Coronavirus India Updates: Day 2 Of Over 60,000 Fresh Cases Takes Total Tally Near 20.9 Lakh

Covid-19 cases in India continue to rise at a hastened pace, with the country reporting over 60,000 fresh cases for a second day.

India added more than 61,500 cases of coronavirus infection in a matter of 24 hours, taking the total tally to nearly 20.9 lakh in the world’s third-worst infected country, according to the Health Ministry’s update as of 8 a.m. on Aug. 8. This includes over 42,500 deaths and 14.2 lakh patients who have recovered.

Key figures:

• Total confirmed cases: 20,88,611
• Active cases: 6,19,088
• Cured/discharged/migrated: 14,27,005
• Deaths: 42,518
• Fresh cases in 24 hours: 61,537
• One-day recoveries: 48,900
• One-day deaths: 933

India has added over 5 lakh cases in just 10 days. Saturday’s fresh cases dropped marginally from Friday’s record additions of 62,538.

However, the rate of recoveries is also on the rise. There are over two recovered patients for each patient who currently has the virus, leading to a visibly flatter curve of active cases.

This, however, does not necessarily count as a sign of relief or an indication that the country has hit its peak.

Global Update

Coronavirus cases in the U.S. increased 1%, less than the average daily increase over the past week, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University and Bloomberg News. California became the third U.S. state to surpass 10,000 coronavirus-related deaths.

China’s case count continues to be extremely low compared with the rest of the world, with 31 confirmed on Aug. 7. Australia’s Victoria state reported 466 new infections and 12 deaths.

Globally, cases have topped 19 million with over 718,000 dead.

Uttar Pradesh recorded its biggest single-day spike of 4,660 cases in the last 24 hours, PTI reports.

Today's tally takes the total number of cases in the state to 1,18,038.

However, a government statement said 4,800 new cases were recorded in the state in the last 24 hours.

The death toll climbed to 2,028 with 47 more casualties in the state, Additional Chief Secretary (Home) Awanish Awasthi said.

At present, there are 46,177 active cases in the state and 69,833 people have been discharged from hospitals after recovery, he said.

The doubling rate of Covid-19 cases in Thane has improved to 69 days from the earlier 24 days in June, Thane Municipal Commissioner Vipin Sharma said on Saturday.

Thane city so far has had 21,514 positive cases of Covid-19.

While the recovery rate has been 81.1%, the mortality rate has been 3.2%, Sharma told PTI.

Meanwhile, the Mumbra township, which had once witnessed a surge in infections, did not record a single case on Friday, Thane Municipal Corporation PRO Sandeep Malavi said.

Union Minister of State for Agriculture Kailash Chaudhary has tested positive for coronavirus, he said in a tweet on Saturday.

The Covid-19 tests of all cyclists and support staff, who have been in quarantine on arrival ahead of the national camp beginning on August 14 here, have returned negative, the Sports Authority of India said on Saturday.

The team of 11 cyclists, four coaches and 16 support staff have already reported for the camp at the Indira Gandhi National Stadium and are undergoing mandatory quarantine.

As a further precautionary measure all of them will undergo tests before the start of the camp to ensure that everyone attending the on-field training from August 14 and interacting with athletes are free of coronavirus.

Source: PTI

The incubation period of Covid-19, which is the time after which those infected with the novel coronavirus start showing the first symptoms, could be as much as eight days -- longer than previous estimates of four to five days -- according to a new study which involved the largest amount of patient samples to date in such an analysis.

The research, published in the journal Science Advances, identified pre-symptomatic individuals at their time of departure from the Chinese city of Wuhan, where Covid-19
originated, and then followed these infected people until their symptoms developed.

According to the scientists, including Chong You from Peking University in China, the existing estimates of four to five days for the incubation period were based on small sample sizes, limited data, and self-reports that could be biased by the memory or judgement of the patient or interviewer.

In the current study, they developed a low-cost approach to estimate incubation periods, and applied it to 1,084 confirmed cases of Covid-19 that had known histories of travel or residency in Wuhan. The method has better accuracy in relying on a public
database of dates of infection, and uses statistical methods to reduce recall bias -- the inaccurate recollection of past events, the scientists said.

Using the new approach, the researchers calculated that the average incubation period was 7.75 days, with 10% of the patients showing an incubation period of 14.28 days.

They said the findings may concern health authorities relying on the standard 14-day quarantine, but cautioned that their approach relies on several assumptions and may not apply to later cases in different parts of the world where the virus may have mutated.

(Source: PTI)