Normal life came to a grinding halt in Kolkata on Friday after a complete shutdown was enforced across West Bengal for the second consecutive day. Incessant overnight rain owing to a low-pressure system that continued this morning also forced people to stay indoors in the city and most other places in south Bengal, PTI reported. All public transport, government and private offices, banks and other commercial establishments, barring those dealing with essential services, remained shut while flight operations in and out of the Kolkata international airport were suspended for the day. Long-distance trains were also rescheduled. Essential services like medicine shops and health establishments remained open as these were kept out of the purview of the complete shutdown. In several district towns, police personnel were seen checking papers of those vehicles that were out on the streets despite the restrictions. At least 2,687 people were arrested from across the state, 541 of them in Kolkata, for violating lockdown rules.

A 107-year-old woman and her 78-year-old daughter were among those who recovered from coronavirus in Maharashtra's Jalna district, an official said on Friday. The centenarian, her daughter, 65-year-old son and two grandchildren, aged 27 and 17, were undergoing treatment for the virus for more than a week at the hospital, district civil surgeon Archana Bhosale said. All of them had tested positive on August 11. "We had lost all hope. We survived because of the dedication shown by the medical staff...it is nothing short of a miracle," the centenarian woman's son was quoted as saying by news agency PTI. 

The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has modified its guidelines to make institutional isolation mandatory for all Covid-19 positive patients aged above 50 years in Mumbai, irrespective of whether they have any symptoms of the infection. Patients may choose either government or private hospitals to undergo institutional isolation, said the civic body. In the first 15 days of August, Mumbai had recorded 588 deaths due to Covid-19. Of the 244 people who died in private hospitals, 94 per cent were above the age of 50 years. Among the 588 deceased, while 75 per cent sought admission within two days of testing positive, 6.6 per cent got admitted two to four days later and 11 per cent got admitted after six days.

The West Bengal Health Commission on Thursday issued an order against a private hospital in Kolkata and asked the authorities to deposit a fine of Rs 10 lakh for overcharging a Covid positive patient. The Commission, headed by Retired Justice Ashim Kumar Banerjee, was hearing a case of a patient who had died inside an ambulance after DESUN Hospital allegedly demanded Rs 3 lakh as admission fees. West Bengal Clinical Establishment Regulatory Commission Chairman Justice (retd) Ashim Banerjee said, “The licence of DESUN Hospital should have been suspended. However, as it was not a case of wrong treatment, so there was no suspension order.” The commission has further directed the hospital not to take any advance payment from any patient till the case is closed.

The Covid-19 tally in India rose to 2,905,823 after 68,898 fresh cases were registered within a single day.

An India and UK headquartered genomics biotech company is among four worldwide projects awarded the USD 1-million 2020 Roddenberry Prize designed to advance the vision of 'Star Trek' creator Gene Roddenberry to better humanity, PTI reported. Launched this year in the early weeks of the coronavirus pandemic, the prize pivoted to engage organisations who demonstrated their agility and innovation on the frontlines of Covid-19.

Adding over 1,100 cases on Thursday, the Covid-19 tally in Gujarat crossed 83,000. Besides, the health department also conducted a press briefing after more than 45 days in Gandhinagar. Addressing mediapersons, principal secretary, health and family welfare, Jayanti Ravi shared the best practices adopted in the state and claimed that in a month, the state has managed to increase testing and reduce positivity in all its 33 districts and eight municipal corporation areas. The health department, in an analysis, compared test per million versus test positivity during a week in July vis-a-vis a week in August.

Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee will hold an administrative meeting through video conferencing with nine district administrations on August 24 and 25. According to sources, the CM will review the progress of different development projects and Covid situation in those districts. Sources said on August 24, Banerjee will hold a meeting from Nabanna with the district administrative officials of North 24 Parganas, South 24 Parganas, Howrah and Hooghly at 3 pm. The next day, she will continue the meeting with officials of Purba Bardhman, Paschim Bardhman, Birbhum, Bankura and Purulia.

IIT-Kharagpur has asked students to vacate hostels by August 23 after one of them tested positive for Covid-19 on Wednesday. At present, 200 to 250 students are living in the campus residence halls. In a notification posted on Wednesday, the authorities also announced that the residence halls would be sealed. “In view of a Covid-19 positive case detected in one of the halls, and since the student took dinner in the private mess, we are compelled to seal all the halls of residence. Accordingly, all students who are presently staying in the campus must vacate the halls latest by August 23 and proceed to their hometowns,” read the notice. IIT-Kharagpur Registrar BN Singh told The Indian Express that the infected student had been sent to Kolkata. “The student was staying in one of our hostels. He was staying with five to six other students in the entire hall. He has been sent to Kolkata for treatment. Meanwhile all halls have been sealed. We feel that the rest of the students in that hall have not been infected. However we will carry out sanitisation work in every hall,” he said.

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.

प्रिय मित्रों,

मैं पिछले दिनों में कई ऐसे लोगों के संपर्क में आया हूँ, जिनमें कोरोना के लक्षण पाए गये हैं।

हालांकि, मैंने अपना कोरोना टेस्ट करवाया है, जो नेगेटिव आया है लेकिन एहतियात के तौर पर मैं अपने आपको 3 दिन के लिए होम क्वारंटीन कर रहा हूँ।

सजग रहें, सुरक्षित रहें।

— Manohar Lal (@mlkhattar) August 20, 2020

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.

In view of rise in #Covid19 cases, we have decided to impose evening lockdown from 7 PM to 5 AM & weekends lockdown in all towns. Also no public gatherings will be allowed. Detailed instructions will be issued tomorrow. Urge all Punjabis to cooperate & triumph in #MissionFateh. https://t.co/0YoMQRqx73

— Capt.Amarinder Singh (@capt_amarinder) August 20, 2020

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.

Strict legal action will be taken and vehicles will be seized if any non-permitted & non-essential vehicular movement is noticed. This is not just against the rules but also not in favour of your own safety, at this crucial moment in Mumbai’s fight against #COVID19

— Mumbai Police (@MumbaiPolice) August 18, 2020

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.