Healthcare workers screen people for Covid-19 at an apartment complex in Dadar West on July 20, 2020. (Express Photo: Nirmal Harindran)
Coronavirus News Live Updates: The number of coronavirus infections in the world crossed 15 million Wednesday, according to Reuters tally. There are now 15,009,213 cases of Covid-19, at least triple the number of severe influenza illnesses recorded annually. The country worst hit by the pandemic is the United States, followed by Brazil. At least 616,000 people have succumbed to the disease.
India, the third ranked country, reported 37,724 new cases of the novel coronavirus and 648 deaths in the 24 hours ending 9 am Wednesday, the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare said. This took the country’s tally to 11,82,915, including 4,11,133 active cases, 7,53,050 recoveries and 28,732 deaths.
President Donald Trump reiterated India was second after the United States in testing samples for Covid-19. “We’re going to be over 50 million tests,” Trump said at a news conference Tuesday, adding that the “second country is India with 12 million (tests)”. According to a tally released by the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) on Wednesday, India had conducted nearly 15 million tests.
In other news, most doctors who took part in the ICMR’s trial on plasma therapy have found blood transfusion from recovered Covid-19 patients to those with moderately severe illness to be effective. However, they warned that the timing of the transfusion will be challenging.
In New Delhi, the serological survey conducted by the National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) to assess the exposure of the coronavirus in the population showed an over 20 per cent prevalence of Covid in eight of the 11 districts. Further, it also indicated that over 77 per cent were vulnerable to the virus.
Meanwhile, in Mumbai, two private labs tested antibodies of nearly 10,000 people, and found that 24.3 per cent had antibodies against Covid. Dr Sujata Baveja, head of microbiology in Sion hospital, said this was good news, as it meant a large number of people were exposed to the virus, had no symptoms and got immunity. The study also found that New Delhi was more exposed to the disease than Mumbai.
In another development, Karnataka Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa said there would never be another lockdown in Bengaluru or any other part of the state as it was impacting state revenues. He appealed to people to practice social distancing and wear masks.
Health team taking samples for testing in Panchkula. (Express photo: Jaipal Singh)
As long queues and hustle bustle returns to the Golden Temple, the authorities are in a fix on how to make the pilgrims at Golden Temple to wear masks, a critical protection that can go a long way in breaking the Covid-19 chain. Currently both the pilgrims and even those performing sewa at the Golden Temple could be seen moving around without masks, reports Kamaldeep Singh Brar.
“We gave clear instructions to the devotees to wear the mask. Our sewadar, standing inside the premises of Golden Temple, repeatedly keep telling the devotees to put on masks and follow all other Covid-19 protocol. We can only advise not force the devotees to wear masks,” said SGPC secretary Mahinder Singh Ahali.
The number of trains running with over 100 per cent occupancy in India fell to 23 on Monday. Last Friday, at least 68 trains were operational. This is because people are only undertaking essential travel. The Indian Railways operates 230 "special trains" on important routes now, as compared to before the pandemic, when over 13,000 daily trains would run. Read more here
A new study has found that respiratory droplets from a cough or sneeze travel farther and last longer in humid, cold climates than in hot, dry ones. Conducted by researchers from University of California San Diego (UCSD) Indian Institute of Science (Bengaluru) and University of Toronto, the study is published in the journal Physics of Fluids. Read this explainer by Kabir Firaque
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee Tuesday urged the people of the state not to fear Covid-19, and said her administration would ramp up testing and contact tracing to control its spread. Speaking at her party’s online Martyrs’ Day rally, Mamata said she would ensure testing is increased to 25,000 samples a day by August 15. At present, the state is testing an average of 12,000 samples a day.
“More testing and (contact) tracing is necessary to control this disease. Don’t panic. It’s true that the number of Covid-infected people is increasing, but we are doing well,” she said.
The number of coronavirus infections in the world crossed 15 million Wednesday, according to Reuters tally. There are now 15,009,213 cases of Covid-19, at least triple the number of severe influenza illnesses recorded annually. The country worst hit by the pandemic is the United States, followed by Brazil. At least 616,000 people have succumbed to the disease.
A new study published in the New England Journal of Medicine has found Covid-19 immunity does not last long for patients who experienced mild symptoms of the disease. The researchers found that antibody levels fell quickly, and, in fact, fell faster than with SARS. Read more here
On Tuesday, India reported 37,724 new cases of the novel coronavirus and 648 deaths, the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare has said. This takes the country's tally to 11,82,915, including 4,11,133 active cases, 7,53,050 recoveries and 28,732 deaths.
President Donald Trump Wednesday reiterated India was second after the United States in testing samples for Covid-19. “We’re going to be over 50 million tests,” Trump said at a news conference, adding that the “second country is India with 12 million (tests)”. According to the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), India has conducted close to 11 million test.
Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao Tuesday directed officials to file an affidavit in court with the state's Covid-related information. This includes the number of tests and courses of treatment being performed in the state. Rao's direction came a day after the Telangana High Court pulled up the government for failing to implement its earlier orders on Covid issues. The next hearing is on July 28.
The Centre has extended norms for work from home for IT and BPO companies till December 31. The norms were to expire on July 31. 'DoT has further extended the relaxations in the terms and conditions for other service providers up to 31st December 2020 to facilitate work from home in view of the ongoing concern due to COVID-19,' the Department of Telecommunications tweeted.
According to news agency PTI, around 85 per cent of the IT workforce is currently working from home. Very few people, wo are in charge of critical functions are going to offices.
India and Spain on Tuesday agreed to strengthen bilateral economic relations for post-COVID recovery and exchanged views on key global issues including counter-terrorism and multilateral cooperation at international fora.
