Coronavirus LIVE Updates: Congress leader Sachin Pilot said on Thursday evening that he has tested positive for the coronavirus infection and asked those who came in contact with him to get tested. "I have tested positive for Covid 19. Anyone who may have come in contact with me over the last few day, please get yourselves tested. Am taking appropriate doctoral advice. Hope to recover soon," he wrote on Twitter.
Days after seeking the views of parents, Tamil Nadu government on Thursday reversed its move to reopen schools from November 16 for classes 9-12 and said they shall continue to remain closed. While colleges were also earlier scheduled to function from November 16 , the government said colleges and varsities shall reopen from December 2 only for research scholars and final year postgraduate students of science and technology streams. "The opening of colleges for all other courses will be announced later," the government said in an official release adding hostels would be opened only for those students who shall resume studies from next month. Disclosing the outcome of state-wide consultations held with parents of private, government and aided schools on November 9 on starting classes for the 2020-21 academic year for higher standards, the government said the opinion was divided. Parents of some schools wanted the institutions to reopen, but others were against such a move in view of the coronavirus pandemic and the school education department analysed the opnions holistically, the release said. "The order on reopening schools from November 16 for classes 9-12 is cancelled. An announcement on reopening schools will be made later based on the situation," the government said based on the feedback received from parents. After Chief Minister K Palaniswami said on October 31 that schools and colleges would be allowed to reopen from November 16, DMK president M K Stalin hit out at the government for its "hasty" announcement. The leader of the opposition had said that a decision on reopening schools should be taken only in January 2021 after analysing the pandemic scenario.
In a span of 24 hours, India saw 47,905 new Covid-19 cases and 550 deaths, taking the total tally in the country to 8,683,916. The total fatalities are at 1,28,121 after the latest update of the Health Ministry. Meanwhile, Delhi recorded its biggest single-day jump of 8,593 COVID-19 cases on Wednesday that took its infection tally to over 4.59 lakh, while 85 new fatalities pushed the national capital's death toll to 7,228, authorities said. The total number of cases in the city stands at 4,59,975, according to the latest health department bulletin. These fresh cases came out of 64,121 tests -- 19,304 RT-PCR and 44,817 rapid antigen -- conducted the previous day. This is the highest number of RT-PCR tests conducted in a day till date, the bulletin said. The city's positivity rate stood at 13.4 per cent, it said. Delhi's previous highest single-day spike of 7,830 cases was recorded on Tuesday. It had also reported 83 deaths. The city recorded 85 fatalities on Wednesday which pushed the death toll to 7,228. The only time it recorded a higher number of deaths was on June 16 (93). The active cases tally on Wednesday rose to 42,629 from 41,385 the previous day, the bulletin said.
Here are the LIVE Updates on the Covid-19 Pandemic:
◕ The Delhi High Court on Thursday allowed the AAP government to reserve 80% of ICU beds for COVID-19 patients in 33 private hospitals, saying the situation in the national capital is fairly dynamic and cases of coronavirus are spiralling. A bench of Justices Hima Kohli and Subramonium Prasad allowed the appeal of Delhi government challenging a single judge's interim order staying the government's decision to reserve 80% of ICU beds.
◕ A Telangana Doctors Association is on a Strike to Resume 'Non-covid' Services at Hospital: Telangana Junior Doctors Association (T JUDA) has called for a strike, and has boycotted their duties, demanding the 'resumption of non-COVID services' at the Gandhi Medical College and Hospital in Secunderabad.
◕ Countries in Americas Not Ready for Vaccines That Need Very Cold Storage, Says WHO: Less developed countries in the Americas are not ready to handle messenger RNA vaccines, such as the one developed by Pfizer Inc, that need very low storage temperatures of minus 70 degree Celsius, the WHO's regional office said on Wednesday. This could become a challenge for transporting such vaccines in countries that do not have the cold storage capacity. Pfizer recently announced its vaccine is more than 90% effective based on initial trial results.
◕ Hope for vaccinations: The European Union could "optimistically" begin vaccinations against Covid-19 in the first quarter of 2021, the director of the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) says. US pharma giant Pfizer and Germany's BioNTech have lifted hopes by reporting on Monday that their coronavirus vaccine has shown 90 percent effectiveness in preliminary results of a trial still underway. The European Commission says it has approved a contract with the two groups to purchase up to 300 million doses of their vaccine. The US, which has pre-ordered 100 million doses, says vaccinations there could begin before the end of the year.
◕ Vaccine competition rages: Russia, determined to lead the race, claims its own vaccine Sputnik V is 92 percent effective. In Brazil, clinical trials of the Chinese-developed CoronaVac vaccine, suspended Monday after the death of a volunteer, are authorised to resume. CoronaVac has been caught up in a messy political battle in the country, where its most visible backer has been a leading opponent of President Jair Bolsonaro.
◕ Ukraine demos: All non-essential businesses in Ukraine will be shuttered for three weekends in November, the government says, despite protests in the capital Kiev against the new restrictions.
◕ Partial lockdown in Hungary: Hungary imposes a partial lockdown for at least 30 days. Gatherings are now forbidden, restaurants closed, cultural events cancelled and the curfew extended to 8:00 pm until 5:00 am.