India Coronavirus Updates, July 10: Kerala’s COVID-19 tally nears 7000-mark; Pune to go on 10-day lockdown starting Jul 14

Here are the top COVID-19 developments from across the country:

Maharashtra reports one-day spike of 7,862 Covid-19 cases

Maharashtra reported record single-day spike of 7,862 new cases on Friday, pushing the state’s tally of Covid positive patients to 2,38,461, the health department said. With 226 more patients succumbing to the disease, the death count in the state reached 9,893, it said. As many as 5,366 patients recovered and were discharged from the hospitals on Friday, which pushed the number of recovered patients in the state to 1,32,625, it said, adding that 12,53,978 people have been tested so far. There are 95,943 active cases in the state at present.

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No compromise on rigorous evaluation for vaccine candidates: Scientific Advisor VijayRaghavan

India’s COVID-19 vaccine candidates will go through a rigorous evaluation process that will not be compromised, the government’s Principal Scientific Advisor K VijayRaghavan said on Friday, indicating that the ICMR-Bharat Biotech vaccine is unlikely to be out by August 15, news agency PTI reported.

FILE PHOTO: A woman holds a small bottle labelled with a “Vaccine COVID-19” sticker and a medical syringe in this illustration taken April 10, 2020. (Reuters)

Phase 1 of the human trial of any vaccine usually takes 28 days and that is followed by two other phases, VijayRaghavan said while addressing a webinar at the Vivekananda International Foundation.

Kerala’s Covid-19 tally nears 7000-mark

Kerala’s COVID-19 tally is inching towards the 7,000 mark, with 416 people testing positive on Friday in the highest single-day spike of the infection so far, as Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan warned that the situation was “becoming alarming”. The day also saw the highest number of cases through contact with infected people–204.

As many as 204 people were infected in Kerala.

Of the infected, 123 people had come from abroad and 51 from other states, Vijayan told reporters in Thiruvananthapuram after the daily COVID-19 evaluation meeting, PTI reported.

Vijayan also announced that the triple lockdown imposed in Thiruvananthapuram corporation limits will be extended by another week.

Pune to go on 10-day lockdown starting July 14

Pune district administration announced a 10-day lockdown in urban and peri-urban areas between July 14 and July 23 owing to “alarming” rate of spread of the virus and with an aim to break the chain of the transmission. The residents will get three days (until Monday mid-night) to buy essentials.

As per Pune Divisional Commissioner Deepak Mhaisekar, first five days of the lockdown will be stringent with an exemption only for milk, medicine and operation of clinics and hospitals. For the next five days, essential services such as sale and supply of vegetables, groceries will be allowed in addition to those allowed earlier. Follow LIVE Covid-19 updates from Maharashtra here

Karnataka CM quarantines self after his personal staff test positive

Karnataka Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa on Friday quarantined himself after a few staffers posted at his official residence ‘Krishna’ tested positive for Covid-19.

Karnataka Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa clarified that he is healthy and will work from his personal residence in Bengaluru for the next few days. (PTI)

Yediyurappa clarified that he is healthy and will work from his personal residence in Bengaluru for the next few days. In a statement issued on Friday afternoon, he said, “Since a few staff at my official residence ‘Krishna’ have tested positive for COVID19, I will be working from my personal residence for the next few days. I will issue orders and suggestions via video conferencing. There is no need to worry. I am healthy.”

According to Chief Minister Office officials, three of Yediyurappa’s staff, including an electrician, a standby driver and a pilot vehicle staffer, have tested positive for Covid-19.

755 new Covid cases take Odisha’s tally to 11,956

Close to 4,000 new cases have been discovered in Odisha in the last one week, bringing the state’s total tally to nearly 12,000. The current growth rate of confirmed cases in Odisha (seven-day compounded daily growth rate) is 5.71 per cent, only behind Karnataka, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh and Assam, and much higher than the national growth rate of 3.45 per cent.

