In Maharashtra, 17,794 cases, 416 deaths and 19,592 recoveries have been reported in a day. As many as 7,073 new cases and 48 deaths have been reported in Andhra Pradesh in the last 24 hours. On the other hand, Tamil Nadu has recorded 5,679 new Covid-19 cases, 5,626 recoveries and 72 deaths on Friday.
India’s coronavirus count rose to 58,18,570 on Friday, after the health ministry reported a rise of 86,051 new cases in 24 hours. The toll rose by 1,141 to 92,290. As many as 47.56 lakh people have recovered so far. The country’s mortality rate is 1.59%.
Heated words were exchanged at a special session of the United Nations on the coronavirus on Thursday, as China and the United States attacked each other, and Russia joined in as well.
Globally, the coronavirus has infected more than 3.23 crore people and killed 9,84,590, according to Johns Hopkins University. The number of worldwide recoveries is more than 2.22 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.
10.50 pm: Eighty-four more people, including six police personnel and four jail inmates, have contracted coronavirus in Uttar Pradesh’s Muzaffarnagar on Friday, PTI reports. At present, the number of active cases in the district stands at 1,107.
10.44 pm: Jharkhand reports 1,261 new cases, 1,270 recoveries and six deaths. The total number of cases is now 77,709 including 64,515 recoveries, 661 deaths and 12,533 active cases.
9.57 pm: Himachal Pradesh reports 176 new coronavirus cases, taking the number of active cases to 3,976 and toll to 152.
9.38 pm: Telangana records 2,381 new coronavirus cases, pushing the tally of positive infections to 1,81,627, while the toll rises to 1,080 with 10 more fatalities, The Indian Express reports.
8.37 pm: In West Bengal, 3,190 new infections have been discovered, according to ANI. As many as 2,978 people have been discharged and 59 have died.
8.33 pm: Mumbai reports 1,879 new cases of the coronavirus, and 48 deaths, according to the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation. As many as 1,169 persons have recovered today. The toll is now 8,703 and the total number of active cases 28,273.
8.27 pm: Maharashtra’s coronavirus case tally has risen to 13,00,757 on Friday with a single-day addition of 17,794 cases, PTI reports. With the death of 416 patients during the day, the fatality count as increased to 34,761. However, 19,592 patients were discharged on Friday.
8.16 pm: Gujarat reports a highest single-day spike of 1,442 coronavirus cases on Friday, raising the case tally to 1,30,391. Twelve people have died, taking the toll to 3,396. As many as 1,279 patients have been discharged today.
8.08 pm: Hundreds of people have protested against new restrictions imposed in Marseilles, France. Crowds gathered outside the city’s commercial tribunal to denounce an order from the central government in Paris that restaurants and bars close for two weeks from Saturday. They said that the move would devastate the local economy.
8.02 pm: The Netherlands has recorded its worst day, confirming 2,777 new cases in the past 24 hours, The Guardian reports. This is more than the 2,544 cases recorded on Thursday, the second-worst day.
7.53 pm: Goa has reported 519 new coronavirus cases and three deaths, according to PTI. The total number of cases is now 31,701, and the toll 386. As many as 724 people were discharged on Friday. The number of people who have recovered now stands at 25,071.
7.47 pm: Delhi records 3,827 new cases from 59,134 tests, and 24 deaths. As many as 4,061 people have recovered on Friday, ANI reports.
7.33 pm: Rajasthan has reported 2,010 new coronavirus cases and 15 deaths today. The total number of cases is now 1,24,730 including 19,030 active cases and 1,412 deaths.
7.22 pm: The Telangana government has permitted reopening of bars, clubs and tourism bars with immediate effect, and put forth a set of guidelines which must be followed by these establishments, such as thermal screening. “After careful examination of the matter, government hereby permits to reopen all the bars, clubs and tourism bars with immediate effect, duly following conditions,” a memo issued by Chief Secretary Somesh Kumar says according to PTI.
