10.03 am: Pune Divisional Commissioner Saurabh Rao, citing government projections, says that the city will have over 1.60 lakh coronaviurs cases by the end of August, PTI reports.

10.01 pm: Ministry of External Affairs Spokesperson Anurag Srivastava says over 10 lakh Indians, stranded abroad due to the coronavirus pandemic, have been brought back under the Vande Bharat mission.

9.58 pm: The Punjab government will release 3,500 to 4,000 more prisoners to reduce crowding in jails amid coronavirus risks, PTI reports.

9.51 pm: Uttar Pradesh’s Gautam Buddh Nagar district records 89 new cases on Tuesday, taking its tally to 6,101, PTI reports. The district’s toll stands at 43.

9.48 pm: Rajasthan’s coronavirus tally rises to 54,887 as the state records 1,217 new cases on Tuesday. The toll rises to 811 as 11 new deaths are reported in the state.

9.47 pm: Uttarakhand records 411 new cases on Tuesday, taking its tally to 10,432.

9.04 pm: West Bengal’s coronavirus tally crosses 1 lakh as the state records 2,931 new cases on Tuesday, PTI reports. The state now has 1,01,390 cases in all. Forty-nine more deaths push the state’s toll to 2,149.

9.01 pm: Religious places in Jammu and Kashmir will open from August 16.

9.00 pm: Mumbai records 917 new coronavirus cases and 48 deaths on Tuesday. The city’s tally rises to 1,25,239 and the toll reaches 6,890.

8.55 pm: The authorities in China’s Yantai city find the coronavirus on the packaging of frozen seafood brought from Dalian city, Reuters reports. Dalian is witnessing a surge in coronavirus cases.

8.38 pm: Punjab records 1,002 new coronavirus cases and 32 deaths on Tuesday. The state’s tally rises to 25,889 and the toll reaches 636.

8.30 pm: The Haryana government says it will not allow large gatherings at Independence Day events due to coronavirus risks, PTI reports. The government adds that children below the age of 10 will not be asked to participate in the celebration.

8.25 pm: Maharashtra records 11,088 new cases on Tuesday, taking its tally to 5,35,601. The toll rises to 18,306 as 256 deaths are reported.

8.11 pm: The Nepal government will reduce the number of designated entry points for Indian nationals from 20 to 10 over coronavirus fears, PTI reports. The country also extends the suspension of domestic and international flights till August 31. Nepal has reported 23,948 cases and 83 deaths so far.

8.03 pm: Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal says his government has taken several steps to reduce coronavirus deaths in the Capital. “Today [Tuesday], Delhi reported eight deaths,” he tweets. “Our endeavour is to ensure that there is not even a single Covid-19 death.”

7.59 pm: Mizoram Governor P S Sreedharan Pillai says the Raj Bhavan will be open to people who need shelter amid the coronavirus crisis, PTI reports.

7.51 pm: Madhya Pradesh’s coronavirus tally rises to 40,734 as the state reports 843 new cases on Tuesday.

7.42 pm: Tamil Nadu records 5,834 new coronavirus cases and 118 deaths on Tuesday. The state’s tally rises to 3,08,649 and the toll reaches 5,159.

7.36 pm: Karnataka recorded 6,257 new coronavirus cases and 86 deaths on Monday. The state’s tally rose to 1,88,611 and the toll reached 3,398.

7.14 pm: Delhi records 1,257 coronavirus cases and eight deaths on Tuesday. The Capital’s tally rises to 1,47,391 and the toll reaches 4,139.

6.04 pm: As many as 191 inmates of a jail in Banda in Uttar Pradesh have tested positive for the coronavirus. As many as 374 inmates of the prison had been tested via rapid antigen tests, of which 191 were found positive, though they showed no symptoms.

6 pm: Three new cases of the coronavirus have been recorded in Mizoram, taking the total count to 623.

5.56 pm: The Centre says that regular passenger and suburban train services continue to remain suspended till further notice, ANI reports. The 230 special trains that are running at present will continue to operate. Local trains in Mumbai will continue to run on a limited basis as per the directions of the state government.

5.53 pm: The health ministry says India has so far conducted 506 tests per day per million (10 lakh) population.

