Coronavirus: Centre orders Patanjali to stop advertising its medicines, TN reports 2,516 new cases

10.55 pm: Here are the day’s top updates on the pandemic.

10.40 pm: Pune reports 820 new cases and 13 deaths in 24 hours. The total number of cases rises to 16,851 and the toll stands at 617.

10.34 pm: Mumbai reports 846 new cases and 42 deaths in a day. The total number of positive cases rises to 68,481 and the toll to 3,842.

10 pm: New cases reported today:

Uttar Pradesh: 576 new cases, 19 deaths; total rises to 18,893, toll now 588,

Rajasthan: 395 new cases, nine deaths; total rises to 15,627; toll now 365,

Maharashtra: 3,214 new cases, 248 deaths; total rises to 1,39,010, toll now 6,531,

Telangana: 879 new cases, three deaths; total cases rises to 9,553, toll now 220.

9.30 pm: The Karnataka government will establish fever clinics at all district and taluk-level hospitals, ANI reports. These clinics will screen fever cases 24/7 in separate area, and people with Influenza Like Illness and Severe Acute Respiratory Illness will be made to undergo swab testing.

8.33 pm: Ahmedabad reports 235 new coronavirus cases and 15 deaths, taking its tally to 19,386 and fatalities to 1,363, according to PTI.

8.26 pm: Beijing’s mass testing for the coronavirus will soon enter a “fast track”, reports Reuters. The Chinese capital can now administer more than 3,00,000 nucleic acid tests per day compared with 40,000 in March, Zhang Hua, deputy director at the Beijing Municipal Health Commission, tells reporters.

8.20 pm: West Bengal reports 370 new coronavirus cases, taking the state’s tally to 14,728, according to ANI.

8.18 pm: Delhi Lieutenant Governor Anil Baijal appoints Principal Secretary (Home) BS Bhalla as the nodal officer for coronavirus management in the national Capital, reports ANI.

8.15 pm: Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal thanks Union Home Minister Amit Shah for helping the government tackle the coronavirus crisis. “Indian army, doctors, healthcare workers, the Centre and the Delhi government have joined forces and working together,” he tweets. “I believe that we can defeat the coronavirus together. During difficult times, thank you for helping the Delhi government and its residents.”

8.08 pm: The Indian Council of Medical Research has advised state governments to take required steps to ramp up coronavirus testing by deploying combination of various tests.

8 pm: Delhi reports 3,947 new coronavirus cases, taking the total number of cases to 66,602, according to a health bulletin released by the Delhi government. This is the biggest single-day spike in the number of cases so far. With 68 new deaths, the toll has risen to 2,301.

7.47 pm: More new cases in states/UTs, according to ANI.

• Manipur: 23 new cases, total rises to 921.
• Ladakh: 85 new cases, total rises to 783.
• Jammu and Kashmir: 148 new cases, total rises to 6,236 
• Punjab: 162 new cases, total rises to 4,397

7.16 pm: Seven more Pakistan cricketers, including Muhammad Hafeez and Wahab Riaz, have tested positive for the coronavirus, taking the total to 10, reports PTI.

7.10 pm: Karnataka Health Minister B Sriramulu says the government may have to think about imposing lockdown in Bengaluru if coronavirus cases continue to rise, reports PTI.

7.07 pm: “Armed Forces personnel have been detailed for providing medical care and attention to Covid patients housed in the railway coaches in Delhi,” tweets Amit Shah. “8,000 additional beds have already been placed at Delhi government’s disposal for making Covid care centres, as per requirement.”

7 pm: Union Home Minister Amit Shah responds to Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal’s letter on coronavirus facilities, saying a 1,000 bed full-fledged hospital with 250 ICU beds is being developed for patients in Delhi.

6.57 pm: Karnataka reports 322 fresh coronavirus cases, taking the state’s tally to 9,721. With eight new deaths, the toll has risen to 150. Meanwhile, over 6,000 people have recovered from the infection in the state.

6.55 pm: Tamil Nadu reports 2,516 new coronavirus cases, 1,227 discharges, and 39 deaths today, according to ANI. With this, the number of cases has risen to 64,603 and toll stands at 833.

6.46 pm: The Ministry of AYUSH has ordered Patanjali Ayurveda Limited to stop advertising the company’s medicines developed to cure coronavirus until such claims have been examined. Yoga guru Ramdev, who founded Patanjali, claimed earlier in the day that the medicines showed “100% favourable results” in clinical trials. There are currently no certified vaccines or drugs to treat or prevent Covid-19, the respiratory illness caused by the novel coronavirus.

