Coronavirus LIVE: Delhi past 2nd wave peak, situation mostly controlled: CM

Coronavirus update: Maharashtra has 1,453,653 coronavirus cases, Andhra Pradesh 723,512, Karnataka 647,712, Tamil Nadu 625,391 and UP 417,437. Stay tuned for coronavirus India LIVE update

4:11 PM

Woes of Delhi florists continue despite ease in Covid-19 lockdown

Florists in the national capital are struggling to earn livelihood despite the recent relaxations announced by the Central government. Gazipur flower market traders are complaining about a drop in sales due to the pandemic.

"Coronavirus lockdown has affected our business adversely. We don't even get 10 per cent of our earlier business. As the effect of demonetisation had started subsiding, we were slowly getting back on track. But then came Covid-19 and it devastated our business. We are forced to dump a big chunk of flowers as we barely make any sales," said the owner of Palni Flower in Gazipur.

The trader further said that even as they are making very little sales, they have no choice but to pay full taxes to maintain their shops. "Now we are pinning our hoping on Navratras that we will get to do some business," he added.

4:03 PM

Covid-19 positive Indian teachers in Dubai take classes while in quarantine

Two Dubai-based Indian teachers were conducting online classes from their respective quarantine centres after they were tested positive for the novel coronavirus, the media reported on Tuesday.

 

The teachers, Mohammed Mohsin and Jose Kumar from Gulf Model School, made sure their students did not miss any lesson even when they tested positive for the virus, the Khaleej Times reported. Read on...

3:46 PM

Punjab Health minister Balbir Singh Sidhu tests Covid positive, had shared stage with Rahul Gandhi, reports Indian Express

3:46 PM

Punjab Health minister Balbir Singh Sidhu tests Covid positive, had shared stage with Rahul Gandhi, reports Indian Express

3:39 PM

3:31 PM

Mizoram coronavirus update: 8 new cases push Covid-19 tally to 2,128

Mizoram's Covid-19 tally rose to 2,128 on Tuesday as eight more people, including four security personnel, tested positive for the infection, an official said.

Four new cases were reported in Aizawl district, three in Kolasib and one in Serchhip, he said.

Three Assam Rifles jawans and one Border Security Force (BSF) personnel are among the new patients, the official said.

3:22 PM

Gujarat: Pharma wholesaler held for black marketing of remdesivir

A wholesaler of medicines was arrested for his alleged involvement in black marketing of remdesivir, a drug used in the treatment of COVID-19, in Gujarat's Rajkot city on Tuesday, police said.

Acting on a complaint, the Rajkot crime branch nabbed Paresh Zalavadia (35), owner of New Ideal Agency, a wholesale pharmacy, said inspector V K Gadhvi.

Earlier, another accused Rajnikant Faldu, a medical representative of a reputed pharma company, was arrested for a similar offence.

Remdesivir is in high demand and dealers are supposed to keep record of sales of the drug, which can only be sold against doctors' prescriptions, the official said, adding that Food and Drug Administration (FDA) also keeps a track of these transactions.

3:11 PM

New pandemic wave could delay euro zone rebound, Lagarde says

A second wave of the coronavirus pandemic risks delaying the euro zone's economic recovery, European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde said on Tuesday.

"We now fear that the containment measures that have to be taken by authorities will have an impact on this recovery, so instead of that V shape that we all long for and hope for, we fear that it might have that second arm of the V a little bit more shaky," she told the Wall Street Journal CEO Council in a pre-recorded conversation.

 

2:49 PM

World stocks inch to two-week high after Donald Trump leaves hospital

 World stock markets neared a more than two-week high on Tuesday after US President Donald Trump's return to the White House from hospital where he was treated for Covid-19, and expectations of a new US stimulus package being agreed rose.

Europe saw a stuttering start with London's FTSE dipping and not much traction from France, Italy or Germany, despite a "remarkable" jump in German industrial orders.

Wall Street and most of Asia rallied overnight after Trump's return from the Walter Reed Medical Center military hospital outside Washington eased nerves about possible disruption to next month's Presidential election.

Gold, bonds and the dollar suffered losses amid the modestly improved risk appetite, though Wall Street futures had slipped into the red and oil was losing its strong overnight momentum.

