A worker disinfects an ambulance after a Covid-19 patient is taken to the Civil Hospital in Panchkula on August 18, 2020. (Express Photo: Jaipal Singh)Coronavirus Live Updates: In the 24 hours ending 9 am Wednesday, India reported 64,531 new cases of Covid-19 and 1,092 deaths. India’s tally of 27,67,274 cases now includes 6,76,514 patients undergoing treatment, 20,37,871 patients who have recovered and 52,889 deaths.
For the first time since May, India’s positivity rate is declining. This indicates that of those who are being tested for the disease, a far lesser number of people are being found infected now than earlier. The positivity rate peaked at 9.01 per cent on August 9, after which it has begun to decline. It is now 8.72 per cent.
Maharashtra, New Delhi, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh are the states with the highest number of cases in the country. Andhra Tuesday became the third state after Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu to cross the three lakh mark. The state now has 3,06,261 cases. It took 160 days for the state to go from one to three lakh cases after the first person tested positive for the contagion on March 12. The last one lakh, however, came at a quicker pace in just 11 days. (Read the latest updates on Covid-19 vaccine development in India, and the world)
As of Wednesday, more than 22 million people have been infected by the novel coronavirus in the world, while nearly 775,000 people have succumbed to the disease, according to a Reuters tally. Around 14 million people have recovered from Covid-19. Since the outbreak in China’s Wuhan last December, the infection has spread to over 210 countries and territories.
The United States has the highest number of Covid-19 cases (5,481,795), followed by Brazil (3,407,354) and India. Russia ranks fourth with 930,276 cases, while South Africa is fifth with 592,144 infections.
Coronavirus India LIVE news updates: The health ministry declared that a "new landmark" has been achieved as the country crossed the 3-crore mark of tests conducted.
Even before the end of final stage human trials or regulatory approval, several wealthier countries like Britain, France, Germany and the US have entered into pre-purchase agreements with Covid-19 vaccine manufacturers, a development that has come to be known as “vaccine nationalism”. There are fears that such advance agreements will make the initial few vaccines unaffordable and inaccessible to everyone apart from the rich countries in a world of roughly 8 billion people. Click here to read our explainer.
New Zealand appears to be gaining control over a coronavirus outbreak in Auckland after just five new community infections were reported Wednesday amid record levels of testing and contact tracing. A sixth infection was found in a quarantined traveler who had returned from Qatar.
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern says 500 more military personnel would be deployed to quarantine hotels as the nation looks to reduce the number of private security guards it employs and tighten its border controls.
Health authorities have still not figured out how the outbreak began after the country went 102 days without the virus spreading in the community.
Pakistan on Wednesday reported 613 new coronavirus cases, taking the country's COVID-19 tally to 2,90,445.
Apart from the new cases, 11 people died due to coronavirus-related complications in the last 24 hours, the Ministry of National Health Services said. Now, the virus death toll stands at 6,201.
The ministry said 2,72,128 people have recovered from the virus so far. There are 12,116 active cases with 743 people in critical condition. (PTI)
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi has targeted the government for the loss of jobs amid the Covid-19 pandemic. Taking to Twitter, he said around 2 crore people had lost their jobs in the last four months. "In the last 4 months, around 2 crore people have lost their jobs. The future of 2 crore families is in the dark. The truth about unemployment and destruction of the economy cannot be hidden from the country by peddling fake news and hatred on Facebook," he said, referring to a report by the Wall Street Journal that Facebook did not apply hate-speech rules on BJP leaders.
Dr Reddy's Laboratories has launched Avigan (Favipiravir) tablets to help treat "mild to moderate Covid-19 in India". The drug has been approved by the Drugs Controller General of India (DCGI). The company said, "The launch is part of the global licensing agreement with Fujifilm Toyama Chemical Co Ltd that grants Dr Reddy's the exclusive rights to manufacture, sell and distribute Avigan (Favipiravir) 200 mg tablets in India.
M V Ramana, CEO of Branded Markets (India and Emerging Markets), said, "The need for high quality and efficacy, affordability and better disease management are key priorities for us. We believe that Avigan would provide an effective treatment option to the COVID-19 impacted patients in India."
The Delhi Metro has announced steep pay cuts for its employees on account of an "extreme adverse financial" crisis it is facing, with its services suspended for nearly five months amid the Covid-19 breakout, according to the corporation’s records. The Metro is also struggling to repay loan installment to the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA).
