Coronavirus India Live Updates: The country's COVID-19 mortality rate dropped below 2 per cent for the first time in weeks, the Health Ministry said this evening. The announcement came after a virtual conference between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and chief ministers of 10 of the worst affected states.
India has logged 53,601 cases of coronavirus in the last 24 hours with 871 deaths, the Union Health Ministry said in the morning. The total number of cases in the country has now shot up to 22,68,675 with 45,257 deaths. A total of 15,83,489 COVID-19 patients have recovered from the infection, taking the recovery rate to 69.79 per cent, the ministry said today.
This is the seventh consecutive day that India, which has the third highest COVID-19 caseload in the world, has reported more cases in a day than the United States and Brazil, which have logged more patients than India since the beginning of the pandemic.
The COVID-19 cases in the country have jumped from 10 lakh to 22 lakh in 24 days, an analysis of the health ministry data done by news agency PTI showed on Monday. India's COVID-19 recoveries have reached a "historic peak", made possible by the policy of "testing aggressively, tracking comprehensively and treating efficiently", the Health Ministry had said in a statement.
Here are the updates on coronavirus (COVID-19) cases:
Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar Tuesday told Prime Minister Narendra Modi that the state plans to raise testing rate for COVID-19 to over one lakh per day.
Mr Kumar, who was joined by his counterparts in nine other states at the video conference meeting on coronavirus situation, said the state was at present testing more than 75,000 samples daily though the number of RT-PCR examinations, which he called "the most important", remained as low as about 6100 per day.
"The RT-PCR facility will soon be introduced at five more medical college hospitals which would help in raising the daily average by about 2300. Moreover, we have plans to purchase 10 RT-PCR and RNA extraction machines which would raise our capacity by another 5,000", he said.
Germany on Tuesday raised doubts over the quality and safety of Russia's coronavirus vaccine, stressing that drug approval is granted in the European Union only after full clinical trials.
"Patient safety is of the highest priority," a health ministry spokeswoman told German newspaper network RND. "There is no known data on the quality, efficacy and safety of the Russian vaccine."
Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh said Tuesday the Punjabi attitude of ''koyi gal nahin'' was causing people to delay their COVID-19 testing until it became inevitable, warning them it could prove detrimental in some cases.
Mr Singh blamed the attitude for the higher-than-Haryana mortality rate in Punjab.
He said he had conveyed this to Prime Minister Narendra Modi too earlier Tuesday.
Over 10 lakh Indians have returned from abroad after the government launched the "Vande Bharat" evacuation mission on May 7 in view of the coronavirus pandemic, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said on Tuesday.
MEA spokesperson Anurag Srivastava tweeted, "Vande Bharat Mission crosses the 1 million mark!".
"We continue our efforts with the Ministry of Civil Aviation, Ministry of Home Affairs and Ministry of Health and Family Welfare to bring our nationals home," he tweeted.
411 new #COVID19 cases reported in Uttarakhand today taking the total number of cases to 10,432. There are 3,787 active cases: State Health Department pic.twitter.com/POdypxEoRe
- ANI (@ANI) August 11, 2020
Coronavirus patients isolating at home in Karnataka will be considered discharged 10 days after their last positive test, according to revised guidelines from the state government
India has crossed the milestone of conducting more than 2.5 Crore #COVID19 sample tests across #India. There are more than 6.98 lakh tests being done on a daily basis in its fight against #Corona. #ICMRFightsCovid19 For more details visit: https://t.co/6PRkBpcxfq pic.twitter.com/aEqW8hqLhr
- ICMR (@ICMRDELHI) August 11, 2020
Bhutan ordered its first nationwide lockdown on Tuesday after a returning resident tested positive for coronavirus after being discharged from quarantine and coming into close contact with people in the capital Thimphu.
Russia has developed "first" coronavirus vaccine, says Vladimir Putin: news agency AFP.
Two more people have died due to COVID-19 in Puducherry while the Union Territory has resported 276 fresh cases today, taking the total count to 5,900, reported news agency PTI. Health Minister Malladi Krishna Rao told a virtual press conference that while one patient aged 44 died at Indira Gandhi Government Medical college (IGGMC) hospital here, the other aged 69 passed away at a private hospital in the last 24 hours. Both the patients had co-morbidities. With the two deaths, the death count rose to 91. Of the new cases, Puducherry registered 241 cases, followed by 30 cases in Karaikal and five in the Yanam region.
