"I underwent Covid-19 test today and it has turned out asymptomatically positive. My vitals are within normal limits and I have opted for home isolation," Naik said in a tweet.Coronavirus (Covid-19) India News Live Updates: Union Minister of State for AYUSH Shripad Y Naik Wednesday tested positive for the novel coronavirus. “I underwent Covid-19 test today and it has turned out asymptomatically positive. My vitals are within normal limits and I have opted for home isolation,” he said in a tweet.
With India reporting 60,963 coronavirus cases and 834 death in the last 24 hours, the total number of Covid-19 infections Wednesday rose to 23,29,639 including 46091 fatalities, 6,43,948 active cases and 16,39,600 recoveries. The country has the third-highest cases in the world after the US and Brazil.
Globally, over 20 million (20,223,306) people have been infected with the novel coronavirus, including 741,126 deaths. Amid race for an effective vaccine worldwide, Russia has approved a coronavirus vaccine for public use without the final phase of human trials. The vaccine, Sputnik V, has cleared regulatory approvals in record time, raising concerns over its safety and effectiveness. But, it is a long way from being available in India, if at all.
Coronavirus India LIVE updates: India's national case fatality ratio (CFR) fell to 1.99% on Tuesday, the lowest since the beginning of the national lockdown in March.
The West Bengal government on Wednesday effected a change in the state-wide complete lockdowns in the state for the fifth time and decreased it by a day by withdrawing the slated one on August 28.
The decision to withdraw the complete lockdown on August 28 was taken after several communications were received citing difficulty to conduct business and banking operations because of two days' lockdown during Thursday (August 27) and Friday (August 28) in the last week of the month followed by the one-day lockdown on the following Monday (August 31), the order issued by chief secretary Rajiva Sinha said.
Complete lockdowns were to be held on the three dates as per the earlier decision of the government, PTI reported.
Statewide complete lockdown will now be observed on four days for the rest of this month instead of five days as announced earlier.
The Covid-19 fatality rate in Punjab continues to rise consistently, with the state reporting the highest number of deaths (32) in a day on Tuesday since the outbreak. Punjab is at no. 5 among all states in terms of percentage of COVID deaths with a 2.5 per cent fatality rate.
As of Tuesday, the only other states having a higher Covid fatality rate than Punjab were Gujarat (4 per cent), and Maharashtra, Delhi and Madhya Pradesh (3 per cent each).
The national average Covid fatality rate was 2 per cent as of Tuesday.
Punjab recorded 636 Covid deaths and 25,889 positive cases till Tuesday, while neighbouring Haryana had a one per cent fatality rate with 500 deaths and 43,227 positive cases.
Working from home for months, people’s work habits seem to have changed a lot. They are trying to adapt to the ‘new normal’. But as many companies around the world are calling their employees back, how prepared are they to give them a safe workspace?
Space Matrix, a multinational workplace design consultancy firm based in Singapore, along with a US-based design firm Interior Architects, has released a study called ‘A Changed World: What Happens When We Return to the Office Survey‘ mainly to focus on flexibility and hygiene as two aspects of a post-COVID workplace environment. It was found in the report — that analysed data collected from approx 2,500 respondents based in the US and APAC including Singapore and India — that flexible work practices and hygiene remain as the two key aspects of returning to work globally. About 77 per cent and 76 per cent in US and Asia, respectively, voted for a reassessment of working-from-home policies, and 67 per cent and 73 per cent, respectively, thought it was wise to invest in communication technologies to support business continuity. Click here to read more.
In the wake of rising complaints of exorbitant bills against private hospitals treating COVID-19 patients, the Telangana government has now directed these hospitals to display the rates/charges of their various services at prominent places of the hospital for the benefit of patients. These rates/charges should be applicable as of December 31, 2019.
Further, ‘high-end drugs’ and Personal Protection Equipment (PPE), which are excluded from the package price, have to be charged only at the Maximum Retail Price. The MRPs of these drugs and PPEs, too, have to be displayed in prominent places, according to the office of the director of Public Health and Family Welfare, which has also directed these hospitals to provide itemised bills to the patients. Read our full report here.
