8.56 pm: Maharashtra registers its biggest-single day rise of 17,433 new cases, taking the state’s tally to 8,25,739, PTI reports. The toll rises to 25,195 with 292 more fatalities recorded in 24 hours.

8.51 pm: Gujarat records 1,305 new cases and 12 deaths on Wednesday, taking the state’s overall count of coronavirus infections to 88,050, ANI reports. The toll stands at 3,048.

8.48 pm: West Bengal records 2,976 new coronavirus cases on Wednesday, taking the state’s tally of infections to 1,68,697, ANI reports. The toll from the disease stands at 3,339.

7.01 pm: Kerala records 1,547 new Covid-19 cases, taking the infection count in the state to 78,071, PTI reports. The toll rises to 305, with seven more deaths reported in 24 hours.

6.47 pm: The tally of coronavirus cases in Andaman and Nicobar Islands rises to 3,160, after 28 more people tested positive on Wednesday, PTI reports.

6.44 pm: Delhi Metro Yellow Line from Samaypur Badli to Huda City Centre will be operational from September 7, says Delhi Metro Rail Corporation chief Mangu Singh, according to PTI. Metro stations in Covid-19 containment zones, however, will continue to remain closed, he adds.

6.41 pm: Delhi registers 2,509 new coronavirus cases on Tuesday, the highest in nearly two months, pushing the city’s tally to 1,79,569, PTI reports. The toll rises to 4,481, with 19 more fatalities recorded in 24 hours.

6.36 pm: Andhra Pradesh records 10,392 new cases and 72 deaths on Wednesday, pushing the state’s overall count of coronavirus infections to 4,55,531 and the toll to 4,125, ANI reports.

6.35 pm: Only selected gates at the metro stations will be open for entry, Mangu adds, A separate gate will be marked for exiting the station and only cashless transactions of tickets will be allowed.

6.34 pm: Delhi Metro Rail Corporation chief Mangu Singh says that initially, only one line of the metro will function between time slots of 7am to 11am, and 4pm to 8pm from September 7, ANI reports. Normal operations will resume from September 12.

6.25 pm: Tamil Nadu registers 5,990 new cases, 5,981 recoveries and 98 deaths on Wednesday, ANI reports. With this, the state’s tally of infections rises to 4,39,959 and the toll stands at 7,516.

5.05 pm: The Union Health Ministry says that India has been reporting one of the lowest Covid-19 fatality rates in the world with the figure further declining to 1.76% on Wednesday against a global average of 3.3%. It also says that Covid-19 deaths per million population in India is one of the lowest in the world.

4.57 pm: The Union health ministry issues the standard operative procedure to be followed while conducting examinations, amid the coronavirus crisis, ANI reports. Under the guidelines, personal protection gear such as masks and sanitizers are to be made available by relevant authorities conducting the tests.

4.55 pm: The Maldives has tightened entry requirements for tourists after a rise in coronavirus infections at more than a dozen resorts, AFP reports. Under the new guidelines, all tourists will be required to present a negative Covid-19 test result on arrival.

4.53 pm: Greece reports the first coronavirus infection in its largest migrant camp of Moria on the island of Lesbos, where nearly 13,000 asylum seekers live, AFP reports.

4.51 pm: Australia fell into its deepest economic slump on record last quarter as coronavirus curbs paralysed business activity, while fresh outbreaks threaten to upend any immediate recovery, Reuters reports. Data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics on Wednesday shows the country’s $2 trillion ($1.47 trillion) economy shrank 7% in the three months to end-June from a 0.3% decline in the March quarter.

4.43 pm: The Pune Municipal Corporation Commissioner Vikram Kumar has ordered an inquiry into the death of a journalist, who died of the coronavirus on Wednesday at a state-run Covid care facility in Maharashtra, PTI reports. This came after the family of the journalist alleged he died because an ambulance did not reach him on time. They also alleged there was gross mismanagement at the 800-bed facility, saying it was managed by trainee doctors.

4.38 pm: The Calcutta High Court has decided to increase judicial activities from September 8 and has also directed the district courts to take appropriate measures to take up more pending cases, Registrar General Rai Chattopadhyay says, according to The Hindu.

4.30 pm: Delhi Lieutenant Governor Anil Baijal has directed officers to augment the city’s testing capacity by “testing on demand”, testing at the national Capital’s border points and at all major construction sites to check the spread of Covid-19, PTI reports, quoting unidentified officials.

4.27 pm: The Northern Railway says it will provide the Delhi government 503 isolation coaches, which is equivalent to 8,048 beds as Covid Care Centers at nine different stations of the city, ANI reports.

4.25 pm: The All India Institute of Medical Sciences in Delhi temporarily suspends routine Outpatient Department admissions for two weeks, in order to “optimise usage of available inpatient beds for hospitalisation of seriously ill emergency/ semi-emergency patients”, ANI reports.

3.33 pm: Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Edappadi Palaniswami says inter-district government and private bus services will resume from September 7, reports ANI. Train service will also resume across the state on the same day. The state government has advised all passengers to follow coronavirus guidelines.

