India’s COVID-19 case tally went past the 70-lakh mark , while the death toll stood at over 1 lakh on Saturday. The number of recoveries surged beyond 60 lakh.
On Friday, the Indian Medical Association (IMA) has questioned Health Minister Harsh Vardhan about issuing Ayush treatment protocol for COVID-19 treatment and asked him to explain on what basis these recommendations were made.
AYUSH secretary Vaidya Rajesh Kotecha, speaking about the protocol earlier this week at a Health Ministry press conference, had specified that the protocol is not COVID treatment and should be only considered as a support to those having mild COVID symptoms.
You can track coronavirus cases, deaths and testing rates at the national and State levels here . A list of State Helpline numbers is available as well.
Here are the latest updates:
BJP MP’s office sealed for violating COVID safety norms; case filed against BJD MLA
A day after the police registered a case against ruling BJD MLA Umakanta Samantray for allegedly flouting COVID-19 norms, the Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation (BMC) on Saturday sealed the office of BJP MP Aparajita Sarangi here on similar ground.
The case against Mr. Samantray was filed on Friday night after he attended the funeral of party leader Pradeep Maharathy on October 4 despite testing positive for COVID-19, while BMC authorities sealed Ms. Sarangi’s office claiming coronavirus safety protocols were violated during her birthday celebration here on Thursday.
The BJD MLA, who had tweeted on September 28 informing people of his coronavirus infection, admitted that he committed a mistake by attending Maharathy’s funeral on and apologised for violating the norms.
-PTI
People’s careless attitude, easing curbs contributing to surge in COVID-19 cases in Bengal: Experts
Careless attitude of people in wearing masks and following other health safety norms in public places is leading to the recent surge in COVID-19 cases in West Bengal, doctors said on Saturday.
The reopening of commercial activities, a step necessitated by the condition of the country’s economy after months of lockdown, is also contributing to the spike in coronavirus cases as people started gathering in markets and shopping malls and meeting in hotels and restaurants ahead of the festive season, they said.
“It is an alarming situation. It’s very unfortunate to see people are not following the health safety norms set by experts to fight against the pandemic. Only 30% of people are wearing masks in public places.
“One can see huge crowds in the markets. This is not acceptable. Careless attitude of people is the main reason behind the surge in coronavirus cases,” Beliaghata ID Hospital principal professor (Dr.) Anima Haldar said.
Active COVID-19 cases below 9 lakh for second consecutive day
India’s active COVID-19 cases remained below the nine-lakh mark for a second consecutive day and now constitute merely 12.65 per cent of the total caseload, the Union Health Ministry said Saturday. The total COVID-19 recoveries have gone nearly up 60 lakhs (59,88,822) now, further increasing the difference with respect to the active cases, it highlighted.
“There are 8,83,185 active cases of COVID-19 which constitute merely 12.65% of the total cases of the country. These are nearly 1/8th of the total cases in the country,” the Ministry underlined.
“For the second day after the active cases dropped below the 9 lakh mark after a month, the progressive decline continues,” it said.
U.K. plans new three-tier system of COVID-19 lockdown measures
U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson is set to unveil a new three-tier system of measures alongside local regions across the country being handed greater decision-making powers as part of efforts to slow the spread of coronavirus ( COVID-19 ).
The new so-called traffic light system, to be laid out in the House of Commons on Monday, will see the most severe measures imposed for areas of England fall within the third tier and people being ordered not to have any social contact with anyone outside their household together with the expected closures of pubs, bars and restaurants where some of the highest numbers of cases are occurring.
Bharat Biotech asked to submit complete phase-2 data of its COVID-19 vaccine before phase-3 trial
Bharat Biotech, which had sought DCGI’s nod for conducting phase-3 clinical trials of its COVID-19 vaccine candidate, has been asked to submit complete safety and immunogenicity data of the ongoing phase-2 trial, besides providing some clarifications, before proceeding for the next stage.
The vaccine candidate— ‘Covaxin’ — is being indigenously developed by the Bharat Biotech in collaboration with the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR).
According to officials, the Hyderabad-based vaccine maker applied to the Drugs Controller General of India (DCGI) on October 2, seeking its permission to conduct phase-3 randomised double-blind placebo-controlled multicentre trial of its COVID-19 vaccine candidate.
Meghalaya Assembly committee asks govt to review rates for COVID-19 test
A Meghalaya Assembly committee has asked the state government to review the rates for COVID- 19 tests.
The state government has set Rs 3,200 as the capping charge for Truenat, CBNAAT and RT-PCR testing and Rs 500 for Rapid Antigen test, but people belonging to the BPL category are exempted from paying for tests.
The Meghalaya Assembly Committee on Women Empowerment chairperson Amparen Lyngdoh on Friday asked the Health department officials to review the rates for COVID-19 test as the rates are on the higher side.
Odisha MLA booked for attending funeral despite being COVID- positive
A case was filed against BJD MLA Umakanta Samantray after he attended the funeral of party leader Pradeep Maharathy despite testing positive for COVID- 19, the police said.
The case was registered at the Sea Beach Police Station in Puri on Friday night under IPC sections 269 (negligent act likely to spread infection of disease dangerous to life), 270 (malignant act likely to spread infection of disease dangerous to life) and section 3 of the Epidemic Diseases Act.
However, no case was registered against the party’s Nimapara MLA and School and Mass Education Minister Samir Ranjan Dash who was also accused of attending Maharathys funeral on October 4, violating the COVID-19 guidelines. - PTI
COVID-19 protocol violators cough up ₹2.49 lakh in fine
The Corporation, which has deployed a special team each in all the four zones to conduct surprise checks in the business establishments across the city to look for COVID-19 protocol violations, has so far collected fine to the tune of ₹2.49 lakh in the past 25 days.
