Migrants labourers return to New Delhi from parts of Uttar Pradesh, in New Delhi on August 10, 2020. (Express Photo: Praveen Khanna)
Coronavirus (Covid-19) India & World News Live Updates: India recorded 53,601 new Covid-19 infections and 871 deaths in the 24 hours ending 9 am Tuesday. This took the country’s coronavirus tally to 22,68,676, the Union Health Ministry said. Of the 22,68,676 cases, 69.80 per cent of the patients (15,83,490) had recovered, while 28.21 per cent (6,39,929) were still being treated. With less than 2 per cent deaths, fatalities stand at 45,257.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi held a video-conference with the chief ministers of 10 states to take stock of the Covid-19 situation. The states included Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, West Bengal, Maharashtra, Punjab, Bihar, Gujarat, Telangana and Uttar Pradesh.
In other news, former president Pranab Mukherjee Monday was put on ventilator support after he underwent surgery to remove a clot in his brain, sources told The Indian Express. Hours before the surgery, he announced on Twitter that he had contracted Covid-19. “On a visit to the hospital for a separate procedure, I have tested positive for Covid-19 today. I request the people who came in contact with me in the last week, to please self isolate and get tested for Covid-19,” Mukherjee said. He is admitted to the Army’s Research and Referral (R&R) Hospital in New Delhi.
Globally, more than 20 million people have been infected with the novel coronavirus. This milestone was crossed on Tuesday as cases rose to 20,011,186, according to tally by John Hopkins. The virus has spread to over 210 countries and territories since it first originated in China’s Wuhan in December 2019. The global death toll due to the disease stands at nearly 732,000. The United States has reported the highest number of cases (5,088,516), followed by Brazil (3,057,470) and India. (Follow our Covid-19 Vaccine Tracker, August 11)
Famed lyricist and Urdu poet Rahat Indori recently took to Twitter to announce that he had tested positive for the novel coronavirus. He shared that after experiencing symptoms, he went for a test and was found to have contracted the disease. He is undergoing treatment at Aurobindo Hospital.
The Lord Venkateswara temple in Andhra Pradesh’s Tirumala, which is part of Tirupati, has seen more than 700 cases of the novel coronavirus among its staff in the past two months. Since June 11, when the temple reopened to the public after a nationwide lockdown, two of its staff and one former employee have lost their lives due to COVID-19. "Of the 743 infected, about 402 personnel have recovered so far from infection while 338 people were undergoing treatment at different COVID care facilities," PTI quoted TTD Executive Officer Anil Kumar Singhal as saying. Read more here
Prime Minister Narendra Modi is holding a video-conference with the chief ministers of 10 states, including Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, West Bengal, Maharashtra, Punjab, Bihar, Gujarat, Telangana and Uttar Pradesh, to take stock of the Covid-19 situation.
The 10 Covid-19 patients who were killed in the fire at Vijayawada’s Swarna Palace hotel early on Sunday had bought a daily ‘package’ of Rs 5,000, which included stay and three meals, hot drinks, and snacks. Swarna Palace is one among 43 hotels in Vijayawada — 18 large and 25 small — that have been leased by private hospitals to house patients infected by the novel coronavirus. In Visakhapatnam, more than 30 big and small hotels have turned into Covid-19 care centres.
As the infection surges in Andhra Pradesh and the regular hospitality industry remains shuttered, ‘Covid care hotels’ have become a booming business here and in neighbouring Telangana, catering to hundreds of people who have the resources for treatment or quarantine in these rooms. Read Sreenivas Janyala's report
A panel of experts will meet Wednesday to discuss procurement and administration of Covid-19 vaccines. The meeting will be chaired by Dr V K Paul, a member of the Niti Aayog. In a statement, the Health Ministry said: "The Expert Committee on Vaccine Administration under the chairmanship of Dr V K Paul, NITI Aayog will meet on 12th August to consider logistics & ethical aspects of procurement & administration of COVID-19 vaccine. The Committee will engage with all the stakeholders including State governments and vaccine manufacturers."
Prime Minister Narendra Modi will hold a video-conference with the chief ministers of 10 states at 11 am to take stock of the Covid-19 situation. The states include Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, West Bengal, Maharashtra, Punjab, Bihar, Gujarat, Telangana and Uttar Pradesh.
Of the 22,68,676 cases in India, 69.80 per cent of the patients (15,83,490) have already recovered, while 28.21 per cent cases (6,39,929) are still active. With less than 2 per cent deaths, fatalities stand at 45,257.
India reports 53,601 new cases and 871 deaths due to Covid-19 in the 24 hours ending 9 am Tuesday. This takes the country's tally to 22,68,676, including 6,39,929 active cases, 15,83,490 recoveries and 45,257 deaths.
Karnataka Medical Education Minister K Sudhakar Monday claimed the state’s Covid-19 recovery rate was "improving steadily." He explained, "As of today, the recovery rate in Karnataka stands at 54.36 per cent. So far, we have conducted 17,29,067 tests across 100 labs in state.
