Coronavirus India Live Updates: Pinarayi Vijayan under quarantine after officials involved in Kozhikode crash rescue ops test positive
Coronavirus (Covid-19) India News Live Updates: The recovery rate improved to 70.77 per cent Thursday with the total number of patients recuperating from the virus reaching nearly 17 lakh, while the case fatality rate has further declined to 1.96 per cent, the Union health ministry said.
By: Express Web Desk | New Delhi |
Updated: August 14, 2020 4:51:46 pm
Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan had visited the Kozhikode plane crash site.
Coronavirus (Covid-19) India News Live Updates: Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Friday went under quarantine after several officials, including Malappuram SP, District Collector, associated with the Kozhikode air crash rescue operation tested positive for Covid-19. Malappuram SP U Abdul Karim and DC K Gopalakrishnan are in hospital and undergoing treatment for the disease.
The Covid-19 tally in India crossed the 2.4 million mark after 65,553 fresh cases were registered within a span of 24 hours. On Friday, the overall tally rose to 2,461,190 while the death toll stood at 48,040. The recovery rate, however, improved to 70.77 per cent Thursday with the total number of patients recuperating from the virus reaching nearly 17 lakh, while the case fatality rate has further declined to 1.96 per cent, the Union health ministry said.
Globally, over 20 million people have been infected with the virus, with the most number of cases from the United States, followed by Brazil and India. The United States government has entered into a $1.525 billion deal with Moderna, a US-based biotech company, for securing the supply of 100 million doses of the novel Coronavirus vaccine that the company is developing.
Live Blog
Coronavirus (Covid-19) India News Live Updates: Over 2.4 million cases; recovery rate rises to 70.77 per cent; record high of over 8.3 lakh tests conducted in a day. Get latest updates here.
16:44 (IST)14 Aug 2020
Pinarayi Vijayan under quarantine after officials involved in Kozhikode crash rescue ops test positive
Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Friday went under quarantine after several officials, including Malappuram SP, District Collector, associated with the Kozhikode air crash rescue operation tested positive for Covid-19. Malappuram SP U Abdul Karim and DC K Gopalakrishnan are in hospital and undergoing treatment for the disease.
15:58 (IST)14 Aug 2020
Kerala's daily number likely to rise over 10,000 cases
Kerala is likely to witness a spike in Covid-19 cases in August and September with the daily numbers expected to touch between 10,000 to 20,000, State Health Minister K K Shailaja said. 'Experts have opined that during the months of August and September we may witness a surge in COVID-19 cases. We may report between 10,000 to 20,000 cases per day,' she said in a video campaign. She urged the youth to join the 'Covid Brigade' to halt the pandemic spread. Noting that the death rate graph will start rising if the positive cases increase, the Minister said it should be stopped.
15:53 (IST)14 Aug 2020
Tamil Nadu govt lifts restrictions on E-Pass for inter-district travel
Tamil Nadu government lifted restrictions on E-Pass for inter-district travel. CM Edappadi said from August 17, those who apply E-Pass will receive it immediately. To avail the E-pass, a copy of Aadhar card/Ration card with a telephone/mobile number should be provided.
#TN government lifts restrictions on E-Pass for inter-district travel. CM Edappadi said from August 17, those who apply E-Pass will receive it immediately. To avail the E-pass, a copy of Aadhar card/Ration card with a telephone/mobile number should be provided. @IndianExpresspic.twitter.com/tJUzuIJfR9
Tamil Nadu CM flags off LED vehicles for COVID-19 awareness
Tamil Nadu Chief Minister K Palaniswami on Friday flagged off LED screen mounted vehicles to broadcast short films and launched a drive to distribute pamphlets, both initiatives to create awareness on coronavirusamong the people here. Continuing with several ongoing initiatives to fight against COVID-19, Palaniswami inaugurated the awareness campaign by 30 small size cargo vans with big screens, an initiative of the Greater Chennai Corporation (GCC). Two vehicles would be deployed in each of the 15 zones of the city, a government release said. (PTI)
15:32 (IST)14 Aug 2020
Maharashtra: Wife of COVID-19 victim to get Rs 50 lakh insurance amount
The Maharashtra government Friday said that it will provide Rs 50 lakh insurance cover amount to the wife of a rural development officer in Parbhani district after he died of COVID-19 which contracted while on duty, a government resolution (GR) has said. The state government had last month decided to provide such cover till September-end to its staffers at gram panchayat and zilla parishads who are engaged in containing the coronavirus spread, PTI reported.
