India's COVID-19 case tally on Friday crossed the 45 lakh mark with a spike of 96,551 new cases and 1,209 deaths reported in the last 24 hours.
The total case tally stands at 45,62,415 including 9,43,480 active cases, 35,42,664 cured/discharged/migrated & 76,271 deaths, as per the latest Ministry of Health data.
Meanwhile, Delhi Metro's Magenta Line and Grey Line resumed operations on Friday after being closed for 173 days due to the COVID-19 pandemic, officials said.
Services started at 7 AM as part of the second stage of the graded reopening of Delhi Metro, which was closed on March 22 to check the spread of the novel coronavirus.
In this stage, trains will operate in two batches of six-hour each from 7 AM to 1 PM and 4-10 PM.
Services on other lines which had reopened under stage one from Monday through Thursday will now also follow the stage two schedule.
The Pune Police has fined as many as 27,989 people between September 2 and September 10 for not wearing face masks amid the ongoing coronavirus pandemic and collected over Rs 1 crore as fine, informed Bachhan Singh, DCP Crime Branch, Pune.
Five more people died due to COVID-19 in Meghalaya, raising the death toll in the northeastern state to 24, a senior official said on Friday. At least 250 people tested positive for the disease since Thursday, which pushed the tally to 3,447, he said.
As many as 174 new coronavirus cases emerged in Gujarat's Ahmedabad district in the last 24 hours, said a release by the state Health Department on Friday evening. With the addition of 174 cases, Ahmedabad's tally of COVID-19 cases reached 33,378.
Chhattisgarh reported 2,438 new coronavirus cases and 25 deaths on Friday, taking the statewide case tally to 58,643 and death toll to 518, a health official said. The day saw discharge of 1,138 patients from hospitals following recovery while 130 patients completed home isolation, taking the total number of recoveries to 27,123.
Odisha's Food Supplies and Consumer Welfare Minister Ranendra Pratap Swain Friday said he has tested positive for COVID-19.
At least 15 doctors on Covid-19 duty at a private hospital in the city were allegedly issued termination notices, and a few others contract closure notices, after they protested a management decision to cancel their quarantine leave. (READ HERE)
The number of COVID-19 cases in Surat district in Gujarat increased by 275 in the last 24 hours to reach 23,886, while three deaths in city limits and two in the rural parts took the toll to 860, an official said on Friday.
The tally of COVID-19 cases in the financial capital of the county increased to 1,65,287 with 2,172 new cases being reported on Friday, said the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC). The death toll in the city reached 8,064 with 44 new fatalities, it said.
Manipur's tally has gone up to 7,579 after 109 people tested positive for coronavirus in the past 24 hours, an official said on Friday. The new cases included 59 from Imphal West district and 12 from Imphal East.
Chandigarh reported three more COVID-19 fatalities on Friday, taking their number to 83, while 305 new cases pushed the infection tally in the Union territory to 7,292. An 83-year-old woman was among the fresh fatalities recorded on the day, a medical bulletin issued here said.
Manipur
New cases: 109
Total cases: 7579
Total recoveries: 6002
Active cases: 1533
Deaths: 44
Jammu and Kashmir
New cases: 1578
Total cases: 50,712
Total recoveries: 34,689
Active cases: 15,169
Deaths: 854
Chandigarh
New cases: 305, 3 deaths
Total cases: 7292
Totol recoveries: 4600
Active cases: 2606
Deaths: 83
COVID-19 LIVE | Union MoS Railways Suresh Angadi tests positive
While acknowledging that there is a shortage of medical oxygen for Covid-19 patients in some states, the Centre on Friday put the onus of ensuring its availability solely on states. The directive came amid reports of acute shortage of oxygen supply in hospitals in several states including the worst-hit Maharashtra where the official tally of cases is nearing 1 million-mark. (READ FULL REPORT HERE)
In an effort to deter the public from thronging railway stations in COVID-19 times, the Bengaluru Railway Division has effected a five-fold hike in the cost of a platform ticket at KSR (Bengaluru City), Bengaluru Cantonment and Yesvantpur railway stations. (READ FULL REPORT HERE)
Twenty-four doctors working in hospitals run by Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation (AMC) have tested coronavirus positive in the last three days,officials said on Friday. At Karai near Gandhinagar, 38 trainee policemen were also found infected, they said. "Of the 24 doctors who tested positive, four are senior doctors or faculty members of affiliated medical colleges. All others are junior doctors," AMC's deputy municipal commissioner O P Machra said.
189 more Maharashtra police personnel tested COVID-19 positive while 1 died, in the last 24 hours. Total number of positive cases in the police force rise to 18,405 including 3,612 active cases, 14,608 recoveries & 185 deaths till date: Maharashtra Police.
In a letter written to the States/UTs, Union Health Secretary has emphasised that availability of adequate and uninterrupted supply of medical oxygen is an important pre-requisite for managing moderate and severe cases of COVID-19: Ministry of Health.
The minister and his wife PK Indira who also turned positive were shifted to the Government Medical College Hospital at Pariyaram on Friday. Their condition is reported to be stable. Four of his office staff have been quarantined. (READ FULL STORY HERE)
Asserting that a court is more of a service than a place, the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Personnel, Public Grievances, Law and Justice in its report said it is time that the court room, regarded as the "last bastion of antiquated working practices", opens its doors to the latest technology. (READ FULL STORY HERE)
Police have arrested a man and launched a search for at least nine others for allegedly manhandling a few doctors at a private hospital in Murbad town of Maharashtra's Thane district over a COVID-19 patient's treatment, an official said on Friday. (READ FULL STORY HERE)
Chahar has got an all-clear not just from the CSK side but also from the BCCI medical team and is ready to hit the ground running, after recovering from COVID-19. (READ FULL STORY HERE)
A symptomatic candidate should be referred to the nearest health centre and given an opportunity to undertake the examination through other means, or the university or educational institution shall arrange for taking the exam at a later date when the student is declared physically fit. (READ FULL STORY HERE)
The total coronavirus cases mounted to 45,62,414, while the recoveries surged to 35,42,663, the data updated at 8 am showed. The COVID-19 case fatality rate has further dropped to 1.67 per cent while the recovery rate was recorded at 77.65 per cent. (READ FULL STORY HERE)
He also said that although there were only a handful of testing laboratories in the state when the outbreak began, their number has now grown to 550. (READ FULL STORY HERE)
While Delhi and Congress-ruled Punjab turned it down, southern states like Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Telangana appear to be sitting on the fence for now. According to TN school education minister K A Sengottaiyan, any decision on reopening shall be taken only after there is some relief from the pandemic. (READ FULL STORY HERE)
The findings of the trial carried out in 39 hospitals across 14 states and Union Territories, showed that plasma did not benefit moderately-ill Covid-19 patients either in terms of reducing mortality or progression. (READ FULL STORY HERE)
The study participant in late-stage testing reported symptoms consistent with transverse myelitis, a rare inflammation of the spinal cord, said company spokesman Matthew Kent. (READ FULL STORY HERE)
Microbiologist from the University of Hong Kong, Yuen Kwok-yung, said the vaccine stimulates the natural infection pathway of respiratory viruses to activate the immune response. (READ FULL STORY HERE)
Services on other lines which had reopened under stage one from Monday through Thursday will now also follow the stage two schedule. Yellow Line and Rapid Metro were the first ones to be reopened on Monday, followed by Blue Line and Pink Line resuming services on Wednesday. (READ FULL STORY HERE)