New Delhi: As COVID-19 fatalities in India crossed the 14,000 mark, the Centre on Tuesday said the country has one death from the disease per lakh population. The government also said the country's mortality rate is among the lowest as against the global average of 6.04 even as there was no let up in the surge in new cases.
The country recorded 14,000 plus coronavirus cases for the fourth straight day as Delhi, the second worst affected state, witnessed the biggest single-day jump of 3,947 infections to take its tally to 66,602.
With the Union Health Ministry crediting India's low COVID-19 mortality rate to timely detection of cases, extensive contact tracing and effective clinical management, the recovery rate also steadily improved and it was nearly 57 per cent.
Earlier in the day, Karnataka chief minister and Janata Dal (Secular) leader HD Kumaraswamy said this morning that the government should impose a lockdown for another 20 days as he linked the rise in coronavirus cases in India to the ease in restrictions. An immediate shutdown should also be announced in Karnataka, "especially for Bengaluru", the 68-year-old leader said, adding that "Bengaluru will become another Brazil" if stricter restrictions are not put in place.
More than nine million people have now been infected with the coronavirus worldwide, according to an AFP tally drawing on official sources, as of Monday 1520 GMT. More than half of the 9,000,091 cases are in Europe and the United States: Europe having recorded 2,537,451 and the United States 2,281,903. The number of cases worldwide has doubled since May 16 and more than a million new cases have been recorded in the past seven days. The official figures nevertheless reflect only a fraction of the true number, as many countries only test serious cases.
Here are the Updates on Coronavirus Pandemic:
Jun 23, 2020 23:59 (IST)
Coronavirus: Delhi's Class 10 Student Makes Face Shields Using 3-D Printer To Fight COVID-19
When most of his peers are watching television, playing video games as schools are closed due to COVID-19 outbreak, a Class 10 student of Delhi is using the time to design and make face shields using 3D printers at his home.
Zareb Vardhan has transformed his study room into a face shield production room and made his snooker table a face shield holder, reported news agency ANI.
He has handed over 100 pieces of the face shield to Delhi Police Commissioner S N Shrivastav at his office on June 22 to help policemen keep COVID-19 infection at bay.
Jun 23, 2020 23:24 (IST)
Coronavirus: Nearly 200 Indians brought back to Tamil Nadu from Maldives under Operation Samudra Setu
A total of 198 Indians were brought back to Tuticorin in Tamil Nadu from Male in Maldives on Tuesday under ''Operation Samudra Setu'', the Navy said.
''Operation Samudra Setu'' was initiated by the Indian Navy on May 8 to bring stranded citizens from abroad.
The Navy, in a press release, said, "The evacuees were received by local authorities at Tuticorin and arrangements were in place for speedy disembarkation, health screening, immigration and transportation of the evacuees."
Jun 23, 2020 23:03 (IST)
1,000 COVID-19 testing labs in India: Top medical body
Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) said on Tuesday that it has now facilitated setting up 1,000 laboratories across the country for testing COVID-19 samples.
ICMR said that this is a major milestone towards enhanced testing in India, reported news agency PTI.
According to ICMR, there are 730 government labs and 270 private labs for the testing.
There was only one lab for testing on January 23, 160 labs on March 23 and 1,000 labs on June 23, ICMR said.
Jun 23, 2020 22:47 (IST)
Coronavirus news: Kerala reports 141 fresh COVID-19 cases
A total of 141 fresh COVID-19 cases reported on Tuesday, taking the total number of positive cases to 3451, said Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan.
Addressing a daily briefing about the coronavirus situation in the state, Chief Minister Vijayan said there are 1620 active COVID-19 cases in the state.
"A total of 141 fresh COVID-19 cases, one death, and 60 recoveries have been reported in Kerala today. The total number of positive cases stands at 3451 including 1620 active cases," Mr Vijayan said.
Jun 23, 2020 21:46 (IST)
Coronavirus: Madhya Pradesh's COVID-19 growth rate at 1.43% is lowest in India, says chief minister
Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan on Tuesday said his state had the lowest growth rate of COVID-19 infection in the country at 1.43 per cent, and the recovery rate was over 76 per cent.
As on Monday, MP has 12,078 COVID-19 cases, 521 people have died of the infection, while 9,215 have recovered.
