At least five States in the country registered record single-day spike in COVID-19 cases on Sunday, as India neared the 42 lakh mark with 84,701 fresh cases and 959 fatalities.
Metro services are set to re-start in a graded manner across States, except in Maharashtra as the State government decided against it, from Monday morning, after the Ministry of Home Affairs on August 28 gave the go-ahead and the MoHUA announced a standard operating procedure for the same on September 2.
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:
Bengaluru Metro resumes services after a gap of over 150 days
After a gap of over 150 days, the Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation Limited (BMRCL) resumed Namma Metro services on Monday. However, during the peak commuting morning hours, trains were almost empty. BMRCL is running services only on the purple line from Baiyappanahalli to Mysuru Road station.
Staff of the Metro undertook thermal screening of the passengers before allowing them inside the stations. Applying hand sanitisers before entering the station has been made compulsory. As per the standard operating procedure (SoP), only smart card holders were allowed to travel in the Metro.
Public parks in Tiruchi to reopen shortly
The government decision to allow the reopening of public parks and open-air gyms has brought cheer to morning walkers, children and regular visitors.
Since the imposition of a nationwide lockdown in view of COVID-19 pandemic on March 24, parks situated in different parts of Tiruchi were closed along with other public utilities.
With the State government easing lockdown restrictions, Tiruchi Corporation has started opening the parks and open air gyms gradually. It has decided to open all of them by Friday.
Akhilesh attacks Centre over India ranking second in COVID cases globally
Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav on Monday attacked the Centre over India ranking second globally in terms of COVID-19 cases.
India’s COVID tally surpassed Brazil's to become the second most highest in the world.
“BJP government’s claims have been exposed with India becoming number 2 in the world in corona cases. The government took public data from the Arogya Setu but it failed to control spread of coronavirus. The truth of the BJP’s event management drama of ‘thali, tali’ and lighting diyas is also in front of the public,” Mr. Yadav tweeted in Hindi.
- PTI
Chaos ahead of Maharashtra monsoon Session over COVID-19 test reports
Chaotic scenes were witnessed in the Maharashtra Vidhan Bhavan premises before the commencement of the monsoon Session of the State legislature as several MLAs were not allowed inside since their coronavirus test reports were not available.
The two-day Session of the State legislature began under the shadow of COVID-19.
Former Speaker Haribhau Bagade and other legislators, who were not able to enter the Vidhan Bhavan, complained to State Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar when he arrived there. Mr. Pawar asked legislature secretary Rajendra Bhagwat to ensure that all legislators whose test reports are negative be allowed inside at the earliest.
- PTI
Won’t be able to attend CIC meets till December: Kulkarni to MCA
Former India pacer Raju Kulkarni, a member of the Mumbai Cricket Association’s Cricket Improvement Committee (CIC), has informed the State body (MCA) that he won’t be able attend any meetings till December owing to doctor’s advise.
MCA had formed the new CIC recently, which has Mr. Kulkarni and Sameer Dighe as members. The committee is headed by former India player-cum-coach Lalchand Rajput. “This is to inform you that I have been medically advised by my Physician to confine myself at home till December 2020 during this unprecedented times of COVID-19 since I had a episode in 2018. Therefore I am unable to attend any CIC meeting till December 2020,” Mr. Kulkarni wote in an email to MCA.
“I would request MCA not to hesitate to take a appropriate decision incase you want to replace me in the CIC. Please note that I have not given any consent nor will be responsible for the decisions taken by the CIC in my absence,” he added.
When contacted, a senior MCA official said that top office bearers will speak to Mr. Kulkarni on this issue and take a call.
The CIC, which is responsible to select coaches and selectors, is expected to meet this week.
- PTI
Undertrial prisoner dies of COVID-19 in U.P.’s Banda
An undertrial prisoner died in the Banda district jail due to COVID-19, jail authorities said.
Gulbandan, 57, was found positive for the disease on September 1 and he died during treatment on Sunday, Jail Superintendent R.K. Singh said.
The Banda District Jail at present has 956 prisoners against its capacity of 656.
Mr. Singh said two barracks of the jail have been converted into isolation wards where COVID-19 infected prisoners are being isolated. According to Chief Medical Officer Dr. N.D. Sharma, 95 prisoners and jail officials in the district jail are currently infected with the virus.
- PTI
Puducherry records 11 deaths
Puducherry recorded 11 COVID-19 deaths on Monday taking the toll to 325 while new admissions fell to 292 against 503 patients discharged in the last 24 hours.
Puducherry accounted for all the deaths. The patients belonged to the 40 to 87 age range. The case fatality stood at 1.88%.
