Senior Congress leader Ahmed Patel was admitted to Medanta hospital today. (file)Coronavirus India Live Updates: Senior Congress leader Ahmed Patel who has been battling Covid-19 for some weeks now, has been shifted to the intensive care unit (ICU) of Medanta Hospital in Gurgaon. Patel, 71, had announced on Twitter on October 1 that he had contracted coronavirus.
In a tweet Sunday, Ahmed Patel’s son Faisal said, “On behalf of his family, we would like to share that Shri Ahmed Patel had tested positive for Covid19 a few weeks ago. He has now been admitted to the Intensive Care Unit of Medanta Hospital, Gurgaon for further treatment.”
As the national capital continues to report a surge in Covid-19 cases, Union Home Minister Amit Shah will meet Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal later today to discuss the ongoing situation in Delhi. Union Health Minister Dr Harsh Vardhan and Delhi Governor Anil Baijal will also be present at the meeting, ANI reported.On account of the winter season and the large influx of patients from festive gatherings, Delhi could experience about 15,000 cases in a day soon, a report by National Centre for Disease Control noted.
India went past the 88 lakh mark after recording 41,100 new cases of Covid-19 in the 24 hours ending 9 am Sunday. The country’s total tally currently stands at over 88.14 lakh cases. With 447 people succumbing to the virus Saturday the death toll stands at 1,29,635. Out of the total cases, 4.79 lakh cases are active, while 82.63 lakh people have recovered after testing positive.
In other news, the covid-19 pandemic has threatened India’s progress in protecting children under the age of 5 against Pneumonia and diarrhoea, according to the annual Pneumonia and Diarrhoea Progress Report.
At least 26 more people tested positive for COVID-19 in Tripura on Sunday, pushing the tally in the state to 31,945, a health department official said.
The coronavirus death toll remained at 359 as no patient has succumbed to the infection in the last 24 hours, he said. On Saturday, 64 people were discharged from GB Pant Hospital, the main referral facility for COVID-19 patients in the state, taking the total number of recoveries to 30,455, the official said.
Tripura currently has 1,108 active cases and 23 coronavirus patients have migrated to other states. West Tripura district, of which state capital Agartala is a part, has accounted for 185 of the 359 COVID-19 deaths, the official said. The northeastern state has so far conducted 4,93,898 sample tests for COVID-19, he said.
"Altogether 2,97,499 rapid antigen tests were carried out and 1,96,399 samples tested through RT-PCR method," the official added.
Delhi recorded 3,235 fresh COVID-19 cases taking the infection tally in the national capital to over 4.85 lakh on Sunday, while the positivity rate climbed to 15.33 percent. Ninety-five more fatalities pushed the death toll to 7,614, authorities said.
These fresh coronavirus cases were detected from 21,098 tests conducted the previous day, the lowest since August 14, when 14,389 tests were done. Of the total tests conducted, 11,877 were rapid-antigen tests, and 9,221 were RT-PCR tests, the bulletin said. Delhi recorded a positivity rate of 15.33 per cent amid the festive season and rising pollution in the city, according to the bulletin issued by the Health Department.
At 3,235, it was also the lowest number of cases since October 26, when 2,832 cases were reported. The national capital had recorded its highest single-day spike of 8,593 COVID-19 cases on Wednesday.
On Thursday, 104 fatalities, the highest in a day in over five months, were recorded. The city had registered 93 deaths on June 16. On Sunday, authorities reported 95 more fatalities. The 10-day average death rate stands at 1.23 per cent, the bulletin said.
The total number of cases reported so far has climbed to 4,85,405.
Chief Minister of Manipur, N Biren Singh on Sunday announced that he has tested positive for Covid-19. "I have tested positive for COVID-19. I request all those who came in close contact with me recently, to self isolate and get tested," Singh tweeted.
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), more than 150 Covid-19 vaccines are presently in development, with around 44 candidates in clinical trials and 11 undergoing late-stage testing.
Read our full explainer here
With Karnataka seeing a drop in coronavirus cases since mid-October and more pandemic related restrictions being lifted, the state government has decided to simplify quarantine rules for international passengers arriving in the state. Now, those returning from other countries to the state, including at Bengaluru, can seek exemption from mandatory home quarantine on furnishing a Covid-19 negative certificate.(Read Ralph Alex Arakal's explainer here)
On Saturday, Delhi recorded 7,340 new cases of in a day, taking the infection tally to 4,82,170. The death toll increased to 7,519 with 96 new fatalites recorded in the last 24 hours.
These fresh cases were detected from 49,645 tests, including 19,635 RT-PCR ones, conducted the previous day. The positivity rate in the city was 14.78 per cent amid festivities and rising pollution.
The highest single-day spike of 8,593 cases was recorded on Wednesday and 85 fatalities were recorded that day. On November 12, the number of fatalities was 104, the highest in over five months.
Researchers have discovered new drug compounds that target a protein which enables the novel coronavirus and other viruses with pandemic potential to replicate in human cells, an advance that may lead to new therapeutics for COVID-19. According to the researchers, including those from the the University of Maryland in the US, these compounds disrupt the functioning of a protein complex inside human cells that are critical for the replication and survival of coronaviruses, including the one that causes COVID-19. The scientists believe the findings, published in the journal PNAS, could lead to the development of new broad-spectrum antiviral drugs that target viruses such as influenza, Ebola and coronaviruses like SARS-CoV-2.