The tally of Covid-19 cases in Dharavi slum sprawl in Mumbai rose to 2,643 on Wednesday with the addition of nine new cases, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) said.
The biggest slum colony, once a hotspot of coronavirus transmission, now has only 87 active cases as 2,298 of 2,643 patients have already recovered, news agency PTI reported.
Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, 30 countries postponed 12 national and 20 subnational elections scheduled between March-May according to an analysis done by Democratic Audit UK. Reversing it, countries like Singapore and South Korea not only conducted elections but experienced exceptionally good turnouts. It also resulted in countries like Poland opting for unprecedented all-mail voting.
Conducting elections amid a global pandemic gives us a window to discern how governments are able to conduct a critical large scale event in such times and overcome the difficulties that come with it. In times when people’s basic rights such as freedom of movement are restricted, how do the authorities make special arrangements to ensure everyone gets an opportunity to exercise their right to vote albeit mitigating health risks. With more than 70 national elections scheduled for the rest of the year, it is important to analyse how some elections unfolded during Covid-19. Read our report here.
Goa Health Minister Vishwajit Rane has said the state topped in the country in terms of the number of COVID-19 tests conducted per million people. Till Tuesday evening, 1,53,792 tests were conducted in Goa. So far, 9,444 COVID-19 cases have been reported in the coastal state, as per official figures. "In our constant endeavour to test maximum people in the state for COVID-19, we are happy to announce that Goa has yet again topped amongst all states in the country for the number of tests per million population with 94,773 tests per million population," Rane tweeted on Tuesday night.
Twenty-five more people, including five BSF personnel, have tested positive for COVID-19 in Mizoram, taking the northeastern state's virus count to 648 on Wednesday, a health official said. Aizawl and Kolasib districts reported 10 cases each while Lunglei registered five fresh infections, he said.
Two children, aged three and seven, are among the new patients in Aizawl, the official said. All the fresh infections in Kolasib district were detected among truck drivers who had come to the state from neighbouring Assam, he said. The five Border Security Force (BSF) personnel were placed under quarantine in Lunglei district, the official said. (PTI)
Union Minister of State for AYUSH Shripad Y Naik Wednesday tested positive for the novel coronavirus. "I underwent Covid-19 test today and it has turned out asymptomatically positive. My vitals are within normal limits and I have opted for home isolation," he said in a tweet.
"Those who have come in contact with me in last few days are advised to get tested for themselves and take required precautions," he added.
Mistaking it to be water, an ASHA worker gave sanitizer to a thirsty 10-month old after the infant was administered polio vaccine at a Primary Health Centre (PHC) in Tripura’s Unakoti district.
The infant was taken to a government hospital after developing discomfort. His father on Wednesday lodged a complaint with the local police station.
Speaking to indianexpress.com, Officer-in-charge of Kumarghat police station Pradyut Dutta said Pintu Das, father of the child, lodged a complaint with the police station stating his infant son was given sanitizer diluted with water to drink after he was administered a shot of polio vaccine through injection. Read the full report here.
Former Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Raman Singh Wednesday isolated himself after his wife tested positive for the novel coronavirus. “My wife Veena Singh’s report of Covid-19 came positive. She is admitted to a hospital on the advice of doctors. I and other family members will be examined in isolation. Whoever has come in contact with us should also remain in isolation and get themselves tested,” he said in a tweet.
US Health Secretary Alex Azar says the push to develop a Covid-19 vaccine is “not a race to be first”.
Azar’s comments during a visit to Taiwan on Wednesday follow Russian President Vladimir Putin’s announcement that his country was the first to approve a coronavirus vaccine, prompting doubts about the science and safety behind that purported achievement.
Azar says the US is combining the powers of its government, economy and biopharmaceutical industry to “deliver as quickly as we can for the benefit of the United States’ citizens, but also for the people of the world, safe and effective vaccines”. Read the full report here.
At a time when face coverings of different types and sizes have flooded the markets, a study by Duke University in the US has thrown light on which masks are the most effective at preventing the spread of droplets emitted by people when talking — a crucial aspect in reducing the transmission of Covid-19.
