Coronavirus India Updates: Tally Nears 24 Lakh With Close To 67,000 New Cases

• 103 fresh cases take Arunachal Pradesh's COVID-19 tally to 2,430.
• Telangana reports 1,931 new COVID-19 cases; Hyderabad Corporation area sees dip in infections.
• Scientists use artificial intelligence to identify hundreds of COVID-19 drug candidates.
• Drug firm Zydus Cadila launches COVID-19 drug Remdesivir in India.

The head of the Ram temple trust, Mahant Nritya Gopal Das (80), has tested positive for Covid-19, officials said on Thursday.

Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath has taken detailed information on the health condition of Das, a senior government official said here.

The chief minister has spoken to the Mathura district magistrate (DM) as also to Dr Trehan of the Medanta hospital and requested for immediate medical attention to Das at the facility, the official said.

He has also directed the DM to provide all possible support for extending the best possible medical attention. Das had recently shared the dais with Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the groundbreaking ceremony for the construction of a Ram temple in Ayodhya.

Source: PTI

Pune district reported 2,997 new coronavirus cases in the last 24 hours, taking its case count to 1,15,128, a health official said on Wednesday. The death toll in the district reached 2,619 with 67 patients succumbing to the infection.

"Of 2,997 cases, 1,584 are from the Pune Municipal Corporation limits, which has recorded 69,235 patients. However, 1,449 patients were also discharged from the hospitals," the official said.

With 1,024 cases in Pimpri Chinchwad, the Covid-19 tally there rose to 31,643.

Source: PTI

Assam on Wednesday recorded the highest single-day spike in coronavirus infection with 4,593 new cases, taking the total cases to 68,999 while six patients died of Covid-19 during the day, Minister for Health and Family Welfare Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said.

The 4,593 new cases included 632 from Kamrup Metropolitan district, 460 from Kamrup Rural, 335 from Nagaon and 265 from Dibrugarh among others, the minister said.

The state had earlier reported the highest single-day spike of 2,900 cases on August 10.

With six more deaths due to the infection, the total death toll in the state rose to 161, said Sharma in a tweet. Those who died on Wednesday included two from Dibrugarh and one each from Cachar, Karimganj, Dhemaji and Kamrup Metropolitan districts, he said.

The Health Department conducted a record of 1,43,109 tests during the last 24 hours, taking the total number of tests carried out so far to 15,73,800. "4,593 cases detected out of 1,43,109, maximum tests done in a single day with a positivity rate of just 3.20%," Sarma tweeted.

Source: PTI

Global Update

Russia defended the safety of what it said was the world’s first Covid-19 vaccine. In Asia, Hong Kong’s recent outbreak is showing signs of coming under control, while the Philippines said it would begin clinical trials for a Japanese antiviral drug. Some hard-hit U.S. states showed signs of improvement, with Texas and California reporting falling hospitalisations from the virus.

Globally, total cases topped 20.4 million with over 745,000 dead.

Track news and developments around the outbreak in India here.