Coronavirus: US toll crosses 2 lakh, Trump tells UN to hold China accountable for pandemic

11 pm: Here are the day’s top updates.

9.45 pm: The toll from the spread of the coronavirus in the United States has exceeded 2,00,000, by far the highest number of any country, according to Johns Hopkins University.

8.28 pm: “We must hold China accountable for unleashing the virus on the world,” Trump says.

8.24 pm: “Chinese government and World Health Organization, which is virtually controlled by China, falsely declared that there was no evidence of human to human transmission,” he adds. “Later they falsely said people without symptoms would not spread the disease. UN must hold China accountable for their actions.”

8.22 pm: US President Donald Trump blames China for the spread of the coronavirus, in his address at the United Nations General Assembly. “In the earliest days of the virus, China locked down travel domestically while allowing flights to leave China and infect the world,” he says, according to ANI.

7.19 pm: British Prime Minister Boris Johnson announces new coronavirus-related restrictions, which include reducing the size of weddings and funerals and a ban on indoor team sports, The Guardian reports. He says that the country is at a “perilous turning point” in the crisis and the restrictions may last six months.

7.15 pm: The Jammu and Kashmir administration says asymptomatic patients will be discharged from hospitals after 10 days without any subsequent tests, ANI reports.

7.12 pm: Delhi’s coronavirus count rises to 2,53,075 as it reports 3,816 new cases on Tuesday. Thirty-seven more deaths push the Capital’s toll to 5,051.

7.10 pm: Andhra Pradesh records 7,553 cases on Tuesday, taking its tally to 6,39,302. The state’s toll rises by 51 to 5,461.

7.08 pm: The Bihar government issues a standard operating procedure for the reopening of schools for students from classes 9 to 12 from September 28, ANI reports.

7.06 pm: Tamil Nadu reports 5,337 new coronavirus cases on Tuesday, taking its tally to 5,52,674. The state’s toll rises by 76 to 8,947.

6.30 pm: The Karnataka Assembly session has been shortened by two days due to the coronavirus pandemic and it will now end on Saturday, reports NDTV.

6 pm: The Centre says testing has to be increased in Punjab to identify asymptomatic people, reports ANI. “We can’t chase the virus until we catch them,” says Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan. “Information on hospital facilities must be proactively made public, it’ll instill confidence in people.”

5.20 pm: NITI Aayog member VK Paul says the coronavirus pandemic has to be controlled and deaths have to be kept at minimum, reports The Hindu. “Crowding during festival season can deal to an explosive situation,” he warns.

5.16 pm: Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan says India contributes 17.7% share in the total coronavirus cases and has 19.5% of the total recovered cases.

5.15 pm: At a press conference on the coronavirus situation in India, the Centre says the trend of very high number of single day recoveries has sustained for the past four consecutive days, reports The Hindu.

5.12 pm: The Delhi government says it will challenge the High Court’s order staying reservation of 80% ICU beds for coronavirus patients in 33 private hospitals, reports ANI.

3.40 pm: Passengers who booked flight tickets during the Covid-19 lockdown shall be entitled for immediate refund, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation has told the Supreme Court, The Print reports. In an affidavit, the DGCA has asserted that the “airlines were not supposed to book such tickets”.

3.33 pm: The Gujarat government has defended “restraining” of a Covid-19 patient suffering from “delirium” by staff members of Rajkot Civil Hospital, PTI reports. Deputy Chief Minister Nitin Patel tells the Legislative Assembly that a “false impression was created that the patient was thrashed, which is not true”. “The 38-year-patient was suffering from a mental disorder called delirium and may have injured himself or other patients if he was not restrained,” he says.

3.20 pm: The Delhi High Court has stayed the Aam Aadmi Party government’s order directing 33 big private hospitals to reserve 80% of ICU beds for coronavirus patients, PTI reports. The court held that the decision appears to be “arbitrary and unreasonable”. Justice Navin Chawla also said that the order violates fundamental rights of citizens of India.

3.14 pm: Actor Zarina Wahab has been discharged from a Mumbai hospital on Sunday, five days after she tested positive for coronavirus, The Hindu reports on Tuesday. “She was admitted last week, around September 14-15,” Dr Jalil Parkar, who treated Wahab, says. “She was Covid-19 positive. She had fever, breathlessness. I gave her all the treatment and after five days she became well and went home. She was discharged on Sunday.”

2.57 pm: Bihar reports 1,609 new coronavirus cases, taking the total number of active cases in the state to 14,770, according to ANI.

2.40 pm: “As per fresh guidelines issued by District Disaster Management Authority on September 21, gatherings are prohibited in Delhi,” says Delhi Police Public Relations Officer Eish Singhal according to ANI. “We don’t allow any kind of gatherings, however, if someone doesn’t follow rules and participates in gatherings we take strict action.”

2.17 pm: Minister of State in the Ministry of External Affairs V Muraleedharan says in a written reply to the Lok Sabha that requirement of mandatory universal screening of all international passengers arriving in 21 airports in India for coronavirus was started on March 4; therefore, at the the time of United States President Donald Trump’s visit on February 24-25, there was no such requirement, ANI reports. “Therefore, during US President Donald Trump’s visit to India, established norms and protocols for handling such high level visits were followed by the Government of India,” he adds.

