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Coronavirus India Highlights: Entire country deserves free vaccine, says Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal

Active coronavirus cases in the country stand at 6,80,680 while 70,16,046 people have recovered from the disease so far, the data stated.

By: Express Web Desk
New Delhi | Updated: October 25, 2020 08:48 IST
Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal at the inauguration of newly-constructed Shastri Park flyover, in New Delhi Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal at the inauguration of newly-constructed Shastri Park flyover, in New Delhi

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Saturday said the COVID-19 vaccine should be made available throughout the country for free.  “The whole country should get free COVID-19 vaccine. It is a right of the entire country. All the people are troubled by the coronavirus, so the vaccine should be free for the country,” Kejriwal told reporters after inaugurating two flyovers in northeast Delhi.  A debate has started on whether the COVID-19 vaccine, which is yet to materialise, should be made available to people for free, with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) promising free doses of the vaccine in its manifesto for the Bihar polls.

Read Coronavirus India Live Updates

Earlier today, Former Maharashtra chief minister Devendra Fadnavis Saturday said in a tweet that he has tested positive for Covid-19 and asked those who have come in contact with him to get themselves tested.

India today recorded 53,370 new Covid-19 cases, taking its total caseload to 78,14,682, while 650 fatalities pushed the death toll to 1,17,956, according to data from the Union Health Ministry. Active coronavirus cases in the country stand at 6,80,680 while 70,16,046 people have recovered from the disease so far, the data stated. The national recovery rate has improved to 89.78 per cent, the ministry said.

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India records 53,370 new Covid-19 cases, total case tally stands at 78.14 lakh, death toll nears 1.18 lakh, national recovery rate improves to 89.78%.

19:14 (IST)24 Oct 2020
Watch: Patients and staff play musical chair at Sardar Patel COVID Care Centre & Hospital

Delhi ITBP organised musical chair and other recreational activities at Sardar Patel COVID Care Centre & Hospital, Radha Soami Satsang Beas in Chhatarpur today to keep patients engaged and motivated on Navaratri and ITBP Raising Day.

18:48 (IST)24 Oct 2020
Schools not opening for now in Delhi: Kejriwal

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Saturday ruled out reopening of schools in the national capital for now. "Schools are not reopening for now," Kejriwal told reporters on sidelines of an event. The government had earlier announced that schools will continue to remain closed till October 31 in view of COVID-19 pandemic.

Earlier, schools were allowed to call students from class 9 to 12 to school on voluntary basis from September 21. However, the Delhi government decided against it. Talking about AAP government's decision to not pay for CBSE examination fees this year, Kejriwal cited fund crunch due to the pandemic. 

18:13 (IST)24 Oct 2020
VHP seeks reopening of temples in Maharashtra

The Vishva Hindu Parishad (VHP) on Saturday staged protests across Maharashtra demanding that temples be reopened. In Nagpur, VHP workers staged demonstrations outside 11 temples, said Govind Shende, an officer bearer of the organization. "You have opened malls, markets and even liquor shops. What is the problem with temples?" he asked. The Shiv Sena-led Maharashtra government has said that places of worship would not be reopened at present in view of the coronavirus pandemic.

17:42 (IST)24 Oct 2020
Sitharaman defends free Covid vaccine promise for Bihar amid Oppn backlash

Underfire from the Opposition over the BJP’s poll promise of free Covid vaccine in poll-bound Bihar, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman Friday asserted that the announcement was “perfectly in order” and that the party can announce what it wants to do when it comes to power.

“It is a manifesto announcement. A party can announce what it wants to do when it comes to power. That is exactly what is announced. Health is a state subject. It is perfectly in order,” Nirmala Sitharaman told media, according to news agency PTI. 

17:40 (IST)24 Oct 2020
Top 10 Covid-19 updates this evening

India records 53,370 new Covid-19 cases, 650 deaths; total caseload now at 78,14,682


— National recovery rate improves to 89.78%, says Health Ministry


— Former Maharashtra CM Devendra Fadnavis tests positive for Covid-19


— Bharat Biotech gets DCGI nod for phase 3 trials of Covid vaccine Covaxin


— Shivraj Singh Chouhan assures free Covid vaccine for everyone in Madhya Pradesh


— More than 42.2 million people infected by Covid-19 worldwide; death toll at over 1.14 million


— Biden pledges free Covid vaccinations for all in the US if elected President


— Slovenian foreign minister tests positive


— North Korea says China dust could spread COVID-19, warns people to stay inside


— Polish President Andrzej Duda tests positive for Covid-19

17:38 (IST)24 Oct 2020
Hyderabad: Woman dies by suicide after husband succumbs to COVID-19

A woman in Hyderabad allegedly died by suicide soon after her husband succumbed to COVID-19, police said on Saturday. The 58-year-old man was in home isolation after testing positive for the coronavirus and he died on Thursday, they said. Unable to bear the loss of her husband, the woman (55) jumped to death from the penthouse of the building where they lived, they said. The couple was issueless. A case was registered, the police said. The womans body was handed over to a relative to perform the funeral, they said. The funeral of the man was performed by the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) on Friday as per COVID-19 protocol, they added.