After chairing a review meeting, Chouhan tweeted, "The growth rate of COVID-19 infection is the lowest at 1.43 per cent in Madhya Pradesh while the recovery rate among the epidemic's patients is over 76 per cent."
An MP public relations department official said the average growth rate of the infection in the country was 3.63 per cent.
Jun 23, 2020 21:26 (IST)
Coronavirus: Devendra Fadnavis alleges Maharashtra government conducting less tests to keep count low
Leader of Opposition Devendra Fadnavis on Tuesday alleged that Maharashtra government is conducting less COVID tests per day to keep the count of coronavirus cases low.
"The biggest mistake is to show less numbers. Testing protocols that were needed, weren't made. In cities like Mumbai, they're testing 4000-4500 people in a day and we find 1500 positive cases. The state is trying to show less number" Mr Fadnavis told reporters.
"We have the capacity to do 38,000 tests per day but we are doing only 14,000 tests per day and I think it's dangerous. Now when cases are found more outside containment zones, more testing is the only solution," he said.
Jun 23, 2020 21:01 (IST)
Coronavirus: Vande Bharat flight from Armenia departs with 169 Indians
An Air India flight under Vande Bharat Mission on Tuesday with 169 stranded Indians departed from Yerevan for Delhi and Chennai on Tuesday.
"#VandeBharatMission successfully evacuated stranded 169 Indians in #Armenia by @airindiain flight AI 1930 YER-DEL-MAA. Thank you all who made it happen," India embassy in Armenia.
As many as 2,50,087 Indian nationals stranded abroad have been repatriated since the beginning of Vande Bharat Mission last month, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said.
Jun 23, 2020 19:49 (IST)
Coronavirus: Rapid Antigen testing kits to be used for COVID in Uttar Pradesh from tomorrow
Rapid Antigen Testing kits have arrived in Uttar Pradesh and will be used from June 24 for COVID-19 tests with special focus on six districts, said Additional Chief Secretary (Home) Awanish K Awasthi on Tuesday.
"Health Department has informed that Antigen test kits have arrived and they will be brought into use from tomorrow. Special focus will be on Noida, Ghaziabad, Lucknow, Gorakhpur, Varanasi and Kanpur Nagar districts," Mr Awasthi said at the daily press conference.
"Directions have been given to from 1 Lakh screening teams for medical screening. Health Department has made all preparations," he added.
Mr Awasthi has said there are 3,56,28,696 ration cards in the state and out of these "2,39,36,517 which is 66 percent have been provided rations in the sixth phase of ration distribution."
Jun 23, 2020 19:13 (IST)
Coronavirus news: 29 new COVID-19 cases reported in Himachal Pradesh, tally reaches 756
Himachal Pradesh has reported 29 new COVID-19 cases on Tuesday, taking the total number of positive cases to 756, said State Health Department.
The total number of cases in the state includes 308 active cases, 11 migrated, 429 recovered and six deaths, reported news agency ANI.
With an increase of 14,933 new cases and 312 deaths in the last 24 hours, India''s COVID-19 count reached 4,40,215 on Tuesday.
Jun 23, 2020 18:19 (IST)
Coronavirus news - Novak Djokovic Says Tested Positive For Coronavirus: Report
Tennis world number one Novak Djokovic said Tuesday he has tested positive for coronavirus, joining a slew of other infected players who took part in an exhibition tennis tournament in the Balkans. "Novak Djokovic tested positive for a virus COVID-19," read a statement from his staff. "He is not showing any symptoms," it added.
Jun 23, 2020 18:07 (IST)
Coronavirus news: Nagaland reports 50 fresh COVID-19 cases, tally rises to 330
Nagaland on Tuesday reported 50 more COVID-19 cases, taking the state's tally to 330, Health and Family Welfare Minister S Pangnyu Phom said.
All the 50 people who tested positive for coronavirus had returned to Nagaland from different parts of the country recently and were lodged in quarantine centres.
"Out of 312 samples tested, 50 new cases of COVID-19 positive have been reported," Mr Phom tweeted.
Of the fresh cases, 24 are from Dimapur Quarantine Centre, 14 from Kohima and 12 from Peren Quarantine Centre.
Of the total 330 COVID-19 cases, 189 are active while 149 people have recovered from the disease, officials said.