The ministry has asked Patanjali to provide at the earliest details like the composition of the medicines, the results of its research, the hospitals where the research was conducted, whether the company had a clearance from the Institutional Ethics Committee and whether it had registered for the clinical trials.

6.42 pm: Kerala reports 141 new coronavirus cases and one death. The state now has 3,451 total infections.

6.40 pm: Former Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis alleges that the state government is showing less coronavirus cases, reports ANI. “Biggest mistake is to show less numbers,” he adds. “Testing protocols that were needed, weren’t made. In cities like Mumbai, they’re testing 4,000 to 4,500 people in a day and we find 1,500 positive cases. State is trying to show less number.”

5.59 pm: The Centre says it is examining requests by the United States and other countries to operate special repatriation flights, hours after America restricted Air India’s “Vande Bharat” services alleging “unfair and discriminatory practices”, NDTV reports. The civil aviation ministry also said it is exploring bilateral arrangements with countries to bring back Indians from various parts of the world.

5.54: The Tripura government serves notices to 11 private and unaided schools for increasing fees during the lockdown period, in violation of the directives issued by the education department, state minister Ratan Lal Nath says, according to PTI.

5.48 pm: Tennis player Novak Djokovic says he has tested positive for the coronavirus, AFP reports.

5.32 pm: Thane Mayor Naresh Mhaske asks the civic administration to register a criminal case against a private hospital for allegedly failing to admit a coronavirus patient on time, which resulted in his death, PTI reports.

5.30 pm: The Delhi Court observes that civilian cooks working in the Indian Air Force, cannot be permitted to return home after duty hours every day, as they are likely to spread the coronavirus infection among air force personnel, PTI reports.

5.23 pm: British Prime Minister Boris Johnson announces pubs, restaurants, hotels and hair salons can open in the United Kingdom from July 4, BBC reports.

5.18 pm: The Ministry of Commerce and Industry, makes it mandatory for sellers to enter the “country of origin” while registering all new products on the Government e-Marketplace, in a bid to promote “Make in India” and “Atmanirbhar Bharat”.

5.15 pm: Two patients of the coronavirus died in Jammu and Kashmir in the last 24 hours, taking the total number of fatalities from the disease in the Union Territory to 87, PTI reports.

5.13 pm: US President Donald Trump signed an executive order on Monday suspending new applications for a number of foreign worker visas until the end of 2020. This includes the H-1B limited-term work visa sought by tens of thousands of Indian citizens every year, Trump issued the order citing adverse conditions for the US economy in the aftermath of the Covid-19 crisis.

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H-1B: What you need to know about Donald Trump’s executive order suspending US work visas till 2021

5.10 pm: Union Home Minister Amit Shah deploys medical personnel from the Indo-Tibetan Border Police to run India’s biggest facility being set up for Covid patients in south Delhi, the Hindustan Times reports. The facility, set up at a Radha Soami Satsang Beas complex in Chattarpur locality, is reportedly equipped to accommodate 10,200 patients.

5.01 pm: Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister YS Jaganmohan Reddy orders a comprehensive screening for coronavirus across the state on Tuesday, as 462 cases and seven deaths were reported over the last 24 hours, NDTV reports. The state now has 9,834 infections and the toll from the disease is 119.

4.58 pm: Saudi Arabia’s Hajj Minister Muhammad Benten says that this year’s Hajj pilgrimage will only see at the most a few thousand pilgrims because of the concerns over the spread of the coronavirus, AP reports.

4.56 pm: The number of coronavirus cases in Chandigarh rises to 415, including six deaths, ANI reports, quoting the figures released by the health department.

4.55 pm: Nepal’s coronavirus tally crosses the 10,000-mark, after 538 new cases were reported in the last 24 hours, ANI reports, quoting the country’s health ministry. The national tally now stands at 10,099.

4.43 pm: No new cases of the coronavirus were reported in Mizoram on Tuesday, PTI reports. The state has recorded 142 infections so far.

4.40 pm: The Union Health Ministry says that India has one Covid-19-related death per lakh of population as against the global average of 6.04, adding that it is one of the lowest in the world, PTI reports. This is because of the timely detection of cases, extensive contact tracing and effective clinical management done by the government, it claims.

