Barring shops in Chennai and other suburban areas falling
under the jurisdiction of Greater Chennai Police, liquor
outlets in the rest of Tamil Nadu were reopened on May 7. (File Photo)Coronavirus India News Live Updates: After a gap of nearly five months, state-run TASMAC retail liquor outlets would reopen in Chennai and in its suburbs from Tuesday, the Tamil Nadu government said on Sunday. Only health care services and milk supplies were operational as Tamil Nadu implemented a strict ‘Sunday lockdown’ with people staying at their homes and vehicles staying off the roads.
Given the daily increase of nearly 1,000 deaths, India is edging towards the grim 50,000-mark in the total number of deaths due to the novel coronavirus so far. On Sunday, the country recorded 63,489 new cases and 944 deaths taking the tally to 25,89,682 cases including 49,980 deaths and over 18 lakh recoveries. Mizoram is currently the only state in India with less than 1,000 cases of the novel coronavirus apart from Lakshadweep, which continues to be Coronavirus-free, with no cases having been detected on the islands so far. India has been reporting over 60,000 cases daily since August 7, barring August 11 when the country registered 53,601 new instances of the infection.
Meanwhile, Russia has announced that the country has already produced the first batch of its controversial Covid-19 vaccine despite criticism over the haste in delivering the vaccine. The vaccine, dubbed Sputnik V, will be rolled out by the end of this month. Globally, nearly 21 million people have been infected with the virus and 7,60,213 have died. The United States (53,35,398) is the worst-affected country followed by Brazil (32,75,520) and India.
At a Covid-19 testing centre in Pune. (Express Photo: Arul Horizon)
After a gap of nearly five months, state-run TASMAC retail liquor outlets would reopen in Chennai and in its suburbs from Tuesday, the Tamil Nadu government said on Sunday. Only health care services and milk supplies were operational as Tamil Nadu implemented a strict ‘Sunday lockdown’ with people staying at their homes and vehicles staying off the roads.
Private carrier Vistara is likely to start flight operations between India and the UK, Germany and France under the bilateral air bubble arrangements that have been signed with these countries, sources in the aviation industry said on Sunday. Earlier this month, India and the UK signed a bilateral air pact, under which the airlines of both the countries can operate international flights with certain restrictions. India had signed similar bilateral pacts with Germany and France in July. Vistara got its second B787-9 wide-body aircraft on Saturday. It had received its first B787-9 aircraft in February. "Vistara has already got the slots at the Heathrow airport in London. The flights between Delhi and London are likely to be announced in the next few days," an industry source told PTI. The Delhi-London flight is likely to operate thrice a week, the source added. (PTI)
Punjab Revenue Minister Gurpreet Singh Kangar has tested positive for coronavirus, a health official said on Sunday. He is now under home isolation and samples of his family members have also been taken for testing, the official said. Kangar had hoisted the national flag in Mansa during Independence Day celebrations on Saturday. A health official said the health teams have been tracing people who came in contact with the minister. Those who were in close contact with Kangar would be tested for COVID-19, said an official. (PTI)
Karnataka Health Minister Sriramulu was discharged from hospital after recovering from coronavirus on Sunday.
Chief Justice of Rajasthan High Court Indrajit Mahanty on Sunday tested negative for coronavirus after a scare that he has contracted the infection. Jaipur Chief Medical and Health Officer (CMHO) Dr Narottam Sharma said the first report had come out positive due to a "technical error" in the RT-PCR test. "However, he has tested negative in two subsequent reports," Sharma said, adding that there is a possibilty of an error cropping up due to mistakes by the health staff or technical issues. The laboratory technique, called Real Time-Revers. (PTI)
A total number of 93 new Covid-19 cases & 1 death reported in Chandigarh today, taking the tally in the Union Territory to 2,102 so far, including 934 active cases, 1,137 recovered cases and 29 deaths till date, said Health Department, UT Chandigarh.
Six new cases reported in Himachal Pradesh till 5 pm on Sunday, taking the total number of cases to 4,057. Total of 1,358 active cases, 2,640 recovered cases and 17 deaths have been reported in the state till date, said State Health Department, Himachal Pradesh.
The Delhi Police issued challans for not wearing masks, spitting and social distancing violation.
Delhi reports 652 new Covid positive cases, 1,310 discharges and eight deaths. Total number of cases now at 1,52,580 including 1,37,561 recovered cases, 10,823 active cases and 4,196 deaths.
Former India cricketer and Uttar Pradesh Chetan Chauhan has died of COVID-19 related complications, PTI quoted his younger brother Pushpendra Chauhan as saying. Chauhan was admitted in Medanta Hospital in Gurgaon after testing positive for the virus, news agency ANI reported on Saturday.
Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray has said the lifting the lockdown in the state would be done in a stepwise manner, PTI reported. The coronavirus threat still persists, and he does not want a second wave of the infection in his state, Thackeray said Saturday. The Maharashtra government last month extended the lockdown till August 31. Till Saturday, the state reported 5,84,754 coronavirus cases and 19,749 deaths due to the disease, as per official updates.
