Top 10 coronavirus updates: West Bengal’s tally crosses 1 lakh; Maharashtra records 11,088 new cases
Here are the biggest Covid-19 developments of the day.
- India on Tuesday recorded 53,601 new cases, taking the overall tally to 22,68,675. The toll rose by 871 to 45,257. More than 1.58 lakh people in India have recovered from the infection.
- West Bengal’s coronavirus tally crossed 1 lakh as the state recorded 2,931 new cases. The state now has 1,01,390 cases in all. Forty-nine more deaths pushed the state’s toll to 2,149. Maharashtra, meanwhile, recorded 11,088 new cases, taking its tally to 5,35,601. The toll rose to 18,306 as 256 deaths were reported.
- Delhi reported eight coronavirus deaths and 1,257 cases. Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said that his government’s effort will be to ensure that there are no coronavirus deaths in the Capital. He added that each citizen’s life is valuable.
- Renowned Urdu poet Rahat Indori died at a hospital in Indore in Madhya Pradesh on Tuesday. He had tested positive for Covid-19 on Sunday.
- Russian President Vladimir Putin said his country has developed the first vaccine against the coronavirus. The president also said that one of his daughters has been given a shot of the vaccine.
- Prime Minister Narendra Modi held a meeting with 10 chief ministers via video conference to discuss the coronavirus situation in the country. He said that West Bengal, Bihar, Gujarat, Uttar Pradesh and Telangana have a high coronavirus positivity rate and need to expand testing facilities.
- Serum Institute of India Chief Executive Officer Adar Poonawalla said India should have a vaccine against the novel coronavirus by the end of 2020. He added 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.
- Puducherry Chief Minister V Narayanasamy said two ministers in his Cabinet – M Kandasamy and R Kamalakannan – have tested positive for Covid-19. He added that the ministers came in contact with government officials and the public, and urged them to get tested. Meanwhile, Former President Pranab Mukherjee, who had also contracted the infection, continued to be on ventilator support. The former president had undergone a brain surgery on Monday.
- India’s industrial output contracted 16.6% in June this year compared to the same month in 2019, government data released on Tuesday showed. The output also contracted 35.9% in the April-June 2020 quarter, year-on-year. The decline in production was due to the lockdown imposed to limit the spread of the coronavirus.
- New Zealand recorded four new cases after more than 100 days. Globally, coronavirus has infected more than 2 crore people, according to the Johns Hopkins University. The worldwide toll rose to 7,37,520. More than 1.23 crore people have recovered.