The new infections are being discovered primarily in Ganjam, Khurda and Jaipur — the areas where the first round of the outbreak had been concentrated. Each of these areas had a large number of people returning to Odisha from their workplaces in other states.

The current growth rate of confirmed cases in Odisha (seven-day compounded daily growth rate) is 5.71 per cent.

For the last four days, the state has been reporting more than 500 cases every day, and on Thursday, this number went up to 755. Odisha’s death toll too, has been steadily rising. Out of the 59 Covid patients who have died in the state, 25 succumbed to the infection in the last one week.

Karnataka records highest single-day spike, overtakes Telangana in Covid cases

With 2,228 new cases, Karnataka reported its highest single-day rise on Thursday, and has now overtaken Telangana in terms of total number of infections.

Karnataka has recorded a total of 31,105 positive cases since the onset of the pandemic in India. Meanwhile, Telangana has a confirmed caseload of 30,946. The state registered 1,410 new cases yesterday.

Karnataka and Telangana continue to be the fastest-growing states in the country in terms of Covid cases, followed closely by Andhra Pradesh.

OPD, emergency services at Meghalaya hospital shut due to Covid exposure

The North Eastern Indira Gandhi Regional Institute of Health and Medical Sciences in Meghalaya was shut following exposure to coronavirus, PTI reported. The services will remain closed as decontamination and contact tracing within the hospital are still underway, officials have said.

The shutdown commenced after a BSF personnel, admitted to the non-Covid ward in the Orthopedic Department of the hospital, tested positive for COVID-19 on Thursday. According to hospital authorities, the BSF personnel underwent an RT-PCR test for Covid-19 on July 1, the reports of which came in as negative. He was tested again yesterday after he developed a fever.

The containment zones, spread across 20 of the state’s 23 districts, went into total lockdown from 5 pm on Thursday.

Even as internal contact tracing and decontamination is conducted, indoor patient care services will remain operational, the hospital confirmed in its statement.

Jammu & Kashmir: Youth National Conference leader succumbs to Covid-19

Rohit Kirni, a Youth National Conference (NC) leader, succumbed to COVID-19 Thursday night at the Government Medical College (GMC) hospital in Jammu, officials said. Kirni’s demise has brought the Covid death toll in Jammu and Kashmir to 6.

“Sadly we lost Rohit a few minutes ago. He had been put on a ventilator but the medical teams, in spite of their best efforts, couldn’t stabilise him. He leaves behind a wife & two young kids. May his soul rest in peace. #Covid_19 kills. Taking it lightly is suicidal,” former Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister and NC leader Omar Abdullah tweeted last night.

Gone too soon. It was a pleasure & a privilege to work with you Rohit. May your soul find eternal peace & may your family find strength during this difficult time. We will miss you, your enthusiasm & the hard work you put in to strengthen the party. pic.twitter.com/oMSqTqSzAT

— Omar Abdullah (@OmarAbdullah) July 9, 2020

As many as 240 new COVID-19 cases were reported in the union territory on Thursday, according to government data.

As Maharashtra Covid cases rise, Aaditya Thackeray defends state govt’s decision to cancel exams

Maharashtra’s Covid-19 tally rose to 2,30,599 Thursday, after 6,875 new cases were recorded in the last twenty-four hours. With 219 more people succumbing to the deadly virus yesterday, the state’s death toll now stands at 9,667.

With the state’s caseload steadily increasing everyday, Maharashtra Environment and Tourism Minister Aaditya Thackeray on Thursday defended the state government’s stand on not holding final year or final semester college examinations.

“How will you hold exams [at this juncture]? We were in lockdown when we had about 600 cases [in March]. Today, when the country has about 7 lakh cases, we are actually asking children to go out in a congregation and take exams. We are asking teachers who maybe 50-60 years, a vulnerable age group [for the virus], to come out and conduct the exams…. All this will lead to congregations of people from different areas, including [those] from containment zones,” he said in an interview with indianexpress.com.