Constable Than Singh takes time out from his duty hours to teach children living in the slums near the monument. (Express photo by Praveen Khanna)Coronavirus India News Live Updates: With 54,044 new cases reported across the country on Tuesday, the coronavirus infection has now affected over 7.6 million people in India. As many as 717 deaths were reported in the last 24 hours, taking the toll to 1,15,914. Of the 76,51,108 cases, 7,40,090 cases are still active, while recoveries stand at 67,95,103.
On Monday, India recorded less than 50,000 new infections of novel coronavirus cases for the first time in nearly three months. The continuous decline in the number of new cases has meant that, after two and half months, India has stopped reporting the highest number of cases in the world. For the last three days, the United States, which is in the midst of a resurgence, has reported more new infections than India. There is a resurgence of cases in several countries of Europe as well.
In his seventh address to the nation since the coronavirus outbreak, Prime Minister Narendra Modi Tuesday said the lockdown might have been lifted in the country but the “virus is still out there”. The Prime Minister spoke in the backdrop of repeated warnings by experts that with nearly all activities having returned to normal, the festival season may result in a surge of infections. The battle against Covid-19 would not be over and successful until a vaccine was found, the Prime Minister said.
Amazon.com Inc. will let corporate employees work from home through June 2021, the latest company to push back re-opening offices as Covid-19 cases surge again across the US. Japanese movie goers meanwhile defied the pandemic, setting a box-office record for a comic-book film. Globally, the infections have topped 40.7 million, with over 1.1 million deaths.
Commuters wearing face masks as a precautionary measure against the coronavirus wait for a bus in Kolkata(AP Photo/Bikas Das)
Maharashtra's COVID-19 tally on Wednesday increased to 16,17,658 with the single-day rise of 8,142 cases. The state also reported 180 deaths, which took the fatality count to 42,633. A total of 23,371 patients were discharged during the day after treatment, taking the tally of recovered people to 14,15,679. With this, the number of active patients in the state stands at 1,58,852. Mumbai city reported 1,609 positive cases during the day, which pushed its overall case count to 2,45,869, while its death toll rose to 9,912, of which 48 were reported today. Pune city added 442 COVID-19 cases, raising its tally to 1,69,178, while three deaths took toll to 3,876.
Rajasthan recorded 14 more fatalities due to COVID-19 on Wednesday, taking the death toll due to the disease in the state to 1,778, according to a health department bulletin. The state also reported 1,810 fresh cases of the disease, pushing the total number of people infected with COVID-19 to 1,78,933. Of these, 19,185 are under treatment. According to the bulletin, 1,57,960 COVID-19 patients have been discharged from various hospitals of the state till now. Jaipur has reported the highest number of deaths due to the coronavirus in the state at 355, followed by Jodhpur (171), Bikaner (132), Ajmer (130), Kota (113), Bharatpur (90), Pali (74), Udaipur (63), Nagaur (53), Alwar (51), Sikar (48), Barmer (33), Dholpur (28), Rajsamand (27) and Banswara and Baran (26 each).
As many as 2.67 lakh people have recovered from COVID-19 in Kerala, while the infection count has almost reached the 3.50 lakh mark with 8,369 fresh cases on Wednesday, the state government said. The death toll climbed to 1,232 with 26 fatalities. As many as 7,262 were infected through contact and the source of infection of 883 people is not yet known. In the last 24 hours, 62,030 samples were tested,Health minister K K Shailaja said in a press release. According to the release, with 6,839 people getting cured today, recoveries mounted to 2,67,082. So far, 40,91,729 samples have been sent for testing. The total infections mounted to 3,48,791 with the addition of the fresh cases. Sixty-four health workers and 160, who had come from outside the state, were among those who tested positive. (PTI)
Active cases of Covid-19 in India settled below the 7.5-lakh mark for the second successive day, while the national case fatality rate (CFR) has dropped to 1.51 per cent, the Union Health Ministry said on Wednesday. The Centre has advised states and UTs to aim at bringing down the CFR below 1 per cent.
Countries across Europe are battling coronavirus infection spikes with new lockdowns, curfews, face mask orders and virus tracking smartphone apps.
In a small indication of success, Spain”s government said it won”t extend a state of emergency in the Madrid region when it expires Saturday, but will look to more local measures.
But as a resurgence of the global pandemic sweeps across the continent, local and national governments also are facing swelling opposition to the new measures. Britain”s government on Tuesday said it will impose tough new measures on Greater Manchester, sparking anger from the region”s mayor. More details here.
Cathay Pacific Airways Ltd. will cut about 5,300 jobs based in Hong Kong and and close its Cathay Dragon unit as part of a sweeping restructuring of the city’s flag carrier triggered by the hit to air travel from the coronavirus pandemic.
Another 600 Cathay workers outside of Hong Kong may also be affected, and 2,600 currently unfilled positions will be eliminated. The entire reductions of some 8,500 jobs amount to around 24% of Cathay’s headcount, one of the largest hits in aviation globally since the outbreak started.
“The future remains highly uncertain and it is clear that recovery is slow,” Cathay said in Wednesday’s statement. “The management team has concluded that the most optimistic scenario it can responsibly adopt is one in which, for the year 2021, the company will be operating at well under 50% of the passenger capacity it operated in 2019.”
South Yorkshire in northern England will move into the very high lockdown tier on Saturday to tackle rising levels of COVID-19 infections, the mayor of the Sheffield City Region Dan Jarvis said on Wednesday. The area has agreed a funding package worth 41 million pounds ($53.5 million) to support businesses that will have to close and for additional public health measures. Regions in the north of England have been most severely affected by the second wave of COVID-19. South Yorkshire will join Liverpool and Lancashire in the highest tier. Prime Minister Boris Johnson said on Tuesday he would impose the same measures in Manchester after failing to agree a support package with local leaders.
