Coronavirus India News Highlights: Madhya Pradesh Health Minister Prabhuram Choudhary tests COVID-19 positive

This live blog session has been ended, thank you for being with us. For more news, views and updates log in toMoneycontrol.com.

Metro train services in Delhi should be resumed on a trial basis as the COVID-19 situation was improving in the city and hope the Centre would soon take a decision on it, said Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on August 23. In his interactionwith the traders, entrepreneurs and businessmen in the city in a 'Digital Samvad', the chief minister also said that markets and roads in Delhi would be beautified on the lines of the Chandni Chowk redevelopment project, which is expected to be completed by November-December.

Read more here

Students from across the country have demanded that CBSE compartment exams be cancelled and entrance exams such as UGC-NET, CLAT, NEET and JEE be postponed in the wake of rising COVID-19 cases.Over 4,200 students participated in a day-long hunger strike demanding the cancellation and postponement of exams.

Read more here

:10,441 new COVID-19cases and 258 deaths reported in Maharashtra today. The total number of positive cases now stands at 6,82,383 including 4,88,271 recoveries and 1,71,542 active cases.

Telangana needs to ramp up COVID-19 testing though the recovery rate in the state has improved, Union Minister G Kishan Reddy said on Sunday. Speaking to reporters here, he said, "Recovery rate is good in Telangana also. But, I feel the number of tests need to increase." Noting that Telangana was at seventh place from the bottom, among all states, in testing, Reddy wished the state to move up in the list as it was "rich and developed." Reddy, who was speaking after inaugurating the Rotary Blood Plasma Bank here, said he spoke to state Health Minister Eatala Rajender on the matter and that the state government was also making efforts to step up testing. The Centre has provided about 14 lakh N-95 masks, about 2,40,000 PPE kits and 1,400 ventilators, among others, to Telangana, the Minister of State for Home said adding it was even ready to provide more ventilators to Telangana.(PTI)

:Karnataka reports 5,938 cases (2,126 in Bengaluru), 4,996 discharges and 68 deaths, taking total cases to 2,77,814 including 1,89,564 discharges and 4,683 deaths.

:Gujarat's COVID-19 count rises to 86,779 with 1,101 new cases; death toll goes up by 14 to 2,897.

Coronavirus pandemic has acted a catalyst for increasing awareness about health insurance as sales of newly-launched Corona Kavach policy have risen to 200-300 policies per day, a top official of Max Bupa Health Insurance said. For the insurer, growing awareness is translating into the purchase of policies across the country, Max Bupa Health Insurance MD and CEO Krishnan Ramachandran said. "At Max Bupa, we have seen that COVID-19 has acted as a catalyst for awareness amongst people. The awareness of health insurance has grown manifold, more than what we have seen in the last 20 years in our industry. At Max Bupa, we have seen health insurance related queries increasing in the last couple of months," Ramachandran told PTI in an interview. He said the insurer is seeing this growing awareness translating into purchase of policies across the country, including tier II and III markets. "Further, we are seeing innovations emerging to launch products that help customers face these unprecedented times. The awareness generated because of COVID-19 also led to the creation of a specific health cover Corona Kavach as mandated by IRDAI, which was launched in early July. "The initial response for Corona Kavach plan has been encouraging and we are selling between 200-300 policies every day," Ramachandran said. Besides, he said the company has recently launched ReAssure, which is a 100 per cent cashless product that offers unlimited sum insured. In this, customers can claim for any illness or any family member covered for as many numbers of times as they want, during a policy year. On asked about how the coronavirus pandemic has changed the sales process, he said Covid-19 has created a unique opportunity for insurers to rethink and innovate as they adjust and respond to the new situation which is constantly evolving. "The most important innovation is the digitization of processes for the industry. Insurance as an industry had to shift to digital mode of selling and digital mode of servicing as the new normal mandated no contact delivery. "Max Bupa was well-prepared with intuitive and smart digital platforms much before COVID-19 hit the nation since nearly 90 per cent of our business is logged through our digital applications across all traditional channels as well," the company executive said. (PTI)

:1,136 new COVID-19cases reported in Punjab today. Total number of cases rises to 41,779 including 14,165 active cases, 26,528 recovered cases & 1,086 deaths so far.

:Jammuand Kashmir reported 666 new COVID-19 cases, 434 recoveries and 9 deaths today, taking the total number of cases to 32,647, including 24,832 recoveries and 617 deaths. Number of active cases stands at 7,198.

:980 new COVID-19cases in Jharkhand, tally 29,211, active cases 9,518; toll rises to 311 with 14 more deaths.

:Manipur reports 114 new cases of COVID-19, taking total cases to 5,246 including 3,616 recoveries and 22 deaths. Number of active cases stands at 1,608.

|15 new COVID-19cases in Mizoram, tally 918, active cases 459.