COVID-19 news from across the nation

Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) National Secretary from West Bengal Anupam Hazra, who had said he would hug Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee if he infected COVID-19, has tested positive for the virus on Friday. Meanwhile, Telangana reported a higher number of recoveries from Covid-19 than the new cases during the last 24 hours.

Hyderabad:The findings of the third serological survey in the national capital conducted in August revealed a reduction of approximately four per cent of antibodies against the novel coronavirus in the population. A first glance at the findings suggests a decline in antibodies developed against the Covid-19. However, the medical experts believe that the dip accounted for the antibodies was done due to a changed method of recording the seroprevalence.

COVID-19 cases in India

Telangana

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. The 24-hour period ending 8 p.m. Thursday saw 10 more deaths, taking the death toll to 1,145. The fatality rate in the state stands at 0.58 per cent against the national average of 1.6 per cent. Officials said the percentage of death due to Covid-19 was 44.96 while the remaining 55.04 had comorbidities.

Delhi

The national capital recorded 37 COVID-19 fatalities on Friday as the toll climbed to 5,438, while 2,920 fresh cases took the tally to over 2.85 lakh, authorities said.
On September 29, 48 deaths were reported, the highest number of fatalities recorded in a day since July 16, when the city saw 58 fatalities. The fresh cases reported on Friday came out of the 56,258 tests conducted the previous day. Thirty-seven new fatalities have been recorded, taking the death toll to 5,438, according to the latest bulletin issued by the Delhi Health Department.

Maharashtra

Nationalist Congress Party President Sharad Pawar on Friday said that the Covid-19 vaccine being manufactured by the Serum Institute of India (SII) in Pune would be made available by the end of January 2021. The 79-year-old leader's brief comments came after a visit to the SII facility to get a dose of the BCG vaccine to increase immunity. This was Pawar's second visit since August to the SII which is currently under the global spotlight for its plans to produce vaccines against coronavirus. Meanwhile, the state has recorded 15,591 new coronavirus cases, which took the total case count in the state to 14,16,513

West Bengal

Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) National Secretary from West Bengal Anupam Hazra, who had said he would hug Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee if he infected COVID-19, has tested positive for the virus on Friday. "Covid Positive," posted Anupam Hazra on his Facebook page today. He has been shifted to BP Poddar Hospital for treatment. Anupam Hazra had on Sunday said, "If someday I am found COVID-19 positive, I will go to Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and hug her. She will understand the pain of those who have suffered the disease and have lost their near and dear ones during the pandemic."

Tamil Nadu

Actor turned politician and DMDK president A Vijayakant and his wife V. Premalatha who were undergoing treatment at MIOT hospital here after testing positive for Covid-19, will be discharged on Friday, the facility authorities said. In a statement issued the hospital said Vijayakant, General Secretary of DMDK and Premalatha, Treasurer of the party, who had tested positive for Covid-19 have responded extremely well to treatment. Vijayakant tested positive for coronavirus on September 22 and Premalatha on September 28. The hospital authorities had said that Vijayakant will be discharged once the preliminary tests for Premalatha were conducted.

Odisha

As many as 3600 new COVID-19 cases and 16 deaths were reported in Odisha on Thursday, taking the total count in the state to 2,26,334, state's Health and Family Welfare Department informed. At present, there is a total of 35326 active cases and 875 fatalities across the State. Odisha has recorded 4380 recoveries of COVID patients on Thursday. With this, the total number of the recovered patients have gone up to 1,90,080 in the stat
Rajasthan

As a part of Unlock-5, students of class 9 to 12 are allowed to voluntarily go to the school and get guidance from their teachers after getting consent from their parents, said Rajasthan Home Department. Swimming pools, cinema halls, theatres, multiplexes, and amusement parks will be closed till October 31, as per guidelines issued for Unlock-5. There will be a provision for nine months for no entry at these places. Rajasthan has reported 20,807 active COVID-19 cases, according to the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.