Coronavirus: Union minister Nitin Gadkari tests positive, says he is in self-isolation

10.55 pm: Read today’s top updates here.

10.30 pm: Assam registers 2,394 fresh infections in the last 24 hours, says state Health Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma.

10.28 pm: Ladakh adds 36 new cases and two deaths to its tally.

10.19 pm: Gujarat’s reports 1,364 new cases, taking the state’s total count to 1,17,709, according to PTI.

10.18 pm: Himachal Pradesh’s tally goes up to 10,795, including 89 deaths, says state health department.

10.14 pm: The Delhi government declares Deen Dayal Upadhyay Hospital and Baba Sahib Ambedkar Hospital as designated Covid hospitals partially, for admitting confirmed/suspected cases.

9.47 pm: Karnataka registers 9,725 new cases and 70 deaths, taking the total infections to 4.84 lakh and the toll to 7,536.

9.39 pm: Rajasthan reports 1,782 new cases by 8:30 pm. Its tally rises to 1,07,680. Fifteen more deaths push the state’s toll to 1,279.

9.37 pm: Union Road and Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari tests positive for the coronavirus.

9.35 pm: Maharashtra’s Nashik city reports a record 2,048 cases on Wednesday, according to PTI. The city’s tally rises to 57,988. Its toll rises by 16 to 1,107.

9.33 pm: Mumbai reports 2,352 new cases, taking its tally to 1,75,886. The city’s toll rises by 50 to 8,277.

8.21 pm: Andhra Pradesh Lok Sabha MP Balli Durga Prasad Rao dies of the coronavirus, The Times of India reports. Prime Minister Narendra Modi pays him a tribute.

8.16 pm: Maharashtra reports 23,365 new cases on Wednesday, taking its tally to 11,21,221. The state’s toll rises by 474 to 30,883.

7.03 pm: Minister of State for Defence Shripad Naik says in a written reply in the Lok Sabha that the Indian Army, Navy and Air Force have reported 16,758, 1,365 and 1,716 coronavirus cases, respectively, ANI reports. He adds that 32 deaths have taken place in the Army and three in the Air Force.

7.01 pm: Delhi reports 4,473 new cases on Wednesday, taking its tally to 2,30,269. The Capital’s toll rises by 33 to 4,839.

5.41 pm: Government data shows that India’s overall export (merchandise plus services) declined by 25.42% during the period April-June, 2020 as compared to the same period last year, ANI reports.

5.38 pm: Andhra Pradesh records 8,835 new cases on Wednesday, taking its tally to 5,92,760. The state’s toll rises by 64 to 5,105.

4.45 pm: Delhi witnessed a 45% increase in the number of containment zones in the last 10 days, PTI reports, quoting data from the health department. Home isolation cases of Covid-19 also jumped by over 50% to reach 16,576 during the period.

4.42 pm: Russia on Wednesday said it had reached an agreement with Indian pharmaceuticals major Dr Reddy’s Laboratories to cooperate on clinical trials and distribution of the Sputnik V vaccine against Covid-19 in India, the Hindustan Times reports. “Upon regulatory approval in India, the RDIF shall supply to Dr Reddy’s 100 million doses of the vaccine,” the Russian Direct Investment Fund said in a statement.

4.29 pm: Himachal Pradesh’s tally rises to 10.412 with 76 fresh cases while the toll rises to 90 after one more person dies of the infection.

4.24 pm: The Delhi High Court asks the Aam Aadmi Party government to increase the RT/PCR test capacity to the maximum, reports PTI. At present, the sanctioned strength of conducting RT/PCR test in Delhi is 14,000 per day.

“Having regard to the fact that results of RAT are 60 per cent accurate, leaving grave doubt about infection in those who are asymptomatic, we are of the firm view that RT/PCR should be the way forward,” says the bench of Justice Hima Kohli and Subramonium Prasad.

3.28 pm: Bharatiya Janata Party’s Delhi unit chief Adesh Gupta says he has tested positive for Covid-19.

2.30 pm: As many as 247 personnel of the Maharashtra Police tested positive for the coronavirus in 24 hours on Wednesday, taking the tally of infections in the force to 20,003, ANI reports. The toll rises by two to 204.

