Coronavirus HIGHLIGHTS: Total Delta Plus Cases In Maharashtra Reach 45-Mark, State Health Minister Reveals

Coronavirus HIGHLIGHTS, 8 August, Sunday: A case of Eta variant of SARS-COV-2 was confirmed in Karnataka’s Mangaluru on Thursday in a sample taken four months ago.

Background

Coronavirus HIGHLIGHTS, 8 August, Sunday: Coronavirus cases in Karanataka continue to rise rapidly ahead of the third wave warning. Bengaluru logged 357 new Covid cases in the past 24 hours, while five persons succumbed to the virus in the same time period, the daily health bulletin issued by the Karataka government said on Saturday.In the last 24 hours, the state reported 1610 new cases and 32 deaths with a test positivity rate of 1.08 per cent.The number of micro containment zones in Bengaluru stood at 158 in 8 zones with the Mahadevapura zone topping the list with the most number of containment zones (42).Recovery rate in the tech city stood at 98.01 per cent, while its case fatality rate stood at 1.46 per cent.The case of Eta variant of SARS-COV-2 was confirmed in Karnataka’s Mangaluru on Thursday in a sample taken four months ago. The Eta variant (B.1.525) was detected in a Mangaluru man who had travelled to Qatar, according to the state bulletin on Thursday.This is not the first case of Eta variant in the state, the Times of India quoted Dr V Ravi, state nodal officer and chairman of Committee for Covid-19 Whole Genome Sequencing (WGS). It was first reported in April 2020 when the variant was detected in two samples at Nimhans’ virology lab through genomic sequencing in April 2020 and belonged to patients from Mangaluru, he said.Kerala on Saturday reported 20,367 new Covid cases and 139 deaths, taking the active caseload in the state to 1,78,166, while the toll reached 17,654. In the last 24 hours, 1,52,521 samples were tested and the test positivity rate (TPR) was found to be 13.35 per cent.Additionally, a COVID-19 vaccination drive will be held in Kerala from August 9 to 31 informed Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Saturday. 

08/08/2021 23:49:22

Delta Plus cases in Maharashtra increase to 45, State Health Minister says 'no cause for concern'

The number of Delta Plus cases in Maharashtra has increased from 21 to 45, including 27 men and 18 women. We're collecting info from patients on vaccinations, illnesses and tracking, tracing operations are in progress. There's no cause for concern: Rajesh Tope, State Health Minister informed.

Since the last 1-1.5 months, COVID cases (in Maharashtra) have increased from 6,000 to 7,000-8,000 per day. There is neither a big increase nor a decline in fresh cases, we are seeing a plateau, he added as reported by ANI.

08/08/2021 22:57:58

Beijing bans people travelling from high risk COVID-19 Chinese provinces

Beijing: China's capital city on Sunday stepped up measures to prevent the spread of coronavirus cases by virtually banning people from travelling to Beijing from provinces with the high COVID-19 transmission rates.

To further reinforce the shield against the COVID-19 pandemic, Beijing has rolled out a range of measures to strengthen the management of personnel returning from regions with relatively high virus transmission rates, including imposing restrictions on their purchase of railway tickets and air services, state-run Global Times reported.

People from medium- or high-risk regions or planning to return to Beijing but have a travel history related to these regions will be prevented from buying tickets for air and railway services. In addition, if they choose to drive into the Chinese capital, they will also be persuaded to make a U-turn and leave, the paper said.

Several Chinese cities, including Wuhan where the coronavirus first surfaced in December 2019, have reported resurgence of COVID-19 cases, stated to be the Delta variant.

The Global Times report said health codes for people who are still in medium- and high-risk regions will be adjusted to the yellow colour, and anyone with a health code that is not green will not be allowed to board planes or trains bound for Beijing.

Presenting a green health code will be a must.

Only when medium- and high-risk regions are downgraded to low-risk or when travellers don't have a travel history in designated risk regions within 14 days, can their yellow codes return to the normal green colour.

After gaining a green health code, passengers would also have to present a negative nucleic acid test result within 48 hours of boarding transport to return to Beijing.

