Cinema halls, entertainment parks, swimming pools for sportspersons — these are some of the establishments that would be allowed to reopen under 'Unlock 5' .
Additionally, the Ministry of Home Affairs has given States the flexibility to decide if they wanted to open schools from October 15. The guidelines that will come into effect on October 1 have removed restrictions from all activities except “international air travel”.
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:
Immunity for lesser time, change in ‘virulence’ of virus, say experts on September sero-survey results
The latest survey on prevalence of antibodies to COVID-19 among people in Delhi has shown a fall compared to the last exercise, with experts saying possible reasons could be immunity lasting for lesser time in people and “change in virulence” of the virus. Virulence refers to the severity or harmfulness of a disease.
The findings of the survey conducted in the first week of September, with a representative sample of 17,409 people across various categories, was submitted to the Delhi High Court on September 30.
It found that sero-prevalence of antibodies to COVID-19 reduced to 25% in September from nearly 29% found in the August exercise in the national capital. — PTI
Kerala COVID-19 count crosses two-lakh mark; toll soars to 771 with 29 more deaths
Kerala’s COVID-19 tally crossed the grim milestone of two lakh on Thursday as the State reported 8,135 fresh cases while the toll climbed to 771 with 29 deaths.
Kerala, which has been witnessing a rapid spike in new cases in recent weeks, had crossed the one lakh mark on September 11, seven months after India’s first case was reported from the State, when a Wuhan-returned medical student tested positive.
The total cases touched 1.50 lakh on September 24 with the pace of the spread further increasing, prompting the state government to warn of strict action against those not following preventive measures such as social distancing and wearing of masks.
Health workers continued to be affected in large numbers with 105 more among those who tested positive on Thursday, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan said.
- PTI
Scientists develop AI tool to identify COVID-19 cases using CT scans
Researchers have shown that an artificial intelligence (AI) algorithm could be trained to classify COVID-19 pneumonia in X-ray scans with up to 90 per cent accuracy, an advance that can lead to the development of a complementary test tool, particularly for vulnerable populations.
The study, published in the journal Nature Communications, demonstrated that the new technique can correctly identify positive COVID-19 cases 84 per cent of the time, and negative cases 93 per cent of the time.
According to the scientists, including those from the University of Central Florida (UCF) in the US, computed tomography (CT) X-ray scans can offer a deep insight into COVID-19 diagnosis and progression.
They said conventionally used reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction, or RT-PCR tests, have high false negative rates, and have other challenges like delays in processing.
— PTI
Immunity for lesser time, change in ‘virulence’ of virus: experts on Sept sero-survey results
The latest survey on prevalence of antibodies to COVID-19 among people in Delhi has shown a fall compared to the last exercise, with experts saying possible reasons could be immunity lasting for lesser time in people and “change in virulence” of the virus.
Virulence refers to the severity or harmfulness of a disease.
The findings of the survey conducted in the first week of September, with a representative sample of 17,409 people across various categories, was submitted to the Delhi High Court on Wednesday.
It found that sero-prevalence of antibodies to COVID-19 reduced to 25% in September from nearly 29% found in the August exercise in the national capital.
Medical Director of Rajiv Gandhi Super Speciality Hospital, a dedicated COVID-19 facility, said the fall in figures indicate that “immunity to the virus attack is not lasting beyond two months or so“.
“It also means that we are far away from the desired herd immunity level. The decline in figures means the antibodies developed in response to the infection, symptomatic or asymptomatic, are vanishing far earlier than expected. So, people need to more careful now,” he said.
Cinemas, swimming pools may not open soon in Delhi as State govt. decides to maintain status quo
Cinemas, theatres, and swimming pools in the city are unlikely to open soon with the Delhi government deciding to maintain status quo on prohibited and permitted activities till October 31 in the national capital.
According to an order issued by the Delhi Disaster Management Authority, these establishments will remain closed till further orders.
In his order issued on Wednesday night, Chief Secretary Vijay Dev said that two weekly markets in each civic body zone will be allowed to open every day. Bars in hotels, restaurants and clubs have been permitted to remain open.
The order stated that all social, academic, entertainment, cultural, religious, political functions as well as other gatherings and large congregations will continue to be prohibited across the city. - PTI
Senior Congress leader Ahmed Patel tests positive for COVID-19
Senior Congress leader Ahmed Patel on Thursday said he has tested positive for COVID-19 and has gone into self-isolation at his residence here.
Announcing his infection on Twitter, he urged all those who have come in close contact with him recently to self-isolate themselves.
“I have tested positive for COVID-19. I request all those who came in close contact with me recently, to self-isolate,” he said on Twitter.
Many Congress leaders, including Abhishek Singhvi and Tarun Gogoi, have tested positive for COVID-19.
September accounted for 41.53% of total COVID-19 cases in India
In the eight months since the first case of coronavirus infection was detected on January 30, September alone recorded 26,21,418 infections, accounting for 41.53% of the over 63 lakh COVID-19 cases reported in the country so far.
The past month also saw 33,390 deaths due to the disease, which is around 33.84% of the total 98,678 deaths recorded so far.
September witnessed 24,33,319 people recuperating from coronavirus infection contributing to around 46.15% of the total 52,73,201 recoveries registered so far in the country.
Oman 16th country to have air bubble arrangements with India
India has established a separate bilateral air bubble arrangement with Oman for operation of special international passenger flights between the two countries, Civil Aviation Minister Hardeep Singh Puri said.
