The Centre on Tuesday said active cases are only 22.2% of total cases and recovery rate in India is more than 75%. More than 3.6 crore tests have been conducted so far, over 24 lakh patients have recovered, which is 3.4 times the active cases, it added.
Maharashtra recorded 10,425 new coronavirus cases, taking the total count to 7,03,823. The state had crossed the six lakh-mark on August 17. Meanwhile, India’s coronavirus tally rose to 31,67,323 cases after the country reported 60,975 new infections in 24 hours. The country’s toll rose by 848 to 58,390.
Globally, the coronavirus has affected more than 2.37 crore people. So far, 8.14 lakh people have died of the infection across the world, while 1.53 crore people have recovered, according the Johns Hopkins University’s tracker.
The national helpline number for the coronavirus is 011-23978046, and a toll-free number 1075.
These are the helpline numbers for states and the Union Territories.
10.52 pm: Germany is warning against travel to the Paris and part of southeastern France due to rising coronavirus cases, reports AP.
10.49 pm: Assam legislators Ajanta Neog of Congress and Ramendra Narayan Kalita of Asom Gana Parishad have tested positive for coronavirus, reports PTI. Both Neog and Kalita were examined during the day as they had fever, officials said. They have been admitted to Gauhati Medical College Hospital.
10.45 pm: Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar Khattar is stable and maintaining his vital parameters, says a health bulletin from Gurugram’s Medanta Hospital, reports PTI. On Monday, Khattar had tested positive for the coronavirus.
10.33 pm: The Karnataka government says it is prepared to restart inter-state bus services, with easing of coronavirus-induced restrictions, and has written to neighbouring states, reports PTI. However, the government said it is yet to take a call on resuming services to Maharashtra.
10.20 pm: Jharkhand reports 1,056 new coronavirus cases, taking total cases to 32,174, according to ANI.
10 pm: West Bengal records 2,964 new coronavirus cases and 58 deaths today, reports ANI. The state now has 1,44,801 total cases and the toll is at 2,909.
9.20 pm: Mumbai records 587 new coronavirus cases, 883 recoveries and 35 deaths today, according to ANI. The city has 1,37,678 positive cases now and the toll is at 7,474. As many as 1,11,967 people have recovered from the infection.
Separately, Dharavi area saw a rise of 12 new cases today. With this, total number of cases in the area rises to 2,725, including 2,375 discharges and 90 active cases.
9.15 pm: Maharashtra records 10,425 new coronavirus cases, taking the total cases to 7,03,823, according to PTI. The state had crossed the six lakh-mark on August 17. The toll due to the pandemic rose to 22,794 with 329 fatalities being reported during the day.
7.49 pm: Kerala’s coronavirus count has crossed the 60,000 mark with 2,375 new cases, reports PTI. With 10 more fatalities, the toll has risen to 244. The state now has total 61,878 cases, while as many as 40,343 have recovered from the infection.
7.45 pm: Karnataka reports 8,161 new coronavirus cases, taking the state’s tally to 2,91,826. With 148 more deaths, the toll has jumped to 4,958.
7.42 pm: The Odisha government has fixed price for RT-PCR or Reverse Transcription Polymerase Chain Reaction coronavirus test in four Indian Council for Medical Research approved labs at Rs 1,200, reports ANI.
7.38 pm: Andhra Pradesh records 9,927 new cases and 92 deaths today, according to ANI. With this, the state’s total count rises to 3,71,639 and the toll is at 3,460. As many as 2,78,247 people have recovered in the state.
6.52 pm: The Dakshina Kannada district administration in Karnataka has opened all its borders for passengers from Kerala, reports PTI. District Deputy Commissioner KV Rajendra says the rules prescribed in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic have been revised and passengers entering Karnataka from other states need not undergo quarantine and there will be no checks at border points.
6.50 pm: Kerala minister Kadakampally Surendran says Sabarimala temple will remain open for devotees during Thulam pooja in October, with certain restrictions amid the coronavirus pandemic, reports ANI.
