Coronavirus India updates, June 20: Kerala’s tally breaches 3000 mark with 127 new cases

The scheme, Garib Kalyan Rojgar Abhiyan (GKRA), was launched through a video conference from Khagaria district’s Telihar village in Bihar in presence of Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar and deputy chief minister Sushil Kumar Modi. Chief ministers of other five states and Union ministers of concerned ministries participated in the virtual launch.

Here are the top developments in India:

A doctor speaks with a woman at a coronavirus help desk at the Government Fever Hospital in Hyderabad, India, Wednesday, June 17, 2020. (AP Photo/Mahesh Kumar A.)

Kerala’s tally breaches 3000 mark with 127 news cases

Kerala’s COVID-19 tally breached the 3,000 mark on Saturday with 127 people testing positive for the virus, the highest single day surge. The infection count in the state has touched 3,039, while 1,450 people are presently under treatment and 1.39 lakh people under observation, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan told reporters here. Fiftyseven people have recovered today and were discharged from hospitals, he said. . This is the second consecutive day the state is reporting more than a 100 cases.

MP BJP MLA tests COVID-19 positive hours after RS polls voting

A senior BJP MLA in Madhya Pradesh tested COVID-19 positive hours after he cast his vote for the Rajya Sabha polls in the state and attended party meetings, an official said on Saturday. The legislator’s wife has also tested positive for the infection, he said. Voting for three Rajya Sabha seats in the state took place on Friday.

The couple’s test reports came on Friday night and the news of the MLA’s infection triggered panic among other MLAs with some of them reaching hospitals to get themselves tested. “The MLA and his wife were found infected with COVID-19 in the tests conducted by a private laboratory. We are examining their condition and making a decision whether they need to be hospitalised or home quarantined,” a health department official told PTI.

He said that the MLA’s contact tracing has been initiated. “Further tests are also being conducted,” he said. He is the second legislator in Madhya Pradesh, who was tested coronavirus positive. Earlier, a Congress MLA was found infected. He had voted for the Rajya Sabha polls on Friday after reaching the state assembly complex wearing a PPE suit.

Tamil Nadu CM urges people to follow lockdown to curb spread of Covid-19

Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Edappadi K Palanisami Saturday urged the people of the state to follow the lockdown strictly to curb the spread of the novel coronavirus. Three districts, including Chennai, are under complete lockdown from June 21 to 28. Addressing the media, the chief minister urged the public to cooperate with the government as much as possible and urged people to wear masks and maintain social distancing in public places.

“The government is putting its best effort to curb the spread of the virus. Several teams, comprising IAS and IPS officials and doctors, have been constituted to monitor Covid-19 control measures in the state. The virus initially spread in Tamil Nadu by people from other countries and states. Contact tracing was done immediately. Due to the tremendous effort of doctors and healthcare workers, the recovery rate is 54 per cent in the state,” he said.

Delhi govt opposes LG order on home isolation of patients

Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Saturday opposed Lt Governor Anil Baijal’s order for a five-day institutional quarantine for COVID-19 patients, saying why separate rule was employed in case of Delhi, sources said. At a DDMA meeting, Kejriwal said the ICMR has permitted home isolation for asymptomatic and mild symptom COVID-19 patients in the whole country, then why a separate rule was employed in case of Delhi, according to the sources.

At a DDMA meeting, Kejriwal said the ICMR has permitted home isolation for asymptomatic and mild symptom COVID-19 patients in the whole country, then why a separate rule was employed in case of Delhi, according to the sources. “Most corona patients are asymptomatic or with mild symptoms, how will arrangements be made for them. The coaches provided by the Railways for isolation are hot inside where patients can not stay,” Kejriwal was quoted as saying at the meeting.

A Kolkata Police official being tested. (Express Photo by Partha Paul)

In a series of tweets, his deputy Manish Sisodia said no consensus could be reached in the meeting over the LG order and the rate of private hospital beds. The meeting will again take place at 5 PM, he said. “Delhi government opposed LG’s order on scrapping home isolation and no decision was taken on it. The matter will be discussed again in the evening,” Sisodia tweeted in Hindi.

Rajasthan reports 158 fresh cases, infection tally rises to 14,314

Rajasthan reported 158 fresh coronavirus cases on Saturday, taking the state’s infection tally to 14,314, officials said. The state has so far reported 333 deaths due to the virus. Of the fresh cases, 40 were from Dholpur, followed by 36 from Jaipur, and 34 from Bharatpur. Jhalawar reported 12 cases, while 11 cases were reported from Sirohi. Karauli reported 10 coronavirus infections, Rajsamand eight, and Bikaner three. Swai Madhopur, Jhunjhunu and Bhilwara reported one case each, while one patient was from outside the state, according to an official report here.