Till Wednesday, India had formed such arrangements with 15 countries -- Afghanistan, Bahrain, Canada, France, Germany, Iraq, Japan, the Maldives, Nigeria, Qatar, the UAE, Kenya, Bhutan, the UK and the USA.
“Happy to announce that bilateral air bubble arrangement is now in place for flights between India & Oman, taking the number of such arrangements to 16,” Mr. Puri said on Twitter. “Carriers of India & Oman will operate between the two countries,” he added.
SC rejects PIL for independent probe into “mismanagement” of COVID-19 pandemic
The Supreme Court on Thursday rejected a PIL filed by retired bureaucrats alleging gross mismanagement of the COVID-19 pandemic in the country by the government.
A bench headed by Justice L.N. Rao was told by advocate Prashant Bhushan that on February 4, the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) had issued an advisory but international passengers were not screened until March 4.
Mr. Bhushan said the “Namaste Trump” event was allowed to happen on February 24 and one lakh people had gathered at a stadium despite the MHA advisory that crowding should be avoided.
He submitted that experts had advised against a full lockdown and added that due to the lockdown, the GDP came down by an unprecedented 23%, crores of jobs were lost and the economy was destroyed.
The bench said that this is a matter for public debate, not for the court and that they are not inclined to interfere. - PTI
Soorya festival goes online
The Soorya festival, one of the longest-running art and cultural events in the State, will shift to online platform this year owing to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The duration of the festival will be cut short from 111 days to 11 days. All programmes will be recorded and broadcast. Each event will be of 30-minute duration.
On the first day of the festival on Wednesday, singer K.J. Yesudas performed. He has been performing at the Soorya festival for the past 43 years.
Push to bring coronavirus vaccines to the poor faces trouble
An ambitious humanitarian project to deliver coronavirus vaccines to the world’s poorest people is facing potential shortages of money, cargo planes, refrigeration and vaccines themselves — and running into skepticism even from some of those it’s intended to help most.
In one of the biggest obstacles, rich countries have locked up most of the world’s potential vaccine supply through 2021, and the US and others have refused to join the project, called Covax.
The supply of vaccines is not going to be there in the near term, and the money also isn’t there, warned Rohit Malpani, a public health consultant who previously worked for Doctors Without Borders.
Covax was conceived as a way of giving countries access to coronavirus vaccines regardless of their wealth.
Volunteers for vaccine trial
The Directorate of Public Health and Preventive Medicine has called for volunteers for the trial of Covishield, the vaccine candidate developed by the University of Oxford.
Any individual above 18 years of age who is interested in taking part in the trial can contact the project coordinator at 78068 45198 or send a mail to covidvaccinetrialdph@gmail.com
The trial will be titled ‘A phase 2/3, observer-blind, randomised, controlled study to determine the safety and immunogenicity of Covishield (COVID-19 vaccine) in healthy Indian adults’.
It is sponsored by the Serum Institute of India Private Limited and co-sponsored by the Indian Council of Medical Research, it said.
Researchers study T.N. and A.P. data
A paper published in the journal Science on Wednesday uses data from two Indian States, Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh, to provide key insights into the epidemiology and transmission dynamics of COVID-19 in resource-limited populations.
Not wearing mask right can also attract fine of ₹1,000 in Karnataka
The State government has decided to slap hefty penalties on those flouting mask wearing and social distancing norms in an effort to curb the spread of COVID-19. Fine will be applicable even for those who do not cover their mouth and nose properly.
While a fine of ₹1,000 will be slapped against those who do not wear masks in urban areas, violators in rural areas will have to pay ₹500. Currently, the penalty for not wearing mask is ₹200. The jurisdictional police and revenue officials will be authorised to collect the fine.
An official order in this regard will be issued on Thursday after discussing with the Chief Minister, said Medical Education Minister K. Sudhakar.
With no COVID cases in the islands, Lakshadweep may reopen schools
The Lakshadweep administration is expected to take a decision soon on a recommendation by a committee of stakeholders on reopening schools for students from classes one to five in the light of the fact that the group of islands is free of COVID-19 cases.
The decision to recommend reopening of schools was taken after a meeting of people’s representatives, principals from all islands, and health and education authorities on September 29. The meeting analysed various aspects of reopening classes one to five and resolved to submit the recommendations to Administrator Deneshwar Sharma, said a communication.
The Ministry of Home Affairs had permitted the Education Department of the Union Territory to open conventional physical classes for classes six to 12 on September 21.
Kerala’s COVID caseload doubled in September 2020
September has indeed been the cruellest month as far as Kerala and its COVID-19 case burden is concerned.
In September alone, Kerala recorded almost double the number of cases it had cumulatively registered till August 31.
And the scariest part seems to be that since the disease spread is not uniform across districts, in many districts, the case graphs could be peaking only in the next few weeks, extending the State’s collective agony over the month or more.
However, public health experts point out that Kerala has held out till now and with a remarkably low case fatality rate only because the epidemic has been spread out over the months.
COVID-19 tally in India crosses 63-lakh mark
India’s COVID-19 caseload breached the 63-lakh mark with 86,821 infections being reported in a day, while 52,73,201 people have recuperated so far from the disease, according to the Union Health Ministry data updated on Thursday.
The recovery rate stands at 83.53%.
The total coronavirus cases mounted to 63,12,584, while the death toll climbed to 98,678 with the virus claiming 1,181 lives in a span of 24 hours, the data updated at 8 a.m. showed.
(With inputs from Correspondents, agencies)
