The state has the third highest number of active cases of 77482 in the country. The Kerala government on Friday imposed prohibitory orders under Section 144 of CrPC in eight of its districts as the state recorded its highest single day spike of 9,258 Covid cases. The orders will be in effect starting Saturday, 9 am onwards. Not more than five people will be allowed to gather at a time. The infection count touched 2,12,499 today while the death toll rose to 791 with 20 new fatalities. The state has the third highest number of active cases of 77482 in the country.
The country’s caseload rose to 6,394,068 today after over 80,000 cases were recorded in a day. With more than 1,000 people succumbing to the virus during the same period, the number of fatalities also rose to 99,773, according to latest data by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.
However, the government also stated that India’s active COVID-19 cases remained less than 10 lakh for the 11th consecutive day and that it continues to maintain its global position of having the maximum number of recovered patients. With 78,877 people having recuperated from COVID-19 in a span of 24 hours, India’s total recoveries surged to 53,52,078 pushing the recovery rate to 83.70 per cent, according to data updated at 8 am.
suggests that an overwhelming number of infected people, over 70 per cent, might not be passing on the virus to others. The disease could be spreading only through a small set of infected people.
Globally, over 34 million people have been infected while more than one million have succumbed to the virus. The United States continues to remain the worst-affected followed by India and Brazil. On Friday, US President Donald Trump said he and first lady Melania had tested positive for Covd-19 and would go into quarantine.
Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation healthcare staff conduct rapid antigen test outside Mahatma Gandhi's Satyagraha Kochrab Ashram on Wednesday.
Andhra Pradesh reported 6,555 new cases, 7,485 recoveries and 31 deaths in the last 24
The recovery rate of COVID-19 patients in Bihar increased to 92.82 per cent on Friday, while 1431 fresh cases took the tally of positive cases to 1,85,706 in the state, health department bulletin said. Bihar reported four fresh casualties from coronavirus in the past 24 hours, taking the death toll from COVID to 910. Maintaining the momentum of higher number of tests for the virus, the state examined a total of 1,20,128 samples in the last 24 hours, the bulletin said. Over 75.06 lakh samples have been tested across Bihar so far, the bulletin added. The recovery rate of COVID patients in Bihar has been more than 92 per cent for the past one week. A total of 1497 people were cured of the disease in the last 24 hours, taking the total number of recoveries in the state to 1,72,364, the bulletin said. The state has 12,432 active cases of coronavirus at present.
With the UP government allowing programmes in the open outside containment zones in the next phase of coronavirus lockdown, decks have been cleared for holding Durga Puja and other religious events in the upcoming festival season. Additional Chief Secretary (Information) Navneet Sehgal said the district administrations will permit such programmes with necessary availability of face masks, thermal scanners, hand sanitisers and social distancing. The new guidelines will come into effect from October 15 while the festival season will kiCk off with Navratras from October 17. The new guidelines have been issued under which the lockdown will be effective only in containment zones, which have been converted into micro containment areas, he said. Sehgal said in closed halls, permission will be given with 50 per cent capacity but a maximum of 200 people. Earlier this week, Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath had said all precautions must be taken during upcoming festivals in view of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Kerala government on Friday imposed prohibitory orders under Section 144 of CrPC in eight of its districts as the state recorded its highest single day spike of 9,258 Covid cases. The orders will be in effect starting Saturday, 9 am onwards. Not more than five people will be allowed to gather at a time. The infection count touched 2,12,499 today while the death toll rose to 791 with 20 new fatalities. The state has the third highest number of active cases at 77482.
Uttar Pradesh recorded 3,946 new cases of the novel coronavirus, bringing the infection count to 4,06,995 on Friday, according to official data. A total of 3,51,966 COVID-19 patients in the state have been discharged from hospitals after recovering from the infection, Additional Chief Secretary Health, Amit Mohan Prasad said. With this, the recovery rate in the state has reached 86.47 per cent, he said. The state has 49,112 active COVID-19 cases, Prasad said, noting that the figure has come below the 50,000-mark after a long time. It was on August 25 that the number of active infection cases was under 50,000 after which it had been increasing, he said. The death toll from the pandemic stands at 5,917 in the state, Prasad said. On Thursday, over 1.62 lakh COVID-19 tests were done in the state, pushing the total number of tests for detection of the infection 1.04 crore, he said.
The COVID-19 lockdown gave the century-old Assam Sahitya Sabha an opportunity to bring back to life the dying art of storytelling, particularly tales from the region's dwindling tribes, proving perhaps that even the darkest cloud can have a silver lining.
A brainchild of Kula Dhar Saikia, Assam's former police chief who now heads the Assam Sahitya Sabha, the campaign that started in July is aimed at popularising once again the art of storytelling and also ensuring that people learn about tribes whose very survival is at risk due due to their declining population. As part of Saikia's efforts, the Sabha has collaborated with the Guwahati division of All India Radio to broadcast a programme on storytelling for children twice a week since July this year.
The choice of stories is eclectic, some picked from famous grandmother tales and others from Aesop's Fables, Jataka's story, Panchatantra and the like. And also tales from various tribal groups.
BJP leader Anupam Hazra, who had recently threatened to hug West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee if he got infected with the virus, has tested positive for the disease, health officials said, PTI reported. Hazra, who was recently been appointed as a national secretary of the saffron party, was admitted to a private hospital in Kolkata, they added. Click here to read more.
The Securities Appellate Tribunal (SAT) has extended the suspension of physical hearing till October 16 amid the pandemic. Interim orders, if any, which are operational would remain in force till the next date of hearing, according to a notification issued yesterday. "... the judicial work of the Tribunal (physical hearing) shall remain suspended till 16th October, 2020," SAT said in a notification dated October, 1.
