Coronavirus: Bengaluru to go under complete lockdown from July 14 to 22 as cases surge

11 pm: Veteran actor Amitabh Bachchan says that he has tested positive for the coronavirus. He advises anyone who has been near him in the last 10 days to be tested too.

9.18 pm: Here are the top coronavirus updates from Saturday:

1. India registered a record single-day increase of 27,114 new cases, pushing the country’s tally to 8,20,916. The toll in the country stood at 22,123 with 519 new fatalities. More than 5.15 lakh people have recovered. Tamil Nadu reported 3,965 new cases and 69 deaths. The state’s total rose to 1,34,226, and the toll reached 1,898.
   
2. Several states are going back to strict lockdowns as coronavirus cases continue to rise. A complete lockdown will be imposed in Bengaluru from 8 pm on July 14 till 5 am on July 22. Only essential services will be available. Maharashtra’s Pune and Pimpri-Chinchwad cities will go under a complete lockdown from July 14 to July 23. The Uttar Pradesh government on Thursday announced a lockdown in the state till July 13 while Patna went under a week-long lockdown from July 10.
3. Maharashtra reported 8,139 new coronavirus cases and 223 deaths. With this, the state’s count rose to 2,46,600, and the toll went up to 10,116. World Health Organization Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, meanwhile, praised the government for its containment measures in Mumbai’s Dharavi slum. The area reported 11 new cases in the day, taking the overall count to 2,370. Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation’s assistant municipal cCommissioner died due to Covid-19.
   
4. Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday to cancel the examinations of Centre-run universities amid the coronavirus crisis. The Delhi government has decided to cancel all state university exams, including for the final-year, Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia said. West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee her Punjab counterpart Amarinder Singh also appealed to the prime minister to re-examine the UGC’s direction to colleges to conduct final examinations by the end of September.
   
5. The Drug Controller General of India approved the use of Itolizumab, a drug to cure psoriasis, for “restricted emergency use” to treat Covid-19 patients with moderate to severe acute respiratory distress.
   
6. Scientists from the Department of Science and Technology, Department of Biotechnology, Council of Scientific and Industrial Research and Principal Scientific Advisor K Vijay Raghavan told a parliamentary standing committee on Friday that a vaccine for the coronavirus could be expected only by early next year.
7. Delhi reported 1,781 new cases and 34 deaths on Saturday. The Capital’s total rose to 1,10,921 and the toll reached 3,334.
8. The global coronavirus count is now over 1.24 crore, while the toll has crossed 5.60 lakh, according to the Johns Hopkins University. More than 68 lakh people have recovered so far.
   

8.55 pm: New cases reported today:

West Bengal: 1,344 new cases, 26 deaths; total rises to 28,453, toll now 906,

Jammu and Kashmir: 268 new cases; total rises to 10,156, toll now 169.

8.50 pm: Mumbai reports 1,308 new cases and 39 deaths in 24 hours. As many as 1,497 people were discharged, the BMC says. This takes the city’s total count to 91,457, including 63,431 recovered, 22,779 active cases and 5,241 deaths.

8.45 pm: Assam activist Akhil Gogoi tests positive in prison, says Dasarath Das, inspector general of prisons, Assam. He had tested negative earlier in an antigen as well as the confirmatory RT-PCR test but tested positive in Saturday in an antigen test.

Gogoi was arrested in December for leading a protest against the Citizenship Amendment Act outside the Jorhat deputy commissioner’s office. The NIA said that Gogoi has been booked for “waging a war against the nation”, conspiracy and rioting. Three days later, the NIA booked the anti-corruption and Right to Information activist under the amended Unlawful Activities Prevention Act – that empowers the government to designate an individual as a “terrorist” if he or she is found to be committing, preparing for, promoting, or being involved in an act of terrorism.

He was granted bail on March 17 by a special NIA court after the investigating agency failed to file a chargesheet against him within the specified period of 90 days. However, he was arrested again, just two days later.

8.40 pm: Karnataka Chief Minister BS Yeddyurappa says detailed guidelines on the lockdown will be issued on Monday. “All essential services including supply of milk, vegetables, fruits, medicines and groceries will continue uninterrupted,” he adds.

8.35 pm: Assam Health Department issues fresh guidelines for management and treatment of coronavirus patients.

8.30 pm: Haryana reports 648 new cases and seven deaths, taking the total to 20,582, including 15,394 recoveries and 297 deaths, ANI reports.