Travellers should inform their workplace or residence before their trip, undergo a 14-day health monitoring period and take a nucleic acid test on their day of arrival and another on their seventh day in Beijing, the daily reported.

Also, as part of efforts to shield the capital from the virus, Beijing Daxing International Airport has announced to suspend flight routes from 15 cities including hotspots of outbreaks such as Nanjing, Yangzhou and Zhangjiajie, Wen Wu, the airport's deputy general manager, told the daily on Saturday.

The Chinese mainland on Saturday reported about 150 positive and asymptomatic cases from several provinces including Jiangsu, Henan, Yunnan, Hubei and Hunan, according to the country's National Health Commission.

Beijing, where the country's top leadership resides, also registered some cases during July last week though there were no reports of fresh cases in the past few days.

State-run Xinhua news agency reported that the Beijing Municipal Bureau of Sports has urged all sports and fitness facilities to exercise stricter epidemic prevention and control measures as the highly contagious Delta variant of COVID-19 spreads.

A notice released by the bureau said that the number of people in sports facilities in Beijing is increasing with great and frequent personnel exchanges, which leads to severe challenges in epidemic prevention and control, especially in areas such as swimming spots, confined gyms and sports training facilities.

China has reported a total of 93,701 infections since the COVID-19 outbreak in late 2019. (PTI)

08/08/2021 20:15:18

Maharashtra reports 5,508 new COVID cases

Maharashtra reports 5,508 new COVID19 cases, 4,895 recoveries, and 151 deaths in the last 24 hours.

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

Active cases 71,51

08/08/2021 19:51:40

Tamil Nadu Reports 1,956 New Covid Cases, 28 Deaths & 1,807 Recoveries

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

08/08/2021 19:50:22

Delhi Reports 66 Covid Cases & 95 Recoveries; No Fatalities Recorded

Delhi reports 66 new COVID-19 cases, 95 recoveries, and no death reported in the last 24 hours.

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

08/08/2021 18:24:30

Kerala Reports 18,607 fresh COVID cases

Kerala reports 18,607 fresh cases, 93 deaths and 20,108 recoveries today; Test positivity rate at 13.87%

08/08/2021 17:01:11

COVID Restrictions Relaxed In Pune, Pimpri Chinchwad

In Pune and Pimpri Chinchwad, all the shops to remain open till 8 pm for six days a week. All hotels, restaurants allowed to operate with 50% seating capacity till 10 pm on all days. All relaxations to be effective from 9th August: Maharashtra Minister Ajit Pawar

08/08/2021 16:16:27

Restrictions under 'Surakshit Haryana' extended till Aug 23, shops & malls allowed to open

COVID restrictions under 'Surakshit Haryana' extended till Aug 23 with some relaxations.

Restaurants, bars, gyms, spas are allowed to open with 50 percent seating capacity. All shops and malls are allowed to open with social distancing norms. Swimming pools are allowed to open following COVID norms.

 

(Photo: ANI)

08/08/2021 14:51:44

Jammu and Kashmir issues Covid guidelines for Independence Day

Maximum number of people permitted to attend any indoor/outdoor gathering shall be restricted to 25. This ceiling shall be temporarily relaxed on August 15 only on account of Independence Day celebrations, following Covid appropriate behaviour: Government of Jammu & Kashmir

08/08/2021 13:18:44

Case against actor Mammooty, others for COVID protocol violation

Kerala police has registered a case against cine actors Mammootty, Ramesh Pisharody and 300 others for allegedly violating COVID-19 health protocol during the inauguration of a medical facility at a hospital near here.

Police said the actors were at the private hospital for the inauguration of a robot-assisted service for joint replacement surgery there and around 300 persons gathered there during the ceremony.

"Almost 300 people participated in the programme inaugurated by actor Mammootty. We have also registered a case against the hospital MD, COO and others under various provisions of the Kerala Epidemic Diseases Act," police told P T I.

The event was held on August 3.

