Covid warriors attending patients at the entry point of Covid-19 Jumbo hospital at COEP grounds during a pandemic on Wednesday. Express photography by Arul Horizon.Coronavirus India News Live Updates: With over 80,000 cases and more than 1,000 deaths for yet another day, the Covid-19 tally in India on Friday rose to 3,936,747 with 68,472 fatalities, latest data by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare showed.
After registering a low student turnout on the first day, the JEE (Main), which is underway, witnessed better attendance on Wednesday and Thursday. According to data released by the National Testing Agency, 81.08 per cent of the registered candidates appeared for the entrance test on Day 2 and 82.14 per cent on Wednesday.
Among other updates, bars in Delhi’s restaurants, hotels and clubs will be allowed to open from September 9, after five months, with strict regulations in place, including 50 per cent seating and no provision for standing customers. In Maharashtra, the Education department has extended the deadline for admission under the Right to Education quota to September 15, asking parents to come forward and confirm admissions.
Travelling in Delhi metro will require passengers to keep alternate seats vacant.
The Supreme Court is scheduled to consider Friday a review plea by six opposition-ruled states against its August 17 order allowing the conduct of NEET (UG) and JEE (Mains) entrance examinations physically amidst Covid-19 pandemic. While rejecting the plea for further postponement of exams, the apex court had earlier said that “life cannot be stopped” and the “career of students cannot be put in jeopardy”. Six ministers from Maharashtra, Punjab, West Bengal, Jharkhand, Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh had moved the apex court saying that if the order is not reviewed, “grave and irreparable harm and injury would befall on the student community”.
Maharashtra minister Sunil Kedar, a Congress leader, tested positive for the virus and is admitted to a private hospital here, his party said on Friday. "He was admitted to the hospital on Thursday evening after his Covid-19 test came positive," Atul Londhe, state Congress spokesperson, told PTI. Kedar ((59) is the cabinet minister for animal husbandary, dairy development and youth welfare & sports.
The Thane Municipal Corporation (TMC), which allowed malls to reopen from Wednesday, has decided to conduct antigen tests on all persons, including customers, entering such establishments. “Each mall in Thane will be provided antigen testing kits by the TMC and a team will be present to test the customers as well as the staff of the mall,” Sandeep Malvi, TMC deputy commissioner, said Thursday. While malls were allowed to reopen across the state by the government from August 5, the Thane civic body had continued to keep their shutters down in view of the increasing coronavirus cases in the area. In its latest notification, the TMC finally allowed malls to reopen from September 2.
In a sign of discord between the ruling Shiv Sena and the NCP, Sena leader Sanjay Raut on Thursday said that Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray was not in favour of lifting the lockdown in Pune in a hurried manner and indirectly blamed the Sharad Pawar-led party for the rise in Covid-19 cases in the city. “Uddhav saheb has maintained from the beginning that more attention needs to be given to Pune. The lockdown was lifted in a hurried manner and the chief minister had opposed it. But now Pune is following the Mumbai pattern (in tackling Covid-19 cases),” Raut told mediapersons.
After remaining unaffected for over five months during the pandemic, Lavasa Hill City has reported the first cases of Covid-19, with two management staffers testing positive for the novel coronavirus. The management, however, said the two employees who tested positive for Covid-19 earlier this week are based in Pune, and although they had been staying in Lavasa from August 3, they used to visit Pune during the weekends. The infected employees are being treated in Pune.
NCP chief Sharad Pawar on Thursday visited the headquarters of Pimpri-Chichwad Municipal Corporation (PCMC) to take stock of how the civic body was handling the Covid-19 pandemic. NCP leaders said it was Pawar’s first visit to PCMC headquarters in 18 years. During his over one-hour stay at the PCMC headquarters, Pawar closely watched the functioning of the Covid war room, praised the system in place, made a few suggestions and promised all help from the state government in tackling the situation. Mayor Usha Dhore, Municipal Commissioner Shravan Hardikar, BJP House leader Namdev Dhake, corporators from BJP, NCP and Shiv Sena, as well as civic officials were also present during the interaction.
Forty-five auto thermal scanners, 195 hand sanitisation machines, 750 body temperature guns, 35,000 disposable masks and 1,625 PPE kits for emergency medical situations — across 285 stations spread across Delhi and NCR. Less than a week to go for the resumption of Metro services, the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) has started equipping stations with all devices and equipment that will greet commuters returning to the capital’s signature public transit from September 7. On Thursday, the DMRC unlocked the Rajiv Chowk interchange station for a demonstration of the ‘new normal’, where pre-recorded voices will advise commuters to “mind the gap” not just between the train coaches and platforms, but also among themselves. The sheer enormity of the challenge to ensure social distancing in a network that registers a footfall of over 30 lakh daily is not lost on the DMRC management, which maintains that more than bringing people back to the Metro, its focus will be on ensuring safe travel for every individual.
Five months after it made wearing a face mask in public places mandatory for citizens to control the spread of coronavirus disease, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) said Thursday it has collected Rs 27.48 lakh in fines from 2,798 defaulters between April 9 and August 31. Additionally, the civic body has also issued warnings to 9,954 citizens. Wearing a face mask in a public place was made mandatory in the city in the first week of April. A defaulter can be fined up to Rs 1,000 for violating the order.
