Coronavirus LIVE updates: Lockdown in Tamil Nadu extended till August 9

Coronavirus live updates: Antony Blinken pledges US support to the WHO's investigation in China into the origins of the coronavirus pandemic.

11:25 PM

Chhattisgarh sees 125 cases, 3 deaths; over 42k tested

Chhattisgarh on Friday reported 125 COVID-19 cases and three deaths, taking the tally of infections to 10,01,906 and the toll to 13,523, a health official said.

 

The number of recoveries reached 9,86,418 after 69 people were discharged from hospitals and 174 completed home isolation during the day, leaving the state with 1,965 active cases, he said.

 

"Raipur district recorded eight new cases, taking its caseload to 1,57,666, including 3,138 deaths. Bastar recorded 15 new cases, while Sukma and Kanker saw nine cases each. With 42,714 samples being examined on Friday, the number of tests in the state went up to 1,13,43,815," he said.

11:08 PM

No COVID-19 death in Gujarat for 12th day; 21 test positive, 29 patients recover

Gujarat added 21 new COVID-19 cases on Friday, taking the tally to 8,24,850, while no fresh death due to the infection was reported in the state, said the Health Department.

 

This was the 12th straight day when no death due to coronavirus was reported in the state and the toll remained unchanged at 10,076. A release by the Health Department said 29 patients were discharged from hospitals during the last 24 hours, pushing the tally of recoveries to 8,14,514. Gujarat's COVID-19 recovery rate is 98.75 per cent, the release said, adding the state now has 260 active cases, of which five patients are on ventilators.

10:23 PM

Resolve COVID-19 grievances within maximum within 3 days: Govt to all depts

The Centre has asked all departments to give high priority to COVID-19 public grievances and resolve them within a maximum of three days, according to an official order.

 

It also reduced to 45 days the maximum time limit to resolve grievances received through the Centralized Public Grievance Redress and Monitoring System (CPGRAMS), which is an online system for people to lodge their grievances from anywhere and anytime on issued related to central ministries, state governments and Union Territories.

 

An analysis of grievance disposals in CPGRAMS reveals that about 87 per cent ministries or departments have disposed of grievances in less than 45 days, the order said issued by the Department of Administrative Reforms and Public Grievances (DARPG). CPGRAMS grievances shall be resolved promptly as soon as they are received and maximum within 45 days, it said.

9:47 PM

Mumbai reports 326 COVID-19 cases, 7 deaths, 366 recoveries

Mumbai reported 326 new coronavirus cases and seven fresh deaths on Friday, taking the tally of infections to 7,35,505 and the toll to 15,808, a civic official said.

 

The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) official said as part of the ongoing data reconciliation exercise with the Maharashtra government figures, 1,393 COVID-19 infections were removed from the cumulative tally of positive cases and the discharge count, while 65 deaths were added to the toll. Significantly, for the 15th day in a row, the daily COVID-19 cases in the city remained below the 500-mark, a period during which fatalities were in the range of five to 14. 

9:13 PM

J-K reports 137 COVID-19 cases, one fatality

Jammu and Kashmir recorded 137 fresh COVID-19 cases on Friday, taking its infection tally to 3,21,344, while the death toll rose to 4,378 as one fatality was reported in a span of 24 hours, officials said.

 

Fifty-eight cases were reported from Jammu division and 79 from Kashmir division of the union territory, they said.

 

The officials said Srinagar recorded the highest number of 26 new cases, followed by Baramulla district with 15. The number of active cases now stands at 1,171 in the union territory, while 3,15,795 patients have recovered from the disease so far, they said. There were 35 confirmed cases of Mucormycosis (black fungus) in the union territory at present, the officials added.

8:33 PM

Germany requires Covid tests for unvaccinated travellers

Germany will require people entering the country who haven't been vaccinated or recently recovered from Covid-19 to show a negative test result starting Sunday. The change approved by the Cabinet on Friday applies to people 12 years old and above. It comes amid increasing concern about infections brought back from summer vacations pushing up Germany's relatively low case rate. School holidays in some German states will end in about a week. (AP)

8:14 PM

Madhya Pradesh records 10 new Covid-19 cases

Madhya Pradesh on Friday reported 10 fresh coronavirus cases, taking the tally to 7,91,806, while no new death due to the infection was reported in the state, an official said. The death toll remained unchanged at 10,513, he added. The overall recovery count in MP stands at 7,81,172, leaving the state with 121 active cases, he said.

7:51 PM

Trajectory of Covid cases registering sustained decline after May: Govt

After showing a resurgence from mid-February and peaking in May, the trajectory of Covid-19 cases in the country is now registering a sustained and considerable decline, the government said Friday. However, Kerala and Maharashtra are still recording high number of cases while certain northeastern states are also showing an upward trend, Minister of State for Health Bharati Pravin Pawar informed the Lok Sabha Friday.

