The latest bulletin of the Andhra Pradesh government said 9,067 patients got cured and discharged from hospitals across the state while 88 more succumbed to the pandemic. (Express Photo: Amit Mehra)

Coronavirus India Updates: With a record over 10.5 lakh Covid-19 tests in a day, the total number of such tests performed in the country has crossed 4.14 crore, the Union health ministry said Sunday. The exponential jump in the testing capacity and the number of tests has resulted in a hike in the Tests Per Million to 30,044, it highlighted.

India detected a record 78,761 cases of the novel coronavirus in the 24 hours ending 9 am on Sunday, taking the country’s tally beyond 35 lakh. Of the 35,42,734 cases of Covid-19 in India, 7,65,302 patients are under treatment, 27,13,934 have recovered and 63,498 have died, the Union Health Ministry said. India’s recovery rate is 76.61 per cent, while its fatality rate has declined to 1.79 per cent.

India is now adding the highest number of Covid-19 cases to the global tally, which crossed 25 million on Sunday. India’s 78,761 cases Saturday was the highest-ever single day increase, exceeding the United States’ record in mid-July of 77,299 cases. The country, however, still has less cases than the US and Brazil, which are the worst-hit countries in the world.

On the day India reported the highest single-day increase in cases, the Centre Saturday issued Unlock 4 guidelines under which it said states could no longer impose lockdowns outside containment zones without its permission, and must not seal borders. Apart from this, metro trains, suspended since March 22, are expected to resume from September 7 in a graded manner, while public congregations of up to 100 people will be permitted from September 21. Schools and colleges will remain closed till the end of September, but 50 per cent of their teachers may be called in to facilitate online teaching.

Several states, like Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Delhi, Odisha and Telangana, are seeing a simultaneous surge in Covid-19 cases. One of the reasons for this is the increase in testing. (Explained: Why there’s a surge in Covid-19 cases across many states)

Here are the top Covid-19 developments across India:

Chhattisgarh CM to be in isolation as two staff test coronavirus positive

Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel Sunday said he will isolate himself for the next four days after two of his staffers, including a personal security officer, have tested positive for coronavirus. Baghel said his test report came negative.

“My OSD (Officer on Special Duty) and PSO (Personal Security Officer) have found corona positive. My (test) report is negative at the moment, but I will be in isolation for the next four days as a precautionary measure. This is a period of crisis, everyone please be careful,” the CM tweeted in Hindi.

Maharashtra cases rising due to aggressive tracking, testing, says Minister

Maharashtra Health Minister Rajesh Tope Sunday said that the rise in the number of COVID-19 cases in the state over past one month was due to the government’s aggressive approach of “tracking, tracing, testing and treatment”. Talking to PTI, Tope said the state government is focusing on preparedness and creating awareness about the contagious disease.

“We are aggressively focussing on four Ts- tracking, tracing, testing and treatment. There are 400 labs for COVID-19 testing and more than 50,000 tests are done daily in the state. The antigen test and RT-PCR tests are being done to the optimum capacity,” Tope said.

10 Gujarat ATS personnel test coronavirus positive

A total of 10 Gujarat ATS personnel, who were involved in an investigation into an alleged attempt to kill BJP leaders, have so far tested Covid-19 positive, an official said Sunday. The state Anti-Terrorist Squad (ATS) on August 19 arrested Irfan Shaikh in Ahmedabad, following a tip-off that he was sent by Chhota Shakeel to kill BJP leaders. On August 20, Shaikh tested positive for coronavirus. Later, the ATS personnel who came in contact with him were tested.

PM Modi lauds people for ‘restraint’ during festivals

Prime Minister Narendra Modi Sunday acknowledged that people have shown restraint in celebrating festivals during the Covid-19 pandemic, and lauded the sense of discipline. During his monthly ‘Mann Ki Baat’ episode, PM Modi said, “This is a time for festivals but at the same time, there is also a sense of discipline among people due to the Covid-19 situation… There is a close link between nature and our festivals,” reported PTI.

In another push towards aatmnirbhar bharat (self-reliance), PM Modi urged startups to work towards making India a toy hub for the entire world. We need to be “vocal about local toys”, he said. He also suggested developing computer games in and about India.

A health worker helps another to wear personnel protection equipment before taking nasal swab samples to test for Covid-19 during a door-to-door test in Kusumpur village, on the outskirts of Guwahati, Assam. (AP Photo)

Haryana withdraws order imposing lockdown on Mondays, Tuesdays

Haryana has withdrawn its August 28 order imposing a lockdown on Mondays and Tuesdays. The announcement comes a day after the Centre released Unlock 4.0 guidelines, under which states cannot impose lockdowns without permission from the government. Taking to Twitter, Anil Vij, who holds both the Home and Health portfolios, said, “There will be no lockdown in Haryana.”

On August 28, Vij had told The Indian Express the lockdown on Mondays and Tuesdays was necessary to “break the chain of ongoing surge in new cases of Coronavirus infections across the State”.

Haryana witnessed its biggest single-day surge of cases on Saturday, adding another 1,391 cases and nine deaths. The state’s total Covid-19 tally now stands at 61,987 cases and 670 deaths.

State (Top 10)	Total positive	New cases	Total recoveries	Deaths
Maharashtra	764,281	16,286	554,711	24,439
Tamil Nadu	415,590	6,352	355,727	7,137
Andhra Pradesh	414,164	10,548	312,687	3,796
Karnataka	327,076	8,324	235,128	5,502
Uttar Pradesh	219,457	5,633	162,741	3,356
Delhi	171,366	1,954	152,922	4,404
West Bengal	156,766	3,012	127,644	3,126
Bihar	132,935	2,087	115,074	679
Telangana	123,090	2,924	90,988	818
Assam	103,794	2,426	82,510	289

Odisha is 11th state to report over one lakh Covid-19 cases

Odisha has become the 11th state in India to record over one lakh Covid-19 cases. The state detected 3,014 infections on Saturday — the first time it crossed the 3,000 mark — taking its tally to 1,00,934. With 12 additional deaths, Odisha’s toll rose to 482. In the last one week, the state has added more than 22,000 new infections.

Before Odisha, Assam on Friday had crossed the one lakh mark.

Express Exclusive: Odisha’s Ganjam rides out Covid curve with contact tracing, testing