2.26 pm: The revenue of Indian airlines fell by 85.7% to Rs 3,651 crore during the first quarter of 2020-’21, says Civil Aviation Minister Hardeep Singh Puri, PTI reports. Moreover, employee count at the Indian carriers went down from 74,887 on March 31 to 69,589 on July 31, a decrease of 7.07%, Puri adds in a written reply to a question in Rajya Sabha.

12.51 pm: The Centre informs the Rajya Sabha that 5.4 crore samples have been tested for the coronavirus so far, and 40 lakh people are under surveillance, PTI reports. Union Minister of State for Home Nityanand Rai adds that India is testing about one million samples a day at 1,697 laboratories across the country.

“As on September 10, a total of about 40 lakh persons have been kept under surveillance,” Rai says in a written response to a question. “A total of 5.4 crore samples have been tested so far.” The minister adds that as of September 10, a total of 15,290 Covid-19 treatment facilities with 13,14,171 dedicated isolation beds, without oxygen support, have been created.

12.45 pm: The Congress criticises the Centre’s handling of the coronavirus and asks the government to explain its strategy to contain the spread of infection. In a series of tweets, party spokesperson Randeep Surjewala asks if the government will “blame God to evade accountability” on the issue. “Mahabharata of coronavirus pandemic is on, but the Modi government is missing,” he says.

The remarks came after India’s coronavirus count rose to 50,20,359 on Wednesday with 90,123 new cases in a day. The toll jumped by 1,290 to 82,066.

12.41 pm: A member of the Special Investigation Team of the Narcotics Control Bureau, which is investigating the death of actor Sushant Singh Rajput, has tested positive for the coronavirus, ANI reports. “We just received antigen test report and in view of that, other members will be tested and protocol will be followed,” the NCB says.

12.36 pm: Ladakh reports 80 new coronavirus cases and three more deaths on Wednesday, taking the Union Territory’s tally to 3,499, PTI reports. The toll stands at 44.

12.00 pm: Reserve Bank of India Governor Shaktikanta Das said that India’s economic recovery is likely to be gradual, as the country is still recovering from the coronavirus pandemic, PTI reports.

11.54 am: Karnataka Home Minister Basavaraj S Bommai says he has tested positive for the coronavirus. “Those who have recently come in direct contact with me are urged to get tested immediately and take appropriate precautions,” he adds.

11.52 am: The Centre informs the Rajya Sabha that more than 30 vaccine candidates for coronavirus have been supported, and three of them are in advance stages of trials, while four are in advanced preclinical development stage, PTI reports. .

Union Minister of State for Home Nityanand Rai adds that 13 clinical trials of repurposed drugs have been undertaken to build a portfolio of therapeutic options for Covid-19 patients.

11.37 am: The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation’s health department issues revised protocols for Covid-19 and announces it would seal entire residential buildings, if 10 or more coronavirus cases are found there from two or more floors, PTI reports. The building will be sealed partially if one or more cases are found in a single home, it adds.

11.36 am: Rajasthan reports 802 new coronavirus and seven deaths on Wednesday, taking the state’s tally to 1,06,700 and the toll to 1,271, ANI reports.

11.34 am: Odisha recorded 4,270 new coronavirus and 11 deaths on Tuesday, taking its overall count of cases to 1,62,290, ANI reports. The toll from the disease is 656.

11.32 am: Congress MP Anand Sharma in Rajya Sabha asks Union health minister Harsh Vardhan to provide the scientific basis to his claim that a countrywide lockdown in India averted about 19-29 lakh deaths from the coronavirus, ANI reports. “The House must be informed what is the scientific basis on which we’ve reached this conclusion,” he says.

10.51 am: Rajya Sabha will today discuss the statement made by Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan about the coronavirus pandemic in India, reports ANI.

10.50 am: At least 12 people, including four Border Security Force jawans, have tested positive for coronavirus in the last 24 hours in Mizoram, reports PTI. The state now has 1,480 total cases.