14:38 (IST)14 Aug 2020
224 inmates of Bihar jail test positive for coronavirus
Altogether 224 inmates of overcrowded district jail here have tested positive for the virus in the last few days, officials said on Friday, PTI reported. According to Civil Surgeon, Araria, M P Singh, a total of 224 inmates have tested positive. Reports of 182 had come out on Wednesday night, a day after 42 others were found infected. Jailor Pramod Das said "the premises have a capacity of 600. But, at present we are accommodating 706 prisoners. Nearly a third of them have been infected with the coronavirus. It is, indeed, a matter of concern."
14:08 (IST)14 Aug 2020
India coronavirus numbers explained: Karnataka shows signs of improvement
With over 6,700 new cases on Thursday, the number of confirmed novel Coronavirus infections in Karnataka has crossed the 2-lakh mark. Karnataka is the fourth state, after Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh, to have more than two lakh infected people. While Karnataka had a reasonably good success in containing the spread of the disease till the middle of June, there has been a rapid rise in the cases after that. It had the fastest rate of growth of cases in the country before Andhra Pradesh overtook around the second week of July. Though the growth rate has dropped significantly in the last three weeks, Karnataka continues to discover large number of new infections every day. Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh had crossed the one lakh figure on the same day, on July 27. But after that Andhra Pradesh has been adding much higher number of cases every day. While it has taken 18 days for Karnataka to traverse the journey from one lakh to two lakh cases, Andhra Pradesh had done it only 11 days. Click here to read more.
13:42 (IST)14 Aug 2020
8 new Covid-19 cases in Mizoram; tally rises to 657
At least eight persons, including a 6-year-old girl, have tested positive for novel coronavirus in Mizoram, taking the northeastern state's tally to 657, an official said on Friday. Of the eight new cases, five were reported from Aizawl district, two from Lunglei district and one from Kolasib district, he said. The girl has contracted the virus from a Covid-19 patient in the state, the official said, adding that the other seven persons have returned from outside. The state now has 314 Covid-19 active cases as 343 people have recovered from the disease. The Covid-19 recovery rate in the state is 52.20 per cent, the official said.
12:43 (IST)14 Aug 2020
UP no. 1 in Covid testing, says state government
The Uttar Pradesh government today claimed to have reached the top spot in terms of Covid testing in India with cumulative 35.97 lakh tests conducted so far and about 96,000 tests conducted yesterday.
Malappuram SP, assistant district collector who overlooked Kozhikode plane crash relief work now Covid positive
Malappuram SP and the assistant district collector, who had co-ordinated the rescue operations following the Air India plane crash in Kozhikode last week, have also tested positive for coronavirus.
12:23 (IST)14 Aug 2020
Odisha reports record 1,977 fresh Covid cases, 10 more deaths
Odisha today reported record 1,977 new Covid-19 cases, taking the state's tally to 54,630, a Health Department official said. Ten more Covid-19 patients also lost their lives, following which the death toll rose to 324, he said. Of the new cases, 1,241 cases were reported from among the people lodged in different quarantine centres. The remaining 736 cases were detected during contact tracing of people who have already tested positive for COVID-19. Most of the new cases were detected in Khurda where 322 people tested positive, followed by 280 in Ganjam, 120 in Mayurbhanj, 118 in Bhadrak, and 101 new cases in Cuttack, the official said.
