Coronavirus India Updates: Total Tally Crosses 65 Lakh With More Than 1 Lakh Deaths

The coronavirus cases in India continue to rise unabated as the deadly pathogen spreads rapidly after the world’s second-most populous nation announced the fifth phase of lifting lockdown restrictions to revive an economy that’s headed toward a rare annual contraction in more than four decades.

India added 75,829 fresh cases in the last 24 hours, taking the total tally to 65,49,373 in Asia’s third-largest economy, according to the Health Ministry’s update as of 8 a.m. on Oct. 4. This includes 1,01,782 deaths and 55,09,966 patients who have recovered.

Key figures:

• Total confirmed cases: 65,49,373

• Total number of active cases: 9,37,625

• Total patients cured/discharged/migrated: 55,09,966

• Total deaths: 1,01,782

• Number of fresh cases in last 24 hours: 75,829

• One-day recoveries: 82,260

• One-day deaths: 940

The nation with 1.3 billion people is only behind the U.S. in the number of confirmed infections, with no sign of the virus curve flattening. While new cases have been falling, the pace of adding fresh infections is still the fastest in the world.

After reaching nearly 98,000 cases on Sept. 17, daily additions have remained below the 90,000 mark for 14 straight days now.

According to the Indian Council of Medical Research, a total of 7,89,92,534 samples have been tested till Oct. 3. Of these, 11,42,131 were tested on Oct. 3 alone.

The coronavirus has now killed more than 1 lakh people in India and is taking more lives each day than anywhere else in the world. The world’s second-most infected nation, which reported its first Covid-19 case on Jan. 30, accounts for about 10% of global coronavirus deaths.

An average of 1,000 deaths have been reported each day over the last week, ahead of the U.S. and Brazil’s average of 700. India is trailing these two countries in overall deaths.

Active cases have fallen to as low as 9,37,625, aided by higher recoveries. That’s just 14.3 % of the total case load.

On Wednesday, India had announced its ‘Unlock 5’ phase where schools can reopen from Oct. 15 but attendance is not mandatory; cinemas, theatres and multiplexes will be permitted to open with up to 50% of their seating capacity; states and union territories been given the flexibility to permit social, academic, sports, entertainment, cultural, religious, and political functions and other congregations beyond the limit of 100 persons outside containment zones.

These add to the list of activities allowed in the first, second, third and fourth phases.

The lockdown will continue to be implemented strictly till Oct. 31 in containment zones. States have been asked not to impose any local lockdown outside these zones.

Global Update:

Globally, the coronavirus cases have passed 34.8 million, with deaths exceeding 1.03 million.

The U.S. added 54,215 new cases Friday, a 0.8% rise compared with an average 0.6% increase in the previous seven days. It was the highest number in a week, as daily cases have ticked up since mid-September.

U.S. President Donald Trump has made substantial progress since being diagnosed with coronavirus and his medical team remains cautiously optimistic, although he is not yet out of the woods, Bloomberg reported citing his physician Sean Conley's statement posted on Twitter.

New cases in Brazil slowed to 26,310 after two days of increases, as the world’s third-worst infected nation finished the week with the fewest infections since early June. Total cases in Brazil are 4.9 million.

France reported a record increase in new cases, rising to 16,972 on Saturday. Italy’s cases, too, kept surging, with new infections reaching 2,844 on Saturday, the highest since late April.

Track the latest updates on the Covid-19 pandemic in India, here.

The Delhi Police used drones for effective surveillance of containment zones to combat the threat of coronavirus, a police official said.

"During the lockdown period, we hired drones from Aerodyne India. It helped the police in fighting the pandemic," Deputy Commissioner of Police (southeast) Rajendra Prasad Meena said. Drones helped policemen to monitor the situation from a safe distance, thereby ensuring some distancing, he said.

The drones carried both day and night day surveillance and successfully collected data in the form of images and videos, Meena said.

"The facility was used in the areas of all police stations of southeast district, which proved to be effective in surveillance of the Covid situation and helped us to take quick action to cut the risk of the spread of the disease", he said.

(Source: PTI)

For the thirteenth day in an "unbroken string", India has maintained its steady trend of clocking less than 10 lakh active cases of Covid-19, the Union Health Ministry said on Sunday.

It also said an average of 11.5 lakh tests for detection of coronavirus infection were done on a daily basis during the past 10 days.

From merely one in January 2020, India's total tests for detection of Covid-19 have crossed 7.89 crore so far. There has been a commensurate dip in the Covid-19 positivity rate, it said.

(Source: PTI)

Biju Janata Dal MLA Pradeep Maharathy died at a private hospital in Bhubaneswar in the early hours of Sunday, family sources said. He was 65.

The seven-time MLA from Pipili in Puri district is survived by wife Prativa, son Rudra Pratap and daughter Pallavi.

Maharathy, who had tested positive for Covid-19 on Sept. 14, was discharged from the hospital after recovery but was admitted again as his condition became critical. He was on ventilator support since Friday.

(Source: PTI)

All schools in the national capital will remain closed till Oct. 31 in view of the Covid-19 pandemic, Delhi government officials said on Sunday.

The Delhi government had earlier extended the school closure till Oct. 5, though the centre had permitted calling students of classes 9 to 12 to schools on voluntary basis from Sept. 21.

Universities and schools across the country have been closed since March 16 when the central government announced a countrywide classroom shutdown as part of measures to contain the spread of the novel coronavirus.

According to the latest unlock guidelines, schools, colleges and other educational institutions can reopen outside containment zones after Oct. 15. However, the decision on whether to reopen educational institutions has been left with states and union territories.

(Source: PTI)

Forty-eight people tested positive for Covid-19 in Ladakh, taking the virus caseload in the region to 4,477, officials said on Sunday.

With 41 more patients cured of the disease, the total number of active cases in Ladakh stands at 1,101, including 769 in Leh and 332 in Kargil district, the officials said.

Ladakh had reported 61 Covid-related deaths, while 3,315 patients have recovered till Saturday evening. Forty new cases were detected in Leh and eight more in Kargil during the past 24 hours, the officials said.

They said 37 patients were discharged after successful treatment in Leh and four others in Kargil on Saturday.

(Source: PTI)