Coronavirus News highlights| Govt's expert group on vaccine to meet tomorrow, discuss logistics, says Health Ministry

TheBhubaneswarMunicipalCorporation (BMC) on Tuesday started rapid antigen testing oflocal residents at nine urban healthcentresas theOdishacapital has reported a surge in COVID-19 cases, an officialsaid.

BMC has appealed to citizens to come to their nearesturban healthcentres(UPHC/UCHC) and get the testing done freeof cost for COVID-19.

While ninecentresstarted operating on Tuesday, sevenmore will start functioning from Wednesday, the official said.

While the testingcentres(UCHC&UPHC) are open from8 am to 2 pm, the tests are being carried out free of cost bythe civic authorities.

The number of COVID-19 cases in Gujarat rose by 1,118 to 73,238 on Tuesday while the death of 23 patients, including 10 in Surat, took the cumulative toll to 2,697, the state Health department said.

With 1,140 patients getting discharged in the day, the number of recoveries mounted to 56,416, the department said in a release.

At 41,647, the department conducted the highest number of tests in a day so far, which comes at 640.72 tests per day per million, it said.

Coronavirus wrap August 11 | Russia announces world's first vaccine; Poet Rahat Indori dies of COVID-19

Globally, more than 2 crore infections and over 7.3 lakh deaths have been reported due to the COVID-19 outbreak, according to the Reuters tally.... Read More

1,217 new COVID-19cases and 11 deaths reported in Rajasthan today taking the total number of cases in the State to 54,887 including 811 deaths and 13,677 active cases.

India has expressed an interest in getting the Russian vaccine, a statement by Sputnik V has said in a statement. Russia's sovereign wealth fund sees India along with other countries as a center of mass production of the vaccine, it added in the statement.

411 new COVID-19cases reported in Uttarakhand today taking the total number of cases to 10,432. There are 3,787 active cases.

Mumbai reports 917 fresh COVID-19 cases and 48 deaths. The recovery rate of Mumbai district is now at 79 percent. The doubling rate in the city now stands at 88 days.

11,088 new COVID-19cases reported in Maharashtra taking the total number of cases in the State to 5,35,601. There are 1,48,553 active cases and the death toll is at 18,306.

Punjab records 1,002 new COVID-19 cases and 32 deaths today, taking the total number of cases to 25,889 including 8,483 active cases and 636 deaths.

Efforts on to prevent second wave of COVID-19: Maharashtra CM Uddhav Thackeray

The Maharashtra government is striving to see there is no second wave of COVID-19 in the state, Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray said on Tuesday during a meeting held by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Thackeray also said hospitals will be set up in all districts of the state to control the epidemic, according to an official statement.

Read more here.

74th Independence Day | MHA issued guidelines for the big day, major changes made in this year celebration due to coronavirus outbreak

Amid the novel coronavirus spread it is imperative to follow certain preventive measures such as maintaining social distancing, wearing masks, proper sanitization, avoiding large congregations, etc.…... Read More

6,257 COVID-19cases reported on 10th August in Karnataka. 6,473 people discharged today, 86 new deaths also reported. Total number of cases in the state is now at 1,88,611, including 1,05,599 discharged, 79,606 active cases, and 3,398 deaths.

If Russia's vaccine is successful, then we will have to see critically whether it is safe and effective... India has the capacity for mass production of vaccine.