There are now more than 3,000 cases of Covid-19 in Nagaland. On Monday, the state reported 230 new infections, taking its tally to 3,011. "Out of 828 samples tested, 230 new positive cases have been detected 104 each in Dimapur and Kohima, 18 in Mon and 4 in Peren district," state Health Minister S Pangnyu Phom tweeted.
Meanwhile, an official said nearly half the state's Covid-19 patients were security personnel. "An analysis suggests that 45.57 per cent of the total coronavirus patients in the state are security personnel, while 36.33 per cent are returnees from other states," State Nodal Officer for Integrated Disease Surveillance Programme, Dr Nyan Kikon was quoted as saying by PTI.
Here is the latest from our Covid-19 tracker:
More than 20 million people have been infected with the novel coronavirus in the world. This milestone was crossed on Tuesday as cases rose to 20,011,186, according to tally by John Hopkins. The virus has spread to over 210 countries and territories since it first originated in China’s Wuhan in December 2019. The death toll due to the disease stands at nearly 732,000.
With Gujarat’s confirmed Covid-19 cases having crossed 72,300, and over a 1,000 cases detected on Monday, the state government decided to heed the Gujarat High Court’s (HC) direction to hike penalties for those not wearing masks in public. Chief Minister Vijay Rupani on Monday announced that starting August 11, not wearing a mask in public shall attract a penalty Rs 1,000. Read More
To date, there were 10,993 cases in the two-lakh-strong state police force. Of these, 1,981 are active cases while 8,894 police personnel have recovered. Read More
In the first fortnight of July, blood samples of 6,936 people from three wards found that 40.5 per cent people had developed IgG antibodies against SARS-CoV-2, a virus that causes Covid-19. In slums, the exposure was 57 per cent and 16 per cent in non-slums. Read More
Telangana Health Minister Eatala Rajender has warned private hospitals that if the government continues to receive overcharging complaints from Covid-19 patients, they will have to surrender 50 per cent of their beds.
At a Covid-19 review meeting held Tuesday, Rajender said the government had received 1,039 complaints from Covid-19 patients of being “fleeced”. The minister told officials to warn all private hospitals treating coronavirus cases of strict action in case of continued complaints.
The government has already cancelled Deccan Hospital and Virinchi Hospital’s permission to treat Covid patients after complaints. Read more
With the Covid-19 pandemic and subsequent nationwide lockdowns upending the tourism and hospitality industries, governments have started establishing travel bubbles (air bubbles or corona corridors) between countries, allowing citizens to travel freely between specified nations without having the need to undergo on-arrival quarantine.
Such an initiative was first established by three Baltic states — Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. They formed a trilateral partnership, granting citizens of member countries entry into their territories. Besides, the travel bubble also allowed the three countries to resume trade relations and revive other sectors as well.
Over time, a plethora of smaller bubbles have emerged and is likely to be the preferred way by governments towards a gradual resumption of international air travel, with the International Air Transport Association (IATA) projecting that global passenger traffic would not return to pre-Covid-19 levels until 2024. Click here to know more.
The health ministry has asked all the states to treat the quarantine period of doctors and health workers as “on duty” amidst the COVID-19 pandemic.
In a letter to the chief secretaries of the states and Union territories, directors of all the AIIMS and directors and medical superintendents of central government hospitals dated August 6, Joint Secretary in the health ministry Lav Agarwal has said the quarantine period of doctors and health workers for their duties related to COVID-19 shall be treated as “on duty”.
The matter was under consideration since it was pointed out in the Supreme Court that in some cases, doctors and health workers, who are quarantined, are being treated as on leave, Agarwal said.
Maharashtra on Monday reported 9,181 fresh cases of COVID-19, taking its tally to 5,24,513, while the death toll crossed the 18,000-mark with 293 new fatalities, said a state health official. The statewide tally stood at 5,24,513 with the addition of 9,181 new cases, while the fatality figure rose to 18,050 after 293 more patients succumbed to the infection, he said.
Also, 6,711 patients were discharged from hospitals, pushing up the recovery tally to 3,58,421, the official said. There are 1,47,735 active cases in the state at present, he added. Mumbai reported 925 new coronavirus cases and 46 deaths, taking the tally to 1,24,307 and the toll to 6,845, the official said. The number of active cases in Mumbai stood at 19,172, he added. (PTI)
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Monday alleged that the government had “betrayed” COVID-19 frontline workers by not providing them adequate protective equipment.
In a tweet, Gandhi tagged a news report claiming that so far 196 doctors have died due to the novel coronavirus in 18 states and the Indian Medical Association has written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi seeking proper care for affected doctors and their family members.
“The public expressed confidence in Modi ji by clapping for ‘Corona Warriors’. But as always, the Modi government pulled their hands from helping out ‘Corona Warriors’ and betrayed them,” Gandhi said in the tweet in Hindi. “The government must provide security, respect and facilities to Corona Warriors,” he said.