Coronavirus LIVE: Tamil Nadu sees 33 new test positive, total tally rises to 1,629

Thirty-three persons tested positive while 27 Covid-19 patients got discharged on Wednesday in Tamil Nadu, the state Health Department said.

In a statement issued here, the Health Department said that the new cases take the total tally to 1,629, while fresh discharges take the total number to 662.

The total number of persons who died due to Covid-19 remained at 18.

A total of 5,978 samples were tested for virus infection on Wednesday.

135 new COVID19 positive cases reported in Gujarat today; the total number of positive cases rise to 2407 including 179 cured/discharged and 103 deaths: Gujarat Health Department

A nursing officer tests positive for COVID19 at Safdarjung hospital. She was posted at Gyane HDU(high dependency unit) at the facility. At present,she is admitted in the corona unit of the hospital.Previously,4 doctors were also found COVID19 positive: Safdarjung hospital official

There are 300 active cases of COVID-19 in West Bengal. 79 patients have been cured while 15 others have succumbed to the infection. A total of 7037 samples have been tested in the State so far: West Bengal Health Department

71 Delhi Police personnel directed to be in quarantine after they came in contact with a head constable deputed at Delhi Police Special Cell who has tested positive for COVID19.

431 new COVID19 cases & 18 deaths have been reported today in Maharashtra, taking number of cases to 5649 & deaths to 269 in the State: Maharashtra Health Department

Two COVID19 deaths reported in Pune today; Total death toll in Pune district rises to 57: Pune Health officials

5 more COVID-19 positive cases reported in Bihar today taking the total number of positive cases to 141: Bihar Principal Secretary-Health

9 new COVID19 positive cases reported in Dharavi ; the total number of positive cases in Dharavi is now 189 including 12 deaths: Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation

Spain on Wednesday reported 435 Covid-19 deaths in the past 24 hours, a slight spike in the figures for a second day running, taking the overall death toll in the country to 21,717.

More than 4,000 new coronavirus cases were also confirmed, according to the Health Ministry. In total, 209,706 people have tested positive for the virus in Spain and nearly 86,000 people have recovered.

Spain remains on a strict lockdown but the government announced that starting this weekend, some restrictions will be lifted on children who have been confined to their homes since March 14, Anadolu Agency reported.

Restrictions have previously been eased on non-essential workers in sectors like construction and manufacturing.

There are 264 cases of COVID-19 in Haryana including 24 cases related to foreign nationals. Number of active cases & deaths stands at 103 & three respectively. Recovery rate of COVID-19 patients is 59.84 per cent: State Health Department

With 33 more people testing positive for COVID-19, number of cases has risen to 1,629 in Tamil Nadu. 662 patients (27 today) have recovered while 18 others lost their lives due to the infection: State Health Department

No new case of COVID19 has been reported in Himachal Pradesh today. There are 23 active cases in the State, 11 patients have recovered & one person has died: State Health Department

11 new COVID-19 cases reported in Kerala today. 5 of them have foreign travel history and 3 infected through local contacts. Total number of positive cases in the state is 437 of which 127 are active cases: Kerala CM Pinarayi Vijayan

Karnataka has registered nine new Covid positive cases, raising the state's tally to 427, said an official on Wednesday.

"As of 5 p.m. Wednesday, cumulatively 427 Covid positive cases have been confirmed in the state. These include 17 deaths and 131 discharges," said a health official.

India's total number of Coronavirus positive cases rises to 20,471 (including 15859 active cases, 3959 cured/discharged/migrated and 652 deaths): Ministry of Health and Family Welfare

The Epidemic Diseases (Amendment) Ordinance, 2020 manifests our commitment to protect each and every healthcare worker who is bravely battling COVID-19 on the frontline. It will ensure safety of our professionals. There can be no compromise on their safety! : PM Narendra Modi

Bhagwant Mann, AAP Lok Sabha MP from Sangrur, writes a letter to PM Narendra Modi, seeking his intervention for bringing back Indians stranded in foreign counties amid Coronavirus lockdown

There are 260 cases of COVID-19 in Haryana out of which 153 people have recovered & three died. 511 tests have been conducted on each 10 lakh people in the State. There is no case in three districts: Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar

My daughter Mona Milkha Singh is a doctor in New York. We are very proud of her. She speaks to us daily&asks us to take care ourselves. We are concerned about her but she has to perform her duty: Former Olympian Milkha Singh on daughter treating COVID-19 patients at a US hospital

