Pondy minister and his son test positive for coronavirus, admitted to JIPMER

86-year-old man with comorbidities recovers from COVID disease

Tamil Nadu to allow gyms to reopen from August 10 onwards

India's 'amazing' support could help bring 'good news' to world on rapid COVID-19 testing: Israel

90% of recovered COVID-19 patients in Wuhan suffering from lung damage

Coronavirus News LIVE updates: Arthritis drug can shorten hospital stay for severe COVID-19 patients: Study

Coronavirus News LIVE updates: 36-year-old cardiac surgeon dies of COVID-19 in Kolkata

A 36-year-old cardiac surgeon has died of COVID-19 in Kolkata, Health Department sources said on Wednesday. Dr Nitish Kumar was diagnosed with COVID-19 in mid-July and was undergoing treatment at a private hospital where he worked, they said. Dr Kumar got infected around 25 days back while serving the people. All efforts were made to save him but his condition continuously deteriorated," a doctor at the hospital said.

Coronavirus News LIVE updates: India's COVID-19 recovery rate rises to 67.19%; case fatality drops to 2.09%: Govt

7 die of COVID-19 in Puducherry as toll reaches 65

COVID-19 in Andamans; 98 new cases reported

Singer SP Balasubrahmanyam tests positive for COVID-19

10,026 Maha cops contract COVID-19, death toll reaches 107

Coronavirus LIVE Updates: Sean Penn marries in 'COVID wedding'

Actor Sean Penn has confirmed that he tied the knot with his girlfriend Leila George in an intimate ceremony during the coronavirus pandemic.

There were rumours floating on social media that 59-year-old Penn had secretly married George, 28. The two have been in a relationship for the past four years.

On Tuesday, the actor broke the news during a virtual appearance on talk show "Late Night with Seth Meyers". Meyers asked Penn about the rumours and he confirmed them by showing his wedding ring.

The Oscar winner revealed that he and George got married on 30 July.

"We did a COVID wedding. By that I mean it was a county commissioner on Zoom and we were at the house, my two children and her brother, and we did it that way, Penn said.

Coronavirus India LIVE Updates

A thick blanket of security was thrown over Ayodhya in view of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit here on Wednesday to lay the foundation stone of the Ram Temple, and it has been ensured that all 300 police personnel deployed for PM's security are COVID-19 negative.

Coronavirus India LIVE Updates: Bhubaneswar COVID testing results will be uploaded on ICMR portal on real time basis

The COVID-19 test results coming from various testing centers across Bhubaneswar will be uploaded on the ICMR portal in real time basis for quick contact tracing, an official said. Instruction in this regard has been issued by Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation (BMC) Commissioner Prem Chandra Chaudhary, the official said.

Chairing a meeting of all the city-based COVID testing agencies on Tuesday for smooth testing and reporting, the BMC Commissioner ordered that the data be uploaded on the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR)- portal - cvanalytics.icmr.org.in/login.php - timely in a phase-wise manner from Thursday, PTI reported.

Mothers should continue to breastfeed infants even if they are COVID positive: Women and Child Development Ministry

The Women and Child Development Ministry has instructed all field functionaries and healthcare providers to reassure mothers to initiate and continue to breastfeed their infants as per guidelines even if they have tested positive for COVID-19. Noting that breastfeeding helps to protect a baby even if the mother is infected with coronavirus, the WCD ministry said the guidelines of the World Health Organisation (WHO) and Ministry of Health and Family Welfare must be followed by those who are suspected or confirmed to have infected with the coronavirus.

Reassuring mothers, the WCD ministry said the coronavirus has not been found in amniotic fluid or breast milk which means that the virus is not being transmitted during pregnancy or through breast milk. (PTI)

Coronavirus India LIVE Updates: Odisha's COVID-19 caseload crosses 39,000-mark; death toll mounts to 225

Odisha's COVID-19 caseload crossed the 39,000-mark with the detection of 1,337 fresh infections, while nine more fatalities pushed its coronavirus death toll to 225 on Wednesday. The fresh infections reported in 28 districts took the state's tally to 39,018, a health official said. As many as 815 new cases were reported from quarantine centres, while 522 people tested positive for the infection during contact tracing, the official added.

