NEW DELHI: Twenty-one states and UTs, including Delhi, Gujarat and Uttar Pradesh, have a Covid-19 recovery rate higher than the national average of 60.77 per cent, the Union health ministry said on Sunday as India’s case count mounted to 6.73 lakh and the death toll rose to 19,268.
Collective and focused efforts for containment and management of Covid-19 by the government of India along with the states and Union territories have led to the number of recovered Covid-19 patients to rise to 4,09,082 so far, it said.
Collective and focused efforts for containment and management of Covid-19 by the government of India along with the states and Union territories have led to the number of recovered Covid-19 patients to rise to 4,09,082 so far, it said.
Here are the top developments:
1
India
- According to the Johns Hopkins University, which has been compiling Covid-19 data from all over the world, India is the fourth worst-hit nation by the pandemic after the US, Brazil and Russia and at the eighth position in terms of the death toll due to the disease.
- With a steady rise, the number of recoveries stands at 4,09,082 in the country while one patient has migrated. There are 2,44,814 active coronavirus cases in the country, the data showed.
- According to the Indian Council of Medical Research, a total of 97,89,066 samples were tested for the disease in the country till July 4, with 2,48,934 of those tested on Saturday.
- As India races to develop a vaccine for Covid-19, the government said the country is entering the human trial stage which “marks the beginning of the end” of the pandemic. Covid-19 vaccine candidate Covaxin, developed by BBIL, had recently got the nod for human clinical trials. Globally, 11 out of the 140 vaccine candidates have entered the human trial phase.
- Home minister Amit Shah and defence minister Rajnath Singh visited a newly-created temporary hospital with 1,000 beds, including 250 in the ICU, for Covid-19 patients in Delhi, officials said.
- The facility has been constructed in just 12 days near the Indira Gandhi International airport on a piece of land belonging to the ministry of defence.
- Accredited social health activists have emerged as integral pillars of Rajasthan’s Covid-19 response and reached out to nearly 39 crore people in eight crore households, in collaboration with Auxiliary Nurse Midwives, for active surveillance and information dissemination, the Union health ministry said.
- The Supreme Court has come out with a fresh standard operating procedure (SOP) for e-filing of cases, mentioning and listing of matters and also for hearing through video-conferencing amid the Covid-19 pandemic. As per the SOP, hearing of matters by the benches of the apex court shall continue through video-conferencing.
2
Kerala
- Kerala: The Kerala government made Covid safety guidelines such as wearing of masks in public places and prohibition on spitting mandatory for a year in an amendment brought to the Epidemic Diseases Act. Any violation of the amendments will result in a fine of up to Rs 10,000 and a jail term of two years.
- Karnataka: Roads wore a deserted look, people stayed indoors and all commercial activities came to a grinding halt in Karnataka in response to the first complete Sunday lockdown to contain the spread of coronavirus. The state government has announced the full shutdown barring essential services on Sundays.
- Tamil Nadu: Tamil Nadu remained under the grip of coronavirus with over 4,000 fresh cases being reported for the fourth straight day, taking the tally to 1,11,151.
- Delhi: Lieutenant Governor Anil Baijal inaugurated the 10,000-bed Sardar Patel Covid care centre, one of the “largest” such facilities in the world, at the Radha Soami Satsang Beas here, saying it will play a crucial role in the fight against the pandemic.
- UP: Uttar Pradesh recorded the highest single-day jump of 1,153 coronavirus cases, pushing the infection tally to 27,707, while the death toll in the state reached 785 with 12 fresh fatalities. There are now 8,161 active cases in the state.
- Gujarat: Gujarat reported its highest single-day spike of 725 new coronavirus positive cases, pushing the state’s overall tally to 36,123. Coronavirus claimed the lives of 18 more patients, taking the death toll in the state to 1,945.
- Goa: Each minister will be alloted a taluka to oversee implementation of norms to combat the coronavirus outbreak, chief minister Pramod Sawant said. He said ministers will have to meet senior officials in their designated talukas regularly to ensure the outbreak is contained.
- Puducherry: Lt Governor Kiran Bedi asked the people of the Union territory to be “very careful” till the situation in neighbouring Tamil Nadu became normal in the context of Covid-19 pandemic.
- Maharashtra: A decision on reopening hotels and restaurants in Maharashtra will be taken soon after finalising Standard Operating Procedures, chief minister Uddhav Thackeray said. Interacting with various associations of hotels and lodges, the CM said the hotel industry played a crucial role in the tourism sector.
- Andhra: Andhra Pradesh recorded a new single day high of 998 fresh Covid-19 cases, taking the overall tally to 18,697 even as the state crossed the one million mark in the number of samples tested.
- Arunachal Pradesh: At least seven more people have tested positive for Covid-19 in Arunachal Pradesh, raising the total tally in the state to 259.
- Bihar: Deputy chief minister Sushil Kumar Modi and assembly speaker Vijay Kumar Chaudhary have tested negative for Covid-19, sources close to the two leaders said.
- West Bengal: The gates of Chandrodaya Temple, Mayapur, world headquarters of the ISKCON, reopened for devotees. The ‘darshan’ of the deities began from 9 am and around 100 devotees came inside the premises through sanitiser tunnel.
- Odisha: Odisha’s Covid-19 tally crossed the 9,000 mark with 469 fresh cases, while two more fatalities due to the infection pushed the death toll to 36. The number of coronavirus patients in the state rose to 9,070.
- Rajasthan: Rajasthan reported six Covid-19 deaths and 224 cases of coronavirus infection, taking the death toll to 453 and the number of infection cases to 19,756.
- Meghalaya: Three more persons, including a BSF personnel, have tested positive for Covid-19 in Meghalaya, raising the number of active cases in the state to 28.
3
World
- The novel coronavirus has killed at least 530,865 people since the outbreak emerged in China last December. At least 11,296,470 cases of coronavirus have been registered in 196 countries and territories.
- China must be held fully accountable for its “secrecy, deception and cover-up” that allowed it to spread the coronavirus all over the world, US President Donald Trump has said, upping the ante on Beijing over its handling of the Covid-19 outbreak. The US is the worst-hit country with 129,676 deaths from 2,839,917 cases.
- Chinese officials have reported eight new confirmed Covid-19 cases as a recent outbreak in Beijing appears to have largely run its course. China’s capital had two new cases, the seventh straight day of single-digit increase.
- New Zealand reported three new cases of Covid-19 on Sunday. All three cases arrived in New Zealand’s Christchurch on June 30 on a flight from New Delhi, who had transited at Singapore without leaving the plane. There are currently 21 active cases of Covid-19 in the country.
- Sri Lanka will re-open its schools in a phased manner from Monday after keeping them closed for 115 days due to the lockdown imposed in the country to contain the spread of the coronavirus, the ministry of education said.
- Singapore has recorded 136 new Covid-19 cases, mostly foreign workers living in dormitories, taking the total number of coronavirus infections in the country to 44,800.
