KEY HIGHLIGHTS
India has announced guidelines for the fourth phase of lifting lockdown restrictions even as the number of coronavirus cases rise unabated.
The ‘Unlock 4’ will be in force till Sept. 30.
Here's what allowed under the fourth phase:
Metro rail will be allowed to operate with effect from Sept. 7 in a graded manner in consultation with the Ministry of Home Affairs. The Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs will issue the standard of procedures.
Social/academic/sports/entertainment/cultural/religious/ political functions and other congregations permitted from Sept 21. with a ceiling of 100 persons.
Students of classes 9-12 may be permitted to visit schools, in areas outside the containment zones only, on a voluntary basis, for taking guidance from their teachers. This will be subject to written consent of their parents/ guardians.
Higher education institutions only for research scholars and post graduate students of technical and professional programmes, requiring laboratory/experimental works. To be permitted by the department of higher education in consultation with MHA.
No restriction on inter-state and intra-state movement of persons and goods. No separate permission/ approval/ e-permit will be required for such movements.
States/union territories can permit up to 50% of teaching and non- teaching staff to be called to the schools at a time for online teaching/ tele-counselling from Sept. 21, outside the containment zones.
The Ministry of Health and family welfare to issue SOPs.
Open air theatres permitted to open from Sept. 21.
Here's what not allowed under 'Unlock 4'
Schools, colleges, educational and coaching institutes to remain closed till Sept. 30.
Cinema halls, swimming pools, entertainment parks, theatres and similar places to remain closed.
Internal air travel of passengers, expect as permitted by the MHA.
Besides, the National directive for Covid-19 management to be followed throughout the country, while ensuring social distancing. Shops need to maintain adequate social distancing among customers. The MHA to monitor the effective implementation of national directive.
Assam Facing Financial Stress Due To Covid-19 Situation
Assam Finance Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Saturday said the state is gradually facing financial stress because of huge expenditure incurred while dealing with the Covid-19 situation, including treatment of the patients.
He announced the withdrawal of some of the free services offered to Covid-19 patients like reaching them to their homes after discharge from hospitals and levied charges on dedicated cabins. Also all paying cabins in government hospitals, which had been made free for Covid-19 patients, will resume being charged ones from now on to mitigate the financial crisis of the state.
(Source: PTI)
Covid-19 Cases In Goa On Rise Since Ganesh Chaturthi: Sawant
Goa Chief Minister Pramod Sawant on Saturday claimed that coronavirus cases in the coastal state were on the rise since Ganesh Chaturthi, and this was because people violated safety norms during the festival.
There has been a spike in cases, as people did not wear masks or follow social distancing norms during the festivities, Sawant said.
"We have noticed that the number of Covid-19 cases have increased after Ganesh Chaturthi. Daily count was hovering around 150 cases per day before the festival, but now there has been a rise," Sawant said.
(Source: PTI)
India's Covid-19 Recoveries Go Past 26 Lakh, Fatality Rate Drops To 1.81%: Health Ministry
India's Covid-19 recoveries have crossed 26 lakh, pushing the recovery rate to 76.47%, which the centre said has been made possible due to the strategic policy of "testing aggressively, tracking comprehensively and treating efficiently" in supervised home-isolation, facility-isolation and hospitals.
The case fatality rate has also been low when compared to the global average. It is on a continuous decline and currently stands at 1.81%, the ministry underlined on Saturday.
(Source: PTI)
Amit Shah Has Recovered, To Be Discharged In Short Time: AIIMS
Union Home Minister Amit Shah, who was admitted to AIIMS in New Delhi on Aug. 18 for post-Covid care, has recovered and is likely to be discharged in a short time, hospital authorities said on Saturday.
On Aug. 2, Shah, 55, had said on Twitter that he had tested positive for Covid-19. He had undergone treatment for the coronavirus infection at Medanta Hospital and was discharged after he tested negative for the disease.
According to an earlier statement by AIIMS, he was admitted to the hospital on Aug. 18 following complaints of fatigue and body aches, days after his discharge.
