Coronavirus live updates: Assam eases curbs; weekend lockdowns to stay

Total number of cases now at 55482 including 14103 active cases, 37917 discharged cases and 821 deaths, reports ANI quoting state health department

Former Karnataka chief minister Siddaramaiah, who is undergoing treatment for Covid-19 infection at a private hospital here has tested negative and will be discharged tomorrow, his office said on Wednesday. The Leader of Opposition in the state assembly has "completely recovered", a statement said.

There are 6,43,948 active cases, 1,639,599 have recovered; death toll at 46,09

Goa health minister Vishwajit Rane has said the state topped in the country in terms of the number of Covid-19 tests conducted per million people. Till Tuesday evening, 1,53,792 tests were conducted in Goa. So far, 9,444 Covid-19 cases have been reported in the coastal state, as per official figures.

Total number of cases mounts to 84,544 of which 22,596 are active cases. 1,920 discharged & 22,972 samples tested today.

Brazil's number of cases of the novel coronavirus disease (Covid-19) has increased by more than 52,000 over the past 24 hours - up from some 22,000 the day before, with over 1,200 deaths, the country's health ministry said in a statement.

The United States has made an agreement with the pharmaceutical company Moderna to deliver 100 million doses of their novel coronavirus vaccine once it becomes available, said President Donald Trump on Tuesday.

Union Minister of Micro Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME) Nitin Gadkari on Tuesday said that he will write to Commerce Ministry and Prime Minister Narendra Modi regarding the export of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) kits, facial masks and sanitisers."Two months ago, the government took a decision to import PPE kits from China," Gadkar said in a statement."Today, our production is surplus and we are in a full position to export it. I am writing to Commerce Ministry and Prime Minister Modi for permission to export PPE kits, masks and sanitisers," he added.

Mexico aims to conduct late-stage clinical trials for Covid-19 vaccines in development by US and Chinese companies, two of which might base some of their vaccine production in the country, the foreign ministry said on Tuesday.Mexico has signed memorandums of understanding with Johnson & Johnson, along with Chinese companies CanSino Biologics Inc and Walvax Biotechnology Co Ltd , Foreign Minister Marcelo Ebrard said at a news conference.

When Vladimir Putin announced Tuesday that Russia had approved a coronavirus vaccine — with no evidence from large-scale clinical trials — vaccine experts were worried.“I think it’s really scary. It’s really risky,” said Daniel Salmon, the director of the Institute for Vaccine Safety at Johns Hopkins University.Salmon and other experts said that Russia is taking a dangerous step by jumping ahead of so-called Phase 3 trials, which can determine that the vaccine works better than a placebo and doesn’t cause harm to some people who get it.

Keeping crime in check has been a risky business since Covid-19 hit. And now, with an increasing number of police personnel and prison staff testing positive, states are racing against fast-growing coronavirus numbers to come up with backup plans and keep crime response systems running.