Coronavirus LIVE Updates: Tripura to Impose Total Lockdown from July 27 to July 30

Coronavirus LIVE Updates: A total lockdown will be imposed throughout Tripura for three days from 5 am on July 27 to 5 am on July 30. This will be in continuation of the night curfew to be imposed from 9 pm on 26th July, the state government has announced.

Maharashtra recorded a total of 9,251 new coronavirus cases today, taking the state's tally to 3,66,368. With 257 new deaths, the state's death toll now stands at 13,389.

A total of 6,988 fresh coronavirus cases were reported in Tamil Nadu today, taking the state's tally to over 2,00,000 patients. Of these, 1,329 were reported in Chennai.

A comprehensive town-wide lockdown will be imposed in Kalimpong Municipality for seven days, starting 9 am tomorrow to curb the spread of Covid-19.

Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan has tested positive for Covid-19. He has appealed to all those who came in contact with him, to get tested for the disease and quarantine themselves. Read more here.

India on witnessed a single-day spike of 48,916 positive cases and 757 deaths, according to the previous day's figures released by the Health Ministry on Saturday. India's cases have jumped from 12 lakh to 13 lakh within just two days, while Maharashtra's infections have crossed the 3.5 lakh-mark.

The total COVID-19 positive cases now stand at 13,36,861 including 4,56,071 active cases, 8,49,431 cured/discharged/migrated cases and 31,358 deaths.

Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi has written a letter Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, detailing suggestions to better handle the Covid-19 situation in the state. Gandhi has expressed her concern on the number of rising cases, low testing, shortage of beds, among other problems being faced in UP.

The Rajasthan Government is setting up the state's first plasma bank at Sawai Man Singh Hospital in Jaipur. "I appeal to all those who have recovered from Covid-19 to donate plasma and help in saving lives," Raghu Sharma, State Health Minister told ANI.

In other news around the globe, the The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on Friday reported 4,024,492 cases of the coronavirus, an increase of 72,219 cases from its previous count, and said that the number of deaths had risen by 1,113 to 143,868.

The CDC reported its tally of cases of the respiratory illness known as COVID-19, caused by the new coronavirus, as of 4 pm ET on July 23 versus its previous report a day earlier.

Here are the LIVE Updates on Covid-19:

◔ Delhi recorded 1,142 COVID-19 cases on Saturday, pushing the city's caseload to over 1.29 lakh, while the death toll surged to 3,806, authorities said. Meanwhile, Heath Minister Satyendar Jain said the daily positivity rate of Delhi was about 5 per cent. According to the latest heath bulletin, the positivity rate was 5.5 per cent.

◔ Serum Institute of India , which has partnered with AstraZeneca for manufacturing the Oxford vaccine candidate for COVID-19, has sought permission from the Drugs Controller General of India for conducting phase 2 and 3 human clinical trials of the potential vaccine, highly-placed sources said on Saturday.

◔ India's drug regulator has cancelled the rapid diagnostic kit import licenses of three firms and suspended that of 15 others saying the USFDA has removed the manufacturers from their list of coronavirus serology test kits with directions that they should not be distributed.

◔ The COVID-19 recovery rate in Jammu and Kashmir increased to 53.10 per cent while the positivity rate stood at 3 per cent as against the national average of 8.3 per cent, officials said on Saturday.

◔ Jammu has gone into a 60-hour lockdown from Friday 6 pm in a bid to prevent the spread of coronavirus cases that had witnessed a spike over the past week, officials said. Jammu district sits atop the list among 10 districts in Jammu region with 14 deaths and 472 virus cases.

◔ Rajasthan Government today started a Plasma Bank at Sawai Man Singh Hospital in Jaipur for treatment of COVID-19 patients. "I appeal to all Covid-19 recovered patients to donate their plasma," said Rajasthan Governor Kalraj Mishra.

◔ The state government has termed as "untenable and without any base" a demand by the Ahmedabad Medical Association (AMA)in the Gujarat High Court seeking increase in daily COVID-19 tests "in proportion to the population". The state government said AMA members stand to benefit directly from such an increase in testing.

◔ Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray on Saturday inaugurated COVID Care Centers at Kalyan and Dombivli in Thane district through video link.

◔ India records highest-ever more than 4.2 lakh Covid-19 tests in a single day. Nearly 1.6 crore samples have been tested so far. There is a sharp decline in Case Fatality Rate to 2.35%, the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare said.

◔ Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal today inaugurated a 450 bed government hospital in Burari, via video conferencing.

◔ Mansoor Khan and his wife Latifa Bibi have been collecting scraps of plastic and other items at an enormous landfill site on the outskirts of New Delhi for nearly 20 years.

Their $5 daily earnings each keep their three children at school, in search of a better future than their parents' lives amid the stench of rotting garbage. But over the past few months, increasing amounts of biomedical waste have been arriving at the dump - a result, experts say, of the novel coronavirus pandemic and a huge risk for those who work there. Read more about how workers in India are risking their health while sifting waste.

◔ Flight operations at the Kolkata airport will remain suspended today and on July 29, amid the coronavirus-induced lockdown in West Bengal.

◔ The European Union is not interested in buying potential COVID-19 vaccines through an initiative co-led by the World Health Organisation as it deems it slow and high-cost, two EU sources told Reuters, noting the bloc was in talks with drugmakers for shots cheaper than $40.

The position shows the EU has only partly embraced a global approach in the race for COVID-19 vaccines as, while it is a top supporter of initiatives for worldwide equitable access, it prefers prioritising supplies for the EU population.

◔ BJP's Rajya Sabha MP Kirodi Lal Meena is among the 958 people who tested positive for the novel coronavirus in Rajasthan where eight more COVID-19 deaths were reported on Friday, officials said.

The total number of coronavirus infection cases reported in the state so far has reached 34,178 of which 9,029 patients are under treatment and 23,536 have recovered. The death toll has climbed to 602.