Vice President Venkaiah Naidu on Tuesday said he has tested positive for the coronavirus, though he is asymptomatic. He will be in home quarantine.
Meanwhile, German airline Lufthansa cancelled all flights to India from Wednesday till October 20. The airline said its flight schedule was rejected by Indian authorities.
Earlier in the day, the Centre said that a significant section of the population remain vulnerable to Covid-19. The Indian Council of Medical Research Director General Balram Bhargava revealed the results of the second sero-survey. The prevalence in individuals above 10 years was 6.6%, and among adults (over 18 years of age) is 7.1%, he said.
India’s coronavirus count rose to 61,45,291 on Tuesday after the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare reported 70,589 infections in 24 hours. The country’s toll went up by 776 to 96,318.
The worldwide coronavirus toll crossed 10 lakh on Tuesday. Globally, the coronavirus has infected more than 3.32 crore people and killed 10,00,555, according to Johns Hopkins University. The number of recoveries has crossed 2.3 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.
10.51 pm: Arunachal Pradesh records 221 new cases, 151 recoveries and one death, taking total cases to 9,953, including 6,743 recoveries and 16 deaths, reports ANI.
10.47 pm: Andaman and Nicobar Islands’ Covid-19 tally rises to 3,821, with 18 new infections, and the toll stands at 53, according to ANI.
10.46 pm: Jharkhand registers 1,123 new cases, taking the state tally to 82,540, reports ANI. The toll goes up by 12 to 700.
9.39 pm: Andhra Pradesh postpones the reopening of schools to November 2. The state earlier planned to reopen schools on October 5, according to ANI.
9.37 pm: Mumbai records 1,713 new cases of the virus today, and 49 deaths, reports ANI.
9.31 pm: Vice President Venkaiah Naidu tests positive for the coronavirus. His office says he is asymptomatic and turned out to be positive after a routine test. He is quarantining at home.
9.20 pm: German airline Lufthansa cancels all flights to India from tomorrow till October 20, reports Livemint. This comes after the airline’s flight schedule was rejected by Indian authorities.
“Lufthansa had applied for the continuation of special flights it was granted to operate until the end of September,” the airline says in a statement. “This application process is necessary since India has so far not accepted the invitation by the German government to discuss details regarding a temporary travel agreement between both countries.”
It adds that since the government rejected it, Lufthansa “will now have to cancel all planned flights” between Germany and India from September 30 to October 20.
7.54 pm: The government says it does not agree with the calculation by the Serum Institute of India that Rs 80,000 crore will be needed for distribution of Covid-19 vaccine in India, PTI reports. Health Ministry Secretary Rajesh Bhushan has responded to a question tweeted by Serum Institute of India Chief Executive Officer Adar Poonawalla, who asked the government whether it had Rs 80,000 crore over the next one year for distribution of COVID-19 vaccine.
Read: ‘Does India have Rs 80,000 crore available to fund Covid-19 vaccine,’ asks Serum Institute CEO
7.35 pm: Tamil Nadu government extends the “lockdown” in the state until October 31, but provides some more relaxations, according to ANI. Educational institutions will remain closed. The number of domestic flights to land at Chennai airport will be 100 a day. Cinema shootings with a maximum of 100 people at a time will be permitted.
7.10 pm: Manipur reports 269 new coronavirus cases, 57 recoveries and one death in the last 24 hours, taking the total number of positive cases to 10,746, including 8,039 recovered cases, 2,642 active cases and 65 deaths. The recovery rate is 74.80%.
6.55 pm: Andhra Pradesh reports 6,190 new cases, 9,836 recoveries and 35 deaths in the last 24 hours, taking total positive cases to 6,87,351, including 6,22,136 recoveries, 59,435 active cases and 5,780 deaths.
6.38 pm: Kerala records a whopping 7,354 new cases of the coronavirus. As many as 3,420 people have recovered today, and 22 have died, according to Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan. The total number of active cases in the state is now 61,791.
6.23 pm: Rajasthan records 2,148 new cases, 1,800 discharges and 15 deaths today, according to ANI.
6.01 pm: Tamil Nadu reports 5,546 new coronavirus cases, 5,501 recoveries and 70 deaths today, taking total positive cases to 5,91,943, including 5,36,209 recoveries, 9,453 deaths and 46,281 active cases, ANI reports.
5.05 pm: NITI Aayog Member (Health) Dr VK Paul says the upcoming festivities should be celebrated with precautions. “We all need to ensure that in the coming months, we celebrate ‘mask wali puja, mask wali Chhath, mask wali Diwali, mask wala Dussehra, mask wali Eid,’ in order to curb the spread of Covid-19,” he says.