‘COVIRAP,’ a diagnostic machine developed by IIT Kharagpur researchers, has been successfully validated for its efficacy in COVID-19 detection by the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR).
Professor V K Tewari, Director, IIT Kharagpur told media persons at a virtual conference that various commercial units have already approached the institute for technology licensing to enable a rapid reach of this innovation to the common people. This new testing method implements a highly reliable and accurate molecular diagnostic procedure, conducted in an ultra-low-cost portable device unit, and costs around Rs 500 per test, Tewari said.
Tamil Nadu Tuesday saw a drop in cases, with 3,094 patients testing positive for Covid-19, taking the overall tally to 6,94,030. The death toll rose to 10,471 after 50 more people succumbed to the virus.
A total of 80,371 samples were tested on Tuesday; the state has tested 91,12,067 samples so far. There are still 36,734 active cases in Tamil Nadu. As many as 4,403 patients were discharged from hospitals after recovering from the virus. The total number of recoveries has now increased to 6,46,555.
Chennai reported 857 cases followed by Coimbatore with 263, Chengalpattu with 191, and Salem with 169.
Australian authorities say they're treating a COVID-19 case in the city of Melbourne as a rare reinfection. The only coronavirus case reported in the former hot spot of Victoria state on Tuesday had also tested positive to COVID-19 in July. Victoria Premier Dan Andrews said Wednesday an expert panel had decided to classify the case as a reinfection rather than shedding viral remnants of the July infection. Andrews says the classification reflected “an abundance of caution” rather than conclusive evidence. He assumed further testing would be conducted into the case in search of a definitive result. Melbourne has been in lockdown since early July, but restrictions in Australia's second-largest city are easing this week as daily infection tallies remain low. Victoria reported three new cases on Wednesday. The state's second wave peaked at 725 new infections in a day in early August
Amazon.com Inc. will let corporate employees work from home through June 2021, the latest company to push back re-opening offices as Covid-19 cases surge again across the US. “We continue to prioritize the health of our employees and follow local government guidance,” an Amazon spokeswoman said in an email. “Employees who work in a role that can effectively be done from home are welcome to do so until June 30, 2021.” The Seattle-based company had previously said workers could stay home until early 2021. Uncertainty around school re-openings — and abrupt closures tied to coronavirus outbreaks — has complicated the return to work for parents of school-aged children.
Thailand received a group of tourists from China on Tuesday, its first such arrivals since commercial flights were banned in April to combat the coronavirus pandemic, the visitors seemingly undeterred by escalating street demonstrations in Bangkok.
Thirty-nine tourists from Shanghai arrived on Tuesday night, the deputy director of the country's main Suvarnabhumi Airport, Kittipong Kittikachorn, said in a statement.
Thai public television showed masked tourists exiting the airport, with officials in full protective equipment spraying their luggage with disinfectant. Outside, some of the tourists donned face shields and put on rubber gloves as they prepared to board buses to their hotels. The arrivals come as anti-government protesters continue to defy a ban on gatherings after authorities declared a severe emergency situation in Bangkok.
One in five people, who died of Covid-19 between March and October, were suffering from both diabetes mellitus and hypertension. These two co-morbid conditions were the most common, followed by pneumonia, Delhi government’s reply to a Right to Information (RTI) application filed by The Indian Express states.
Almost 45 % of people did not have any co morbid conditions. Data shows that between March 1 and September 30, 5,509 deaths were tagged as Covid deaths in the city. Complete age and gender data was available in 5,283 cases. Of these, 1,086 people were suffering from both diabetes mellitus and hypertension, following by 989 people who were suffering from pneumonia. 695 people had diabetes mellitus only and 678 had hypertension.
Melania Trump’s return to the campaign trail will have to wait. The first lady has decided against accompanying President Donald Trump to a campaign rally Tuesday in Erie, Pennsylvania, because of a lingering cough after her bout with COVID-19, said Stephanie Grisham, her chief of staff.
It was to be Mrs. Trump’s first public appearance since recovering from the coronavirus, as well as her first time out on the campaign trail in more than a year. The first lady’s announcement served as yet another reminder for the president that, as much as he wishes the virus would “just disappear” _ as he has said _ it remains a powerful presence in everyday life, including his.
With 54,044 new cases reported across the country on Tuesday, the coronavirus infection has now affected over 7.6 million people in India. As many as 717 deaths were reported in the last 24 hours, taking the toll to 1,15,914. Of the 76,51,108 cases, 7,40,090 cases are still active, while recoveries stand at 67,95,103.
Several IDs apart from the unique digital health ID under the National Digital Health Mission (NDHM) would be prescribed for the Covid-19 vaccination drive expected next year, the government said on Tuesday. Asked whether the NDHM digital ID would be mandatory to receive the vaccine, Union Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan said at the weekly briefing on Covid-19 that in order to ensure no one was deprived of vaccination, multiple IDs would be used during the inoculation drive. Read our explainer on what the health id is
The Maharashtra government has capped the prices of N-95, double and triple layer masks for suppliers and private hospitals in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, state health minister Rajesh Tope has said. Wearing mask in public places is mandatory for all citizens as part of the government's guidelines to prevent the spread of the coronavirus infection. "We have put a cap on the prices of masks and the rates which can be quoted by their suppliers and private hospitals," Tope said on Tuesday. The N-95 masks can be supplied in the state in the price range of Rs 19 to Rs 49, while double and triple layer masks will be available at Rs 3 to Rs 4 per unit, he said.