Rajasthan has reported 620 new COVID-19 cases till 10:30 am today, pushing the state's coronavirus tally to 54,290 cases, reported news agency ANI. According to the Rajasthan health department's bulletin, 10 deaths were reported on Monday, taking the death count to 810. There are 14,207 active cases in the state. As many as 214 patients have been discharged taking the number of such patients to 36,524. 213 patients have recovered, taking the total number of recovered patients to 39,273, the bulletin said.
Odisha's COVID-19 tally rose to 48,796 with the detection of 1,341 new cases, a health department official said on Tuesday, reported news agency PTI. Ten more patients died, following which the death count rose to 296, he said. Three people died in Ganjam and in Khurda district while Sunderharh, Rayagada, Puri and Balasore reported one fatality each. Besides, two COVID-19 patients from Bhubaneswar and Nabarangpur also died but these fatalities were due to other reasons. The number of such deaths in the state increased to 53, the official said. The new cases were reported from 29 districts.
Telangana recorded 1,896 new COVID-19 cases and eight fatalities, taking the total infection tally in the state to 82,647, reported news agency PTI. The declining trend in fresh coronavirus cases continued in the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC), which reported only 338 new cases, a state government bulletin said on Tuesday.
Single-day COVID-19 cases in India dipped below 55,000 on Tuesday after the country recorded over 60,000 cases daily for four straight days, according to the Union Health Ministry data, reported news agency PTI. With the fresh cases, India's COVID-19 tally has risen to 22.68 lakh, while the recoveries have surged pass 15.83 lakh, pushing the recovery rate to 69.80 per cent.
Seventy-six more people, including 36 security personnel, have tested positive for coronavirus in Arunachal Pradesh, taking the state's tally to 2,231 on Tuesday, a senior health department official said, reported news agency PTI. Barring nine, all of them are asymptomatic, the official said. Of the 76 new cases, 23 were reported in West Kameng, 15 from Capital Complex region, six each from East Siang and Changlang districts, five from Upper Subansiri, four each from Leparada and Namsai, three from Lower Dibang Valley, two each from Tawang, Lower Siang, East Kameng, and Lohit, and one each from Papumpare and Lower Subansiri.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi will hold a virtual meeting with the chief ministers of 10 states today to review the coronavirus situation. This is the seventh such interaction with chief ministers on the coronavirus crisis. The meeting comes after "Unlock3" or the third phase of lifting of coronavirus-related restrictions across the country began last month. The chief ministers of Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Gujarat, Uttar Pradesh, Telangana, Punjab, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and West Bengal are expected to attend the meeting which begins at 11 AM. Read here
Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Uttar Pradesh are the five states which reported the most number of coronavirus cases in the last 24 hours. These states also had the most number of single-day fatalities.
India has logged 53,601 cases of coronavirus in the last 24 hours with 871 deaths. The total number of cases in the country has now shot up to 22,68,675 with 45,257 fatalities. 15,83,489 COVID-19 patients have recovered from the infection, taking the recovery rate to 69.79 per cent, officials said today. Read here
In Assam, where the government has launched a massive campaign to collect blood plasma from people who have recovered from coronavirus , more than 300 doctors, nurses and health workers who got infected in the line of duty signed up at a plasma donation camp on Monday so they can save lives. Assam's health workers - from both the public and private sectors - queued up to sign up as plasma donors at a mega plasma donation camp in Guwahati. Read here
The coronavirus pandemic chalked up another horrific milestone Monday as the world surpassed 20 million recorded cases of infection from the tiny killer that has upended life just about everywhere.
US President Donald Trump today that India stands second in terms of coronavirus testing while no other country comes close to the United States.
According to Donald Trump, while the US has tested close to 65 million people for coronavirus, India would be second with 11 million tests.
"We have tested close to 65 million people and no country is even close to that number. India would be second at 11 million (tests) and they have 1.5 billion people. We have the number one testing in the world by far and also the highest quality tests," Donald Trump told reporters.