Emphasising that while life is important, livelihood is equally vital, the Union Health Ministry on Thursday said India is undertaking the unlocking process, despite rise in COVID-19 cases, with adequate precautions, preparedness and awareness.
Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan said that five States — Andhra Pradesh, Delhi, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Maharashtra — currently account for 70% of total COVID deaths in the country. But only two States — Karnataka and Delhi — show an increase in daily deaths.
You can track coronavirus cases, deaths and testing rates at the national and State levels here. A list of State Helpline numbers is available as well.
Here are the latest updates:
After clearing third round of testing, all CSK players, except 13, to start training
Skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni and all other Chennai Super Kings players, except for the COVID-19 afflicted duo of Deepak Chahar and Ruturaj Gaikwad, will start training from Friday evening after clearing a third round of testing for the virus here.
The results are a major relief to the franchise, which was hit by 13 positive cases last week. The event is due to start on September 19 and will be played in Dubai, Sharjah and Abu Dhabi.
“The training starts from today. All others, apart from the 13, tested negative for the third time. Those who tested positive will only be tested after the isolation period (two weeks) is over,” CSK CEO KS Viswanathan told PTI.
One in 20 persons in Puducherry showed evidence of COVID-19 infection: sero study
A COVID-19 seroprevalence study undertaken by Jipmer has found that one in 20 persons in Puducherry district showed evidence of coronavirus infection by the end of July.
Of the total of 869 adults tested, 43 had antibody against novel coronavirus (4.9%). The positivity rate for antibody was higher in city (urban) population than in rural population (5.7% against 3.1%). It was higher among women than in men (6.3% in comparison to 3.6%).
The seroprevalence findings also show that the actual prevalence in the community was about 26 times higher in terms of the proportion of COVID-19 infection than detected by Real-Time PCR in Puducherry till July.
New Zealand retains safety measures until mid-September
New Zealand's Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern on Friday retained the restrictions put in place to beat the spread of the coronavirus until at least mid-September, as the country reported a new death related to the virus.
Auckland, the country's largest city and the centre of a fresh outbreak, will remain on alert level 2.5, which limits gatherings to no more than 10 people.
“The best economic response remains a strong health response. If we get it right we will ultimately shake off restrictions faster and lessen the risk of bouncing around,” Ms. Ardern told a news conference.
Maharashtra Minister tests positive, hospitalised
Maharashtra Minister Sunil Kedar, a Congress leader, has tested positive for COVID-19 and admitted to a private hospital here, his party said.
“He was admitted to the hospital on Thursday evening after his COVID-19 test came positive,” Atul Londhe, State Congress spokesperson, told PTI.
Mr. Kedar, 59, is the Cabinet Minister for Animal Husbandry, Dairy Development and Youth Welfare and Sports. He is the 6th Minister in the MVA government to test positive for the infection.
- PTI
Puducherry records highest number of deaths in single day
Puducherry recorded the highest number of COVID-19 deaths on a single day with 20 patients succumbing to coronavirus complications in 24 hours. The death toll went up to 280 while overall tally crossed the 16,000 mark.
While 17 deaths were in Puducherry, two were in Yanam and one in Karaikal. The patients, including eight women, were in the 46 to 81 age range. The case fatality rate also increased to 1.73%.
Puducherry also saw a high number of new cases with 591 admissions in the last 24 hours.
- Dinesh Varma
COVID-19 situation in western Maharashtra alarming: Uddhav
Stating that the daily rise in fresh COVID-19 cases in western Maharashtra is “alarming”, Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray on Thursday urged the district administrations to involve local self-help groups in the fight against the virus and ramp up contact tracing and door-to-door screening.
“The focus of the virus has now shifted from Mumbai and Thane to Kolhapur, Satara and Sangli. This will entail more responsibilities and vigilance on part of people. There is a need for the district administrations to create awareness among people by involving corona vigilance committees and local self-help groups,” Mr. Thackeray said, while urging the administrations of the three districts not to repeat the mistakes made by other districts in combating the contagion.