As the number of fresh COVID-19 cases getting admitted in the Tirunelveli Medical College Hospital and other designated hospitals in the district, especially from the Corporation area, refuses to subside, the urban local body announced that those who fail to wear masks and maintain physical distancing when they come to public places would be fined.
This was decided as per the recently enacted ordinance.
Online darshan ticket mandatory at Durga temple during Dasara
Queue lines being readied on the Canal Road leading to the Kanaka Durga temple in Vijayawada. V. Raju V RAJU
Devotees seeking darshan of Goddess Kanaka Durga atop Indrakeeladri hill during Dasara festivities must possess online darshan ticket, said Krishna District Collector A. Md. Imtiaz and City Police Commissioner B. Srinivasulu.
Addressing a coordination meeting attended by officials of different departments on Friday, they said only people who show online darshan ticket would be allowed inside the temple.
Vast crowds of devotees from the deprived sections of Vizianagaram and Srikakulam districts had been traditionally visiting the temple during Dasara festivities. The online darshan ticket rule applied to them also, they said, adding that local devotees would also have to register online for darshan.
Kerala safest place in COVID times, says Health Minister Shylaja
Kerala is the safest place during the COVID-19 pandemic with only 0.36% mortality rate and medical value tourism has immense potential in the State, Health Minister K.K. Shylaja has said.
The State has a number of advantages in attracting foreign tourists and the expertise in indigenous medicine can play a vital role in health tourism, she said. She was addressing through videoconference the month-long CII’s 9th Edition of Kerala Health Tourism programme - a conference and exhibition on health care, medical value travel, medical devices - that began on Friday.
COVID-19 vaccine delivery to begin in January, says U.S. official
A Trump administration official leading the response to the coronavirus pandemic says the U.S. can expect delivery of a vaccine starting in January 2021, despite statements from the President that inoculations could begin this month.
And a growing, bipartisan chorus of lawmakers, experts and public health officials says the country is ill prepared for a projected winter surge of COVID-19.
Dr. Robert Kadlec said in an email Friday that the administration “is accelerating production of safe and effective vaccines ... to ensure delivery starting January 2021.” Dr. Kadlec is the Department of Health and Human Services’ assistant secretary of preparedness and response. HHS says a vaccine could be approved before the end of the year but will take time to distribute.
Police ask Kolkata Durga Puja organisers to follow COVID- 19 regulations
Kolkata Police on Friday asked Durga Puja organisers in the city to rigorously follow all COVID-19 regulations and ensure that revellers mandatorily wear masks while entering the marquees during the five-day festival which will begin on October 23.
City Commissioner of Police Anuj Sharma also said that puja committees should ensure that revellers adhere to the physical distancing norms inside pandals and are given masks by puja committees if they do not have them.
He asked organisers to mark spaces for revellers near the pandals in keeping with the physical distancing norms and make separate entry and exit points in them.
Odisha moves Centre against Bhubaneswar MP Aparajita Sarangi
File photo of Bhubaneswar Lok Sabha MP Aparajita Sarangi speaking
The Odisha government on Friday urged the Centre to rein in Aparajita Sarangi, Member of Parliament from Bhubaneswar and recently appointed national spokesperson of the Bharatiya Janata Party, who has been accused of habitually violating COVID-19 guidelines.
Odisha Minister of State for Home Dibya Shankar Mishra shot off a letter to his counterpart Nityanand Rai, Union Minister of State for Home Affairs, pointing out that Ms. Sarangi was surrounded by hundreds of women who were neither wearing masks nor maintaining social distance at the MP’s birthday celebration on Thursday.
“They were indulging in in song and dance with utter disregard to COVID guidelines issued under the National Disaster Management Act and the earnest repeated appeals made by Prime Minister Narendra Modi regarding the same,” Mr. Mishra mentioned.
Odisha government falls prey to fake news on Oxford University study
The Odisha government seems to have fallen prey to fake news. A dubious news report citing a purported Oxford University study that praised measures to contain COVID-19 spread in Ganjam district was promoted by the top Odisha administration on social media.
Quoting the news report, Office of Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik jumped to highlight the ‘recognition’ by tweeting, “Ganjam earned praise from @UniofOxford for its successful model of #COVID-19 infection prevention. The district excelled in #CovidManagement by empowering sarpanchs, forming committees in villages for intensive screening and by ensuring proper healthcare.”
As soon as the Chief Minister’s Office (CMO) put out the tweet on Thursday, the official handle of the district magistrate of Ganjam too tweeted, “Ganjam Model of COVID Management got recognized by @UniofOxford for successful infection prevention strategies. Our gratitude and appreciation to Team Ganjam.”
COVID-19 patients can vote through postal ballot in Karnataka Bypolls
A file photo of people queuing up to exercise postal ballot in Vijayapura.
To ensure that none misses out on voting in the bypolls amid the pandemic, the Election Commission has extended postal ballot facility for voters with physical disabilities, those aged above 80, and active COVID-19 positive patients or suspected patients who are either in institutional or home quarantine.
The bypolls to Sira and Rajarajeshwarinagar Assembly segments are scheduled for November 3.
SARS-CoV-2 not the last virus to spark a pandemic, says expert
The SARS-CoV-2 wouldn’t be the last such virus of its kind — in terms of its ability to rapidly spread among people — and the next such virus of its kind could be a “MERS-2” even (a reference to the Middle Eastern Respiratory Virus that is more lethal but less contagious), said Susan Weiss, Professor of Microbiology at the Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania.
Prof. Weiss was the key note speaker at the first TNQ-Janelia India COVID-19 Seminar, 2020. The first of the three online-only talks commenced on Friday.
