Coronavirus Live Updates: India has logged over 50,000 deaths linked to coronavirus since the beginning of the pandemic, the Union Health Ministry said this morning. The country's Covid tally crossed the 26 lakh-mark today with about 58,000 fresh infections and 941 deaths registered in the last 24 hours.
The third worst-hit country by the pandemic, India has been reporting the highest number of daily cases across the world for the last 13 days, surpassing the United States and Brazil that have a higher caseload, according to the data by the World Health Organization.
Here are the updates on coronavirus (COVID-19) cases:
Eight more COVID-19 patients died in Assam on Monday, pushing the death count in the state
West Bengal's COVID-19 discharge rate crossed the 75-per cent mark on Monday with the state
Odisha government has ramped up COVID-19 testing to more than 50,000 tests per day and intended to further increase the testing number in a phased manner.
On August 16, Odisha was positioned at fourth number in the country with 50,421 tests.
In terms of tests per million per day, Odisha was leading the country with 1,096 tests per million per day, among the large states category. The national average was 542 tests per million per day. The testing rate in Odisha is double the national average and ahead of states like Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Gujarat, Kerala etc, stated the press release.
Jharkhand on Monday reported 843 new cases of COVID-19, taking the tally to 24,067, officials
Punjab Cabinet on Monday gave go-ahead for Vidhan Sabha to convene on August 28 for a one-day constitutionally mandated session on Monday.
The decision was taken for the first time since the COVID-19 pandemic broke out.
Meanwhile, the Punjab Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh present at a virtual conference meeting of the cabinet reviewing the COVID situation said he was not averse to imposing harsher measures to check further spread of the pandemic.
A team of experts from New Delhi-based AIIMS will be arriving in Goa on Tuesday to monitor the medical treatment being given to Union AYUSH Minister Shripad Naik, who is currently admitted in a private hospital in Panaji after testing positive for COVID-19.
Mr Naik (67) was given plasma therapy on Monday, a Goa
health department official said.
The department said the team of specialists from the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), New Delhi, will consist of heads of anaesthesiology and pulmonary medicine departments.
Mr Naik tested positive for COVID-19 on August 12 after which he was admitted in a private hospital.
The Goa cabinet has allowed holding of Sunburn music festival in a virtual mode on August 29 with an objective to "raise funds for COVID-19 relief".
As per the minutes of the last week's cabinet meeting which were made available on Monday by a state official, the government has approved Sunburn's proposal to host the event online.
Chief Minister Pramod Sawant had said that it's an online music festival being held in Berlin.
"The money will go the CM's Relief Fund. We don't need to spend any money. Organisers are doing it to promote Goa and Goa Tourism," the Chief Minister said.
The event will be held live on August 29, the organiser said.
Four hundred and twenty-two new COVID-19 cases took the total number of reported cases in the Union Territory to 28,892, according to the Jammu and Kashmir government.
While 81 cases were reported from the Jammu division, 341 were reported from Kashmir division.
Out of the total number of cases in the Union Territory, active cases stand at 7,048, recoveries stand at 21,296, and the death count is 548.
India''s COVID-19 death toll breached the 50,000-mark as 941 deaths were reported in the last 24 hours, said the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare on Monday. The number of deaths due to the infection has reached 50,921.
Ahmedabad reported 158 new coronavirus cases on Monday, raising its tally to 29,162, while three more patients succumbed to the infection, the Gujarat health department said.
With three fatalities, the death count of the district rose to 1,662, it said.
With 182 patients getting discharged on Monday, the number of recovered cases rose to 24,064, it said.
Ahmedabad city reported 145 new cases, and the rural parts of the district 13.
Maharashtra on Monday crossed the six lakh mark with the addition of 8,493 new cases of COVID-19, while 228 more patients succumbed to the infection, said a health department official.
The state's coronavirus count rose to 6,04,358 after 8,493 fresh cases were reported, while 228 new deaths took the fatality tally to 20,265, he said.
