Coronavirus: Tamil Nadu extends ban on bus services till July 31 as cases cross 1.42 lakh
The Karnataka government on Monday ordered strict home quarantine for people awaiting their coronavirus test results.
The Tamil Nadu government on Monday extended the ban on bus services till July 31 amid a sharp increase in coronavirus cases. The state reported 4,328 new cases and 66 deaths in a day. Tamil Nadu’s count rose to 1,42,798 while the toll reached 2,032. Karnataka, meanwhile, ordered strict home quarantine for people awaiting their coronavirus test results.
India recorded 28,701 new coronavirus cases earlier in the day, taking the total to 8,78,254. The toll rose by 500 to 23,174. This is the biggest single-day jump in infections so far. More than 5.53 lakh people have recovered. The Supreme Court refused to entertain a plea seeking restrictions on this year’s Amarnath Yatra because of the coronavirus pandemic.
The global coronavirus count is now over 1.29 crore, while the toll has crossed 5.70 lakh, according to the Johns Hopkins University. More than 71.1 lakh people have recovered so far.
The national helpline number for the coronavirus is 011-23978046, and a toll-free number 1075.
These are the helpline numbers for states and the Union Territories.
10.59 pm: Jharkhand reports 189 new cases on Monday, taking the state’s tally to 3,963. The toll stands at 33.
10.56 pm: All offices at the Rail Bhawan in Delhi will be closed for two days as employees test positive for the coronavirus. The number of cases has not been confirmed by the government.
10.50 pm: Goa reports 130 new cases on Monday, taking the state’s tally to 2,583. The toll is 17.
9.41 pm: Delhi records 1,246 new cases and 40 deaths on Monday. The Capital’s tally rises to 1,13,740 and the toll reaches 3,411.
8.55 pm: Maharashtra Education Minister Uday Samant says conducting final-year university exams as per the revised guidelines released by the University Grants Commission would not be feasible due to coronavirus risks, PTI reports.
8.54 pm: Uttar Pradesh’s Gautam Buddh Nagar district records 90 new coronavirus cases on Monday, pushing its tally to 3,495, PTI reports.
8.52 pm: Ten Border Security Force personnel test positive for the coronavirus in Meghalaya, PTI reports, quoting state Health Minister AL Hek.
8.42 pm: The Karnataka government releases detailed guidelines for the lockdown in Bengaluru, scheduled to begin from tomorrow, July 14. No new flights or trains will be allowed during the seven-day period but those already scheduled can operate. Shops selling grocery and other food items will be allowed to open only from 5 am to noon.
8.38 pm: Mumbai reports 1,174 new coronavirus cases on Monday, taking its tally to 93,894. Forty-seven new deaths push the city’s toll to 5,332.
8.35 pm: West Bengal reports 1,435 new cases on Friday, taking its overall count to 31,448. The state’s toll rises to 956 with 24 more deaths.
8.15 pm: Punjab’s coronavirus count rises to 8,178 on Monday with 357 new cases. The toll rises to 204 as five new deaths are reported.
8.10 pm: Karnataka reports 2,738 coronavirus cases and 73 deaths on Monday. The state’s overall count rises to 41,581, of which 24,572 are active cases.
7.53 pm: Gujarat’s coronavirus tally rises to 42,808 with 902 new cases on Monday. The state reports new deaths, pushing its toll to 2,057.
7.40 pm: The Calcutta High Court refuses to stay MBBS exams of two batches at the West Bengal University Of Health Sciences amid the coronavirus crisis, PTI reports.
7.34 pm: Maharashtra reports 6,497 coronavirus cases and 193 deaths on Monday. The state’s overall count rises to 2,60,924 and the toll reaches 10,482.
7.21 pm: The Hong Kong government will limit group gatherings to four people from 50 amid an increase in coronavirus cases, Reuters reports. Hong Kong reported 52 new coronavirus cases on Monday, taking its tally to 1,522.
