A single-day spike of 61,408 infections has taken India's coronavirus caseload to 31,06,348, data from the Union Health Ministry this morning showed. The number of deaths climbed to 57,542 with 836 people dying of the disease in a span of 24 hours. Recoveries among COVID-19 patients in the country surged to 23,38,035, pushing India's recovery rate to 75.27 per cent.
Maharashtra accounts for the maximum of cases (6,82,383), followed by Tamil Nadu (3,79,385), Andhra Pradesh (3,53,111), Karnataka (2,77,814), Uttar Pradesh (1,87,781) and Delhi (1,61,466).
It took India just 206 days to cross the 30 lakh-mark. The milestone came just 16 days after the country reported 20 lakh cases, according to data. India logged more than 20 lakh Covid cases on August 7.
The Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) said India has been testing around 74.7 people per lakh population, much higher than WHO's guidelines of testing 14 people per lakh population.
Meanwhile, American authorities announced an emergency approval of blood plasma from recovered coronavirus patients as a treatment against the disease that has killed over 176,000 in the US. The Food and Drug Administration's authorization comes as President Donald Trump faces intense pressure to curb the contagion that has hobbled the world's largest economy and clouded his once-promising prospects for re-election in November.
Here are the Highlights on Coronavirus Pandemic:
Minors aged between 5 and 17 are most exposed to the novel coronavirus in Delhi, according to a serological survey conducted in the city this month.
Some 172 countries are engaging with the COVAX facility designed to ensure equitable access to COVID-19 vaccines, the World Health Organization said on Monday, but more funding is needed and countries need now to make binding commitments."
What Delhi did yesterday, America does today, said Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Monday as his government claimed that the US adopted the model of convalescent plasma therapy for treatment of critically-ill coronavirus patients, taking a cue from the "Delhi Model" of battling COVID-19.
The total number of recovered cases among COVID-19 patients in Bihar crossed the one lakh-mark on Monday, a bulletin issued by the health department said.
The state also reported 17 deaths due to the infection taking the number of fatalities to 627, while its coronavirus tally rose to 1,23,382 after 1,227 fresh cases were reported in the past 24 hours, it said.
Bihar now has 21,393 active cases. While 2,908 patients have recovered from the disease in past 24 hours, altogether 1,01,362 people have been cured of it till date, the bulletin said.
The recovery rate has improved to 82.15 per cent, which is 7 per cent more than the national average.
The bulletin said that 24.94 lakh samples have been tested for COVID-19 so far, which included 62,215 tests conducted in the past 24 hours.
Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray on Monday directed municipal corporations in Thane district to intensify their fight against COVID-19.
These municipal corporations fall under the Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR) which has seen a surge in the new cases and fatalities.
Mr Thackeray reviewed the status of pandemic in Thane district during his visit.
"Civic bodies in Thane district should intensify their fight against COVID-19 with the help of Coorona Vigilance Committees," he said while speaking at a meeting held at the Thane Municipal Corporation.
He said police and municipal corporations should focus on tracking and tracing contacts of COVID-19 patients.
"Chase the virus" campaign should be carried out effectively, he said.
The Election Commission on Monday held a video conference meeting with District Magistrates in Bihar asking them to strictly follow the guidelines issued by the poll panel for holding elections during coronavirus pandemic.
The virtual meeting was chaired by Bihars Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) H R Srinivasa, who gave a slew of directions to District Election Officer-cum-District Magistrates about the guidelines issued by the EC on August 21, Deputy Chief Electoral Officer Baijunath Singh told PTI.
Bihar may become the first state to go for Assembly elections amid the pandemic. The polls in the state are due in October-November.
As part of the EC guidelines, voters will be provided gloves while using EVMs and COVID-19 patients in quarantine will be allowed to vote at the last hour of the polling day.
For the tenth consecutive day on Monday, single-day recoveries outnumbered fresh COVID-19 cases in Nagaland as 102 people were cured of the disease and 28 tested positive for the infection, a health department, official said.
The recovery rate in the state has increased to 64.51 per cent on Monday from 62.23 per cent on Sunday, he said.
Health department officials attributed the increasing number of recoveries to the dedicated care towards coronavirus positive cases and the immunity of patients.
During the day, Minister for Health and Family Welfare S Pangnyu Phom tweeted, "28 new positive cases of COVID-19 have been reported out of 587 samples tested 24 in Kohima, 2 in Dimapur and one each in Longleng and Zunheboto districts.
