India Coronavirus Updates, September 07: Metro services resume; recoveries outnumber new cases for second straight day in Tamil Nadu

After recording 1,016 fatalities in the last 24 hours, the country’s death toll went past 71,000 to reach 71,642. The country’s recovery rate stands at 77.30 per cent while case fatality rate declined to 1.70 per cent.

Meanwhile, after over 160 days of suspension, metro rail services resumed in parts of the country. Strict Covid-19 restrictions like social distancing, mandatory masks and thermal screening are in place.

Recoveries outnumber fresh COVID cases for second straight day in Tamil Nadu

The active cases stood at 51,215, the health department said. On Sunday, Tamil Nadu witnessed 5,783 new cases and 5,820 recoveries.

Tamil Nadu on Monday reported 5,776 new COVID-19 cases, taking the tally to 4,69,256 while the death toll mounted to 7,925 with 89 more fatalities. With 5,930 patients getting discharged, the recoveries eclipsed the fresh infections for the second successive day and 4,10,116 is the aggregate number of people who have got cured till date.

The active cases stood at 51,215, the health department said. On Sunday, Tamil Nadu witnessed 5,783 new cases and 5,820 recoveries.

Covid-19 vaccine front runners: Here is a status check

Presence of antibodies may not guarantee protection from COVID-19, say scientists

Antibody presence in itself tells us nothing about disease progression in individuals, said the scientist from New Delhi’s National Institute of Immunology (NII). REUTERS/Anton Vaganov

The presence of antibodies indicates previous exposure to the SARS-CoV-2 virus but may not always translate into protection against the disease, say scientists, citing imponderables such as what kind of antibodies, how many, and how long they last.

Antibody presence in itself tells us nothing about disease progression in individuals, said the scientist from New Delhi’s National Institute of Immunology (NII).

There are neutralising antibodies (nAbs) and also ‘simple’ antibodies. While nAbs produced against the novel coronavirus can block its entry into the host cell, other antibodies are also generated against many parts of the virus, added Vineeta Bal from Pune’s Indian Institute of Science, Education, and Research (IISER). The ‘simple’ antibodies are an indication of the host response to viral presence but are not that useful to stop further spread of the virus, Bal told PTI.

Andaman & Nicobar Islands Covid tally rises to 3,332

The COVID-19 caseload in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands rose to 3,332, with 40 new coronavirus cases detected in the union territory, an official said on Monday.

Of the 40 new cases, 38 were detected during local contact tracing and two were airport arrivals, news agency PTI reported.

All passengers coming from the mainland have to mandatorily undergo a rapid antigen test for COVID-19 at the airport in Port Blair on arrival.

UP CM inaugurates new Covid-19 hospital in Gorakhpur

Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath

Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Monday inaugurated a 300-bed COVID-19 hospital at BRD Medical College in Gorakhpur.

The state government-run medical college already has 200 beds at the super-specialty block dedicated to COVID-19 patients, news agency PTI reported.

Adityanath told reporters that there was “no dearth of beds for coronavirus patients” and said that the state government was determined to defeat the virus.

Uttarakhand Cabinet minister Madan Kaushik tests positive

Uttarakhand Cabinet Minister Madan Kaushik tested positive for COVID-19 on Monday, news agency PTI reported. Kaushik was admitted to AIIMS, Rishikesh on Sunday night after his antigen report came positive.

The minister, who is also the state government’s official spokesman, has appealed to everyone who came in contact with him to get themselves tested. Kaushik had attended a cabinet meeting in Dehradun last week chaired by Chief Minister Trivendra Singh Rawat.

Country’s biggest COVID Care Centre to be shut from Sep 15

The COVID Care Centre at the Bengaluru International Exhibition Centre, that was touted to be the biggest such facility for the treatment of asymptomatic and mildly symptomatic patients in the country, will be shut from September 15, as it is not getting patients. In an order dated September 4, the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP), the city civic body has said the decision to close the facility with a potential capacity of over 10,000 beds was taken at a meeting chaired by the Chief Minister on the advise of the head of the Covid Care Care Task Force. It has been decided to give the furniture brought for the said centre like- beds, mattress, pedestal fans, dustbins, water dispensers among others to government-run hostels and hospitals at free of cost.

Metro rail services resume operations in cities across the country

Security guards wearing face masks and shields stand on a Delhi metro train platform. (Reuters)

After over 160 days of suspension, metro rail services Monday resumed in parts of the country with strict Covid-19 restrictions like social distancing, mandatory masks and thermal screening in place. The Centre, in its “Unlock 4.0” guidelines, allowed the gradual resumption of metro train services across the country from September 7.

