Andhra Pradesh has witnessed a meteoric rise in the numbers related to COVID-19 in less than a fortnight as the state has now climbed to the third spot behind Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu in the country. In just the last 13 days, the State registered a staggering 96,485 cases with 39,912 coming in only the past four days.
You can track coronavirus cases, deaths and testing rates at the national and State levels here. A list of State Helpline numbers is available as well.
Here are the latest updates:
2-day-old baby dies of COVID-19 in Tripura
A two-day-old baby has died due to COVID-19 in Tripura, becoming the state’s youngest coronavirus fatality, a Health Department official said on Sunday.
The baby was born on Thursday at the Agartala Government Medical College (AGMC) and her swab sample was collected as her mother was a coronavirus patient.
“The two-day-old girl tested positive for coronavirus and succumbed to the disease at the hospital on Saturday,” the official said.
A 62-year-old man has also died of the disease on Saturday while undergoing treatment at the hospital, he said.
The patient was admitted to the AGMC on July 31 after he suffered a heart attack.
With these new fatalities, the toll rises to 23 in the state, he said.
Meanwhile, 253 fresh coronavirus cases pushed the state’s tally to 5,251, the official said.
The maximum of 101 new cases were found in West Tripura district, followed by 39 in Khowai, 38 in Gomati, 32 in North Tripura, 19 in Sepahijala, 11 in Dhalai, 10 in South Tripura and 3 in Unakoti.
According to the official, returnees from other states have contributed to the spurt in the coronavirus cases in Tripura.
The number of active cases in the state now stands at 1,747, while 3,463 people have been cured of the disease.
18 patients have migrated to other states. - PTI
Centre asks states, UTs to allow hospitalised COVID-19 patients use smartphones
The Centre has written to all states and Union Territories stating that smartphones and tablet devices should be allowed for hospitalised COVID-19 patients so that they can interact with family and friends through video conferencing, which would provide them psychological support.
Though mobile phones are allowed in hospital wards, the missive was issued following some representation from the kin of patients alleging otherwise.
Director General of Health Services (DGHS) in the Health Ministry Dr. Rajiv Garg in the letter to the principal secretaries of health and medical education of states and Union territories said appropriate protocols for disinfecting devices and allotting time slots can be developed by the hospital concerned to facilitate contact between patients and their family.
He underlined that administrative and medical teams should be responsive to the psychological needs of patients admitted in COVID-19 wards and ICUs of various hospitals.
“Social connection can calm down patients and also reinforce the psychological support given by the treating team. Please instruct all concerned that they should allow smartphones and tablet devices in patient area so that the patient can video conference with their family and friends,” stated the letter issued on July 29.
“Though mobile phones are allowed in the wards to enable a patient stay in touch with his or her family, we received representations from the patient families from some states stating mobile phones are not being allowed by hospital administrations because of which they were not being able to stay in contact with the patient,” said Dr. Garg. - PTI
Assam allows inter-district travel on 2 days of week
The Assam government has issued a new set of guidelines, allowing inter-district movement on two days of the week, and 100% office attendance from Monday to Friday.
Night curfew from 6 pm to 6 am on all days and total lockdown on weekends, however, will continue to remain in force for now, an order issued on Sunday by Chief Secretary Kumar Sanjay Krishna said.
Inter-district movement of people is allowed on Monday and Tuesday and no separate permission or approval will be required for travel within the state on these two days, the order, which will come into force on Sunday, 7 pm and continue till August 14, said.
All central and state government offices, including banks, insurance companies and Non Banking Financial Companies, shall be allowed to operate with hundred per cent attendance, and point-to-point bus service will be available for the employees.
Pregnant women have been told not to attend office.
As part of the new guidelines, shopping malls, gymnasiums have been granted permission to operate between Monday and Friday, subject to certain conditions.
Restaurants and other hospitality services will also get to run their businesses on these five days, with strict adherence to COVID-19 protocols.
Cinema halls, swimming pools, entertainment parks, theatres, bars, auditoriums, assembly halls and similar places will continue to remain shut.
Social, political, entertainment, academic and religious functions, sporting events, and other congregations have also been barred.
