Top 10 Covid-19 updates: China’s Wuhan reopens schools for first time in seven months
A look at the biggest developments of the day.
- India’s coronavirus case count reached 36,91,166 on Tuesday after 69,921 new cases were registered in 24 hours. The toll rose by 819 to 65,288. There are 7,85,996 active cases, and 28,39,882 patients have recovered. India now has the world’s third-highest casualties, surpassing Mexico (64,414 deaths).
- A joint task force of public health experts in India has submitted an action plan to the Centre to combat the escalating coronavirus crisis, in which it has suggested that lockdowns be discontinued and only cluster restrictions be imposed. The experts also cautioned against the “false hope” of a vaccine being launched anytime soon and called for increased expenditure on health infrastructure.
- Maharashtra’s tally of coronavirus cases rose to 8,08,306, after 15,765 new infections were reported in 24 hours. The toll rose by 320 to 24,903. Andhra Pradesh, meanwhile, recorded over 10,000 cases for the seventh consecutive day, with 10,368 new infections pushing the state’s tally to to 3,39,876. The toll from the disease went up by 84 to 40,533. In Tamil Nadu, cases went up by 5,928 to 4,33,969. The toll stood at 7,418.
- The central Chinese city of Wuhan, where the coronavirus first emerged last year, opened schools and kindergartens for the first time in seven months. Nearly 1.4 million (14 lakh) students resumed classes at some 2,800 kindergartens, primary and middle schools across the city.
- The Joint Entrance Examinations for admission to the Indian Institutes of Technology began with safety protocols in place, despite protests by Opposition parties and some students. While JEE is being held from Tuesday, the National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test will take place on September 13.
- Former President Pranab Mukherjee’s funeral took place with full state honours and proper safety measures in Delhi. A gun carriage was not used to carry the former president’s body because of coronavirus-related protocols. Mukherjee died on Monday. He had been in a critical condition since a brain surgery on August 10 and had also tested positive for the coronavirus.
- Five benches of the Delhi High Court began physical hearings, on a rotational basis, while the rest will continue to take up matters through video conferencing. The High Court will not completely function till September 30. Meanwhile, Delhi Health Minister Satyendar Jain said that the third sero-survey in the Capital will begin on Tuesday. “This time, it [the survey] is being done on a ward-wise basis,” he said. “The sample size is 17,000. Sampling will be complete within a week and it will take 7-10 days after that to process it.”
- Former Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi, who tested positive for the coronavirus last week, was administered plasma therapy after his condition deteriorated on Monday night. The veteran Congress leader is in a stable condition now.
- The World Health Organization said that India led the rise in global coronavirus cases last week, reporting nearly 5 lakh of the 18 lakh new worldwide infections. The global health body added that India’s cases pushed the global tally up by 1%.
- Globally, the coronavirus has infected more than 2.54 crore people and killed over 8.50 lakh, according to the Johns Hopkins University’s tracker. Over 1.68 crore people across the world have recovered from the infection.