Anthony Fauci, a top infectious disease expert in the United States, has said he was “cautiously optimistic” that a vaccine for novel Coronavirus would be a “reality” by the end of this year, or “as we go into 2021”. But he also seemed to cast doubts over vaccines being developed in Russia and China, at least one of which is planned to be approved within the next two weeks.

“I do hope that the Chinese and the Russians are actually testing the vaccines before they are administering the vaccine to anyone. Because claims of having a vaccine ready to distribute before you do testing is problematic at the very least,” Fauci said.

The Mizoram government on Friday extended state-wide partial lockdown till August 31 to prevent further spread of the coronavirus, as per a notification issued on Friday.

According to the order, all international and inter-state borders will continue to remain closed, barring three entry points -- Vairengte and Bairabi on the Mizoram-Assam border and Kanhmun on the state's border with Tripura, which will be opened for the movement of commodities.

Lengpui airport will continue to operate during the extended lockdown. The new guideline allowed inter-district and intra-state movement for commercial and private vehicles. (PTI)

Nagaland on Friday reported its highest single-day spike in COVID-19 cases, with 126 more people testing positive for the infection, officials said. The new cases have taken the virus count in the state to 1,692, they said. Dimapur district reported 95 new cases while Kohima registered 31, Health Minister S Pangnyu Phom said.

The fresh infections have pushed the number of active cases in the state to 1,062, while 625 people have recovered from COVID-19 and five patients have died of it, the officials said. The state had registered its previous highest single-day spike in COVID-19 cases on July 23 when 90 people had tested positive for the infection, they said.

Nagaland had reported its first coronavirus cases on May 25 after three returnees from Chennai tested positive for the infection. The state has witnessed a steady rise in the number of COVID-19 cases since then. Dimapur district has so far registered the highest number of cases at 703, followed by Kohima (474), Peren (252) and Mon (148). Kiphire is the only virus-free district in the state, the officials said. The recovery rate among the COVID-19 patients in Nagaland is 36.93 per cent, they added. Chief Secretary Temjen Toy has issued a set of guidelines restricting the movement and gathering of people in the state during the lockdown period, which has been extended till August 31 in the wake of a spurt in coronavirus cases.

A 38 year old man from Thoubal district succumbed to Covid-19 at JNIMS hospital early Friday morning. The deceased was suffering from type 2 diabetes mellitus and hypertension. Meanwhile, 80 security personnel were among 116 tested who positive for Coronavirus on Friday. With this the total number of positive cases in Manipur stands at 2621 of which 931 active cases and 1689 recovered. The total recovery rate is 64.44 percent.

As reported by Jimmy Leivon

A major coronavirus hotspot has emerged in a remote village in this district with a total of 199 people testing positive so far after eight members of two families contracted it first. As many as 169 people tested positive in Valad ward of Thavinhal panchayath till Thursday and 30 more on Friday, taking the infection count to 199 as authorities undertook extensive screening of primary and secondary contacts since early this week, officials said. "The panchayat has been made a containment zone since Monday and we are hopeful of containing further spread of the virus," health department sources said.

The hilly Wayanad district has a total of 310 positive cases so far and 2,753 people are under observation. It all began with seven members belonging to two families, related to each other, turned positive for the deadly virus last week after attending a funeral of a relative who died of COVID-19 at the Kozhikode Medical College Hospital recently.

Besides, another family member who attended a wedding last week, also tested positive for COVID-19, taking the total cases in Valad to eight. The health authorities conducted rapid antigen tests in the area after tracing the primary and secondary contacts of the eight and detected 83 positive cases on Tuesday and Wednesday. A Thavinhal panchayat official said rigorous testing by three different groups of medical teams, comprising five doctors and paramedical staff each, made it possible to test over 250 people on Wednesday alone. According to Health department sources, the estimated primary contacts in this area could be over 500 and the secondary contacts between 1,500 to 2,000.

Jammu and Kashmir registered 490 more novel coronavirus cases, taking the total number of infections over the 20,000 mark on Friday, while the death toll rose to 377 with 12 more fatalities, officials said.