3.28 pm: The number of active coronavirus cases in Delhi increased by around 50% in a month, with the city witnessing a sharp uptick in new cases, PTI reports, citing government data. There were 10,596 active cases on August 1. The number increased to 15,870 on Tuesday (September 1), shows an analysis.

1.48 pm: Uttarakhand Chief Minister Trivendra Singh Rawat has gone into self-quarantine after his officer on special duty tested positive, PTI reports. A meeting of the state cabinet scheduled for Wednesday has been postponed as a result. Rawat had earlier gone into quarantine on August 25 after one of his advisors tested positive. He came out of quarantine on August 30.

1.39 pm: West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has penned a song praising the police force and its personnel for their services during the coronavirus pandemic, PTI reports. The song, “We salute you, Police Day, we salute you...” was composed by Banerjee with the September 1 celebration of Police Day in mind. However, the celebration has been postponed to September 8.

1.31 pm: Journalist Pandurang Raikar, who tested positive, has died, ANI reports. The family has alleged lack of care at the government Covid-19 centre. “There’s chaos, doctors aren’t trained,” his sister says. “They made centres worth crores but couldn’t arrange cardiac ambulance to shift him, that’s why he died.”

1.23 pm: Restaurants and bars will open in Chandigarh as the Union Territory’s administration grants permission, ANI reports. “We welcome the decision of reopening bars after 5 months,” Chandigarh Hospitality Association President Ankit Gupta says. “We are also getting some employees back.”

12.50 pm: Rajasthan BJP leader Rajendra Rathore tests positive for the coronavirus.

12.47 pm: Puducherry records 397 new cases of coronavirus, pushing the overall tally in the Union Territory to 15,157, according to PTI.

12.45 pm: Odisha reports 3,219 new coronavirus cases, taking the state’s tally to 1,09,780, according to PTI. The toll rose to 514 with 11 more casualties.

11.44 am: The health ministry says patients within the age group of 18-44 contribute to 54% of total coronavirus cases. Data also shows that 51% deaths are among senior citizens.

11.38 am: Goa Chief Minister Pramod Sawant says that he has tested positive for the coronavirus and that he is in home isolation. “I wish to inform all that I have been detected Covid-19 positive,” he tweets. “I am asymptomatic and hence have opted for home isolation. I shall continue to discharge my duties working from home. Those who have come in my close contact are advised to take the necessary precautions.”

10.32 am: 54% of Covid-19 patients in India are in the 18 to 44 years age group, but 51% deaths are in the 60 years and above age group, says Union health ministry.

10.26 am: The Centre should focus on preventing Covid-19 deaths and not on containing the infection, says a joint statement issued by the Indian Public Health Association, the Indian Association of Preventive and Social Medicine and the Indian Association of Epidemiologists.

Read more here:

Coronavirus: Avoid false hope that vaccine is imminent, discontinue lockdown, experts tell Centre

10.22 am: A special Air India flight from Thailand left for New Delhi on Tuesday, ferrying 153 stranded Indians under the Vande Bharat Mission, reported Hindustan Times.

10.13 am: Restaurants in West Bengal on Tuesday opened bars after five months, reported Hindustan Times.

10.10 am: Men have accounted for 69% of all Covid-19 casualties, according to Union health ministry data accessed by Hindustan Times. The data offers a granular perspective on how the Covid-19 outbreak is affecting people across age and gender in India. Over 90% of those who died were over 40 years old, the information revealed.

9.38 am: India’s coronavirus case count reaches 37,69,523 on Wednesday after 78,357 new cases registered in 24 hours. The toll rises by 1,045 to 66,333. There are 8,01,282 active cases, and more than 29 lakh patients have recovered.

9.30 am: India on Tuesday tested 10,12,367 samples, says the Indian Council of Medical Research.

7.29 am: US panel says health workers, first responders should be first to get vaccines.

7.27 am: New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio says public schools will start classes on September 21, according to Reuters.

7.25 am: Australia’s Victoria state reports 90 new cases and six additional deaths, reports Reuters.

7.22 am: Australia’s economy shrinks 7% in the second quarter, reports AFP. This is the first time since 1997 that the country has entered recession.

7.16 am: Every fifth person in Chennai may have been infected by the novel coronavirus, finds a sero survey conducted by the Greater Chennai Corporation, reports News18. “Overall, one-fifth of the population in Chennai was exposed to SARS-CoV-2 [the virus, severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2] infection,” says the corporation.

The corporation tested 12,405 individuals of which 2,673 people or 21.5% were found to have developed IgG antibodies to the virus. All 15 zones of the city were covered.

7.10 am: The United States has decided to go alone and not work with an international cooperative effort to develop and distribute a vaccine, reports The Washington Post. The decision is guided by Donald Trump’s reservation about the World Health Organization.

“The United States will continue to engage our international partners to ensure we defeat this virus, but we will not be constrained by multilateral organisations influenced by the corrupt World Health Organization and China,” says Judd Deere, a spokesman for the White House.

More than 150 countries are setting up the Covid-19 Vaccines Global Access Facility, or COVAX.

7.05 am: Here are the top updates from Tuesday

  • 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.
  • 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.” 
  • 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.