Bottle of sanitizing spray. (Photographer: Milan Jaros/Bloomberg)
5 years ago
Oct 04, 2020
India added 75,829 fresh cases in the last 24 hours, taking the total tally to 65,49,373 in Asia's third-largest economy, according to the Health Ministry's update as of 8 a.m. on Oct. 4. This includes 1,01,782 deaths and 55,09,966 patients who have recovered.
The Delhi Police used drones for effective surveillance of containment zones to combat the threat of coronavirus, a police official said.
"During the lockdown period, we hired drones from Aerodyne India. It helped the police in fighting the pandemic," Deputy Commissioner of Police (southeast) Rajendra Prasad Meena said. Drones helped policemen to monitor the situation from a safe distance, thereby ensuring some distancing, he said.
The drones carried both day and night day surveillance and successfully collected data in the form of images and videos, Meena said.
"The facility was used in the areas of all police stations of southeast district, which proved to be effective in surveillance of the Covid situation and helped us to take quick action to cut the risk of the spread of the disease", he said.
For the thirteenth day in an "unbroken string", India has maintained its steady trend of clocking less than 10 lakh active cases of Covid-19, the Union Health Ministry said on Sunday.
It also said an average of 11.5 lakh tests for detection of coronavirus infection were done on a daily basis during the past 10 days.
From merely one in January 2020, India's total tests for detection of Covid-19 have crossed 7.89 crore so far. There has been a commensurate dip in the Covid-19 positivity rate, it said.
Biju Janata Dal MLA Pradeep Maharathy died at a private hospital in Bhubaneswar in the early hours of Sunday, family sources said. He was 65.
The seven-time MLA from Pipili in Puri district is survived by wife Prativa, son Rudra Pratap and daughter Pallavi.
Maharathy, who had tested positive for Covid-19 on Sept. 14, was discharged from the hospital after recovery but was admitted again as his condition became critical. He was on ventilator support since Friday.
All schools in the national capital will remain closed till Oct. 31 in view of the Covid-19 pandemic, Delhi government officials said on Sunday.
The Delhi government had earlier extended the school closure till Oct. 5, though the centre had permitted calling students of classes 9 to 12 to schools on voluntary basis from Sept. 21.
Universities and schools across the country have been closed since March 16 when the central government announced a countrywide classroom shutdown as part of measures to contain the spread of the novel coronavirus.
According to the latest unlock guidelines, schools, colleges and other educational institutions can reopen outside containment zones after Oct. 15. However, the decision on whether to reopen educational institutions has been left with states and union territories.
Forty-eight people tested positive for Covid-19 in Ladakh, taking the virus caseload in the region to 4,477, officials said on Sunday.
With 41 more patients cured of the disease, the total number of active cases in Ladakh stands at 1,101, including 769 in Leh and 332 in Kargil district, the officials said.
Ladakh had reported 61 Covid-related deaths, while 3,315 patients have recovered till Saturday evening. Forty new cases were detected in Leh and eight more in Kargil during the past 24 hours, the officials said.
They said 37 patients were discharged after successful treatment in Leh and four others in Kargil on Saturday.