11:56 (IST)14 Aug 2020
Telangana reports 1,921 new Covid-19 cases, nine deaths
Telangana reported 1,921 new coronavirus infections, taking the tally of positive cases in the state to 88,396. The death toll rose to 674 with nine more fatalities, a state government bulletin said on Friday, providing data as of 8 pm on August 13. The Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC), the hotbed of coronavirus cases in the state, continued to witness a low number of fresh infections with only 356 cases being reported. The GHMC was followed by Medchal-Malkajgiri (168), Rangareddy (134) and Sangareddy (90).
11:45 (IST)14 Aug 2020
Karnataka mulls dedicated film promotion board to help revive cinema post-Covid-19 crisis
The Karnataka government is likely to set up a dedicated Cinema Promotion Board in a bid to help the film industry which has been affected by the Covid-19-induced lockdown. Confirming the same, Deputy Chief Minister Ashwathnarayan CN Thursday said, “The government is looking at the possibilities of setting up a Kannada Cinema Promotion Board to help revive the Kannada film industry. This would enable us to offer incentives and concessions, and to set up affordable Janata theaters in the state. These considerations are being deliberated as part of revising the existing cinema policy.”
11:02 (IST)14 Aug 2020
Cop, nurse, doc: President to honour Covid warriors
A worker at Nigambodh ghat, a doctor, a police officer, a nursing officer — they are among 25 Covid warriors who have been invited to the ‘At Home’ ceremony to be hosted by President Ram Nath Kovind at Rashtrapati Bhavan on August 15. For the first time, the category of Covid warriors has been added to the guest list of dignitaries that includes ministers and top government officials. The Indian Express spoke to a few of them on how they helped keep the virus at bay. Click here to read.
10:38 (IST)14 Aug 2020
Bengal: Almost 3,000 new Covid cases in a day, record 30K tests conducted
West Bengal on Thursday reported the highest single-day spike in Covid-19 cases, with 2,997 infections pushing up the case count to 1,07,323. The state health department reported 56 new deaths, which took the toll to 2,259. The latest surge came on a day a record 30,032 tests were conducted in a day, according to the health bulletin, in which figures are updated till 9 am. This was the first time more than 30,000 samples were examined in a day. With the state increasing testing, the test positivity rate has also climbed in recent weeks. It was 8.82 per cent on Thursday. A bulk of the latest cases, 60 per cent, and 45 of the deaths were recorded in the epicentre in South Bengal comprising Kolkata, North 24 Parganas, South 24 Parganas, Howrah, and Hooghly. Kolkata’s toll crossed 1,000 to settle at 1,015.
10:27 (IST)14 Aug 2020
Uttar Pradesh: As active Covid cases near 50,000, govt urges people not to panic
With at least six districts in the state recording more than 100 new cases of Covid infection in the past 24 hours, the number of active cases in the state reached close to 50,000 on Thursday. This comes after 4,603 positive cases since Wednesday, taking the cumulative number of Covid cases to 1,40,775 of which 88,786 have been discharged following their recovery. The state now has 49,709 active cases and the list is topped by Lucknow, which has 7,039 active cases. In at least seven districts, including Lucknow, number of active cases is in four digits. On Thursday, Additional Chief Secretary (Health & Medicine) Amit Mohan Prasad urged people not to panic or hide information if they test Covid positive or have come in contact with a patient as a large number of people do not even require hospital admission.
10:14 (IST)14 Aug 2020
Inclusive Covid vaccine access strategy needed, Centre must ask now: Rahul Gandhi
Taking to Twitter, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi said: "India will be one of the Covid-19 vaccine-producing nations. It needs a clearly-defined, inclusive and equitable vaccine access strategy ensuring availability, affordability and fair distribution. GOI must do it now."
India will be one of the COVID-19 vaccine-producing nations.
It needs a clearly-defined, inclusive & equitable vaccine access strategy ensuring availability, affordability & fair distribution.
