Coronavirus Updates: The Jammu and Kashmir administration issued guidelines for re-opening the tourism sector in a phased manner from 14 July. According to the guidelines, only air travelers with confirmed hotel booking and return tickets will be allowed. Tourists will have to compulsorily undergo RTPCR test for COVID-19 upon arrival, stated the guidelines.
Maharashtra's COVID-19 cases rose by 7,827 to 2,54,427 on Sunday, state health department said. With 173 more patients succumbing to the infection, the number of fatalities has gone up to 10,289, the department said in a statement.
Bollywood actress Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, daughter Aaradhya have also tested positive for COVID-19, confirmed Abhishek Bachchan adding that they will be quarantining at home. He also said that the rest of the family, including his mother Jaya have tested negative.
"As more people are recovering due to all-round efforts, the recovered cases exceed active cases by 2,42,362," said the health ministry on Sunday.
Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Sunday directed officials to conduct 50,000 coronavirus tests in the state per day. Meanwhile, Uttar Pradesh Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Sports and Youth Welfare Upendra Tiwari has tested positive for COVID-19.
To stop the spread of COVID-19 infection, the Uttar Pradesh government has decided to implement strict lockdown across the state on weekends, a senior official said on Sunday. The markets and offices will remain closed on these days, however, the banks will remain open, said an official.
Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) officials put a banner outside 'Jalsa', the residence of actor Amitabh Bachchan in Mumbai, to define it as a containment zone.
India on Sunday reports a rise of 28,638 cases in the last 24 hours, taking the total to 8,49,553. The toll is now at 22,674.
Governor of Maharashtra Bhagat Singh Koshyari, is in isolation after at least 18 people tested positive for COVID-19 in Raj Bhavan on Saturday, say reports.
Mumbai's Nanavati Super Speciality Hospital's PRO told ANI Amitabh Bachchan's condition is stable. He was diagnosed with COVID-19 and is currently kept in the isolation unit of the hospital.
With a record single-day increase of 27,114 cases, India's COVID-19 case count surged to 8,20,916 on Saturday, while the toll climbed to 22,123 with 519 people succumbing to the disease in the past 24 hours, said the health ministry in its morning update.
Lockdown restrictions were announced or extended in many areas across the country for differing time periods as many states reported record jumps in daily cases.
Veteran Bollywood actor Amitabh Bachchan and his son Abhishek tested positive for the coronavirus infection late on Saturday night and were admitted to Mumbai's Nanavati Hospital.
"The BMC has been in touch and we are complying with them," said Abhishek in another tweet.
Lockdown in several places
The Karnataka government in the evening announced complete lockdown in Bengaluru Urban and Rural districts for one week from 14 July.
"As COVID-19 cases are increasing in the state day by day, based on the advice of experts complete lockdown will be imposed in Bengaluru urban and Bengaluru rural for one week from 14 July 8 pm to 5 am on 22 July," Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa said in a statement, adding that detailed guidelines will be released on Monday.
As of Saturday evening, cumulatively 36,216 coronavirus cases have been confirmed in the state, which includes 613 deaths and 14,716 discharges, a government bulletin said. Bengaluru Urban district tops the list of positive cases, with a total of 16,862 infections.
In Assam, the ongoing lockdown in Kamrup Metropolitan district, under which Guwahati city falls, has been extended for a week from 12 July due to large-scale spread of the respiratory infection.
Assam chief secretary Kumar Sanjay Krishna said the 14-day lockdown in the district was scheduled to end at 6 pm on Sunday but the district magistrate reported that rising cases may be a major threat to public health, hygiene and safety of the general population.
"Due to extensive testing, isolation and other restrictive measures, community spread of COVID-19 has been contained to some extent and this necessitates further extension of prohibitory measures to contain the spread of the pandemic," he stated.
A complete lockdown was imposed in the district on 28 June as Guwahati city reported a surge of positive cases with 6,221 patients recorded since 24 June.
The lockdown in Arunachal Pradesh's capital complex too was extended for another week in view of the spurt in COVID-19 cases in the region, a top official told PTI.
The state Cabinet chaired by Chief Minister Pema Khandu took the decision to extend the total lockdown in the capital region for another week till 5 am on 20 July, Chief Secretary Naresh Kumar said.