5.47 pm: Urdu poet Rahat Indori dies of the coronavirus, ANI reports. A doctor at Sri Aurobindo Hospital in Indore says Indori was admitted on Sunday after being diagnosed with Covid-19. Indori had 60% pneumonia, says Dr Vinod Bhandari.

5.44 pm: The health ministry says that for the first time, India’s fatality rate has fallen below 2%, and now stands at 1.99%, PTI reports. The national recovery rate has risen to 69.8% “due to effective and prompt clinical management of Covid-19 cases” the ministry claims.

5.35 pm: “This expert group will continue its engagement with all state governments and vaccine manufacturers in India,” Bhushan adds.

5.31 pm: Health ministry secretary Rajesh Bhushan says the government has constituted a National Expert Group on Vaccine Administration, which will meet on Wednesday, according to ANI. “Their terms of reference constitute all matters related to logistics of vaccines, ways to address issues of equity etc,” he says. He was answering a question on whether the government is planning to tie up with Russia to procure its vaccine.

5.22 pm: The Indian Council of Medical Research says more than 2.5 crore coronavirus tests have been done in the country so far.

5.16 pm: Bhushan says that at his meeting with the chief ministers of ten states, Prime Minister Narendra Modi emphasised on the need to increase testing in Bihar, Gujarat, West Bengal, Telangana and Uttar Pradesh.

5.13 pm: Health ministry Secretary Rajesh Bhushan says India’s Covid-19 death rate has fallen has fallen below 2% for the first time. He says India’s coronavirus death rate at the present is 1.99%.

5.12 pm: The Union health ministry briefs the media on the coronavirus.

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4.00 pm: The Odisha government announces that it will not organise an Independence day parade this year, in light of the coronavirus outbreak, PTI reports. This came after a meeting chaired by Chief Secretary AK Tripathy on Monday decided that participation of the general public would be restricted during this year’s celebrations.

3.53 pm: ISKON Temple Vice President Vrajendra Nandan Das says “very few” people have been invited to the Janmashtami celebrations at the temple on Wednesday, ANI reports. “Markings [have been made] for social distancing...masks are compulsory for everyone,” he adds. He says the temple will also provide the facility of online darshan and urges people stay at home.

3.44 pm: Nearly 18% of 4,327 people in Bengaluru who were untraceable after they tested positive for the coronavirus between July 25 and August 7, continue to remain unaccounted for because of wrong contact details provided by them at the time of testing, an investigation by the city police and Bengaluru corporation reveals, according to The Indian Express.

3.40 pm: Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Edappadi Palaniswami tells Narendra Modi the Centre should fund 50% of the cost for RT-PCR tests done for detecting Covid-19 and also finance the procurement of high-end ventilators, PTI reports.

3.31 pm: New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern says authorities have found four cases of the coronavirus in one Auckland household from an unknown source, the first cases of local transmission in the country in 102 days, Reuters reports. Arden announces a lockdown will be imposed in Auckland for three days from Wednesday to contain the spread of the disease.

3.25 pm: The Mizoram government caps the quantity of fuel that can be purchased per vehicle amid a shortage in the state’s stock because of restrictions imposed in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic, PTI reports.

3.22 pm: A man in Maharashtra’ Jalgaon district, who had escaped a Covid-19 facility in Amalner, was found dead on a road, PTI reports, quoting the police. The patient, a resident of Wawade village, was admitted to the facility on Monday morning, a day after he tested positive for the coronavirus.

3.02 pm: Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan says he has tested negative for the virus. Chouhan on July 25 said he had contracted the virus.

2.40 pm: Russia is the first country to register a coronavirus vaccine, says AP. The report adds that some of the country’s own scientists, as well as those abroad, are doubtful about it since it was registered before the crucial Phase 3 trials.

2.34 pm: Russian President Vladimir Putin says they have developed the vaccine for the novel coronavirus, reports AP. Putin has made the announcement on a conference call with his ministers. One of his two daughters has been given a shot of the vaccine.

Clinical trials of the vaccine began on June 18.

Gamaleya Research Institute and the Russian Defence Ministry have developed the vaccine, reports Mint. Earlier, Russia said they could start vaccinating members of the public as early as October.