Mizoram issues fresh guidelines for social gathering
The Mizoram government on Thursday issued additional standard operating procedure to be followed in any gathering to ensure social distancing. Not more than 50 people will be allowed in gatherings like marriage ceremony, funeral, memorial stone erection programme, anniversary celebration and any other related functions. Funeral of a deceased person will be attended by his or her relatives as minimal as possible and only two representatives of an association or union are allowed to attend such funerals, the order said. Old persons and people with co-morbidities are prohibited from attending funerals, it added. The attendees should wear face masks and each village or local level task force and YMA will maintain particulars of the attendees - their names, addresses and mobile numbers, it said.
09:38 (IST)14 Aug 2020
Latest data: Over 2.4 million Covid cases in India
The Covid-19 tally in India crossed the 2.4 million mark after 65,553 fresh cases were registered within a span of 24 hours. On Friday, the overall tally rose to 2,461,190 while the death toll stood at 48,040.
Migrants workers head to Delhi from various part of Uttar Pradesh after leaving the city during the nationwide lockdown imposed to contain the spread of the novel coronavirus
Tamil Nadu government lifted restrictions on e-Pass for inter-district travel. CM Edappadi K Palaniswami said that from August 17, those applying for the pass will receive it immediately. Meanwhile, Kerala is likely to see a sharp rise in the. umber ion Covid cases in August and September when the daily infections are expected to touch between 10,000 to 20,000, state Health Minister K K Shailaja said.
While Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka have seen a dramatic rise in their novel Coronavirus cases in the last month and a half, there are at least four other large states where the disease has been spreading at a very fast rate. Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, West Bengal and Assam have seen their Coronavirus numbers grow by several times since July, and are now the biggest contributors to the daily numbers, apart from the usual suspects Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu.
UP, Bihar, West Bengal and Assam are currently the biggest contributors to daily numbers in coronavirus cases in India.
Each of these four states have been clocking daily growth rates of more than 4 per cent since July, when the national growth rate has been declining steadily, and now stands around 2.8 per cent. Since the start of July, the infection numbers in Bihar and Assam have grown by more than eight times, while in Uttar Pradesh it has increased by five times. West Bengal has seen its numbers rise by more than four times during this period. The death numbers in Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal have increased proportionately, and both the states have counted more than 2,200 deaths till now. But in Bihar and Assam, the death counts are relatively low. Bihar has recorded just 474 deaths till now, while in Assam, the number of deaths is 161.
In the third rung of states are Odisha and Kerala, and now, also Punjab, which has been seeing a relatively high growth after a long time. Odisha now has more than 50,000 confirmed cases of the disease, with most of them concentrated in Ganjam and Khurda districts, where the spread had started with the influx of migrant workers in the first week of May.
Kerala, which had offered a lot of hope during the first three months of the epidemic in the way it had been able to contain the spread, has been adding relatively large number of cases for the last one month and a half. Its confirmed case count is now heading towards 40,000, and growing well above the national growth rate.
The United States government has entered into a US$ 1.525 billion deal with Moderna, a US-based biotech company, for securing the supply of 100 million doses of the novel Coronavirus vaccine that the company is developing.
With this, the United States government now has advance supply agreements with five companies whose candidate vaccines are being considered to be the leading contenders to get approved. This is the second deal with Moderna. Earlier, the US government had promised US$ 995 million to the company for the development of technology that is being used for the first time to develop a vaccine. Moderna’s candidate vaccine uses the messenger RNA from the novel Coronavirus to induce immune response in the human beings. An RNA-based vaccine has never been made for any disease till now.
The two agreements combined take the US government’s commitment in the Moderna vaccine to US $2.48 billion. An unspecified part of this money is meant as an incentive for timely delivery of the vaccine, but the company did not reveal the timelines that had been agreed. In a statement, the company said, the agreement also provided for an option for purchase of an additional 400 million doses of vaccine.
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Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan had visited the Kozhikode plane crash site.
