Coronavirus LIVE Updates: Health workers prepare before entering an isolation centre for Covid-19 at CWG in New Delhi on Friday.
Coronavirus India News Live Updates: India has reported 34,884 coronavirus cases and 671 deaths in the last 24 hours. With this, the total number of infections rose to 10,38,716, including 26,273 deaths, 3,58,692 active cases and 6,53,751 people who have been treated and discharged, according to the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare. The tally crossed the grim milestone of one million on Friday. This is the third consecutive day when the number of COVID-19 cases increased by more than 30,000. Also, 62.94 per cent of patients have recovered so far.
Sudden lockdowns, announced with very little notice by state governments, have begun to hurt industrial activity in plants located both within and outside containment zones. It is creating uncertainty for workers planning to return to work as the economy continues to reopen after multiple phases of lockdown and “unlock”.
No passenger flights will operate to Kolkata from Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Pune, Chennai, Nagpur and Ahmedabad between until July 31, the Kolkata airport said as it extended its ban on flights from above-mentioned cities on Friday.
Globally, over 14 million people (14,106,753) have been infected with the virus and 602,656 have died. It has taken just four days to climb to 14 million cases from 13 million recorded on July 13. The United States, with more than 3.6 million confirmed cases, is still seeing huge daily jumps in its first wave of COVID-19 infections.
Coronavirus India LIVE updates: States including West Bengal, Assam and Bihar have announced full or partial lockdowns to contain the spread of the virus.
News of the Bachchans testing positive for COVID-19 has lengthened the shadows of anxiety for the entertainment industry that is just beginning to tiptoe its way out of lockdown and gets back on set ever so cautiously.
And the fear factor went up several notches. There have also been several cases of COVID-19 among cast and crew members of TV shows despite strict safety measures. The ripple effect was felt immediately as the industry, at a standstill since March when the nation went into lockdown to prevent the spread of the coronavirus, resumed work in fits and starts. The last four-five days of shooting left for Abhishek Bachchan's 'The Big Bull' will be pushed again, said co-producer Anand Pandit. (PTI)
After clocking 37 per cent COVID-19 positivity ratio a month ago, the city has now brought it down to around 12 per cent following measures such as ramped up testing and increased surveillance, a top official of the Greater Chennai Corporation said here on Saturday. The government announcing a 12-day lockdown last month had also been largely beneficial as it reduced people's mobility, GCC Commissioner G Prakash said. Ramped up testing for coronavirus, fever camps and door surveillance have brought down the positivity ratio to 10 -12 per cent from about 35-37 per cent just a month ago, he told reporters here. Since March, the civic body has conducted over five lakh RT-PCR tests. (PTI)
India's actual COVID-19 caseload is 3,58,692, while close to 18,000 people have recuperated from the disease in 24 hours taking the the number of recoveries to 6,53,750 which exceed active cases by 2,95,058, the Union Health Ministry said on Saturday. Medical attention is being provided to all active cases, either in home isolation or in hospitals for severe cases, it said. In a statement, the ministry said, "The last 24 hours saw 17,994 COVID-19 patients recovering. The recovery rate is now 63 per cent." Timely, proactive, and graded strategy initiatives for effective coronavirus infection management in the country, led by the Centre and implemented by the states and Union Territories, have ensured that the actual COVID-19 caseload remains manageable, it said, adding that expansion of hospital infrastructure continuously has aided in increased recoveries. (PTI)
Odisha's COVID-19 tally rose to 16,701 with 591 fresh cases, while the death toll reached 86 with three more patients succumbing to the disease, a Health Department official said on Saturday. Two men from Ganjam, aged 63 and 60, and a 48-year-old woman from Gajapati died of coronavirus infection. 'Regret to inform the demise of three COVID positive patients while under treatment in hospitals,' the official said. The woman was also suffering from obesity and sleep apnea, he said. (PTI)
AAP spokesperson Akshay Marathe, who had also contracted the virus, also donated plasma at Delhi govt's plasma bank at the ILBS Hospital.
AAP leader Atishi, who recently recovered from coronavirus, donated blood plasma at Institute of Liver and Biliary Sciences in Vasant Kunj on Saturday.
The Chhattisgarh government on Saturday decided to impose penalties ranging from Rs 100 to Rs 1,000 for spitting in public places and violating home quarantine and social distancing measures, an official said. The government had earlier fixed a fine of Rs 100 for not wearing face masks in public places. For violating home quarantine instructions, a fine of Rs 1,000 will be imposed. (PTI)
With sporting events called off or postponed due to the Covid-19 pandemic, fans in India were disappointed about not being able to enjoy the Indian Premier League (IPL) this summer. However, with the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) indicating the cricketing extravaganza could be held in UAE in October-November this year, fans are in a frenzy online. Although the tournament is subject to government clearance, fans just can’t keep calm. Click here to see how the people reacted
The number of confirmed cases in a new COVID-19 outbreak in China's far west has risen to 17. The National Health Commission said Saturday that 16 more cases were identified in the previous 24 hours in the Xinjiang region, on top of a first case.
The outbreak in the city of Urumqi is the latest to pop up since China largely contained the domestic spread of the virus in March. The largest was a recent outbreak in Beijing that infected more than 330 people. Authorities in Urumqi have reduced subways, buses and taxis and closed off some residential communities, according to Chinese media reports. They also placed restrictions on people leaving the city, including a suspension of subway service to the airport.
