1. India’s coronavirus tally rose to 67,57,131 with 72,048 new cases on Wednesday. The country’s toll jumped to 1,04,555 after 986 additional deaths in the last 24 hours. India’s recovery and fatality rates are 85.02% and 1.55%, respectively.
  2. Kerala recorded more than 10,000 new coronavirus cases today, the highest single-day count for the state so far. Four districts reported over 1,000 cases – Kozhikode (1,576), Malappuram (1,350), Ernakulam (1,201) and Thiruvananthapuram (1,182). Meanwhile, five other districts recorded more than 500 cases. The total number of infections rose to 2,51,405. The toll increased to 906 with 22 more deaths. State Power Minister MM Mani also tested positive for the infection.
  3. Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal announced that all the weekly markets in the Capital will now be allowed to operate. So far, only two markets per zone were allowed to function. A health bulletin released by the Delhi government showed that the coronavirus positivity rate in the city has fallen below 5%. The rate stood at 4.9%, which is the lowest in more than 100 days.
  4. The number of people recovered has exceeded those with active infection by more than 48 lakh, said the Union Health Ministry. “The national recovery rate has jumped past 85% today with the continuous streak of high number of recovered cases being reported in the past few weeks,” said the ministry in a statement. “The recovered cases have exceeded the new confirmed again during the past 24 hours.”  
  5.   The Jharkhand government has issued a set of guidelines to allow religious places of worship to reopen. A maximum of 50 persons will be allowed inside any such place. Entry must be denied to individuals who do not wear masks. Touching of statues or idols has been prohibited and offering prasad has also been disallowed.
  6. A tweet by United States President Donald Trump was once again on Tuesday red-flagged as he downplayed the seriousness of the coronavirus and compared it with the flu. Twitter put a warning on the tweet, saying it included potentially misleading information.  
  7. The World Bank praised the efforts to check the spread of the coronavirus in Mumbai’s Dharavi area, which is one of the world’s largest slums. It said that the success stemmed from a combination of community involvement, customised solutions and perseverance.  
  8.   Maharashtra reported 14,578 new infections on Wednesday. There are 2,44,527 active cases in the state, 11,96,441 recoveries, and the toll stands at 39,072. Karnataka reported 10,947 new cases and 113 deaths, taking its total number of cases to 6,68,652, and toll to 9,574.
  9. US Democratic Party presidential candidate Joe Biden said he is against participating in his second debate with Donald Trump if the president still suffers from the coronavirus. The first of the three presidential debates between Biden and Trump was held on September 29. The second debate is scheduled for October 15 in Miami and the final one on October 22 in Nashville, Tennessee.  
  10. The global coronavirus count crossed 3.58 crore and the toll rose to 10,50,974, according to Johns Hopkins University. The number of recoveries crossed 2.50 crore.