Covid-19 updates: India's catastrophe, Japan's GDP, NZ election, and more

India has recorded nearly 58,000 Covid positive cases and 941 fatalities since yesterday. Statewise, Odisha saw the biggest single day increase of 2,924 Covid-19 cases, while Bihar has become the eighth state to join the unfortunate club of Indian states with over 100,000 cases.

In another piece of somber data, India has the fastest doubling time among the world’s most affected countries for confirmed cases.It took just 23 days for the country to double its tally to over 2.5 million cases, almost half of the global average of 45 days.

South Africa, the worst performer on this metric after India, is doubling its case count in 33 days.
 

Meanwhile, irked at the Brussels authorities for mandating the use of face coverings in all public places to fight the Covid-19 pandemic, citizens gathered in the Belgian capital on Sunday to protest the new rules.The demonstration is the first since the measures were announced in early August. People who do not wear a mask face fines.

That apart, New Zealand’s Prime Minister, Jacinda Ardern has postponed the country’s election from 19 September to 17 October.

Ardern said the biggest risk to overcome would be ensuring 25,000 election workers were well-protected as they go about their work.

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