Rajasthan government on Friday capped the charges for coronavirus testing and treatment of COVID-19 patients in private labs and hospitals. The government fixed Rs. 2,200 for the testing of samples by private labs. No private hospital shall charge more than Rs. 2,000 per day for normal bed and Rs. 4,000 for ICU bed with ventilator.

Medics take samples of suspected COVID-19 patients for lab test at a government Rajiv Gandhi Super hospital, during the ongoing nationwide lockdown to curb spread of coronavirus, in New Delhi, Wednesday, June 10, 2020. (Express Photo By Amit Mehra)

Arunachal records highest single-day spike with 32 new infections

Arunachal Pradesh registered its highest single-day spike in COVID-19 cases as 32 more people tested positive for it, a senior health official said on Saturday. The fresh cases raised the virus count in the northeastern state to 135 on Friday, the official said.

“The new patients, all returnees from other states, were placed under institutional quarantine. They are asymptomatic and have been admitted to COVID-19 care centres,” State Surveillance Officer, Dr L Jampa, said in a health bulletin issued on Saturday. Thirteen of the new patients are from the state capital while 10 are from worst-hit Changlang district, eight from West Kameng and one from Lohit district, he said.

A boy at Delhi’s Sarojini market after the easing of lockdown restrictions (Express Photo by Amit Mehra)

Of the 135 cases, 121 are active, while 14 people have recovered, the official said. Three patients were discharged from a COVID-19 care centre in the state capital on Friday and advised home quarantine for 14 days, Jampa said. The northeastern state had earlier recorded its highest single-day spike in COVID-19 cases on June 13 with 20 new infections.

Daman seals border with Gujarat as cases rise

The number of COVID-19 positive patients in Daman district of the Union Territory of Dadra and Nagar Haveli, Daman and Diu has gone up to 27 with eight fresh cases, following which the administration has sealed the district’s border with Gujarat border for a few days, officials said on Saturday.

The eight fresh cases were reported on Friday. “The district administration has closed all border check-posts with Gujarat for a few days due to clustering of cases near the border areas, and has declared several parts of Dabhel village, an industrial hub, as containment zones in an effort to control the spread of coronavirus,” an official said.

A Health worker takes the Swab sample for Covid-19 rapid test at a health center in New Delhi on Friday. (Express Photo by Praveen Khanna)

Indore records 42 new infections; tally at 4,288

With 42 persons testing positive for coronavirus, the case count in Madhya Pradesh’s Indore district has reached 4,288 on Saturday, a health official said. At least 1,768 swab samples were tested in the district, of which reports of 42 patients have come out positive in the last 24 hours, taking the tally to 4,288, the official said.

The district also recorded four deaths that have taken the toll to 193, he said. The latest casualties included two patients in their 60s, the official said, without disclosing the exact dates of the deaths.

Death toll in Jammu and Kashmir rises to 78 with 3 more fatalities

Three more COVID-19 patients died in Jammu and Kashmir, taking the number of fatalities due to the virus in the union territory to 78, officials said on Saturday. The deaths were reported from SKIMS Hospital, Chest Diseases Hospital and SMHS Hospital, the officials said.

Pedestrians wearing protective masks walk past the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) in Mumbai. (Photographer: Dhiraj Singh/Bloomberg)

A 55-year-old coronavirus patient from Tujan in south Kashmir’s Pulwama district died at SKIMS Hospital at 6:45 am on Saturday, they said. The woman was referred from SMHS Hospital as a case of meningioma with obstructive sleep apnea on Tuesday, the officials said. They said the cause of the death was cardiopulmonary arrest.

10 fresh COVID-19 cases in Mizoram; count rises to 140

Ten more people, including an eight-year-old boy, have tested positive for coronavirus in Mizoram, taking the state’s tally to 140, officials said on Saturday. Four of the new patients are from Mamit district while three are from Champhai, two from Serchhip and one from Khawzawl district, a report released by the state Information and Public Relations Department said.

Seven of the new patients had returned from Maharashtra and three had returned from Delhi, it said. Apart from the eight-year-old boy, the remaining nine patients are aged between 21 and 46, the report said. Nine of the patients are asymptomatic. One has developed coronavirus symptoms and has been admitted to a dedicated COVID-19 Health Centre, it said.