Odisha's COVID-19 tally on Sunday mounted to 3,08,659 with 753 more people testing positive for infection, while 17 fresh fatalities pushed the state's toll to 1,527, a health department official said. Of the 753 cases, 434 were reported from quarantine centres, and the remaining detected during contact tracing. All 30 districts in the coastal state reported less than 100 cases each, the official said. Sundargarh recorded the maximum number of cases at 75, followed by Khurda at 74 and Nuapada at 65. (PTI)
As the national capital continues to report a surge in Covid-19 cases,Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Sunday will review the situation arising in Delhi in the wake of a spike in the number of coronavirus cases, officials said. Union Health Minister Dr Harsh Vardhan and Delhi Governor Anil Baijal will also be present at the meeting, ANI reported.
Of all the unknowns that accompany SARS-Cov-2 — the virus that’s known to cause Covid-19, one that’s 1,200 times smaller than the diameter of a hair strand and an invisible speck to the human eye — the least discussed is what it does to the human mind.
There is now increasing evidence that Covid-19, apart from causing lung, heart and kidney damage, can lead to anxiety, depression, psychosis, insomnia and memory fogs, making a person forgetful and disoriented.
A Lancet Psychiatry study published last week found that 18.1 per cent Covid patients had a psychiatric problem within 14 to 90 days of infection.(Read Tabassum Barnagarwala's report here)
India recorded 41,100 new cases of Covid-19 in the 24 hours ending 9 am Sunday. The country’s total tally currently stands at over 88.14 lakh cases. With 447 people succumbing to the virus Saturday the death toll stands at 1,29,635. Out of the total cases, 4.79 lakh cases are active, while 82.63 lakh people have recovered after testing positive.
Odisha's COVID-19 death toll crossed the 1,500-mark on Saturday as 15 more people succumbed to the infection, while 902 new cases pushed the tally to 3,07,906, a health official said. As many as 1,271 more people were cured of the disease, taking the state's recovery count to 2,96,516, he said, adding the recovery rate among the COVID-19 patients stands at 96.30 per cent. The case fatality ratio (CFR) stands at 0.49 per cent, the official said.
The state now has 9,827 active coronavirus cases. The number has plummeted below 10,000 for the first time in several months, he said. The state has so far tested over 52.19 lakh samples for COVID-19, including 47,830 on Friday. (PTI)
Johnson & Johnson will spend about $604 million expanding its deal with the U.S. government to develop a Covid-19 vaccine, seeking to catch up with rivals who have forged ahead in the race.
The Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority will commit about $454 million in additional money to the Phase 3 Ensemble trial, which seeks to evaluate the efficacy of the company’s vaccine candidate as a single-dose. (Read Bloomberg's report here)
Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray on Saturday said the places of religious worship across the state, which were shut since the COVID-19 lockdown in March, will reopen from Monday.
Extending greetings to people on the occasion of Diwali, he said, "We can't forget that the demon coronavirus is still amongst us. Even though this demon is slowly falling silent now, we cannot be complacent. Citizens need to follow discipline."
"Just like discipline and restraint were observed while celebrating Holi, Ganesh Chaturthi,Navratri and Pandharpur wari (annual pilgrimage), followers of other faiths also celebrated festivals like Eid, Mount Mary festival by keeping the COVID-19 safety protocol in mind," he said.
Scientists have found a key factor which may explain why the novel coronavirus predominantly affects adults and older people while seeming to spare younger children, an advance that may lead to the development of new treatment strategies for COVID-19.
According to the researchers, including those from the Vanderbilt University Medical Center (VUMC) in the US, children have lower levels of a receptor protein that the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 needs to invade airway epithelial cells in the lung. The findings, published in the Journal of Clinical Investigation, support efforts to block this protein to potentially treat or prevent COVID-19 in older people, the scientists said.
"Our study provides a biologic rationale for why particularly infants and very young children seem to be less likely to either get infected or to have severe disease symptoms," said Jennifer Sucre, a co-author of the study from VUMC.
After a viral particle is inhaled into the lungs, protein "spikes" attach to ACE2, a receptor on the surfaces of certain lung cells, the researchers explained. They said another cellular protein called TMPRSS2 chops up the spike, enabling the virus to fuse into the cell membrane and "break into" the cell. (PTI)
With only one day left for the opening of Sabarimala Lord Ayyappa temple for the annual Mandalam-Makaravilakku season, the Kerala government said elaborate arrangements have been made to ensure that no COVID-19 patient reaches the hill shrine for the pilgrimage.
The entirepilgrimage would be through the virtual queue system this time, so the usual heavy rush can be regulated, Devaswom Minister Kadakampally Surendran said after a high level meeting of officials to review the final preparations at the temple on Friday. Detailing various measures taken by the government to ensure a smooth pilgrimage in the wake of the pandemic, Surendran said each pilgrim, visiting the shrine, should carry a COVID negative certificate, taken within the last 24 hours. COVID-19 testing kiosks would be opened at Pampa and Nilakkal, the base camps, to help devotees to carry out the test before beginning the trekking.(PTI)
Jharkhand's COVID-19 tally mounted to 1,05,781 as 288 more people tested positive for the infection, a health department official said on Saturday.
Four new fatalities pushed the state's coronavirus death toll to 921, he said. The fresh deaths were reported from Ranchi, Bokaro,
Ramgarh and East Singhbhum. Ranchi district reported the highest number of new cases at 84, followed by Bokaro (45), East Singhbhum (29) and Dhanbad (26), the official said.
The state now has 3,291 active COVID-19 cases, while 1,01,569 people have been cured of the disease so far, he said. Jharkhand has tested 22,269 samples for COVID-19 in the last 24 hours, he added.
Delhi has witnessed a surge in daily new cases of Covid-19 for the last few days, with 7,802 cases reported in the last 24 hours. Surpassing Kerala and Maharashtra in terms of daily cases, the national capital is among the top 10 states and UTs reporting the maximum number of cases in the country. On Thursday, Delhi reported 7,053 new Covid cases — more than 5,537 in Kerala and 4,496 in Maharashtra.(Read Astha Saxena's report here)