27 new COVID19 cases reported today, all from the Kashmir division. Total number of positive cases is now 407 ( Jammu-56 and Kashmir-35): Rohit Kansal, Principal Secretary- Planning, Jammu & Kashmir

State Govts/ UTs requested to appoint Nodal Officers at State/UT level&at Dist level, who would be available 24*7 to redress any safety issue on the functioning of medical professionals.They should also take immediate&strict action in case any incident of violence takes place: MHA

146 Indian crew members stranded on a cruise ship due to coronavirus pandemic will disembark in Mumbai on Thursday; none COVID-19 patient: Maha Chief Minister's Office

Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan underwent a test for the novel coronavirus, days after meeting a well-known philanthropist who was diagnosed positive for the COVID-19 infection according to a media report

Many of our nurses living in NCR daily comes to Delhi for their duty. Nurses' organisation, All India Nurses Federation has written a letter telling that these nurse are being harassed at the Delhi-UP border.

Please take note of this matter, tweeted Priyanka Gandhi

Subsidy for fertilizers increased, ₹22,186 crore subsidy on phosphatic and potassic fertilizers": Union Minister Prakash Javadekar, reported NDTV

A 55-year-old COVID19 patient, resident of Weir, district Bharatpur who was admitted in SMS hospital Jaipur on 18th April passed away on 20th April. She suffered from diabetes: Rajasthan Health Department

Germany has authorised its first clinical test of a vaccine for the novel coronavirus, the country's regulatory body said on Wednesday, green-lighting trials on human volunteers for an RNA vaccine developed by German firm Biontech and US giant Pfizer.

"The Paul-Ehrlich-Institut... has authorised the first clinical trial of a vaccine against COVID-19 in Germany," the regulatory body said in a statement.

It added that approval was the "result of a careful assessment of the potential risk/benefit profile of the vaccine candidate".

No decision has been taken yet on the resumption of flight operations. An announcement will be made on time as to when it will resume: Union Minister Prakash Javadekar

If damage is done to the vehicles or clinics of healthcare workers, then a compensation amounting to twice the market value of the damaged property will be taken from the accused: Union Minister Prakash Javadekar

Amendment to be made to Epidemic Diseases Act, 1897 and Ordinance will be implemented. Such crime will now be cognizable & non-bailable. Investigation will be done within 30 days. Accused can be sentenced from 3 months-5 yrs & penalised from Rs 50,000 upto Rs 2 Lakh: P Javadekar

In case of grievous injuries, the accused can be sentenced from 6 months to 7 years. They can be penalised from ₹1 Lakhs to ₹ 5 Lakhs: Union Minister Prakash Javadekar

https://twitter.com/ANI/status/1252896389790445573

In his briefing today Union Minister Prakash Javadekar said that Any kind of attack, violence against healthcare workers will not be tolerated.

Six staff including a doctor of Bhatia Hospital have tested positive. They are being treated at the ICU care unit of Bhatia Hospital. They are stable and responding well to the treatment: Bhatia Hospital, Mumbai

133 positive cases reported in Rajasthan today so far - 44 in Ajmer, 66 in Jaipur, 1 each in Bharatpur, Dausa & Sawai Madhopur, 3 in Jodhpur, 6 in Kota, 4 in Nagour, 7 in Tonk. Total no.of positive cases here stands at 1868, including 27 deaths & 328 discharged: State Health Dept

Tamil Nadu Chief Minister K. Palaniswami on Wednesday announced a Rs 50 lakh compensation to the families of -- police, sanitary workers, officials of the Revenue Department and government healthcare officials -- deployed on the COVID-19 duty.

In a statement issued here, Palaniswami said he has increased the compensation amount to Rs 50 lakh from the earlier announced sum of Rs 10 lakh.

He also said a government job will be provided to a family member of the dead person.

Palaniswami said the body of the dead person who rendered the selfless service will be buried with due respects and the government will take necessary action for that.

Five more persons tested positive; total number of cases in the state stands at 136. Contact tracing is being done: Sanjay Kumar, Principal Secretary, Health Department, Bihar

At least 492 Pakistanis, including 92 women, left stranded in the wake of travel restrictions due to coronavirus pandemic have returned to their country from Afghanistan via the Torkham border.

Officials said another 111 children, not registered with them as stranded persons but travelling with their parents, mostly mothers, were also allowed to enter Pakistan, Dawn reported.