08/08/2021 10:48:15

India's vaccine coverage exceeds 50 Cr mark

India’s cumulative Covid 19  vaccination coverage has exceeded 50.68 Cr. A total of 55,91,657 vaccine doses were administered in the last 24 hours, as per the 7 am provisional report today: Union Health Ministry

08/08/2021 10:44:07

Study on mixing & matching of COVID vaccines, Covaxin&Covishield shows better result: ICMR

Immunization with a combination of an adenovirus vector platform-based vaccine followed by inactivated whole virus vaccine was not only safe but also elicited better immunogenicity: Study

08/08/2021 09:53:33

India's Daily Covid Death Toll Continues To Remain Around 500

India reports 39,070 new Covid  cases, 43,910 recoveries & 491 deaths in the last 24 hours, as per Health Ministry.

Total cases: 3,19,34,455

Active cases: 4,06,822

Total recoveries: 3,10,99,771

Death toll: 4,27,862

Total vaccination: 50,68,10,492 (55,91,657 in last 24 hrs)

08/08/2021 08:57:37

Uttar Pradesh records 28 new Covid-19 cases, 2 more deaths

Uttar Pradesh reported 28 coronavirus cases and two new deaths on Saturday, taking the total number of infections and fatalities in the state to 17,08,716 and 22,773 respectively.

One death each has been reported from Rae Bareli and Gonda, a health department bulletin said.

Of the 27 fresh Covid-19 cases, three each were reported from Lucknow, Mathura, Prayagraj and Bulandshahr, among others, the bulletin said.

In the past 24 hours, patients recovered from the virus, taking the total number of Covid-19 patients to 16,85,357. The recovery rate of the state stood at 98.6 per cent

The count of active Covid-19 cases in the state stands at 586, the bulletin said.

08/08/2021 07:46:13

Kerala Aims To Vaccine 60+ With At Least 1 Dose By Aug 15

Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan said that Kerala will begin the Covid-19 vaccination drive for those above 60 years of age starting from Monday so at least one dose is administered by August 15. CM Vijayan said the state would directly obtain 20 lakh vaccine doses and hand it over to private hospitals, which would be allotted vaccines on the basis of facilities. 

08/08/2021 07:39:49

Assam Logs 986 New COVID-19 Cases, 15 Deaths

 Assam's COVID-19 tally soared to 5,73,532 on Saturday as 986 more people tested positive for the infection, while 15 fresh fatalities pushed the state's coronavirus death toll to 5,372, a health bulletin said. Kamrup Metropolitan district recorded the highest number of new cases at 159, followed by Barpeta (69) and Nalbari (65).

08/08/2021 07:39:33

Shops in Malls in Kerala to Open from August 11

Shops in malls have been permitted to open from August 11 on the same conditions stipulated for other outlets and after making all precautionary arrangements, the Kerala government said on Saturday. In an order issued by the Disaster Management department of the state, persons have to be deployed at all entry points of malls to ensure COVID-19 protocols, like wearing of masks, use of hand sanitisers, temperature checks and social distancing.

08/08/2021 07:38:21

US averaging 100,000 new Covid-19 infections a day

The Covid-19 outbreak in the US crossed 100,000 new confirmed daily infections Saturday, a milestone last exceeded during the winter surge and driven by the highly transmissible delta variant and low vaccination rates in the South. Health officials fear that cases, hospitalizations and deaths will continue to soar if more Americans don''t embrace the vaccine, the AP reported.

08/08/2021 07:36:30

All Weekly markets in Delhi to reopen from Monday, says Kejriwal

Delhi eased Covid-19 curbs in the national capital further as cases decline, allowing all weekly markets to reopen from Monday, 9 August, announced chief minister Arvind Kejriwal on Saturday.

"Weekly markets are being opened from Monday. These r poor people. Govt is quite concerned about their livelihoods. However, everyone's health and lives are also imp. I urge everyone to follow Covid appropriate behaviour after these mkts are opened," he tweeted.

08/08/2021 07:35:40

Karnataka Confirms a Case of Eta Variant of Coronavirus

A case of Eta variant of SARS-COV-2 was confirmed in Karnataka’s Mangaluru on Thursday in a sample taken four months ago. The Eta variant (B.1.525) was detected in a Mangaluru man who had travelled to Qatar, according to the state bulletin on Thursday.