Coronavirus News Highlights: Meghalaya reports 422 new COVID-19 cases, 3 more deaths

Tamil Nadu has reported 2,458 new COVID-19 cases, including those of three returnees from Jharkhand and Bihar, the Department of Health said on Wednesday. With this, the total cases to date are 25,26,401, said the department. The number of deaths is 33,557 with 55 people succumbing to the virus in the last 24 hours, a bulletin said here. Recoveries outnumbered new infections with 3,021 people recovering today, aggregating to 24,62,244 and leaving 30,600 active cases, according to the bulletin. As many as 31 districts reported new infections in double-digits while there were no fresh deaths in 11 districts. Chennai, the capital of the State, added 160 new infections aggregating 5,35,439 till date and the number of COVID-19 related fatalities is 8,272. Among the districts, Coimbatore reported the maximum of 270 cases while Ramanathapuram saw the least with 11. A total of 1,46,394 samples were tested in the last 24 hours, pushing the cumulative number of specimens examined to 3,49,73,281 till date. Of the 55 deaths, 20 did not have any co-morbidities, the bulletin said.

Meghalaya on Wednesday reported 422 new COVID-19 cases, which took the tally in the state to 55,640, a health department official said. The state now has 3,925 active cases, Health Services Director Aman War said. The death toll rose to 921, as three more people- two from East Khasi Hills district and one from West Jaintia Hills - succumbed to the infection, he said. At least 458 people were cured of the disease during the day, taking the total number of recoveries in the northeastern state to 50,794, he said. The state has so far conducted over 7.53 lakh sample tests for COVID-19. Altogether, 8.38 lakh people were inoculated till Tuesday with 1.03 lakh of them having received both doses of the vaccine, War said.

Recoveries remained ahead of new COVID19 cases in Jammu and Kashmiron Wednesday as 358 patients recovered while 161 new cases and 2 deaths were reported during the last 24 hours.

Leading paints maker AkzoNobel India, which owns brands such as Dulux, On Wednesday said it has donated 55 oxygen concentrators across five states as part of its COVID-19 relief initiatives. AkzoNobel India on Wednesday announced its latest 'People. Planet. Paint.' sustainability initiative, said a company statement.The project follows a two-pronged approach that addresses the health and well-being needs of community members across five states while also meeting the educational needs of more than 300 children impacted by school closures, it added. In addition to providing lifesaving hardware, AkzoNobel India's unique tele-medicine initiative known as 'Arogya Sakha' has benefitted 1.5 million painter community members and their families across India.

Ninety more people tested positive for COVID-19 in Uttar Pradesh on Wednesday, raising the infection count to 17,07,585, while the death toll climbed to 22,704 with two fresh fatalities. The latest two deaths were reported from Sultanpur and Meerut, a health bulletin said.Ninety fresh cases were reported in the state in the past 24 hours, while 134 persons were discharged after recovery, Additional Chief Secretary, Health, Amit Mohan Prasad said. The number of recoveries in the state has reached 16,83,453, he said.

Madhya Pradesh's COVID-19 caseload reached 7,91,594, after 11 persons tested positive for the infection on Wednesday.

Mumbai, which had witnessed less than 500 coronavirus cases for last two consecutive days, on Wednesday reported 635 infections, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) said. The city also reported 10 fresh fatalities during the day, it said.With this, the COVID-19 caseload in the country's financial capital rose to 7,29, 250 and death toll to 15,654, the BMC said. On Tuesday, Mumbai had reported 441 new coronavirus positive cases, the lowest after February 9 this year (375 cases), and eight fatalities, while on Monday, it had recorded 478 new cases and nine deaths.As 582 patients were discharged from hospitals on Wednesday, the city's recovery count climbed to 7,04,259. At present, there are 6,989 active COVID-19 cases in the metropolis. The civic body said that in the last 24 hours, a total 35,968 tests were conducted, taking the overall test count to 76,28,469.

The total number of COVID-19 vaccine doses administered in India so far has surpassed 39 crore, the Union Health Ministry said on Wednesday. According to a provisional report at 7pm, more than 32.10 lakh vaccine doses were administered on Wednesday.The ministry said 13,82,467 beneficiaries in the age group of 18-44 years were given the first dose and 1,57,660 the second dose on Wednesday. Cumulatively, 11,78,70,724 people in the age group 18-44 years have received the first dose and 41,92,141 their second dose since the start of phase three of the vaccination drive.Eight states -- Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, Bihar, Gujarat, Karnataka and Maharashtra -- have administered more than 50 lakh first dose of COVID-19 vaccine in the age group of 18-44 years, the ministry said. Also, Andhra Pradesh, Assam, Chhattisgarh, Delhi, Haryana, Jharkhand, Kerala, Telangana, Himachal Pradesh, Odisha, Punjab, Uttarakhand and West Bengal have vaccinated more than 10 lakh beneficiaries of the age group 18-44 years for the first dose of Covid vaccine.

With the addition of 227 fresh cases of COVID-19, the tally of infections in Goa rose to 1,69,215 on Wednesday, an official from the state health department said. At least 171 patients were discharged from hospitals, taking the count of recoveries to 1,64,326, while the toll stood at 3,101, as no new casualties were reported during the day, the official said. The coastal state currently has 1,788 patients undergoing treatment, he said. With 5,651 swab samples tested during the day, the total number of tests conducted in the state has gone up to 9,84,237, he added. Goa's COVID-19 figures are as follows: Positive cases 1,69,215, new cases 227, death toll 3,101, discharged 1,64,326, active cases 1,788, samples tested till date 9,84,237.

Virus-wracked Indonesia posted record daily infections topping 54,000 on Wednesday as the highly infectious Delta variant rips across the archipelago, catapulting it ahead of India as Asia's Covid-19 epicentre.The Southeast Asian nation has been battered by a virus explosion that overwhelmed hospitals, leaving scores to die at home, while desperate relatives hunt for oxygen tanks to treat the sick.On Wednesday, Indonesia's health ministry posted its highest-ever 54,517 new cases and 991 deaths in 24 hours -- recent daily mortality rates are as high as 10 times the numbers in early June.But the official data is widely believed to be a severe undercount due to low testing rates and poor contact tracing."Indonesia could become the epicentre of the pandemic, but it's already the epicentre of Asia," said Dicky Budiman, an Indonesian epidemiologist at Australia's Griffith University.

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Active cases: 33,642

Total discharges: 28,06,933

Death toll: 35,989