"Also State reports 102 recoveries of COVID-19 patients 85 from Dimapur and 17 from Kohima."
With the fresh infections, Nagalands coronavirus tally is 3,714, out of which 2,396 have recovered, 1,301 are active, 9 have died and 8 migrated to other states.
As many as 56,901 samples have been tested, the official said.
Kerala's infection count is inching towards the 60,000 mark as 1,242 COVID-19 cases were added on Monday, while the death toll climbed to 234 with 11 fatalities.
Thirty four health workers are among those infected.
While the total number of cases touched 59,503, as many as 38,887 people have recovered from the virus, including 1,238 discharged today.
Presently 20,323 people are undergoing treatment, Health minister K K Shailaja said.
The districts which reported over 100 cases are Thiruvananthapuram (182),Malappuram (169), Ernakulam (165), Kasaragod (118) and Kollam (112).
Of the positive cases, as many 1,081 people were infected through contact, the source of infection of 95 was not known.
Thirty nine people had come from abroad and 88 from other states, the minister said in a press release.
At least 1,83,448 people are under observation, of whom 1,66,411are in home/institutionalquarantine and 17,037 in hospitals, including 1,877 admitted today.
Aurangabad's sero survey has found that 11.81 per cent of the 4,327 respondents have developed antibodies against coronavirus, officials said on Monday.
The survey was conducted by local governing bodies and the health department between August 10 and 16.
"11.81% of citizens (whose samples were taken) have developed antibodies against coronavirus," officials said.
A serological survey is done to detect the presence of specific antibodies, and is used to assess the prevalence of a disease in the population.
While 14.56 per cent respondents from slum areas are found to have antibodies, the same percentage in non-slum areas is 10.64 per cent," a civic official said.
The survey was based on the samples collected from people of different age groups from all 115 wards in Aurangabad city.
The Chhattisgarh Legislative Assembly's monsoon session will commence here from Tuesday with new seating arrangements in the house and all precautions in place to curb the spread of COVID-19.
The seating arrangements for members of the assembly have been altered to comply with COVID-19 safety protocols.
"Glass partitions have been erected to separate the seats of MLAs to minimise contact between two lawmakers while they attend the proceedings of the house, an assembly official said.
The four-day session is expected to be a stormy affair with the opposition BJP deciding to corner the Congress government over its alleged failure to contain spread of the viral infection, "deteriorating" law and order situation, illegal mining and other issues.
The seats inside the house have capacity to accommodate two to three persons. Only two MLAs will sit in each seat with a glass partition between them. Eleven additional seats have been installed for members inside the house, the official said.
Tamil Nadu on Monday reported 5,967 fresh COVID infections as the tally inched towards four lakh cases while death toll touched 6,614 with 97 fatalities.
Of the new cases, Chennai accounted for 1,278 and nearby districts of Chengelpet (306), Kancheepuram (226) and Tiruvallur (320) together logged 852 cases while the remainder was scattered across the state.
Those dead include 92 with comorbidities and five had no chronic illnesses. Three women, aged 90, 27 and 23 besides a 35 year-old man were among the latest victims.
With the fresh infections, the state's infection count touched 3,85,352 and might cross the four lakh mark in a few days from now considering over 5,000 new infections daily in recent times.
The Lok Sabha Secretariat has been making necessary arrangements for holding the session while ensuring social distancing norms.
I was tested for Novel Corona Virus today. My test report has returned positive.
- Manohar Lal (@mlkhattar) August 24, 2020
I appeal to all colleagues and associates who came in my contact over the last week to get themselves tested. I request my close contacts to move into strict quarantine immediately.
Mizoram government on Monday lifted the eight-day complete lockdown in the state capital area to contain the spread of novel coronavirus and the restrictions on movement of goods carrying vehicles.
The complete lockdown in Aizawl municipal area had been imposed from 8 pm of August 16 to expedite contact tracing and facilitate random sample testing of persons who have high risk of exposure to COVID-19 infected patients.
This was done after a sizeable number of local transmission cases were reported in the state with majority cases being found in the state capital.
The government order issued late Sunday night said the after the lifting of the lockdown on August 24 the guidelines issued on July 31 will be reinstated in the entire state.
