Haryana Govt Starts 'Stay Home OPD' | The Haryana government said it has started online 'Stay Home OPD' to ensure uninterrupted health services amid the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic. Over 1,000 patients have benefited from the service that was launched recently, Health Minister Anil Vij said. "With this, people suffering from various health ailments can get themselves registered on the 'e-Sanjeevani' app to get free online medical consultation, Anil Vij said.

Insurance Cover for Health Workers Extended | The Rs 50 lakh insurance cover to frontline health workers fighting Covid-19 has been extended for six months and till date, 61 claims have been processed and payments made, the Union Health Ministry said on Tuesday. As many as 156 claims are under examination by the New India Assurance Company Limited, and in 67 cases claims forms are yet to be submitted by the states, it said. The'Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Package Insurance Scheme for Health Workers Fighting Covid-19' was announced on March 30 for 90 days. It was extended further for a period of 90 days i.e. up to September 25. The scheme has now been extended for another 180 days i.e. six months," the health ministry said in a statement.

1,585 New Covid-19 Cases and 49 Deaths Reported in Mumbai | 1,585 new Covid-19 cases and 49 deaths reported in Mumbai today. The total number of positive cases increases to 1,73,534 in Mumbai, including 30,879 active cases, 1,34,066 recovered cases and 8,227 deaths, Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation reported.

Gujarat Minister and MLA Tested Covid-19 Positive | A minister in the Gujarat government and a BJP MLA said they have tested positive for coronavirus. In a tweet, Gujarat Food, Civil Supplies and Consumer Affairs minister Jayesh Radadiya said he has contracted the infection and is home quarantined. "My coronavirus report is positive. I am currently home quarantined and my condition is stable. Those who have come in contact with me in the last one week should also get themselves tested," Radadiya said in a tweet. Similarly, BJP MLA from Jamnagar Raghavji Patel also took to Twitter to say that he had tested positive for the disease.

મને કોરોના(covid-19)ના સામાન્ય લક્ષણો જણાતા આજરોજ સ્વેછ્છાએ ટેસ્ટ કરાવેલ જેનો રીપોર્ટ પોઝીટીવ આવતા,હાલ હું હોમ ક્વોરન્ટાઈન થયેલ છુ અને મારી તબીયત સારી છે,

છેલ્લા અઠવાડીયામા મારા સંપર્કમા આવેલ લોકોએ સ્વેછ્છાએ ટેસ્ટ કરાવવા વિનંતી.

— Jayesh Radadiya (@ijayeshradadiya) September 14, 2020

Uttarakhand Govt Asks 10,000 Oxygen Cylinders from Centre | Uttarakhand government has asked the Centre to provide 10,000 oxygen cylinders to help the state be ready to deal with any emergency situation. Though there is no shortage of oxygen at present, the request for 10,000 oxygen cylinders has been made to keep ourselves prepared to deal with any situation in future, Health Secretary Amit Negi said. The oxygen cylinders will be installed at the Covid care centres in the state, he said. Of late, Uttarakhand has seen a sudden rise in coronavirus cases with 7,580 people testing positive for the infection in just a week to take the state's pandemic tally from 25,436 on September 7 to 33,016 on September 14.

17 Test Covid-19 Positive at Delhi BJP Office | "17 people test Covid-19 positive at Delhi BJP office", BJP state unit media cell head said. 

Delhi Records 4,263 Fresh Covid-19 Cases | Delhi recorded 4,263 fresh Covid-19 cases today, taking tally to over 2.25 lakh, with authorities conducting more than 62,000 coronavirus tests. Thirty-six more fatalities have been recorded, taking the death toll to 4,806, according to the latest bulletin issued by the Delhi health department. The active cases tally on Tuesday rose to 29,787 from 28,641 the previous day. Over 62,000 Covid-19 tests were conducted in the national capital on Monday, authorities said. The death toll from Covid-19 in Delhi stood at 4,770 on Monday.

