Coronavirus roundup: Developments in India and rest of world

TIMESOFINDIA.COM | Updated: Jul 18, 2020, 20:21 IST

NEW DELHI: 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.

Here are the top developments:

1

India

The Union health ministry said that the last 24 hours saw 17,994 Covid-19 patients recovering and the recovery rate is now 63 per cent in India.
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.
The government said that 1,34,33,742 swab samples have been tested till now, of which 3,61,024 were carried out on Friday raising the number of tests per million to 9734.6.
With one million people getting affected by Covid-19, the Indian Medical Association is of the view that community spread has started and the situation is pretty bad. Dr V K Monga, the Chairman of IMA Hospital Board of India said, "This is now an exponential growth. Every day the number of cases is increasing by more than around 30,000. This is really a bad situation for the country. There are so many factors connected with it but overall this is now spreading to rural areas. This is a bad sign. It now shows a community spread."
On the second day of a two-day visit to Gujarat, a Central team held discussions with officials and doctors from across the state on Covid-19 treatment protocol on Saturday, an official said. The team of AIIMS director Randeep Guleria, ICMR director general Dr Balram Bhargav, NITI Aayog member Dr Vinod Paul and Additional Secretary in the health ministry was in the state to review the pandemic situation.
Covid-19 cases may peak in India as early as mid-September provided strong public health measures are in place and people behave in a responsible manner to contain the virus, President of Public Health Foundation of India, Prof. K Srinath Reddy, said.
Megastar Amitabh Bachchan, son Abhishek Bachchan, daughter-in-law Aishwarya Rai Bachchan and granddaughter Aaradhya Bachchan are responding well to the treatment to Covid-19, hospital sources said.

2

States

Tamil Nadu: Tamil Nadu reported the highest single day spike in Covid-19 infections with 4,807 new cases while over 3000 people were discharged after recovery. The state reported 88 fatalities, the highest single day toll so far, pushing the death toll to 2,403.
Uttarakhand: A complete weekend lockdown began in four districts of Uttarakhand with chief minister Trivendra Singh Rawat observing that the decision was taken in view of the recent surge in cases of Covid-19. Districts of Dehradun, Haridwar, Nainital and Udham Singh Nagar will observe complete lockdown till Sunday.
Delhi: Delhi recorded 1,475 fresh Covid-19 cases, taking the tally in the city to over 1.21 lakh, while the death toll due to the disease rose to 3,597.
Kerala: As the number of Covid-19 cases in Kerala are on the rise, the state government has decided to implementa "cluster care" method to mitigate the spread of coronavirus, state health minister K K Shailaja said.
Nagaland: Twenty-two more people tested positive for Covid-19 in Nagaland, taking the total number of cases in the state to 978. 573 are active while 405 people have recovered from the disease.
West Bengal: A total of 32 employees attached to defence production unit 'Rifle Factory Ishapore' (RFI) in Kolkata have so far tested positive for Covid-19. The factory has been operating with 100 per cent staff strength to meet its production and supply commitments.
Gujarat: On the second day of a two-day visit to Gujarat, a Central team held discussions with officials and doctors from across the state on Covid-19 treatment protocol.
UP: People who have shown suspected symptoms of Covid-19 during house-to-house screenings should either undergo the rapid-antigen test or the RT-PCR test, Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adiyanath said. He also asked doctors to study the case history of patients who have recovered from Covid-19.
Andhra: A new single day high of 3,963 new COVID-19 cases pushed the overall tally in Andhra Pradesh to 44,609 while 52 patients died, the highest in a day so far.
Bihar: A special plasma donation drive has been launched in Bihar's Patna division. Of the nine persons who came forward to donate plasma on the first day of the special drive, three persons were not found fit on the parameters set for donating plasma while six other persons donated their plasma.
Telangana: The Telangana government is all set to introduce an app for monitoring the health of asymptomatic Covid-19 patients who are in home isolation, a senior official said.
Puducherry: Three people died of Covid-19 in Puducherry, taking the toll to 28, while 58 new cases took the tally to 800.
Odisha: 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. Two men from Ganjam, aged 63 and 60, and a 48-year-old woman from Gajapati died of coronavirus infection.
MP: Health authorities have expressed fears that the Covid-19 outbreak in Madhya Pradesh's Indore district, which has so far reported more than 5,900 cases, is likely to reach its peak by late July or early August.
Tripura: 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 appealed to the people to follow government guidelines to contain the spread of Covid-19.
Arunachal: Sixty-six more people, including five police and security personnel, have tested positive for Covid-19 in Arunachal Pradesh, taking the northeastern state's tally to 609.
HP: The total number of Covid-19 cases in Himachal Pradesh has reached 1421. The tally includes 381 active cases, 1014 recoveries, and nine deaths.
Jharkhand: The total number of confirmed Covid-19 cases in Jharkhand rose to 5,110 including 2,487 active cases. The total number of cases includes 2,577 recovered/discharged, and 46 deaths.

3

World

The novel coronavirus has killed at least 596,742 people since the outbreak emerged in China last December. At least 14,074,520 cases have been registered in 196 countries and territories.
The United States is the worst-hit country overall with 139,266 deaths from 3,647,715 cases. At least 1,107,204 people have been declared recovered.
The UK government is planning to roll out millions of free coronavirus antibody tests which generate instant results following finger-prick after successful secret trials, according to a UK media report.
The home tests, developed by a University of Oxford consortium with diagnostics firms, can tell within 20 minutes if a person has ever been exposed to the deadly virus and have been found to be 98.6 per cent accurate.
China rushed a team of medical specialists to Urumqi, the provincial capital of Xinjiang, after it reported 40 new coronavirus cases, including 23 asymptomatic infections, prompting the local administration to declare a "wartime mode", official media reports said.
Sri Lanka has extended by a week the current school closure to ensure the well-being of students amidst the coronavirus pandemic that has infected nearly 2,700 people.
Iran's President estimated as many as 25 million Iranians could have been infected with the coronavirus since the outbreak's beginning, as he urged the public to take the pandemic seriously, the state-run IRNA news agency reported. Rouhani also said about 30 to 35 million will be infected to the virus in the coming months.
Nepal's coronavirus tally reached 17,502 with the detection of 57 new cases in the past 24 hours. The virus has so far claimed 40 lives in the Himalayan nation.
Singapore reported 202 new Covid-19 cases, taking the national tally to 47,655. Most of the cases were foreign workers living in dormitories while among the seven community cases five are Singaporean citizens or permanent residents and two are foreigners holding work passes.