As of Wednesday, Punjab reported 36,083 coronavirus cases with 920 deaths. Express Photo by Jasbir MalhiCoronavirus India Live Updates: Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar has gone into quarantine for three days after Union Jal Shakti Minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat tested positive for corona virus. Khattar had attended a meeting on the Sutlej Yamuna Link with Shekhawat on Tuesday, reported PTI. Taking it to Twitter, Khattar said, “in the past couple of days, I have met certain people who have now tested positive for the virus. Though I have gone for test myself and the report is negative, I have decided to go into quarantine for three days as a precautionary measure.”
Earlier in the day, Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh ordered a series of emergency measures to prevent surge of Covid cases in state, including extension of weekend lockdown, with daily night curfew from 7 pm to 5 am in all 167 cities and towns in the state from August 21. Besides, the chief minister also ordered a total ban on all gatherings except weddings and funerals across the state till August 31. As of Wednesday, the state reported 36,083 coronavirus cases with 920 deaths.
Meanwhile, even as India’s caseload increased to 28,36,925 with a record single-day spike of 69,652 infections, recoveries among patients in the country surged to 20,96,664 on Thursday, pushing India’s recovery rate to 73.91 per cent, the Union health ministry said. The death toll stood at 53,866.
Globally, over 22.3 million people have been infected with the virus so far, including over 7.8 lakh who died. Amid a worldwide race to produce an effective vaccine against Covid-19, Australia has assured it will offer the vaccine, if and when available, free to all its citizens, while Pope Francis warned against any prospect that rich people would get priority for a coronavirus vaccine, as countries stake claim to first doses.
A migrant labourer with her child returning to the city for work looks for transport in New Delhi(AP Photo/Manish Swarup)
Over 11.2 lakh Indians have returned from abroad after the government launched the "Vande Bharat" evacuation mission on May 7 in view of the coronavirus pandemic, the Ministry of External Affairs said on Thursday Ministry of External Affairs Spokesperson Anurag Srivastava said the bilateral air bubbles arrangements with US, Canada, UK, France, Germany, UAE, Qatar and Maldives are functioning well An air bubble is a bilateral arrangement with a set of regulations and restrictions in which the carriers of the two countries can operate international flights Referring to an announcement by the Minister of Civil Aviation earlier this week, Srivastava said negotiations on air travel arrangements with 18 more countries -- Australia, Italy, Japan, New Zealand, Nigeria, Bahrain, Israel, Kenya, Philippines, Russia, Singapore, South Korea, Thailand, Bangladesh, Afghanistan, Bhutan, Nepal and Sri Lanka -- are ongoing.
Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar has gone into quarantine for three days after Union Jal Shakti Minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat tested positive for corona virus. Khattar had attended a meeting on the Sutlej Yamuna Link with Shekhawat on Tuesday, reported PTI.
The chief minister will undergo another COVID-19 test just before the Haryana Assembly's monsoon session commences on August 26, as has been made mandatory by the Vidhan Sabha speaker for anyone entering the complex, the official said.
With 996 new cases and 11 deaths, the total number of COVID cases in Haryana rose to more than 50,000. However, only 7,555 are active cases, the State Health Department said.
Antibodies against the COVID-19 infection have been found in 27.7 per cent of people in Punjab's containment zones, according to the findings of a sero-survey. This was Punjab's first exclusive survey and was conducted in five containment zones from August 1 to 17 among a systematically selected random sample population of 1,250 people. The latest survey's findings were submitted to Chief Minister Amarinder Singh at a COVID review meeting on Thursday.
"A total of 27.7 per cent of the people in Punjab's containment zones are found to be positive for COVID antibodies, indicating that they have already been infected and have recovered from the coronavirus," as per the sero-survey's findings.
The findings showed that the SARS-CoV2 (COVID-19) antibodies' prevalence in the containment zones to be the highest at 40 per cent in Amritsar district, followed by 35.6 per cent in Ludhiana, 33.2 per cent in SAS Nagar, 19.2 per cent in Patiala and 10.8 per cent in Jalandhar district.
Kerala logged 1,968 fresh COVID-19 cases, including 48 health workers, and nine related deaths, taking the infection count in the state to 52,199 so far. As many as 1,737 were infected through contact and the source of infection of 100 people was not yet known, Health Minister K K Shailaja said.