Delhi Records 4,263 Fresh Covid-19 Cases | Delhi recorded 4,263 fresh Covid-19 cases today, taking tally to over 2.25 lakh, with authorities conducting more than 62,000 coronavirus tests. Thirty-six more fatalities have been recorded, taking the death toll to 4,806, according to the latest bulletin issued by the Delhi health department. The active cases tally on Tuesday rose to 29,787 from 28,641 the previous day. Over 62,000 Covid-19 tests were conducted in the national capital on Monday, authorities said. The death toll from Covid-19 in Delhi stood at 4,770 on Monday.

Delhi Records 4,263 Fresh Covid-19 Cases | Delhi recorded 4,263 fresh Covid-19 cases today, taking tally to over 2.25 lakh, with authorities conducting more than 62,000 coronavirus tests. Thirty-six more fatalities have been recorded, taking the death toll to 4,806, according to the latest bulletin issued by the Delhi health department. The active cases tally on Tuesday rose to 29,787 from 28,641 the previous day. Over 62,000 Covid-19 tests were conducted in the national capital on Monday, authorities said. The death toll from Covid-19 in Delhi stood at 4,770 on Monday.

UP Records 113 Deaths in Last 24 Hours | Uttar Pradesh records the highest single-day spike in Covid-19 deaths with 113 people succumbing to the infection in the last 24 hours, raising the total fatalities due to it to 4,604, said officials. The number of people testing positive for the infection on Tuesday stood at 6,895, taking the overall figure 3,24,036, they said.

According to World Health Organization (WHO), the current evidence suggests that transmission of coronavirus occurs primarily between people through direct, indirect, or close contact with infected…

Arunachal Pradesh CM Tested Covid-19 Positive | Chief Minister of Arunachal Pradesh Pema Khandu said that he was tested positive for Covid-19. He added that he was asymptomatic and feeling healthy.

I had undergone Covid test RT-PCR and have tested positive for Covid19.

I am asymptomatic and feeling healthy. However as per SOP and safety of others, I am self isolating myself and request everyone who came in contact with me to adhere to the SOP.

— Pema Khandu པདྨ་མཁའ་འགྲོ་། (@PemaKhanduBJP) September 15, 2020

Lockdown Prevented 14-29 lakh Coronavirus Cases: Govt | The government prevented 14-29 lakh coronavirus cases and 37,000-78,000 deaths due to the disease by imposing the nationwide lockdown that was announced on March 24, the Lok Sabha was informed today. Union Minister of State for Home Nityanand Rai said the World Health Organisation has observed, with regard to the lockdown measures taken by the government, that India’s response to Covid-19 has been pre-emptive, pro-active and graded with high level political commitment and a ”whole government” approach to respond to the pandemic. ”It has been estimated that the decision of lockdown, by slowing down the progress of pandemic in India, has prevented 14-29 lakh cases and 37,000-78,000 deaths,” he said in reply to a written question.

Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan said there are 14 states and union territories (UTs) in the country where the number of active cases are less than 5,000.

Covid-19 Pushed 37 million People into Extreme Poverty: Report | The coronavirus pandemic has pushed almost 37 million people into extreme poverty besides reversing the progress made in the health sector for past several decades, a report by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation said. It said the "widest-ranging catastrophe" – the one that has hit every country regardless of the actual spread of the disease – is economic. Citing a projection by the International Monetary Fund, the report said the global economy will lose $12 trillion or more by the end of 2021 despite spending of $18 trillion in trying to stimulate growth around the world. 

Aurobindo said that it is in the process of setting up a state-of-art manufacturing facility for viral vaccines which will be used to produce the Covid-19 vaccine and other viral vaccines

3 of 6 Leading Candidates Should Work by Early Next Year: Bill Gates | Three of the leading six coronavirus vaccines currently will probably work by early next year, Bill Gates said, setting an optimistic timeline for the development of the vaccine and distribution of the doses. Making this assessment, the Microsoft co-founder told Times of India that he expects some of the vaccines will work very well by next year, although how they work in terms of blocking transmission or avoiding sickness will still have to be studied.