The previous lockdown was imposed in the capital complex comprising Itanagar, Naharlagun, Nirjuli and Banderdewa on 6 July was scheduled to end at 5 pm on 13 July.
Strict lockdown restrictions were also reimposed on Saturday in parts of Jammu and Kashmir's Rajouri district following a spike in coronavirus cases. The entire Rajouri city and adjoining areas were sealed and people were asked to stay indoors as part of the efforts to slow the spread of the infection, said officials.
"The restrictions were re-imposed as a precautionary measure after some locals were tested positive for COVID-19. While in most cases the source of the infection is known, there are some cases where the source is unknown," Additional Deputy Commissioner of Rajouri, Sher Singh, said.
Rajouri recorded the highest single-day spike of 51 cases on Friday.
In Uttarakhand, a three-day lockdown was imposed from Saturday in Kashipur in Udham Singh Nagar district, which alone accounted for 41 of the 68 cases reported in the state on Friday.
Nagaland, too, decided to extend the ongoing lockdown, which was supposed to end on 16 July, till 31 July. Planning and Coordination Minister Neiba Kronu said the decision was taken after reviewing the existing measures and the rising cases of coronavirus infection in the state.
Till Friday, the number of actives cases in Nagaland was 428 while 304 patients have recovered from the disease.
The Meghalaya government announced a two-day total lockdown in capital Shillong from Monday. Chief Minister Conrad Sangma said the decision was taken to contain the spread of COVID-19, besides ensuring behavioural changes among citizens to follow coronavirus-related guidelines.
Earlier in the day, the state reported 76 new cases, taking the total to 312. There are 215 active cases in the state at present, officials said.
A lockdown with minimum exemptions in place in Thane district, excluding the city limits, was extended till 19 July due to rise in coronavirus cases over the past few days. The order for Thane district was issued by Collector Rajesh Narvekar and Municipal Commissioner AB Misal announced an extension for Navi Mumbai, said officials.
The "total" lockdown in Ulhasnagar municipal corporation (UMC) limits, also part of Thane district, has been extended by civic chief Raja Dayanidhi till 22 July.
A record spike of 2,232 COVID-19 cases took Thane district's count to 53,152 while 53 deaths caused the overall toll to rise to 1,560, an official told PTI. The rise was sharpest in Kalyan-Dombivli which added 615 cases during the day, he said.
On Friday night, a 10-day lockdown was announced in Pune, Pimpri-Chinchwad and a few other parts of the district starting 13 July. The decision was taken at a meeting chaired by Maharashtra deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar.
In West Bengal, a seven-day lockdown was clamped from Thursday on the state's containment zones, spread across 20 of the 23 districts.
The Uttar Pradesh government had re-imposed restrictions in the state from 10 pm on Friday to 5 am on Monday. Chief Secretary RK Tiwari said the curbs have been imposed to check the spread of COVID-19 and other communicable diseases.
A man rides a bike on a deserted street during fresh lockdown in Prayagraj on Saturday. AP
Recovery rate rises to 62.78 percent, says health ministry
According to news agency PTI, India recorded an increase of more than 22,000 new cases for the eighth consecutive day. It took 110 days for the number of cases in the country to reach one lakh but just 53 days more to cross eight lakh.
It took 64 days for COVID-19 cases in India to rise above one lakh from 100, and another fortnight to cross two lakh on 3 June. It took 10 days for the case count to touch the three lakh-mark and another eight days for the cases to climb above four lakh on 21 June. In another six days, the total tally raced past the five-lakh mark. Then it took 10 days to cross seven lakh.
With effective implementation of containment zones, surveillance activities, timely diagnosis and effective clinical management of cases, the total number of recovered patients has crossed five lakh on Saturday, the Union Health ministry said.
A total of 5,15,385 COVID-19 patients have recovered so far with 19,870 COVID-19 patients having been cured and discharged in the last 24 hours till 8 am.
"The recovered cases outnumber the COVID-19 active cases by 2,31,978. With this progressively widening gap, the recovery rate has further improved to 62.78 percent," the ministry said in a statement.
There are 2,83,407 active cases and all are under medical supervision, with severe cases being admitted in hospitals and pre-symptomatic patients and those showing moderate symptoms in home isolation, it said.