Shamsul Islam, the focal person for returning Pakistanis, told Dawn that among the 492 registered persons, 470 were sent to the quarantine centres in Landi Kotal, 22 to Shah Kas centre in Jamrud. One person with visible symptoms of coronavirus was admitted to the isolation ward of the district hospital in Landi Kotal.

No new case of COVID-19 has been reported in the state in last seven days: Assam Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma

Ten staffers of a private hospital in southeast Delhi's Okhla, who had come in contact with a coronavirus patient, have tested negative for the virus, a senior doctor at the hospital said.

A patient was admitted to Alshifa Hospital on April 13 with anal abscess and was operated upon. He later complained of having chest pain and was asked to get tested for coronavirus at the Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital.

The report confirmed that he was infected with novel coronavirus and was referred to another hospital, the doctor said.

The staff members, including the doctor who operated upon the patient, got themselves tested for the virus. The staffers had been under quarantine at the hospital.

The Chhattisgarh government has decided to extend the closure of hotels, restaurants and liquor shops till April 28 to prevent the spread of coronavirus. Earlier, these services were set to restart on April 21.

An official said that the closure of all liquor shops including countrymade and foreign liquor, and warehouses of the Chhattisgarh State Beverages Corporation located in Raipur and Bilaspur will be closed till April 28. Also, liquor shops in all districts will remain shut till the above date.

Besides, all restaurants-hotel bars and clubs in the state have been ordered to remain closed till April 28. Earlier, orders for closure were issued till April 21.

This order has been issued by the Commercial Tax (Excise) Department. The state government has instructed all District Collectors to strictly follow the orders.

Manesar plant of Maruti Suzuki has been opened for maintenance and basic work, however, production will not resume now: Amit Khatri, District Magistrate, Gurugram

A four-month-old baby is among seven new Covid positive cases in Karnataka, raising the state's tally to 425, said an official on Wednesday.

"Till date, 425 coronavirus positive cases have been confirmed. This includes 17 deaths and 129 discharges," said a health official.

No Covid patient discharges occurred in the past 19 hours.

The seven new cases emerged from Kalaburagi (5) and Bengaluru Urban (2).

The new cases surfaced from the city after a gap of three days.

Delhi: Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) handed over 1000 PPEs and 1000 triple-layered masks made by SS Battalion, Saboli, Delhi-Haryana border, to officers of Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) Metro Railway unit today

News agency ANI reporters and cameramen among the media personnel being tested for COVID-19 at a Delhi govt camp in Patel Nagar (W). About 200 media personnel to be tested today after 53 scribes tested positive for COVID in Mumbai.

Locals clash with Police personnel after they (locals) had blocked the road alleging improper distribution of ration material amid Coronavirus lockdown in Baduria, North 24 Parganas.

Chattisgarh Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel has writen a letter to PM Modi Requesting transfer of CSR funds deposited by Mining Projects and Industrial units of Chhattisgarh from PM Care Fund to the Chhattisgarh Government.

This decision of Central Government would deprive people living near industrial units from basic facilities, says Chhattisgarh CM.

CSR funds should be spent on those districts which are affected by mining-industry and COVID-19.

5 more COVID-19 positive cases have been reported in Bihar - 3 in Patna, 1 in Bihar Sharif & 1 in East Champaran. Contact tracing is being done. The total number of positive cases in the state stands at 131: Sanjay Kumar, Principal Secretary, Health Dept, Bihar

Ministry of Civil Aviation (B) wing at Rajiv Gandhi Bhawan has been sealed and NDMC has been asked to sanitise the whole wing: Ministry of Civil Aviation Sources

The COVID-19 tally in Andhra Pradesh climbed to 813 on Wednesday morning. The state nodal officer reported that 56 new cases were detected in the 24 hours ending 10 a.m. Wednesday. Continuing the trend witnessed over the past few weeks, Kurnool and Guntur districts, with 19 cases each, reported the highest number of coronavirus cases in the state.

Apart from the two districts, Kadapa, Prakasam and Nellore districts reported five, four and three new cases respectively.

Meanwhile, with two more persons succumbing to the pandemic, the death toll due to COVID-19 climbed to 24 in the state. With 120 persons discharged from hospital, the effective number of COVID-19 cases in the state stands at 613.

Uttarakhand: Nainital High Court asks the state government to install required equipment at those COVID-19 dedicated hospitals which lack these facilities, within 7 days. The next date of hearing in the matter is 29th April.