Migrants workers head to Delhi from various part of Uttar Pradesh after leaving the city during the nationwide lockdown imposed to contain the spread of the novel coronavirus
Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Friday went under quarantine after several officials, including Malappuram SP, District Collector, associated with the Kozhikode air crash rescue operation tested positive for Covid-19. Malappuram SP U Abdul Karim and DC K Gopalakrishnan are in hospital and undergoing treatment for the disease.
Kerala is likely to witness a spike in Covid-19 cases in August and September with the daily numbers expected to touch between 10,000 to 20,000, State Health Minister K K Shailaja said. 'Experts have opined that during the months of August and September we may witness a surge in COVID-19 cases. We may report between 10,000 to 20,000 cases per day,' she said in a video campaign. She urged the youth to join the 'Covid Brigade' to halt the pandemic spread. Noting that the death rate graph will start rising if the positive cases increase, the Minister said it should be stopped.
Tamil Nadu government lifted restrictions on E-Pass for inter-district travel. CM Edappadi said from August 17, those who apply E-Pass will receive it immediately. To avail the E-pass, a copy of Aadhar card/Ration card with a telephone/mobile number should be provided.
Tamil Nadu Chief Minister K Palaniswami on Friday flagged off LED screen mounted vehicles to broadcast short films and launched a drive to distribute pamphlets, both initiatives to create awareness on coronavirusamong the people here. Continuing with several ongoing initiatives to fight against COVID-19, Palaniswami inaugurated the awareness campaign by 30 small size cargo vans with big screens, an initiative of the Greater Chennai Corporation (GCC). Two vehicles would be deployed in each of the 15 zones of the city, a government release said. (PTI)
The Maharashtra government Friday said that it will provide Rs 50 lakh insurance cover amount to the wife of a rural development officer in Parbhani district after he died of COVID-19 which contracted while on duty, a government resolution (GR) has said. The state government had last month decided to provide such cover till September-end to its staffers at gram panchayat and zilla parishads who are engaged in containing the coronavirus spread, PTI reported.
Altogether 224 inmates of overcrowded district jail here have tested positive for the virus in the last few days, officials said on Friday, PTI reported. According to Civil Surgeon, Araria, M P Singh, a total of 224 inmates have tested positive. Reports of 182 had come out on Wednesday night, a day after 42 others were found infected. Jailor Pramod Das said "the premises have a capacity of 600. But, at present we are accommodating 706 prisoners. Nearly a third of them have been infected with the coronavirus. It is, indeed, a matter of concern."
At least eight persons, including a 6-year-old girl, have tested positive for novel coronavirus in Mizoram, taking the northeastern state's tally to 657, an official said on Friday. Of the eight new cases, five were reported from Aizawl district, two from Lunglei district and one from Kolasib district, he said. The girl has contracted the virus from a Covid-19 patient in the state, the official said, adding that the other seven persons have returned from outside. The state now has 314 Covid-19 active cases as 343 people have recovered from the disease. The Covid-19 recovery rate in the state is 52.20 per cent, the official said.
The Uttar Pradesh government today claimed to have reached the top spot in terms of Covid testing in India with cumulative 35.97 lakh tests conducted so far and about 96,000 tests conducted yesterday.
Malappuram SP and the assistant district collector, who had co-ordinated the rescue operations following the Air India plane crash in Kozhikode last week, have also tested positive for coronavirus.
Odisha today reported record 1,977 new Covid-19 cases, taking the state's tally to 54,630, a Health Department official said. Ten more Covid-19 patients also lost their lives, following which the death toll rose to 324, he said. Of the new cases, 1,241 cases were reported from among the people lodged in different quarantine centres. The remaining 736 cases were detected during contact tracing of people who have already tested positive for COVID-19. Most of the new cases were detected in Khurda where 322 people tested positive, followed by 280 in Ganjam, 120 in Mayurbhanj, 118 in Bhadrak, and 101 new cases in Cuttack, the official said.
