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.

The ongoing pandemic has amplified the challenges faced by the weak and marginalised sections of society, one of them being the transgender community that already faces brutal discrimination. Even though Section 377 – that criminalised same-sex relationships – has been scrapped, the acceptance of the LGBTQ+ community has been slow, if at all. And it is the transgender population that has time and again pressed for inclusivity and basic rights. As we battle COVID-19, their plight has starkly come to the fore. Read our report here. 

It is well known that Covid-19 enforced lockdowns in several countries has led to a dip in greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and air pollution. Now, in a study published in Nature Climate Change on August 6, researchers have analysed global emissions reductions from February-June 2020 and made a prediction of the change in global temperatures.

The researchers said a reduction in GHG emissions and air pollutants was observed as countries started imposing lockdowns on their residents and restricting their movement.

Referring to mobility data from Google and Apple, they maintained that a drop in mobility of about 10 per cent was observed in all but one among the 125 countries tracked by them. They observed a mobility reduction of as much as 80 per cent in five or more nations. Click here to read our full report.

Karnataka Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa recovered 'completely' from COVID-19 and on Monday was discharged from a private hospital in Bengaluru. "Thank you, everyone, for your wishes and prayers. I have been discharged from the hospital and will be in self-quarantine. Deeply grateful for your affection and support. I look forward to getting back to the routine very soon," he said in a tweet. The 77-year old leader was admitted to the hospital on August 2 after he tested positive for coronavirus.

An Israeli jewelry company is working on what it says will be the world’s most expensive coronavirus mask, a gold, diamond-encrusted face covering with a price tag of USD 1.5 million. The 18-karat white gold mask will be decorated with 3,600 white and black diamonds and fitted with top-rated N99 filters at the request of the buyer, said designer Isaac Levy. Levy, owner of the Yvel company, said the buyer had two other demands: that it be completed by the end of the year, and that it would be the priciest in the world.

Uttar Pradesh Health Minister Jai Pratap Singh on Monday attended his office after recovering from coronavirus. He had tested positive for the infection on July 24. "I am fine. On Thursday, I was declared COVID negative. After this, I spent around five days in quarantine. Today, I was at my office and attended a meeting with the UP chief minister," Jai Pratap Singh told PTI on Monday.

Any air traveller to Assam who will depart from the state within 72 hours of his arrival will not have to undergo quarantine provided his Rapid Antigen Test (RAT) result at the airport is negative, an order issued by the state government said on Monday.

Passengers will also have to provide a copy of his return ticket indicating his departure within 72 hours, the order said.

The visitor shall provide swab samples for Rapid Antigen Test (RAT) immediately on arrival and if the result is negative, then he will be allowed to proceed. But if the result is positive, then he will have to proceed for isolation or treatment as per the protocol for Covid-19 patients.

Odisha registered its highest single-day spike in COVID-19 deaths on Monday as 14 patients succumbed to the disease, while 1,528 new infections pushed its caseload to 47,455, a health official said.

The fresh fatalities have taken the COVID-19 death toll in the state to 286, he said.

Ganjam district, Odisha's COVID-19 hotspot, reported six of the 14 fatalities, while Khurda and Nayagarh registered three deaths each and two patients succumbed to the infection in Sundergarh and Rayagada districts, the official said. (PTI)

Fifty minutes of dry heat in an electric cooker, such as a rice cooker or Instant Pot, could effectively sanitise N95 respirator masks, while maintaining their filtration and fit, researchers, including one of Indian origin, have found.

According to the findings published in the journal Environmental Science and Technology Letters, this could enable wearers to safely reuse limited supplies of the respirators, originally intended to be one-time-use items. N95 respirator masks are the gold standard of personal protective equipment that protect the wearer against airborne droplets and particles, such as the coronavirus that causes COVID-19.