Ganjam district, Odisha's COVID-19 hotspot, reported the highest number of new cases at 201, followed by Khurda (196), Cuttack (168), Sundergarh (83), Keonjhar (80), Gajapati (75), Puri (72) and Nayagarh (60). Twenty other districts reported less than 60 cases each, he said. (PTI)

Coronavirus India LIVE Updates: Zydus Cadila to commence phase II clinical trials of COVID-19 vaccine from August 6

Zydus Cadila announced that its plasmid DNA vaccine to prevent COVID-19, ZyCoV-D was found to be safe and well tolerated in the Phase I clinical trial. The company will now commence Phase II clinical trials from the 6th of August, 2020.

The company reports that the doses of the vaccine administered to healthy volunteers in the Phase I clinical trial, which began on 15th July 2020, has been well tolerated. Previously, the vaccine was found to be safe, immunogenic and well tolerated in the pre-clinical toxicity studies. The vaccine was able to elicit high level of neutralizing antibodies in animal studies.

Coronavirus India LIVE Updates: Lupin launches Favipravir drug for the treatment of mild-to-moderate COVID-19 priced at Rs 49/tablet.

Today's COVID-19 Data Highlights:

- Dip in active cases for the first time since May 30. 

- India's total cases have crossed 19 lakh. New cases: 52.5k. New recoveries more than 51k (51,706). Previous highest: 51,255 (August 2)

- Number of active cases in Delhi slips below 10k. Recovery rate is now 90%. Ranked No.14 in India now in active cases.

- India's recovery rate improves further to 67.2% (from 66.3% yesterday)

- Andhra Pradesh reports more new cases than Maharashtra (9,747 v/s 7,760)

- Maharashtra new recoveries continue to be more than new cases (12,326 vs 7760). Also in Tamil Nadu (6,501 v/s 5,063)

- Uttar Pradesh crosses 1 lakh total cases. 6 Indian states have more than 1 lakh total cases. 

- Global coronavirus deaths cross 7 lakh mark. Global deaths per million population is 90 (29 for India). USA alone accounts for 23% of the deaths.

Coronavirus India LIVE Updates: 52,509 fresh COVID-19 cases push India's 19 tally to 19,08,254; death toll climbs to 39,795

India's COVID-19 infection tally raced past 19 lakh on Wednesday, two days after it crossed the 18-lakh mark, with 52,509 people testing positive for the novel coronavirus in a day, while the recoveries have mounted to 12,82,215, according to the Union Health Ministry data. The total coronavirus cases in the country surged to 19,08,254 while the death toll climbed to 39,795 with 857 people succumbing to the disease in a span of 24 hours, the data updated at 8 am showed.

Global coronavirus deaths exceed 7,00,000, one person dies every 15 seconds on average

The global death toll from COVID-19 surpassed 7,00,000 on August 5, according to a Reuters tally, with the United States, Brazil, India and Mexico leading the rise in fatalities. Nearly 5,900 people are dying every 24 hours from COVID-19 on average, according to Reuters calculations based on data from the past two weeks. That equates to 247 people per hour, or one person every 15 seconds. The United States and Latin America are the new epicenters of the pandemic and both are struggling to curb the spread of the virus. (Source: Reuters)

Coronavirus News LIVE Updates: Madhya Pradesh CM Shivraj Singh Chouhan discharged from Bhopal's Chirayu Hospital after recovering from #COVID19. He had tested positive for the disease on 25th July. The hospital has advised him to isolate himself at home and self monitor his health for a further 7 days.  

Coronavirus News LIVE Updates: UP Cabinet Minister Brajesh Pathak on Wednesday tested positive for Covid-19. Pathak said that he got himself tested after he showed symptoms for Covid-19 and appealed to people who came in contact with him to quarantine themselves.