For the study, published in the journal Science Advances, the Duke University researchers (Emma Fischer, Martin Fischer, David Grass, Isaac Henrion, Warren S Warren, and Eric Westman) devised a low-cost laser sensor device and used it to compare 14 different types of masks and face coverings.
The study revealed that the best face mask for preventing the spread of droplets were N95 masks without valves while fleece coverings and bandanas were the least effective, with researchers finding them “worse than not wearing any kind of facial covering”. Click here to read our explainer.
Days after they were shifted to Shahdol jail from prison in Singrauli district in Madhya Pradesh, 14 women inmates have been found to be coronavirus positive, news agency PTI reported.
They were shifted to Shahdol Medical College on Tuesday evening, a senior official said on Wednesday.
The women inmates, including 13 undertrials and a convict, were shifted from Baidhan jail on August 9 as it was overcrowded, he said.
He said one of the infected prisoners has an 18-month-old child with her, whose samples were taken and report is awaited.
Pope Francis has denounced a culture of individuality revealed by the pandemic, which has sacrificed the care of the weakest members of society.
Francis, speaking at his Wednesday audience called on the faithful to “overcome our personal and collective individualism” as experts work to find a cure for the coronavirus, “which hit us all indiscriminately.”
The pontiff said that ‘’the pandemic has revealed how vulnerable and interconnected we all are,” while also making us “more aware of the spread within our societies of a false, individualistic way of thinking, one that rejects human dignity and relationships, views persons as consumer goods and creates a ‘throw-away’ culture.”
A 65-year-old COVID-19 patient undergoing treatment at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) allegedly committed suicide on Wednesday by jumping off the second floor of the building in Chhattisgarh's capital Raipur.
The incident took place in the C-block of the institute located under Amanaka police station area on the intervening night of Tuesday and Wednesday, news agency PTI reported.
The sexagenarian was admitted to AIIMS on August 7 and on finding some behavioural abnormalities, the patient was sent for psychiatric consultancy, a station house officer of Amanka police station said.
Health authorities in New Zealand were scrambling Wednesday to trace the source of a new outbreak of the coronavirus as the nation's largest city went back into lockdown.
Authorities had confirmed four cases of the virus in one Auckland household from an unknown source and were awaiting the test results of four more people they suspect have infections — two work colleagues and two relatives of those in the house.
The cases this week were the first known local transmission of the virus in New Zealand in 102 days.
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said more than 200 people with connections to those in the house were contacted Wednesday. (AP)
Odisha's Covid tally Wednesday crossed the 50,000-mark with the highest single-day spike of 1,876 fresh cases, while the death toll rose to 305 as nine more patients succumbed to the disease, news agency PTI reported. The total number of coronavirus cases in the state now stands at 50,672. Of the nine new fatalities, four were reported from Ganjam, two from Rayagada and one each from Angul, Balasore and Khurda districts.
Ninety-six more people, including 61 security personnel, have tested positive for COVID-19 in Arunachal Pradesh, taking the northeastern state’s caseload to 2,327 on Wednesday. According to data, 337 (52.9%) of the total 637 active cases in Arunachal Pradesh are from the forces, including Army, CRPF, BSF and others. In Mizoram, of the 326 active cases, 201 (61.7%) are from the forces, including Assam Rifles, BSF, CRPF and others. In Meghalaya, 255 (40.7%) of the 626 active cases are from the BSF and other forces. Nagaland has reported 3,011 total cases so far, of which 1,372 (45.6%) belong to the forces.
Prayers for the speedy recovery of former President Pranab Mukherjee continued on Wednesday in his hometown Kirnahar in West Bengal's Birbhum district. Residents of Mukherjee's hometown have started a 72-hour 'yagna' since Janmashtami on Tuesday for his recovery.
The former President's family members also offered prayers in his ancestral village Miriti, a few kilometres from Kirnahar, during the day. During his stints as the Union finance minister and the President, Mukherjee used to visit his village every year during Durga Puja.