2.23 pm: “Every state is fighting the battle against the challenging situation arising due to Covid-19 pandemic,” Modi says. “Role of each and every state is very significant in overall control of the spread of the disease.”

2.16 pm: The prime minister identifies Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal, Gujarat and Telangana as states where not enough testing has been carried out, and test positivity rate is high. He says these states need to increase testing, a matter that was discussed in the meeting.

2.14 pm: “The average fatality rate has been continuously decreasing while the recovery rate is increasing every day, this shows that measures being taken by us are in the right direction,” Modi says according to News18.

2.07 pm: Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte says he is willing to be the first to be administered the first shot of a vaccine produced by Russia, Bloomberg reports. “When the vaccine arrives, I will have myself injected in public,” he says. “Experiment on me first, that’s fine with me.” Russia is set to allow public use of its vaccine even before human clinical trials are completed.

2 pm: A 28-year-old man accused of robberies and suffering from the coronavirus has escaped from a hospital, where he was undergoing treatment for Covid-19, in Damoh district of Madhya Pradesh, PTI reports. Devendra Patel, the kingpin of a gang that looted Rs 46 lakh from ATMs, fled from the district hospital on the intervening night of Monday and Tuesday, according to Damoh superintendent of police Hemant Chauhan.

1.57 pm: Modi adds that Covid-19 had become a huge problem in some districts of Delhi, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh. However, the spread was controlled after a committee was formed under the leadership of Union Home Minister Amit Shah.

1.50 pm: Modi says in his meeting with chief ministers that according to experts, the spread of the coronavirus can be controlled if the patient is diagnosed within 72 hours, ANI reports. “So, it is important that all the people who come in contact with an infected person must be tested within 72 hours,” the prime minister says.

1.27 pm: Congress leader Rahul Gandhi says it is necessary to implement schemes like Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme, more commonly known as MGNREGS, and the minimum income guarantee scheme NYAY to help ease unemployment in cities and reduce poverty across the country amid the coronavirus crisis.

1.22 pm: Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami tells Prime Minister Narendra Modi to increase the amount of the package to deal with the coronavirus crisis to up to Rs 3,000 crore, reports ANI. “We’ve received Rs 512.64 crore from Centre in two tranches under Emergency Response and Health Systems Preparedness package out of Rs 712.64 crore allotted to state,” he says.

1.20 pm: The Karnataka government has issued revised guidelines for home isolation of coronavirus patients, reports PTI. According to the new rules, patients can be discharged after 10 days of symptom onset or date of sampling and if there is no fever for three days. It also states that there is no need for testing after the isolation period is over.

12.36 pm: Telangana’s tally goes up to 82,647 with 1,896 new cases and eight more fatalities, according to PTI.

11.30 am: Prime Minister Narendra Modi chairs a meeting via video conference with the chief ministers of Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, West Bengal, Maharashtra, Punjab, Bihar, Gujarat, Telangana and Uttar Pradesh to discuss the pandemic situation.

11.15 am: Arunachal Pradesh’s tally rises to 2,231 after 76 more people test positive, reports PTI. “Thirty-six paramilitary personnel, including 16 in West Kameng, five each in East Siang and Upper Subansiri, four each in Changlang and Leparada and one each in Lohit and Papumpare districts, are among the new patients,” says State Surveillance Officer L Jampa.

11.14 am: Twenty-two people, including priests, at the ISKCON temple in Vrindavan test positive, reports ANI. The temple has been sealed now.

9.58 am: India currently has 28.21% active cases, 69.80% cured and 1.99% deaths, says the Centre.

9.55 am: Nagaland’s tally crosses the 3,000-mark after 231 more people test positive, says Health Minister S Pangnyu Phom.

9.52 am: An engineer who came to perform his father’s last rites in Odisha’s Ganjam district dies of coronavirus, reports The Hindu.

9.51 am: Serum Institute of India Chief Executive Officer Adar Poonawalla says India should have a vaccine against the novel coronavirus by the end of 2020. He adds that the final pricing of the vaccine – known as Covishield in India – developed by Oxford University and British-Swedish pharmaceutical firm AstraZeneca will be announced in two months.