7.11 pm: Maharashtra Health Minister Rajesh Tope says doctors treating coronavirus patients in designated hospitals should work in rotation of seven days in Covid-19 sections and as many days in non-Covid-19 sections of these facilities, with a one-day holiday in between.
7 pm: Over 50% of the total 2,24,375 coronavirus recoveries in the national capital so far have been achieved under home isolation, Delhi government data shows according to PTI.
“Delhi government lays much emphasis on home isolation as a salient feature of Delhi model of Covid-19 management devised by it,” a senior government official says. “With the surge in number of positive cases, home isolation has emerged as a very useful tool under test, track and isolate strategy, to handle growing patient load.”
6.55 pm: Tamil Nadu has recorded 5,679 new Covid-19 cases, 5,626 recoveries and 72 deaths today, taking total cases to 5,69,370 including 5,13,836 recoveries, 9,148 deaths and 46,386 active cases, News18 reports.
6.46 pm: As many as 7,073 new cases and 48 deaths have been reported in Andhra Pradesh in the last 24 hours. The total number of cases is now 6,61,458 including 67,683 active cases, 58,8169 recoveries and 5,606 deaths.
5.52 pm: Some 51 out of 186 crew members of a European Union naval vessel have tested positive, The Guardian reports. The Margottini frigate is docked in the southern Italian port of Augusta, the European Union’s Irini military mission says. All crew members of the naval vessel will now be tested.
5.48 pm: The Israeli government has imposed restrictions on outgoing flights from Friday as part of a slew of measures to bolster a second lockdown in the country, AFP reports.
5.43 pm: A Chinese health official says the World Health Organization gave China its “support and understanding” to start administering experimental coronavirus vaccines to people while clinical trials were still under way, The Indian Express reports. China launched its emergency programme in July, after appraising the WHO of it in June.
5.37 pm: Over seven crore pairs of single-use gloves for voters to put on when they press the EVM button to cast their vote, over seven lakh units of hand sanitiser and about six lakh personal protective equipment kits have been arranged for the three-phase Bihar Assembly polls, says Chief Election Commissioner Sunil Arora according to PTI.
5.30 pm: Mizoram records 183 new cases in the last 24 hours, according to ANI. The total number of cases is now 1,786, including 1,288 discharged.
5.22 pm: Uttar Pradesh has recorded 4,519 fresh coronavirus cases and 84 deaths, PTI reports. The total number of cases is now 3,78,533, and the toll 5,450.
5.15 pm: Dharavi in Mumbai, Asia’s largest slum, reports just seven new cases. The total number of cases in the slum is now 3,109, but most of these are recovered patients.
5.05 pm: Assam Health Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma says that people who are coming to the state will have to undergo an RT-PCR test and they will receive the result in 24 hours, according to ANI. “So, quarantine is reduced to 24 hours from 10 days,” he says. “Anyone who has recovered from Covid-19 will not be required to undergo quarantine or testing on arrival.”
5 pm: The Uttar Pradesh government announces that the families of journalists who die due to the coronavirus will be given a grant of Rs 10 lakh, PTI reports. Journalists in the state will also be provided an insurance cover of Rs 5 lakh.
4.53 pm: Eighty-four newly-recruited constables, undergoing training at the Police Training Centre in Banderdwa, Arunachal Pradesh, tested positive for the coronavirus in the past three days, say officials, according to PTI.
4.49 pm: Madhya Pradesh government extends parole granted to 3,900 inmates by 60 days, says a senior official, according to PTI. The inmates will be back in jail on November-end.
2.45 pm: The Supreme Court dismisses a plea asking for directions to the Centre, the Delhi government and others to not identify people based on religion and caste with regard to coronavirus-related information, PTI reports.
2.42 pm: Dr Moncef Slaoui, the scientific head of the US government’s program to develop a coronavirus vaccine, says he is in favour of stricter rules to grant emergency use of new inoculations, Reuters reports.
2.38 pm: Russia agrees to supply up to 35 million [3.5 crore] doses of its experimental coronavirus vaccine against to Uzbekistan, Reuters reports.
