COVID-19 news from across the nation

Today is the 197th day since India implemented a nationwide lockdown, to help curb the novel coronavirus pandemic. So far, India has recorded 66,85,082 confirmed COVID-19 cases, including 1,03,569 deaths. Meanwhile, testing in Delhi hit the 60,000 a day mark in September compared to 20,000 tests per day in August. In the wake of several incidents reported from across the state indicating people, including high-risk contacts of Covid-19 positive patients refusing to get tested for coronavirus.

Hyderabad:With the festive season posing a major challenge during the COVID-19 pandemic, the Union Health Ministry has issued guidelines for large gatherings, including ensuring adequate area for events with a detailed site map and proper markings to maintain social distancing and not allowing touching of idols and holy books, to prevent the spread of infection.

About 48 per cent of total COVID-19 deaths in the country are concentrated in 25 districts of 8 states, out of which 15 districts are in Maharastra alone.

Meanwhile, the average daily COVID-19 positivity rate has declined from 9.21% recorded between September 16-22 to 6.82% from Sep 30 to Oct 6, the Health Ministry said Tuesday.

COVID-19 news from across the nation

Delhi

New Delhi: Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Tuesday said the national capital is past the peak of the second wave of coronavirus and the situation has been controlled to a large extent. Kejriwal said the Delhi government increased the testing exponentially to detect the infection. "Delhi hit the peak of the second wave of COVID-19 on September 17 when 4,500 cases were reported across the city. The situation has been controlled to a large extent," he said.

"I hope the second wave will slowly pass," Kejriwal said.

Testing in Delhi hit the 60,000 a day mark in September compared to 20,000 tests per day in August.

Maharashtra

Mumbai:A spike in Maharashtra’s unemployment rate in August is threatening the revival of the COVID-hit economy, a government report has said. In a presentation made to Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray and senior ministers in a meeting on Monday, the state finance department claimed that the unemployment rate had climbed from 3.9 per cent in July to 6.2 per cent in August.

According to a finance department report, the latest uptick in unemployment was due to imposition of micro lockdowns in several parts of the state, the loss of work under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) and end of the kharif sowing season.

Karnataka

Bengaluru:In the wake of several incidents reported from across the state indicating people, including high-risk contacts of Covid-19 positive patients refusing to get tested for coronavirus, the Karnataka government Tuesday issued an order asking people identified so to undergo testing.

A day after the CBI conducted searches at his premises and that of his brother and state Congress chief D K Shivakumar, Bengaluru Rural MP D K Suresh on Tuesday said he has tested positive for COVID-19.

He has also appealed to all those who had come in contact with him, including CBI officials, to get themselves tested.

Punjab

Chandigarh: Punjab Health Minister Balbir Singh Sidhu on Tuesday tested positive for the novel coronavirus. Sidhu had shared a stage with Rahul Gandhi during tractor rally at Sangrur on October 5.

Haryana

Chandigarh:Haryana Deputy Chief Minister Dushyant Chautala has tested positive for the COVID-19 virus, which has infected nearly 67 lakh people across the country. In a short video posted on Twitter this afternoon, Mr Chautala said he had self-isolated himself but was in good health and asymptomatic.

Rajasthan

Jaipur: Rajasthan Congress MLA Kailash Chandra Trivedi, who was suffering from lung fibrosis after recovering from the coronavirus infection, died at a hospital in Gurgaon, family sources said Tuesday. He was 65.

Trivedi, the legislator from Sahara (Bhilwara) constituency, was airlifted to Medanta hospital in Gurgaon from Jaipur on October 2 after his health deteriorated.

He died late Monday night, they said.