Today is the 178th day since India implemented a nationwide lockdown, to help curb the novel coronavirus pandemic. So far, India has recorded 50,20,359 confirmed COVID-19 cases, including 82,066 deaths. Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu have reported the highest number of cases. However, infections are rising rapidly in states like Karnataka, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal. Yet, India’s recovery rate continues to rise and now stands at 78.53 percent.
'Unlock 4.0' is underway. Globally, there have been over 2.97 crore confirmed cases of COVID-19. More than 9.38 lakh people have died so far. The COVID-19 case fatality rate due to the coronavirus infection was recorded at 1.63 percent.
Highlights of Covid:
* Maharashtra public health minister Rajesh Tope on Wednesday said the spurt in COVID-19 cases was due to the way unlocking process was undertaken and also people not following stipulated norms. Speaking to reporters, Tope said, The way we have undertaken unlocking and people not following rules have caused the sudden rise in COVID-19 cases."
* Yesterday Union Minister Nitin Gadkari tested positive and isolated himself.
* Odisha registered its highest single-day spike in COVID-19 cases on Wednesday as 4,270 more people tested positive for the infection, a health department official said. The new cases pushed the state's coronavirus tally to 1,62,920, he said
* Surat reported 281 new coronavirus cases on Wednesday, the highest in Gujarat, which took the district's COVID-19 tally to 25,281, the state health department said. With five fatalities, the death toll in the district rose to 884, it said. Recoveries outnumbered new cases during the day.
* In the past 24 hours, Agra reported 110 fresh cases. The total now is 4,377 Covid-19 cases. So far 3,448 have recovered, says District Magistrate P. N.Singh. The number of active cases is 813.
* S Raut said," My mother & my brother are infected with COVID. Many people in Maharashtra are recovering also. Today, the situation in Dharavi is under control. WHO has appreciated efforts of BMC. I want to state these facts as some members here were criticising Maharashtra govt yesterday."
* The BMC has sought help from corporators to conduct ‘My Family, My Responsibility’ campaign in Mumbai as part of the state government’s outreach campaign to check the health status of over 40 lakh households in Mumbai to contain the spread of Covid-19. The exercise was rolled out on September 14, and the civic body has asked corporators to provide volunteers to work with its health team.
* Globally, nearly 30 million people have been infected with as many as 939,427 fatalities. The United States continued to the worst affected followed by India and Brazil. India, however, remained on top of the recoveries chart. Robert Redfield, director of the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in the United States, has said face masks offered much better protection against the infection than a vaccines would.