2.25 pm: The Supreme Court reserves its order on a batch of petition seeking the refund of airfare to passengers whose flights were cancelled because of the lockdown, ANI reports.
2.32 pm: A study by researchers from the Rockefeller University in the United States has shown that over 10% of young and healthy people who develop severe coronavirus symptoms have misguided antibodies that attack not the virus, but the immune system itself, and another 3.5% may carry a specific form of genetic mutation, PTI reports.
2.29 pm: Chief Election Commissioner of India Sunil Arora says coronavirus patients under quarantine will be able to vote in Bihar in the last hour of the polling day, under the supervision of health authorities, ANI reports.
2.25 pm: The Union health ministry says India tested a record 14,92,409 samples for the coronavirus in the last 24 hours.
1.40 pm: Brazil on Friday indefinitely postponed Rio de Janeiro’s world-famous carnival parades, AFP reports. “We came to the conclusion that the event had to be postponed,” said Jorge Castanheira, the president of the group that organises the annual parades, the Independent League of Rio de Janeiro Samba Schools . “We just can’t do it in February. The samba schools won’t have the time or financial and organizational resources to be ready.”
1.37 pm: Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin on Friday ordered the elderly to stay at home and recommended employers to allow home working after the Russian capital saw a sharp rise in coronavirus cases, AFP reports.
Moscow reported 1,050 new infections on Thursday, the highest since June 23, Sobyanin said. Russia has recorded 11,28,836 coronavirus cases and almost 20,000 deaths so far.
1.34 pm: Israel tightened its lockdown restrictions on Friday after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said surging infections were pushing the nation to “the edge of the abyss”, Reuters reports.
1.33 pm: Iran’s toll from the coronavirus surpassed 25,000 on Friday, the highest in the Middle East, with total cases rising to 4,36,319, Reuters reports.
1.29 pm: City buses in Hyderabad resume operations six months after they were halted in view of the coronavirus pandemic, ANI reports.
12.30 pm: Twenty-six people, including five Assam Rifles personnel have tested positive for the coronavirus in Mizoram, reports PTI. The state now has total 1,786 cases.
12.27 pm: Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan has said that the situation in the state is grave, reports The Indian Express. “There is a steep hike in the number of positive cases in many districts,” he adds. “We are moving to a serious situation.”
Kerala has been adding new cases at a rate faster than every other state, except Chhattisgarh, which is growing marginally faster.
12.25 pm: Odisha’s coronavirus tally crosses 2 lakh-mark with 4,208 new cases, reports PTI. With 15 more fatalities push, the toll has risen to 767.
10.21 am: China detected its first local asymptomatic infections in more than a month, as two port workers responsible for unloading frozen seafood tested positive, Bloomberg reports. The two cases were found in Shandong province’s Qingdao city during routine testing of port workers.
10.08 am: With a daily growth rate of 3.38%, Kerala is adding coronavirus cases at a rate faster than every other state, except Chhattisgarh, The Indian Express reports. The national growth rate of coronavirus cases is 1.63%. This means that Kerala’s cases are growing at more than twice the national rate, according to the newspaper’s analysis.
The state added over 11,000 cases in two days. On Thursday, Kerala reported 6,324 new cases, the highest daily cases in the state so far. A day earlier, it had reported 5,376 cases. The state now has more than 1.54 lakh confirmed cases, of which nearly 46,000 are active.
10.04 am: The United States on Wednesday announced it would invest $150 million (over Rs 1,100 crore) in training middle-to-high-skilled H-1B occupations in key sectors in the American economy, PTI reports. The decision was taken in light of the economic disruptions created by the coronavirus pandemic, the US Labour Department said.
10.01 am: Director General of Delhi Prisons Sandeep Goel tested positive for the coronavirus, PTI reports, quoting jail authorities.
9.59 am: Andaman and Nicobar Islands record 32 new coronavirus cases on Friday, pushing its tally to 3,744, PTI reports.