8.16 pm: Maharashtra reports 8,139 cases and 223 deaths in a day. With this, the state’s count rises to 2,46,600, including 99,202 active cases, 1,36,985 discharged and 10,116 deaths.

8.05 pm: A complete lockdown will be imposed in Bengaluru from 8 pm on July 14 till 5 am on July 22. Only essential services will be available.

8 pm: Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation Assistant Municipal Commissioner dies due to Covid-19, The Times of India reports. More than 100 BMC workers have died so far.

7.50 pm: Total lockdown will be imposed on July 13 and July 14 in Shillong, ANI reports.

7.45 pm: New cases reported today:

Delhi: 1,781 new cases, 34 deaths; total rises to 1,10,921, toll now 3,334,

Gujarat: 872 new cases, 10 deaths; total rises to 41,027, toll now 2,034.

7.40 pm: Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh also writes to Prime Minister Narendra Modi seeking a revision of the UGC norms on conducting terminal exams.

7.15 pm: In Kerala, 488 new cases and two deaths reported in 24 hours, ANI reports. As many as 16 more areas have been designated as hotspots.

7 pm: The Assam Police extends lockdown in Kamrup Metropolitan area till July 19, ANI reports.

6.35 pm: West Bengal government writes to Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the revised guidelines issued by the UGC and the HRD ministry on conducting exams in universities and colleges.

6.30 pm: New cases reported today

Himachal Pradesh: Two new cases, total rises to 1,175; toll now 9,

Dharavi, Mumbai: 11 new cases, total rises to 2,370,

Tamil Nadu: 3,965 new cases, 69 deaths; total rises to 1,34,226, toll now 1,898.

5.35 pm: The Assam government will issue a notification on the extension of the lockdown in Kamrup Metropolitan area on Sunday, Health Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma says.

5.20 pm: Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren has tested negative for the coronavirus.

5.15 pm: Assam Health Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma says rapid antigen tests will be conducted on incoming air passengers.

5.10 pm: Andhra Pradesh reports 1,813 new cases and 17 deaths in 24 hours. This takes the state’s total to 27,235, including 12, 533 active cases and 309 deaths, ANI reports.

4.44 pm: Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal requests Prime Minister Narendra Modi to cancel the examinations of Centre-run universities amid the coronavirus crisis.

4.39 pm: Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister CN Ashwath Narayan says that the state government has not taken any decision on imposing a lockdown on Saturdays, PTI reports. “Looking at the situation, in future if there is such a need, the chief minister will decide,” he says.

4.25 pm: Uttar Pradesh reports 1,403 new coronavirus cases in 24 hours. With this, the state’s active cases rise to 11,490 and the deaths to 913, ANI reports.

3.10 pm: Bihar reports 709 new coronavirus cases, taking the state’s total to 15,039.

2 pm: Modi has reviewed the coronavirus situation in the country in a meeting attended by Union Minister of Home Affairs Amit Shah, Minister of Health and Family Welfare Dr Harsh Vardhan, and other officials, ANI reports. At the meeting, the prime minister reiterates the need for promoting personal hygiene and physical distancing in public places.

1.57 pm: Surgeons in New York have performed a double lung transplant on a second coronavirus patient on Friday, PTI reports. The patient, an Illinois man in his 60s, spent 100 days on extracorporeal membrane oxygenation, a life support system. Both his lungs had been damaged by the disease. He received the transplant last weekend at the Northwestern Memorial Hospital in Chicago.

1.53 pm: A team of health workers who had gone to collect swab samples from locals at the Poonthura fishing hamlet near Thiruvananthapuram on Friday were allegedly abused and coughed at by some agitated residents, PTI reports. Poonthura is one of the coronavirus hotspots in Kerala.

Read more here:

Kerala: Residents abuse, cough at Covid-19 healthcare team near Thiruvananthapuram

1.49 pm: Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia says the state government has decided to cancel all state university exams including final exams, ANI reports. “The degree will be awarded based on evaluation parameters decided by the universities,” he says. Sisodia says Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal has written a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi asking him to take a similar decision for colleges and universities falling under the Centre.

1.44 pm: Himachal Pradesh reports no new cases on Saturday, and one person has recovered, according to ANI. Total number of cases in the state is now at 1,171, including 274 active cases, 873 cured and nine fatalities.

1.38 pm: Meghalaya reports 76 new coronavirus cases, taking its tally to 215. As many as 45 people have recovered, says Chief Minister Conrad Sangma according to ANI.

1.30 pm: Arunachal Pradesh’s tally rises to 335 with 33 new infections, reports PTI. Of the new cases, there is a two-year-old child.

