Coronavirus roundup: Developments in India and rest of world

TIMESOFINDIA.COM | Aug 18, 2020, 20:05 IST

NEW DELHI: The daily new cases of Covid-19 and deaths due to the disease have shown a declining trend from August 13, the Union health ministry said Tuesday, but warned against any laxity, underlining that five days are a short span in the context of a pandemic.
Addressing a press briefing, health secretary Rajesh Bhushan said that in spite of a sustained level of 7-8 lakh coronavirus tests a day, the positivity rate has come down from 10.03 per cent to 7.72 per cent.

Here are the top developments:

1

India

A total of 3,09,41,264 tests for detection of Covid-19 have so far been conducted in India with record 8,99,864 tests done in a single day, the health ministry said on Tuesday.
The total number of recoveries crossed the 19 lakh-mark with 57,937 patients having recuperated in a span of 24 hours, the highest recorded in a day so far, the ministry added. Continuous increase in average daily recoveries has led to India's Covid-19 recovery rate rising to 73.18 per cent and a low case fatality rate of 1.92 per cent, it said.
A spike of 55,079 cases took India's Covid-19 tally past 27 lakh on Tuesday just a day after it crossed the 26-lakh mark, while 19.77 lakh people have so far recuperated from the disease pushing the recovery rate to 73.18 per cent, according to the health ministry data.
The Covid-19 caseload stood at 27,02,742, while the death toll climbed to 51,797 with 876 people succumbing to the disease in a span of 24 hours, the data showed.
Union home minister Amit Shah has been admitted to AIIMS here for post Covid care after complaining of fatigue and body ache, hospital authorities said. According to a statement issued by AIIMS, he is comfortable and is continuing his work from hospital.
The Supreme Court on Tuesday refused to direct the Centre to transfer the contributions made to the PM CARES Fund for battling the Covid-19 pandemic to the National Disaster Response Fund saying both are entirely different funds with separate object and purpose. A bench headed by Justice Ashok Bhushan also said there is no statutory prohibition for the Centre utilising the NDRF for providing assistance in the fight of Covid-19 in accordance with the guidelines issued for administration of the NDRF.
India is negotiating with 13 countries, including Australia, Japan and Singapore, to establish separate bilateral air bubble arrangements for international flight operations, civil aviation minister Hardeep Singh Puri said. Under a bilateral air bubble pact, airlines of both the countries can operate international flights with certain restrictions.
As many as 41 lakh youth in the country lost jobs due to the Covid-19 pandemic while construction and farm sector workers account for the majority of job losses, according to a joints report by the International Labour Organization and the Asian Development Bank.

