Workers sanitize an area after health workers take swab samples for Covid-19 testing in New Delhi on September 8, 2020. (Express Photo: Praveen Khanna)Coronavirus India News Live Updates: The number of coronavirus cases in India has risen to 43,70,129, after the country detected 89,706 additional cases in the 24 hours ending 9 am Wednesday. With 1,115 deaths, the toll now stands at 73,890. The states with the highest number of Covid-19 cases are Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Uttar Pradesh.
Except in containment zones, the Union Health Ministry has allowed schools to reopen across the country from September 21. The gradual resumption will begin with students of Classes 9 to 12, in a staggered manner. The advisory states that attendance will be voluntary and “only to seek guidance from teachers”. Online classes will continue.
Just a few days ago, India became the second country with the largest caseload, after the United States, which has 6,326,510 cases. India is followed by Brazil (4,162,073), Russia (1,032,354) and Peru (691,575). However, in terms of deaths due to Covid-19, India ranks third after the US (189,637) and Brazil (127,464).
There are over 27.47 million cases of Covid-19 across the world, and 893,290 deaths, according to a Reuters tally. The pandemic has spread to more than 210 countries and territories.
A healthcare worker collects swab samples for Covid-19 testing at a construction site in Ahmedabad. (Express Photo: Nirmal Harindran)
There has been a spike in the number of distress emails received by Connecting Trust, a volunteer- based listening service in Pune, which aims to prevent suicides through its distress helpline programme. While the programme received, on an average, 15 new distress mails per month prior to the pandemic, it has been getting as many as 30 such emails in the last few months.
September 10 is observed as World Suicide Prevention Day and this year’s theme is ‘Working Together To Prevent Suicide’. According to the World Health Organisation, 800,000 people die by suicide every year. Every 40 seconds, a person dies by suicide. Read more here
Two days after the Yellow Line and Gurgaon's Rapid Metro reopened, the Blue and Pink lines resumed operations Wednesday. Trains will operate in two batches, from 7-11 am and 4-8 pm. Nearly 15,500 passengers rode the metro on Monday, and nearly 17,600 on Tuesday, according to PTI. Services have been closed since March 22 due to the pandemic.
A study conducted by the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) has found that convalescent plasma therapy is not beneficial in reducing mortality or progression to severe Covid-19. "The PLACID trial results indicate that there was no difference in 28-day mortality or progression to severe disease among moderately ill COVID-19 patients treated with CP along with BSC compared to BSC alone," the study said.
United Nations Secretary-General Stephane Dujarric Tuesday said the agency was supporting the "(Indian) government-led health and socioeconomic consequences of the pandemic". The statement came as India's Covid-19 cases crossed 43 lakh. Dujarric elaborated on how several agencies had come forward to assist the government, including the World Health Organization, which is helping in contact tracing of 8 million cases, the UN Children's Fund, which was trained 2.2 million health workers, the UN Development Programme which has helped 100,000 migrants and UN Population Fund which has trained 5,300 sanitation workers on safe waste disposal.
"The UN in India is also supporting the Government's anti-stigma campaign, with over 170 million social media impressions in August alone," Dujarric added.
The Union Health Ministry Tuesday released guidelines for schools to reopen from September 21. Some of the standard operating procedures (SOPs) will include:
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Phase-3 clinical trials of a coronavirus vaccine being developed by AstraZeneca, in collaboration with Oxford University, have been halted worldwide after one participant in England reported serious side-effects. This is the same vaccine whose phase-2 trials had started in India as well last month. Permission to carry out phase-3 trials in India has also been granted. This vaccine has for long been considered one of the most promising ones that are being developed. More than a billion doses of this vaccine has already been pre-booked by countries, even as the human trials were continuing. Read Amitabh Sinha's report
The number of coronavirus cases in India has risen to 43,70,129, after the country detected 89,706 additional cases in the 24 hours ending 9 am Wednesday. With 1,115 deaths, the toll now stands at 73,890. The states with the highest number of Covid-19 cases are Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Uttar Pradesh.