Also, 11,391 patients were discharged from hospitals, taking the tally of recovered cases to 4,28,514. There are 1,55,268 active cases in the state, the official added.
Mumbai reported 753 new cases and 40 deaths, taking its tally to 1,29,479 and the toll to 7,173, he said.
The number of active cases in Mumbai stood at 17,704, he added.
Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav on Monday accused the Uttar Pradesh government of failing to control the COVID-19 outbreak and improve the law-and-order situation in the state.
He also alleged that the Yogi Adityanath dispensation has remained a mute spectator over both these issues.
"People in the state are badly hit by coronavirus infection as well as deteriorating law-and-order condition. The BJP government has failed to control both coronavirus and crime and it should accept this truth," Mr Yadav said in a statement.
Two ministers have died due to coronavirus, MLA have also been hit by it. Doctors are dying of it and at the same time there is also no let up in crime, he alleged.
"The police have started raising its hand on innocent and helpless people because it is rendered ineffective in front of the heavyweight leaders and goondas," the SP chief said.
Surat is better positioned now to defeat the coronavirus pandemic than last month as reflected in encouraging signs like drop in growth rate of new cases, doubling rate and deaths besides more testing, the state government told the Gujarat High Court on Monday.
While hearing a PIL on issues related to COVID-19 and lockdown, a division bench of Chief Justice Vikram Nath and Justice J B Pardiwalahad earlier asked the government to file a reply on its preparedness to tackle the pandemic in the south Gujarat district.
The bench had earlier observed that "delayed response" from the government and local administration has caused the pandemic situation to go "from bad to worse".
Surat has been reporting the highest number of COVID-19 cases in the last few weeks, overtaking Ahmemdabad which was earlier the worst-hit district in Gujarat.
Jammu and Kashmir on Monday recorded 422 new coronavirus cases, taking the total number of infected persons to 28,892, even as six COVID-19 patients died during the last 24 hours in the Union territory, officials said.
"Six persons, who were COVID-19 positive, have died over the past 24 hours in Jammu and Kashmir," the officials said.
They said all the deaths were reported from the Kashmir valley.
With the fresh deaths, the death count of coronavirus infected persons in the UT has risen to 548 of which 507 were from the valley and 41 from the Jammu region, they said.
Meanwhile, the UT recorded 422 new coronavirus cases, taking the total number of infected persons to 28,892, the officials said.
Kerala reported the highest single day surge of 1,725 COVID-19 cases on Monday, taking the infection tally to 46,140 while 13 deaths took the count to 169.
Health minister K K Shailaja said Thiruvananthapuram reported the highest number of 461, followed by Malappuram with 306.
Four districts accounted for over 100 cases: Thrissur (156), Alappuzha (139), Palakkad (137) and Ernakulam (129).
The government also confirmed that 13 people, aged between 90 years and seven months were among those who succumbed to the COVID-19 infection onMonday, a release quoting the minister said.
Tamil Nadu on Monday recorded 5,890 fresh COVID-19 cases, pushing the tally to 3,43,945, while 120 deaths propelled the death count to 5,886.
As many as 5,667 patients were discharged from various hospitals and in total 2,83,937 people have recovered and there are 54,122 active cases.
Of the fresh cases, Chennai recorded 1,185 cases, Madurai 136, Coimbatore 393 and three nearby districts here - Chengelpet, Kancheepuram and Tiruvallur- together logged 706 infections and the rest was scattered across Tamil Nadu, a health department bulletin said.
The state capital's share in Tamil Nadu's tally of cases was 1,17,839.
The total number of tests for detection of COVID-19 has crossed the 3 crore-mark in India, with the Union Health ministry asserting on Monday that the "new landmark" has been achieved due to expanded diagnostic lab network and facilitation for easy testing across the country.
A total of 3,00,41,400 samples have been tested until August 16 with 7,31,697 samples being tested on Sunday, the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) said.
