Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday chaired a high-level virtual meeting with the chief ministers and health ministers of seven states and Union Territories to review the coronavirus situation. Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Uttar Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Delhi and Punjab will attend the meeting.

Minister of State for Railways and Karnataka Bharatiya Janata Party MP Suresh Angadi, who had tested positive for the coronavirus on September 11, died on Wednesday. Meanwhile, Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia, who had tested positive for the coronavirus on September 14, was hospitalised.

India’s coronavirus count rose to 56.46 lakh after the health ministry reported a rise of 83,347 new cases in 24 hours. The toll breached the 90,000-mark, with 1,085 more deaths. More than 45 lakh people have recovered from the virus in India. The country’s mortality rate is 1.59%. Saudi Arabia suspended travel to and from India.

Globally, the coronavirus has infected more than 3.12 crore people and killed 9,63,000, according to Johns Hopkins University. The number of worldwide recoveries is more than 2.1 crore.

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.

10.45 pm: Gujarat reports 1,372 new coronavirus cases, taking the total count of infections to 1,27,541, according to PTI. With 15 deaths, including four in Surat, the overall toll in the state is at 3,370.

10.30 pm: Karnataka Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa has requested the Centre to incentivise industries to set up new oxygen generation units as coronavirus cases continue to rise, reports PTI.

9.25 pm: Minister of State for Railways, Suresh Angadi, dies at AIIMS in Delhi, ANI reports. He had tested positive for the coronavirus on September 11.

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Coronavirus: Union minister Suresh Angadi dies at 65

7.10 pm: Kerala’s coronavirus tally rises to 1,47,132 with a record 5,376 new cases today, reports PTI. The toll has increased to 592 with 20 deaths.

6.45 pm: Prime Minister Narendra Modi chairs a high-level virtual meeting with chief ministers and health ministers of seven states that have high number of coronavirus cases. These states/Union Territories are Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Uttar Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Delhi and Punjab.

6.03 pm: Sisodia has been admitted to the Lok Nayak Jai Prakash Narayan Hospital, according to PTI.

5.57 pm: Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia, who had tested positive for the coronavirus on September 14, has been hospitalised, Hindustan Times reports.

5.00 pm: Delhi Health Minister Satyendar Jain says hospitals in the Capital have enough oxygen supply to last a week, PTI reports. “There is no shortage of oxygen in Delhi hospitals,” he says. “I took a stock of the situation. There is a slight issue, but there is enough oxygen for six to seven days in Delhi government-run hospitals.”

4.51 pm: The Centre adds that Maharashtra, Karnataka, Uttar Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Punjab, West Bengal, Andhra Pradesh, Delhi, Haryana and Chandigarh made up for 83% of the daily deaths.

4.48 pm: The Union health ministry says 74% of new cases in the last 24 hours are concentrated in ten states and union territories. Maharashtra has the maximum share in new cases.

4.44 pm: European airlines are hoping for pre-coronavirus tests that deliver results within minutes to help restore passengers’ confidence in flying amid the health crisis, Reuters reports. Germany’s Lufthansa Airlines is in talks with Swiss drugmaker Roche for deploying so-called antigen tests while Italian operator Alitalia says it will operate two flights only for passengers with negative test results.

3.11 pm: Saudi Arabia suspends travel to and from India, Brazil and Argentina due to the coronavirus, The Times of India reports. Saudi Arabia also bans people who have travelled to any of the three countries 14 days prior to their scheduled arrival.

3.05 pm: The Odisha Health Department directs all government and private hospitals to submit the death reports of coronavirus patients and their test status within 48 hours for state-level death audit, ANI reports. The health department advises against tests after death to avoid delay in the handover of the bodies.

1.16 pm: India’s testing rate is 875 tests/million population per day as of September 19. “This is more than six times the WHO recommendation of 140 tests per day per million population,” the Centre says in Parliament.

1.11 pm: Kerala’s Agriculture Minister VS Sunil Kumar has tested positive for Covid-19, according to The Hindu. He’s the third minister in the Pinarayi Vijayan-led Cabinet to contract the infection.

