COVID-19 LIVE: Biden awaits test result

20:51 October 02

Biden awaits coronavirus test result

Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden

Washington: Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden has been tested for the coronavirus in the wake of President Donald Trump’s infection and is awaiting results.

That’s according to a source with direct knowledge of the situation who spoke on the condition of anonymity to share internal discussions.

Biden was on the debate stage with Trump for more than 90 minutes earlier in the week.

It’s unclear if Biden will appear at his scheduled campaign events later in the day. The Democrat’s campaign is expected to announce the results of Biden’s test and his travel plans later on Friday.

17:04 October 02

3 new cases push COVID-19 tally in Andamans to 3,848

The COVID-19 tally of Andaman and Nicobar Islands rose to 3,848 on Friday as 13 more people tested positive for the infection, a health official said.

Seven new patients have travel history, while six fresh infections were detected during contact tracing, he said.

 Fifteen more people have been cured of the disease, the official said.

The Union territory now has 172 active coronavirus cases, while 3,623 people have been cured of the disease and 53 patients have succumbed to the infection so far, he said.

The administration has so far sent 59,676 samples for COVID-19 tests, of which 59,633 have been received and 43 are awaited, the official added.

16:13 October 02

Thane district records 1,849 new COVID-19 cases

With the addition of 1,849 new COVID-19 cases, the tally in Thane district rose to 1,76,861, an official said on Friday.

The district official said 36 more patients succumbed to the infection, taking the death toll to 4,458.

The COVID-19 recovery rate in the district stood at 87.50 per cent and the mortality rate at 2.54 per cent, he said.

14:58 October 02

BJP leader who threatened to hug Mamata if he contracted COVID-19 tests positive for infection

BJP leader Anupam Hazra, who had threatened to hug West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee if he got infected with COVID-19, has tested positive for the

disease, health officials said.

Hazra, who has recently been appointed as a national secretary of the saffron party, was admitted to a private hospital in Kolkata, they said.

He had complained of uneasiness and his samples were tested for coronavirus, the report of which returned as positive, the officials said.

14:01 October 02

India's active COVID-19 caseload remains below 10 lakh for 11th consecutive day: Govt

For the eleventh successive day, India's active COVID-19 cases remained less than 10 lakh, while the country continued to maintain its global position of having the maximum number of recovered patients, the Union Health Ministry said on Friday.

With78,877people having recuperated from COVID-19 in a span of 24 hours, India's total recoveries surged to 53,52,078 pushing the recovery rate to83.70 per cent, according to data updated at 8 am.

"The last 10 lakh recoveries were added in just 12 days. With this, India continues to maintain its global position of being the country with the maximum number of recovered COVID patients in the world," the ministry said.

13:18 October 02

9 security personnel among 31 new COVID-19 patients in Mizoram

Thirty-one more people, including nine security personnel, have tested positive for COVID-19 in Mizoram, taking the northeastern state's tally to 2,049 on Friday, an official statement said.

Lawngtlai district reported 15 new cases, followed by Lunglei (eight), Mamit (six) and Kolasib and Champhai (one each), the statement issued by Information and Public Relations Department said.

Eight Border Security Force (BSF) personnel, an Army jawan and 15 labourers working for the Border Roads Organisation (BRO) are among the new patients, it said.

Barring a woman from Kolasib district, all the patients had returned from other states, the statement said.

12:32 October 02

Odisha reports 3,600 new COVID-19 cases, 16 fatalities

At least 3,600 more people tested positive for COVID-19 in Odisha on Friday, which raised the tally to 2,26,334, while 16 fresh fatalities pushed the death toll to 875, a health department official said.

Of the 3,600 new cases, 2,109 were reported from various quarantine centres and the rest were detected during contact tracing, he said.

12:29 October 02

Another Bengal Minister tests positive for Covid-19

Another West Bengal Minister Tapas Roy has tested positive for Covid-19, state Health department's sources said on Friday.

Roy underwent a COVID test on Thursday.

At around 10 p.m. on Thursday, a senior official of the state health department informed the Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs that Roy's Covid report was positive.

Roy was immediately admitted to Kolkata Medical College and Hospital at around 11.30 p.m. on Thursday. The Minister is asymptotic and keeping stable so far, family sources said.

12:24 October 02

Pondy continues to see high number of COVID-19 deaths, toll touches 532

Puducherry continued to witness a steady increase in coronavirus deaths as seven more people, including a 65-year old woman, died of the illness on Friday, pushing the toll to 532. 

Director of Health and Family Welfare S Mohan Kumar said in a release that 514 fresh cases were reported raising the aggregate to 28,534 cases.

The fresh cases were identified after examination of 4,653 samples, he noted.

11:23 October 02

COVID recoveries in Telangana again exceeds new infections

Telangana on Friday reported a higher number of recoveries from Covid-19 than the new cases during the last 24 hours.

The state added 2,009 cases but 2,437 recovered from the virus. While the tally of positive cases rose to 1,95,609, the recoveries also jumped to 1,65,844.

The state's recovery rate improved further to 84.78 per cent against the national average of 83.5 per cent.

11:22 October 02

Arunachal's COVID-19 tally crosses 10,000-mark with 224 new cases

Arunachal Pradesh's COVID-19 tally crossed the 10,000-mark on Friday as 224 more people, including six security personnel, tested positive for the infection, a health official said.

The fresh infections have pushed the northeastern state's caseload to 10,020, he said.

The Capital Complex region reported 89 new cases, followed by West Siang (24), Lohit (20) and Lower Siang (14), State Surveillance Officer Dr Lobsang Jampa said.

10:10 October 02

10,97,947 sample collection on October 1

According to the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), a cumulative total of 7,67,17,728 samples have been tested for COVID-19 up to October 1, with 10,97,947 samples being tested on Thursday.

10:09 October 02

Kerala govt imposes Section 144 to curb coronavirus spread

The Kerala government has imposed section 144 of CrPC, prohibiting the assembly of more than five people to control the surge in coronavirus cases in the state. 

A late-night order issued on Thursday by Chief Secretary Vishwas Mehta said gatherings pose an impending danger of a super spread of the infection and the order shall come into force from 9 am on October 3 and will remain in effect till October 31.

10:03 October 02

India's tally inches closer to 64 lakh-mark

India's COVID-19 caseload inched closer to 64 lakh-mark with 81,484 infections reported in a day, while the number of people who recuperated from the disease crossed 53 lakh pushing the recovery rate to 83.70 per cent, the Union health ministry said on Friday.

The total number of coronavirus cases in the country mounted to 63,94,068, while the death toll climbed to 99,773 with the infection claiming 1,095 lives in a span of 24 hours, according to the ministry data updated at 8 am on Friday. 

09:58 October 02

Jharkhand reports 1,013 new cases, 8 fresh fatalities

Jharkhand's COVID-19 caseload rose to 84,664 on Friday as 1,013 more people tested positive for the infection, a health official said.

Eight more people succumbed to the infection, taking the state's coronavirus death toll to 721, he said.

The state now has 11,482 active coronavirus cases, while 72,461 people have been cured of the disease so far, the official said.

A total of 24,758 samples were tested for COVID-19 in the last 24 hours, he added.