The current tally is 325 deaths, 4,856 active cases, a cumulative total of 17,316 and 12,135 patients discharged.
- Dinesh Varma
India’s Australia cricket series likely to begin in east coast after Western Australia denies quarantine relaxation
Indian cricket team’s much-anticipated tour of Australia will begin either in Adelaide or Brisbane instead of favoured Perth after Western Australia state government made it clear that there won’t be any relaxation in quarantine guidelines in their territory.
According to a report in ESPNCricinfo, the Adelaide Oval is prepared to host back-to-back Tests in case the iconic MCG is not available because of rising coronavirus cases in the state of Victoria.
Also the Indian and Australian players will be coming directly from the UAE after IPL where there is a second wave of COVID-19 cases.
- PTI
Chennai Metro resumes services after nearly six months
Chennai Metro resumes after shutting down operations due to the pandemic for nearly five months. Seen in the photo is the first train that departed from Chennai airport on September 7, 2020. | Photo Credit: B. Velankanni Raj
After a gap of almost six months due to COVID-19-induced lockdown, Chennai Metro Rail on Monday resumed services on the stretch between Washermanpet and Chennai airport, with the first train leaving Chennai airport at 7 a.m.
The stations and trains wore a deserted look and there were hardly any passengers in the first few rides. After two days, the other stretch linking Chennai Central and St. Thomas Mount will be thrown open for operations.
India surpasses Brazil's case tally to become second highest in the world
India's COVID-19 case tally became the second highest in the world after surpassing Brazil's on Saturday. Cumulative cases in the country stands at 42,04,734. The case tally of U.S. remains the highest.
The number of deaths in India stood at 71,724.
Madurai SSI dies after testing positive for COVID-19
A Special Sub Inspector of Police, P. Malarsami, 56, attached to Special Intelligence Cell of Madurai City Police, who had tested positive for COVID-19, died in the early hours of Monday.
According to the police, the SSI was on medical leave since August 15. He tested positive on August 25.
Mr Malarsami was admitted to the COVID-19 ward at the Government Rajaji Hospital where he succumbed at around 3:45 a.m. on Monday.
He is the second police personnel in Madurai City to have lost life after contracting COVID-19.
- Sundar Subbiah
Record 90,802 people infected in a day
India’s COVID-19 tally of cases went past 42 lakh with a record 90,802 people being infected in a day, while 32,50,429 people have recuperated so far, pushing the national recovery rate to 77.30% on Monday, according to the Union Health Ministry data.
The total number of coronavirus cases mounted to 42,04,613, while the death toll climbed to 71,642 with 1,016 fatalities being reported in a span of 24 hours, the data updated at 8 a.m. showed.
The COVID-19 case fatality rate has further declined to 1.70%.
- PTI
Kejriwal warns against showing negligence on Delhi Metro trains
Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal expressed happiness over the restarting of Metro train services in the city, saying there should be no negligence in following precautions against COVID-19.
“I am happy Metro(services) starts today. Metro has made good arrangements. We also should not be negligent in following the precautions,” Mr. Kejriwal tweeted in Hindi.
- PTI
Delhi Metro resumes services with strict safety measures after 169-day COVID hiatus
The Delhi Metro resumed services with curtailed operation of the Yellow Line on Monday after being closed for over five months due to the COVID-19 pandemic, as both the DMRC and the commuters trod with caution amid the new normal in the rapid transport system.
The services resumed at 7 a.m. with strict safety and social distancing measures in place. The first trains left from Samaypur Badli station to HUDA City Centre station and simultaneously from HUDA City Centre to Samaypur Badli, a senior official of DMRC said.
Norms violated across Tamil Nadu on lockdown-free Sunday
Basic COVID-19 safety protocols, like maintaining adequate physical distance and wearing masks properly, were compromised in many places across Tamil Nadu, particularly in Chennai, during the first lockdown-free Sunday following the unveiling of ‘Unlock 4.0’.
Crowds thronged public places, including open markets, playgrounds and Marina Beach (though officially, the beach is closed to visitors), with people moving about shoulder-to-shoulder in some areas.
Situation turns the corner in rural areas in Chittoor
After a brief respite from COVID from mid of August till month-end, cases are on the rise once again in urban areas of Chittoor district, while the rural side is heaving a sigh of relief with many mandals registering single-digit cases.
The tally crossed the 45,000-mark in Chittoor by Sunday night, with Tirupati municipal corporation being a major contributor with about 20,000 cases, followed by Srikalahasti and Chittoor civic bodies with over 3,000 cases each.
