With 83,432 COVID-19 cases recorded on Thursday, India’s tally stood at 58,13,861.
In the monsoon session of Parliament, 83 of the 1,500-odd employees of the Rajya Sabha Secretariat have tested positive for COVID 19 till Wednesday. Officials said that, before September 7, only about 25 employees were reported to have been infected. The number of positive cases has sharply increased during the eight-day period of the session.
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:
Nehru’s policies, Ayodhya dispute and Gujarat riots out of Assam Class 12 syllabus
The Assam government has excluded lessons on Jawaharlal Nehru’s policies, Ayodhya dispute and the Gujarat riots among others from the Class 12 syllabus of the state examination board to ease burden on students.
The chapters were deleted by the Assam Higher Secondary Education Council (AHSEC) to reduce the load by 30 % on account of loss of academic schedule due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Topics have been cut short in all the subjects of the three streams- Science, Arts and Commerce.
“The main objective is to reduce the exam stress of the students of the session 2020-21, due to this pandemic situation and to prevent learning gaps. This syllabi is only the reduced portion for the preparation of upcoming final exams of Higher Secondary 1st and 2nd year to be held in 2021,” AHSCE Secretary Manoranjan Kakati said in the report uploaded recently.
Education post COVID-19: UNESCO to convene special session of global education meeting next month
The UNESCO will convene an extraordinary session of Global Education Meeting (GEM) next month for exchange among high-level political leaders, policy makers and global education experts to protect and rethink education in the current and post-COVID-19 world.
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization’s session on October 22 is convened with an aim to protect and promote education at a time when education financing is at considerable risk of being left behind in the governments’ domestic budgets, stimulus packages and international aid, the UN agency said.
“By convening this extraordinary session of the GEM next month, our aim is to secure commitments from political leaders to position education at the centre of national and international efforts to recover swiftly, inclusively and sustainably from the COVID-19 pandemic,” said Stefania Giannini, Assistant Director of Education at UNESCO.
- PTI
Bengal Transport Minister Suvendu Adhikari tests positive: official
West Bengal Transport Minister Suvendu Adhikari has tested positive for COVID-19 and is under home isolation, a health official said on Friday.
The Minister’s mother has also contracted the disease, he said.
The 49-year-old legislator from Nandigram in Purba Medinipur district has isolated himself at a guest house in his constituency, while his mother has been admitted to a Kolkata-based hospital, the official said.
Ministers Sujit Bose, Jyotipriyo Mullick and Swapan Debnath had earlier tested positive for the infection and have recovered.
- PTI
COVID-19 tally in India crosses 58-lakh mark
India’s COVID-19 caseload zoomed past 58 lakh, while over 47 lakh people have recuperated from the disease, pushing the national recovery rate to 81.74%, according to the Union Health Ministry data updated on Friday.
The total coronavirus cases mounted to 58,18,570 with 86,052 infections being reported in a day. The death toll climbed to 92,290 with 1,141 people succumbing to the disease in a span of 24 hours, the data updated at 8 a.m. showed.
The total recoveries have surged to 47,56,164.
The COVID-19 case fatality rate due to the coronavirus infection was recorded at 1.59%.
- PTI
Govt. relief cushioned COVID-19 lockdown, fishing ban restrictions in T.N.: official
The impact of the lockdown enforced to prevent the spread of coronavirus and local restrictions on fishing were to some extent cushioned by Tamil Nadu government’s relief measures, efforts of fishery organisations, and individual vessel owners.
Around Rs. 96 crore was extended as relief to 4.8 lakh members through the Tamil Nadu Fishermen Welfare Board, which gave away Rs. 2,000 per head for two months of the lockdown period for fishermen, fisherwomen, allied workers and crew members, a senior official in the fisheries department said. An additional breeding season allowance of Rs. 5,000 was given to each family for the period.
This sum was disbursed to about 1.6 lakh families, the senior official, who did not want to be named, told PTI.
- PTI
Delhi Prisons DG tests positive
Director General of Delhi Prisons Sandeep Goel has tested positive for COVID-19, jail officials said on Friday.
According to a data shared by the prison authorities on September 13, the number of active COVID-19 cases in Delhi Prisons stood at 25, including 20 jail staff.
This came less than a month after the Delhi Prisons Department declared there was no active COVID-19 case among the inmates in its three jail complexes.
Earlier, on August 21, the Delhi Prisons Department had stated that none of the inmates in the three jail complexes of Tihar, Rohini and Mandoli are coronavirus positive and that the pandemic situation in jails here has improved.
- PTI
As foreigners depart, Singapore sees population drop for first time since 2003
Singapore's population has shrunk for the first time since 2003 as travel curbs and job losses brought about by the coronavirus pandemic have pushed foreign workers from the global business hub.
The overall population dropped by about 18,000 people, or 0.3%, to 5.69 million, according to an annual population report.
A sharp drop in foreigners, down 2% to 1.64 million, as well as a marginal fall in permanent residents, outweighed a modest rise in citizens, some of whom returned from overseas as the pandemic spread globally.
“These trends were largely due to COVID-19 related challenges, brought about by weak demand and travel restrictions,” the report said, citing job losses in services, a sector heavily reliant on low-paid foreign labour.
U.S. coronavirus cases surpass 7 million as Midwest outbreak flares up
The number of novel coronavirus cases in the United States topped 7 million on Thursday — more than 20% of the world's total — as Midwest states reported spikes in COVID-19 infections in September, according to a Reuters tally.
The latest milestone comes just days after the nation surpassed over 200,000 COVID-19 deaths, the world's highest death toll from the virus. Each day, over 700 people die in the United States from COVID-19.