The sixth Foreign Office consultations between India and Spain were held virtually with the Indian side led by Vikas Swarup, Secretary (West) in the Ministry of External Affairs, and the Spanish side by Cristina Gallach, Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, Ibero-America and Caribbean.
Both sides exchanged views on COVID-19 response and in the context of post-COVID recovery priorities, they discussed their reforms and opportunities for enhancing bilateral economic cooperation, the MEA said in a statement.
The two sides reviewed agreements under consideration and ways to strengthen economic, business, cultural, scientific, educational and people-level cooperation, it said.
They also agreed to take forward the bilateral agenda, including through exchanges between the two sides, the MEA said. PTI
The Manipur Government Thursday imposed a total curfew in Thoubal district following the rise in COVID-19 cases Manipur Chief Secretary issued an order stating that the curfew will be in place until further order. The order said that no inter-district movement including passing through Thoubal district would be allowed except for essential services.
The curfew was imposed a day after four persons including a Gram Rozgar Sewak (GRS) and representatives of Panchayati Raj Institute (PRI) in Thoubal tested positive for the virus.
Manipur Health department has said that as many as 25 persons were tested positive for COVID-19 in the last 24 hours of which four are non-returnees with local contacts histories.
Immediately after the confirmation of the positive cases without travel history, the district authority has closed down all banks and post offices Meanwhile, the general OPD of the Regional Institute of Medical Sciences (RIMS) Imphal was closed till Saturday after an attendant of the department of Respiratory Medicine of the Institute tested positive for COVID-19. This is the second positive case at the institute without travel history and not assigned for COVID-19 duty.
(Report from Leivon Jimmy, Imphal)
Updates COVID-19 tally in different states on Tuesday
* 210 new COVID-19 cases in Uttarakhand, tally 4,849, active cases 1,459
* 381 new COVID-19 cases in Punjab, tally 10,889, active cases 3,237; toll rises to 263 with 2 more deaths
* West Bengal's COVID-19 death toll rises to 1,182 with 35 more fatalities; 2,261 fresh cases push infection tally to 47,030
* 604 new COVID-19 cases in Haryana, tally 27,462, active cases 6,164; toll rises to 364 with 9 more deaths
* 9 more COVID-19 cases in Nagaland, tally 1,030, active cases 545
* Highest single-day spike of 1,026 COVID-19 cases in Gujarat, tally 50,465, active cases 11,861; toll rises to 2,201 with 34 more deaths
* With 199 new coronavirus cases, Ahmedabad's tally rises to 24,767; 6 patients die, taking toll to 1,557
* 4,965 new COVID-19 cases in Tamil Nadu, tally rises to 1.80 lakh, active cases 51,344; toll rises to 2,626 with 75 more deaths
* 25 new COVID-19 cases in Sikkim, tally 330, active cases 222
* Maharashtra's COVID-19 tally rises to 3,27,031 with 8,369 fresh cases; 246 new deaths take toll to 12,276
* 720 new COVID-19 cases in Kerala, tally 13,994, active cases 8,056
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Tuesday promised more policy interventions to revive the economy, and emphasised that green shoots are visible and the agriculture sector is driving growth. Indicators like electricity and fuel consumption, inter and intra-state movement of goods, PMI data and retail financial transactions are witnessing a pick-up, she said.
Speaking at the India Ideas Summit, Sitharaman said the government has announced a stimulus package totalling 10 per cent of the GDP which was having its impact on economic revival. "All options are open...interventions will happen in future," Sitharaman said, assuring the industry that the government will not shy away from taking more steps to ensure early revival of the economy. The minister further said the "agriculture sector is driving the growth." (PTI)
The Jammu and Kashmir government Tuesday cancelled this year’s Amarnath Yatra in wake of the coronavirus pandemic.
At the 39th Board meeting of the shrine chaired by Lieutenant Governor Girish Chandra Murmu, it was decided to cancel the annual Hindu pilgrimage this year “in larger public interest”.
“The Board was informed that the arrangements were on track since February 2020, but due to nationwide lockdown and the pandemic, the State Executive Committee, J&K has still continued to keep religious places and places of worship closed for the public. These prohibitions continue till 31st July,” said a government press release.
Last week, the Supreme Court had declined to entertain a plea seeking its intervention to restrain public participation in the Amarnath Yatra and left it for the administration to decide, keeping in view the relevant factors.
The coronavirus tally in Mumbai's slum colony of Dharavi surpassed the 2,500-mark on Tuesday with the addition of 10 new cases, the city civic body said.
According to a senior BMC (Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation) official, the tally of COVID-19 cases in the slum -dominated area rose to 2,502 with 10 new infections.
He said Dharavi now has 151 active COVID-19 cases, while the number of recovered patients stood at 2,101.
The civic body has, however, stopped sharing figures of COVID-19 deaths, if any, in Dharavi since last month.
Spread over 2.5 square kilometres, Dharavi is considered as one of the largest slums in Asia with a population of over 6.5 lakh. (PTI)
Gujarat adds over 1,000 COVID-19 cases in a day, taking overall tally to 50,400 cases.
1) An additional 3 lakh per non-AC coach, 6 lakh per AC coach to ensure safe travel
2) Specially designed coaches include foot-operated washbasins, dispensers, toilet flushes
3) Provision for plasma air equipment in AC ducts to sterilise interiors using ionised air
4) Nano structured titanium dioxide coating on all surfaces to kill viruses, bacterias
Karnataka CM B S Yediyurappa Tuesday ruled out the extension of a week-long shutdown in Bengaluru and elsewhere, PTI reports. He also said lockdown is not the solution for controlling COVID-19.