In a testament to the focussed, consistent and coordinated efforts of the Centre, and the State and UT governments, India has set a new landmark of conducting three crore tests, the Union Health ministry said in a statement.
Expanded diagnostic lab network and facilitation for easy testing across the country have given a substantial boost to the testing capacity, it said.
"With 7,31,697 tests conducted in the last 24 hours, India is on its resolved drive to increase its testing capacity to 10 lakh tests daily," the ministry said.
Building on this achievement, the Tests Per Million (TPM) have seen a sharp increase to 21,769, it said.
Himachal Pradesh recorded 13 fresh COVID-19 cases on Monday, taking the total number of coronavirus cases in the state to 4,170, officials said.
There are 1,313 active cases in the state while 2,797 coronavirus patients have recovered from the infection so far, Special Secretary (Health) Nipun Jindal said.
Eighteen patients have died due to COVID-19 and 40 have migrated out of the state.
Of the 13 fresh cases, six were reported from Solan, three from Chamba and two each from Una and Kangra, Mr Jindal said.
Meanwhile, 77 patients -- 21 in Chamba, 17 in Sirmaur, 12 in Mandi, nine in Una, eight in Hamirpur, four in Shimla and three each in Kangra and Bilaspur -- recovered from the infection on Monday, he added.
There have been total 947 departures and 945 arrivals of flights till day 85 of the resumption of domestic air travel, Union Civil Aviation Minister Hardeep Singh Puri said on Monday.
"Indians continue to fly high. Domestic operations on August 16, 2020, Day 85 till 23.59 hrs. Departures 93,639 passengers handled. Arrivals 89,887 passengers handled. Total movements 1,892, footfalls at airports 183,526," Mr Puri tweeted.
All scheduled commercial passenger flights were suspended in India on March 25 after the Central government imposed a lockdown to contain the spread of COVID-19.
Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) leader Tejashwi Yadav on Monday alleged discrepancies in coronavirus testing in Bihar.
In a tweet, he referred to an August 11 tweet by PMO which cited Prime Minister Narendra Modi mentioning Bihar as among five states that should step up testing against COVID-19.
"Prime Minister Narendra Modi has highlighted the dangerous situation in Bihar by placing it among first priority states. I request the Prime Minister get discrepancies stopped in testing here by acting on the findings of central team," he said.
The tweet by PMO said that a need was felt of increasing testing in states where there is less testing and positivity rate is more, specially Bihar, Gujarat, Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal and Telangana. The need for increasing testing came out during the review meeting, it said.
Ahead of the Monsoon Session of the Uttar Pradesh legislature, Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav on Monday called for adequate measures to protect the public representatives attending the session amid the pandemic outbreak.
The three-day session is set to begin from August 20 and conclude on August 24.
"Seeing the spread of COVID-19 in the state, adequate measures should be taken to protect the public representatives from the disease," Mr Yadav said in a tweet in Hindi.
Uttar Pradesh Assembly Speaker Hriday Narayan Dikshit had on August 9 said a three-day session of the state legislative assembly will begin on August 20, with MLAs occupying alternate seats. He had said visitors' gallery will also be used to maintain social distancing amid the pandemic.
As per Article 174 of the Constitution, an assembly must convene a session in less than six months.
Elaborating on the seating plan, Mr Dikshit had said the members will be seated leaving a seat between them vacant.
The Delhi-government run Rajiv Gandhi Super Speciality Hospital will soon start a post-COVID clinic to analyse patients seeing a re-emergence of coronavirus symptoms after recovering from the infection.
According to Dr BL Sherwal, medical director of the hospital, they have received calls from patients who had recovered from coronavirus but have reported symptoms again.
"We have received calls from patients who have said that their saturation levels have gone down or they are experiencing breathlessness. At the clinic, we will be carrying out CT scan of the lungs and other tests to see whether the healing process is different in different patients, the symptoms and why is it re-emerging," he told PTI.
The Bihar government on Monday extended the lockdown till September 6 in view of the prevailing COVID-19 situation in the state, as per a notification.
