Highlights: After TN CM, Shivraj Chouhan assures free Covid vaccine for everyone in MP

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Thursday took a swipe at the BJP for promising free COVID-19 vaccine in its Bihar poll manifesto, saying one has to refer to the state-wise election schedule to know when one will have access to vaccine. Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Thursday released the BJP manifesto for the Bihar assembly polls which promised free COVID-19 vaccine once it has been cleared by the ICMR. "GOI just announced India's Covid access strategy. Kindly refer to the state-wise election schedule to know when you will get it, along with a hoard of false promises (sic)," Gandhi said on Twitter.

Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami on Thursday assured that the people of the state will be provided with free Covid-19 vaccine, once developed.

"Once the #Covid19 vaccine is developed, it will be supplied free of cost for the people of Tamil Nadu," says Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami. @IndianExpress

— Janardhan Koushik (@koushiktweets) October 22, 2020

Active cases of COVID-19 in India have remained below 10 per cent of the total caseload for the last three days suggesting that only 1 in 10 cases are active coronavirus patients, the Union Health Ministry said on Thursday. The daily positivity rate has also been maintained at less than 5 per cent over the past three days."There are 7,15,812 active cases of coronavirus infection in the country which comprises 9.29 per cent of the total caseload," the data stated. The total recovered cases are close to 69 lakhs and exceed active cases by 61,58,706.

Bihar deputy Chief Minister Sushil Kumar Modi Thursday afternoon tweeted saying he has tested positive for the novel coronavirus. Modi has been, over the past few days, campaigning for the upcoming Bihar Assembly elections.

“Tested positive for CORONA. All parameters perfectly normal. Started with mild temp. No temp. for last 2 days. Admitted to AIIMS Patna for better monitoring. CT scan of lungs normal. Will be back soon for campaigning,” Modi tweeted. The first phase of elections are on October 28.

Tablet by tablet, strip by strip, Assam-based artist Sanjib Basak burnt the midnight oil for nearly 60 days to create a glorious idol of Goddess Durga, using more than 30,000 capsules and syringes.

Despite the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic taking away the sheen of Durga puja festivities, the annual festival is still being celebrated with pomp and show in parts of Assam. With theme pujas being integral to the festival, several artisans this year have given a coronavirus twist to Durga idols to increase awareness among the masses.

However, for Basak, who has been making Goddess Durga idols for the past eight years using waste materials like used match sticks and wires, this year’s idol could not be complete without merging the pandemic with the festival. Read more

Japanese researchers showed that masks can offer protection from airborne coronavirus particles, but even professional-grade coverings can’t eliminate contagion risk entirely.

Scientists at the University of Tokyo built a secure chamber with mannequin heads facing each other. One head, fitted with a nebulizer, simulated coughing and expelled actual coronavirus particles. The other mimicked natural breathing, with a collection chamber for viruses coming through the airway.

A cotton mask reduced viral uptake by the receiver head by up to 40% compared to no mask. An N95 mask, used by medical professionals, blocked up to 90%. However, even when the N95 was fitted to the face with tape, some virus particles still sneaked in.

India on Thursday allowed all foreign nationals as well as all OCI and PIO cardholders to travel to India via air or sea. All such persons are now allowed to travel to India for any purpose, except tourism. The MHA stated that all existing visas, barring electronic visa, Tourist Visa and Medical Visa, are being restored with an immediate effect.

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, while releasing BJP's manifesto for the upcoming Bihar elections, said, "As soon as COVID-19 vaccine will be available for production at a mass scale, every person in Bihar will get free vaccination. This is the first promise mentioned in our poll manifesto."

As soon as #COVID19 vaccine will be available for production at a mass scale, every person in Bihar will get free vaccination. This is the first promise mentioned in our poll manifesto: Union Minister Nirmala Sitharaman at the launch of BJP Manifesto for #BiharPolls pic.twitter.com/x4VjVmkA3Q

— ANI (@ANI) October 22, 2020

Wednesday (October 21) saw one of the biggest declines in active cases. About 56,000 new cases were detected while almost 80,000 patients were declared to have recovered. The total number of active cases has dropped to 7.15 lakh now. At its peak, it had crossed 10.17 lakh. Read more here

Wednesday saw one of the biggest declines in active cases. About 56,000 new cases were detected while almost 80,000 patients were declared to have recovered. The total number of active cases has dropped to 7.15 lakh now. At its peak, it had crossed 10.17 lakh. Almost half of this reduction has come from Maharashtra, where the active cases have declined from over three lakh to less than 1.6 lakh now. Amitabh Sinha explained India's coronavirus numbers

A new diagnostic test for Covid-19 from IIT Kharagpur, called COVIRAP, can be a potential game-changer in bringing high-end molecular diagnostics from the lab to the field. The Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) has validated the efficacy of the method, IIT-KGP said Wednesday. Click here to read how it works, why it's special

Shriram Bharatiya Kala Kendra (SBKK) has been staging its dance-drama ‘Shri Ram’ for 64 years now. This time, while Covid-19 put a question mark on the live event, the institute’s director and choreographer of the drama, Padma Shri Shobha Deepak Singh, was certain the show must go on. “Rehearsals began in July, online. We decided if we don’t get permission to stage it, we will put the Ramlila on YouTube,” Singh says.

