Coronavirus Live: COVID-19 Cases In India Cross 43.7 Lakh-Mark

Rajasthan recorded seven more fatalities due to the novel coronavirus on Wednesday, taking the number of deaths in the state to 1,171, according to a health department bulletin.

The state also reported 728 new cases taking the total number of infected people to 94,854.

As per the bulletin, 76,624 people have been discharged after treatment till now

In Jaipur, the death toll from the coronavirus infection is 292 followed by 113 in Jodhpur, 85 in Bikaner, 83 in Kota, 79 in Ajmer and 73 in Bharatpur, 47 in Pali, 44 in Nagaur, 31 in Udaipur, 30 in Alwar, 23 in Barmer and 22 in Dholpur.

Five women and as many men succumbed to COVID-19 in Puducherry on Wednesday while 341 more people contracted the virus, pushing the tally of infections to 18,084.

A release from Director of Health and Family Welfare S Mohan Kumar said 341 new cases were reported at the end of testing of 2,560.

The Director said nine out of the total deaths on Wednesday occurred in Puducherry and remaining one was reported from Karaikal region.

Of the total 18,084 cases, 4,770 were active while 12,967 patients recovered and discharged so far.

Arunachal Pradesh reported its highest single-day spike in COVID-19 cases on Wednesday as 221 more people, including 59 security personnel, tested positive for the infection, a health official said.

One more fatality has taken the northeastern state's coronavirus death toll to nine, he said.

The fresh infections have pushed Arunachal Pradesh's caseload to 5,402, State Surveillance Officer, Dr L Jampa, said.

Papumpare district reported the highest number of new cases at 66, followed by the Capital Complex region (60), East Siang (21) and West Siang (14), he said.

Trains started running on the Blue and Pink Lines with limited operations on Wednesday. Blue and Pink Lines were closed for nearly six months due to the coronavirus-forced lockdown. The Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) this morning tweeted: "The Blue and Pink lines resumed services today. Slowly and steadily, Delhi Metro will be back to take you places! #MetroBackOnTrack". The Delhi Metro Blue Line includes 50 stations from Dwarka Sector 21 to Noida Electronic City, (Line 3), and a branch line consisting of eight  stations from Vaishali to Yamuna Bank, (Line 4). The Pink Line has 38 metro stations from Majlis Park to Shiv Vihar, both in North Delhi. Read more

Telangana continued to witness a surge in coronavirus caseload with 2,479 fresh infections and 10 more deaths, taking the aggregate in the state to 1.47 lakh.

Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) accounted for the most number of cases with 322, followed by Rangareddy 188, Medchal Malkajgiri 183 and Warangal Urban 124 districts, a government bulletin said on Wednesday, providing data as of 8 PM on September 9.

The toll rises to 916 in the state with 10 related fatalities.

As many as 2,579 new COVID-19 cases were reported in Assam on Tuesday, taking the total number of cases to 1,30,823 in the state.

The total number of cases includes 99,073 recoveries, 378 deaths, and 31,369 active cases, State Health Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said.

India's COVID-19 count went to 42,80,423 after the report of 75,809 new cases. 

Delhi Metro's Blue Line and Pink Line resumed services with curtailed operation timings on Wednesday after being closed for 171 days due to the COVID-19 pandemic, officials said.

Trains are to operate in batches of four-hour each from 7-11 AM in the morning and 4-8 PM in the evening in the first stage.

"The Blue and Pink lines resumed services today. Slowly and steadily, Delhi Metro will be back to take you places! #MetroBackOnTrack," the DMRC tweeted.

On Monday, the Delhi Metro had resumed services with curtailed operation of the Yellow Line, since the closure of the urban transporter on March 22.

India has received Russia's request for conducting phase 3 human trials and manufacturing the Sputnik V coronavirus vaccine, the government said today. It said India is working to facilitate Russia's request.

"The government of Russia reached out to the government of India through appropriate channels and sought help on two fronts. One was to consider the manufacturing of the vaccine through a network of companies that are well-known for vaccine manufacturing and of size, volume and quality that is among the very best in the world. So the intention was that this can be manufactured by Indian companies at a large scale," said Dr VK Paul, who heads the national expert group on vaccine administration for COVID-19 and is also a member of the centre's think tank NITI Aayog. Read more

Pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca said Tuesday it had "voluntarily paused" a randomized clinical trial of its coronavirus vaccine in what it called a routine action after a volunteer developed an unexplained illness.

The company, which is developing the drug alongside the University of Oxford, is a frontrunner in the global race for a Covid-19 vaccine.

"As part of the ongoing randomized, controlled global trials of the Oxford coronavirus vaccine, our standard review process was triggered and we voluntarily paused vaccination to allow review of safety data by an independent committee," a spokesperson said.

"This is a routine action which has to happen whenever there is a potentially unexplained illness in one of the trials, while it is investigated, ensuring we maintain the integrity of the trials."

Pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca said Tuesday it had "voluntarily paused" a randomized clinical trial of its coronavirus vaccine in what it called a routine action after a volunteer developed an unexplained illness.

The company, which is developing the drug alongside the University of Oxford, is a frontrunner in the global race for a Covid-19 vaccine.

"As part of the ongoing randomized, controlled global trials of the Oxford coronavirus vaccine, our standard review process was triggered and we voluntarily paused vaccination to allow review of safety data by an independent committee," a spokesperson said.

"This is a routine action which has to happen whenever there is a potentially unexplained illness in one of the trials, while it is investigated, ensuring we maintain the integrity of the trials."