9.50 am: West Bengal Chief minister Mamata Banerjee on Thursday said the state will not be cancelling this year’s Durga Puja celebrations, the Hindustan Times reports. However, she added that pujo would be held amid strict precautions. “We have to avoid crowds at any cost because vultures are sitting out there to blame us if we don’t allow the puja or if any spike occurs after the puja,” Banerjee said. “We will put coronavirus in lockdown and hold the puja this year.”
9.47 am: Veteran atomic scientist and former chairperson of Atomic Energy Commission Sekhar Basu died from the coronavirus disease on Thursday at a private hospital in Kolkata, PTI reports. He was 68.
9.30 am: India’s coronavirus tally reaches 58,18,570 with 86,051 fresh infections in the last 24 hours, says the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare. The toll rose to 92,290 with 1,141 additional deaths.
8.50 am: China, Russia and the United States clash in the United Nations during a virtual session on the coronavirus, reports AP. The US continues to attack China for “unleashing this plague” upon the world, after Beijing brings up countries – such as the US – not making the Covid-19 vaccine available as a global public good to people everywhere.
“If someone should be held accountable, it should be a few US politicians themselves,” China’s Ambassador to the United Nations, Zhang Jun, says about the high cases in the United States. “With the most advanced medical technologies and system in the world, why has the US turned out to have the most confirmed cases and fatalities?”
8.40 am: Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh warns farmers protesting against the new agriculture bills to strictly follow coronavirus safety guidelines, reports News18.
8.15 am: The Ministry of Health says more than 13.80 lakh tests were done in the last 24 hours, reports ANI.
7.30 am: The Centre says there will be no refund for flights booked during the lockdown period that originate outside the country, reports Hindustan Times. The government has said this in an affidavit filed in the Supreme Court.
“The ambit of the regulatory mechanism of the DGCA does not cover international flights, which originate from any foreign destination,” the affidavit says. “It is stated that the said flights are governed by the regulatory mechanism of the country of origin, irrespective of the fact whether the carrier is Indian or not.”
7.11 am: Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia, who was admitted to hospital after testing positive for the coronavirus on September 14, also has dengue, NDTV reports.
Sisodia was admitted to the city’s Lok Nayak Jayaprakash Hospital on Wednesday after complaints of fever and breathing difficulties. He was shifted to a private hospital on Thursday evening after doctors said his blood platelets level were falling.
Read more: Coronavirus: Manish Sisodia also diagnosed with dengue; Tarun Gogoi in ICU after oxygen levels drop
7.10 am: Here are the top updates from Thursday.
- Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal quoted experts to say that the Capital has peaked in the second wave of coronavirus infections. “On September 16, Delhi recorded approximately 4,500 cases,” he said. “After that, the cases started to decline and in the last 24 hours, 3,700 cases have come up in the national capital. In the coming days, the numbers will decline further.”
- Karnataka Congress MLA B Narayan Rao died of the coronavirus. He was 65. Maharashtra Urban Development Minister Eknath Shinde, meanwhile, tested positive for the infection. He had attended a state Cabinet meeting last week and urged all those who had come in contact with him to get themselves tested.
- The Supreme Court issued notices to the Centre and the Union Public Service Commission, asking them to respond to a plea seeking the postponement of the civil services exam amid the coronavirus crisis. The Civil Services (Preliminary) Examination is scheduled to take place on October 4.
- Canada Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said that the second wave of the coronavirus has entered the country. “We have the power to get this second wave under control,” the prime minister said. “I know we can do it because we’ve already done it once before.”
- Johnson & Johnson announced that it has begun the third phase of clinical trials for its experimental vaccine against the coronavirus. The trial will enroll up to 60,000 volunteers across more than 200 sites in the United States and around the world.
- The Bombay High Court has quashed a first information report and chargesheet filed against eight Myanmar nationals who attended a Tablighi Jamaat congregation in Nizamuddin area of Delhi during the coronavirus-induced lockdown in March. The court said there was no evidence to show they indulged in any act, which was likely to spread the infection.s