2:40 PM

NCLAT suspends court works after some staff members test Covid-19 positive

The National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT) has suspended all its court works, including virtual hearing and filing, after some of its staff tested Covid-19 positive.

Earlier, one staff member posted in its record section had tested positive on September 30, which necessitated the suspension of work on October 1 in order to carry out the sanitisation of the NCLAT premises and required judges and other staff to undergo testing.

After that test, four more staff members, out of which three are from the record section, tested positive for COVID-19 on October 4, 2020.

"Now, therefore, a fresh exercise of sanitisation/disinfection has to be undertaken and the record lying in the record room has to be subjected to the process of disinfection/sanitisation before laying before the benches.

"Hence, as directed by acting chairperson, the court work (virtual hearing) and filing etc, in the NCLAT will remain suspended till October 6, 2020," said an NCLAT notification issued by the Registrar on October 4.

2:10 PM

Maharashtra: Thane adds 1,277 fresh cases to its Covid-19 tally

The Covid-19 case count in Maharashtra's Thane district rose to 1,82,776, after 1,277 more persons tested positive for the infection, a district official said on Tuesday.

Apart from the latest cases detected on Monday, the district also recorded 27 casualties that took the toll to 4,616, the official said.

Currently, the recovery rate in the district stands at 88.35 per cent, while the morality rate is 2.53 per cent, he said.

As many as 16,669 patients are undergoing treatment for the infection in the district, he added.

Although Kalyan has recorded 44,064 Covid-19 cases so far, it has improved its recovery rate to 90.24 per cent and brought down the death rate to 1.94 per cent, the official said.

2:07 PM

Influenza vaccine may provide roadmap to prevent Covid-19: Study

Seasonal influenza vaccine development and mass production may lead to future efforts targeted at developing and evaluating vaccine strategies for Covid-19, say researchers.

In the study, published in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology, the research team evaluated whether existing flu trial networks could offer primary and secondary prevention strategies for patients with cardiovascular disease at risk of complications from Covid-19.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) estimates that influenza kills as many as 6,50,000 people every year globally, citing influenza as a top 10 leading cause of death among people of all ages, especially those with one or more comorbidities like cardiovascular disease.

1:15 PM

Delhi past peak of 2nd COVID-19 wave: CM Kejriwal

Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Tuesday said the national capital is past the peak of the second wave of coronavirus and the situation has been controlled to a large extent.

Kejriwal said the Delhi government increased the testing to detect the infection exponentially.

"Delhi hit the peak of the second wave of COVID-19 on September 17 when 4,500 cases were reported across the city. The situation has been controlled to a large extent," he said.

The chief minister also said that 10,000 beds are now unoccupied in hospitals.

"I hope the second wave will slowly pass," Kejriwal said.

1:04 PM

Active cases only 13.75% of total Covid-19 caseload

India's 9,19,023 active cases of COVID-19 constitute "merely" 13.75 per cent of the total caseload as on date and the country continues to report asteadily declining trend of percentage of active cases, the Union Health Ministry said on Tuesday.

So far 56,62,490 people have recovered from the disease in the country and exceed active cases of coronavirus infection by 47,43,467 as on date, it stated.

"The declining trend of the percentage of active cases is commensurately supported by the rising percentage of recovered cases," the ministry underlined.

Higher number of recoveries has aided the national recovery rate to further improve to 84.70 per cent, the ministry said.

1:00 PM

Odisha reports 2,673 new Covid-19 cases, 16 fatalities

At least 2,673 more people tested positive for Covid-19 in Odisha on Tuesday, taking the tally to 2,38,003, while 16 fresh fatalities pushed the death toll to 940, a health department official said.

Of the new cases, 1,554 were reported from various quarantine centres and 1,119 were detected during contact tracing, he said.

Khurda district, of which state capital Bhubaneswar is a part, registered the maximum number of new cases at 448, followed by Cuttack at 214 and Nuapada at 159.

"Regret to inform the demise of sixteen #COVID-19 positive patients while under treatment in hospitals," the Health and Family Welfare Department said on Twitter.

Of the 16 fatalities, four were reported from Balasore, three from Khurda, two from Cuttack and one each from Angul, Boudh, Mayurbhanj, Nawrangpur, Nayagarh, Puri and Subarnapur districts.