Blood clots caused by COVID-19 may lead to loss of limbs, says expert
Thrombosis, or blood clot, which can cause loss of limbs or failure of other organs, is increasingly being observed among COVID-19 patients, said S. Saravanan, vascular surgeon and director, Institute of Kidney Diseases, Urology and Organ Transplantation, Madras Medical Mission Hospital.
He said that while such COVID-19-induced thrombosis and the consequent loss of limbs were being widely reported in countries like the U.S., it had not received much attention in India so far.
Stressing the need for caution even if the patients remained asymptomatic and even after recovery, he said numbness, pain or inability to move the limbs must receive immediate medical attention.
Life in Delhi Metro in Unlock 4.0: here’s what will change
Occupying only alternate seats, mandatorily using smart cards instead of tokens, getting restricted access to enter and exit stations — these are just some of the changes that commuters have to adapt to once Delhi Metro opens its doors.
Services on the Delhi Metro is set to resume after over five months from September 7 in a graded manner with staggered timings. As a crowd control measure, each station across the network will have only one or a maximum of two entry and exit gates functional. On Monday, the Yellow Line (Samaypur Badli to Huda City Centre) and the Rapid Metro Gurugram will be made operational with the metro running between 7 a.m. to 11 a.m. and from 4 p.m. to 8 p.m.
South Korea restrictions keep new cases under 200
The number of new confirmed coronavirus cases in South Korea has stayed below 200 for the second consecutive day amid toughened social distancing rules.
The Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Friday it confirmed 198 additional cases in the latest 24-hour period, taking the country’s total to 20,842, with 331 deaths.
About 70% of the new cases were in the densely populated Seoul metropolitan area.
- AP
Noida govt. hospital claims over one lakh RT-PCR tests
The Government Institute of Medical Sciences in Gautam Buddh Nagar on Thursday claimed that it has performed over one lakh RT-PCR tests for COVID-19, the maximum by any facility in Uttar Pradesh.
The Greater Noida-located facility has also completed 100 procedures of plasma therapy since the service was launched here on May 9, GIMS Director Dr Brig Rakesh Gupta said.
Only half of JEE students wrote exam on Day 1; 80% attendance on Day 2 and 3
Just over half the students who had registered for the B.Arch and B.Planning papers on the first day of JEE-Main turned up to write the examination on Tuesday. The second and third day of the examination, which were for B.E and B.Tech admissions, saw 80% attendance.
The Hindu had reported that many students who had registered for both architecture and engineering exams chose to skip the B.Arch and B.Planning papers this year, and focus on B.E and B.Tech in the light of COVID-19 risk, leading to 54% attendance on Day 1.
Overall, attendance has been lower this year due to fear of infection and difficulties in transportation due to the pandemic and local lockdowns, which forced a number of registered candidates to miss the examination.
India’s COVID-19 tally goes past 39 lakh; no. of recoveries crosses 30-lakh mark
India’s COVID-19 tally went past 39 lakh on Friday with 83,341 fresh cases reported in a span of 24 hours, while the number of recoveries crossed the 30-lakh mark, pushing the recovery rate of coronavirus patients in the country to 77.15%, according to the Union Health Ministry.
The total number of COVID-19 cases mounted to 39,36,747, while the death toll due to the disease climbed to 68,472 with 1,096 people succumbing to it in a day, the Ministry’s data updated at 8 a.m. showed.
200 vials of vaccine arrive in Chennai for trials
Oxford University’s COVID-19 vaccine, Covishield, has arrived in Chennai for clinical trials. Health officials said they had received 200 vials of the vaccine for trials that will involve two institutions and 300 volunteers.
Clinical trials of the vaccine will be taken up at the Rajiv Gandhi Government General Hospital and the Sri Ramachandra Institute of Higher Education and Research.