1.10 pm: Mumbai’s government facility, King Edward Memorial Hospital, begins phase two and three trials of the Oxford Covishield vaccine, reports PTI, citing an official.

11.25 am: Toll in the United States due to Covid-19 has crossed 2,00,000, reports Reuters.

11.24 am: India’s Covid-19 recovery rate has crossed 81%.

11.22 am: Bharat Biotech signs a licensing agreement with Washington University School of Medicine in St Louis for a “chimp-adenovirus” (Chimpanzee adenovirus) – a potential single dose intranasal vaccination for Covid-19, according to The Times of India.

11.14 am: Karnataka’s Deputy Chief Minister Govind M Karjol has tested positive for Covid-19, reports The Hindu.

9.31 am: British President Boris Johnson has warned of implementing tougher curbs if new rules are flouted, reports BBC.

9.28 am: New York City’s Health Department has identified a new cluster of Covid-19 cases in Brooklyn, after a significant uptick in new cases, reports Reuters.

9.25 am: Assam has seen an increase in its case positivity rate during coronavirus testing this month, compared to August despite testing fewer samples, official data shows, according to The Indian Express. Officials, however, claim the trend the change is due to a new testing strategy.

9.14 am: India’s overall case count rises to 56,46,010, with 83,347 new infections. The toll goes breaches the 90,000-mark to reach 90,020.

9.07 am: The Drugs Controller of India has released a fresh set of guidelines for Covid-19 vaccine candidates, reports Hindustan Times. A vaccine should have at least 50% efficacy in the phase three clinical trial for it to be distributed.

7.28 am: Mizoram’s tally rises to 1,713 with 22 new cases, reports ANI.

7.25 am: Health ministry says India’s daily testing capacity has now surged 12 lakh.

7.14 am: World Health Organization chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus says there is no guarantee if any of the vaccine that are being developed will work against Covid-19, reports Reuters. “We have no guarantee that any vaccine in development will work,” he says at a virtual briefing. “The more candidates we test, the higher the chance we will have for a safe and efficacious vaccine. Almost 200 vaccine for Covid-19 are currently in clinical and preclinical testing. The history of vaccine development tells us some will fail and some will succeed.”

7.10 am: Here are the top updates from Tuesday

  • India on Tuesday recorded 1,01,468 recoveries from the coronavirus in 24 hours, taking the tally to 44,97,867, according to Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare data. The country’s coronavirus count reached 55,62,663 after the ministry reported a rise of 75,082 cases in a day. The toll rose by 1,053 to 88,935. The mortality rate stood at 1.60%.
  • Health Ministry Secretary Rajesh Bhushan said at a press briefing that India’s share in total global coronavirus cases was 17.7%. He added that India accounted for 19.5% of worldwide recoveries, which are highest among all countries. NITI Aayog member VK Paul, meanwhile, warned that crowding during the festive season could lead to a huge rise in cases in the country.
  • United States President Donald Trump alleged that China and the World Health Organization had misguided the world about the coronavirus pandemic in its early stages, by claiming that there was no evidence of human-to-human transmission of the disease and people without symptoms could not spread it. Trump called on the United Nations to hold China accountable for “unleashing the plague” onto the world.
  • The Delhi High Court stayed the Aam Aadmi Party government’s order directing 33 major private hospitals to reserve 80% of their intensive care unit beds for coronavirus patients. The court held that the decision was “arbitrary and unreasonable”. The Delhi government said it will challenge the order.
  • Union Minister of Education Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank announced that college students will get a full fee refund for cancellation of admissions or migration up to November 30, in view of the coronavirus pandemic.
  • Prime Minister Narendra Modi will chair a high-level virtual meeting on Wednesday with the chief ministers and health ministers of seven states and Union Territories to review the coronavirus situation. Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Uttar Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Delhi and Punjab will attend the meeting.
  • The toll from the spread of the coronavirus in the United States surpassed 2,00,000. This is by far the highest number of deaths recorded by any country.
  • Globally, the coronavirus has infected more than 3.12 crore people and killed 9,63,000, according to Johns Hopkins University. The number of worldwide recoveries crossed 2.1 crore.