Hyderabad: Findings of a recent study from the University of Georgia support growing evidence for airborne transmission of COVID-19 in enclosed spaces. Researchers were able to link a community outbreak of COVID-19 in China to a source patient who likely spread the virus to fellow bus riders through the bus's air conditioning system. The study, which was published recently in JAMA Internal Medicine, calls into question the prevailing thought on how COVID-19 can spread. Meanwhile, with a spike of 80,472 new cases and 1,179 deaths reported in the last 24 hours, India's COVID-19 count reached 62,25,764 on Wednesday.
Maharashtra
The Maharashtra Government on Wednesday extended coronavirus-induced lockdown till October 31, but also said that hotels, restaurants and bars will be allowed to operate from October 5 with restricted capacity. All the trains originating and ending the journey within the state will be restarted with immediate effect subject to health protocols for COVID-19, the latest guidelines said. Hotels, food courts, restaurants and bars can operate from October 5 with a capacity not exceeding 50 per cent or as prescribed by local authorities.
Telangana
Telangana's Covid-19 recovery rate crossed 84 per cent on Wednesday as the state again reported more recoveries than the daily count of new positive cases. A total of 2,243 people recovered from the virus during the last 24 hours, taking the total number of people recovered so far to 1,60,933. With this, the state's recovery rate mounted to 84.08 per cent against the national average of 83.27 per cent. Eleven more people succumbed to Covid, pushing the death toll to 1,127. The fatality rate in the state stands at 0.58 per cent against the national average of 1.57 per cent.
Uttar Pradesh
Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Wednesday said that the total number of COVID-19 tests has surpassed one crore mark in Uttar Pradesh. Speaking at the inauguration ceremony of hospitals of Level 1 and Level 2 in six districts of the State, the Chief Minister said, "Today, we have completed one crore COVID-19 tests in Uttar Pradesh." "We have conducted 1.5 lakh tests per day for the past 45 days," the Chief Minister said. Six months back, we did not have facilities to tackle coronavirus in the State. We had to recommend patients to Delhi for better treatment. But now, we have built level 1 and level 2 facilities in various hospitals," he said.
Andhra Pradesh
Andhra Pradesh registered 6,133 new coronavirus infections, taking its total tally to 6.9 lakh cases, even as 7,075 more recoveries on Wednesday brought down the active cases to 58,445. Hearteningly, West Godavari's single-day cases halved to 464, compared with the earlier trend of around 900 infections. In the past 24 hours, 48 more patients succumbed to the virus, taking Andhra's COVID-19 death toll to 5,828.
Karnataka
Taking a swipe at the ruling BJP, Karnataka Leader of the Opposition Siddaramaiah charged that the ruling BJP was fudging numbers to bring down Covid-19 figures in the state. In his hard-hitting three-part tweet, Siddaramaiah alleged that there are serious underreporting issues with respect to Covid-19 deaths. "Jalappa hospital has reported four deaths between 19 Sep, 12 PM to 20 Sep, 12 PM. But, the bulletin on 20 Sept has reported zero deaths in Kolar. Jalappa hospital has reported one death between 20 Sep, 12 PM to 21 Sep, 12 PM. But the bulletin on 21 Sept has reported 0 deaths in Kolar," he stated tweeted along with posting those respective days' bulletin. Siddaramaiah added that underreporting will have serious implications on the preparedness of the stakeholders providing health care and also on the behaviour of the people.
Odisha
The World Health Organisation (WHO) has heaped praises on the Odisha government for its efficient COVID-19 management, even though the state saw an influx of migrants and was also struck by cyclone Amphan during the crisis phase. An article titled "From governance to community resilience: Odisha's response to COVID-19" published on WHO's website praises the state government for the measures it took to contain the spread, and also to effectively manage the patients. According to the article, "Evacuating the stranded people safely while adhering to social distancing measures was challenging but the state's experience in disaster management helped in managing the situation. Effective governance in collaboration with Panchayati Raj Institutions and community-based response strategy enabled the resilient state to contain the spread of the virus." The article added that the state's COVID-19 management strategy offers key insights into how to keep the caseload low despite the influx of migrants.