Of the positive cases, 71 had come from abroad, while 109 had come from other states, the minister said in a press release. So far 33,828 people have tested negative for the infection, including 1,217 who were discharged today. At present 18,123 people are under treatment. As many as 1.73 lakh people are under observation of whom 1.58 lakh are in home or institutional quarantine and 14,646 in various hospitals, including 2198 admitted today, the minister said. In the last 24 hours, 37,010 samples have been tested and so far 12.12 lakh have been sent for testing. The total hotspots has touched 585 as of today.
Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh on Thursday ordered a series of emergency measures, including extension of weekend lockdown, with daily night curfew from 7 pm to 5 am in all 167 cities and towns in the state from August 21. Besides, the chief minister also ordered a total ban on all gatherings except weddings and funerals across the state till August 31. As of Wednesday, the state reported 36,083 coronavirus cases with 920 deaths.
The Mumbai police have recently issued a tweet warning action against non-essential vehicular movement, leaving several netizens with the question of whether the coronavirus-induced lockdown was still in force or the unlock phase was on. On their official Twitter handle, the city police on Tuesday night had warned that strict legal action would be taken against people who step out for non-essential purposes.
The message was criticised by many on social media, with some Twitter users asking the police to classify what is essential and non-essential movement. People also asked the police if the coronavirus-induced lockdown was still in force or the unlock phase was on. "Both the government and cops are confused about what to follow and ignore. It's a complete failure of communication and expected considering the level of mismanagement which happens," a Twitter user said.
Just before the start of the brief Monsoon Session of Uttar Pradesh Legislature, the Samajwadi Party on Thursday staged a protest in the Vidhan Bhawan against the law and order situation and the government's handling of the coronavirus pandemic. Party members of both houses of the legislature staged a protest in front of the statue of former prime minister Chaudhary Charan Singh, holding banners against the state government. The also stopped state Health Minister Jai Prakas Singh while he was going to attend first day of monsoon session of state assembly in Lucknow on Thursday. (Express Photo by Vishal Srivastava)
West Bengal has over 2300 containment zones even as recovery percentage of Covid-19 patients in the state is better than the national rate, the government said.The highest number of containment zones are in Nadia district followed by East Burdwan and NorthDinajpur districts, as per the state government's website 'Egiye Bangla'. The total number of containment zones in West Beengal is 2304, it said.West Bengal has witnessed 2,581 Covid-19-related deaths out of which 2,277 were due to comorbidities where the disease was incidental, the website said. Till Wednesday, there were 1,25,922 active cases and over 95,000 people have recovered from the disease. The discharge rate in the state is 76 per cent while nationally it is 74 per cent, it added.
Jal Shakti Minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat, who tested positive for Covid today, had held two important meetings on Tuesday., PTI reported One was on the Sutlej Yamuna Link (SYL). Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh attended the meeting virtually while his Haryana counterpart M L Khattar was physically present at the meeting with Shekhwat, his deputy in the ministry Rattan Lal Kataria, and senior officials.
Navi Mumbai police on Wednesday arrested a man and seized over four lakh used hand gloves which were being washed and readied to be resold during the Covid-19 pandemic. The crime branch (Unit 1) also seized 17 packets of used blue-coloured latex gloves, packed as new, for sale. Senior Inspector Subhash Nikam said a raid was conducted on a godown in Gami Industrial Park in the MIDC area of the city following a tip-off and Prashant Surve, the owner of the godown used for printing and binding books, was arrested. “We found that the accused was using a washing machine to clean the gloves and a blower to dry them, before repackaging them to be sold in the market,” Nikam said. The value of the items seized is above Rs 6 lakh, he added. The senior inspector said considering the quantity of the latex gloves found with the accused, it is suspected that he had managed to procure the gloves disposed of by medical establishments.
Senior Congress leader P Chidambaram on Thursday accused the BJP-led government at the Centre of shielding the PM CARES Fund from any kind of scrutiny. "It is abundantly clear that the BJP government is making desperate efforts to shield PM-CARES Fund from any kind of scrutiny," he tweeted. "Was the Fund set up by the central government as concluded by the Ministry of Corporate Affairs? If not, who set up the Fund and in what capacity?" he asked. "If the Fund was not set up by the central government, why are the PM and three Ministers serving as Trustees? Who appointed them as Trustees?" the senior Congress leader asked. "If the Fund is a private established fund, why are donations to the Fund counted against CSR? Will donations to other privately-established funds be also counted against CSR," he posted on the micro-blogging site.