Also read

Coronavirus: India should have vaccine by December 2020, says Serum Institute chief

9.47 am: The Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanam board says it has no plans of any lockdown or shutting down even after over 700 of its employees test positive, reports News18. of infections. “If we look at the number [743] – it is still below the state and district averages,” an official tells the news channel.

Also read

Coronavirus: 743 workers of the Tirumala Tirupati temple trust test positive, three have died

9.40 am: Four districts in Uttar Pradesh recorded over 200 cases in the last 24 hours, according to The Indian Express. Of these, Lucknow had the highest at 629, followed by Kanpur Nagar (269), Gorakhpur (255) and Prayagraj (223).

9.36 am: US President Donald Trump once again says India stands second in terms of testing. “We have tested close to 65 million people and no country is even close to that number,” he says. “India would be second at 11 million [tests] and they have 1.5 billion people. We have the number one testing in the world by far and also the highest quality tests. I feel strongly that we will have a vaccine by the end of the year and it will be put into service as soon as we get it.”

9.35 am: The Indian Army has given 10 ICU ventilators to its Nepali counterpart, reports Hindustan Times. “The Indian Army has a long record of extending support to the Nepali Army as a first responder for humanitarian assistance and relief,” read a statement from the Indian embassy in Kathmandu. “The gifting of ventilators is part of this continued humanitarian cooperation between the two armies.”

9.23 am: India reports 53,601 new cases, taking the overall tally to 22,68,675. The toll rises by 871 to 45,257.

Ministry of Health and Family Welfare

9.11 am: Urdu poet Rahat Indori says he has tested positive for Covid-19. “After exhibiting preliminary symptoms of the infection, I have tested positive for Covid-19. I am admitted at the Aurobindo Hospital. Pray for my speedy recovery,” he tweets.

9.07 am: Puducherry Chief Minister V Narayanasamy says two ministers in his Cabinet – M Kandasamy and R Kamalakannan – have tested positive for Covid-19. He adds that the ministers came in contact with government officials and the public, and urges them to get tested for Covid-19.

8 am: The global coronavirus cases have crossed two crore, according to the Johns Hopkins University. The toll stands at 7,34,664.

7.58 am: World Health Organization chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus says there is hope for a turnaround for the pandemic. “I want to be clear: there are green shoots of hope,” he says, according to AFP. “It’s never too late to turn the outbreak around.”

7.55 am: The West Bengal government has extended till August 31 the ban on flights to Kolkata from six cities, including Delhi and Mumbai, which have a high number of coronavirus cases.

7.50 am: United States President Donald Trump says that India stands second in coronavirus testing, while no other country comes close to the United States, reports PTI. “We have tested close to 65 million people and no country is even close to that number,” he adds. “India would be second at 11 million [tests] and they have 1.5 billion people. We have the number one testing in the world by far and also the highest quality tests.”

7.45 am: Here are the top updates from Monday:

  • India’s coronavirus cases rose to 22,15,074 on Monday with 62,064 new infections. The toll stood at 44,386 after a record 1,007 deaths were reported in 24 hours. However, the Union health ministry said India’s case fatality rate has fallen to 2%. Over 15.3 lakh people in the country have recovered from the infection. The Centre said India’s coronavirus cases remained concentrated in 10 states and they account for 80% of the new infections.
  • Former President Pranab Mukherjee tested positive for the coronavirus. He also underwent a brain surgery later in the day and was put on ventilator support. Karnataka Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa, meanwhile, tested negative for the coronavirus and was discharged from Manipal Hospital in Bengaluru, where he was admitted on August 2.
  • Officials at the Tirumala Tirupati Balaji temple in Andhra Pradesh said 743 employees have tested positive for the coronavirus since its reopening on June 11. Three temple employees have died of the infection.
  • Kerala Minister Kadakampally Surendran said that devotees visiting the Sabarimala shrine will have to carry certificates showing that they are not infected with the coronavirus from November 16.
  • Tamil Nadu’s coronavirus tally crossed 3 lakh. The state reported 5,914 new cases and 114 deaths in a day. Its tally rose to 3,02,815 and the toll reached 5,041.