The Mumbai civic body has started the second phase of sero-surveillance study in the city from Monday to assess the spread of COVID-19 and how many people have developed antibodies against the disease. The survey will cover F-North (Dadar, Matunga and Dharavi), M-West (Deonar and Govandi) and R-North (Dahisar) wards, where a similar study was conducted last month, a Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) official said. The study will provide information about the spread of the infection and also throw light on herd immunity, he said. "The sero-surveillance study will give an insight into the spread of COVID-19 and development of antibodies. The paper work for the survey has begun from today," Additional Municipal Commissioner Suresh Kakani said.

Stressing that a “deep and prolonged economic slowdown” was “inevitable” in India, former prime minister Dr Manmohan Singh on Monday spelled out three steps that the Narendra Modi-led NDA government should immediately take to stem the damage of the coronavirus pandemic.

The former prime minister also laid out three steps he believed can restore economic normalcy in the coming years. According to Singh, the government must “ensure people’s livelihoods are protected and they have spending power through significant direct cash assistance”. The Centre must also make adequate capital available for businesses through “government-backed credit guarantee programmes”. Lastly, Singh said, the government should fix the financial sector through “institutional autonomy and processes.”

At least 56 inmates of two prisons in Bareilly of Uttar Pradesh have tested positive for COVID-19, officials said. "Reports of 51 inmates of central jail and five inmates of district jail have been found positive for COVID-19" District Surveillance Officer, Ashok Kumar said. Inmates of the prisons were tested after an inmate of the central jail died due to COVID-19, he said. The district has so far reported 3,773 coronavirus cases with 98 deaths. Meanwhile, according to a report from Banda, a journalist died due to COVID-19 on Sunday.

New locally transmitted cases of coronavirus in China fell to just 14 over the past 24 hours, the National Health Commission reported Monday. The low figure was offset, however, by 35 cases brought into the country by Chinese travellers from overseas arriving in seven different cities and provinces across the country. All the cases of local transmission were in the northwestern region of Xinjiang, whose main city Urumqi is the centre of China's latest outbreak. Tightened restrictions on travel, widespread testing and a lockdown on some residential communities appear to have been effective in bringing down numbers of new infections in Urumqi, while a separate outbreak in the northeastern city of Dalian seems to have run its course.

Former president Pranab Mukherjee today tested positive for coronavirus. Mukherjee had gone to the hospital for a separate procedure, he tweeted

On a visit to the hospital for a separate procedure, I have tested positive for COVID19 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. #CitizenMukherjee

— Pranab Mukherjee (@CitiznMukherjee) August 10, 2020

Sri Lanka on Monday fully reopened schools after keeping them closed for over four months due to the lockdown imposed in the country to contain the spread of the coronavirus. All schools in the island nation were shut mid-March when Lanka detected its first COVID-19 infection. Schools were re-opened for selected grades in July but were closed again after few days following the threat of a fresh outbreak of the novel coronavirus.

Schools with less than 200 students will operate as it used to before the pandemic lockdown in March. They will conduct classes as usual, while maintaining the 1-metre social distancing norm. However, schools with over 200 students would decide which grades should attend on which date due to the need to maintain social distancing as instructed by the health guidelines, Chithrananda said. School canteens are not permitted to open until confirmation from health authorities on COVID-19 being fully controlled, officials said.

West Bengal reported 54 more fatalities on Sunday, pushing the death toll in the state to 2,059, PTI quoted the state health department as saying. At least 2,939 new cases were recorded, raising the total number of cases to 95,554, the bulletin said. Around 67,120 patients have recovered from the disease, while 26,375 cases are active.

An Israeli jewelry company is working on what it says will be the world’s most expensive coronavirus mask, a gold, diamond-encrusted face covering with a price tag of USD 1.5 million. The 18-karat white gold mask will be decorated with 3,600 white and black diamonds and fitted with top-rated N99 filters at the request of the buyer, said designer Isaac Levy. Levy, owner of the Yvel company, said the buyer had two other demands: that it be completed by the end of the year, and that it would be the priciest in the world.