Coronavirus LATEST Updates: The AIIMS Ethics Committee on Saturday gave its nod for a human clinical trial of the indigenously developed COVID-19 vaccine candidate Covaxin following which the premier hospital is likely to begin the exercise by enrolling healthy volunteers from Monday.

Maharashtra’s COVID-19 tally crossed the 3 lakh-mark and reached 3,00,937 on Saturday with the addition of 8,348 new cases, state health department said.

The Assam government has issued order allowing some relaxations in lockdown restrictions in Kamrup district, under which Guwahati falls, said reports. According to the new orders, which shall remain in effect from 7 pm on 19 July till 7 pm on 2 August, shops and businesses can operate on alternate days between 7 am to 5 pm with 50 percent strength.

A new single-day high of 3,963 new COVID-19 cases pushed the overall tally in Andhra Pradesh to 44,609 on Saturday while 52 patients died, the highest in a day so far.

Even as Mumbai’s COVID-19 cases is nearing the one lakh-mark, the recovery rate of the country’s financial capital is nearly 70 percent.

Kerala health minsiter KK Shailaja confirmed on Saturday that are 84 COVID-19 clusters in the state and more than 50 percent of it was due to local transmission.

The Congress General Secretary on Saturday slammed the Uttar Pradesh government as the COVID-19 cases were rapidly increasing in the state.

A complete lockdown has been imposed in Narasaraopet town of Guntur district in Andhra Pradesh from Friday onwards, said MLA Gopireddy Srinivas Reddy.

India registered a total of 6,53,751 recoveries so far, according to the recent data released by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare on Saturday. This takes the COVID-19 recovery rate to 62.93 percent.

India’s tally of coronavirus cases crossed 10.38 lakh on Saturday with 34,884 new patients testing positive, while the toll climbed to 26,273.

India’s COVID-19 cases crossed one million to stand at 10,03,832 on Friday, after nearly 35,000 cases were registered in a day.

West Bengal recorded 1,894 COVID-19 infections in a day, taking the overall count to 38,011 as on Friday. According to data provided by the government, there are 14,709 active cases.

India’s tally of coronavirus cases crossed 10 lakh on Friday with 34,956 new patients testing positive, a new high in daily cases, on Friday while the toll rose to 25,602 with 687 casualties in 24 hours. Friday was the second consecutive day when the country reported over 3o,000 cases.

The Union health ministry said that the total count of cases stands at 10,03,832, including 3,42,473 active cases and 6,35,757 cured/discharged/migrated patients. The recovery rate stands at 63.33 percent.

Community spread of COVID-19 in Thiruvananthapuram, says Kerala CM

Kerala chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Friday said that there is a community spreadof COVID-19 in some places in coastal areas of Thiruvananthapuram, where a large number of cases have been reported. He said that a total lockdown will be implemented in the coastal areas from Saturday.

“The situation in some places in the coastal areas of Thiruvananthapuram district is serious as COVID-19 is spreading at a very fast rate. Large number of cases in these areas are an indication of the infection spread. We can say there is a community spread in these places. The government is taking steps to coordinate all the efforts to face this serious situation,” Vijayan said at a press conference.

Vijayan added that community spread has occurred in two places in the coastal areas of Thiruvananthapuram district. Poonthura, Pulluvilla and its nearby places have seen a rapid increase in the number of contact cases, the chief minister said.

“We are moving to the next stage. There will be more restrictions in the capital district, where maximum number of cases have been reported. Of the 246 positive cases in the district today, only two came from abroad. 237 cases were due to contact. Four healthcare workers were also infected and the source of three cases is unknown. This is an unusual situation,” Vijayan said.

Kerala reported 791 new COVID-19 cases, 133 recoveries and one death on Friday.

Karnataka govt says lockdown won’t be extended in Bengaluru

Karnataka minister R Ashoka on Friday said that the COVID-19 lockdown will not be extended further in Bengaluru.

“We have taken expert opinion, and the lockdown will not be extended. It will end on 22 July,” the minister said.

Earlier on Friday, Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) mayor M Goutham Kumar called for an extension of lockdown in the city for one more week due to rise in the COVID-19 cases.

“It will be better if we get more time to tackle COVID-19 cases. We wish for the extension of lockdown for one more week. We have given the proposal to the government,” said Kumar.

Lockdown had been imposed in the city for seven days with effect from 8 pm on 14 July till 5 am on 22 July to curb the further spread of COVID-19.

State-wise cases and deaths today

Maharashtra reported 8,308 new COVID-19 cases and 258 deaths on Friday. The total number of positive cases has risen to 2,92,589 including 1,60,357 recovered cases, 1,20,480 active cases and 11,452 deaths.

Tamil Nadu, which is the second worst-affected state in the country, reported 4,538 new cases and 79 deaths in the last 24 hours. The total number of cases in the state has risen to 1,60,907 including 47,782 active cases, 1,10,807 discharged cases and 2,315 deaths.

National Capital Delhi reported 1,462 new COVID-19 cases taking the total count to 1,20,107. The toll has risen to 3,571 after 26 deaths were reported today.

There are 17,235 active cases in Delhi and 99,301 patients have recovered till date.

A total of 3,693 new COVID-19 cases were reported in Karnataka on Friday, taking the total number of cases to 55,115 cases including 20,757 recoveries and 1,147 deaths. The state reported 115 deaths due to the virus.

Gujarat’s COVID-19 count has risen to 45,481 including 32,103 discharged patients and 2,089 deaths. Meanwhile, Puducherry reported 91 new COVID-19 cases and three deaths in the last 24 hours. The total number of cases has risen to 1,832 including 1,014 recoveries and 25 deaths.

Andhra Pradesh reported 2,602 new COVID-19 cases in the last 24 hours taking the total number of cases to 40,646 including 20,298 and 534 deaths.

Uttarakhand reported 120 new COVID-19 positive cases today taking the total number of cases to 4,102. Himachal Pradesh reported 18 new COVID-19 cases today taking the total count of cases to 1,402 including 383 active cases, 995 recoveries and nine deaths.

With 25 new cases, the total number of cases has risen to 660 in Chandigarh. There are 169 active cases and 480 patients have been cured to date.

India now has India the third-highest total cases after the United States and Brazil. And according to an estimate by researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, by the end of next year, India will be the worst-hit country in the world.

The Health Ministry, however, said that actual caseload of COVID-19 in the country is 3,42,756. It said only 1.94 percent of the cases are in ICUs, 0.35 percent cases are on ventilators and 2.81 percent cases are on oxygen beds.

“The actual caseload of COVID-19 cases in the country is only 3,42,756, as on date. More than 6.35 lakhs (63.33 percent) of the total cases have recovered. India, being the second-most populous country in the world with 1.35 billion people, has 727.4 cases per million. On the global scale, cases/million population in India are four to eight times less than some European countries,” the ministry said in a release.

The ministry said that the case fatality rate at 18.6 deaths/million is one of the lowest in the world.

US military medics deployed in California, Texas as virus surges

Teams of military medics were deployed in Texas and California to help hospitals deluged by coronavirus patients as Miami area authorities began stepping up enforcement Friday of a mask requirement — echoing efforts in many parts of the world to contain surging infections, AP reported.

In California, military doctors, nurses and other health care specialists were being deployed to eight hospitals facing staffing shortages amid a record-breaking case numbers. In Houston, an 86-person Army medical team worked to take over a wing of United Memorial Medical Center.

Several states have been reporting record numbers this week, contributing to a surge in the national death rate. The seven-day rolling average for daily new deaths has risen 34 percent from two weeks ago, while the case count in that period shot up 43 percent.

With inputs from agencies