"In view of the extreme adverse financial condition due to non-operation of metro services, the following orders are issued: It has been decided that the perks and allowances shall be reduced by 50 per cent with effect from the month of August 2020, till further orders," says the order issued by DMRC senior deputy general manager (HR) Sangeeta Shrivastava. Read more here
For the first time since May, the overall positivity rate in the country has begun to decline, indicating that, out of those who are being tested, far lesser number of people are being found infected now than earlier. After rising steadily for the last three months, the positivity rate reached a peak of 9.01 per cent on August 9, after which it has begun to decline. It has come to 8.72 per cent now. Amitabh Sinha explains the numbers
A key component of our immune system is the T cells, which respond to a virus or a bacterium when it attacks. Once the pathogen has been dealth with, the immune system retains memore versions of these specific T cells, so that if the same pathogen attacks again, the response can be mounted once more. A new study in the journal Cell has found that mild cases of Covid-19 can trigger a robust memory T cell response, even when virus-specific antibody responses are not detected. Read more here
Purakkatt Veettil Pareed, a resident of Aluva, recovered from Covid-19 on Tuesday. He was being treated at the Government Medical College Hospital in Kochi after he tested positive 20 days ago. On Tuesday evening, he was given a warm send-off by the hospital staff. Health Minister K K Shailaja said Pareed’s recovery was a remarkable achievement for the state. “His recovery is a testimony to the dedication of the health workers of the medical college and the quality of care they had given to the patient. I appreciate all those who have been part of the team that treated Pareed,” she said. Read more here
Union Minister of State for Animal Husbandry, Dairying and Fisheries Sanjeev Balyan, 63, has gone into self-quarantine after meeting Uttar Pradesh Minister Atul Garg, who tested positive for the disease. Balyan, a Lok Sabha MP from Muzaffarnagar, had lunch with Garg on Tuesday in Ghaziabad. He is now in quarantine at his residence in New Delhi, reported PTI.
The Karnataka government has said it has conducted 20 lakh Covid-19 tests. According to data given to ICMR, the Department of Health and Family Welfare Services said these tests were conducted from March 23 to August 16. With this, Karnataka is now among the states which have conducted the maximum number of tests.
KIDWAI Bengaluru conducted the most tests (1,05,624), followed by Gulbarga GIMS (88,323), NIMHANS (81816) and National Institute of Virology (79,595), among government labs. Meanwhile, over 4.5 lakh tests were conducted in all private labs cumulatively till August 16. Neuberg Anand conducted the highest number, 69,897.
The second round of serological survey, conducted in the first week of August across the national capital, has suggested that 28.35% of the people tested have developed antibodies against the novel coronavirus, The Indian Express has learnt. During the survey, more than 15,000 samples were lifted across 11 districts in Delhi to assess the spread of the virus. The samples were processed in 18 labs authorised by the state government for the rigorous exercise.
“The labs have submitted their reports and, after compiling the data, we have found a prevalence of 28.35% of the disease among people who were tested in the second round. The highest prevalence has been reported from the central district,” said a senior official from the state health department. Read more here
As governments debate when and how to open schools, data collected by the Maharashtra Public Health Department show that those below the age of 20 account for 11 per cent of the cases in the state but just 0.5 per cent of its Covid deaths were of infected children and teens aged 18 or less. Out of the 5.95 lakh cases of the novel coronavirus infection (including both active and cured/discharged cases) in Maharashtra, over 66,000 have been children and young people up to age 20, the data, arranged age-wise by the state government, show. However, of the 19,830 Covid-19 deaths in the state analysed until August 16, just 99 were of children and teens aged 18 or below (51 of them aged 0-9). Read Tabassum Barnagarwala's report
In the 24 hours ending 9 am Wednesday, India reported 64,531 new cases of Covid-19 and 1,092 deaths. India’s tally of 27,67,274 cases includes 6,76,514 patients undergoing treatment, 20,37,871 patients who have recovered and 52,889 deaths.
More than 22 million people have been infected by the novel coronavirus in the world, while nearly 775,000 people have succumbed to the disease, according to a Reuters tally. Around 14 million people have recovered from the disease. Since the outbreak in China’s Wuhan last December, the infection has spread to over 210 countries and territories.
Here are the latest developments on Covid-19 vaccines, from India and the world:
Read more from our vaccine tracker here
National carrier Air India has been banned by Hong Kong authorities from flying into Hong Kong airport for two weeks, August 18-31, reportedly for “carrying too many passengers infected with Covid19”. Air India operates flights to Hong Kong under the Vande Bharat Mission and was scheduled to operate special flights from Delhi on August 18, August 21, August 25 and August 28. An Air India official confirmed that the Hong Kong authorities had banned flights for two weeks but did not detail the reasons for the restrictions. The official said the airline would initiate talks with the Hong Kong authorities for lifting the suspension.
Jehangir hospital and research centre will take part in Phases II and III of the clinical trials of the Oxford University-AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine (Covishield) free of cost, said Sir Cowasji Jehangir, chairman of the hospital on Tuesday.
He said this the professional fee for the study will be waived. "The institutional ethics committee approved the trial at Jehangir hospital last week," said Pathik Divate, CEO of the research centre, adding, "we are now waiting for the vaccine to be sent, and will likely start by next week." Around 250 participants will be enrolled for the trial expected to last six months. (ENS)
Two more patients died of COVID-19 in Tripura on Tuesday, raising the toll in the state to 64. The latest report issued this evening informed that 5497 COVID patients have recovered till date while 1,845 others are still under treatment in different quarantine centers and hospitals. The state now has 3.30 percent COVID positivity rate among tested individuals, while recovery rate is estimated at 74.19 percent. Tripura is testing 56,293 people per million for coronavirus and has a fatality rate of 0.86 percent.