Union Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan said 70% of COVID-19 fatalities had been reported in men and the rest in women.
Across the country, the number of fatalities due to COVID-19 had been lower than 1,000 mark for 10 successive days.
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:
Offer 20% reduction in fees: HC tells Kolkata schools
The Calcutta High Court on Tuesday directed private schools in the State to offer 20% reduction of fees across the board from April 2020 till the month following the one in which the schools reopen physically.
A Division Bench of Justice Sanjib Banerjee and Justice Moushumi Bhattacharya, while hearing a number of writ petitions filed by parents and guardians, said there will no increase in fees during financial year 2020-21 and non-essential charges for use of facilities not availed will not be permissible.
The court also observed that for the financial year 2020-21, a maximum of five per cent excess of revenue over expenditure will be permissible. While accepting the autonomy and freedom that private unaided schools generally enjoy, the Bench observed that “it is completely unacceptable that schools have not incurred less expenditure than usual since the lockdown came to be in force from or about the end of March this year”.
3 suspected cases of coronavirus reinfection ‘described’ in India: ICMR
Three cases of suspected coronavirus reinfection — two in Mumbai and one in Ahmedabad — have been “described” in India, the country’s apex medical research body said on Tuesday.
Director General Balram Bhargava said the Indian Council of Medical Research had decided upon a cutoff of 100 days for reinfection if it occurs as, according to some studies, antibodies were also assumed to have a life of four months.
“We have got some data from the WHO, which says that there are about two dozen reinfection cases in the world at the moment,” he said. “We are looking at the ICMR database and finding out those who have had reinfection and making telephonic contact to get some data out of them.”
Facebook bans anti-vaccination ads but not antivax posts
Facebook says it will ban ads on its platform that discourage vaccinations — with an exception carved out for advocacy ads about government vaccine policies.
The company already bans ads about vaccine “hoaxes”, such as the false idea that vaccinations cause autism. The latest policy expands the ban to ads that discourage vaccines for any reason.
But Facebook also said on Tuesday that ads that advocate for or against legislation or government policies around vaccines — including a COVID-19 vaccine — will still be allowed. These ads will still have to be approved by the company as political advertisements and include a paid for by label on who is funding them.
And unpaid posts by people or groups that discourage vaccinations will also still be allowed — the new policy only includes paid advertisements.
Since the pandemic began, the company has tightened its rules around COVID-related misinformation. For instance, it promotes articles that debunk COVID-19 misinformation, of which there are thousands, on a new information center called Get The Facts. It also bans what it deems “dangerous” misinformation about the virus and has removed posts by President Donald Trump under this policy.
Multiplexes ready for show time
As the countdown begins for theatres to resume screening films from October 15, many multiplexes are gearing up to welcome customers. However, though the Central and State governments have permitted cinema halls to resume operations with 50% seating, many single screen theatres in Bengaluru will not immediately re-open as they have adopted a ‘wait and watch’ approach.
A senior representative of PVR Cinemas said that they would resume screenings for the general public from October 16. “The schedule will be out soon. Online bookings will begin from the night of October 13. All precautionary measures for a safe and hygienic cinema experience for movie-goers are in place,” the representative said. Sources in INOX said that they would “gradually” open all screens over the next few days, and within 15 days, all the screens would be functional.
But not all standalone theatres in the city are ready to resume screening immediately.
D.R. Jairaj, chairman, Karnataka Film Chamber of Commerce, said that the Chamber would soon call a meeting of producers, distributors and exhibitors to discuss and decide on resuming operations in single screen theatres.
Schoolchildren to be ambassadors of Break-the-Chain campaign
Schoolchildren will now become the ambassadors of the Break-the-Chain campaign that was launched in the initial days of the COVID-19 pandemic. With the recent increase in caseload, the Kerala government is turning to students to take the message of disease prevention to their families.
Organised by the General Education Department, Health Department and the Kerala Social Security Mission on the directions of the Chief Minister, the initiative will begin on Wednesday.
Training videos will be telecast on Victers channel at regular intervals. Health Minister K.K. Shylaja will address the students on the occasion.
Poster making, shooting of videos, and other creative activities will have to be undertaken at homes. This will be evaluated by school teachers. Works of 10 students have to be sent from the districts to the State level by October 30. The General Education Department will collect these and send them to the Break-the-Chain campaign committee of the KSSM.