2

States

UP: Uttar Pradesh reported its worst single-day spike of 70 fatalities, pushing the Covid-19 death toll in the state to 2,585. The number of Covid-19 cases has reached 1,62,434 with 4,218 fresh cases in 24 hours.
Kerala: For the second consecutive day Kerala recorded over 1700 Covid-19 cases as the infection count touched 47,898 and six more fatalities were confirmed due to the virus, taking the death toll to 175.
Telangana: Governor Tamilisai Soundararajan stressed the need to conduct adequate number of Covid-19 tests in the state, saying eradication of the virus would be difficult without sufficient testing. She reiterated the WHO's mantra of testing, tracking and treating to effectively fight against Covid-19.
J&K: The novel coronavirus cases in Jammu and Kashmir rose to 29,326 with 434 new infections, while 13 more deaths took the toll to 561. There are 6,879 active cases of the coronavirus disease, while 21,886 patients have recovered so far.
Maharashtra: The Maharashtra government directed district collectors to take strict action against hospitals covered under the Mahatma Jyotiba Phule Jan Arogya Yojana that are overcharging Covid-19 patients. Dr Sudhakar Shinde, CEO of MJPJAY, asked the officials to impose a fine five times the amount of bills charged to patients.
Andhra: Andhra Pradesh became the third state after Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu in the country to cross the three lakh mark in the overall number of coronavirus cases. The state now has 3,06,261 cases after 9,652 were added in the last 24 hours.
Meghalaya: At least 36 more people, including 20 security personnel, have tested positive for Covid-19 in Meghalaya, taking the state's tally to 1,454. Four people were discharged from hospitals, taking the total number of recoveries to 683.
Karnataka: Medical education minister K Sudhakar said he has directed officials to make necessary arrangements to ensure adequate supply of liquid oxygen to all hospitals in the state, amid growing demand. He also said the government was planning to establish new liquid oxygen plants to meet the high demand.
Andaman and Nicobar Islands: At least 46 more people have tested positive for Covid-19 in Andaman and Nicobar Islands, pushing the tally to 2,445, a senior official said. One person succumbed to the infection, raising the death toll in the Union territory to 29.
Tripura: Tripura's Covid-19 caseload rose to 7,427, with 205 people testing positive for coronavirus, while the death toll mounted to 62 as three more patients succumbed to the disease.
Rajasthan: Rajasthan reported 10 more deaths due to Covid-19, taking the state's death toll to 897, while 694 fresh cases pushed its tally to 63,324. A total of 14,462 Covid-19 patients are under treatment in the state, while 47,255 have been discharged.
Odisha: Amid the spike in Covid-19 cases in Odisha, the city-based Institute of Life Sciences under the central government's department of biotechnology, said that the coronavirus situation in the state is likely to improve from the second week of September. This was stated by ILS director Dr Ajay Parida.
Bihar: As many as 3,257 new Covid-19 cases were reported in Bihar in the last 24 hours, taking the total number in the state to 32,626. Out of the total Covid-19 cases reported in the state, 368 cases were reported from Patna.
Puducherry: Streets in Puducherry wore a deserted look and shops and establishments remained closed as the Union territory observed a complete lockdown in view of the surge in Covid-19 cases. This comes a day after chief minister V Narayanasamy announced the trial curfew in the UT.

3

World

The WHO wrote to every country on Tuesday urging them to quickly join its global shared vaccine programme and spelled out who would get its eventual coronavirus jabs first. The WHO's director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said that without vaccinating the highest-risk populations around the world all at the same time, it would be impossible to rebuild the global economy.
The novel coronavirus has killed at least 774,832 people since the outbreak emerged in China last December. At least 21,936,820 cases of coronavirus have been registered in 196 countries and territories.
The UK government confirmed the creation of a brand new "rigorous" science-led health unit to combat the Covid-19 pandemic and other infectious diseases.
The National Institute for Health Protection, reports of which had emerged over the weekend, will start work immediately with a single command structure that brings together existing units such as Public Health England, National Health Service Test and Trace and the Joint Biosecurity Centre.
Pakistan's drug watchdog has approved phase-III clinical trial of a Covid-19 vaccine developed in collaboration with a Chinese company, a media report said. According to the National Institute of Health, it has obtained "formal approval" from the Drug Regulatory Authority of Pakistan for phase-III Clinical Trial of Recombinant Novel Coronavirus Vaccine Adenovirus Type 5 vector (Ad5-nCoV) developed by CanSinoBio and Beijing Institute of Biotechnology China".
Nepal's Covid-19 infections crossed 28,000 after more than 1,000 fresh coronavirus cases were reported in a single day across the country. With seven more coronavirus related deaths confirmed by the ministry, Nepal's Covid-19 death toll has jumped to 114.
South Africa, which had one of the world's strictest anti-coronavirus lockdowns for five months, relaxed its restrictions on Tuesday in response to a decrease in new cases. The country loosened its regulations to permit the sales of alcohol and cigarettes, and the reopening of bars, restaurants, gyms and places of worship, all limited to no more than 50 people. Schools will reopen gradually starting August 24.
Australia has recorded 17 fresh Covid-19 deaths while another 226 coronavirus cases have been reported across the country, taking the total number of infections to 23,583. 17 deaths and 222 new cases were recorded in the last 24 hours, bringing the total deaths in the state to 334 deaths.
Singapore reported 100 new Covid-19 cases, mostly foreign workers, pushing the nationwide tally to 55,938, the health ministry said. The new patients included two imported and one community cases.
Brazil's number of Covid-19 cases has increased by more than 19,000 over the past 24 hours, down from some 23,000 the day before, with over 600 deaths, the country's health ministry said. The case tally rose by 19,373 to 3,359,570, the ministry said.