7.18 pm: Delhi’s Lok Nayak Jai Prakash Narayan Hospital will be the second facility to get a plasma bank after the Institute of Liver and Bilary Sciences, PTI reports, quoting an unidentified official.
7.12 pm: Mumbai’s Dharavi slum records six new coronavirus cases on Monday, PTI reports, quoting the city’s civic body. The area’s tally rises to 2,381.
7.08 pm: The Kerala chief minister adds that coronavirus positivity rate in the state is 2.27%, which is better than the national average. Vijayan says Kerala’s fatality rate is 0.39%.
7.05 pm: Kerala records 449 coronavirus cases and two deaths on Friday, ANI reports, quoting Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan. The state’s tally rises to 8,322 and the toll reaches 33.
6.52 pm: Tamil Nadu reports 4,328 new coronavirus cases and 66 deaths on Monday. The state’s tally rises to 1,42,798 and the toll reaches 2,032. The state government extends the ban on bus services till July 31.
5.45 pm: India has seen the number of daily cases go up steadily ever since it ended its national lockdown. The country is witnessing a rise in local transmission even as most states in India have abandoned contact tracing.
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5.38 pm: Andhra Pradesh reports 1,935 coronavirus cases in the last 24 hours. The state’s tally rises to 31,103. The toll stands at 365.
5.20 pm: The Eastern Railway will set up a new unit for coronavirus patients at Kolkata’s BR Singh Hospital by next week, PTI reports.
4.59 pm: A deputy magistrate in West Bengal dies of Covid-19, PTI reports, quoting the state’s health department.
4.46 pm: The Karnataka government directs people who have been tested for the coronavirus to stay in quarantine at home till they get their results.
4.42 pm: Pakistan says it will resume Afghanistan’s exports through the Wagah Border from Wednesday, PTI reports. Pakistan had closed the Wagah border in March because of coronavirus risks.
4.33 pm: South Korean health authorities say one in three critically ill coronavirus patients showed an improvement after being given antiviral remdesivir, Reuters reports. The health authorities add that more research is needed to determine if the patients’ health improved with the drug or other factors such as immunity.
4.25 pm: Uttar Pradesh detects a record new 1,664 new coronavirus cases in the last 24 hours, taking its overall count to 38,130. The state’s toll rises to 955 with 21 new deaths.
4.23 pm: After Bengaluru, Karnataka’s Dharwad and Dakshina Kannada districts will go under a lockdown from Monday, PTI reports.
4.20 pm: Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister CN Ashwath Narayan urges Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa to cancel the licences of private hospitals that did not hand over 50% of their beds to the government amid the coronavirus crisis, ANI reports.
4.18 pm: The Punjab government bans all public gatherings. Thirty people will be allowed at weddings now instead of 50.
3.48 pm: Kerala sets up its first “plasma bank” at the Government Medical College Hospital at Manjeri, PTI reports.
3.40 pm: The Odisha government issues and order asking all healthcare facilities to ensure all medical services are provided to those in need of it, PTI reports. This came amid reports of patients being denied treatment in some non-Covid-19 hospitals over fear of virus transmission. “No patient shall be denied healthcare service and no life-threatening emergency procedure or treatment shall be deferred on grounds of suspicion of COVID-19 infection,” the order states.
3.38 pm: A Delhi court allows foreign nationals from 14 countries to walk free after paying different amounts as fine, after they accepted mild charges under the plea bargain process, related to various violations while attending Tablighi Jamaat congregation in Delhi, PTI reports. Foreigners from five countries, however, claimed trial before the court.
3.25 pm: The Supreme Court refuses to entertain a plea seeking restrictions on this year’s Amarnath Yatra because of the coronavirus pandemic, Live Law reports. The court observes that the local administration is better equipped to take a decision on the matter.
3.02 pm: The Calcutta High Court cancels all judicial and administrative work till July 19, on account of the new phase of the lockdown in Kolkata, the sharp rise in infections and the constant increase in the containment zones in the city, ANI reports.