Permission came just days before the actual event. By now, the performers had rehearsed to perfection. What does it take to put up a play during a pandemic? Was there any fear, panic? Yashee speaks to Shriram Bharatiya Kala Kendra's (SBKK) director and choreographer of the drama, Padma Shri Shobha Deepak Singh. Read more here

India reported 55,838 coronavirus cases and 702 deaths in the last 24 hours ending 8 am. With this, the total number of infections rose to 77,06,946 while the fatalities surged to 1,16,616. At present, India has 7,15,812 active cases after a decrease of 24,278 in the last 24 hours. As many as 68,74,518 people have been recovered with 79,415 new discharges in the last hours.

Telangana Chief Minister Sri K Chandrashekhar Rao has expressed shock over the death of former Minister Nayani Narasimha Reddy. The CM recalled his association with Nayani Narasimha Reddy during the Telangana separate statehood movement and in the state government. The CM has conveyed his condolences to members of the bereaved family. Rao instructed the Chief Secretary to arrange the last rites to the departed leader with official honours. He had recovered fully from covid recently and was admitted again to Apollo hospital due to some complications

Doctors treating legendary Bengali actor Soumitra Chatterjee, who was admitted to a city hospital with coronavirus about a fortnight ago and has since tested negative, are consulting experts for his neurological condition and he might require a prolonged period to recover completely, a spokesman of the medical facility said.

Though the octogenarian thespian’s oxygen saturation is adequate, doctors are concerned about his involuntary movement, agitation and restlessness, he said.

“Mr Chatterjee is as good as he has been in the last two days. His consciousness is a little down compared to what it was last week,” said Arindam Kar, who heads the team of doctors treating the Dada Saheb Phalke awardee.

The Calcutta High Court on Wednesday stood by its order of barring entry of visitors to Puja pandals in West Bengal in view of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Hearing a review petition filed by an umbrella group of over 400 Durga Puja organisers — Forum for Durgotsab — the High Court, however, gave some relief by allowing dhakis (traditional drummers) to perform within the no-entry zones of the pandals — 5 metres around smaller pandals, and 10 metres for bigger ones.

The Division Bench of Justice Sanjib Banerjee and Arijit Banerjee also allowed entry of more Puja organisers — from 25 to 60 — for big Puja committees. For small Puja committees, the number of organisers allowed to enter the marquees or the pandals at a time will, however, remain the same — 15.

After the Calcutta High Court ordered a ban on visitors’ entry to pandals, Kolkata witnessed a low turnout on Panchami. Usually from Panchami, the pandal-hoppers swarm the streets from north to south, leading to huge traffic jams in several parts of the city. But this time, the roads were less congested. Last year, the Kolkata Police had tough time controlling crowds specially outside big puja pandals on Panchami. However, this time people are refraining from visiting puja pandals.

The COVID-19 tally in Madhya Pradesh increased to 1,63,296 after 1,118 patients tested positive on Wednesday, while 17 fatalities took the toll to 2,828, a health official said. A total of 1,222 patients were discharged from hospitals in the last 24 hours, taking the state's overall recovery count to 1,48,082. Four patients died in Bhopal, two each in Indore and Ashok Nagar and one each in Jabalpur, Gwalior, Sagar, Hoshangabad, Dhar, Betul, Ratlam, Damoh and Shajapur, the official said. Of the 1,118 new cases, Indore accounted for 260, Bhopal 223, Jabalpur 72 and Gwalior 48.

The national capital recorded 47 COVID-19 fatalities on Wednesday and the death toll mounted to 6,128, while 3,686 fresh cases took the infection tally to over 3.4 lakh, authorities said. These fresh cases were detected following the 59,064 tests conducted the previous day. Forty-seven more fatalities have been recorded, taking the death toll to 6,128, according to the latest health bulletin issued by the government. On October 10 and on September 29 as well, 48 fatalities were reported in the city which is the highest number of deaths recorded in a day since July 16 when Delhi saw 58 fatalities. The tally of active cases on Wednesday rose to 24,217 from 23,922 the previous day. The total number of cases has climbed to 3,40,436, the bulletin added. The number of containment zones in Delhi slightly increased to 2,724 from 2,716 on Tuesday.