With over 80,000 cases and more than 1,000 deaths for yet another day, the Covid-19 tally in India on Friday rose to 3,936,747 with 68.472 fatalities, latest data by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare showed.
Two dhabas in Haryana’s Murthal were sealed on Thursday after their 75 workers tested positive for Covid-19, a senior official said. According to Sonipat Deputy Commissioner Shyam Lal Poonia, majority 65 workers tested positive at the Amrik-Sukhdev dhaba. Ten workers belonged to the other dhaba, he told PTI over the phone. Both dhabas are located in Sonipat’s Murthal and nearly 50 km away from Delhi.
Rajasthan BJP state president Satish Poonia has also tested positive for Covid-19. He is asymptomatic and under home-isolation, as advised by doctors.
Mohalla Clinics in Delhi will soon be turned into Covid-19 testing centres between 2 pm and 6 pm each day, Delhi Health Minister Satyendar Jain told The Indian Express Thursday. The decision has been made to meet the target of conducting 40,000 tests per day, which was set by Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal as cases in the city have started increasing again after a dip for around three weeks. Presently, 452 mohalla clinics are operational in the city and around 20 are lying shut. The primary health centres, which have been one of the most ambitious projects of the Aam Aadmi Party, saw 37,05,904 people coming in for consultations between April and July this year. The clinics will work in shifts and will test people between 2 pm-6 pm. The working hours of the clinics are 8 am-2 pm.
In a clear sign that MGNREGA has emerged as a safety net for lakhs amid the economic distress triggered by Covid-19, over 83 lakh new households have been issued job cards under the scheme during the first five months of the current financial year. Signficantly, this number — from April 1 to September 3— is higher than the annual surge for the last seven years for which data is available on the NREGA portal. This is a jump of 28.32 per cent from the 64.70 lakh new job cards issued in the entire 2019-20 year. This sharp increase in new job cards comes at a time when a large number of migrants have returned to their villages in the wake of Covid.
Telangana has reported 18 per cent coronavirus positivity rate among health workers—the highest in the country. Maharashtra has the second highest rate at 16 per cent. On Thursday, the Centre pulled up states with a high positivity rate of Covid-19 among health workers—such as doctors, nurses, staffers and hospital cleaners—and asked them to evaluate the situation. The other states and Union Territories with a high Covid-19 positivity rate are Delhi (14 per cent), Karnataka (13 per cent), Puducherry (12 per cent) and Punjab (11 per cent). “We have drawn the attention of these states through the Ministry of Home Affairs. The issue highlights hospital infection practises. After all, we must raise the question how healthcare workers are getting infected. Is it the hospital, because that could be one reason, and if standard protection control is being followed or not,” Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan, said Thursday.
Jammu and Kashmir recorded its highest single-day spike of 1,079 coronavirus cases on Thursday taking the infection tally to 39,943, while the death toll due to the disease rose to 743 with 11 fatalities, officials said. "There were 1,079 new cases of coronavirus in the past 24 hours. This is for the first time that the number of fresh cases has crossed 1,000 in a 24-hour period," an official said.
Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan said on Thursday the situation in the state was "not good", as 1,553 new COVID-19 cases and 10 fatalities were reported taking the infection count to 79,624 and death toll to 315. The number of active cases is 21,516. "The situation in the state is not good.There is a slip in the number of people getting infected with the virus in the last two days.It is due to the less number of tests carried out during the Onam festival holidays," he told reporters. The chief minister said the cases may increase in wake of the active functioning of markets and other public places during the Onam holidays.
Hotels, restaurants and clubs in the national capital have been permitted to serve liquor from September 9 on trial basis.
*India Thursday recorded over 83,000 fresh cases, the highest single-day rise in cases so far.
*Country's tally stood at 3,853,406 and toll rose to 67,376
*62% of total active cases reported from AP, Delhi, TN and Maharashtra
*India's daily COVID-19 testing numbers one of the highest in the world, says Health Ministry.
*Haryana government issues guidelines for film shootings in state.
WORLDWIDE
*Globally, over 25.88 million people infected and 857,881 have died
*UK may reimpose quarantine on travelers from Portugal
*China offers coronavirus vaccine candidates to aviation industry workers
*Brazil’s COVID-19 death toll appears to be easing for the first time since May
*Mexico leads in health worker deaths from COVID, says report
Himachal Jal Shakti Minister Mahender Singh Thakur said he has tested positive for COVID-19 on Thursday, four days ahead of the monsoon session of the assembly. Singh, 70, in a Facebook post urged people who came in his contact recently to quarantine themselves and get tested for the dreaded disease. The legislator from Mandi's Dharampur assembly segment said he had got himself tested after observing primary symptoms. The seven-time MLA expressed hope that he would be cured soon. The Himachal Pradesh Assembly will have a 12-day session from September 7
As metro services will resume across the country, except Maharashtra, in a graded manner between September 7 and 12, officials at Rajiv Chowk Metro station in New Delhi make necessary changes for the resumption of services. take a look. Express Photo by Tashi Tobgyal.