The Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) has completed its second national sero-survey to gauge the prevalence of COVID-19. The first survey was conducted in May across 400 districts and about 28,000 were sampled — most of them in rural India — to gauge the spread of the infection.
The Health Minister said it would take substantive time for herd immunity to develop so as to be able to cover about 70% of the population. “Hence the focus of the government is primarily towards putting together a strategy that combines containment and hospital management,” he said.
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:
Courts in Karnataka to reopen substantially in a phased manner from September 28
The High Court of Karnataka has decided to substantially reopen all courts in the taluks and districts of the State in three phases starting from September 28, and has issued a special Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) for the functioning of courts.
While courts in 55 taluks identified over different districts will be reopened on September 28, all the courts in 15 districts will be open from October 5. The other courts in the remaining districts will be reopened on October 12, according to the special SOP.
All these courts will list only 30 cases a day — 15 each in the forenoon and afternoon sessions — and there will be separate enclosures for the witnesses inside the court complexes to wait for their turn to enter and record their statements.
Eleven zones of Chennai city register a positive growth rate in cases
The number of city zones reporting a positive growth rate of new COVID-19 cases has increased from five to 11 in the past seven days. Compared to the negative growth rate last week, the Greater Chennai Corporation has registered a positive growth rate of 0.5% this week.
Officials said the number of cases was stable in the city, with a few pockets in some zones.
“We are closely monitoring the situation and will know the impact of the relaxations soon. We are testing 10 persons for every positive case in a neighbourhood,” an official said.
Alandur has registered the highest increase in new cases with 5.3% in the past seven days while Valasaravakkam registered a decline during the same period.
20 write test in isolation rooms in Kurnool
The recruitment test for the ward and village secretariat staff was conducted amid COVID-19 fears by taking all precautionary measures on Sunday. Twenty candidates in Kurnool wrote the test in special isolation rooms in two sessions.
In all, 55,768 candidates applied for the test at 194 centres, but 42,586 took the test recording 76.36% attendance. The district administration made all arrangements for the test to be conducted till September 26 to fill 1,276 posts. In all, 85,910 candidates had applied.
In the morning session at Kurnool 14 candidates wrote the test in isolation rooms. While eight were COVID-19 positive, six were found having temperature in thermal screening. In Adoni Arts and Science College one patient took the test with the invigilator too attending by wearing a PPE kit. In Kurnool city in the afternoon, three patients and two having temperature took the test in isolation rooms.
HC refuses to stay conduct of Class X exams for special children
The Madras High Court on Sunday refused to stay the conduct of Class X private examinations for special children, after the State informed the court that all 1,410 candidates with special abilities and 609 scribes had tested negative for COVID-19.
Justices M.M. Sundresh and R. Hemalatha said they were not inclined to interfere, at the eleventh hour, with the examinations scheduled to be held between Monday and Friday with all safety precautions, as ordered by them early this month.
The judges took the decision following an urgent review petition moved by Balakrishnan Subramaniyan, father of a 24-year-old suffering from cerebral palsy in Tiruchi. His PIL petition was disposed of by the same Bench on September 3. The court had then directed the government authorities to ensure that all special children wanting to write the Class X examinations as private candidates, and their scribes, are subjected to COVID-19 tests at least two days before the examinations.