Metro rail services are likely to be allowed in the fourth phase of unlocking the country from the coronavirus-linked restrictions that is expected to be rolled out by next month, government sources said. But schools and colleges will still remain shut and crowded places like cinema halls will not be opened now, the sources added." itemprop="description
WHO director general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said the facility was critical to ending the COVID-19 pandemic, and would not only pool risk for countries developing and buying vaccines, but also ensure prices are kept "as low as possible".
As many as 138 new COVID-19 cases were recorded in Uttar Pradesh's Gautam Buddh Nagar on Monday, pushing the total number of coronavirus cases in the district to 7,216, official data showed.
The number of active cases rose to 927 from 839 on Sunday, according to the data released by the UP Health Department for a 24-hour period.
The district dropped to 12th position in the state in terms of active cases, the data showed.
Also, 51 more patients got discharged during the period.
So far, 6,246 patients have recovered from COVID-19 in Gautam Buddh Nagar, the third highest among districts in UP after Lucknow (15,328) and Kanpur Nagar (8,798), it showed.
The district has so far recorded 43 deaths linked to coronavirus and the mortality rate among positive cases dropped further to 0.59 per cent from 0.60 per cent on Sunday, according to official statistics.
With 61 more patients succumbing to COVID-19, the death count due to the viral disease rose to 2,987 in Uttar Pradesh, while 4,677 fresh cases took the tally 1,92,382 on Monday.
Briefing reporters here, Additional Chief Secretary Medical and Health Amit Mohan Prasad said the case fatality rate in the state was 1.55 per cent.
He said that so far 2,987 COVID-19 patients have succumbed to the viral disease. "Effort is being made to stop all preventable deaths," Prasad said.
As many as 4,677 fresh COVID-19 cases were reported in the state, the additional chief secretary said, adding the number of active COVID-19 cases in the state stands at 49,288.
So far, 1,40,107 COVID-19 patients have recovered from the disease and the recovery rate was 72.82 per cent, he said.
India's COVID-19 tests per million rose sharply to 26,016 as cumulative tests surged to 3.59 crore, the Health Ministry said on Monday underlining that a key component in India's COVID-19 response has been early identification of cases by timely and aggressive testing.
The number of people recuperating from COVID-19 has crossed 23 lakh pushing the recovery rate to over 75 per cent, while the case fatality rate, maintaining a steady downward trajectory, has further dropped to 1.85 per cent, it said.
"A key component in India's response to the COVID-19 pandemic has been early identification of positive cases by timely and aggressive testing," the ministry said.
Prompt identification and isolation synced with efficient treatment have led to the rising number of recoveries, and low and declining mortality due to COVID-19, the ministry underlined.
28 new #COVID19 positive cases have been reported out of 587 samples tested. Also, state reports 102 recoveries of COVID-19 patients: S Pangnyu Phom, Health Minister of Nagaland
- ANI (@ANI) August 24, 2020
Jharkhand's COVID-19 tally rose to 30,178 on Monday as 967 more people tested positive for the infection, while nine fresh fatalities pushed the state's coronavirus death count to 320, a health bulletin said.
The fresh infections have pushed the number of active cases in the state to 9,722, while 20,136 people have recovered from the disease, it said.
The state has tested 13,505 samples for COVID-19 in the last 24 hours, the bulletin added.
Meanwhile, the samples of Chief Minister Hemant Soren, his wife Kalpana and employees at his office were collected for COVID-19 tests, Dr Vivek Kashyap, superintendent, Rajendra Institute of Medical Sciences (RIMS) said.
Their samples were tested for the third time in two months.
The tests reports are likely to be available by evening, Mr Kashyap said.
The Punjab police on Monday put numbers on shops in Ludhiana so that they could open in accordance with the odd-even formula as instructed by the state government.
The decision was taken due to the rise in COVID-19 cases in the state. During a meeting last Thursday, Punjab chief minister Amarinder Singh had directed that only 50 per cent of shops remain open on working days in five districts of Amritsar, Ludhiana, Jalandhar, Patiala and SAS Nagar (Mohali) to check crowds.
"The odd- and even-numbered shops will open on alternate days. A fine of Rs 5,000 will be imposed on the violators," sub-inspector Pawan Kumar told ANI.
As many as 1,842 new COVID-19 positive cases and six deaths were reported in Telangana on Sunday, taking the total number of cases to 1,06,091 in the state, according to the state Health Department on Monday.
The total number of cases includes 82,411 recoveries and 761 deaths. There are 22,919 COVID-19 patients who are under isolation, as per the daily bulletin.