2.51 pm: Prime Minister Narendra Modi spoke with Google Chief Executive Officer Sundar Pichai and discussed how a new work culture is emerging amid the pandemic. “We discussed the challenges the global pandemic has brought to areas such as sports,” Modi says in a tweet. “We also talked about the importance of data security and cyber safety.”
2.49 pm: Union Home Minister Amit Shah holds a meeting to review the coronavirus situation in his Lok Sabha constituency Gandhinagar in Gujarat, PTI reports. The meeting, held via video conference, was attended by Gandhinagar Collector Kuldeep Arya, District Development Officer Shalini Duhan and Gandhinagar Municipal Commissioner Ratan Kanwar Gadhvicharan.
2.46 pm: The Uttarakhand Congress demands action against state BJP leaders for allegedly violating physical distancing norms at a function held at the party office in Dehradun in the presence of Chief Minister Trivendra Singh Rawat, PTI reports.
2.38 pm: The Singapore government deports 10 Indian nationals and barred them from re-entering the country for violating the “circuit breaker” rules enforced to curb the spread of the coronavirus, PTI reports. The “circuit breaker” period in Singapore began on April 7 as part of which, all non-essential work places were closed and residents were barred from leaving their houses except to buy food and groceries, or to exercise alone in the neighbourhood. The period ended on June 2.
2.37 pm: Arunachal Pradesh reports 19 new coronavirus infections on Monday, taking the state’s total tally to 359, PTI reports.
2.08 pm: A Congress leader and 38 party workers in Aligarh, Uttar Pradesh, were booked for violating prohibitory orders after they staged a protest against the high electricity tariff in the state, PTI reports. National Secretary of All India Congress Committee Vivek Bansal, however, rebutts the allegations and says the agitation was organised inside a private property without any rules of the lockdown being broken.
2.04 pm: The first patient to have been cured of Covid-19 gets discharged from Delhi’s newly inaugurated Sardar Patel Covid Care Centre in Chhatarpur area, ANI reports, quoting the Indo-Tibetan Border Police. A total of 147 patients are admitted to the facility as of now.
1.57 pm: The Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation increases penalty for not wearing masks in public spaces from Rs 200 to Rs 500, ANI reports.
1.51 pm: Puducherry reports 50 new cases of the coronavirus on Monday, taking the total tally of infections in the Union Territory to 1,468, ANI reports, quoting the health department figures. The toll from the disease stands at 18.
1.37 pm: A 38-year-old police officer in Palghar, Maharashtra, dies of the coronavirus, PTI reports.
1.30 pm: The postal voting for over 7,00,000 Sri Lankan officers, who will be on duty on August 5 for the parliamentary elections, begins amidst special security measures, even after the country reported a surge in coronavirus cases, PTI reports. Sri Lanka has reported 2,511 Covid-19 cases and 11 deaths, so far.
1.28 pm: The Supreme Court adjourns a plea challenging the blacklisting of foreign nationals by the home ministry for attending the Tablighi Jamaat congregation in Delhi, till next week, Live Law reports.
1.25 pm: Himachal Pradesh has reported no new cases of the coronavirus on Monday so far, ANI reports, quoting the state department. The total tally of infections in the state stands at 1,213, including nine deaths and 923 recoveries.
1.03 pm: Pharmaceutical company Glenmark says it has cut prices of its antiviral drug Favipiravir for the treatment of patients with mild to moderate Covid-19 symptoms, by 27% to Rs 75 per tablet, The Indian Express reports. The company had launched the drug under the brand name of FabiFlu last month, at a price of Rs 103 per tablet.
12.30 pm: Nagaland records its highest single-day jump of 71 Covid-19 cases, taking the state’s tally of infections to 845, Health Minister S Pangyu Phom says, according to PTI. Of these, 518 are active cases as 327 people have recovered from the disease, he adds.