17:36 (IST)24 Oct 2020
Kejriwal pitches for free COVID vaccine throughout India

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Saturday said the COVID-19 vaccine should be made available throughout the country for free, saying all the people were troubled by the coronavirus. A debate has started on whether the COVID-19 vaccine, which is yet to materialise, should be made available to people for free, with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) promising free doses of the vaccine in its manifesto for the Bihar polls. "The whole country should get free COVID-19 vaccine. It is a right of the entire country. All the people are troubled by the coronavirus, so the vaccine should be free for the country," Kejriwal told reporters after inaugurating two flyovers in northeast Delhi. 

14:52 (IST)24 Oct 2020

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14:29 (IST)24 Oct 2020
Devendra Fadnavis tests positive for Covid-19

Former Maharashtra chief minister and BJP leader Devendra Fadnavis Saturday said in a tweet that he has tested positive for Covid-19.

12:45 (IST)24 Oct 2020
National recovery rate improves to 89.78%, says Health Ministry

The Union Health Ministry Saturday said about 61 per cent of the total recovered cases from COVID-19 are from six states and UTs of Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh and Delhi. 

With 70,16,046 people having recuperated from the disease so far, the national recovery rate has improved to 89.78 per cent on Saturday, it said.

"About 61 per cent of the total recovered cases from COVID-19 are from six states and Union territories (UTs) of Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh and Delhi," the ministry said.

While Maharashtra recorded 20.6 per cent of the total recoveries, 10.9 per cent recovered cases were from Andhra Pradesh, 9.9 per cent from Karnataka, 9.4 per cent from Tamil Nadu, 6.1 per cent from Uttar Pradesh and 4.1 per cent from Delhi, it further said. (PTI)

11:50 (IST)24 Oct 2020
Tocilizumab: initial excitement, disappointing trials, yet trusted by many

A study published this week suggests that the drug tocilizumab may not prevent mortality in Covid-19 patients. It is the second such study on this drug. And tocilizumab is the second drug, after hydroxychloroquine, that had quickly earned global popularity as a Covid-19 treatment before its efficacy came under question in the wake of poor trial outcomes.

Between May and July, tocilizumab was widely used across India for moderately ill Covid-19 patients. Even today, doctors are divided on its efficacy against Covid-19.

10:53 (IST)24 Oct 2020
Chandigarh reports two deaths, 72 new Covid cases

Chandigarh reported two Covid-related deaths and 72 new positive cases, detected by RT-PCR and rapid antigen test, on Friday.

The tally of cases in the UT rose to 13,920, while the death toll increased to 214. There are 697 active cases in the city at present.

Among the new patients, 41 were men and 31 women. As many as 1,064 samples were tested for Covid-19 in the last 24 hours, while a total of 10,0045 have been tested yet. Meanwhile, at least 85 people were discharged from the city’s various facilities.

19:44 (IST)23 Oct 2020
Covaxin –Bharat Biotech gets DCGI nod for phase 3 trials of COVID vaccine

After the successful completion of the interim analysis from the Phase 1 and 2 clinical trials of COVAXIN, Bharat Biotech has received the DCGI approval for Phase 3 clinical trials.

A statement from Bharat Biotech today said that the DCGI approval was given for Phase 3 clinical trials in 26,000 participants across 25 centres in the country.

Covaxin – the country’s first indigenous vaccine is an inactivated one created from the strain of the infectious SARS-CoV-2 virus. Inactivated vaccines use the killed version of the germ that causes a disease. It helps the immune system mount an antibody response towards the virus. The vaccine was developed along with ICMR- National Institute of Virology. More details here.

18:02 (IST)23 Oct 2020
India's active caseload below 7 lakh for first time after 2 months, Health Ministry says

Terming it as a 'significant milestone', the Union Health Ministry Friday said that India's active Covid-19 caseload has fallen below 7 lakh for the first time after two months, while the total recoveries have crossed 69 lakhs.

"With a high number of Covid-19 patients recovering every day along with a steadily falling and sustained low mortality rate, India's trend of registering decreasing active cases continues," it underlined.

17:09 (IST)23 Oct 2020
Norway to tighten coronavirus restrictions next week

Norway will announce stricter measures next week to limit the spread of the coronavirus following a recent increase in the number of cases, Prime Minister Erna Solberg said on Friday.

"We see that the infection is spreading in many places," Prime Minister Erna Solberg said."This is worrying. Therefore we already now announce that there will be a tightening of national restrictions next week. The measures will be directed towards the areas where the infection is now spreading," she added.

16:17 (IST)23 Oct 2020
Ronaldo to miss Barcelona clash after second positive Covid-19 test

Cristiano Ronaldo will miss Juventus’ UEFA Champions League fixture against Barcelona next week after he tested positive for COVID-19 for the second time on Thursday. The 35-year-old forward tested positive for coronavirus initially on October 13 during international duty with Portugal. He was asymptomatic then and missed a UEFA Nations League game against Sweden. More details here.