(Source: PTI)
Telangana Reports 2,751 Fresh Covid-19 Cases, Nine Deaths Push Toll Past 800-Mark
Telangana logged 2,751 new Covid-19 cases, pushing the tally to 1,20,166, while the death toll rose to 808 with nine more fatalities.
The Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation recorded 432 fresh positive cases, followed by Karimnagar (192), Rangareddy (185), Nalgonda (147), Khammam (132), Medchal Malkajgiri (128), Nizamabad (113), Suryapet (111) and Warangal Urban (101) districts, a state government bulletin said on Saturday.
All 33 districts in the state reported positive cases in double digits.
Aggressive testing continued in the state with as many as 62,300 samples being tested on August 28.
Cumulatively, 12,66,643 samples have been tested.
The samples tested per million population was 34,117.
The case fatality rate in the state was 0.67%, while it was 1.81% at the national level.
The total number of people who have recovered from the infectious disease so far stood at 89,350 while 30,008 were under treatment.
The recovery rate in the state was 74.3 per cent in the state, while it was 76.49 per cent in the country.
(Source: PTI)
Enforcement Teams Formed In Districts For Strict Implementation Of Covid-19 Guidelines In Delhi
With coronavirus cases increasing in the national capital, authorities have formed enforcement teams in each district of Delhi to ensure strict implementation of Covid-19 guidelines.
Each enforcement team will have an executive magistrate, and revenue and police personnel, said an official, adding that awareness teams have also been formed to encourage people to follow anti-coronavirus measures.
The move comes days after Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal announced that stringent enforcement of Covid-19 guidelines would be ensured and had said everyone should wear a face mask and maintain social distancing at public places.
(Source: PTI)
Tamil Nadu Has Highest Recovery Rate Of 85.45%, Says Chief Minister
Tamil Nadu has achieved a recovery rate of 85.45% with 3,49,682 people having been cured of the coronavirus, the "highest" in the country, Chief Minister K Palaniswami said on Saturday.
The state's mortality rate was a "very low" at 1.7%, he said. In a video-conference meeting with District Collectors to review the lockdown, Palaniswami said his government had so far spent Rs 7,162 crore towards controlling the pandemic, treatment and relief measures.
Currently, there are 58,840 beds in Covid hospitals, 77,223 beds in Covid-19 special centres, and 26,801 beds with oxygen facilities. Apart from these, there are 4,782 beds in intensive cre units and 5,718 ventilators have also been kept ready. With 146 testing facilities for Covid-19, including 83 private units, the government has so far tested 45.73 lakh people in the state, he said.
(Source: PTI)
Two Players Among 13 Covid-19 Cases In IPL Contingent: BCCI
The BCCI on Saturday revealed that two players are among a total of 13 who have tested positive for Covid-19 ahead of the IPL after it came to light that over a dozen members of the Chennai Super Kings contingent have been infected by the dreaded virus in Dubai.
The two players who have tested positive include a white-ball T20 specialist seamer for India and a top-order India A batsman. The board did not reveal any names. The tournament will start on Sept. 19 and will be played across three cities in the U.A.E.
"All the affected personnel as well as their close contacts are asymptomatic and have been isolated from other team members. They are being monitored by the IPL medical team," the BCCI press release said.
A total of 1,988 RT-PCR Covid-19 tests were carried out between Aug. 20 and 28 across all participant groups in the U.A.E., it said.
(Source: PTI)
28% Of Delhi's Dedicated Covid Hospital Beds Occupied
The rise in the number of Covid-19 cases in New Delhi has led to an increase in the demand for beds in hospitals in the city, according to government data.
- On July 30, the occupancy of beds reserved for coronavirus patients was 18%, with only 2,958 out of 16,038 beds being occupied.
- It was 23.40% on Aug. 11. It increased to 28% on Aug. 29, with 4,004 out of 14,135 beds occupied, according to data shared by the hospitals on Delhi Corona app.