12.47 pm: Arunachal Pradesh registers 210 new coronavirus cases on Tuesday, pushing the state’s overall count to 7,595, PTI reports.

12.46 pm: Renowned Marathi actress Ashalata Wabgaonkar died at a hospital in Satara on Tuesday after battling coronavirus, IANS reports. She was 79.

12.44 pm: Odisha’s coronavirus tally rose to 1,88,311 on Tuesday, after 4,189 more people tested positive, PTI reports. The toll rises by 11 to 721.

12.43 pm: Telangana records 2,166 new Covid-19 cases and 10 deaths on Tuesday, pushing the tally of positive cases in the state to 1.74 lakh, PTI reports.

12.31 pm: Union Education Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank announces that a full refund of fees will be made on account of all cancellation of admissions/ migration of students made up to November 30, in view of the coronavirus pandemic.

12.27 pm: India reported over one lakh coronavirus recoveries in a single-day for the first time on Tuesday, improving the recovery rate to 80.86%, the health ministry says. The number of new cases reported in 24 hours also dropped below 76,000 after two weeks, it adds.

12.25 pm: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday will chair a high level virtual meeting with the chief ministers and health ministers of seven states and Union Territories to review the coronavirus situation, the Union health ministry says. These States/UT are Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Uttar Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Delhi and Punjab.

11.57 am: Maharashtra Navnirman Sena General Secretary Sandeep Deshpande and three other party leaders have been arrested for boarding local trains, demanding that the services be opened to the public, the railway police tells PTI.

11.55 am: Odisha’s coronavirus tally rises to 1,88,311 after 4,189 new cases. The overall count includes 1,49,379 recoveries, 38,158 active cases and 721 deaths, reports ANI.

11.52 am: Former Reserve Bank of India Governor C Rangarajan has said in a report to the Tamil Nadu government that the state’s economy may return to pre-coronavirus levels in a couple of months, reports The Hindu.

10.02 am: India registers 75,082 new coronavirus cases in 24 hours, taking the country’s tally to 55,62,663. The toll rises by 1,053 to 88935.

9.07 am: Jharkhand reports 1,321 new cases and nine additional deaths, according to PTI.

9.02 am: India on Monday tested 9,33,185 samples, says the Indian Council of Medical Research.

8.15 am: Meghalaya Chief Minister Conrad K Sangma on Monday said his government is not in favour of imposing any further lockdown in the state, PTI reports. “Lockdown is not really a solution, but only a mechanism to delay the spread of coronavirus,” he said. “Therefore, the government will not enforce further lockdown... We cannot simply close down the economy.”

8.09 am: Mizroram’s coronavirus tally rises to 1,692 after 107 new infections were reported on Tuesday, ANI reports.

8.08 am: The health ministry says India has recorded more than 90,000 recoveries successively for the last three days.

8.05 am: Here are the top updates from Monday.

1. The phase three human clinical trial of the Oxford Covid-19 vaccine began at Pune’s Sassoon General Hospital. “We have started the phase-III trials of the vaccine [candidate Covishield],” said Dr Muralidhar Tambe, Dean, Sassoon General Hospital. “We will administer dose to 150 to 200 volunteers.”
2. World Health Organization Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said there is no guarantee that any vaccine being currently developed will work. Over 150 countries have joined a global effort for fair distribution of the vaccines. “The more candidates we test, the higher the chance we will have a safe and efficacious vaccine,” he said. “Almost 200 vaccines for Covid-19 are currently in clinical and pre-clinical testing. The history of vaccine development tells us that some will fail, and some will succeed.”
   
3. A lockdown was enforced in 10 districts of Chhattisgarh, including state capital Raipur, till September 28, amid a surge in coronavirus cases. Raipur, which has been reporting 900 to 1,000 daily cases, was declared a containment zone. The nine other districts are: Jashpur, Baloda Bazaar, Janjgir-Champa, Durg, Bhilai, Dhamtari, Bilaspur, Bilaspur.
4. The Taj Mahal in Agra reopened for tourists after over six months amid strict guidelines to check the spread of the coronavirus. The Agra Fort also reopened for visitors.
5. The Union health ministry said India acquired the top position in the world in terms of recoveries from the coronavirus. It said more than 43 lakh people have recovered in the country so far, constituting for 19% of the total global recoveries.
6. The Supreme Court issued a notice to the Centre and the states on a public interest litigation seeking a direction to provide food and proper health care facilities to children and their mothers. The petitioners expressed concern over 14 lakh anganwadis being closed due the coronavirus.
7. The Union Ministry of Home Affairs told the Rajya Sabha that the Tablighi Jamaat gathering in Delhi’s Nizamuddin locality in March led to the coronavirus spreading to many individuals. Union Minister of State for Home G Kishan Reddy also said that the Delhi Police arrested 233 Tablighi Jamaat members.
8. The United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has updated its guidelines on the coronavirus to say that the infection can spread through aerosols, which are produced even when a person breathes.