UNICEF to lead global procurement, supply of COVID vaccines
In what could possibly be the world’s largest and fastest ever operation of its kind, the UNICEF will be leading the procurement and supply of coronavirus vaccines to ensure that all countries have safe, fast and equitable access to initial doses when they are available, it has said.
With several vaccine candidates showing promise, the UNICEF, in collaboration with the Revolving Fund of the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO), will lead efforts to procure and supply doses of COVID-19 vaccines on behalf of the COVAX Global Vaccines Facility for 92 low and lower middle-income countries, whose vaccine purchases will be supported by the mechanism.
The UNICEF will also serve as procurement coordinator to support purchases by 80 higher-income economies, which have expressed their intent to participate in the COVAX Facility and would finance the vaccines from their own budgets, it said.
Workers cleaning the railway station in Dindigul, Tamil Nadu, on September 7, 2020, as certain train services resumed after a hiatus owing to the COVID-19 lockdown. | Photo Credit: G. Karthikeyan
The Southern Railway had begun reservations for special trains on September 5. The trains will start running from September 7 as fully reserved services. Only passengers with confirmed tickets will be allowed into the stations. All other COVID-19 protocols prescribed by the Union Ministry of Home Affairs will be followed.
COVID-19 cases in Bengal cross 1.80 lakh, discharge rate crosses 85 %
West Bengal on Sunday recorded 3,087 COVID-19 cases, taking the infection tally in the State to 1,80,788. The State registered a death of 52 persons in the past 24 hours taking the total number of deaths due to COVID-19 to 3,562 . The discharge rate of the State further improved to 85.19%.
Of the 52 deaths, eight were recorded in Howrah, 10 in North 24 Parganas and 10 in Howrah district. The three districts have accounted to more than 70 % of all the deaths in the State. In terms of new COVID-19 infections in the past 24 hours Kolkata recorded 541 infections taking the total infections to 43,084. In terms of daily COVID-19 Infections North 24 Parganas recorded highest COVID-19 in West Bengal recording 590 infections in the past 24 hours taking the total infections in the district to 37,711. Kolkata , Howrah and North 24 Parganas have recorded more than 50 % of all infections in the State.
Similarity of common cold, COVID-19 symptoms leading to confusion
The fluctuating weather and intermittent rains in the State have resulted in the rise of seasonal viral illnesses including fevers, upper respiratory tract infections, vector-borne diseases such as dengue and water-borne diseases such as typhoid and gastrointestinal problems.
But, with the similarity of the symptoms of these diseases to COVID-19, people are becoming increasingly confused as to whether they have contracted a common cold and cough or COVID-19.
Since some prefer self-medication, assuming it to be a common viral illness, it is some cases leading to complications and resulting in late reporting of COVID-19. Sometimes, by then, doctors have very little time to manage patients.
Maharashtra records another single-day peak: 23,350 cases
Maharashtra touched another high in its single-day case surge, recording 23,350 fresh COVID-19 cases on Sunday to breach the nine lakh mark as the State’s total case tally soared to 9,07,212. As many as 328 more deaths pushed the fatality toll to 26,604.
Since Wednesday, the State has been hitting a new peak in case spike each day — posting more than 17,000 cases for the first time on September 2, crossing 18,000 the next day, recording more than 19,000 cases on September 4, and adding more than 20,000 cases on Saturday.
With Sunday’s figure, the number of active cases has risen to 2,35,857. In contrast, just 7,826 patients were discharged on Sunday to take the total recoveries till date to 6,44,400.
E-passes cause trouble for returning workers
Months after leaving Chennai, migrants are now returning to the city in flights, as their presence is crucial for the resumption of construction works.
Almost every other day, the Chennai airport has been receiving hundreds of migrant workers, returning from cities like Patna, Kolkata and Guwahati.
But many of them continue to struggle to get e-passes. A few days ago, several workers who landed at the Chennai airport had a tough time getting e-passes and were stranded inside the terminal.
COVID-19 patient flown to Chennai from Kolkata
A 58-year-old critically ill COVID-19 patient, who was on ventilator support, was airlifted from Kolkata to Chennai on Sunday by ICATT Kyathi Air Ambulance with a German-made isolation pod.
Rahul Singh Sardar, co-founder of ICATT Kyathi Air Ambulance, said this was most likely the first time a COVID-19 patient on ventilator support was airlifted in the country.
On landing in Chennai, the patient was taken in the pod to MGM Healthcare hospital and transferred to the bed. “From bed-to-bed, we used the isolation pod to eliminate the risk of COVID-19 contraction for the doctors and paramedics,” he said.
Green corridors were formed with the help of the police both in Kolkata and Chennai for swiftly transferring the patient to and from the airport respectively, the statement said.