Top 10 coronavirus updates: Kerala CM calls all-party meeting as cases cross 1.79 lakh
A look at the biggest developments of the day.
- The number of coronavirus cases in India rose to to 60,74,702 on Monday after the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare reported 82,170 fresh infections in the last 24 hours. The country’s toll went up by 1,039 to 95,542. More than 50 lakh people have recovered so far. India’s recovery rate rose to 82.6%, while the death rate stood at 1.6%.
- Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan will hold an all-party meeting on Tuesday amid an increase in the number of coronavirus cases in the state. Kerala reported 4,538 new cases on Monday, taking its tally to 1,79,922. The state’s toll rose by 20 to 697. Kerala Health Minister KK Shailaja had on Sunday said that the state was witnessing a second wave of infections and warned of another lockdown.
- Union Minister of Health and Family Welfare Harsh Vardhan launched an online portal for all information related to the development of a potential vaccine against Covid-19 in the country. The “Vaccine Portal” is available on the Indian Council of Medical Research website. The health minister also launched the “National Clinical Registry”, which he said will be a portal for collecting “quality real-time clinical data” of coronavirus patients.
- Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International Airport will resume flight operations at the T2 terminal from October 1. The terminal was closed in view of the coronavirus crisis. The airport will handle a total of 96 flights – 48 departures and 48 arrivals – on a daily basis from October 1 and the number will go up to 180 by end of October, the Delhi International Airport Limited said.
- The Prime Minister’s Citizen Assistance and Relief in Emergency Situations, or PM CARES Fund, has received Rs 204.75 crore from the salaries of employees in 15 government banks and institutions, including the Reserve Bank of India, records accessed under the Right to Information Act showed. The fund was set up in March to deal with the coronavirus crisis.
- The Union Public Service Commission told the Supreme Court that it would be impossible to postpone the civil services preliminary exam scheduled for October 4. Twenty aspirants have urged the court to defer the civil services exam for two to three months due to the coronavirus pandemic.
- The Sabarimala Temple will reopen for devotees with precautions in November, including a virtual queue system. The devotees also have to carry a certificate showing that they are not infected. They will be tested on arrival again.
- The Maharashtra government agreed to allow restaurants to provide dine-in service from the first week of October. Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray’s office had tweeted that the guidelines have been made but are yet to be finalised.
- Mexico’s Assistant Health Secretary Hugo López-Gatell said that conclusive data on the country’s coronavirus toll will not be available for a couple of years. “When will the final statistics on deaths from Covid-19 be ready? Certainly, a couple of years after the first year of the pandemic,” López-Gatell said.
- Globally, the coronavirus has infected more than 3.31 crore people and killed 9,98,074, according to Johns Hopkins University. The number of recoveries has crossed 2.29 crore.