Coronavirus Highlights: COVID-19 Cases In India Cross 23.9 Lakh-Mark

Coronavirus News: 3-Day-Old Baby Dies In Tripura Covid Ward, Family Blames Swab For Test
A 3-day-old baby died in the Tripura capital Agartala's government hospital on Wednesday after - the family alleged - a nurse inserted nasal swab to take samples for its coronavirus test.
The incident took place in the GB Pant government hospital, which is the city's biggest COVID-19 treatment facility.

The family alleged that a nurse had come to take the samples of the infant after the mother tested positive for the deadly infection Wednesday afternoon. However, soon after she inserted the cotton swabs, the baby began bleeding from the nose, they said, adding it died the same day.

"They must not have taken the sample with the delicacy it required to handle a three-day-old infant and may have damaged a vein inside because the child started bleeding which didn't stop," one of the family members said. Read

Coronavirus News: UK Begins Trials Of New COVID App, Includes Indian Language Versions
The UK began trials of a new smartphone app on Thursday designed to track COVID-19 infections within the community, with versions also available in Indian languages such as Punjabi, Gujarati, Bangla and Urdu in order to reach ethnicities not well-versed in English.

The new app is part of the UK's National Health Service (NHS) Test and Trace service Test and Trace programme and is being overseen by Indian-origin techie Randeep Sidhu as Head of Product.

The new application, dubbed a "state-of-the-art app that is safe, simple and secure", will begin trials this week among residents on the Isle of Wight region on the south coast of England and among NHS volunteer responders across England before expanding to the London borough of Newham.

"Scared Of Infecting Our Children": Delhi COVID-19 Warriors On Strike
India's frontline coronavirus warriors - ASHA workers - are up in protests in Delhi and Haryana. While 20,000 ASHA workers of Haryana have been on strike since August 7, 6,000 workers in Delhi have been on strike since July 21. They have two demands - better safety gears and proper wages. The Delhi ASHA workers who protested on Sunday at Jantar Mantar are facing a police case for violating social distancing norms. 26-year-old Priya Ranjan works for upto 8-9 hours every day conducting door to door surveys and visiting COVID-19 patients who are on home quarantine. She lives in a slum in Delhi's Geeta Colony. Her biggest fear is bringing the deadly disease back home to her children aged 6 and 3. In Delhi, 150 ASHA workers have been infected with coronavirus so far. Read

Coronavirus News: Mumbai's COVID-19 Death Rate, Almost 3 Times India's Average, A Big Worry
Despite some respite in the number of coronavirus cases, the COVID-19 fatality rate in Mumbai is still worrying. India's financial and entertainment capital home to 1.2 crore people, is seeing an addition of nearly 50 deaths every day.

Yash Purohit lost his uncle to COVID-19 in June. He said they found it difficult to manage a proper response from the agencies.

"We went to various hospitals after developing symptoms trying to get tested and find a bed for my uncle. Nobody was helping us. Everywhere we were turned away saying they don't do any tests. We were asked to fill out a form, we did but still nobody admitted him," he told NDTV.

Two days later, when they finally managed to find a bed in private hospital, it was too late.

Maharashtra and particularly Mumbai continues to be India's biggest COVID-19 worry. Read

Privacy Breach, Says Kerala Leader On Call Record Use For Contact Tracing
The use of call detail records (CDR) of a COVID-19 patient for contact tracing is a violation of constitutional rights, Kerala Leader of Opposition Ramesh Chennithala said.

The Congress leader's statement comes a day after Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan said the state police has been using various scientific methods and technologies, including use of call detail records, to arrest the spread of the highly infectious coronavirus.

Speaking to the media on Thursday, Mr Chennithala objected to the DGP's order to collect the call detail records of COVID-19 patients from all over the state. "It is the gross violation of Section 2 of the Telegraph Act and Article 21 of the Indian Constitution... Nobody has the right to infringe on anyone;s privacy by any means," he said.

Mr Vijayan has, however, rejected concerns about the move intruding into the privacy of citizens and patients. Read

WHO Chief Scientist bats for focus on contact tracing, testing in fight against COVID-19
The battle against COVID-19 was long drawn and the focus should continue on early contact tracing, testing and prevention measures, Chief Scientist of the World Health Organisation (WHO), Soumya Swaminathan on Thursday told her, Puducherry Lt Governor Kiran Bedi said.

The scientist paid a surprise visit to the state Emergency Operation Centre (SEOC) and the COVID-19 war room.

In a whatsapp message to media, Ms Bedi said during the inspection, Swaminathan was briefed on the working of SEOC to prevent spread of pandemic in the Union Territory.

