Coronavirus LIVE Updates: 15 Priests of Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams Test Positive, Says Former TTD Chief Priest; France Makes Indoor Mask-wearing Compulsory

Coronavirus LIVE Updates: According to Ramana Dikshitulu, former TTD Chief Priest and currently the Agama advisor for TTD, said that 15 priests had tested positive at the Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams and questioned how the TTD EO could continue to allow darshans.

Meanwhile, France has made indoor public mask-wearing compulsory from next week.

Highest single day spike of 32,695 COVID-19 cases and 606 deaths were reported in the last 24 hours in India.

Total positive cases stand at 9,68,876 including 3,31,146 active cases, 6,12,815 cured/discharged/migrated and 24,915 deaths, said the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.

A QR code will be required to travel on local trains in Mumbai from July 20. The local train services are used only for essential service providers.

The total lockdown in Bihar to last for 16 days, is beginning today. "There will be a total lockdown in Bihar from July 16-31 to contain the spread of COVID-19," Deputy Chief Minister Sushil Kumar Modi on Tuesday announced.

On his official Twitter handle, Modi said the 15-day lockdown will remain in force at all municipal, district, sub divisional and block headquarters level.

The Delhi University will conduct the online open book examinations - which have continued to get delayed due to Covid-19 - for final year undergraduate and postgraduate students from August 10 to August 31, it said on Wednesday.

However, DU said, students unable to appear in the exams in August will get another chance. The varsity had informed the Delhi High Court last week that it has decided to postpone the Open Book Examinations (OBE), scheduled from July 10, for final year undergraduate courses to next month.

Here are the LIVE Updates on the Covid-19 Pandemic:

◕ The total lockdown in Bihar to last for 16 days, is beginning today. "There will be a total lockdown in Bihar from July 16-31 to contain the spread of COVID-19," Deputy Chief Minister Sushil Kumar Modi on Tuesday announced.

◕ The Delhi University will conduct the online open book examinations - which have continued to get delayed due to Covid-19 - for final year undergraduate and postgraduate students from August 10 to August 31, it said on Wednesday.

◕ Forty Indian fishermen, who had been stranded in Iran due to the Covid-19, returned to Tamil Nadu yesterday. These fisherman from Kanyakumari, Nagapattinam, Thuthukudi, Ramanathapuram, Nagapattinam, Cudallore, Thirunelveli were handed over to respective district officials. They will be quarantined for 14 days.

◕ Early-stage human trial data on a vaccine being developed by AstraZeneca and Oxford University will be published on July 20, The Lancet medical journal said on Wednesday, Reuters reports.

◕ The United States has reported the highest record of 67,632 new coronavirus cases in 24 hours. US Disease Expert Dr Anthony Fauci, meanwhile, predicted on Wednesday the country will meet its goal of a Covid-19 vaccine by year's end and was unmoved by the prospect that China would get there first.

◕ The NIMHANS has come out with guidelines that define a framework to address the mental health needs of healthcare personnel in COVID-19 treatment settings. The guidelines also aim to provide technical inputs to guide healthcare personnel to help themselves and their colleagues in distress.

◕ Five more Border Security Force (BSF) personnel have tested positive for novel coronavirus in Mizoram, taking the states COVID-19 tally to 238, officials said on Wednesday.

◕ A COVID-19 treatment centre with over 1000 beds has been set up at Calicut University in Malappuram. K Gopalakrishnan, District Collector, Malappuram says, "Patients who have tested positive but don't have any symptom will be treated here."

◕ Oklahoma's governor said on Wednesday he had been diagnosed with COVID-19, one of the highest elected U.S. politicians to test positive for the disease, as new coronavirus infections in his state and neighboring Texas surged by record numbers for a second straight day.