85-year-old woman has recovered from COVID-19 in Andhra Pradesh.

She was among the five persons discharged from a hospital in the Anantapur district late Tuesday after they fully recovered.

They were tested positive on April 5 and were undergoing treatment at the KIMS Saveera, the designated COVID-19 hospital in district headquarter, Anantapur.

Doctors said after the completion of the treatment, they twice conducted the COVID-19 tests on them as per the protocol. As the result of both the tests was negative, they were discharged.

Rajasthan recorded 64 fresh coronavirus cases on Wednesday, taking the state's virus tally to 1,799, an official said.

The state has so far seen 26 deaths due to the virus, with Jaipur accounting for 14 deaths.

"As many as 64 fresh cases have been reported in nine districts of the state, including 44 in Ajmer," Additional Chief Secretary (Health) Rohit Kumar Singh said.

He said test results of the backlog 4000 samples sent to a private lab in Delhi have started coming and these are being captured in the report. Hence, number of positive cases is expected to rise today.

The daily Health Ministry briefing was cancelled because there is a cabinet meeting and the subsequent briefing this evening which will carry the health ministry related information. Additional information will be given in press releases today: Government Sources

Seven new positive cases have been reported in Karnataka. Total positive cases in the state stand at 425 which includes 17 deaths and 129 discharges: Government of Karnataka

A total of 180 positive cases have been reported till now in Dharavi area of Mumbai, with several people under quarantine.

Indian Medical Association (IMA) withdraws their protest after their meeting with Union Home Minister Amit Shah and Union Health Minister Dr Harsh Vardhan via video-conferencing today.

An employee of ministry who attended office on 15 April has tested positive for COVID-19 on 21 April. All necessary protocols are being stringently followed on premises. All colleagues who came in contact are being asked to go into self-isolation as precaution: Civil Aviation Ministry

Delhi: Long queue of vehicles seen on DND Flyway as Police personnel check passes of people commuting through the route. Delhi-Gautam Budh Nagar/Noida border has been completely closed, with certain exceptions, by Gautam Budh Nagar admn as a preventive measure against

As of today, there are a total of 2186 positive cases in Delhi, 75 of these were found yesterday. A total of 611 people - 28% of the patients, have recovered. 27 patients are in ICU and 5 on ventilator: Delhi Health Minister Satyendar Jain

Tamil Nadu: Congress workers distributed ration and other relief material among the needy people in Anna Nagar area of Chennai, at the residence of party leader Peter Alphonse today amid Coronavirus lockdown

A staff member of the Tokyo Olympic organizing committee has tested positive for COVID-19.

Top nurses' body writes to Home Ministry, says health workers not being allowed to come to Delhi from Ghaziabad, Noida. They have urged government to allow nurses travel from Ghaziabad, Noida, Gurgaon, Faridabad with their ID cards, reports NDTV

Media persons are covering incidents relating to COVID19 in the country involving travel to containment zones, hotspots&other affected areas. It's advised that all such media persons may take health&related precautions while performing duties: Ministry of Information&Broadcasting

Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray has demanded that the Centre issue guidelines by this month-end on sending the migrant workers to their native places in the wake of the coronavirus-enforced lockdown.

Speaking to the central team led by additional secretary Manoj Joshi through video conference on Tuesday evening, Thackeray said his government has opened shelter camps for over six lakh migrant labourers and they are being looked after well.

But, these people want to go back to their native places and are also protesting some times, he pointed out.

553 new COVID-19 positive cases reported in the last 24 hours in Maharashtra as the total number of positive cases in the state stands at 5229. 19 more deaths were recorded in the last 24 hours as the total death in the state rises to 251: Public Health Dept, Govt of Maharashtra

COVID-19 has devastated our micro, small & medium businesses (MSME). The Congress party needs your help. Send us suggestions & ideas for what a MSME economic stimulus package should cover on:

voiceofmsme.in or our social media platforms.

#HelpSaveSmallBusiness

The health department on Tuesday directed Max Hospital in Vaishali to inform it about all patients who are being treated for Covid-19, reported TOI

A petition has been filed before the Kerala High Court praying that the State of Kerala be directly to urgently take steps to bring back COVID-19 affected Malayali nurses from other States to Kerala, given that the conditions in other States are deteriorating by the day.