4.27 pm: The Assam government imposes a ward-wise lockdown in Guwahati, in view of the rising number of coronavirus cases in the city. This came a day after Health Minister Himanta Biswas had recommended the model and expressed the possibility that the spread of the virus in the city was in the community transmission stage.

4.25 pm: The Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai launches a mobile application “Air-Venti” to help residents in the city find out about the availability of the intensive care unit beds and ventilators available in the government and private hospitals around them.

4.19 pm: Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Adityanath directs officials to set up coronavirus help desks in all police stations, hospitals and government offices across the state, PTI reports.

4.16 pm: Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal writes to Union Home Minister Amit Shah inviting him to inspect a new Covid-19 facility with 10,000 beds in Chattarpur locality, ANI reports.

4.06 pm: All schools and colleges in West Bengal will remain closed till July 31, in light of the coronavirus pandemic, Education Minister Partha Chatterjee says, according to ANI.

3.49 pm: The Punjab government announces that it will reopen hotels, restaurants, marriage halls and other hospitality services at 50% capacity, ANI reports. However, establishments are expected to adhere to the standard operating procedure laid down by the home ministry to contain the spread of Covid-19 at all times, Chief Minister Amarinder Singh says.

3.43 pm: The Agra administration asks Priyanka Gandhi to withdraw her claims regarding the number of Covid-19 deaths reported in the district, saying they are “misleading and false”, PTI reports.

This came after the Congress leader on Monday had tweeted a media report which claimed that 28 coronavirus patients died within 48 hours of hospitalisation in Agra. Gandhi said this was a matter of shame for the Uttar Pradesh government, and accused the administration of suppressing the truth.

3.27 pm: The United Kingdom government sets out a “bounce back” plan of trade measures for the agriculture, food and beverage industry, to help revive businesses affected by the economic fallout of the coronavirus, PTI reports.

3.11 pm: Former Karnataka Chief Minister HD Kumaraswamy urges the state government to impose a lockdown for another 20 days, NDTV reports. “An immediate shutdown should be announced in Karnataka, especially for Bengaluru,” he adds. “Bengaluru will become another Brazil if tighter restrictions are not in place.”

Karnataka has over 9,000 cases of the coronavirus so far and the toll from it is 142.

3.02 pm: The Union Law Ministry changes the Conduct of Election Rules to allow coronavirus patients in Bihar to cast their vote using postal ballots in the Assembly election due later this year, PTI reports.

2.56 pm: Two more persons test positive for the coronavirus in Meghalaya, taking the total tally of infections in the state to 46, Chief Minister Conrad K Sangma says, according to PTI.

2.46 pm: A servitor of Puri Jagannath Temple tests positive for the Covid-19 amid the ongoing Rath Yatra, District Collector Balwant Singh says, according to The News Minute.

2.43 pm: Nine more people test positive for Covid-19 in Arunachal Pradesh, raising the state’s tally of infections to 148, PTI reports.

2.37 pm: The number of coronavirus cases in Himachal Pradesh rises to 756 after 29 more infections were reported on Tuesday, ANI reports, quoting the state health department.

2.35 pm: The number of coronavirus cases in South Africa cross the one lakh-mark, to make up one-third of the total infections recorded in the African continent, AP reports.

1.46 pm: Rashtriya Janata Dal National Vice President Raghuvansh Singh resigns from his post, ANI reports. Singh is currently undergoing treatment at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences in Patna, after he tested positive for the coronavirus.

1.31 pm: Sisodia says that Baijal’s order has also put the ambulance system under pressure, as the police are pressuring patients to visit a quarantine centre, ANI reports “The former system was better, wherein a government team used to visit patients’ residence for clinical assessment,” he adds.

1.19 pm: Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia says he has requested Lieutenant Governor Anil Baijal to withdraw an order that says every Covid-19 patient in the city is required to visit a quarantine centre for clinical assessment, as it is building a lot of pressure on people, ANI reports.

1.08 pm: The Centre and the Central Board of Secondary Education tell the Supreme Court that a decision on whether to scrap the remaining exams of Class 12 students, in view of the surge in coronavirus cases, is likely to be taken on Wednesday, PTI reports.

Read more here:

Coronavirus: CBSE to inform Supreme Court about pending board exams by Thursday

1.02 pm: Andhra Pradesh reports 462 new cases of the coronavirus and eight deaths in the last 24 hours, ANI reports, quoting the state health department’s figures. With this, the total number of cases in the state rises to 9,834 and the toll from the disease is 119.

12.52 pm: The Karnataka government issues a notification on the sharing of beds in private hospitals between patients referred to the facility by the government and those who come on their own, ANI reports.

