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

Canadian Study Finds That HCQ Does Not Work As A Prophylaxis

A study conducted by the McGill University in Canada has found that hydroxychloroquine did not prevent COVID-19 when used as prophylaxis within four days of exposure to the novel coronavirus. The study is the only one done so far on the effectiveness of using HCQ as a treatment for COVID-19.

France Cancels Bastille Day Military Parade Due To COVID-19

France has canceled their annual Bastille Day Military Parade which marks their national day, reports Reuters. The parade will be replaced by a ceremony on the Place de la Concorde square in Paris.

30 Maharashtra Police Dead Due To COVID-19

At least 30 police personnel in Maharashtra have died due to COVID-19 so far, reports PTI. 18 of the 30 dead were part of the Mumbai Police. "Till now, over 2,500 state police personnel have tested positive for the coronavirus and 30 of them, including an officer, have died," an official said.

India Records Highest One-day Spike In COVID-19 Cases And Deaths

India added a record 9,304 new COVID-19 cases in the last 24 hours to take the total case count to 2,16,919. A record 260 people died from the disease to take the death toll to 6,075. 1,04,106 patients have been discharged so far.

France Requests Lancet To Review Study On HCQ

Hydroxychloroquine, the anti-malarial drug has been mired in a fresh set of controversies as a paper published in the journal Lancet that the drug is leading to an increase in arrhythmia in patients in 671 hospitals has been questioned for the data's veracity. 

The company that provided the data, Surgisphere is not willing to divulge any further details about hospitals or participants which has raised eyebrows in the scientific community. 

French Health Minister Olivier Veran has written to Lancet to review this data as France discontinued its trials on HCQ. A French study was the first one to highlight the merits of the drug. 

National Centre Of Disease Control To Conduct Surveys In Ahmedabad, Mumbai, Delhi

The National Centre of Disease Control is set to conduct sero-surveillance blood tests in Mumbai, Delhi and Ahmedabad to detect the presence of antibodies to COVID-19 to monitor the spread of the disease and understanding trends about clusters, outbreaks, and no cases. 

The Ministry of Home Affairs is now permitting visas for certain categories of foreign nationals to visit India. This includes foreign businessmen coming to India on a business visa in no n-scheduled commercial/chartered flights, foreign healthcare professionals, health researchers, engineers for the Indian health sector and have received inivitations from Indian healthcare facilities, pharmaceutical companies, or universities. 

Foreign nationals representing foregin companies basied in India as well as foreign technicians responsible for maintaining foreign equipment in Indian businesses will also be permitted.  

Government grants relaxation in Visa and Travel restrictions to permit certain categories of Foreign Nationals to come to India#COVID19

Details here: https://t.co/tHMofTQpce pic.twitter.com/CQY3PGvjpI

— PIB India (@PIB_India) June 3, 2020

Gujarat Makes Hospitalisation Mandatory For COVID Testing

After the Gujarat High Court permitted testing of pre-operative patients and approved private laboratories to start COVID-19 testing for symptomatic patients prescribed by consultants, the Gujarat Government issued a new notification making it mandatory for patients to be hospitalized while getting tested. 

The medical fraternity is not happy with this decision as it defies the ICMR guidelines which does not make it mandatory for asymptomatic and patients with mild symptoms to be hospitalized. 

Brazil's Cases Continuously Spike

Brazil recorded around 28,936 new cases and 1,262 deaths as COVID-19 shows no signs of slowing down in the Latin American country. 

The country now has 5,55,383 confirmed cases of COVID-19. 

India's Case Count Crosses 2 Lakh Mark

According to data released by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, India's total case count rose to 2,07,615 after 8,909 people tested positive for COVID-19. 217 people died to take the death toll to 5,815. 1,00,302 patients have been discharged so far.