Ms Bedi further said, during a telephonic conversation with her, Ms Swaminathan emphasised on continued adherence to "early contact tracing, testing and prevention plans" and that there should in no way be slackness in continuing the focus.

COVID-19: India registers highest-ever recoveries of 56,383 in single day, says Health Ministry
India recorded the highest-ever recoveries of 56,383 in a single day. With this, the number of total recovered COVID-19 patients has touched nearly 17 lakhs (16,95,982) on Thursday, said the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.

In a press statement, the Ministry said, "The concerted, focussed and collaborative efforts of the Centre and the State/UT governments along with support of lakhs of frontline workers have ensured the successful implementation of TESTING aggressively, TRACKING comprehensively & TREATING efficiently through an array of measures including supervised home isolation, and effective clinical management of severe and critical patients through the Standard of Care advised by the Centre."

With the increasing number of recoveries, while the Recovery Rate has crossed 70 per cent (70.77 per cent today), the case mortality among COVID patients has further regressed to 1.96 per cent, and is steadily declining, the Ministry said.

Air India Plans To Operate 2 Vande Bharat Mission Flights From Hong Kong
Air India is planning to operate two Vande Bharat Mission flights from Hong Kong to Delhi on August 18 and 21, the Consulate General of India, Hong Kong said on Thursday.

The Vande Bharat Mission started in early May to evacuate Indians stranded abroad due to coronavirus restrictions.

"Passage on these flights would be on payment basis as per fares decided by Air India and would be subject to an undertaking to be provided by passengers to abide by all protocols framed by Government of India including quarantine on arrival in Delhi on payment basis," the Consulate General said in a statement on Twitter.

COVID-19: WHO downplays danger of coronavirus latching on to food packaging
The World Health Organization on Thursday downplayed the danger of the coronavirus latching on to food packaging and urged people not to be afraid of the virus entering the food chain.

Two cities in China said they had found traces of the coronavirus in imported frozen food and on food packaging, raising fears that contaminated food shipments might cause new outbreaks.

"People should not fear food, or food packaging or processing or delivery of food," WHO head of emergencies programme Mike Ryan told a briefing in Geneva. "There is no evidence that food or the food chain is participating in transmission of this virus. And people should feel comfortable and safe."

WHO epidemiologist Maria Van Kerkhove said China had tested hundreds of thousands of packages and "found very, very few, less than 10" proving positive for the virus.

More than 20.69 million people have been reported to be infected by the novel coronavirus globally and almost 750,000​ have died, according to a Reuters tally.

The WHO urged countries now that are striking bilateral deals for vaccines not to abandon multilateral efforts, since vaccinating pockets will still leave the world vulnerable.

COVID: Bengal records highest one-day jump of 2,997 cases, 56 fresh deaths
The coronavirus caseload in West Bengal rose to 1,07,323 with the highest single-day spike of 2,997 infections on Thursday, the health department said.

The COVID-19 death count also mounted to 2,259 after 56 people succumbed to the disease, the department said in a bulletin.

It said that 2,497 patients were discharged from hospitals after they recovered from COVID-19, taking the total number of cured people to 78,617.

The number of active patients rose to 26,447. Since Wednesday, 30,032 samples were tested in the state, the bulletin added.

COVID-19: 1,226 new cases in Maharashtra's Thane, 52 more succumb to infection
With the addition of 1,226 coronavirus positive cases on Thursday, the infection count in Thane district of Maharashtra reached 1,02,802, a senior official said.

The virus claimed another 52 lives in the district, which pushed the number of victims to 2,925, he said.

The recovery rate of the district is 83.56 per cent and the mortality is 2.85 per cent, the official said.

In neighbouring Palghar district, the COVID-19 case count reached 18,918 with the addition of 311 cases on Thursday, while the death toll climbed to 379 with the addition of eight cases.

Over 1 Crore PPEs, 10 Crore Anti-Malarial Drug HCQ Distributed To States Free Of Cost: Government
Over 3.04 crore N95 masks, more than 1.28 crore PPE kits and over 10.83 crore  hydroxychloroquine (HCQ) tablets have been distributed among the states, union territories and central institutions, free of cost by the central government since March 11, said the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare on Thursday. Read more

Coronavirus News: World Surpasses 20 Million COVID-19 Cases

In yet another staggering landmark, the deaths are expected to surpass 750,000 in a matter of days as the global health crisis that began late last year in China rages on.

As more things once unthinkable became harsh reality -- having to wear a facemask in touristy spots in Paris, or reserve a spot on Copacabana beach in Rio via an app and then social distance on the sand -- the World Health Organization urged people not to despair.