Coronavirus LIVE Update: India's Cases Rise To 59,92,532; 94,503 Dead

Raipur Announces Week Long Lockdown

Amidst the increasing cases in Chhattisgarh, a week long lockdown has been announced in the capital, Raipur.  Collector S Bharathi Dasan issued an order declaring Raipur district as a containment zone and restricted several activities from 9 pm on September 21 till midnight of September 28. 

This lockdown comes after the Union Government stated in the Unlock 4 guidelines that lockdowns can be reimposed only after seeking the Centre's approval. 

India Reports More Recoveries Than Cases For Second Straight Day

For the second straight day, the number of recovered patients is higher than new cases of COVID-19 in India. The country reported 94,612 recoveries in the last 24 hours while it reported 92,605 new cases. 

The total case count stands at 54,00,619. With 1133 new deaths, the death toll is at 86,752. 

There are 1010824 active cases and 43,03,043 recovered cases. 

At over 12 lakh tests in the last 24 hours, the country conducted the highest number of tests so far. 

India's COVID-19 Death Toll Crosses 85,000

India's COVID-19 death toll has crossed 85,000 after 1,247 patients died due to the disease. The death toll stands at 85,619. The total case count has risen to 53,08,014 after 93,337 people tested positive for the disease. The active caseload is 10,13,964 while 42,08,431 patients have been cured or discharged so far.

India Reports More Than 96,000 New COVID-19 Cases

India has reported 96,424 new COVID-19 cases in the past 24 hours to take the total case count to 52,14,677. The number of active cases has risen to 10,17,754 while 41,12,551 patients have been cured or discharged so far. The death toll has risen to 84,372 after 1,174 patients died due to the disease.

India Reports Highest One-day Spike In New COVID-19 Cases

India has reported 97,894 new COVID-19 cases, the highest one-spike in new cases to take the total case count to 51,18,253. The number of active cases has crossed 1 million. The active cases stand at 10,09,976 while 40,25,079 people have been cured or discharged so far. The death toll has risen to 83,198 after 1,132 patients died due to the disease.

Union Minister Nitin Gadkari Tests Positive

Union Minister Nitin Gadkari took to Twitter to announce that he has tested positive for COVID-19. He is in self-isolation. He got himself tested after experiencing weakness on Tuesday. 

Gadkari is the seventh minister from the Union Cabinet to have tested positive for COVID-19. Earlier, Amit Shah, Shripad Naik, Gajendra Singh Shekhawat, Kailash Choudhary, Arjun Ram Meghwal, Dharmendra Pradhan tested positive for the disease. 

Air India Earned Rs 2550 Crore From Vande Bharat Flights: MoCA

Air India has earned Rs 2,550 crores in revenue from flights operated under the Vande Bharat mission according to Minister of Civil Aviation Hardeep Singh Puri. "As on 31.08.2020, the total number of inbound and outbound special repatriation flights undertaken by the Air India group was 4,505," Puri said in the Rajya Sabha.

He added that out of about 11 lakh Indian nationals repatriated till August 31, four lakh passengers were carried by the Air India group. Air India group ferried 1.9 lakh outbound passengers to foreign destinations from India.

Dr. Reddy's Laboratory To Distribute Russian Vaccine In India

Pharmaceutical Dr. Reddy's Laboratory has entered into an agreement with the Russian Direct Investment Fund for conducting Phase III clinical trials of the Sputnik V in India, The Hyderabad-based pharma company will also manufacture 100 million doses of the Russian vaccine. 

Russia approved the use of the vaccine on August 11 and its findings were published in the medical journal Lancet on September 4. The country is the fourth worst affected nation while India is the second worst affected nation. 

Details about the phases III trials and the financial deal have not been shared by either of the two parties. 

More Than 30 Vaccine Candidates Supported, Three In Advanced Trials Stage: Govt

The Central Government has said that it is supporting over 30 COVID-19 vaccine candidates with three in advance stages of trials now, while four are in advanced pre-clinical development stage, reports PTI. Union Minister of State for Home Nityanand Rai told the Rajya Sabha that 13 clinical trials of repurposed drugs have been conducted.

Delhi BJP Chief Tests Positive for COVID-19

Delhi BJP chief Adesh Gupta has tested positive for COVID-19. Gupta tweeted that after having contracted viral fever last week, he had been tested for COVID-19 but the results were negative. Due to continuous bad health, Gupta got himself tested once again and the results have come back as positive.