Delhi Disaster Management Authority issues instructions to District Magistrates ahead of forthcoming festivals, in the wake of Covid-19. During Ganesh Chaturthi, no idol of Lord Ganesha to be set up in public places. No permission to be granted for procession during Moharram.
Work at the Rajasthan High Court in Jaipur will remain suspended for three days, after its Chief Justice Indrajit Mahanty reportedly tested positive for the virus. In a notice, the registrar general of the court requested all the persons concerned to get themselves tested for Covid. The testing facility is available in the Rajasthan High Court, Jaipur bench, during the three-day period, the notice added.
“ln view of recent results of COVID-19 tests conducted in the Rajasthan High Court, Jaipur Bench, it is notified that court and office work in Rajasthan High Court, Jaipur Bench shall remain suspended from August 17 to 19 for COVID-19 testing,” it said. The notice, however, did not mention anything about the Rajasthan High Court chief justice contracting the virus.
On 200th day of Covid-19 crisis, Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan took to Twitter appreciating the 'unflinching spirit' of the state residents in responding to the pandemic. "We are into the 200th day of Covid-19 crisis. Looking back, we can say with pride that this has not been just a period of despair & loss. It has also been a time of courage, compassion, resilience & survival. People of Kerala responded to the crisis with an unflinching spirit," he said. He cited the example of a 105-year-old patient surviving the disease and said Kerala's health workers have done a remarkable job.
Utpal Parrikar, BJP leader and the son of former Goa chief minister Manohar Parrikar, said he has tested positive for Covid-19 and has got himself admitted to a hospital on doctors' advice. After his test results came positive, Uptal Parrikar told reporters on Saturday evening that he tested positive for COVID-19. "Its a mild infection, so I would be home quarantined," he had then said. However, on Sunday, he tweeted: "On advice of Doctors and to take proper line of treatment, I've got admitted to Hospital. Thank you everyone for the wishes."
In a dig at the Narendra Modi government over its push for self-reliance, Shiv Sena leader Sanjay Raut on Sunday said Russia gave the first lesson to the world on being 'Aatmanirbhar' by introducing a COVID-19 vaccine while India has just been preaching about it. Lauding Russia for the vaccine, Raut, in his weekly column 'Rokhtokh' in the Shiv Sena mouthpiece 'Saamana', said this was a sign of being a superpower, and added that Indian politicians will not follow Russia's example as a model since "they are in love with America".
"When there was a movement across the globe to prove the Russian vaccine as illegal, Putin used the vaccine as a trial on his daughter and created self-confidence in his own country," Raut said. "Russia gave the first lesson of being 'Aatmanirbhar' (self-reliant) to the world. We are just preaching about being 'Aatmanirbhar'," the executive editor of 'Saamana' said.
China’s new locally transmitted cases of the novel coronavirus fell to a one-month low as a cluster in the western region of Xinjiang receded, data released by the country’s health authority on Sunday showed. The number of locally transmitted cases in China dropped to four on Aug. 15, all of which were in Xinjiang, the National Health Commission said in a statement. That compares with eight cases nationwide a day earlier, and is the lowest since July 16.No new locally transmitted cases were recorded on August 15 in the city of Shenzhen in southern Guangdong province, after provincial authorities there reported fresh infections a day earlier.
Pakistan's coronavirus tally reached 288,717 on Sunday after 670 new cases were detected in the last 24 hours, the health ministry said. Six more fatalities were reported overnight, pushing the death toll to 6,168, it said. While 266,301 patients were recovered so far, 769 are in critical condition at various hospitals across the country. With the detection of the 670 new cases, Pakistan's coronavirus tally now stands at 288,717, the ministry said. Of the total infections, Sindh reported the maximum number of 125,904 cases, followed by Punjab at 95,391, Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa at 35,153, Islamabad at 15,378, Balochistan at 12,224, Gilgit-Baltistan at 2,486 and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) at 2,181. Health authorities have so far conducted a total of 2,277,153 tests to detect coronavirus infection in the country, the ministry said
Assam's tally surpassed the 75,000-mark with 1,057 fresh cases, while the death toll mounted to 182 as eight more people succumbed to the virus, Minister for Health and Family Welfare Himanta Biswa Sarma said. The state's coronavirus caseload stood at 75,558, while 53,286 people have so far recovered from the disease, he added. Assam now has 22,087 active COVID-19 cases, the minister said in a tweet late on Saturday. The fresh case count of Saturday was the lowest single-day spike in August, a month in which less than 2,000 infections were reported only on three occasions, officials said. "Our positivity rate continues to be low at 5.08 per cent, which gives us confidence," Sarma said.
Former President Pranab Mukherjee’s health condition is better and he is responding to treatment, son Abhijit Mukherjee said on Sunday. A statement by the Army’s Research and Referral (R&R) Hospital later reiterated that the former President’s vital and clinical parameters are stable even though he continues to be on ventilator support.
The 84-year-old Bharat Ratna recipient underwent brain surgery on August 10 to remove a blood clot. He later tested positive for Covid-19.