to produce both antibodies and ‘killer T-cells’, a senior source from the trial was quoted by ‘The Daily Telegraph’ as saying.
The discovery is promising because separate studies have suggested that antibodies may fade away within months while T-cells can stay in circulation for years.
Uttar Pradesh reported a record 2,061 new COVID-19 cases on Thursday, taking the tally to 43,444, while 34 more fatalities pushed the death toll in the state to 1,046.
"A total of 26,675 patients have been treated and discharged, while there are 15,723 active cases in the state," Additional Chief Secretary, Medical and Health, Amit Mohan Prasad said.
He said a record 48,086 samples were tested on Wednesday and soon, the number of tests conducted per day would be increased to 50,000.
Officials said after Tamil Nadu and Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh has conducted the highest number of tests for COVID-19 so far. (PTI)
Addressing a press briefing, Union Civil Aviation Minister Hardeep Singh Puri said: "Our negotiations are at an advanced stage with 3 countries. Air France will operate 28 flights from July 18 to Aug 1 between Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru and Paris. US will be flying 18 flights between July 17-31 but this is an interim one. We have a request from Germany too."
A nine-month-old boy died of COVID-19 in Puducherry on Thursday, taking the toll to 22, while a single-day high of 147 fresh cases pushed the overall tally to 1,743, news agency PTI reported.
Director of Health and Family Welfare S Mohan Kumar told reporters that the child was admitted to the Rajiv Gandhi Government Women and Child hospital here with complaints of diarrhoea yesterday and tested positive for the virus and died.
The health department has stepped up efforts to trace the source of infection for the baby.
In an attempt to contain the spread of the virus, the district administration in Indore has prohibited gathering of more than 20 people at weddings and funerals, an official said on Thursday. As per an order issued by district collector Manish Singh, which is effective immediately, not more than 20 people can take part in weddings and funeral processions. Similarly, not more than 10 people can attend home weddings and birthday celebrations, the official said, adding that religious functions and public ceremonies have been banned in the run up to the festive season.
A woman employee at the district collectorate here has tested positive for coronavirus following which all offices in the collectorate have been closed for two days, a senior official told PTI. District Magistrate Indra Vikram Singh said on Thursday that all necessary precautions are being taken and government orders in this regard are being strictly followed.
The Odisha government on Thursday commenced plasma therapy for the treatment of Covid-19 patients at a hospital in Cuttack, an official told PTI. The procedure was conducted on a 48-year-old patient at the Ashwini Hospital for the first time in the state, technical advisor to the health department Dr Jayant Panda said. "The patient has been administered B-positive plasma," he said. Meanwhile, a plasma bank has started functioning at the SCB Medical College Hospital in Cuttack from Wednesday, a health department official said. "Four persons, including a doctor, who had recovered from COVID-19, have donated their plasma at the facility," he said.
Former Maharashtra chief minister Shivajirao Patil-Nilangekar has tested positive for coronavirus in the state's Latur district on Thursday, a senior official told news agency PTI. The 88-year-old leader has been shifted to a hospital in Pune, located around 320 km from Latur, the official said.
Forty Kerala doctors who had come to Mumbai at the request of the state government to help the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation in the battle against Covid-19 are on their way back home as the civic body has not yet paid their salaries. Fifteen have already left for Kerala while the remaining 25 will be heading back Thursday. At least four of the 35 nurses from Kerala, who had joined Seven Hills hospital last month, too, have not received their salary from the BMC. “All 40 doctors who came to Mumbai have not been paid. They were supposed to work for two months. Fifteen of them decided to return home last week due to salary issues,” said a doctor associated with the South Asia chapter of Doctors Without Borders that had facilitated the movement of these professionals to Maharashtra during the lockdown.