Six new fatalities in Jharkhand
Jharkhand’s COVID-19 caseload rose to 46,480 on Friday as 1,618 more people tested positive for the infection, while six fresh fatalities pushed the State’s coronavirus death toll to 444, a health official said.
The fresh infections have taken the number of active COVID-19 cases in the State to 15,150, while 30,886 people have been cured of the disease so far, he said.
- PTI
Over 2,700 Mumbaikars fined for not wearing masks
Over 2,700 people have been fined by the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation in the last five months for stepping out in public without wearing masks amid the COVID-19 pandemic, an official said on Friday.
As per the Union government’s guidelines following the viral outbreak, the civic body made masks mandatory in public places since April 9.
The civic body in Mumbai has collected a total of ₹27.48 lakh in fines from 2,798 citizens between April 9 and August 31, the official said.
- PTI
TS healthcare workers have highest positivity rate in India
The positivity rate among healthcare professionals in Telangana is 18%. As per the statistics announced by Union Health Ministry officials at a press conference held on Thursday, the positivity rate (percentage of people tested who are positive) of 18% is the highest when compared to other States. Healthcare professionals include doctors, nurses, para-medical staff, lab technicians, and patient care providers.
Around 80,000 to one lakh healthcare professionals in Telangana are involved in COVID-19 management for the past six months. Last week, senior officials of the State Health department said that around 2,000 healthcare workers contracted the infectious disease, and at least 14 had died.
Members named to panel probing WHO’s pandemic response
An independent panel appointed by the World Health Organisation to review its coordination of the response to the COVID-19 pandemic will have full access to any internal UN agency documents, materials and emails necessary, the panel said Thursday as it begins the probe.
The panel’s co-chairs, former Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf and former New Zealand Prime Minister Helen Clark, announced the 11 other members during a media briefing. They include Dr. Joanne Liu, who was an outspoken WHO critic while leading Medecins Sans Frontieres during the 2014-2016 Ebola outbreak in West Africa.
Also named to the panel are: Dr Zhong Nanshan, a renowned Chinese doctor who was the first to publicly confirm human-to-human transmission of the coronavirus; Mark Dybul, who led the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria; and David Miliband, a former British foreign secretary who is CEO of the International Rescue Committee.
- PTI
No respite from surge in positive cases in A.P.
The State reported 75 new deaths and 10,199 new infections during the past 24 hours as of Thursday morning. For the ninth day in a row, the State witnessed over 10,000 new infections, and so far over 94,000 cases were reported in the past nine days. During the same period, an average of 60,991 samples per day were tested.
The overall tally has gone up to 4,65,730 and the death toll to 4,200. As many as 9,499 patients recovered leaving 1,03,701 patients active. The recovery rate stands at 76.83% with a total of 3,57,829 recoveries so far.
Robert Pattinson tests positive for COVID-19, says media reports
British actor Robert Pattinson has tested positive for COVID-19, news media reported on Thursday, halting production of “The Batman” and highlighting the industry's struggles to get back to business after months of a pandemic-induced shutdown.
Movie studio Warner Bros. said in a statement that “a member of The Batman production” in Britain had tested positive for the coronavirus, but did not give a name. “Filming is temporarily paused,” the studio's statement added, but did not say for how long.
Variety, the Hollywood Reporter and Vanity Fair all cited sources as saying the person who tested positive was Pattinson, the film's star.
Subject Class X private candidates with mental, physical disabilities to COVID-19 tests, says HC
The Madras High Court on Thursday directed the School Education Department to ensure that all those with physical or mental disabilities wanting to write the Class X examinations from September 21 as private candidates, as well as their scribes, are subjected to COVID-19 tests at least two days before the exams.
Justices M.M. Sundresh and R. Hemalatha also directed government officials to explore the possibility of letting the candidates and the scribes interact with each other through mobile phones or by maintaining a safe physical distance.