There are 7,765 active cases of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), while 12,217 patients have recovered so far, according to the officials. Two out of the 12 new fatalities were from the Jammu region, while 10 were from the Kashmir Valley. The death toll from the pandemic rose to 377 -- 349 in Kashmir and 28 in Jammu, the officials said.

Out of the 490 new cases, the highest number of 128 infections were from Srinagar, followed by 85 in Pulwama district. As many as 143 new COVID-19 cases were from Jammu, while 347 were from the Valley, taking the tally to 20,359, the officials said. The new cases detected include 64 people who had returned to the Union territory recently, the officials added.

The Sikkim government on Frida extended the complete lockdown in the state till August 3 i view of a spurt in COVID-19 cases, a senior official said. As per the revised guidelines from the Hom Department, the lockdown remains extended till 6 am on Augus 3, a notification issued by Chief Secretary S C Gupta said.

A set of revised guidelines with regard t restrictions on movement and gathering of people, however will come into force on August 3 and will be applicable til August 31, he said. The Sikkim government had reimposed a complet lockdown in the state on July 20 for six days and extended i till August 1 in view of a surge in COVID-19 cases.

The Himalayan state has recorded a nearly seven-fol increase in coronavirus cases in the last one month registering a total of 610 infections till July 30. On COVID-19 patient has died and 395 are under treatment 'The virus count in the state was 88 till June 30, a per data released by the Health Department.

The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has extended the ban on international scheduled flight operations till August 31. Earlier deadline was till July 31. 

Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia had tried to "scare" people by claiming that COVID-19 cases in Delhi will reach 5.5 lakh by July 31, but the situation was brought under control with the intervention of Union Home Minister Amit Shah, the city BJP unit said on Friday. In June, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader had said that Delhi was likely to have 5.5 lakh novel coronavirus cases by the end of July and 80,000 beds would be needed to accommodate patients.

Delhi BJP president Adesh Gupta in a press conference asked the Arvind Kejriwal government to answer why it had tried to "scare" people with Sisodia claiming that there would be 5.5 lakh coronavirus cases by July 31. There was no immediate reaction from Sisodia or the AAP on the issue.

The national capital has seen a drop in the number of active cases over the past few days. On Thursday, Delhi had 10,743 active cases, down from 10,770 on Wednesday, 10,887 on Tuesday, 10,994 on Monday and 11,904 on Sunday. The number of active cases was 27,007 on July 1, according to health department bulletins. "The situation was beyond control of the Delhi government and when Home Minister Amit Shah intervened in mid-June, the cases of COVID-19 started declining, bed availability improved and now the Kejriwal government is taking credit for it," Gupta claimed. (PTI)

A day after the central government released guidelines for Unlock 3.0, the Karnataka government has announced to lift the total lockdown on Sunday and the daily night curfew in the state.

The state government had imposed a total lockdown on all Sundays and also had a night curfew from 9 pm to 5 am. “In accordance with the unlock 3.0 guidelines from the Union Ministry of Home Affairs, Sunday lockdown on 2 August has been lifted along with night curfew from 1 August between 9 pm and 5 am,” state Chief Secretary T M Vijay Bhaskar said in an order on Thursday.

The guidelines will be effected from August 1 and valid till August 31. Meanwhile, the educational institutions, including coaching centres, will remain closed till August 31. Theatres, swimming pools, entertainment parks, bars, auditoriums, assembly halls, and similar places will be closed. READ MORE

The civic body in Bhiwandi city of Maharashtra today urged citizens to celebrate Bakrid at their homes and not assemble in public places, especially mosques, PTI reported. The gathering of people in large numbers is not advisable in light of the pandemic, said Dr Pankaj Ashiya, municipal commissioner of the Bhiwandi Nizampur Municipal Corporation, was quoted as saying by PTI. Issuing an order to the effect, he also appealed to the citizens to conduct the 'qurbani' ritual in a symbolic manner during the celebrations on August 1. Palghar district collector Dr Kailas Shinde also issued a similar order banning Bakrid celebrations in public places.