Barring Maharashtra, the metro authorities of Delhi, Noida, Chennai, Kochi, Bengaluru, Mumbai Line-1, Jaipur, Hyderabad, Maha Metro (Nagpur), Kolkata, Gujarat, and Uttar Pradesh have resumed their services.

See photos of metro operations on Day 1 

According to the standard operating procedures (SOPs) for restarting the services, multi-route metro networks would resume trains from September 7 in a graded manner so that all lines become operational by September 12.

Government failed to control the spread of coronavirus, says Akhilesh Yadav

Akhilesh Yadav. (File)

Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav on Monday attacked the government for failing to control the rapid spread of coronavirus as India became the second worst affected nation in the world overtaking Brazil’s spot.

Taking to Twitter Yadav claimed, “BJP government’s claims have been exposed with India becoming number 2 in the world in corona cases. The government took public data from the Arogya Setu but it failed to control the spread of coronavirus. The truth of the BJP’s event management drama of ‘thali, tali’ and lighting diyas is also in front of the public.”

कोरोना पीड़ितों के मामलों में भारत ने दुनिया में ‘नंबर 2’ बनकर भाजपा सरकार के दावों की पोल खोल दी है. सरकार ने आरोग्य सेतु से जनता का डेटा तो ले लिया पर ये कोरोना के नियंत्रण में असफल रहा.

भाजपा के थाली, ताली व दीये जलाने के इवेंट मैनेजमेंट के नाटक का सच भी अब जनता के सामने है. pic.twitter.com/g63AE3UPmp

— Akhilesh Yadav (@yadavakhilesh) September 7, 2020

Attorney General K K Venugopal in self-quarantine, SC informed

Attorney General K K Venugopal

Attorney General K K Venugopal has put himself in self-quarantine and has informed the Supreme Court Monday as the Centre sought adjournment in a matter related to filling of vacancies in tribunals. Venugopal went to self-quarantine as one of his staff members had tested positive, PTI reported.

First case of Covid-19 reinfection reported in Bengaluru

In possibly the first case of Covid-19 reinfection in Bengaluru, a 27-year-old woman who recovered from the infection has contracted the virus again, in the span of a month, a private hospital said. The case has been confirmed at Fortis Hospital in Bannerghatta Road. Doctors at the hospital confirmed the patient to be the “first case of Covid-19 reinfection” in the Karnataka capital.

Doctors at the hospital confirmed the patient to be the “first case of Covid-19 reinfection” in the Karnataka capital.(Representational)

According to the team of experts in the Department of Infectious Diseases in the hospital, the woman, who had no comorbidities, tested positive for Covid-19 for the first time in July. She had developed mild symptoms of fever and cough. The patient had, however, “recovered well” and was “discharged successfully” after testing negative for the viral infection, the team clarified.

Arunachal Pradesh’s COVID-19 tally rises to 5,000

Arunachal Pradesh’s COVID-19 tally rose to 5,000 on Monday as 86 more people, including 11 security personnel contracted the virus according to state health officials. With a recovery rate of 69.4%, over 3,470 people have recovered from the virus while 1,520 cases are still active in the state.

The state has so far tested 1,85,322 samples for COVID-19, including 1,932 on Sunday. West Siang district reported the highest number of new cases at 17, followed by 15 each in Papumpare and the Capital Complex region and 12 in Longding.

Four districts push the infection curve to all-time high in UP

With over 40,000 new cases added in the last week, the surge in the coronavirus cases in Uttar Pradesh continued with the state reporting its highest increase of 6,777 new cases on Sunday.

The surge in the new infection kept the weekly average growth rate at 2.57% and did not show any remarkable dip with a doubling rate of 27 days. With this, the rise in the new cases pushed the number of active cases to 61,625 – an all-time high.The weekly increase in the death cases also remained exactly the same as that of the previous week – 497 deaths in the last seven days.

Despite this, the number of recoveries crossed the 2 lakh mark reaching at 2,00,738 and maintaining the recovering rate at 75.4%.

With over 500 new infections, Maharashtra state police records highest single-day spike

The Maharashtra state police recorded their highest single day spike in covid-19 cases with 511 police personnel and staff members testing positive on Saturday. On the same day, seven deaths were reported by the Maharashtra police. (Follow Maharashtra Coronavirus LIVE UPDATES here)

With this, the total number of reported Covid-19 cases among personnel in the two lakh-strong force reached 16,912, while 173 have succumbed to the disease till now.

Apart from cases reported from cities like Mumbai and Pune, a rising number of new cases are being reported from surrounding rural areas