The decision was taken at a meeting of the Crisis Management Group chaired by Chief Secretary Deepak Kumar. Restrictions will remain in place in the district headquarters, sub-divisional headquarters, block headquarters and all municipal areas in the state, according to the notification issued by the Home Department.
Strict measures will be enforced in the buffer and containment zones, it said.
All religious places will remain closed and no congregation will be allowed. Besides, all social and political gatherings will be barred, it said.
Parks and gymnasiums will remain closed and night curfew, restricting the movement of people between 10 pm and 5 am, will be in place, it added.
Tripura on Monday reported 143 fresh COVID-19 cases, taking the state's tally to 7,222, while the death count reached 59 as four more patients succumbed to the disease, a health department official said.
The state now has 1,859 active cases while 5,286 people have recovered from the disease.
Eighteen patients have migrated to other states.
"A 72-year old man from Teliamura in Khowai district died due to COVID-19 at Agartala Government Medical College (AGMC) in Agartala and another coronavirus patient, 77, from Gomati district breathed his last at Udaipur Hospital. They had cardiac-related problems," the official said.
One more 57-year-old man from Bamutia in West Tripura district was suffering from kidney ailments and had tested positive for the virus. He also died due to the contagion at his residence.
The number of people who have recuperated from COVID-19 in India went past 19 lakh on Monday with a record 57,584 patients recovering within a span of 24 hours, pushing the recovery rate to over 72 per cent, according to the Union Health ministry data.
India's COVID-19 recoveries have reached closer to 2 million (19,19,842), while the actual caseload of the country stands at 6,76,900 on date and currently comprises only 25.57 per cent of the total positive cases.
This difference between the recovered and the active cases continues to expand and now stands at 12,42,942. The recovery rate is 72.51 per cent at present.
This is the result of successful and coordinated implementation of an effective containment strategy, aggressive and comprehensive testing coupled with standardized clinical management of the critical patients, the ministry said in a statement.
The total number of COVID-19 cases in Indore crossed the 10,000-mark as 245 more people tested positive for the disease in the Madhya Pradesh district in last 24 hours, an official said on Monday.
Out of the total 3,359 samples tested in the last 24 hours, 245 came out positive in-charge Chief Medical and Health Officer Poornima Gadaria said.
With this, the total number of COVID-19 cases in the district has gone up to 10,049.
In the last five months, 344 people died due to the disease while 6,618 recovered from it, Ms Gadaria said.
As on Monday, the COVID-19 death rate in the district was 3.42 per cent, higher than the current national average, as per analysis of the data.
At present, there are 3,087 active cases in the district and out of them, 718 are in various isolation centres, another health official said.
894 new #COVID19 cases, 2,006 recoveries & 10 deaths reported in Telangana on August 16, taking the total number of cases to 92,255 in the state.
- ANI (@ANI) August 17, 2020
The total number of cases includes 21,420 active cases, 70,132 recoveries & 703 deaths so far: State Health Department, Telangana pic.twitter.com/5ARoMRQBXZ
693 new #COVID19 cases and 10 deaths reported in Rajasthan. Total number of cases now at 61,989 including 14,451 active cases, 46,652 recoveries and 886 deaths: State Health Department pic.twitter.com/ikkzekdhvN
- ANI (@ANI) August 17, 2020
3,00,41,400 samples tested up to 16th August for #COVID19. Of these, 7,31,697 samples were tested yesterday: Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) pic.twitter.com/2HPc53EYb6
- ANI (@ANI) August 17, 2020
With 546 new COVID-19 cases reported in Jharkhand on Sunday, the total number of coronavirus cases reached 23,224, the State Health Department said.
In a COVID-19 bulletin, the state government informed that 14 people died due to the virus on Sunday.

The United States surpassed 170,000 coronavirus deaths on Sunday, according to a Reuters tally, as health officials express concerns over COVID-19 complicating the fall flu season.