Maharashtra's COVID-19 tally on Wednesday increased to 16,17,658 with the single-day rise of 8,142 cases. The state also reported 180 deaths, which took the fatality count to 42,633. A total of 23,371 patients were discharged during the day after treatment, taking the tally of recovered people to 14,15,679. With this, the number of active patients in the state stands at 1,58,852. Mumbai city reported 1,609 positive cases during the day, which pushed its overall case count to 2,45,869, while its death toll rose to 9,912, of which 48 were reported today. Pune city added 442 COVID-19 cases, raising its tally to 1,69,178, while three deaths took toll to 3,876.

Rajasthan recorded 14 more fatalities due to COVID-19 on Wednesday, taking the death toll due to the disease in the state to 1,778, according to a health department bulletin. The state also reported 1,810 fresh cases of the disease, pushing the total number of people infected with COVID-19 to 1,78,933. Of these, 19,185 are under treatment. According to the bulletin, 1,57,960 COVID-19 patients have been discharged from various hospitals of the state till now. Jaipur has reported the highest number of deaths due to the coronavirus in the state at 355, followed by Jodhpur (171), Bikaner (132), Ajmer (130), Kota (113), Bharatpur (90), Pali (74), Udaipur (63), Nagaur (53), Alwar (51), Sikar (48), Barmer (33), Dholpur (28), Rajsamand (27) and Banswara and Baran (26 each).

As many as 2.67 lakh people have recovered from COVID-19 in Kerala, while the infection count has almost reached the 3.50 lakh mark with 8,369 fresh cases on Wednesday, the state government said. The death toll climbed to 1,232 with 26 fatalities. As many as 7,262 were infected through contact and the source of infection of 883 people is not yet known. In the last 24 hours, 62,030 samples were tested,Health minister K K Shailaja said in a press release. According to the release, with 6,839 people getting cured today, recoveries mounted to 2,67,082. So far, 40,91,729 samples have been sent for testing. The total infections mounted to 3,48,791 with the addition of the fresh cases. Sixty-four health workers and 160, who had come from outside the state, were among those who tested positive. (PTI)

Active cases of Covid-19 in India settled below the 7.5-lakh mark for the second successive day, while the national case fatality rate (CFR) has dropped to 1.51 per cent, the Union Health Ministry said on Wednesday. The Centre has advised states and UTs to aim at bringing down the CFR below 1 per cent.

Countries across Europe are battling coronavirus infection spikes with new lockdowns, curfews, face mask orders and virus tracking smartphone apps.

In a small indication of success, Spain”s government said it won”t extend a state of emergency in the Madrid region when it expires Saturday, but will look to more local measures.

But as a resurgence of the global pandemic sweeps across the continent, local and national governments also are facing swelling opposition to the new measures. Britain”s government on Tuesday said it will impose tough new measures on Greater Manchester, sparking anger from the region”s mayor. More details here.

Cathay Pacific Airways Ltd. will cut about 5,300 jobs based in Hong Kong and and close its Cathay Dragon unit as part of a sweeping restructuring of the city’s flag carrier triggered by the hit to air travel from the coronavirus pandemic.

Another 600 Cathay workers outside of Hong Kong may also be affected, and 2,600 currently unfilled positions will be eliminated. The entire reductions of some 8,500 jobs amount to around 24% of Cathay’s headcount, one of the largest hits in aviation globally since the outbreak started.

“The future remains highly uncertain and it is clear that recovery is slow,” Cathay said in Wednesday’s statement. “The management team has concluded that the most optimistic scenario it can responsibly adopt is one in which, for the year 2021, the company will be operating at well under 50% of the passenger capacity it operated in 2019.”

South Yorkshire in northern England will move into the very high lockdown tier on Saturday to tackle rising levels of COVID-19 infections, the mayor of the Sheffield City Region Dan Jarvis said on Wednesday. The area has agreed a funding package worth 41 million pounds ($53.5 million) to support businesses that will have to close and for additional public health measures. Regions in the north of England have been most severely affected by the second wave of COVID-19. South Yorkshire will join Liverpool and Lancashire in the highest tier. Prime Minister Boris Johnson said on Tuesday he would impose the same measures in Manchester after failing to agree a support package with local leaders.

‘COVIRAP,’ a diagnostic machine developed by IIT Kharagpur researchers, has been successfully validated for its efficacy in COVID-19 detection by the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR).

Professor V K Tewari, Director, IIT Kharagpur told media persons at a virtual conference that various commercial units have already approached the institute for technology licensing to enable a rapid reach of this innovation to the common people. This new testing method implements a highly reliable and accurate molecular diagnostic procedure, conducted in an ultra-low-cost portable device unit, and costs around Rs 500 per test, Tewari said. 

Tamil Nadu Tuesday saw a drop in cases, with 3,094 patients testing positive for Covid-19, taking the overall tally to 6,94,030. The death toll rose to 10,471 after 50 more people succumbed to the virus.

