Coronavirus News Highlights: COVID-19 curfew in Goa extended till August 16

The Goa government on Sunday extended the ongoing coronavirus-induced curfew in the state till August 16. The curfew was supposed to end on August 9 as per the previous order.In the order issued on Sunday, the state administration said that the curfew will continue to remain in force till 7 am on August 16. A detailed order, however, is awaited. The state government had earlier opened a majority of activities in the state with several curbs in place, but casinos are yet to be opened.The state has been reporting around a hundred COVID-19 cases everyday over the last few days. The number of COVID-19 cases in Goa reached 1,71,883 on Sunday with the addition of 69 cases, while the day also saw one death, which took the toll to 3,160, officials said.

Nagaland's COVID-19 tally increased to 28,628 on Sunday as 77 more people tested positive for the infection, while two fresh fatalities pushed the state's coronavirus death toll to 585, a health bulletin said. Dimapur and Kohima districts registered the highest number of new cases at 28, followed by Mokukchung (9), and Tuensang (6), it said. The state now has 1,380 active cases, while 25,846 people have recovered so far, including 89 in the last 24 hours, and 817 patients have migrated to other states. The recovery rate among the coronavirus patients in the state now stands at 90.28 per cent. Nagaland has thus far tested over 2.76 lakh samples for COVID-19 and vaccinated over 6.30 lakh people.

Active cases: 536
Total recoveries: 14,11,159
Death toll: 25,066

Tamil Nadu reports 1,956 new cases, 28 deaths and 1,807 recoveries in the last 24 hours. Active cases 20,407 and total positive cases 25,75,308

Total cases 63,53,328
Total recoveries 61,44,388
Death toll 1,33,996

Active cases 71,510

Manipur reported 736 new cases, 10 deaths and 921 recoveries in the last 24 hours; active cases at 7,951, recovery rate at 90.79%

Karnataka reports 1,598 new positive cases, 1,914 recoveries and 20 deaths in the last 24 hours. Active cases at 23,930 and total positive cases at 29,18,525.

Fifty-eight more people tested positive for COVID-19 in Uttar Pradesh, pushing the infection count to 17,08,772 in the state on Sunday, according to an official statement.The death toll remained unchanged at 22,773 with no fresh fatality linked to the disease being reported in the last 24 hours, the the UP government said in the statement.Of the fresh COVID-19 cases, a maximum of 20 were reported from Kushinagar, followed by five from Prayagraj.In the past 24 hours, 49 patients recovered from the infection, bringing the recovery count to 16,85,406 in the state, the statement read.The count of active COVID-19 cases in the state stands at 593, it added.According to the statement, a total of 6.74 crore samples in the state have so far been tested for the detection of COVID-19, including over 2.54 lakh in the last 24 hours.

Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett says people are rushing to get a third vaccine shot as protection from the surging delta variant of the coronavirus.Bennett pointed to government statistics Sunday showing that more than 420,000 Israelis older than 60 have received a booster shot, more than a third of the total targeted population. Bennett said the number is expected to grow to half a million people by the end of the day.The prime minister spoke after a weekly Cabinet meeting. Israel is seeing a rising number of people hospitalized with COVID-19, almost all of them infected with the highly contagious delta variant. The government has reinstituted its mask mandate for indoor settings and is weighing more restrictions.Israel became a world leader in vaccinating against the virus during its initial public campaign, About 5.4 million of the country’s 9.3 million people have received two vaccine doses.

Assam Agriculture Minister Atul Bora was hospitalised on Sunday after testing positive for COVID-19."I have tested positive for COVID-19 with mild symptoms. I request all those who have come in contact with me to get themselves tested at the earliest," he tweeted.The Asom Gana Parishad (AGP) president has been admitted to Gauhati Medical College and Hospital and his condition is stated to be stable, party sources said.

Saudi Arabia will begin accepting vaccinated foreigners wanting to make the umrah pilgrimage, authorities said Sunday, a move that will boost an economy hit by the Covid pandemic.Nearly 18 months after it closed its borders to battle coronavirus, Saudi Arabia will from Monday begin "gradually receiving umrah requests from various countries", the Saudi Press Agency (SPA) reported. The umrah can be undertaken at any time and usually draws millions from around the globe, unlike the annual hajj, which abled-bodied Muslims who have the means must perform at least once in their lifetime.The Covid-19 pandemic hugely disrupted both Muslim pilgrimages, which are usually key revenue earners for the kingdom that rake in a combined $12 billion annually.