- Out of 1,229 coronavirus intensive care unit beds with ventilator support, 473 (38%) were occupied. The occupancy was 33% on July 30.
Delhi has recorded an increase in the number of new cases over the last few days. The number of new cases had hovered around 1,000 in the beginning of August, but the daily case load rose to 1,450 on Aug. 23 and 1,840 on Aug. 27 -- the highest single-day spike in 49 days.
(Source: PTI)
Number Of Covid-19 Tests Crosses 4-Crore Mark In India
With more than nine lakh samples tested for the third consecutive day, the number of tests for detection of Covid-19 has crossed the four-crore mark in India, while the number of such tests per 10 lakh people has also increased to 29,280, the Union health ministry said.
Total samples tested so far: 4.04 crore
Tests conducted on Friday: 9.28 lakh
This has boosted the tests per million with a sharp increase to 29,280. As is seen in many states and union territories that have increased the testing, the positivity rate will eventually fall with higher levels of testing. The national positivity rate has remained low at 8.57% and is constantly falling.Health Ministry Statement
The number of tests for detection of Covid-19 had crossed the three-crore mark in the country on August 17.
(Source: PTI)
West Bengal's Covid-19 Recovery Rate Crosses 80%
The recovery rate of Covid-19 patients in West Bengal reached 80.86% on Friday after 3,286 people were discharged from various hospitals of the state, a bulletin issued by the health department said.
So far, 1,24,332 people have recovered from the disease in West Bengal, it said.
The death toll rose to 3,073 after 56 more people succumbed to the novel coronavirus, while the state's caseload went up to 1,53,754 as 2,982 fresh cases of infection were reported.
The number of active cases is now 26,349.
(Source: PTI)
Over 1,000 Deaths For Four Consecutive Days
1,021 people lost their lives due to Covid-19 in the last 24 hours, taking the total death count to 62,550, according to the Health Ministry’s latest update.
- Of the 1,021 fresh deaths, 331 were in Maharashtra, 136 in Karnataka, and 102 in Tamil Nadu.
- Of the total 62,550 deaths, Maharashtra has accounted for the maximum of 23,775, followed by Tamil Nadu (7,050), and Karnataka (5,368).
Recoveries Hover Around 76% Mark
India continued to report robust increase in the number of recovered patients.
26.48 lakh people, or 76.5% of the total 34.63 lakh positive cases, have been cured or discharged.
Covid-19 Daily Update
Covid-19 cases continued to climb in India at a rapid pace with the country reporting over 75,000 new infections for the third straight day.
76,472 people have tested positive in the last 24 hours taking the total tally to 34,63,972 in Asia's third-largest economy, according to the Health Ministry’s update as of 8:00 a.m. on Aug. 29. Deaths remained elevated with more than 1,000 people succumbing to the disease in the last 24 hours.
Key Numbers So Far
Total number of confirmed coronavirus cases: 34,63,972
Active cases: 7,52,424
Cured/discharged/migrated: 26,48,998
Deaths: 62,550
Key Numbers Over Last 24 Hours
New cases: 76,472
Recoveries: 65,050
Deaths: 1,021
On Friday, India had reported the biggest single-day spike in cases seen anywhere in the world.
The effectiveness of India's 'test, track and treat' approach is reflected in the progress on the Covid-19 recovery front and the reduction in fatality rate, the government said on Friday.
The Union health ministry pointed out that in the past five months, more than three-fourth of Covid-19 cases have recovered and less than one-fourth are active now.
The number of recoveries is nearly 3.5 times the active cases of coronavirus infection currently, it said.
Global Update:
Globally, cases crossed 2.46 crore, leaving over 8.35 lakh dead as of Saturday morning.
Infections rose further across Europe, as Italy and Spain reported the most cases since the spring peak. German Chancellor Angela Merkel warned that the situation would get tougher as the summer ends.
U.S. President Donald Trump argued voters can’t trust Joe Biden to navigate the pandemic and defended his response to the virus that has killed more than 180,000 Americans.
Track all Covid-19 related news and updates in India, here.
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