It further announced a cap on treatment package rates for those referred by public health facilities in the range of Rs 5,200 to Rs 10,000. The rate for patients who approach private hospitals directly will be in the range of Rs 10,000 to Rs 25,000.

12.51 pm: Pakistan reports 105 more fatalities from Covid-19 in the last 24 hours, taking the toll to 3,695, PTI reports, quoting the health ministry. The total number of coronavirus cases in the country rises to 1.85 lakh.

12.45 pm: Yoga guru Ramdev claims his company, Patanjali, has come up with an Ayurvedic cure for the coronavirus, ANI reports. “We conducted a clinical case study [of the medicine] and a controlled trial, and found that 69% of the patients recovered in three days and 100% of them recovered in a week,” he says.

12.36 pm: Bahujan Samaj Party chief Mayawati says the developments at a state-run shelter home in Kanpur once again shows the indifferent attitude of the Uttar Pradesh government towards the protection of woman. This came after 57 girls living in the shelter home were tested positive for the coronavirus over the last week. Five of the girls were found to be pregnant.

“It is the demand of the BSP that the Uttar Pradesh government should not cover up the incident of Kanpur shelter home but take strict action against the culprits by conducting a high-level and fair investigation,” she tweets.

12.07 pm: China reports 29 newly cases of the coronavirus, including 13 in Beijing, on Tuesday, PTI reports.

11.55 am: Union Minister for Minority Affairs Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi says the Centre has decided to not send Muslim pilgrims for Hajj this year upon Saudi Arabia’s request, PTI reports.

11.38 am: Under the PM CARES fund, Rs 2,000 crore has been allocated for the supply of 50,000 ventilators, which are produced in India, to government-run Covid-19 hospitals across the country, the Prime Minister’s Office says in a statement. Further, a sum of Rs. 1000 crore has been allocated for the welfare of migrant labourers, it adds.

11.35 am: Former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, who is also present at the CWC meeting, says the pandemic is not being tackled with the courage and magnitude needed to tackle the crisis.

11.32 am: “The mismanagement of the pandemic will be recorded as one of the most disastrous failures of the Modi government,” Gandhi adds. “Actually, people have been left to protect themselves as best as possible.”

11.27 am: At the Congress Working Committee meeting which is underway, party president Sonia Gandhi says that despite the repeated assurances of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the pandemic continues to rage in the country, party spokesperson Randeep Surjewala tweets.

Gandhi accuses Modi of centralising all authority in his hands and says: “The Centre has passed the buck to the state governments, but given them zero extra finances.”

11.14 am: A total of 71.37 lakh samples have been tested for the coronavirus by the Indian Council of Medical Research so far. Of these, 1.87 lakh samples were done on Monday.

11.10 am: The tally of coronavirus cases in Odisha, where the Rath Yatra festival began on Tuesday, rises to 5,470 after 167 more infections were reported in a day, ANI reports.

11.04 am: Rajasthan records 199 new cases of the coronavirus cases till 10.30 am on Tuesday, ANI reports, quoting the state health department’s figures. The total tally of infections in the state now is 15,431 and the toll is 356.

11.00 am: The United States restricts the movement of repatriation flights run by Air India under the “Vande Bharat mission”, saying the Indian government is engaging in “unfair and discriminatory” practices, Wion reports.

Read more here:

US accuses Indian charter flights of ‘unfair practices’, passes order to scrutinise every case

10.12 am: Congress President Sonia Gandhi has asked Prime Minister Narendra Modi to continue the supply of 5 kg free foodgrains to “priority households” for another three months. She has also demanded that the Centre issue temporary ration cards to all such households to address the hunger crisis amid the coronavirus pandemic.

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Coronavirus: Sonia Gandhi asks PM Modi to continue free food supply to households for 3 more months

10.10 am: Arunachal Pradesh’s tally rises to 126 after nine people tested positive, reports PTI. The state now has 44 active cases, while 22 patients have recovered from the disease, says Surveillance Officer L Jampa.

9.42 am: The Punjab government has decided to set up four laboratories to scale up the testing capacity by an additional 4,000, reports The Indian Express. Currently, the state on an average carries out 9,000 tests a day. The state government also decided to appoint 131 essential staff and four assistant professors on ad hoc basis at these new laboratories.

9.27 am: The 2021 Golden Globes awards have been postponed and will now take place on February 28. The ceremony is usually held on the first Sunday of the calendar year.