1.27 pm: Authorities in Jammu and Kashmir’s Rajouri district reimpose strict lockdown restrictions as cases surge, reports PTI. The entire Rajouri city and adjoining areas have been sealed and people have been asked to stay indoors.

1.25 pm: Russia reports 6,611 new cases, taking its tally to 7,20,547, according to Reuters. As many as 188 people died from the virus in the last 24 hours, pushing the toll to 11,205.

1.23 pm: Tokyo confirms 206 new infections, Reuters reports citing public broadcaster NHK. Cases have surged particularly in the Kabukicho red-light district.

1.14 pm: Earlier this week, the Union Home Ministry had allowed universities and institutions to conduct their final year examinations as per the guidelines of the University Grants Commission. The exams have been pending since March due to the imposition of a lockdown to contain the coronavirus.

The UGC said that the end-of-term exams can be held by September-end in offline, online, or blended (online + offline) modes. UGC added that terminal semester or final year students who have backlogs should compulsorily be evaluated by conducting exams.

1.10 pm: The Delhi government has decided to cancel all state university exams, including for the final-year, says Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia, according to ANI. “The degree will be awarded based on evaluation parameters decided by the universities,” he adds.

1.03 pm: Union Minister of Health and Family Welfare Harsh Vardhan says that the medical superintendent of the trauma centre at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences in New Delhi has been sacked, following the death of a journalist who had tested positive for the coronavirus.

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11.41 am: Odisha reports five deaths – two in Ganjam and one each in Cuttack, Puri and Bhubaneswar, says the health and family welfare department.

11.27 am: State-wise data

Rajasthan: 170 new cases and 2 deaths; tally stands at 23,344

Odisha: 570 new cases; tally stands at 12,526

11.24 am: Puducherry’s tally rises to 1,337, says the health department.

11.16 am: A French bus driver died on Friday, a week after he who was badly beaten by passengers for asking them to wear face masks, reports AFP. Philippe Monguillot, 59, was left brain dead by the attack in Bayonne town. Two men have been charged with attempted murder over the attack.

“The Republic recognises him as an exemplary citizen and will not forget him,” France’s Prime Minister Jean Castex tweets. “The law will punish the perpetrators of this despicable crime.”

11.02 am: Poll strategist Prashant Kishor reminds Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar that this is time to fight the coronavirus not elections.

11.01 am: Goa Chief Minister Pramod Sawant rules out the possibility of imposing further lockdown in the coastal state, reports PTI. “The lockdown was initially imposed to create awareness and educate people about coronavirus,” he adds. “That phase has passed now.”

10.50 am: The Goa government starts testing all the inmates of the central jail at Colvale after a jailor was found infected, reports PTI citing quoting state Health Secretary Nila Mohanan. “A couple of days back, we received information that one of the jailors has tested positive,” she adds. “After that we took samples of 42 others, including jailors, staff members and two-three jail inmates, who had come in contact with him. But all of them tested negative.”

10.43 am: Das says the pandemic perhaps represents so far the biggest test of robustness and resilience of our economic and financial system.

10.40 am: Covid-19 is the worst health and economic crisis in last 100 years with unprecedented negative consequences for output, jobs and well being, says RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das at the 7th SBI Banking and Economics Conclave. “It dented the existing world order, global value chains, labour and capital movements across globe,” he adds.

10.24 am: The Sikkim government will allow only those security personnel to enter the state who test negative, reports PTI. Rapid antigen tests will be conducted exclusively on all security personnel at the Rangpo border check-post from today.

“Those testing positive for COVID-19 during the rapid antigen tests will not be allowed to enter Sikkim and will be sent back to quarantine centres from where they came,” Director General-cum-Secretary of the Health Department Pemba T Bhutia tells PTI.

10.21 am: Volunteers sanitise Mysuru Palace.

10.19 am: Tripura’s tally rises to 1,776.

10.02 am: Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan urges citizens not to abandon the fight against Covid-19 as cases in the state surge.

10.01 am: Mumbai’s civic body appreciates WHO’s mention of Dharavi.

9.58 am: Nagaland reports 11 fresh infections, says S Pangnyu Phom, the state’s minister for health and family welfare.

9.55 am: Germany reports 378 new cases. With this, the country’s count rises to 1,98,556, according to Robert Koch Institute. The toll in Germany stands at 9,060 with six new deaths.

9.50 am: India registers a record single-day increase of 27,114 new cases, pushing the country’s tally to 8,20,916. The toll in the country stands at 22,123 with 519 new fatalities. More than 5.15 lakh people have recovered.