The plea filed by Kerala-based United Nurses Association (UNA), through its President, Shoby Joseph. The plea highlights that the health of medical workers is of utmost importance to combat the deadly coronavirus. A dearth in the number of heath care workers would only make if more difficult to fight the virus, the petition adds, reports Bar and Bench

Three persons from Bhadrak district tested positive for COVID-19, taking the total number of such cases in Odisha to 82, officials said on Wednesday.

The three fresh cases, all males aged 40, 55 and 35, are from Basudevpur block of the district and have travel history to Kolkata, said the district administration.

The total number of COVID-19 patients in Bhadrak district rose to 11 with the new cases and of them, nine are undergoing treatment, while two have recovered. The district had reported five cases on Monday.

The Terminal Ballistics Research Laboratory (TBRL) here is developing 10,000 full face protective shields for examining infected COVID-19 patients for the PGI Hospital, an official said on Wednesday.

"TBRL is producing 10,000 full face protective shields for the PGI. A total 2,000 face protective shields have been handed over to the PGI and 5,000 will be provided in next 5-6 days," TBRL Director Manjit Singh said in a statement.

TBRL is a lab of the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO).

He said over 700 protective shields were given to the Chandigarh Police on Tuesday.

Delhi: Union HM Amit Shah & Union Health Minister Dr Harsh Vardhan interacted with Indian Medical Association doctors through video conferencing today. HM assured them security & appealed to them to not to do even symbolic protest as proposed by them, govt is with them.

The West Bengal government has said "it is not a fact" that there was no cooperation with the Central team deputed to assess the COVID-19 situation in the state and gave an assurance that it will abide by all Union government orders on lockdown.

The assurance came hours after the Centre accused the Mamata Banerjee-led West Bengal government of obstructing a Central team deputed to assess the coronavirus ground situation.

In a letter to Union Home Secretary Ajay Bhalla, West Bengal Chief Secretary Rajiva Sinha said it was not a fact that the two Inter Ministerial Central Teams (IMCTs) have not been provided with any cooperation by the state government since he had two meetings with one team and also was in touch with the other.

"This is to convey my highest assurances for the implementation of the orders of central government issued under the Disaster Management Act as well as the directions of the Honb'le Supreme Court," the state chief secretary told the union home secretary.

The microbiology department of the Banaras Hindu University (BHU) has started pool testing of Covid-19 samples in view of the increasing number of pending samples reaching here from 13 districts of eastern Uttar Pradesh.

Prof Gopal Nath, in-charge of the BHU laboratory, said, "We are conducting over 350 tests every day against our capacity of 300 samples per day, for more than a week now. But, the number of samples collected from all 13 districts connected with this lab is accumulating. Pool testing will quicken the pace of testing now."

He said that Varanasi district magistrate, Kaushal Raj Sharma, had asked him to start pool testing on the lines of Agra and other labs in the state to give early results.

A 53-year-old man who had tested positive for COVID-19 passed away last night. Death toll in Pune district rises to 55: Health Officials, Pune

Out of the 704 samples tested yesterday for COVID-19, results of 12 are positive: King George's Medical University, Lucknow

Forty-six staff members of a medical college attached to Aligarh Muslim University have been quarantined after they came in contact with a Coronavirus patient on Tuesday.

50 deaths and 1383 new cases reported in last 24 hours as India's total number of positive cases stands at 19,984 (including 3870 cured/discharged/migrated and 640 deaths), says Health Ministry

France, which plans to unwind some restriction measures from May 11, registered 531 more COVID-19 deaths on Tuesday as hospitalisation-related figures pursue a slow decline.

Hospitals and nursing homes numbers showed that combined deaths caused by the COVID-19 rose to 20,796, up from Monday's 20,265, Director-General of Health Jerome Salomon told a daily briefing on the epidemic, Xinhua reported.

The number of new hospitalisations and serious cases continued to slow down, suggesting that the national lockdown has positive effects in containing the respiratory illness.

As of Tuesday, 30,106 patients were hospitalised, compared with 30,584 a day before and 30,610 on Sunday. The number of people in intensive care had fallen for the 13th consecutive day to 5,433.

"The virus spread remains at high level. We should be fully mobilised," stressed Salomon.

France has been in lockdown since March 17 to curb the spread of the epidemic.

President Emmanuel Macron announced last week that the lockdown will be progressively lifted from May 11.

The government will unveil details of the deconfinement plan in coming weeks.