12.25 pm: Actor Amit Sadh says he has tested negative for coronavirus and thanked his fans for their prayers. On Sunday, Sadh tweeted that though he was feeling “perfectly fine”, he would be undergoing a precautionary Covid-19 test, a day after actor Amitabh Bachchan and his son Abhishek Bachchan tested positive for the virus. Abhishek and Sadh were spotted together earlier this month, dubbing for their show “Breathe: Into The Shadows”.
12.22 pm: The authorities in Mizoram have fined more than 18,000 people for violating lockdown norms since May 4, PTI reports.
12.20 pm: Preparations are underway to set up a second “Plasma Bank” at the Lok Nayak Hospital in the Capital, Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia tells ANI. “It will begin operations soon.”
11.48 am: Total number of cases in Jharkhand rises to 3,774, including 33 deaths, ANI reports citing the state health department.
11.45 am: Karnataka reports more active cases than Delhi and Gujarat, show health ministry’s data. Karnataka has reported 38,843 total Covid-19 cases of which 22,750 are active cases while Delhi has 19,155 active cases and Gujarat has 10,613. Karnataka is now the fifth worst-affected state in the country, surpassing Uttar Pradesh.
11.04 am: Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan says a specific deadline or timeline for the coronavirus vaccine cannot be given at the moment, News18 reports. In an interview with the channel, Vardhan once again reiterates that there is no community transmission of the coronavirus in India. “I can say with confidence [that] community transmission has not begun,” he says.
10.57 am: Rajasthan reports 95 new coronavirus cases and four deaths as of 10.30 am on Monday, ANI reports, quoting the state health department’s figures. The state’s total tally of infections rises to 24,487. The toll is 514.
10.54 am: New York City, once the epicenter of United State’s coronavirus outbreak, reports its first day with zero confirmed or probable virus deaths since the pandemic hit New York State, Bloomberg reports.
10.45 am: Pharmaceutical company Biocon’s psoriasis drug Itolizumab, which was repurposed for Covid-19 for treating the moderately sick and the severely ill, appears to have been tested on too few patients to reliably conclude on its benefits, The Hindu reports, after reviewing of data presented by the company to the Drug Controller General.
10.34 am: Russia says it has completed clinical trials of the world’s first coronavirus vaccine on volunteers at Sechenov First Moscow State Medical University, Sputnik news agency reports. “Sechenov University has successfully completed tests on volunteers of the world’’s first vaccine against coronavirus,” Vadim Tarasov, the director of the Institute for Translational Medicine and Biotechnology, says. “The first group of volunteers would be discharged on Wednesday and the second on July 20.”
10.29 am: Mizoram reports four new Covid-19 cases, raising the state’s coronavirus tally to 231, PTI reports. The patients are personnel of the National Disaster Response Force posted at Lungverh, about 15 km from Aizawl, an unidentified official says. All of them had recently returned from other states – Assam, Manipur, Haryana and Andhra Pradesh.
10.22 am: Congress leader Rahul Gandhi attacks Union Home Minister Amit Shah for claiming that India is at a “good position” in its battle against the coronavirus outbreak. In a tweet, Gandhi shares a graph that depicts the “ideal curve” for Covid-19 cases, along with the seven-day count of average Covid-19 infections in United States, India, South Korea and New Zealand. “India at good position in Covid-19 battle?” Gandhi asks sarcastically.
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10.18 am: Odisha’s tally of coronavirus cases rises to 13,737 after 616 new infections were reported in 24 hours on Monday, ANI reports, quoting the state health department.
10.14 am: A 30-year-old man from Texas dies from the coronavirus after attending a “Covid-19” party hosted by an infected person, AFP reports. Jane Appleby, chief medical officer at the Methodist Hospital in San Antonio, says the man thought the virus was a hoax, despite it killing more than 1,35,000 people in the United States so far.
10.12 am: A woman constable in Gujarat has been transferred to police headquarters after she reportedly had an altercation with the son of a Bharatiya Janata Party legislator for violating lockdown rules in Surat, The Indian Express reports.