6.46 pm: Dr Srinivas Rao, director of public health and family welfare in Telangana, says in the last six months more than 2,000 health care workers have tested positive for the coronavirus and 16 have succumbed to the infection, reports ANI. “We’re giving medical treatment to infected and helping families of the deceased,” he adds.
6.44 pm: Tamil Nadu records 5,951 new coronavirus cases and 107 deaths today, reports ANI. This takes the state’s tally to 3,91,303 and the toll has risen to 6,721.
5.40 pm: The Manipur Home Department instructs deputy commissioners and superintendents of police to impose Rs 10,000 fine for gatherings in excess of authorised number of persons in ceremonies, Rs 200 each for failing to wear a mask and maintain social distance in public and Rs 1,000 for “any other violation of Covid-19 guidelines”, ANI reports.
5.30 pm: The Council of Scientific and Industrial Research is conducting a survey in its 38 laboratories and institutes across India to gauge the serological prevalence among its employees, and also understand how long antibodies against Covid-19 remain active, PTI reports. Shantanu Sengupta, a scientist at CSIR’s Institute for Genomics and Integrative Biology, says the survey has already begun and will finish by the end of September.
5.18 pm: Singapore’s Health Minister Gan Kim Yong has warned that further waves of the coronavirus are possible as long as a vaccine is not found, PTI reports. On Tuesday, the city-state recorded just 31 cases of the coronavirus, its lowest single-day number since March.
5.11 pm: As many as 18 more people have tested positive for the coronavirus in Meghalaya, PTI reports.
5 pm: Indore in Madhya Pradesh reports a highest single-day increase of 265 cases, PTI reports.
4.49 pm: Bhargava says “irresponsible, less cautious people who are not wearing masks are driving the pandemic in India”, ANI reports.
4.44 pm: Bhargava says there was one case in Hong Kong where a person was reinfected, but this should not be a cause for concern. He says the re-infection could have happened because the virus mutated.
4.37 pm: “Phase-1 of the spread was confined to large/urban cities; Phase-II reached district level and Phase-III reached the field level, and accordingly the testing capacity was augmented,” Bhargava says according to The Hindu. On January 30, India conducted 10 tests per day, on August 21, it was 10 lakh tests.
4.28 pm: Bhargava says the cost of coronavirus testing has gone down tremendously in the country.
4.22 pm: Balram Bhargava, director general of the Indian Council of Medical Research, says their sero survey publication is in-progress. He says it should appear by this week in the Indian Journal of Medical Research, adding that it has been peer reviewed.
4.18 pm: Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan says 2.7% coronavirus patients in India are on oxygen support, 1.92% are in intensive care unit and 0.29% are on ventilator support.
4.16 pm: In the first week of August, positivity percentage (on a seven-day rolling average) was 11%, says health secretary. He also says this has come down to 8% today (on a seven-day rolling average).
4.15 pm: The health secretary credits health infrastructure for the rise in testing figures. Over 3.68 crore tests have been conducted till Tuesday.
4.12 pm: Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan says more than 3.6 crore tests have been conducted so far in India, over 24 lakh patients have recovered, which is 3.4 times the active cases. He also says that the recovery rate is now more than 75%. Active cases are only 22.2% of total cases.
4.08 pm: The health ministry is briefing the media over the coronavirus situation in India.
2.01 pm: Andrew Pollard, the director of the Oxford Vaccine Group, says the vaccine being developed by the university and AstraZeneca could be put before regulators this year if scientists are able to collect the required data, Reuters reports, citing BBC Radio.
1.54 pm: The High Court of Uttarakhand closes for sanitisation after an employee tests positive for the coronavirus, ANI reports. The court will reopen on Thursday.
1.51 pm: Climate activist Greta Thunberg says it is “deeply unfair” that students in India were being made to take JEE and NEET exams amid the coronavirus crisis and floods in several states.
1.47 pm: A 33-year-old Hong Kong man who recovered from the coronavirus in April tested positive again on Monday after returning from Spain on August 15, according to Reuters. This is the first recorded instance of human re-infection in Hong Kong.
1.39 pm: Karnataka Congress President DK Shivakumar tests positive for the coronavirus, say reports.
