Top 10 coronavirus updates: Home Minister Amit Shah tests positive, actor Amitabh Bachchan recovers
Here’s a look at the biggest developments of the day.
- India’s coronavirus count crossed the 17-lakh mark on Sunday after 54,735 new cases were reported in the last 24 hours. With this, the country now has 17,50,723 cases. The toll rose to 37,364 after 853 deaths were recorded. More than 11.45 lakh patients have recovered from the infection.
- Union Home Minister Amit Shah was admitted to the Medanta Hospital in Gurugram after he tested positive for the coronavirus. He requested people who had come in contact with him to isolate and get themselves tested.
- Tamil Nadu Governor Banwarilal Purohit tested positive for the coronavirus but is asymptomatic and in a stable condition, a statement from a Chennai hospital said. A total of 87 employees of the Raj Bhavan, the official residence of the governor, have tested positive for infection in the last few days.
- Actor Amitabh Bachchan, who was admitted to Nanavati Hospital in Mumbai on July 11 after being diagnosed with Covid-19, was discharged after his test results came negative. However, his son Abhishek Bachchan tweeted that he will remain in the hospital and has not tested negative yet.
- Andhra Pradesh, which has seen a surge in cases over the past two weeks, surpassed Delhi as the third-most affected state in India. Delhi recorded 15 deaths in the evening, the lowest number of fatalities since July 1.
- Uttar Pradesh Cabinet Minister Kamla Rani Varun died of the coronavirus in Lucknow. She was 62. The minister tested positive for the coronavirus on July 18 and was on oxygen and ventilator support for the last few days. Meanwhile, the chief of Uttar Pradesh’s Bharatiya Janata Party unit, Swatantra Dev Singh, tested positive for the infection and has quarantined himself at his home.
- The Centre issued new guidelines for passengers arriving in India via international flights amid the coronavirus pandemic. This supersedes the one issued on May 24 and will come into effect from August 8. States can develop their own protocol for quarantine and isolation after assessment of passengers, the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare said.
- The Centre also wrote to all states and Union Territories, stating that hospitalised coronavirus patients should be allowed to use smartphones and tablet devices.
- The Kolkata Police arrested three persons for allegedly posing as Covid-19 sample collecting agents from diagnostic labs, after a bank manager who received a false negative report died of the coronavirus disease. The police are now investigating whether the racketeers had duped others too.
- The global coronavirus count crossed 1.78 crore, and the number of deaths rose to 6,85,179, according to the Johns Hopkins University. As many as 1.04 crore people have recovered.