Coronavirus LIVE Updates: India Restricts Export of Rapid Antigen Testing Kits With Immediate Effect

At 190, Mumbai Logs Lowest Covid Cases Since Apr 2020 | Mumbai reported 190 new coronavirus cases on Monday, the lowest daily count since April 2020, and three fresh deaths due to the infection, a civic official said. The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) official said with this, the tally of COVID-19 cases climbed to 7,39,526, while the death toll jumped to 15,992. Notably, the daily COVID-19 cases have dipped below the 200-mark in Mumbai for the first time since April 2020, whereas for the third time this month, the city logged three fatalities in a day. Earlier on August 3 and 9, the city had reported three fatalities on each day. READ MORE

India Restricts Export of Rapid Antigen Testing Kits | India restricts export of Covid-19 Rapid Antigen testing kits with immediate effect. The export was free so far.

Maha Allows All Shopping Malls To Open Till 10pm | All shopping malls in Maharashtra have been allowed to open till 10pm provided all employees, including managers and housekeeping staff, have valid ceritificate of second vaccine dose and 14 days have passed since the second dose. Children below 18 years are required to show age proof such as Aadhar card, valid school or college ID cards. 

Karnataka reports 1065 new #COVID19 cases, 1486 discharges and 28 deaths in the last 24 hours.

Total cases 29,30,529
Total recoveries 28,71,448
Death toll 37,007

Active cases 22,048 pic.twitter.com/KhgABWheGW

— ANI (@ANI) August 16, 2021

This is what Maharashtra's latest order states:

A) All shopping malls in the state are allowed to remain open till 10.00 pm on all days, provided all customers/citizens entering in the mall and all employees including managers and housekeeping staff, must have valid final COVID vaccination certificate of having received 2 doses and 14 days must have lapsed since the 2nd dose of vaccine. All customers/citizens need to show their final Covid vaccination certificate with photo identity proof at entry point of the mall.
 

B) Since, vaccination for population below 18 years has not yet started, all children below 18 years of age need to show document for their age proof like Aadhar card, Pan card issued by Income Tax department, valid school or college identity cards with mention of date of birth, at enty point of the mall.

Malls Can Open Till 10pm in Maha | Maharashtra allows malls to stay open till 10 pm on all days, but only fully-vaccinated people will be allowed entry on producing vaccine certificates.

10 More Delta Plus Variants Found in Maharashtra; Total Count Climbs to 76 | With 10 more delta plus variant infections of coronavirus detected, the total number of persons who have the variant in the state is now 76. Further, three strains of the variant have also been found through genome sequencing. Experts said that further epidemiological analyses have to be done on sub-lineages Ay.1, Ay.2 and Ay.3 to understand the transmission rate. READ MORE

Kerala Has Set an Example by Negative Vaccine Wastage: Health Min | Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya meets Kerala CM Pinarayi Vijayan and Kerala Health Minister Veena George. Mandaviya appreciates Kerala's Covid-19 containment and assures of more vaccines to the state. Kerala has one of the best health infrastructure and has shown an example by negative vaccine wastage. Kerala has vaccinated well above national average, the Union health secretary said. Kerala's Covid-19 death rate is also low.

COVID curfew to remain in force in the State from 6 am of August 17 to August 24, 6 am; vaccination exercise to continue during the curfew: Uttarakhand Government pic.twitter.com/j1SL75HCYj

— ANI (@ANI) August 16, 2021

Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya Arrives in Kerala to Review COVID-19 Situation | A central team led by Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya arrived in Kerala on Monday to review the COVID-19 situation in the state which is presently accounting for more than half of the nation's daily fresh infection caseload. Kerala on Sunday reported 18,582 new COVID-19 cases which was more than half of the national total of 32,937 fresh coronavirus cases.

COVID-19: Fresh Cases Fall Below 50 in Puducherry | The union territory of Puducherry reported less than 50 fresh coronavirus infections in the last 24 hours as the overall tally went up to 1,22,331, a senior official of the Health Department said on Monday. Puducherry and its outlying regions reported 49 new cases in the last 24 hours ending 10 AM on Monday at the end of the examination of 3,142 samples, Director of Health G Sriramulu said.

Arunachal Pradesh Reports 48 New COVID-19 Cases | Arunachal Pradesh reported 48 fresh COVID19 cases, pushing the virus tally in the northeastern state to 51,348, a senior health department official said here on Monday. The COVID19 death toll in the frontier state remained at 252 as no new fatality was reported in the past 24 hours, State Surveillance Officer (SSO) Dr Lobsang Jampa said.

Single-day rise of 32,937 COVID-19 cases, 417 fatalities pushes India's tally to 3,22,25,513, death toll to 4,31,642: Union health ministry

Mumbai Beaches to Open from 6am to 10pm | The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation on Monday ordered to open gardens, beaches, grounds and seafronts from 6am to 10pm amid Covid-19 pandemic in Mumbai.

Assam Reports 411 New COVID-19 Cases, 10 More Deaths | Assam on Sunday reported 10 more COVID19 deaths which took the toll to 5,492, according to a bulletin issued by the National Health Mission. The coronavirus caseload rose to 5,79,899 as 411 more people tested positive for the infection. Two fresh fatalities were registered in Jorhat and one each in Dibrugarh, Kamrup, Karbi Anglong, Morigaon, Nalbari, Sivasagar, Sonitpur, and West Karbi Anglong districts. The bulletin said 1,347 more COVID19 patients have died till now, but the government's Death Audit Board has not included them in the tally of deaths caused by coronavirus as they had other ailments too. Of the new cases, 90 were reported from Kamrup Metropolitan, followed by 25 in Sivasagar, 23 in Golaghat, and 22 in Lakhimpur.

Covid Hospitalisation Rates for Young Adults Hits Record in US | Amid the surge of the Delta variant in the US, hospitalisation rates for the adults in their 30s due to Covid-19 have hit record highs, making it the "pandemic of the young". New Covid-19 hospital admissions for patients in their 30s reached an average of 1,113 per day for the week that ended Wednesday, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

Canada's Covid Cases Surpass 1.45 Million | Canada's new Covid-19 cases continue rising, bringing the cumulative total to 1,451,211 cases, including 26,700 deaths, as of Sunday afternoon, according to CTV. At the national level, the Delta variant currently accounts for the majority of recently reported variant cases in the country, Xinhua reported.

Warning of tough days ahead with surging COVID-19 infections, the director of the National Institutes of Health said Sunday the U.S. could decide in the next couple weeks whether to offer coronavirus booster shots to more Americans this fall. Dr. Francis Collins also pleaded anew for unvaccinated Americans to get their shots, calling them sitting ducks for a delta variant that is ravaging the country and showing little sign of letting up. This is going very steeply upward with no signs of having peaked out, he said.