Scientists have determined how the novel coronavirus, which causes COVID-19, inhibits the synthesis of proteins in infected cells, and have shown that it effectively disarms a part of the immune system, findings that may aid in the development of novel therapeutics against the deadly disease. The study, published in the journal Science, demonstrated that nonstructural Protein 1 (Nsp1) made by the novel coronavirus SARS-Cov-2 can have a devastating effect on host cells.
According to the researchers, including those from the University of Munich in Germany, Nsp1 is one of the central weapons used by the virus to ensure its own replication and propagation in human hosts. They said Nsp1 was identified as a disease contributing factor following the outbreak of the related 2002-03 SARS pandemic virus. Scientists who studied the SARS virus had shown that it inhibited protein synthesis in infected cells. -- PTI
The COVID-19 tally in Tripura has risen to 2,380 as 118 more people have tested positive for the disease, Chief Minister Biplab Kumar Deb said. He appealed to the people to follow government guidelines to contain the spread of COVID-19. "Out of 4,510 samples tested for COVID-19, 118 people found positive. 17 were flight passengers. 4 were in contact with positive & symptomatic patients. 97 detected positive in antigen test," Deb said in a tweet on Friday night. The state now has 679 active cases, while 1,684 people have recovered from the disease and three died, officials of the health department said. Fourteen patients have migrated to other states.
DEATHS
For eleven consecutive days now, the number of people recovering from the novel Coronavirus disease in Delhi has remained higher than newly-detected infections. This has been the case on 17 out of the last 20 days. No other state has even come close to such a trend.
Despite the relaxations being given by the Ministry of Civil Aviation to foreign airlines of France and the US to fly passengers of Indian and non-Indian nationalities on both legs of their India flights, restrictions put in place by the foreign jurisdictions, as well as India’s Ministry of Home Affairs, mean that the situation does not change for most travelers unless these norms are eased up.
Negotiations for air bubbles
Thursday, Civil Aviation Minister Hardeep Singh Puri said India was in advanced stages of negotiations for setting up of air travel bubbles with various countries and has already allowed American carrier United and French airline Air France to operate flights till the end of this month under an arrangement. While United has been allowed to operate 18 flights from Delhi and Mumbai to Newark between July 17 and 31, Air France will operate flights from Delhi, Mumbai and Bengaluru to Paris between July 18 and August 1.
With a surge in COVID-19 cases in Bihar, West Bengal, Assam and Odisha, the Union health ministry has asked these states to make renewed efforts to contain transmission of the virus and keep case fatality rate below one per cent. With these states imposing lockdown anew, the health ministry emphasised that the restrictions should be utilised to focus on containment, surveillance and testing in containment and buffer zones as the key strategy for early detection of cases and fatality management. In a letter to Principal Secretaries (Health) and Secretary (Health) of these states, Joint Secretary in the Ministry of Health Lav Agarwal asked them to ensure that at least 80 per cent of the new cases have their close contacts traced and are in quarantine within 72 hours of case confirmation.
The letter underlined that containment and buffer zones should be suitably delineated based on the mapping of cases and contacts, and a list of NCC volunteers along with other workforce is available on COVID warriors' portal which can be optimally utilised in containment and surveillance effort. "In terms of testing the state should aim to achieve a minimum of 14 tests per one lakh (140 tests per million) per day, while ensuring a positivity rate of less than 10 per cent," the letter to the states read.
This is the third consecutive day when the number of COVID-19 cases increased by more than 30,000. Around 62.94 per cent of patients have recovered so far.
According to the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), a cumulative total of 1,34,33,742 samples have been tested for COVID-19 up to July 17 with 3,61,024 samples being tested on Friday.
Australia's Victoria state saw a marked drop in new COVID-19 infections -- from Friday's record high of 428 to 217 -- a total that Chief Health Officer Brett Sutton says was "a relief after yesterday's numbers." The Health Department said Saturday that two more Victorians, a man and a woman both aged in their 80s, had died, taking the state's death toll to 34 and Australia's national total to 118.
Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews said the latest numbers were encouraging but warned it was just one day. He says "we'd want to see a pattern where there's stability and then a decrease." He urged residents in metropolitan Melbourne to remain diligent during a six-week lockdown -- ?being bored is much better than being in intensive care.
Complete lockdown on Saturdays and Sundays in Dehradun, Haridwar, Udham Singh Nagar, and Nainital except for essential services including operations of industrial units in multiple shifts, agricultural & construction activities, liquor shops, and hotels: Uttarakhand Chief Secretary.
For the past two months, every day for 18-year-old Nathu Kumar has been the same. He squints into his smartphone, reminded every time that he can’t afford a laptop, as a teacher at his coaching centre explains medical concepts over a Zoom call. The teacher often mentions a writing board, but on the tiny screen, the board is even tinier. The connection is patchy, and freezes at several crucial moments. With 20 other students in the call, the teacher can’t wait for any one, and has them all on mute.
Becoming a doctor is the shiniest dream for youths like Kumar in Bhagalpur. He hopes coaching classes like above will suffice for the entrance he takes next year. “If exams are held at all at this rate,” he adds. Read more here
Global coronavirus infections passed 14 million on Friday, according to a Reuters tally, marking the first time there has been a surge of 1 million cases in under 100 hours.
The first case was reported in China in early January and it took three months to reach 1 million cases. It has taken just four days to climb to 14 million cases from 13 million recorded on July 13.
The United States, with more than 3.6 million confirmed cases, is still seeing huge daily jumps in its first wave of COVID-19 infections. The United States reported a daily global record of more than 77,000 new infections on Thursday, while Sweden has reported 77,281 total cases since the pandemic began.