Maharashtra, the state worst-hit by the Covid-19 pandemic in the country, has partially lifted the freeze on capital works in a bid to stimulate economic growth. In an order issued on Wednesday, the Uddhav Thackeray government announced the easing of curbs it had previously imposed on development spend. Projecting the economic situation to remain gloomy this year, and anticipating a sharp erosion in its own revenues, the government had on May 4 stayed all new works except “operational expenses” for Covid-19 control measures. Barring procurement of infrastructure and items required for combating the pandemic, it had ordered all departments to withhold tenders for new purchases and approvals for new development works.
Zydus Cadila's move to begin human trials of its indigenously developed vaccine candidate for Covid-19 is an important milestone for an 'Atmanirbhar Bharat', Department of Biotechnology Secretary Renu Swarup said on Thursday. Zydus Cadila on Wednesday said it has initiated Phase 1 and 2 clinical trials of its Covid-19 vaccine candidate. ZyCoV-D, the plasmid DNA vaccine designed and developed by Zydus, has been partially funded by the Department of Biotechnology under the National Biopharma Mission. "This is an important milestone for Atmanirbhar Bharat as Zydus begins human clinical trials for the indigenously developed vaccine. We hope that the vaccine continues to show positive outcomes as it has done so far in the pre-clinical phase where it was found to be safe, immunogenic and well tolerated," she said.
Novartis’s Sandoz division will not make a profit on 15 generic drugs it is making available to developing countries to treat symptoms of COVID-19, the Swiss drugmaker said on Thursday. Novartis said it would provide medicines ranging from antibiotics and steroids to diarrhea pills to 79 countries on the World Bank’s list of low- and lower-middle-income nations. The Basel-based drugmaker plans to maintain the zero-profit programme until the pandemic ends or a vaccine or cure is found, Novartis Global Health Chief Operating Officer Lutz Hegemann said in an interview.
The Business Advisory Committee (BAC) of both Houses of the Maharashtra Legislature is likely to meet next week to discuss the pandemic situation in the state and on holding the monsoon session of the Legislature, Assembly Speaker Nana Patole said on Thursday. The monsoon session, which was earlier scheduled to start from June 22, was deferred to August 3 in view of the pandemic. Patole told PTI that the BAC is likely to meet next week to discuss the prevailing situation. Nearly 1,500 people, including legislators and other staff, are present at a time in the VidhanBhavan when the Legislature session is in progress. The Vidhan Bhavan has a total staff strength of 750, Patole said. "At the BAC meet, the prevailing situation would be reviewed and views of the government and the opposition would be sought," he said.
With Karnataka witnessing a sharp spike in Covid-19 cases, its Health Minister B Sriramulu has said only God can save the state, insisting that public cooperation was key to controlling the spread of the pandemic. The Minister’s statement in Chitradurga on Wednesday came in response to the opposition Congress’ charge of the government failing to tackle coronavirus spread, but he later claimed his remarks were ‘misinterpreted’ by a section of the media. “Tell me whose hand it is (to control the disease). Only God has to save us all. Awareness among people is the only way. In such a situation, the Congress leaders have stooped to the lowest level of politics. It doesn’t suit anybody,” Sriramulu told reporters on Wednesday.
The Kerala High Court has banned all gatherings, specifically demonstrations, processions and agitations in the state till July 31, except the ones permitted under the guidelines issued by the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) last month, PTI reported. In its order on Wednesday, a Division Bench comprising Chief Justice S Manikumar and Justice Shaji P Chaly said the Chief Secretary of Kerala and state police chief should ensure that no political party violates the guidelines and orders of the court. "Public gatherings not permitted under the orders of the National Disaster Management Authority shall not also be allowed. So long as the guidelines issued by the National Disaster Management Authority is in force up to July 31 or for subsequent period, depending upon the situation, police have to ensure strict action against all those, who violate the guidelines," the court said.
With 147 fresh cases, the tally in Puducherry rose to 1,743 on Thursday, Puducherry Health Department said.
Shops and public areas remained closed in Bihar in view of the total lockdown in the state till July 31.