10.47 am: United States drug developer Novavax says it will double its potential coronavirus vaccine manufacturing capacity to two billion doses annually under an agreement with Serum Institute of India, reports Reuters. Novavax had signed a deal with Serum Institute in August to produce a minimum of one billion doses of its vaccine candidate.

10.44 am: Volkan Bozkir, the new president of the United Nations General Assembly, has warned that unilateralism will only strengthen the coronavirus pandemic, reports AP. He calls for a new commitment to global cooperation, including on the fair and equitable distribution of vaccines.

10.42 am: The Indian Council of Medical Research says the results of second national sero survey will be available by September-end, reports Hindustan Times. “The second national sero survey is almost done,” says ICMR Director General Balram Bhargava. “We have completed the exercise in 68 out of 70 districts, and the analysis is in progress. We should have the results by the end of September.”

9.20 am: India’s coronavirus count rises to 50,20,359 with 90,123 new cases in a day. The toll jumped b 1,290 to 82,066. As many as 39,42,360 people have recovered from the infection, taking the recovery rate to 78.53% The mortality rate, meanwhile, is 1.63%.

9.09 am: United States President Donald Trump says that a coronavirus vaccine may be available within a month, adding that the pandemic could also go away by itself, reports AFP.

“We’re very close to having a vaccine,” he says at a town hall question-and-answer session with voters in Pennsylvania. “We’re within weeks of getting it you know – could be three weeks, four weeks.”

9.07 am: The Jharkhand government has reduced the maximum price of RT-PCR tests for Covid-19 to be charged by private laboratories to Rs 1,500, reports PTI.

9.05 am: The Indian Council of Medical Research says 5,94,29,115 samples have been tested till Tuesday. Of these, 11,16,842 samples tested were tested on Tuesday.

8.15 am: Drugs Controller General of India Dr VG Somani has permitted the Serum Institute of India to resume clinical trials of the AstraZeneca vaccine, commonly known as the Oxford vaccine, PTI reports.

The AstraZeneca vaccine appears to be the first that might be available to people in 2021. Trials of the vaccine were temporarily put on hold after one of the volunteers fell ill last week in the United Kingdom.

8.10 am: Globally, the coronavirus has infected more than 2.94 crore people and killed 9,33,228 people, according to the Johns Hopkins University. The number of worldwide recoveries has crossed 1.99 crore.

8 am: Here are the top updates from Tuesday:

• India’s coronavirus count rose to 49,30,236 on Tuesday with 83,809 new cases. This is the lowest daily rise in new cases in a week. The toll jumped by 1,054 to 80,776. As many as 38.59 lakh people have recovered from the infection, taking the recovery rate to 78.28%. The case fatality rate stood at 1.64%.
  
• Indian Council of Medical Research Director General Balram Bhargava said coronavirus reinfection was possible even though it was a “very rare” occurrence. He added that India’s Covid-19 peak was not “huge” due to an effective lockdown.
• The Centre on Tuesday told the Lok Sabha that the mass exodus of migrants during the countrywide lockdown enforced to rein in the coronavirus pandemic, was roused by “fake news” circulating in media which triggered “panic” among workers. Congress leader Rahul Gandhi criticised the Centre after the government admitted in Parliament that it had no data on the number of migrants workers who died during the nationwide lockdown imposed to curb the spread of the coronavirus.
• Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan told Parliament that the battle against the “pandemic is far from over”. He added that the decision to impose a nationwide lockdown prevented around 37-78 thousand fatalities and 14-29 lakh coronavirus infection cases.
• Arunachal Pradesh Chief Minister Pema Khandu said he has tested positive for Covid-19.
  
• The Asian Development Bank has said that India’s economy will contract by 9% in the 2020-’21 financial year. The contraction in the Gross Domestic Product is the result of lack of economic activity due to a lockdown imposed to curb the spread of the coronavirus.
• Israel has said it will impose a lockdown from Friday and it will last at least for three weeks as coronavirus cases surged in the country. School and shopping centres will be closed and people will not be allowed to go more than 500 metres from their homes except for travelling to work. A minister has resigned protesting against the decision, saying the lockdown laps over major Jewish festivals.