5.01 pm: “One in 15 individuals aged over 10 years were estimated to be exposed to Covid-19 by August 2020,” Bhargava says. “Earlier we had thought that it does not affect those below 18, but have now found there’s no difference.”
4.43 pm: “Lockdown/containment and behaviour change at population level have effectively checked potential spread,” the ICMR chief says. “Susceptibility of a considerable section of people, yet unexposed to SARS-CoV-2 exists.”
4.41 pm: Prevalence among adults (over 18 years of age) is 7.1%, Bhargava says.
4.39 pm: The ICMR found that in urban slums the prevalence was 15.6% and non-slums was 8.2%, but the prevalence of cases in rural areas was 4.4%.
4.38 pm: “Blood samples were collected from 29,082 indicviduals,” the ICMR chief says. “The prevalence in individuals above 10 years was 6.6%. The prevalence is not different by age group or gender.”
4.36 pm: Bhargava says the data collection was based on socio-demographic details, history of respiratory symptoms, written informed consent and ethics clearance. A blood sample was also taken.
4.34 pm: The second sero survey was conducted between August 17 and September 22, he adds.
4.32 pm: Director General of the ICMR Balram Bhargava says that the second survey’s aim was to estimate the prevalence of SARS-CoV-2 infection among individuals aged 10 years and above.
4.29 pm: Union health ministry’s Secretary Rajesh Bhushan says: “Indian Council of Medical Research’s second sero survey report reveals that a considerable population is still vulnerable to Covid-19.”
4.25 pm: The Centre, in a briefing, reveals the results of a second serological survey conducted in the country.
4.21 pm: Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia has tested negative for Covid-19, and has been discharged from the hospital, reports NDTV.
3.35 pm: A study in South Korea has shown that nine out of 10 recovered coronavirus patients reported experiencing side-effects such as fatigue, psychological aftereffects and loss of smell and taste, Reuters reports. In an online survey of 965 recovered Covid-19 patients, 879 people or 91.1% responded that they were suffering from at least one side-effect from the disease.
3.30 pm: Twelve coronavirus infections reported on first cruise ship to sail to Greece since the lockdown began in March, according to AFP. The Maltese-flagged Mein Schiff 6, operated by German travel giant TUI, is carrying 922 passengers and 666 crew. People have been prohibited from disembarking from the ship.
3.13 pm: Tripura reports 432 fresh COVID-19 cases on Tuesday, pushing the tally to 25,353, according to PTI. The toll rises to 273 with three more people succumbing to the virus.
3.03 pm: Serum Institute of India says it will produce up to an additional 10 crore vaccine doses for India and low and middle income countries in 2021, ANI reports. This will take forward an alliance between Gavi, Vaccine Alliance and Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation
2.55 pm: Bihar reports 1,439 more positive cases of the coronavirus, taking the total number of active cases to 14,390.
1.20 pm: United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres says the death of 10 lakh people is an “agonising milestone” made worse by the “savageness” of the disease. Guterres calls the toll a “mind-numbing figure”.
1.18 pm: Over 350 servitors and 50 employees at Puri’s Jagannath Temple test positive, reports PTI.
11.58 am: India’s recovery rate is now 83%, the Union health ministry says. The death rate stands at 1.6%.
11.53 am: Arunachal Pradesh reports its biggest one-day rise of 329 cases on Tuesday, according to PTI. One more death takes the state’s toll to 15.
11.42 am: As many as 215 policemen in Maharashtra test positive for the coronavirus in the last 24 hours. The Maharashtra police’s tally rises to 23,033 and the toll stands at 245.
11.38 am: Odisha recorded 3,067 new coronavirus cases on Monday, which took its tally to 2,15,676, ANI reports, citing the state’s health department. The state’s toll rose by 15 to 828.
10.30 am: Jharkhand reports 1,508 new cases on Tuesday, taking its tally to to 81,417, according to PTI. Nine more deaths push the toll to 688.
10.25 am: The World Health Organization says it wants to provide 120 million [12 crore] rapid tests for Covid-19 to poorer countries at $5 each [Rs 369.06] approximately, AFP reports.
10.24 am: Former Union minister and senior BJP leader Uma Bharti was admitted to the All India Institute of Medical Sciences in Rishikesh for coronavirus treatment, according to PTI.