Meanwhile, India crossed the 23 lakh COVID-19 recoveries mark and the case fatality rate "has further dipped" to 1.85 per cent, informed the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW), here on Monday."With more patients recovering and being discharged from hospitals and home isolation (in case of mild and moderate cases), India's COVID-19 total recoveries have crossed 23 lakh today. Recovery of 23,38,035 patients has been made possible because of effective implementation of the policy of testing aggressively, tracking comprehensively through surveillance and contact tracing and treating efficiently," the Union Health Ministry said in a statement.
At least 12 more people, including nine security personnel, tested positive for COVID-19 in Meghalaya on Monday, taking the northeastern state's tally to 1,929, a health department official said.
Of the new cases, 10 were reported from East Khasi Hills district and two from Ri-Bhoi, Health Services Director Aman War said.
"Nine armed forces personnel are among the new patients," he said.
Meghalaya currently has 1,141 active cases, while the number of recoveries stands at 780. Eight patients have succumbed to the infection so far.
As many as 21 new cases were reported in Himachal Pradesh on Monday, taking the total number of cases in the state to 5,022, the state's health department said.
According to it, currently, there are 1,485 active cases, while 3,461 people have recovered from the virus. A total of 27 patients have succumbed to the pandemic.
"21 new COVID19 cases reported in Himachal Pradesh today. The total number of positive cases in the state rises to 5,022 including 1,485 active cases, 3,461 recovered cases & 27 deaths so far," it said.
Odisha reported 2,949 new COVID-19 cases on Sunda, taking the state's count of positive cases to 81,479, informed the State''s Information and Public Relations Department.
At present, there are 26,602 active cases and 54,405 patients have recovered from the virus across the state.
The death count due to COVID-19 in the state has reached 419 after 10 deaths were reported in the last 24 hours.
As many as 60,909 samples were tested for COVID-19 that include 7,490 RT-PCR, 53,295 samples via Antigen testing, and 124 samples via Truenat testing.
India crossed the 23 lakh COVID-19 recoveries mark and the case fatality rate "has further dipped" to 1.85 per cent, informed the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare on Monday.
"With more patients recovering and being discharged from hospitals and home isolation (in case of mild and moderate cases), India's COVID-19 total recoveries have crossed 23 lakh today. Recovery of 23,38,035 patients has been made possible because of effective implementation of the policy of testing aggressively, tracking comprehensively through surveillance and contact tracing& treating efficiently," the Union Health Ministry said in a statement.
The Health Ministry further said India's recovery rate now stands at 75.27 per cent.
"India has posted more than 16lakh (16,27,264) recoveries than the active cases (7,10,771 which are under active medical care). The record high recoveries have ensured that the actual caseload of the country viz. the active cases, has reduced and currently comprises only 22.88 per cent of the total positive cases," the ministry said.
120 more police personnel found #COVID19 positive & one died in the last 24 hours in Maharashtra. Total number of Corona positive police personnel in Maharashtra reaches 13,716 including 2,528 active cases, 11,049 recoveries & 139 deaths till date: Maharashtra Police pic.twitter.com/8P0qf3SfZj
- ANI (@ANI) August 24, 2020
#COVID19 cases in Puducherry at 10,859, including 3,753 active cases, 6,942 recoveries and 164 deaths. pic.twitter.com/a46W9gnkaD
- ANI (@ANI) August 24, 2020
Telangana reported 1,842 new #COVID19 cases, 1,825 recoveries & 6 deaths on August 23, taking the total number of positive cases to 1,06,091 in the state.
- ANI (@ANI) August 24, 2020
Total number of cases includes 22,919 active cases, 82,411 recoveries & 761 deaths so far: Health Department, Telangana Govt. pic.twitter.com/nnQGwTmU7C
21 new #COVID19 cases reported in Himachal Pradesh today. Total number of positive cases in the state rises to 5,022 including 1,485 active cases, 3,461 recovered cases & 27 deaths so far: State Health Department, Himachal Pradesh pic.twitter.com/bF71PCXwV9
- ANI (@ANI) August 24, 2020
#WATCH Andhra Pradesh: Police in Doddavaram village of East Godavari district used a boat to take a #COVID19 patient to hospital, as the village is flooded following rainfall in the region. The boat was arranged by a Sub-Inspector of Nagaram village of the district. (23.08.2020) pic.twitter.com/g5aiOeFM5p
- ANI (@ANI) August 23, 2020