An analysis of 3,345 deaths from coronavirus infection in Pune city till September 29 has found that a majority had co-morbid conditions. At least 99 were brought dead and 2,206 persons, nearly 60 per cent, were above the age of 60. Ramchandra Hankare, outgoing chief medical officer of PMC, told The Indian Express that the latest analysis shows that at least 394 had hypertension and 316 had diabetes. Of the 3,345 deaths, a total of 2219 were males. As many as 123 persons who died due to Covid-19 had ischaemic heart disease. Click here to read more.
The Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) has decided to seal sports complexes functioning despite an order to stay shut in an effort to check the spread of Covid-19. “The in-charge of ward offices have been directed to visit various sports complexes in their areas and seal those operating despite orders to keep them shut. Also, legal action should be immediately initiated against those sports complexes,” said Additional Municipal Commissioner Kunal Khemnar. The sports complexes mainly include badminton halls, swimming pools, gymnasiums, and other indoor sports venues. Click here to read more.
Telangana registered 2,009 fresh coronavirus cases, pushing the tally of infections to 1.95 lakh, while the toll rose to 1,145 with 10 more fatalities. The Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) recorded 293 fresh cases, followed by Medchal Malkajgiri 173, Rangareddy 171, Karimnagar 114, Nalgonda 109, Khammam 104 and other districts, a state government bulletin said on Friday, providing data as of 8 PM on October 1. The bulletin said 54,098 samples were tested on October 1.
As External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar heads to Japan next week and participates in the foreign ministers’ meeting of the Quadrilateral grouping on October 6, New Delhi on Thursday said it will be focused on the “post-Covid-19 international order” as well as the “need for coordinating responses to the challenges emerging from the pandemic”. As the first such meeting of Quad foreign ministers’ grouping is taking place amid the tension between India and China over the border standoff, Delhi also said that there will be a discussion on “regional issues”.
After the Centre’s nod to cinema halls, multiplexes and theatres to open with up to 50 per cent seating capacity in areas outside containment zones from October 15, the Multiplex Association of India (MAI) urged state governments, including Maharashtra, to restart operations. Currently, Tamil Nadu and Maharashtra have not allowed cinema halls to reopen until October 31. On Thursday, state Cultural Affairs Minister Amit Deshmukh tweeted that the government was positive about reopening cinema halls and theatres, but its priority was to ensure the safety of residents amid the pandemic. The latest lockdown guidelines issued by the state Wednesday said cinema halls, swimming pools, entertainment parks, theatres in malls and market places, auditoriums, and assembly halls will continue to remain closed.
Mumbai’s 5,000-odd dabbawalas have finally got what they were waiting for months. According to the latest unlock guidelines issued by the Maharashtra government on Wednesday, they can now travel in local trains. But returning from the longest break in the city’s 130-year-old history of tiffin delivery services will not be easy. To begin again, the delivery men now have to grapple with reduced demand, limited access to customers and rusted bicycles. In its latest ‘Mission Begin Again’ notification, the government has directed dabbawalas to procure QR codes from the Mumbai Police commissioner to access railway stations and trains, like persons engaged in other exempted services. Click here to read more.
The discharge applications of 20 foreign nationals, members of the Tablighi Jamaat, were rejected by a magistrate’s court on Thursday that observed that while there was no legal evidence against them that they spread Covid-19, they will continue to face charges for staying in a mosque during the lockdown in March. The foreign nationals – 10 each from Indonesia and Kyrgyzstan – were booked by the D N Nagar police the same month on charges of violating lockdown and visa norms as well as for spreading Covid-19. Click here to read more.
Taking note of the US President's health, Prime Minister Narendra Modi today tweeted: "Wishing my friend @POTUS @realDonaldTrump and @FLOTUS a quick recovery and good health."
A second sero survey conducted in Mumbai mid-August has found that 45 per cent of the people in slums and 18 per cent in non-slum pockets were exposed to Covid-19. The latest findings are different from the first survey in July, when 57 per cent of the people in slums were found to have been exposed to the virus. Members of the team that conducted the survey attributed the decline in sero prevalence – number of persons in a population who test positive for a specific disease – in slum areas to the fact that an entirely different set of people was surveyed the second time. Click here to read more.
Delhi Metro is struggling to maintain social distancing inside trains during peak hours, particularly on five stretches, DMRC said in an advisory Thursday, requesting people to stagger their travel timings. It said stretches on Red, Green, Violet and Blue lines are witnessing 100% occupancy during morning and evening peak hours under the current arrangements where alternate seats are left vacant and a limited number of people allowed to commute while standing. “By 100% occupancy, we do not mean coaches are getting occupied like before. What is happening is that during peak hours, trains plying on these stretches are carrying maximum number of passengers possible under prevailing standard operating procedure,” said a Delhi Metro spokesperson.
US President Donald Trump and his wife Melania tested positive for Covid today.
As Covid-19 cases continue to surge, the Kerala government Thursday announced a ban on the assembly of more than five persons. The ban under Section 144 of the CrPC comes into effect from Saturday and will continue till the end of this month. This, in effect, will halt all social and political events in the state in October. It would also nullify the directive in the latest unlock guidelines allowing gatherings of up to 100 persons outside containment zones. District Magistrates were directed to use the relevant provisions and orders under Section 144, CrPC to control the spread of the disease. Strict restrictions shall be imposed in containment zones and in specific areas where the spread of the disease is apprehended.