10.22 am: Maharashtra’s Thane city reports 1,658 new COVID-19 cases on Tuesday, pushing its tally to 1,71,815, PTI reports. The city’s toll rises by 31 to 4,396.
10.14 am: The World Bank says that the coronavirus crisis will keep Asia’s growth at the lowest rate since 1967, Reuters reports. The bank adds that the region is expected to grow by only 0.9% in 2020.
10.05 am: Delhi saw a 40% rise in coronavirus deaths in September, The Times of India reports. The Capital’s toll rose to 5,272 on Monday. Delhi has recorded 828 deaths over the past 28 days. In August, it reported 481 deaths. Most of the deaths are among elderly patients with multiple comorbidities.
9.20 am: India’s coronavirus count rises to 61,45,291 after the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare reports 70,589 infections in 24 hours. The country’s toll went up by 776 to 96,318. As many as 51,01,397 people have recovered so far. India’s recovery rate is 83.01%, while the death rate stands at 1.57%.
9.15 am: The Indian Council of Medical Research has tested a total of 7,31,10,041 samples so far, ANI reports. Of these, 11,42,811 samples were tested on Monday alone.
8.35 am: The regions of East Asia and the Pacific are expected to grow by only 0.9%, the worst in more than 50 years, due to the pandemic, the World Bank says, according to Reuters. While growth in China was expected at 2% this year, it was expected to contract by 3.5% in the rest of the East Asia and Pacific region.
8 am: Mizoram’s tally rises to 1,958. This includes 499 active cases and 1,459 recoveries.
7.55 am: Odisha’s Covid-19 tally rose to 2,12,609 on Monday after 3,235 people test positive, PTI reports. The state’s toll stands at 813.
7.50 am: The Sabarimala Temple will reopen for devotees with precautions in November, including a virtual queue system. The devotees also have to carry a certificate showing that they are not infected. They will be tested on arrival again.
7.45 am: The Maharashtra government has agreed to allow restaurants to provide dine-in service from the first week of October. Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray’s office had tweeted that the guidelines have been made but are yet to be finalised.
7.40 am: Globally, the coronavirus has infected more than 3.32 crore people and killed 10,00,555, according to Johns Hopkins University. The number of recoveries has crossed 2.3 crore.
The United States is the worst-affected, with 2,05,031 deaths, followed by Brazil (1,42,058), India (95,542), Mexico (76,430) and the United Kingdom (42,090).
7.30 am: Here are the top updates from Monday:
- The number of coronavirus cases in India rose to to 60,74,702 on Monday after the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare reported 82,170 infections in 24 hours. The country’s toll went up by 1,039 to 95,542. More than 50 lakh people have recovered so far. India’s recovery rate rose to 82.6%, while the death rate stood at 1.6%.
- Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan will hold an all-party meeting on Tuesday amid an increase in the number of coronavirus cases in the state. Kerala reported 4,538 new cases on Monday, taking its tally to 1,79,922. The state’s toll rose by 20 to 697. Kerala Health Minister KK Shailaja had on Sunday said that the state was witnessing a second wave of infections and warned of another lockdown.
- Union Minister of Health and Family Welfare Harsh Vardhan launched an online portal for all information related to the development of a potential vaccine against Covid-19 in the country. The “Vaccine Portal” is available on the Indian Council of Medical Research website. The health minister also launched the “National Clinical Registry”, which he said will be a portal for collecting “quality real-time clinical data” of coronavirus patients.
- Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International Airport will resume flight operations at the T2 terminal from October 1. The terminal was closed in view of the coronavirus crisis. The airport will handle a total of 96 flights – 48 departures and 48 arrivals – on a daily basis from October 1 and the number will go up to 180 by end of October, the Delhi International Airport Limited said.
- The Prime Minister’s Citizen Assistance and Relief in Emergency Situations, or PM CARES Fund, has received Rs 204.75 crore from the salaries of employees in 15 government banks and institutions, including the Reserve Bank of India, records accessed under the Right to Information Act showed. The fund was set up in March to deal with the coronavirus crisis.
- The Union Public Service Commission told the Supreme Court that it would be impossible to postpone the civil services preliminary exam scheduled for October 4. Twenty aspirants have urged the court to defer the civil services exam for two to three months due to the coronavirus pandemic.
- Mexico’s Assistant Health Secretary Hugo López-Gatell said that conclusive data on the country’s coronavirus toll will not be available for a couple of years. “When will the final statistics on deaths from Covid-19 be ready? Certainly, a couple of years after the first year of the pandemic,” López-Gatell said.