According to the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), a cumulative total of 1,13,07,002 swab samples have been tested for COVID-19 up to 10 July, of which 2,82,511 been tested on Friday.
Of the 519 new deaths reported on Saturday, 226 are from Maharashtra, 64 from Tamil Nadu, 57 from Karnataka, 42 from Delhi, 27 from Uttar Pradesh and 26 from West Bengal. Andhra Pradesh reported 15 fatalities, Gujarat 14, Telangana eight and Rajasthan six.
Of the total 22,123 deaths reported so far, Maharashtra accounts for the highest with 9,893 fatalities followed by Delhi with 3,300 deaths, Gujarat 2,022, Tamil Nadu 1,829, Uttar Pradesh 889, West Bengal 880, Madhya Pradesh 638, Karnataka 543 and Rajasthan 497, said the health ministry in its morning update.
Maharashtra has also reported the highest number of cases at 2,38,461,followed by Tamil Nadu at 1,30,261, Delhi at 1,09,140, Gujarat at 40,069, Uttar Pradesh at 33,700, Karnataka at 33,418 and Telangana at 32,224.
"Our figures are being reconciled with the ICMR," the ministry said, adding that 3,416 cases are being reassigned to states.
Narendra Modi lauds Centre, state govt for efforts in Delhi
Prime Minister Narendra Modi appreciated the efforts of the Centre, state and local authorities in containing the COVID-19 situation in Delhi and directed that similar approach be replicated in checking the pandemic in the entire National Capital Region (NCR) area.
He made these remarks at a meeting to take stock of the COVID-19 situation in various parts of the country and the preparedness of various states, a statement from the Prime Minister's Office said.
The review meeting was attended by Union Home Minister Amit Shah, Health Minister Harsh Vardhan and the Cabinet Secretary among others.
Modi also directed that real-time national-level monitoring and guidance should be provided to all affected states and places with high test positivity rate.
Modi said awareness about the pandemic should be disseminated widely and a continuous emphasis on preventing the spread of the infection should be laid. He said there is no room for any complacency in this regard, according to the statement.
Delhi recorded 1,781 fresh coronavirus cases on Saturday, taking the total to 1,10,921 while the toll from the disease climbed to 3,334 with 34 fatalities recorded in the last 24 hours, according to the Delhi health department bulletin.
Maharashtra, West Bengal report record spikes in cases
Meanwhile, many states including Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh and West Bengal registered record increase in cases.
Maharashtra recorded another highest single-day spike with 8,139 new patients found on Saturday which took the case count to 2,46,600. With 223 fatalities reported during the day, the toll crossed 10,000-mark to reach 10,116, said a statement from the state health department.
Madhya Pradesh too registered its biggest single-day rise of 544 new COVID-19 cases, taking the infection count to 17,201, health officials said. With six more people succumbing to the viral infection, the toll has risen to 644, they said.
West Bengal's COVID-19 count surged to 28,453 on Saturday as 1,344 more people tested positive for the novel coronavirus, the highest single-day spike in the state so far. With 26 new fatalities, the toll rose to 906 in the state, the state health department said.
The number of coronavirus cases in Gujarat rose by 872 to 41,027 while the toll mounted by 10, including four fatalities in Ahmedabad, to 2,034, state health department said. There are now 10,308 active cases in the state, out of which the condition of 73 patients is critical, the health department said in a release.
Activist Akhil Gogoi tests positive in Guwahati jail
In Assam, peasant leader Akhil Gogoi, who was arrested by the NIA for his alleged role in violent protests against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act last year, tested positive for inside the Guwahati Central Jail on Saturday, an official said.
"Akhil Gogoi tested positive in the antigen test this evening. He will be shifted to Gauhati Medical College and Hospital (GMCH) now," Inspector General (Prisons) Dasarath Das told PTI. The health officials did three tests of Gogoi — two antigen and one swab test (RT-PCR) — and only the last antigen sample came positive, Das said.
A total of 55 inmates, including Gogoi, have tested positive at the jail, forcing the authorities to issue orders for taking samples of all the 1,069 prisoners.
Two others — Krishak Mukti Sangram Samiti (KMSS) leaders Bittu Sonowal and Dhairjya Konwar — have also tested positive and are being treated at the GMCH, while Gogoi's fourth associate, Manash Konwar, has tested negative, Das said.
With inputs from PTI