The total coronavirus cases mounted to 49,30,236, while the death toll climbed to 80,776 with 1,054 people succumbing to the disease in a span of 24 hours,the data updated at 8 am showed.

'Effective Lockdown Prevented a Second Wave' | "US and European countries had a peak, then they came down and there is a second wave occurring there. We took learning from that. We distributed the curve in a way that we didn't have many deaths. It was because we had an effective lockdown. We didn't have a huge peak at all," Prof Balram Bhargava said.

No Shortage of Oxygen: Ministry | "Today's capacity for production of oxygen is slightly more than 6,900 metric tonne. There is no shortage of oxygen," Rajesh Bhushan, Secretary at the Union Health Ministry said. 

"Plasma therapy has been used for more than 100 years now in some form or the other for various virus infections. It is being used in Covid-19. Whether it helps or not is being studied," Prof Balram Bhargava, DG of ICMR.

3 Vaccines at Clinical Trial Stage in India: ICMR DG | "3 vaccines are at clinical trial stage in India. Cadila and Bharat Biotech have completed phase-I trials. Serum Institute has completed phase II-B3 trials, and will start phase-III trial (with 1500 patients at 14 locations) after clearances," Prof Balram Bhargava, DG of ICMR said.

14 States with Less than 5000 Cases | "There are 14 states and UTs in India where the total number of active cases are less than 5000. There are 18 states and UTs where total active cases are between 5000-50,000," Rajesh Bhushan, Secretary of Union Health Ministry said. The picture below shows Maharashtra having highest daily average deaths in top 5 states.

Need to Ramp up Testing in States: Ministry | The health ministry said that the testing has increased tremendously. The ministry said that till 1 July there were only 1 crore tests conducted. "We took 27 days to reach from 1 crore to 2 crore. However, we reached 4 to 5 tests in just 10 days," the ministry said in a briefing. The ministry added that the states need to ramp up the testing further.

The Health Ministry quoting a report said that India's recovery rate is highest in the world. The ministry said that 5 crore tests were conducted in a week. It added that 76 lakhs tests were conducted last week.

Covid-19 Recovery Rate Rises to 78.28 percent: Health Ministry | India's Covid-19 recovery rate has risen to 78.28 percent as a total of 38,59,399 people have recuperated, exceeding the active cases of coronavirus by 28,69,338 as on date, the Union Health Ministry said. There are 9,90,061active cases of Covid-19 in the country which comprise 20.08 per cent of the total caseload, according to the Health Ministry data updated at 8 am.

Bill Gates India will play a huge in development of coronavirus vaccine because the highest volume vaccine manufacturers in the world to have done a fantastic job are located in the country.

Irish Govt is to Delay the Reopening of Dublin’s Drink-only Pubs | The Irish government is to delay the reopening of Dublin’s drink-only pubs because coronavirus cases in the capital have increased twenty fold in the past month. Leo Varadkar, the deputy prime minister, said the surge would require additional restrictions in Dublin, which has a 14-day incidence rate of 89.1 per 100,000, almost double the national rate of 46.8.

Flipkart to Hire 70,000 Ahead of Big Shopping Event Amid Pandemic | Walmart Inc's Flipkart said it would create 70,000 new jobs and employ many more as delivery partners and in other roles as it prepares for a surge in online shopping during the busy Indian festive season. Flipkart, Amazon.com Inc's Indian unit and Reliance Industries Ltd's fledgling e-commerce business are vying for a share of the booming online retail market, which received a big boost from the COVID-19 pandemic as more Indians used their smartphones to shop for groceries and other items, Reuters reported. 

The total coronavirus cases mounted to 49,30,236, while the death toll climbed to 80,776 with 1,054 people succumbing to the disease in a span of 24 hours,the data updated at 8 am showed.