15:50 (IST)23 Oct 2020
Is volunteer death in Brazil trial another blow for AstraZeneca vaccine candidate?

A volunteer in Brazil participating in the trials for the Oxford University-AstraZeneca vaccine candidate, AZD1222, died this week. Does this mean the vaccine is unsafe? What happens to the trial? Click here to read our explainer.

AstraZeneca vaccine death, Covid vaccine, Covid 19 vaccine death, Coronavirus vaccine, Corona vaccine, Corona vaccine death, Oxford vaccine death, Man dies Corona vaccine, Covid vaccine side effects, Indian Express

15:49 (IST)23 Oct 2020
Plasma therapy shows little benefit in patients in India, study finds

Convalescent plasma therapy, which uses the blood of recovered COVID-19 patients as a potential treatment, has shown limited effect in reducing the progression to severe disease or death in a trial conducted in India, scientists say.

The study, published in the British Medical Journal (BMJ) involved 464 adults with moderate COVID-19 who were admitted to hospitals in India between April and July.

As many as 239 adult patients received two transfusions of convalescent plasma, 24 hours apart, alongside standard care, while the control group comprising of 229 patients received standard care only. (PTI)

14:21 (IST)23 Oct 2020
Karnataka govt to reopen colleges on Nov 17

The Karnataka government Friday decided to reopen colleges (engineering, diploma, degree) from November 17.

“Students can choose to attend offline, online or blended learning sessions. Batch strength will be decided based on prior registration. Task forces will be deployed across colleges to ensure Covid-19 and related guidelines are in place and are implemented,” Deputy CM Ashwathnarayan CN said in Bengaluru. Follow Karnataka Bengaluru Coronavirus Live Updates

Earlier today, CM Yediyurappa had met top officials of higher education, health, transport, social welfare, backward class, finance departments in Bengaluru to discuss the same, in the wake of the ongoing pandemic situation in the state.

Meanwhile, the active number of Covid-19 cases in Karnataka dropped below the one-lakh mark on Thursday after nearly a month as discharges outnumbered new cases for the eighth consecutive day in the state. While the number of active cases on October 22 is 92,927, the same had been over a lakh since September 26.

14:12 (IST)23 Oct 2020
Delhi CM Kejriwal lays foundation for new block at LNJP Hospital

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal Friday laid the foundation stone for construction of a 1500-bed block at Lok Nayak Jai Prakash (LNJP) Hospital, PTI reported.

The Delhi government-run hospital has 2,000 beds at present, all of which have been dedicated for coronavirus patients.

Kejriwal hailed the "corona warriors" of the LNJP, who have either lost their lives or continue to serve in the frontline.

The new 1,500-bed block is to be built at a cost of Rs 450 crore with per bed cost coming out to be Rs 30 lakh, Kejriwal said. "This is much less than similar projects done by the Centre or any state government, where the average cost turns out to be Rs 1.25 crore to Rs 1.5 crore per bed," he claimed.

12:45 (IST)23 Oct 2020
FDA approves Remdesivir as first drug to treat COVID-19

The Food and Drug Administration said on Thursday that it had formally approved remdesivir as the first drug to treat COVID-19, a move that indicated the government’s confidence in its safe and effective use for hospitalized patients.

The FDA said the drug had been approved for adults and pediatric patients ages 12 and older and weighing at least 40 kilograms (about 88 pounds) who require hospitalization for COVID-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus, which has killed more than 220,000 people in the United States.

11:55 (IST)23 Oct 2020
Devotees in West Bengal offer prayers on Maha Saptami

Members of various Durga puja committees in Birbhum district of West Bengal gathered on Friday to worship 'Navpatrika' on the occassion of Maha Saptami. Below are some visuals of devotees and committee members offering prayers.

Members of various Durga puja committees in Birbhum district of West Bengal gathered on Friday to worship 'Navpatrika' on the occassion of Maha Saptami. (ANI)
Devotees and committee members on their way to offer prayers in Birbhum district of Bengal.(ANI)

An artist makes effigies of Ravana ahead of Dussehra in East Delhi on Friday, October 23, (Express Photo by Amit Mehra)

The customary Durga idol immersion in river Ichamati separating India and Bangladesh will take place on 'Bijoya Dashami' this year, on a low-key amid the coronavirus pandemic, PTI quoted officials as saying.

The idol immersion in the midstrean of the river, wherein puja committees from India and Bangladesh take part, is a spectacular sight which attracts thousands of tourists from West Bengal to Taki, the border town in North 24 Parganas district.

A district official said that a few members of the puja committees will be allowed to board small or large boats for the immersion of the idol, adding that no tourists will be allowed. All those taking part in the immersion should wear masks and carry sanitisers, the official said.

The pandemic has cast a shadow on the idol immersion at Ichamati but various clubs have appealed to the district authority to allow the practice albeit on a small scale.

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First uploaded on: 23-10-2020 at 10:45 IST
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