9.15 am: As many as 1,13,07,002 samples tested till July 10. On Friday, India tested 2,82,511 samples, says the Indian Council of Medical Research.

9.04 am: Mike Ryan, head of the World Health Organization’s emergencies programme, says it is currently unlikely that the new coronavirus can be eliminated.

9.03 am: Over 100 days since India first went into lockdown in March, 90 migrants were still waiting for news of a “gaadi” or a “vandi” – a Shramik train – that would take them home. So far, 100 trains have left Chennai carrying 1.35 lakh migrants, a senior official of Chennai Corporation said.

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8.42 am: Police personnel check IDs of commuters near Noida-Delhi border. Uttar Pradesh is under a lockdown from 10 pm on July 10 to 5 am on July 13.

8.40 am: Scientists from the Department of Science and Technology, Department of Biotechnology, Council of Scientific and Industrial Research and Principal Scientific Advisor K Vijay Raghavan tell a parliamentary standing committee that a vaccine for the coronavirus could be expected only by early next year, PTI reports.

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8.30 am: United States report a record 68,000 new cases, according to Reuters.

8.28 am: Victoria, Australia’s second-most populous state, reports 216 new cases.

8.27 am: The drug regulator has approved Itolizumab, a drug used to cure skin ailment psoriasis for “restricted emergency use” to treat Covid-19 patients with moderate to severe acute respiratory problem, reports PTI.

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8.17 am: Visuals from Prayagraj in Uttar Pradesh.

8.10 am: WHO chief praises Mumbai’s Dharavi slum for its containment efforts. Dharavi reported 12 new cases on Friday. The total number of cases in Asia’s largest slum is 2,359, but the number of active cases is just 166.

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Covid-19: WHO chief praises successful efforts at containment of virus in Mumbai’s Dharavi slum

7.35 am: California will release 8,000 prisoners to slow the spread of the virus, reports Reuters.

7.32 am: Brazil registers more than 70,000 deaths, AFP reports quoting official.

7.23 am: The Kolkata Police write to Abhishek Dalmiya, the president of the Cricket Association of Bengal, requesting him to allot five blocks of Eden Gardens to set up a makeshift quarantine centre for police personnel.

7.22 am: Assam’s tally crosses 15,000-mark with 936 more people testing positive, says Health Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma. The toll also rises to 35 with 8 new fatalities.

7.18 am: World Health Organization chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus says intense outbreaks of the new coronavirus can still be brought under control, reports AFP. “There are many, many examples from around the world,” said Ghebreyesus, adding that even if the Covid-19 outbreak is “very intense, it can still be brought back under control”.

7.10 am: Here are the key updates from Friday

• India registered a record single-day increase of 26,506 new cases on Friday morning, pushing the country’s tally to 7,93,802. The toll in the country stood at 21,604 with 475 new fatalities. More than 4.95 lakh people have recovered. The Centre said the recovery has improved to 62.42%.
• A 10-day lockdown will be imposed in Maharashtra’s Pune and Pimpri-Chinchwad cities from July 13 to July 23 due to surge in coronavirus cases. Essential services will be allowed during this period.
• Maharashtra recorded the highest single-day surge with 7,862 new coronavirus cases. The state’s tally rose to 2,38,461. With 226 new deaths, the toll stood at 9,893. Similarly, West Bengal reported its highest 24-hour rise in coronavirus cases for the third consecutive day, with 1,198 new infections. The state’s case count jumped to 27,109 and toll touched 880 after 26 casualties.
• Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan announced that lockdown will be extended in Thiruvananthapuram district for a week, and a “triple lockdown” will be imposed in its containment zones.
• Congress leader Rahul Gandhi said the decision to conduct final-year exams was unfair. The West Bengal government also wrote to the Centre objecting to its directive to universities and other academic institutions to conduct final-year examinations by the end of September. It urged the Ministry of Human Resource Development to reconsider the matter in the interest of the physical and mental well-being of students amid the coronavirus pandemic.    
• Karnataka Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa said that he will go into self-quarantine for five days after a few employees in his office-cum-residence tested positive for the coronavirus.
• The World Health Organization acknowledged that coronavirus may linger in the air in crowded indoor spaces, spreading from person to person. This came days after more than 200 scientists had urged the agency to revisit the research and revise its position.
• The global coronavirus count is now over 1.23 crore, while the toll has crossed 5.54 lakh, according to the Johns Hopkins University. More than 67 lakh people have recovered so far.