1.31 pm: The Reserve Bank of India says in its annual report that India’s growth is projected at -4.5% for the financial year 2020-’21.
1.26 pm: Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik asks the Centre to postpone JEE and NEET exams. He says that it will be “highly unsafe” for students to visit exam centres amid rising coronavirus cases.
12.28 pm: Haryana Transport Minister Mool Chand Sharma tests positive for Covid-19 on Tuesday, a day before the monsoon session begins at the state Assembly, PTI reports. Sharma, a BJP MLA from Ballabgarh in Faridabad district, says he is asymptomatic and appeals to all those who had come in contact with him to get themselves tested.
12.16 pm: Manipur minister Nemcha Kipgen says she has tested positive for the coronavirus and asks those who came in contact with her to isolate and get themselves tested.
12.19 pm: At least 49 more people, including 19 security personnel and a health worker, tested positive for Covid-19 in Arunachal Pradesh on Tuesday, raising the state’s tally to 3,312, PTI reports.
12.13 pm: Two more students and a hostel staff member of the Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur, have tested positive for the coronavirus, taking the tally of infections reported from the institute to four, PTI reports.
While one student had tested positive for Covid-19 on August 19 and was sent to Kolkata, the swab samples of two of his hostel mates and the mess staffer were also sent for testing by the authorities, IIT Kharagpur Registrar BN Singh tells the news agency. “They did not show much symptoms but we did not take any chance and got them admitted.”
11.52 am: The Supreme Court asks the Bihar government to respond on a plea filed by 13 foreign nationals, who attended the Tablighi Jamaat congregation in Delhi in March, seeking that their trial be consolidated before one court in the state, PTI reports. The 13 individuals are facing charges for alleged violation of visa norms.
11.47 am: Indian envoy Taranjit Singh Sandhu says that cooperation between India and the United states is crucial to confront the health challenges posed by the coronavirus pandemic, including future vaccine development and distribution. In an opinion piece for The Washington Post, Sandhu says the two countries “can do much to provide solutions to the novel coronavirus pandemic and to build a healthier, safer world beyond”.
11.42 am: Telangana registers 2,579 new coronavirus cases, 1,752 recoveries and nine deaths on Tuesday, ANI reports. With this, the state’s tally rises to 1,09,670 and the toll stands at 770. As many as 84,163 people have recovered so far.
11.37 am: A serological survey conducted in Delhi earlier this month revealed that minors aged between 5 and 17 are most exposed to the novel coronavirus in the city, PTI reports. The survey, which was conducted between August 1 and August 7, also showed that 29.1%of the population in the national Capital has now developed antibodies against SARS CoV-2.
11.35 am: Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro on Monday described journalists as “wimps” and said they have a heightened chance of dying of Covid-19 because they are not athletic, Reuters reports. “That history of an athlete, the press feasted on it, but when [Covid-19] gets one of you wimps, your chance of surviving is quite a bit lower,” Bolsonaro told reporters.
11.29 am: Odisha recorded 2,751 new coronavirus cases, 2519 recoveries and nine deaths on Monday, ANI reports. The state’s tally of infections is now 84,231 and the toll stands at 428. As many as 56,924 people have recovered so far.
11.24 am: United States President Donald Trump once again referred to the coronavirus as the “Chinese virus”, PTI reports. “Americans have to make this China virus go away and it is happening,” Trump told a group of frontline workers comprising of doctors, nurses, police personnel and postal workers, according to a taped conversation at the White House. He also thanked the workers for their efforts in combating the pandemic.
11.19 am: Minister of State for Civil Aviation Hardeep Singh Puri says that much of the pre-Covid domestic air passenger traffic could be restored by Diwali, The Indian Express reports. “The figure [of domestic passengers] on Sunday was 98,800, so we have already reached 33% of pre-Covid numbers,” he said at a virtual event organised by the newspaper. “We are increasing domestic passengers at the rate of 5,000 a week.”