7:29 PM

Manipur reports 874 new coronavirus cases

Manipur reports 874 new coronavirus cases, 1,014 recoveries and 20 deaths in the last 24 hours, according to the state health department

7:17 PM

Lockdown in Tamil Nadu extended till August 9

Coronavirus lockdown in Tamil Nadu extended till August 9, no additional relaxations announced in the order.

6:26 PM

Coronavirus LIVE: Kerala cases slide marginally over yesterday to 20,772

Kerala reports 20,772 new coronavirus cases, 14,651 recoveries and 116 deaths in the last 24 hours. Positivity rate is at 13.61%, according to the state health department

6:17 PM

2,068 new coronavirus cases in Andhra Pradesh

Andhra Pradesh reports 2,068 new coronavirus cases,  2,127 recoveries and 22 deaths in the last 24 hours, according to the state health department

5:59 PM

Coronavirus LIVE: No multilateral protocol on international travel of vaccinated, says govt

No multilateral protocol at present on international travel of Covid vaccinated people: Govt

5:53 PM

Coronavirus LIVE: Current caseload no yardstick to measure Kerala’s response, says Thomas Isaac

Current caseload no yardstick to measure effectiveness of Kerala’s Covid response. Consider these facts: Lowest seroprevalence rate .No excess death, in fact, lower no of deaths compared to pre Covid period. Lowest fatality rate. Zero deaths for want of oxygen or ventilators: Thomas Isaac

5:52 PM

Coronavirus LIVE: Centre contests reports of slow vaccination rate in UP, Bihar

Coronavirus LIVE: Centre contests reports of slow vaccination rate in UP, Bihar. Read full government release here

5:12 PM

Covid: Delta variant may spread as easily as chickenpox, say reports

The Delta variant of the coronavirus may cause more severe illness than all other known versions of the virus and spread as easily as chickenpox, US media reports quoting an internal document from the US health authority said. The document from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) outlines unpublished data that shows fully vaccinated people might spread the Delta variant, first identified in India, at the same rate as unvaccinated people, reports said. Read here

5:00 PM

Virus variant threatens to cool oil demand recovery

Oil prices will trade near $70 per barrel for the rest of the year supported by the global economic recovery and a slower-than-expected return of Iranian supplies, with further gains limited by new coronavirus variants, a Reuters poll showed on Friday. The survey of 38 participants forecast Brent would average $68.76 per barrel, up slightly from June's $67.48 estimate. Brent has averaged about $66.57 so far this year. (Reuters)

3:31 PM

1,558 new cases in Odisha

2:43 PM

580 active cases in Delhi

1:51 PM

All scheduled commercial flights from India will remain suspended till Aug 31

1:48 PM

Combination of Astra-Sputnik vaccines showed no adverse events, says RDIF

1:40 PM

TN CM to launch week-long Covid awareness drive tomorrow

1:28 PM

Puducherry reports 90 new cases

Puducherry logged 90 new cases of the coronavirus in the last 24 hours to take its total to 120,815, PTI reported quoting the health department. A 65-year old woman’s death from the virus took total fatalities to 1,793

1:22 PM

Uber defers return to office

Uber Technologies Inc. is postponing its return-to-office date from September to Oct. 25, and has told employees that it could be further delayed depending on the global coronavirus caseload, Bloomberg reported.

 

12:50 PM

Delta variant may spread as easily as chickenpox: US research

The Delta variant of the coronavirus may cause more severe illness and spread as easily as chickenpox, media reports quoting an internal document from the US health authority said. The document from USA’s Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) outlines unpublished data that shows fully vaccinated people might spread the Delta variant, first identified in India, at the same rate as unvaccinated people, reports said.

12:17 PM

Karnataka may tighten borders: new CM

Karnataka may tighten its borders and take measures for compulsory testing to slow down the coronavirus, said new chief minister Basavaraj Bommai on Friday. "The priority is to stop the spread of the disease," he said in Delhi, according to PTI.

 

11:36 AM

Arunachal reports 335 new cases

Arunachal Pradesh's Covid-19 tally rose to 47,477 on Friday as 335 more people tested positive for the infection, while one fresh fatality pushed the northeastern state''s coronavirus death toll to 225, PTI reported.

11:02 AM

Japan plans to expand state of emergency

Japan plans to expand a state of emergency to areas surrounding Tokyo and extend it to the end of August, in the face of a record virus surge unfolding as it hosts the Olympics, Bloomberg reported.

10:43 AM

India's test positivity rate stays below 5%

India's test positivity rate (cases that test positive for Covid for every 100 tests taken) remains below the 5 per cent mark at 2.43 per cent. More than 85 per cent the districts record less than a 5 per cent test positivity rate.

10:20 AM

Kerala reports 22,064 new cases

Kerala contributed 22,064 cases to India's daily numbers of new infections reported Friday. It was followed by Maharashtra with 7,242 cases and Andhra Pradesh (2,107).