Coronavirus live updates: Amitabh and Abhishek Bachchan test positive for Covid, hospitalised

Four people died of Covid-19 in the state taking its toll to 495.

The Asian financial hub reported 42 new cases on Thursday, of which 34 were locally transmitted, marking the second consecutive day of rising local infections. The total number of cases in the city since late January now stands at 1,366. Seven people have died.

Australia has since March only allowed citizens and permanent residents to return, but Morrison said the number of people permitted to return will now be capped nationally.

Of these 2,76,685 are active cases, 4,95,513 have either been cured, discharged or have migrated and 21, 604 have died due to the virus.

Platforms like Amazon India and Flipkart are seeing 120%-140% growth in their shipments, surpassing January-February numbers, showing the pandemic has accelerated the adoption of online shopping in India. This means on top of the recovery from lows of April, when only essentials were allowed to be sold online resulting in business falling by 80-90%, e-tailers are now clocking higher sales than what they did before the virus outbreak.

A total of 76 new Covid-19 positive cases were reported in Jharkhand taking the total number of cases to 3,268, according to State Health Department.These include 1,035 active cases, 2,210 recovered/discharged and 23 deaths.

The World Health Organization is acknowledging the possibility that COVID-19 might be spread in the air under certain conditions — after more than 200 scientists urged the agency to do so.In an open letter published this week in a journal, two scientists from Australia and the U.S. wrote that studies have shown “beyond any reasonable doubt that viruses are released during exhalation, talking and coughing in microdroplets small enough to remain aloft in the air.”The researchers, along with more than 200 others, appealed for national and international authorities, including WHO, to adopt more stringent protective measures.

Bolivia’s President Jeanine Anez said on Thursday she has tested positive for the novel coronavirus.Anez said in a tweet she was “well” and continuing to work while in isolation. “Together, we will come out of this,” she said.The Bolivian government confirmed that at least seven ministers, including its health minister, had tested positive and were either undergoing treatment or recuperating at home.

Latin America and the Caribbean have become “a hot spot” for the COVID-19 pandemic, with several countries now having one of the highest per capita infection rates and absolute number of cases in the world, U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said Thursday. According to a report, unemployment in the region is expected to rise to 13.5 per cent from 8.1 per cent last year, affecting more than 44 million people, compared to over 18 million in 2019.

“The whole idea is to have indigenous candidates. Indian manufacturers have developed vaccine candidates in record time. We want to make the vaccine available as early as possible. The intent of the letter from DG, ICMR was to tell sites to fast-track it. We have indigenous candidates and we must not miss the bus. We need a vaccine today. If we go into making a vaccine by using conventional methods and bring a vaccine after two years, then it will be of no use. This was the spirit behind the letter,” ICMR scientist Nivedita Gupta said.

Practical exams for thousands of doctors doing Diplomate of National Board (DNB), a post-graduate course, has turned out to be a nightmare for most of them who are on Covid duty, and for the institution conducting the exam, the National Board of Examination (NBE). With states and even individual cities or districts moving in and out of various levels of lockdown, DNB doctors are under severe stress about making it to exam centres located in cities across India. They are also worried that they might be put under quarantine or might test positive close to exam date or that they might catch the infection while traveling or appearing for the exam to places or hospitals that are Covid hotspots.

India and the UAE have allowed thousands of Indians authorised to travel and waiting to return to their work, or families in the emirates to be flown there by airlines of both countries from July 12 to 26. Only “ICA-approved UAE residents (returning to UAE from India)” can travel on the India-UAE sectors of flights by Indian and UAE carriers. Eligible Indians whose final destination is the UAE will be allowed on these flights, and only Indian citizens can fly on UAE-India sectors.

ICMR plans to launch a new pan India serological survey as a follow-up to the one conducted in April across 21 states and final result of which are yet to come. “These studies are subject to peer-review, and currently, ICMR’s pilot survey to know the spread of infection within the community that was done around mid-April is being peer-reviewed and that process is going on. Once that is done, it will be put out in public domain soon,” said Rajesh Bhushan, Officer on Special Duty in health ministry.

The government said there was no community transmission of Covid-19 in India as there was a “localised outbreak” in some geographical areas and underlined that with 80% of active cases reported from 49 districts, there was no case for a wider community spread. Stating that the conditions for community transmission had not been fulfilled, the health ministry said with regard to active cases, 80% of close contacts of positive cases could be traced within 72 hours with the given protocols.

“Today also, our companies are active in the international efforts for development and production of Covid-19 vaccine,” Modi said, while highlighting the efforts being made by firms to develop a vaccine and the critical contribution of the country’s pharmaceutical sector. Modi said the pandemic had shown that the country’s pharma industry is an asset not just for India but for the entire world. He said the sector has played a leading role in reducing the cost of medicines, especially for developing countries.

While people in age groups above 45 continue to be more at risk from Covid-19 in terms of fatalities, as many as 43% deaths have taken place in the relatively younger age bands of 30-44 and 45-59, official data said. As has been the trend, people above 45 years of age — comprising 25% of India’s population — are most at risk from coronavirus infection, accounting for 85% of Covid-19 deaths so far. Within this age group, most deaths (71%) are among those in 45-74 age group, health ministry data showed.