11.11: The University of Hong Kong says they have proved that a man in the city was infected with Covid-19 for the second time in 142 days, in a first such documented case, CNN reports. The 33-year-old IT worker was discharged from a hospital in April and had tested positive for the virus again after returning from Spain earlier this month.
10.59 am: The police of Mumbai has dropped charges of culpable homicide not amounting to murder and attempt to murder filed against 12 Indonesian nationals in connection with the Tablighi Jamaat gathering held in Delhi’s Nizamuddin locality in March, The Indian Express reports. However, they will continue to face other charges in connection to the violation of lockdown norms, visa conditions and sections of the Epidemic Diseases Act.
10.57 am: The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation says it plans to procure 50,000 more rapid antigen kits by September, as it plans to ramp up Covid-19 testing in Mumbai from next week, the Hindustan Times reports. As of August 23, 72,515 antigen tests have been conducted, of which 4,105 have come positive. Of the total Covid tests conducted daily, more than 50% are rapid antigen tests
9.21 am: India’s coronavirus tally goes up to 31,67,323 cases with 60,975 new infections in 24 hours. The country’s toll rises by 848 to 58,390. There are 7,04,348 active cases, and 24,04,585 patients have recovered so far.
8.20 am: Top United States infectious diseases expert Anthony Fauci says that distributing a Covid-19 vaccine under special emergency use guidelines, before it has been proved safe in large trials, is a bad idea, Reuters reports.
8 am: Mizoram records 35 new cases on Tuesday. The state’s tally rises to 953.
7.50 am: The phase two human clinical trials of the Oxford Covid-19 vaccine candidate are set to begin on Tuesday, reports PTI. The study, set to begin at the Bharati Vidyapeeth Medical College and Hospital in Pune, will ascertain the safety and immunogenicity of “Covishield” on Indian adults.
7.45 am: The coronavirus positivity rate has begun to rise again in Delhi, with 7.4% of all tests done in the last week coming back positive, reports Hindustan Times. Experts say the positivity rate shows the spread of the virus in the community.
7.30 am: Here are the top updates from Monday:
- India’s coronavirus tally on Monday rose to 31,06,348 cases after the country reported 61,408 new infections in 24 hours. The country’s toll rose by 836 to 57,542. The Union health ministry said the case fatality rate has fallen to 1.85%. The country’s Covid-19 tests per million (10 lakh) rose sharply to 26,016 as cumulative tests surged to 3.59 crore. The number of people recuperating from the disease has crossed 23 lakh, pushing the recovery rate to over 75%.
- Maharashtra reported 11,015 new coronavirus cases and 212 deaths. The state’s tally rose to 6,93,398 and the toll reached 22,465. Tamil Nadu, meanwhile, recorded 5,967 new cases, taking its tally to 3,85,352. The state’s toll rises by 97 to 6,614. Andhra Pradesh reported 8,601 coronavirus cases and 86 deaths in the evening. The state’s tally rose to 3,61,712 and the toll reached 3,368.
- The Gujarat High Court said that the coronavirus situation in the state is “quite frightening” and directed the chief secretary to constitute a committee of five senior IAS officers to prepare a report on the prevailing condition at all civil and government hospitals where coronavirus patients are being treated.
- The Supreme Court on Monday asked the Centre to bring NEET aspirants from foreign countries back to India on Vande Bharat flights for their examination and dismissed a petition to set up exam centres abroad. Maharashtra minister Aaditya Thackeray, meanwhile, urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to consider coronavirus risks and postpone all academic activities and exams. West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee also called for the postponing the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test and the Joint Entrance Examination amid the pandemic.
- The Karnataka government on Monday introduced several relaxations for inter-state travellers, including the discontinuation of hand stamps, 14-day quarantine and compulsory registration.
- Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar, meanwhile, tested positive for the coronavirus.
- The PM CARES Fund has allotted money for two 500-bed makeshift hospitals in Patna and Muzaffarpur in Bihar. The hospital in Patna will be inaugurated on Monday.
- Globally, the coronavirus has affected more than 2.34 crore people. So far, 8.09 lakh people have died of it across the world, while 1.51 crore people have recovered, according to the Johns Hopkins University’s tracker.