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10.09 am: Karnataka’s Covid-19 expert and technical advisory committees recommend a minimum three-week lockdown in Bengaluru amid a surge in coronavirus cases, The Hindu reports. The city reported 1,525 of the total 2,626 new cases in Karnataka on Sunday.
9.41 am: Madagascar President Andry Rajoelina says two lawmakers have died of coronavirus, reports AFP. Eleven other deputies and 14 senators have also tested positive for the virus, Rajoelina says.
9.22 am: India on Sunday tested 2,19,103 samples, says the Indian Council of Medical Research.
9.18 am: India records 28,701 new coronavirus cases, taking the total to 8,78,254. The toll in the country rises by 500 to 23,174. This is the biggest single-day jump in infections so far. More than 5.53 lakh people have recovered.
8.46 am: Karnataka Tourism Minister CT Ravi says he has tested positive.
7.31 am: The Palestinian Authority orders a 14-day lockdown to contain the spread of the infections, reports AFP.
7.30 am: South Africa re-imposes night curfew and suspends sale of alcohol amid rising cases, reports AFP.
7.27 am: Mexico becomes country with fourth highest deaths, surpassing Italy, reports AFP. “There are 2,99,750 confirmed cases of infection and 35,006 deaths in Mexico,” health officials tell the news agency.
7.23 am: The Noida Police say they have so far arrested 64 people arrested and penalised 1,904 vehicle owners for violating the lockdown.
7.21 am: Private hospitals empanelled under the Central Government Health Scheme will charge rates fixed by the Delhi government till the respective states decided on its own charges, reports PTI.
7.19 am: Assam Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal has asked the construction firm building the AIIMS near Guwahati to employ local youth who have returned to the state due to the lockdown, reports PTI.
7.15 am: Assam’s tally rises to 16,806 with 735 new cases, says state Health Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma. The state also reports four fresh fatalities, according to PTI. However, the deaths will be officially added to the state’s coronavirus toll only after the Death Audit Board ascertains the underlying cause, adds Sarma.
7.12 am: The World Health Organization registers another record number of new cases with more than 2,30,000 fresh infections in the last 24 hours, reports AP. The United States tops the list with more than 66,000 cases recorded on Sunday.
7.07 am: Here are the top updates from Sunday
- India reported a record 28,638 new coronavirus cases on Sunday, taking its total to 8,49,553. The toll in the country rose to 22,674 with 551 new deaths. More than 5.15 lakh people in the country have recovered. The Union health ministry said the country’s recovery rate has reached 62.93%.
- Maharashtra reported 7,827 new coronavirus cases and 173 deaths in 24 hours, taking the total number of cases to 2,54,427 and the toll to 10,289. Delhi, on the other hand, reported 1,573 new coronavirus cases and 37 deaths. The Capital’s tally rose to 1,12,494 and the toll reached 3,371. Tamil Nadu’s tally rose to 1,38,470 with 4,244 new cases. Sixty-eight new deaths took the state’s toll to 1,966.
- The Uttar Pradesh government ordered a complete lockdown in the state over the weekends amid rising coronavirus cases. The new lockdown orders will be imposed from next week, starting July 18. Chief Minister Adityanath also directed officials to conduct 50,000 coronavirus tests in the state per day. The Srinagar administration also ordered a lockdown in 68 containment areas of the city.
- Union Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pralhad Joshi said that the Monsoon session of Parliament will be held with all safety precautions amid coronavirus risks. “There will be Monsoon session... But when, it will decided very shortly,” he said.
- Actor Aishwarya Rai Bachchan and her daughter Aaradhya Bachchan tested positive for the coronavirus. Their test results came a day after veteran actor Amitabh Bachchan and Abhishek Bachchan were found to have contracted the infection. Mumbai’s coronavirus count rose to 92,720 on Sunday with 1,263 new cases. Forty-four new deaths in the city took its toll to 5,285.
- The global coronavirus tally reached 1,27,51,882 and the toll crossed 5.66 lakh, according to the Johns Hopkins University. More than 70 lakh people across the world have recovered.