Coronavirus India Updates: Tally Tops 22 Lakh With Over 62,000 New Cases

Close to 15% students enrolled in Delhi government schools are not "traceable" since the lockdown was announced and have not been attending the alternative classes conducted online or through phones, according to Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia.

Sisodia, who is also the Education Minister, said efforts are being made to locate these students either physically or telephonically to get them into the system.

"We are conducting full fledged teaching learning either online or through phones and teachers have been instructed to ensure personal involvement with each student. So far, there are maximum 15% students who are not traceable and are not in contact with their schools and hence not attending the classes," Sisodia told PTI.

"I have been reviewing this personally and we have been able to trace few students, for others either they are not staying at the same addresses or their phone numbers mentioned in our records are not traceable. I have asked that School Management Committees should be roped in to track these students. There are certain students who have gone to places like Uttarakhand and Bihar but are still connected with us and are attending the classes and doing assignments," he added.

Asked about a definite number of the students who have not been traced, Sisodia said, "On an average there are 4-5 students in every class who are in this category. Many of them are class 6 students and numbers for other classes are quite low".

There are around 15 lakh students enrolled in over 1,100 Delhi government schools.

"We started conducting online classes for class 12 students from April 6 and sending e-learning material or activities to those enrolled in classes nursery to eighth over WhatsApp or SMS. The government has also provided a subsidy of Rs 200 for internet packages to all its class 12 students who had registered for the online classes," a senior Directorate of Education official said.

The HRD ministry had last month asked states and union territories to ensure that the names of children of migrant workers who returned home during the Covid-19 pandemic are not struck off their school rolls.

Issuing a set of guidelines, the ministry had also directed the states to prepare a database of children who have left the local area for their homes in other states or other parts of the same state.

Source: PTI

Former President Pranab Mukherjee said on Monday that he has tested positive for Covid-19.

"On a visit to the hospital for a separate procedure, I have tested positive for Covid19 today," he tweeted. "I request the people who came in contact with me in the last week, to please self isolate and get tested for Covid-19," Mukherjee said.

Coronavirus infections in India raced past the 22-lakh-mark, adding the latest lakh in less than two days.

India added more than 62,000 cases in a matter of 24 hours, taking the total tally to 22.1 lakh in the world’s third-worst infected country, according to the Health Ministry’s update as of 8 a.m. on Aug. 10. This includes over 44,300 deaths and more than 15 lakh patients who have recovered.

Not only did the country report over 60,000 cases for the fourth straight day, it has also reported over 1,000 deaths for the third time.

Key figures:

• Total number of confirmed coronavirus cases: 22,15,074
• Active cases: 6,34,945
• Cured/discharged/migrated: 15,35,743
• Deaths: 44,386
• Fresh cases in 24 hours: 62,064
• One-day recoveries: 54,859
• One-day deaths: 1007

While India has added over 8 lakh cases in the last 15 days, the rate of recoveries is also on the rise. Recovered cases are now more than double that of active cases. This, however, is not necessarily an indication that the country has hit its peak.

Global Update:

Australia had its deadliest day in the coronavirus pandemic, with 19 fatalities in the state of Victoria. Texas reported its positive-test rate rose to a record as the U.S. passed 5 million Covid-19 infections, having added 1 million cases in barely more than two weeks. Cases and deaths slowed in Florida and Arizona.

The U.K. — the country with the most deaths in Europe — may scrap daily fatality numbers, the Telegraph reported.

Globally, total cases topped the 19.7-million mark with over 729,000 dead.

Track news and developments around the outbreak in India here.