People above the age of 65 years and children below ten years are advised to stay indoors, except for unavoidable medical reasons, the order by chief secretary said.
Non-contact sports in open space shall be allowed, provided social distancing norms are not violated, it stated.
Wearing of mask is compulsory in public places, in workplaces and during movement in vehicles, and any violation will attract a fine of Rs 1000 for the first offence, it said.
Assam has reported 41,726 COVID-19 cases so far, of which 31,442 have recovered and 101 have died. Three persons have migrated out of the state. - PTI
COVID-19 recovery rate rises to 65.44%
Recoveries among COVID-19 patients in India crossed the 11 lakh-mark on Sunday with over 51,000 patients recuperating in a 24-hour span, the highest recorded so far, pushing the recovery rate to 65.44%, the Union health ministry said on Sunday.
There are 5,67,730 active cases of the coronavirus infection, which is the “actual caseload” of COVID-19 for the country presently and account for 32.43% of the total cases, it said.
All active cases are under medical supervision either in hospitals or in home isolation.
With 51,225 patients cured and discharged in a day, India’s total recoveries have surged to 11,45,629 and exceeded active cases of COVID-19 by 5,77,899 as on date, while the case fatality rate has further dropped to 2.13%.
“Coordinated implementation of COVID-19 management strategy by the Union and state and UT governments and selfless sacrifice of all frontline healthcare and other workers and COVID-19 warriors across sectors have ensured that the recoveries are continuously on the rise,” the ministry said.
“The gap between the recoveries and the active cases has seen a steady rise. On June 10, for the first time, the total number of recovered patients exceeded the active cases with a difference of 1,573, which has increased to 5,77,899 as on today,” it said.
- PTI
ICMR plans to set up registry of hospitalised COVID-19 patients
A registry of hospitalised COVID-19 patients across the country is being mooted to collect real time data which will help improve treatment outcomes, analyse trends in the progression of the pandemic and calibrate response, officials said.
The ICMR in collaboration with the Health Ministry and the AIIMS is planning to set up the National Clinical Registry which will help researchers and policy makers understand effectiveness of investigational therapies, adverse effects taking place and generate evidence for improving the treatment of COVID-19 patients.
“The aim is to collect data of the hospitalised COVID-19 patients like clinical and laboratory features, their demographics, co morbidities, treatment outcomes, complications in all age groups among others,” officials said.
The novel coronavirus, SARS-CoV-2 and the illness it is causing has so many unknown parameters that are a barrier to the proper understanding and management of the disease, they said.
“A systematically collected, comprehensive database covering different regions of the country will enable both researchers and policy makers to generate pertinent hypotheses, to inform crucial understanding of COVID 19, to detect trends in the progression of the pandemic and to accordingly calibrate response to the pandemic,” an official said.
Fifteen institutions of national repute including the Post Graduate Institute of Medical Education & Research (PGIMER) in Chandigarh, AIIMS Delhi, AIIMS Jodhpur, National Institute of Mental Health and Neurosciences (NIMHANS), Bengaluru and Armed Force Medical College in Pune will connect with the hospitals and medical colleges to get them on board.
These 15 institutions would be the registry sites and would be mentoring around 100 COVID-19 hospitals which would be called satellite centres from where the data would be collected as part of the exercise.
The proposal has been sent for approval to the Central Ethics Committee on Human Research (CECHR) of the ICMR.
“The data will help improve the clinical management protocols as the repository would help us know which drug is working better in which age group, effectiveness of investigational therapies and adverse effects taking place. The idea is to generate evidence for improving the treatment of COVID-19 patients,” another official said.
- PTI
"Going ahead with women’s IPL on time"
BCCI president Sourav Ganguly on Sunday said the Women’s IPL or the Challenger series, as it is better known, is “very much on”, ending speculation about the parent body not having a plan for Harmanpreet Kaur and her team.
The men’s IPL will be held between September 19 and November 8 or 10 (final date yet to be locked in) in the UAE due to the surge in COVID-19 cases in India. The women’s IPL will also be fit in to the schedule, according to the BCCI chief.
