India's COVID-19 tally crosses 60 lakh, 82,170 new cases; Sabarimala to reopen with restrictions in Nov

India’s COVID-19 caseload crossed 60 lakh on Monday with 82,170 new cases, while the number of recoveries surged to 50.17 lakh after 74,893 more people recuperated in the last 24 hours, the Union health ministry said. The toll due to COVID-19 rose to 95,542 with 1,039 more deaths on Monday. Of the total number of cases (60,74,702), 9,62,640 are active cases which comprises 15.85 percent of the caseload, according to the ministry data. With a total of 50,16,520 recoveries, the recovery rate rose to 82.58 percent. The case fatality rate declined to 1.57 percent, the ministry added. According to the Indian Council of Medical Research, 7.20 crore samples have been tested so far, with 7.09 lakh tests being conducted on Sunday. India’s COVID-19 tally had crossed the 20-lakh mark on 7 August, 30 lakh on 23 August, 40 lakh on 5 September and 50 lakh on 15 September. It took 110 days for the COVID-19 cases in the country to reach a lakh mark, while it had taken 59 days more to go past the 10-lakh post. The cases jumped from 10 lakh to 20 lakh in 21 days, then it took 16 more days to race past 30 lakh, 13 days more to cross the 40-lakh mark, 11 days to go past 50 lakh and 12 days to cross 60 lakh. Providing information about the trajectory of recoveries in the country, the ministry said that the rise in the number of total recovered cases from 1 lakh in June 2020 “has been steep” and the last 10 lakh recoveries were added in just 11 days. “India’s total recoveries have crossed the landmark milestone of 50 lakh today (50,16,520). With a very high number of COVID patients recovering every single day, India’s steady trend of posting high level of daily recoveries continues,” the ministry said. “The total recovered cases have outpaced active cases by more than 5 times. With the exponential increase in the recoveries, there is close to 100 per cent increase in recovered cases in one month,” it said. Noting that 15 states/Union Territories are showing recovery rate more than the national average, the ministry said 78 percent of the total recovered cases are recorded in 10 States/UTs with Maharashtra contributing maximum to the total recovered cases followed by Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu. Kerala govt to crackdown on violators  With Kerala witnessing a spike in COVID-19 cases over the past few weeks, the Left government has decided to impose strict restrictions on gatherings besides taking action against shop owners who fail to implement the health protocol, including social distancing. After reporting over 7,000 fresh COVID-19 cases for two consecutive days, Kerala on Monday reported 4,538 new positive cases taking the case count in the state to 1,78,922. Currently, there are 57,879 patients under treatment in the state. “COVID-19 is rapidly spreading in our state and we had a record increase in the number of new cases in the last week. The situation is serious as the positive cases in the state are seen doubling on an average of every 20 days. “We have held a high-level meeting of officials today to discuss the situation,” Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan told the media. He said strict action will be taken against those not following social distancing. “Wearing masks is mandatory and those who dont wear masks in public will be strictly penalised. Shop owners will have to ensure they comply with the COVID-19 health protocol and action will be taken against shop owners also if norms are violated. The restrictions of 50 people for marriage functions and 20 for funerals should be strictly followed,” the chief minister said. The Kerala government on Monday also announced steps to conduct the annual pilgrimage to the Sabarimala temple, and said that the two-month long season from 16 November will be held strictly adhering to COVID-19 protocols. The government said steps will be taken to ensure that those infected with the novel coronavirus will not participate in the pilgrimage. According to officials, those below 10 years and above 60 will not be allowed to take part in the pilgrimage. Centre launches web portal for vaccine updates The Union health ministry launched a web portal that will provide all important information on COVID-19, the stages of vaccine development, ongoing clinical trials and progress made in this area locally and globally. The ‘‘vaccine web portal’’ and the ‘‘National Clinical Registry for COVID-19’’ have been developed by the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) and was launched by Union health minister Harsh Vardhan, according to a health ministry statement. Vardhan earlier had said that a COVID-19 vaccine is likely to be available by the first quarter of 2021. The National Clinical Registry for COVID-19 will collect systematic data on clinical signs and symptoms, laboratory investigations, management protocols, the clinical course of COVID-19, disease spectrum and outcomes of patients. “The data will serve as an invaluable tool for formulating appropriate patient management strategies, predicting disease severity, patient outcomes etc,” the ICMR said in a statement. The vaccine portal contains all information regarding Indian efforts towards the development of a vaccine against COVID-19. “Interested people can visit the website on vaccine.icmr.org.innvaccine.icmr.org.in to get the latest information on vaccine development,” it said. Vardhan said, “The portal provides useful and important information related to vaccine development, ongoing clinical trials and progress made in this area locally and globally at regular intervals.” “Today, in the times of the coronavirus pandemic, vaccine development is watched very closely. Thus, it becomes important to showcase the status of vaccine development in the country,” he said. Odisha dy speaker, 11 MLAs test positive A day before the scheduled commencement of the Monsoon Session of the Odisha Assembly, 12 legislators, including Deputy Speaker Rajanikant Singh, tested positive for COVID-19 on Monday, PTI reported. Ministers Samir Dash, Padmini Dian and Jyoti Panigrahi tested positive for COVID-19 for the second time. They had earlier contracted the disease and had completed their quarantine period. The infections were detected during a special drive to test samples of lawmakers for COVID-19 ahead of the Assembly session. Two other MLAs including Government Chief Whip Pramila Mallick had tested positive for COVID-19 on Sunday. The coronavirus status of some other legislators whose samples were collected during the day will be known on Tuesday, the report added. State-wise deaths Of the 1,039 new deaths on Monday, 380 were in Maharashtra, 80 in Tamil Nadu, 79 in Karnataka, 77 in Uttar Pradesh, 60 in West Bengal and 50 in Punjab. Forty-five more people succumbed to the disease in Andhra Pradesh, followed by 42 in Delhi, 31 in Chhattisgarh, 26 in Madhya Pradesh and 21 in Kerala. There were 17 more fatalities in Assam, 16 in Haryana, 15 in Rajasthan, 14 in Odisha and 13 in Puducherry. Eleven people died from the pathogen in Himachal Pradesh, followed by 10 each in Gujarat and Goa, nine in Jharkhand, eight in Uttarakhand and seven each in Jammu and Kashmir, and Telangana. Tripura registered three more fatalities, while two more persons each died in Sikkim, Chandigarh and Bihar, and one each in Andaman and Nicobar Islands, and Ladakh. Of the total 95,542 deaths, Maharashtra reported the maximum of 35,571 fatalities, followed by 9,313 in Tamil Nadu, 8,582 in Karnataka, 5,708 in Andhra Pradesh, 5,594 in Uttar Pradesh, 5,235 in Delhi and 4,781 in West Bengal. As many as 3,416 people died from the virus in Gujarat, followed by 3,238 in Punjab, 2,207 in Madhya Pradesh, 1,441 in Rajasthan, 1307 in Haryana and 1,132 in Jammu and Kashmir. Telangana recorded 1,107 deaths so far, while 888 people died in Bihar, 848 in Chhattisgarh, 797 in Odisha, 679 in Jharkhand, 677 in Kerala, 655 in Assam and 574 in Uttarakhand. With inputs from agencies