Coronavirus live updates: Maharashtra, Andhra, Karnataka told to focus on aggressive measures to check mortality rate, virus spread

Kerala recorded 2,655 new Covid-19 cases & 11 deaths in the last 24 hours, taking active cases to 4,459: CM Pinarayi Vijayan

Highest spike of 6,692 new Covid-19 cases in Uttar Pradesh, tally 2,59,765, active cases 59,963; toll rises to 3,843 with 81 more deaths: Health bulletin

Maharashtra, Andhra, Karnataka told to focus on aggressive measures to check mortality rate, Covid-19 spread

The Centre on Saturday exhorted Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka, accounting for about 46 per cent of active Covid-19 cases and 52 per cent of deaths in the last 24 hours, to focus on aggressive measures to break the chain of transmission and keep mortality rate below 1 per cent. The states have been advised to proactively ensure higher testing, effective clinical management along with efficient monitoring at various levels to lower fatality, the Union Health Ministry said.

Read: 'On-demand' Covid-19 testing for all individuals, no delays in emergency procedure due to lack of testing: Health Ministry

Karnataka to soon reach goal of 1 lakh tests per day: Minister

Karnataka will soon reach its goal of conducting one lakh COVID-19 tests per day as it has increased the number of labs and the tests done, medical education minister K Sudhakar said on Saturday. "From one testing lab for COVID-19 test, we have opened 108 labs in six months. From 300 tests per day, we have increased it to 75,000. This will soon reach the goal of one lakh tests per day," Sudhakar was quoted as saying in a release by his office.

With 6,692 people testing positive, UP registers largest single-day spike

Punjab CM Amarinder Singh tests negative for Covid-19

Suspended since March, DGCA orders resumption of pre-flight breath analyser tests for pilots & cabin crew

Antigen tests will be increased in the containment areas of Pune. Sero survey on large scale will be conducted, in order to identify people with antibodies: Javadekar

Fines of Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 for not wearing a mask and spitting in public, respectively, to be implemented strictly: Union minister Prakash Javadekar

Southern Railway will operate 13 intra-state special trains in Tamil Nadu from September 7 (IANS)

Rajasthan on Saturday reported eight deaths due to Covid-19 and 718 fresh cases of infection, taking the total number of fatalities and positive cases in the state to 1,116 and 88,515 respectively.

Will monitor special trains; wherever there is demand for a train or waiting list is long, will run a clone train: Rail Board chairman

The 80 new special trains (40 pairs) will be in addition to 230 trains in operation: Rail Board chairman

Read: 80 new passenger trains will start 12 September and reservation will start from September 10

Tripura reports record 691 new cases, seven more deaths

Tripura registered its highest single-day spike of 691 Covid-19 cases on Saturday, which pushed the tally in the northeastern state to 14,527, a health department official said. The death toll rose to 136 after seven more people succumbed to the infection, he said. West Tripura district, of which state capital Agartala is a part, accounted for 76 of the 136 COVID-19 deaths.