Coronavirus India News Highlights: Today is the eighty-seventh day of India's nationwide lockdown, meant to curb the novel coronavirus pandemic. India has so far recorded 3,80,532 cases, which includes 12,573 deaths. Globally, there have been over 84.6 lakh confirmed cases of COVID-19. More than 4.5 lakh people have died so far.
The Supreme Court Friday took note of the differences in COVID-19 testing charges in various states and asked the Centre to decide on the issue, and said all states should set up a panel of experts to inspect hospitals to ensure proper care the patients. The top court bench observed during the hearing that there should be uniformity in COVID-19 testing charge in all states.
A total of 1,89,997 cases--around half of the overall tally--was reported this month alone largely due to the rise in the infections in the worst affected states of Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Delhi, Gujarat and Uttar Pradesh. UP, Kerala and Andhra Pradesh were among the states which registered a record daily spike on Friday. Kerala recorded a rise in cases by over 100 for the second time so far. The first coronavirus case in the country was reported in this state on January 30.
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The Mumbai Port Trust on Friday said it has set up a 70-bed 'Covid Care Ashram' by upgrading one of its existing building complexes near its hospital.The facility, it said, will help in reducing the load of the coronavirus infected patients at the hospital and providing holistic treatment to such patients. (PTI)
In a major spike in COVID-19cases, Telangana on Friday saw 499 new virus cases and three deaths being reported, taking the infection count in the state
to 6,526 and fatalities to 198.Out of the 499 fresh cases, the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC), the hotbed of the infection in the state, accounted for 329 cases, followed by Ranga Reddydistrict, neighbouring Hyderabad, with 129 cases. (PTI)
The number of coronavirus casesin Maharashtra rose to 1,24,331 on Friday with 3,827 new patients reported, the state health department said. With 142 deaths recorded during the day, the count of fatalities due to the infection reached 5,893, it added.
On the other hand, 1,935 patients were discharged from hospitals, taking the number of recovered coronavirus patients to 62,773. So far, 7, 35,674 people have been tested in thestate. (PTI)
The number of COVID-19 cases inChhattisgarh increased to 2,018 after 70 people, including a CAF personnel and two doctors of a government hospital, tested
positive on Friday, officials here said.
The Chhattisgarh Armed Force personnel was posted on security duty at the official residence of Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel in Raipur, they said. (PTI)
Pakistan on Friday signed agreements with three international financial institutions for USD 1.5 billion aid in tackling the coronavirus outbreak and strengthening the social sector in the country.
Prime Minister Imran Khan was present during the signing of the agreements with the World Bank (WB), the Asian Development Bank (ABB), and the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB), according to a statement from his office. The amount will be disbursed in the next few days, the statement added. (PTI)
With five new COVID fatalitiesreported on Friday, the total number of deaths due to the deadly virus has increased to 49 in Bihar while count of positive cases spiked to 7290, the state health department said. The state reported 250 fresh positive cases Friday, health departments Secretary Lokesh Kumar Singh said in an official release.
Of the five fresh fatalities, two hailed from Darbhanga district while one each belonged to the districts of Nalanda, Nawada and Saran, Singh said.Four out of the five among them were suffering fromco-morbidities, he added. (PTI)
The tally of coronavirus casesin Mumbai rose to 64,068 with 1,269 new patients detected on Friday while the death toll due to the pandemic reached
3,423 with 114 deaths, said the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC).
Of 114 deaths, 55 deaths were recorded between June 16-18 and the remaining 59 had occurred before June 15. 79 of these patients died due to co-morbidities, thecivic body said. (PTI)
A day after COVID-19 tests using Rapid Antigen methodology commenced in the national capital, the ICMR on Friday said over 7,000 test were conducted on the first day.In a statement, the ICMR said it has facilitated and approved rapid-antigen test for COVID-19 that gives results in 30 minutes in order to fast track reliable and affordable testing essentially in high containment areas.Rapid antigen testing was launched in Delhi and on the first day, over 7,000 tests were conducted, it said. (PTI)
West Bengal on Friday recorded 11 coronavirus-related fatalities, taking the death toll to 529, a bulletin released by the state health department said. Of 11 deaths, nine were "due to co-morbidities where COVID-19 was incidental", it said.
In the last 24 hours, 355 new COVID-19 infections have been reported, pushing the total number of cases to 13,090 in the state, the bulletin said. During the same period, 302 patients were discharged from hospitals after recovering from the disease. Since Thursday, 10,321 samples have been tested for COVID-19, the bulletin added. (PTI)
The global coronavirus pandemic is accelerating, with Thursday's 1,50,000 new cases the highest in a single day, World Health Organization (WHO) director general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said.
"Almost half of the cases reported were from the Americas," he told a virtual briefing. "The world is in a new and dangerous phase ... the virus is still spreading fast, it is still deadly, and most people are still susceptible." (Reuters)
Delhi's recovery rate increased to 42.69 percent on June 18, after staying below the 40 percent mark for 13 days, according to official figures.This is the first time in two weeks that the recovery rate has crossed the 40 per cent mark, amid a surge in coronavirus cases. The cases in the national capital look poised to breach the 50,000 mark on Friday.f 2,877 cases taking the case tally closer to the 50,000 mark. (PTI)
India on Friday registered a record one-day jump of 13,856 COVID-19 cases in a grim trend that has continued for most of this month as Chennai was back into lockdown after a sharp rise in the infections. In some positive news, the number of recoveries crossed the two lakh mark and now stands at 2,04,710, while there are 1,63,248 total COVID-19 active cases, according to the Union Health ministry data.
This showed that around 53.79 per cent of the patients have recovered so far. The jump of 13,586 COVID-19 cases pushed the countrywide tally to 3,80,532, while the death toll stood at 12,573 with 336 new fatalities, the data showed. A total of 1,89,997 cases--around half of the overall tally--was reported this month alone largely due to the rise in the infections in the worst affected states of Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Delhi, Gujarat and Uttar Pradesh. (PTI)
Drug firm Glenmark Pharmaceuticals on Friday said it has received approval from the Indian drug regulator to launch oral antiviral drug favipiravir for treatment of mild to moderate COVID-19 patients in the country.
It is for restricted emergency use in India. Restricted use entails responsible medication use where every patient must have signed informed consent before treatment initiation, Glenmark Pharmaceuticals said in a statement. (PTI)
