Covid updates: Record 67k new cases; cheapest remdesivir launched in India

India reported nearly 67,000 coronavirus cases in the last 24 hours, taking the total to 23,96,637, according to the Health Ministry. Around 47,033 people have died in the country from Covid-19 so far, with 942 people succumbing to the disease in the last 24 hours.
 

In some positive news, the number of patients who have recovered from the disease surged to 16,95,982, pushing the recovery rate to 70.77 per cent in the country. The case fatality rate in the country has declined to 1.96 per cent. However, among the top five countries with the highest number of cases, India's recovery rate is the second-lowest, after the US

Maharashtra has the highest test positivity rate, indicating the tally could be much worse when the testing rates are ramped up. At 18.4 per cent, it is twice as much as the national average of 9 per cent. Maharashtra is followed by Telangana and Puducherry.
 

Drug firm Zydus Cadila on Thursday said it has launched Remdesivir under the brand name Remdac, used to treat patients suffering from severe symptoms of Covid-19, in the Indian market. Priced at Rs 2,800 per 100 mg vial, Remdac is the most economical Remdesivir brand in India, Zydus Cadila said in a regulatory filing.

India has extended assistance of $1 million to the govt of Antigua and Barbuda for combating Covid-19.
 

Britain's economy shrank by a record 20.4 per cent between April and June when the coronavirus lockdown was tightest, the largest contraction reported by any major economy so far, with a wave of job losses set to hit later in 2020.

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