“I can confirm to you that the women’s IPL is very much on and we do have a plan in place for the national team also,” Mr. Ganguly told PTI ahead of the IPL Governing Council meeting later on Sunday.
- PTI
Couple end life after being discharged from hospital
A trader and his wife, who were discharged after treatment for COVID-19, ended their lives early on Sunday following alleged stigmatisation by people.
The man’s mother, an asthma patient, died 15 days ago and the couple tested positive for the pandemic on July 26, Circle Inspector M. Karunakar said. They are survived by a son.
Panel to probe complaints into private hospital billing
A committee consisting of senior Telangana government officials in would be formed to inquire into complaints of overcharging by private hospitals for COVID-19 treatment. Health Minister Eatala Rajender gave orders to this effect on Saturday, following a series of complaints and news reports related to the issue.
Kamal Rani dies due to COVID-19
UP’s Cabinet minister for Technical Education Kamal Rani Varun succumbed to COVID-19 at the Sanjay Gandhi Postgraduate Institute of Medical Sciences in Lucknow.
Kamal Rani is the first minister in Uttar Pradesh to die after contracting coronavirus. She was 62.
On July 18, the minister tested positive for coronavirus and was admitted to the Shyama Prasad Mukherjee Hospital here. She was later shifted to the Sanjay Gandhi Postgraduate Institute of Medical Sciences.
- PTI
Recoveries cross 11-lakh mark
An ASHA (Accredited Social Health Activist) worker, a community health worker instituted by the government of India's Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, conducts a door-to-door survey for the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), amidst its spread in New Delhi. File. | Photo Credit: REUTERS
India’s COVID-19 tally crossed the 17-lakh mark on Sunday, just two days after it went past 16 lakh, with 54,735 cases being reported in a day, while the recoveries crossed the 11-lakh mark, according to the Union Health Ministry data. The total coronavirus cases surged to 17,50,723, while the death toll due to the COVID-19 climbed to 37,364 with 853 people succumbing to the disease in a day, the data updated at 8 a.m. showed.
- PTI
Number of containment zones crosses 20,000 mark in Bengaluru
The city has had a total of 21,863 containment zones, including 13,494 which are active as of Saturday. As the number of such zones are increasing by the day, many citizens and residents’ welfare associations want the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) to reassess what falls within such a zone. The highest number of active containment zones is in the South zone at 4,100, while Dasarahalli zone has the least at 363.
Odisha allows private labs to conduct COVID-19 tests
A government health worker collects swab from a local resident for the COVID-19 coronavirus check in Bhubaneswar on July 16, 2020. | Photo Credit: Biswaranjan Rout
In a bid to augment the testing facilities, the Odisha government on Saturday 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.
Second serosurvey begins in Delhi
A second serological survey, in which blood samples of random people from across Delhi will be taken to check how many have developed antibodies against COVID-19, began on Saturday. “The survey began in five districts on Saturday morning. It will start in the remaining six districts from Sunday,” a health department official said.
The result of a similar survey done from June 27-July 5, in which around 22,000 samples were taken, had shown that 23.4% of the population had developed antibodies.
9,601 new COVID-19 cases take Maharashtra tally past 4.3 lakh
Virus scan: A health worker collecting samples at Bal Kalyan Nagri in Govandi, Mumbai, on Wednesday.
Maharashtra recorded 9,601 new COVID-19 cases on Saturday, pushing its total case tally to 4,31,719. The State also reported 322 fatalities, taking its death toll to 15,316.
Mumbai reported 1,047 new cases to take its case load to 1,15,331, while 45 more deaths pushed its toll to 6,398. “Of the total cases in the State, 1,49,214 are active cases,” State Health Minister Rajesh Tope said. A total of 2,66,883 patients were discharged in the State on Saturday.
137 days, 1 lakh cases
From the first COVID-19 case reported at Arumbakkam on March 17, it took 137 days for the tally to cross the one lakh-mark in Chennai on Saturday. The 15 zones have cumulatively reported 1,00,877 cases.
City Health Officer Jagadeesan said, “The number of cases is declining in Chennai. The daily number has declined from [approximately] 2,300 to 1,074. But we have not reduced containment activity. We are continuing the same vigil. We cannot say the peak has come,” he said.