COVID-19 news from across the nation

India's total COVID-19 case count has crossed the 50-lakh mark with a spike of 90,123 new cases and 1,290 deaths - the highest the country has seen in 24 hours. In other news, The DCGI has given permission to Serum Institute of India to resume clinical trial of the Oxford COVID-19 vaccine candidate in the country while revoking its earlier order of suspending any new recruitment for phase two and three trial.

Hyderabad:India's total COVID-19 case count has crossed the 50-lakh mark with a spike of 90,123 new cases and 1,290 deaths - the highest the country has seen in 24 hours. The total number of people who have died because of the disease now stands at 80,776. The country now has a total of 50,20,359 coronavirus cases, including 9,95,933 active cases (20.08 per cent of the total caseload), Union Health Ministry data stated.

The DCGI has given permission to Serum Institute of India to resume clinical trial of the Oxford COVID-19 vaccine candidate in the country while revoking its earlier order of suspending any new recruitment for phase two and three trial. The DCGI has, however, put certain conditions like taking extra care during screening, providing additional information in informed consent and close monitoring for adverse events during follow-up of the study which have to be "scrupulously" followed by Serum Institute of India (SII).

COVID-19 news from across the nation

Delhi

Delhi recorded 4263 new cases of COVID-19 on Tuesday, taking the tally to over 2.25 lakh, with authorities conducting more than 62000 coronavirus tests. 36 more deaths have been recorded, taking the death toll to 4806. The active cases tally on Tuesday rose to 29,787 from 28,641 the previous day.

Delhi BJP president Adesh Gupta Wednesday said he had contracted Covid-19. "Last week, I took a COVID test after having light fever. Its report was negative. I was tested again since I was feeling unwell. The report has now come as positive," he tweeted in Hindi.

Jharkhand

The number of infected patients in the state has increased to 64,439. So far 571 people have died and 49,750 people have been cured. Last day, 1638 Corona patients were found in the state and 8 patients died. A total of 14,07,149 people have been tested for coronavirus so far. Meanwhile, the Jharkhand government has issued an order under which the people will have to pay 1500 rupees for corona test in a private lab. Earlier, corona test at a private lab was billed at Rs 2400.

Uttar Pradesh

The total case tally of the state has climbed to 3,30,265 with 6,337 more people testing positive for the viral disease. The state's death toll has risen to 4690, with 86 more fatalities.

The state now has 67,002 active COVID-19 cases and 2,58,573 people have recovered from the disease till date, Additional Chief Secretary (Medical and Health) Amit Mohan Prasad said.

While 6,337 fresh coronavirus cases were detected in a span of 24 hours, the number of patients discharged was 6,476, Prasad said, adding that the recovery rate of COVID-19 patients in the state is 78.29 per cent.

Karnataka:

Two Karnataka ministers have tested positive for Covid-19. Home Minister Basavaraj Bommai and Food and Civil Supplies Minister K Gopalaiah said they were being treated for the disease. "Our domestic help at home was found infected by the coronavirus yesterday. So, I too underwent a test and found positive for the virus," Bommai tweeted, adding he was asymptomatic and in-home isolation.

Gopalaiah, meanwhile, said Tuesday, "As I have tested positive for coronavirus, I am getting admitted to the hospital on the advice of a doctor, though I have no symptoms of the disease."