9.17 am: India’s coronavirus tally rises to 4,40,215 with 14,933 new cases in 24 hours. The toll climbs to 14,011 with 312 new deaths.

9.01 am: Former Karnataka Chief Minister HD Kumaraswamy says Bengaluru should be shut down for 20 days amid rising cases.

8.41 am: Karnataka Medical Education Minister K Sudhakar’s wife and daughter have tested positive. The minister and his two sons have tested negative. Sudhakar’s father PN Keshava Reddy was admitted to a hospital after he tested positive on Monday, according to PTI. Earlier, the domestic help had tested positive.

8.30 am: Saudi Arabia bans international visitors from making the Islamic pilgrimage, or Hajj, this year, reports Sahara Reporters. Only a very limited number of people currently living in the kingdom may take part.

8.24 am: Priests gather at Puri Jagannath Temple for Rath Yatra.

8.02 am: China reports 22 new cases, says the National Health Commission. Of these, 13 are in Beijing.

7.57 am: United States President Donald Trump signs an executive order to suspend several categories of foreign work visas, including the H1-B visa that is highly sought-after by Indian IT professionals, till the end of 2020. This comes amid a sharp increase in unemployment rate in the US because of the coronavirus pandemic.

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7.35 am: The Odisha government launches massive test drive for 1,500 people who will pull chariots today, reports News18. “We will have to collect samples from at least 1,500 people and get them examined by 11 am on Tuesday as chariot pulling is scheduled to start from 12 noon,” a health department official tells the news network.

7.34 am: United States President Donald Trump says the country has done “too good a job” on testing for cases.

7.33 am: The Gujarat High Court decides to continue with its stay on Rath Yatra processions across the state, reports The Indian Express.

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Coronavirus: Gujarat HC refuses to allow Rath Yatra in Ahmedabad in 2 am order

7.31 am: The Delhi Health Department on Monday night issued Standard Operating Procedure that said people who test positive by the rapid antigen method will be examined by a medical officer at the testing site to assess the severity of the illness, reports PTI.

Those who have test positive in RT-PCR tests, a team of district surveillance officers will contact these patients over phone to assess the category of illness. For effective contact tracing, a dedicated team of callers will record details of the people who were in contact with Covid-19 positive cases.

7.15 am: Here are the top updates from Monday

• India’s coronavirus tally on Monday rose to 4,25,282 with 14,821 new cases in 24 hours. The toll climbed to 13,699 with 445 new fatalities. There have also been 2,37,196 recoveries so far. The cases in Maharashtra rose to 1,35,796, while the toll went up to 6,283. Delhi, meanwhile, surpassed Tamil Nadu to become the second worst-hit region in India, with 62,655 cases and 2,233 deaths. The total number of cases in Tamil Nadu was 62,087 as of Monday evening, and the toll stood at 794.
• The number of cases in the world crossed the 90-lakh mark on Monday. The coronavirus has infected 90,03,042 people globally so far, and 4,69,122 people have died of it, according to the Johns Hopkins University. More than 44 lakh people across the world have recovered.
• The Supreme Court said it would allow the Odisha government and the Centre to conduct the annual Rath Yatra at the Jagannath Temple in Puri. The bench said the yatra can be held with the coordination of the temple committee, and the state and central governments without compromising with the health of the devotees.
• The World Health Organization warned that the drug dexamethasone should only be used for patients with severe or critical Covid-19, and under close clinical supervision. “There is no evidence this drug works for patients with mild disease or as a preventive measure, and it could cause harm,” WHO chief Tedros Adhanom said.
• Assam Health Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said on Monday that the health department has recommended a ward-wise lockdown in Guwahati, in view of the rising number of coronavirus cases in the city. Sarma expressed the possibility that the spread of the virus in the city was in the community transmission stage. Meanwhile, Madurai corporation and nearby areas in Tamil Nadu will go under lockdown from June 24.
• Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said that testing capacity in the Capital has been ramped up amid rising coronavirus cases. He added that coronavirus patients under home isolation will be provided with pulse oximeters to measure their oxygen levels every few hours.
• The Centre said India has one of the lowest coronavirus cases per lakh population in the world and that the gap between recovered and active cases is continuously widening. The Union health ministry cited a World Health Organization report to support its claim. “India has one of the lowest cases per lakh population in spite of its high population density,” the ministry said in a statement. “India’s cases per lakh population are 30.04 while the global average is more than its triple at 114.67.”