At a Covid-19 testing centre in New Delhi (Express Photo: Gajendra Yadav)Coronavirus India News Live Updates: 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.
During his seventh consecutive Independence Day speech delivered at the Red Fort Saturday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said that three probable Covid-19 vaccines are currently being developed in India and large-scale production will begin as soon as scientists give a green signal. The Prime Minister paid tribute to all the frontline workers involved in India’s fight against the pandemic.
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)
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.
As many as 1,102 fresh COVID-19 cases and nine deaths were reported in Telangana, taking the tally to 91,361 and the toll to 693, the state government said on Sunday. Out of the freshcases, 234 were reported from the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC), followed by districts of Karimnagar 101, Ranga Reddy 81, Warangal Urban 70, Medchal 63,a state government bulletin said on Sunday, providing data as of 8 PM on August 15. It said 1,930 people were discharged on Saturday, taking the cumulative recoveries to 68,126 so far, while 22,542 are under treatment. A total of 12,120 samples were tested on Saturday and cumulatively, 7,44,555 samples have been examined.
A World Health Organisation (WHO) surge team will assist South Africa in bolstering its national COVID-19 response, Health Minister Zweli Mkhize has said. The team comprises 43 members and 16 arrived in the country on Friday. Over the last three weeks, the number of new confirmed cases in South Africa has dropped from a peak of over 12,000 a day to an average over the past week of around 5,000 a day.
“We have received queries on why there would be a need for the (WHO) surge team if we are past the surge,” Mkhize said. “I would like to emphasise for our people that we are not past anything: we are still the country with the fifth-highest positive cases in the world,” the minister said.
The additional cases have taken the nation’s total to 15,318, while the number of deaths remained at 305, according to data from Korea Centers for Disease Control & Prevention. Officials said 245 of the new infections were in the Seoul, Gyeonggi and Incheon region -- home to almost half of South Korea’s population.
The Asian country raised its social-distancing alert to level 2 in the Seoul Metropolitan area, prohibiting “high-risk” events and operations for two weeks. The resurgence is once again testing authorities in South Korea, which has maintained one of developed countries’ lowest rates of infection and deaths since the early days of the pandemic.
The United States and South Korea will begin their annual joint military exercises this week, Seoul's Joint Chiefs of Staff said Sunday. But a spreading coronavirus outbreak has apparently forced the allies to scale back an already low-key training program mainly involving computer-simulated war scenarios.
The drills from Tuesday to Aug. 28 could still irk North Korea, which portrays the allies' training as invasion rehearsals and has threatened to abandon stalled nuclear talks if Washington persists with what it perceives as “hostile policies” toward Pyongyang.
The exercises also come at a delicate time after President Donald Trump openly complained about the costs of maintaining 28,500 U.S. troops stationed in South Korea to protect against North Korean threats. The allies have so far failed to sign a new cost-sharing agreement after the last one expired at the end of 2019.
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.
The number of new COVID-19 infections in Turkey hit its highest level in 45 days on Saturday, the country’s health minister said as he announced 1,256 new cases. Health Minister Fahrettin Koca said on Twitter that the number of seriously ill patients, mostly with underlying medical conditions, was also on the rise with 668 people.
The ministry said 21 people died of COVID-19 in the past 24 hours, bringing the confirmed death toll to 5,955. More than 248,000 people have tested positive for the virus in Turkey since March. Experts say, however, that all confirmed officials are undercounts due to limited testing, missed mild cases, possible government manipulation and other factors.
The Odisha government has approved a standardised rate for reimbursement for the treatment of coronavirus patients at COVID care facilities run by private hospitals by capping the charges by the private medical facilities. The rate for treating COVID-19 patients at private healthcare centres which the state government will reimburse, has been fixed at Rs 4,750 per day per isolation bed, Rs 17,000 per ICU bed and Rs 18,000 per ventilator use.
On August 8, the state government through an order had allowed the admission of COVID patients at private hospitals for treatment. The decision for the standardised rates of the various consumable costs was taken following a recommendation from a technical team of SCB Medical College and Hospital, Cuttack after observing the costs incurred there for treating COVID patients.
Despite widespread criticism from scientists and health professionals from across the world, the Russian Health Ministry Saturday announced that the country has already produced the first batch of its controversial Covid-19 vaccine. The vaccine, dubbed Sputnik V, will be rolled out by the end of this month, according to a Reuters report.
This comes less than five days after Russian President Vladimir Putin first announced that the vaccine was safe to use, adding it had already been administered to his daughter. Several world leaders and health authorities accused Russia of releasing the vaccine in haste, even before it could clear a vital last-stage of human trials to establish its safety and efficiency.