The monsoon session of the Chhattisgarh legislative Assembly will begin from August 25 and will be restricted to just four days in light of the pandemic, an Assembly official said on Friday. As per an official notification, the seventh session of the fifth state Assembly will begin on August 25 and conclude on August 28. As the session will be held amid the coronavirus crisis, precautionary guidelines for it will be issued very soon, said Chandra Shekhar Gangrade, principal secretary of the Chhattisgarh legislative Assembly. There will be Question Hour on all four days, along with works pertaining to financial and government affairs, the notification stated. On the last day, a time slot of two and a half hours has been allotted for non-government affairs, it was stated.

The KEM Hospital and Research Centre at Vadu, 20 km from Pune, is planning to conduct a sentinel sero-surveillance to monitor the trend of SARS-nCoV-2 infection transmission in the general population in rural western India. “The purpose of our study is to generate information about the extent of Covid-19 spread in the community, which is currently lacking in India. The development of antibodies is a sign of exposure to Covid-19 infection and is believed to render immunity,” Dr Sanjay Juvekar, principal investigator of the study, told The Indian Express. The study is being funded by the RESPIRE unit of the University of Edinburgh along with Translational Health Science and Technology Institute. The RESPIRE unit is a global health research unit focusing on respiratory health in Asia.

The Supreme Court on Friday refused to pass any interim order on a batch of petitions seeking cancellation of final year/semester examinations in September and asked the Centre to clear the stand of Ministry of Home Affairs on the issue. The UGC told the top court that nobody should remain under the impression that since the Supreme Court is examining this issue, the final year /semester examination will be stayed. A bench head by Justice Ashok Bhushan, which conducted the hearing through video conferencing, said that it is not passing any orders on the issue and posted the matters for further hearing on August 10.

The Kolkata Municipal Corporation has decided to engage ward coordinators to help families get death certificates of people who die at home, PTI reported. For the purpose, officer-in-charge of local police stations will be helping the ward coordinators in identifying the deceased and help families in getting the death certificate without any problem, an official said. "We have been getting reports that doctors are refusing to write a death certificate even if there is a normal death at home in a family. There were a few instances when locals put up demonstrations against this. So we have decided to help such families by employing the ward coordinators to look into the matter," he said.

Senior citizens in slums were most exposed to SARS-CoV-2 among all age groups, while senior citizens in non-slums were least exposed to the virus, according to Mumbai’s sero survey findings. In slums, 62.6 per cent senior citizens had been exposed and developed antibodies against Covid-19, as opposed to 12.6 per cent in residential buildings. Of the 4,234 slum-dwellers who were surveyed, 56.1 per cent between 12-24 years, 52.9 per cent between 25-40 years, 59.6 per cent between 41-60 years, and 62.6 per cent aged above 60 had developed antibodies.

Union Health Minister Dr Harsh Vardhan today said: "The recovery rate has improved to 64.54%. The doubling rate is right now 21 days."  The minister held a meeting with External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar and Union Civil Aviation Minister Hardeep Singh Puri, among others, via video-conferencing today.

In an address to his council of minister, Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan, who tested positive for Covid-19, said: "We had a Covid campaign in July wherein tests were done extensively. The phase 2 of the campaign will be held from August 1-14 wherein we'll resolve to maintain social distancing and wear masks to break the chain of infection. During this period, the CM, ministers, MLAs and other public representatives won't hold any public rallies. The foundation stone laying ceremonies, 'bhoomi pujan', inaugurations and all similar functions will be prohibited. These can be done via video-conferencing."

For the second successive day on Thursday, Andhra Pradesh reported more than 10,000 new cases of novel Coronavirus. It’s a feat that not even Maharashtra has achieved till now. However, Maharashtra, on Thursday, reported more than 11,000 cases, the highest that any state has discovered in a day, and reclaimed its position as the highest contributor of Coronavirus cases in the country. A day earlier, on Wednesday, Andhra Pradesh had reported more cases than Maharashtra, the first time it had happened since the infection started spreading in Maharashtra in the middle of March. Click here to read more.