New Delhi: 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:
Aug 25, 2020 00:09 (IST)
COVID-19 recovered cases cross one lakh-mark in Bihar
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.
Aug 24, 2020 23:24 (IST)
Intensify fight against COVID-19, Maharashtra Chief Minister tells civic bodies
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.
Aug 24, 2020 23:17 (IST)
COVID-19: Bihar officials told to strictly follow poll body's guidelines on holding elections during pandemic
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.
Aug 24, 2020 22:35 (IST)
COVID-19: More recoveries than fresh cases for 10th day in a row in Nagaland
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.
Aug 24, 2020 22:09 (IST)
COVID-19: Kerala's count inching towards 60,000 mark; 11 more deaths takes count to 234
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.
Aug 24, 2020 21:46 (IST)
COVID-19: Sero survey shows presence of antibodies in 11.81% samples in Maharashtra's Aurangabad
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.
Aug 24, 2020 21:22 (IST)
Chhattisgarh Assembly session from Tuesday amid COVID-19 protocols
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.
Aug 24, 2020 21:01 (IST)
COVID-19: Tamil Nadu's tally inches towards 4 lakh mark
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.