Telangana reported 1,921 new coronavirus infections, taking the tally of positive cases in the state to 88,396. The death toll rose to 674 with nine more fatalities, a state government bulletin said on Friday, providing data as of 8 pm on August 13. The Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC), the hotbed of coronavirus cases in the state, continued to witness a low number of fresh infections with only 356 cases being reported. The GHMC was followed by Medchal-Malkajgiri (168), Rangareddy (134) and Sangareddy (90).
The Karnataka government is likely to set up a dedicated Cinema Promotion Board in a bid to help the film industry which has been affected by the Covid-19-induced lockdown. Confirming the same, Deputy Chief Minister Ashwathnarayan CN Thursday said, “The government is looking at the possibilities of setting up a Kannada Cinema Promotion Board to help revive the Kannada film industry. This would enable us to offer incentives and concessions, and to set up affordable Janata theaters in the state. These considerations are being deliberated as part of revising the existing cinema policy.”
A worker at Nigambodh ghat, a doctor, a police officer, a nursing officer — they are among 25 Covid warriors who have been invited to the ‘At Home’ ceremony to be hosted by President Ram Nath Kovind at Rashtrapati Bhavan on August 15. For the first time, the category of Covid warriors has been added to the guest list of dignitaries that includes ministers and top government officials. The Indian Express spoke to a few of them on how they helped keep the virus at bay. Click here to read.
West Bengal on Thursday reported the highest single-day spike in Covid-19 cases, with 2,997 infections pushing up the case count to 1,07,323. The state health department reported 56 new deaths, which took the toll to 2,259. The latest surge came on a day a record 30,032 tests were conducted in a day, according to the health bulletin, in which figures are updated till 9 am. This was the first time more than 30,000 samples were examined in a day. With the state increasing testing, the test positivity rate has also climbed in recent weeks. It was 8.82 per cent on Thursday. A bulk of the latest cases, 60 per cent, and 45 of the deaths were recorded in the epicentre in South Bengal comprising Kolkata, North 24 Parganas, South 24 Parganas, Howrah, and Hooghly. Kolkata’s toll crossed 1,000 to settle at 1,015.
With at least six districts in the state recording more than 100 new cases of Covid infection in the past 24 hours, the number of active cases in the state reached close to 50,000 on Thursday. This comes after 4,603 positive cases since Wednesday, taking the cumulative number of Covid cases to 1,40,775 of which 88,786 have been discharged following their recovery. The state now has 49,709 active cases and the list is topped by Lucknow, which has 7,039 active cases. In at least seven districts, including Lucknow, number of active cases is in four digits. On Thursday, Additional Chief Secretary (Health & Medicine) Amit Mohan Prasad urged people not to panic or hide information if they test Covid positive or have come in contact with a patient as a large number of people do not even require hospital admission.
Taking to Twitter, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi said: "India will be one of the Covid-19 vaccine-producing nations. It needs a clearly-defined, inclusive and equitable vaccine access strategy ensuring availability, affordability and fair distribution. GOI must do it now."
As many as 2,76,94,416 samples were tested for Covid till Thursday.
The Mizoram government on Thursday issued additional standard operating procedure to be followed in any gathering to ensure social distancing. Not more than 50 people will be allowed in gatherings like marriage ceremony, funeral, memorial stone erection programme, anniversary celebration and any other related functions. Funeral of a deceased person will be attended by his or her relatives as minimal as possible and only two representatives of an association or union are allowed to attend such funerals, the order said. Old persons and people with co-morbidities are prohibited from attending funerals, it added. The attendees should wear face masks and each village or local level task force and YMA will maintain particulars of the attendees - their names, addresses and mobile numbers, it said.
The Covid-19 tally in India crossed the 2.4 million mark after 65,553 fresh cases were registered within a span of 24 hours. On Friday, the overall tally rose to 2,461,190 while the death toll stood at 48,040.