Jal Shakti Minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat announced that he tested positive for coronavirus today. Taking to Twitter, he said that he will be admitted to the hospital as per recommendations from the doctors. He also urged all his recent contacts to isolate and get themselves tested.
Pune is well-equipped to defeat Covid-19, said Rajesh Deshmukh, who took over as the new district collector on Wednesday, and added that he will continue with the various measures taken by his predecessor in the fight against the pandemic. “It’s true that Pune has the highest count of Covid-19 cases. But it’s also true that since the onset of the pandemic, Pune has been doing the highest per-day testing in the state and the more you test, more cases you tend to find. Also, the rate of recovery is the highest in Pune. In July, the rate of recovery was about 50 per cent, now it’s gone up to 75 per cent and the credit for this improvement goes to the health machinery of the district,” he said. Deshmukh, who most recently served as the managing director of Haffkine Institute in Mumbai, said he worked as a nodal officer for several aspects, including testing and receipt of equipment via CSR, since the pandemic began.
With the shadow of the Covid-19 pandemic looming large over the upcoming Ganesh festival, the Pimpri-Chinchwad Municipal Corporation (PCMC) on Wednesday prohibited Ganesh installation and immersion processions and urged local residents to instal idols at their home. “Coronavirus cases are rising rapidly… if we don’t want the virus to spread, we should avoid celebrations. There should be no installation or immersion processions in the city,” said Municipal Commissioner Shravan Hardikar. Urging people to celebrate Ganesh festival at home, the PCMC chief said, “People should install Ganesh idols at their home, do the pooja and make arrangements for immersion inside their home… the PCMC will not make any arrangements in the river ghat area for the immersion”.
A 35-year-old sub-inspector of Mumbai Police died of coronavirus on Thursday, an official said. With this, the Covid death toll in the Mumbai Police force has gone up to 60, he said. The sub-inspector was posted at Deonar police station. He tested positive on August 9 and was undergoing treatment at D Y Patil Hospital in Navi Mumbai. He succumbed to the disease on Thursday, the official said. Another constable who had also tested positive for the disease along with him was later discharged after treatment, the official added.
Kerala, once the most successful state in containing the spread of the novel Coronavirus epidemic, has been adding relatively large number of cases for several weeks now. On Wednesday, the state detected more than 2,000 cases in a day for the first time, and simultaneously reached 50,000-figure for confirmed cases. In the last one month, the number of confirmed cases have grown by almost four times, at a rate which is among the fastest in India. Even now, at 4.01 per cent per day it is growing much faster than the national rate. In fact, amongst the states with high caseloads, those with more than 20,000 confirmed cases, only Punjab has higher growth rate than Kerala right now. Click here to read more.
Jain added: "The prevalence of antibodies found in sero-survey showed that the antibodies were present in 29% of the people in the northeast districts, 27% in the south, 33% in the southeast and 24% in New Delhi. There was also an increase of 6% to 50% among people in various districts compared to the earlier survey. The sero-prevalence of antibodies was found in 28.3% of the males while 32.2% of the female population. As many as 15,000 people had participated in the survey."
The second serological survey which was conducted between August 1 and 7 showed that 29.1% of people in Delhi have developed antibodies against the virus, Health Minister Satyender Jain announced on Thursday. A total of 15,000 samples were collected during the survey, he added.
With the bi-weekly lockdown underway, all government and private establishments, shops, markets and banks remained closed in West Bengal on Thursday. Medical shops, milk booths and petrol pumps, however, were kept out of the purview of the lockdown. According to PTI, Kolkata and other districts wore a deserted look as people remained indoors and public transport and other vehicles, barring those engaged in essential services, were off the roads. Police personnel kept a strict vigil on major intersections in Kolkata and other districts and put up guard rails to prevent people from venturing out without any valid reason. Flight services out of the Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose International Airport here remained suspended, while long-distance trains were rescheduled at Howrah and Sealdah termini.