California leads the country with over 800,000 total cases, followed by Texas, Florida and New York.
Virus delays Rio's Carnival for first time in a century
Rio de Janeiro delayed its annual Carnival parade, saying Thursday night that the global spectacle cannot go ahead in February because of Brazil’s continued vulnerability to the pandemic.
Rio’s League of Samba Schools, LIESA, announced that the spread of the coronavirus has made it impossible to safely hold the traditional parades that are a cultural mainstay and, for many, a source of livelihood.
“Carnival is a party upon which many humble workers depend. The samba schools are community institutions, and the parades are just one detail of all that,” said Luiz Antonio Simas, a historian who specialises in Rio’s Carnival. “An entire cultural and productive chain was disrupted by COVID.”
Rio’s City Hall has yet to announce a decision about the Carnival street parties that also take place across the city. But its tourism promotion agency said in a statement on September 17 that without a coronavirus vaccine, it is uncertain when large public events can resume.
Chinese company says coronavirus vaccine ready by early 2021
A Chinese pharmaceutical company said on Thursday the coronavirus vaccine it is developing should be ready by early 2021 for distribution worldwide, including the United States.
Yin Weidong, the CEO of SinoVac, vowed to apply to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to sell CoronaVac in the United States if it passes its third and final round of testing in humans. Mr. Yin said he personally has been given the experimental vaccine.
“At the very beginning, our strategy was designed for China and for Wuhan. Soon after that in June and July we adjusted our strategy, that is to face the world,” Mr. Yin said, referring to the Chinese city were the virus first emerged.
“Our goal is to provide the vaccine to the world including the U.S., EU and others,” Mr. Yin said.
‘Missing’ patient from Pune’s jumbo facility sparks protest
The mystery of a ‘missing’ 33-year-old female patient from the newly-operational jumbo COVID-19 facility in the city’s College of Engineering, Pune (CoEP) grounds has sparked outrage among social outfits and activists.
The patient, who had first tested positive on August 28 and had been admitted to the jumbo facility in the early morning of August 30, has not returned home since. Neither the staff at the facility nor the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) administration have the slightest clue of her ‘disappearance’.
The woman had first gone to the COVID-19 facility in the city’s Balewadi but was referred to the Sassoon General Hospital as the former was full. As the latter hospital, too, was full to capacity, she was admitted to the CoEP facility on August 30.
Two weeks later, when the patient’s mother, Ragini Gambire, visited the jumbo facility to collect her daughter, she was faced with an array of bewildering answers regarding her daughter’s presence in the facility.
Chennai Corporation removes all containment zones
At one point of time, there were more than 1,000 containment zones in the city. The number fell to less than 10 last week.
The Greater Chennai Corporation has removed all COVID-19 containment zones in its 15 zones, although there was a spike in the number of new COVID-19 cases on Thursday. City Health Officer Jagadeesan said the city did not have any street with more than three index cases. “So, we have not earmarked containment zones,” said Dr. Jagadeesan.
A street is barricaded in the event of three index cases and if officials are unable to trace contacts that caused the infection.
On Thursday, the city reported no containment zones. But the number of COVID-19 cases increased by 1,089. The number of new cases had been below the 1,000 mark in the last 21 days.
Refund policy not for flights originating from abroad: DGCA, Ministry in SC
The Ministry of Civil Aviation and the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) clarified in the Supreme Court on Thursday that their refund and credit shell policy for flights cancelled during the lockdown did not cover international flights originating from abroad.
“The regulatory mechanism does not cover international flights which originate from any foreign destination... These flights are governed by the regulatory mechanism of the country of origin, irrespective of the fact whether the carrier is Indian or not... Refund of tickets/credit shells of international flights would be governed by the law of the sovereign country from where such flights originate,” the affidavit filed jointly for DGCA and the Ministry said.
The Ministry was replying to questions raised by the airlines and the petitioner, Pravasi Legal Cell, represented by senior advocate Sanjay Hegde and advocate Jose Abraham. The case is scheduled to be heard on September 25.
Schools in Tripura to reopen on October 5
The Tripura government has allowed schools to function from October 5 with strict adherence to the norms issued by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare in view of the pandemic.
The State’s education department officials said on Thursday that government and private schools will reopen with 50% teaching staff. The school management would prepare a roster to ensure attendance of 50% teachers on an alternate-day basis, they added.
The percentage of students has not been specified for attendance, but those who want to attend will have to carry written permission from their parents, the officials stated.
Novavax starts late-stage COVID-19 vaccine trial in U.K.
Novavax Inc on Thursday started a late-stage trial of its experimental COVID-19 vaccine in partnership with the UK government's Vaccines Taskforce, sending the company's shares up 6% after the bell.
The trial is expected to enroll and test the vaccine in up to 10,000 participants aged between 18 and 84 years over the next four to six weeks. The trial will enroll at least 25% of participants over the age of 65 and prioritize groups most affected by the COVID-19, the company said.
Data from the trial will support regulatory submissions for license in the U.K., EU and other countries, the company said.
French Open to allow just 1,000 people a day at Roland Garros
A maximum of only 1,000 people will be allowed each day at Roland Garros after the French government insisted Thursday on tougher restrictions to counter the resurgence of the coronavirus.
Organisers of the French Open, which gets underway four months later than planned in Paris on Sunday, had hoped for a maximum of 5,000. That figure had already been reduced from 20,000 and then 11,500.
The decision by the French government will be a huge blow to Roland Garros which last year attracted on average around 37,000 fans a day.