Coronavirus India Updates: Total Tally Crosses 17 Lakh; Record Patients Recover In A Single Day

In a bid to augment the testing facilities, Odisha government allowed private hospitals, nursing homes and laboratories to conduct Covid-19 tests through Rapid Antigen and RT-PCR methods, a notification issued by the health and family welfare department said.

The department issued a separate set of guidelines for conducting sample tests both under Rapid Antigen and RT-PCR. The private health establishments have to abide by the ICMR norms.

The sample test results should first be informed to the state authorities before being released to the person whose test was conducted, the notification said.

For Rapid Antigen tests, the private bodies can charge a maximum of Rs 450 while the price for RT-PCR tests is fixed at Rs 2,200 per test. The nursing homes, hospitals and laboratories should be mandatorily registered under the Odisha Clinical Establishment (control & regulation) Act, 1990.

The manpower to be deployed for the purpose must be trained properly in consultation with the chief district medical and public health officers, the notification said.

(Source: PTI)

In 24 hours, 853 patients succumbed to the deadly virus.

Globally, India ranks fifth in the number of Covid-19-related deaths.

While new cases mounted, India also reported the biggest single-day spike in Covid-19 recoveries. In the last 24 hours, 51,255 patients recovered from the deadly infection. A total of 11,45,629 patients have recovered so far.

India added more than 50,000 fresh cases of coronavirus for the fourth straight day, just as the nation announced the third phase of lifting lockdown restrictions to revive an economy that’s headed toward a rare annual contraction in more than four decades.

India added 54,735 fresh cases in the last 24 hours, taking the total tally to 17,50,723 in the world’s third-worst infected country, according to the Health Ministry’s update as of 8 a.m. on Aug. 2. This includes 37,364 deaths and 11,45,629 patients who have recovered. Prior to this, India had reported the biggest one-day spike in coronavirus cases for three straight days.

Key figures:

• Total confirmed cases: 17,50,723

• Total number of active cases: 5,67,730

• Total patients cured/discharged/migrated: 11,45,629

• Total deaths: 37,364

• Number of fresh cases in last 24 hours: 54,735

• One-day recoveries: 51,255

• One-day deaths: 853

According to the Indian Council of Medical Research, a total of 1,98,21,831 samples have been tested as on Aug. 1. Of these, 4,63,172 were tested on Aug. 1 alone.

The second-most populous nation with 1.3 billion people is only behind the U.S. and Brazil in the number of confirmed infections, with no sign of the virus curve flattening. India took 186 days since the first case was reported on Jan. 30 to reach 17 lakh cases. The pace of transmission is rising even as it has started to decelerate in some developed nations.

This comes as India announced its ‘Unlock 3’ phase where activities such gyms and yoga institutes that are not in containment zones will be allowed to reopen from Aug. 5 after standard operating procedure are issued by Ministry of Family Welfare and Health. These add to the list of activities allowed in the first and second phases.

Metro services, cinema halls and swimming pools, entertainment parks, auditoriums, bars, theaters, and other social, political or religious gathering places, however, will remain closed till Aug. 31.

And as cases mount, some states have announced fresh lockdown measures or imposed strict curbs.

Global update

Globally, the Covid-19 pandemic has sickened 17.8 million people, including 682,931 deaths.

An emergency committee of the World Health Organization said it expects the pandemic to be of “lengthy duration” and that it remains “a public health emergency of international concern”, Bloomberg reported citing the WHO's statement.

Total cases in the U.S. stood at 4,561,511. Another 1,353 deaths were reported, the fifth consecutive day of fatalities over 1,000.

Total cases in Brazil, the nation hit worst by outbreak after the U.S., are 2.6 million. Another 1,088 deaths were reported, down from 1,212 the day before, for a total of 92,475.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson is considering sealing off Greater London and ordering at-risk members of the population to stay at home under a potential scenario designed to avert a second national lockdown.

China reported 49 new cases, while Hong Kong added 125. Victoria, Australia’s second-most populous state, is set to tighten lockdown measures amid rising virus cases.

Track news and developments around the Covid-19 outbreak in India here.