A total of 80,371 samples were tested on Tuesday; the state has tested 91,12,067 samples so far. There are still 36,734 active cases in Tamil Nadu. As many as 4,403 patients were discharged from hospitals after recovering from the virus. The total number of recoveries has now increased to 6,46,555.

Chennai reported 857 cases followed by Coimbatore with 263, Chengalpattu with 191, and Salem with 169.

Australian authorities say they're treating a COVID-19 case in the city of Melbourne as a rare reinfection. The only coronavirus case reported in the former hot spot of Victoria state on Tuesday had also tested positive to COVID-19 in July. Victoria Premier Dan Andrews said Wednesday an expert panel had decided to classify the case as a reinfection rather than shedding viral remnants of the July infection. Andrews says the classification reflected “an abundance of caution” rather than conclusive evidence. He assumed further testing would be conducted into the case in search of a definitive result. Melbourne has been in lockdown since early July, but restrictions in Australia's second-largest city are easing this week as daily infection tallies remain low. Victoria reported three new cases on Wednesday. The state's second wave peaked at 725 new infections in a day in early August

Amazon.com Inc. will let corporate employees work from home through June 2021, the latest company to push back re-opening offices as Covid-19 cases surge again across the US. “We continue to prioritize the health of our employees and follow local government guidance,” an Amazon spokeswoman said in an email. “Employees who work in a role that can effectively be done from home are welcome to do so until June 30, 2021.” The Seattle-based company had previously said workers could stay home until early 2021. Uncertainty around school re-openings — and abrupt closures tied to coronavirus outbreaks — has complicated the return to work for parents of school-aged children.

Thailand received a group of tourists from China on Tuesday, its first such arrivals since commercial flights were banned in April to combat the coronavirus pandemic, the visitors seemingly undeterred by escalating street demonstrations in Bangkok.

Thirty-nine tourists from Shanghai arrived on Tuesday night, the deputy director of the country's main Suvarnabhumi Airport, Kittipong Kittikachorn, said in a statement.

Thai public television showed masked tourists exiting the airport, with officials in full protective equipment spraying their luggage with disinfectant. Outside, some of the tourists donned face shields and put on rubber gloves as they prepared to board buses to their hotels. The arrivals come as anti-government protesters continue to defy a ban on gatherings after authorities declared a severe emergency situation in Bangkok.

One in five people, who died of Covid-19 between March and October, were suffering from both diabetes mellitus and hypertension. These two co-morbid conditions were the most common, followed by pneumonia, Delhi government’s reply to a Right to Information (RTI) application filed by The Indian Express states.

Almost 45 % of people did not have any co morbid conditions. Data shows that between March 1 and September 30, 5,509 deaths were tagged as Covid deaths in the city. Complete age and gender data was available in 5,283 cases. Of these, 1,086 people were suffering from both diabetes mellitus and hypertension, following by 989 people who were suffering from pneumonia. 695 people had diabetes mellitus only and 678 had hypertension.

Melania Trump’s return to the campaign trail will have to wait. The first lady has decided against accompanying President Donald Trump to a campaign rally Tuesday in Erie, Pennsylvania, because of a lingering cough after her bout with COVID-19, said Stephanie Grisham, her chief of staff.

It was to be Mrs. Trump’s first public appearance since recovering from the coronavirus, as well as her first time out on the campaign trail in more than a year. The first lady’s announcement served as yet another reminder for the president that, as much as he wishes the virus would “just disappear” _ as he has said _ it remains a powerful presence in everyday life, including his.

With 54,044 new cases reported across the country on Tuesday, the coronavirus infection has now affected over 7.6 million people in India. As many as 717 deaths were reported in the last 24 hours, taking the toll to 1,15,914. Of the 76,51,108 cases, 7,40,090 cases are still active, while recoveries stand at 67,95,103.

Several IDs apart from the unique digital health ID under the National Digital Health Mission (NDHM) would be prescribed for the Covid-19 vaccination drive expected next year, the government said on Tuesday. Asked whether the NDHM digital ID would be mandatory to receive the vaccine, Union Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan said at the weekly briefing on Covid-19 that in order to ensure no one was deprived of vaccination, multiple IDs would be used during the inoculation drive. Read our explainer on what the health id is

The Maharashtra government has capped the prices of N-95, double and triple layer masks for suppliers and private hospitals in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, state health minister Rajesh Tope has said. Wearing mask in public places is mandatory for all citizens as part of the government's guidelines to prevent the spread of the coronavirus infection. "We have put a cap on the prices of masks and the rates which can be quoted by their suppliers and private hospitals," Tope said on Tuesday. The N-95 masks can be supplied in the state in the price range of Rs 19 to Rs 49, while double and triple layer masks will be available at Rs 3 to Rs 4 per unit, he said.