India reports over 1 lakh COVID recoveries in 24 hrs

Mangalore Today News Network

New Delhi, Sep 23, 2020: India reported over 1 lakh coronavirus recoveries in a single-day for the first time while fresh cases also dropped below 76,000 after two weeks, according to the Health Ministry data updated on Tuesday.

The data updated at 8 am showed that during the past 24 hours, 1,01,468 COVID-19 patients recuperated, while 75,809 new cases were recorded, pushing the overall figures to 55,62,663 infections and 44,97,867 recoveries. India’s recovery rate thus improved to 80.86 percent.

 

Also, 1,053 patients died during the period, taking the cumulative death figures to 88,935, the data showed, reporting a COVID-19 case fatality rate of 1.60 percent. There are 9,75,861 active coronavirus cases in the country, which make 17.54 percent of the total caseload, the data stated.

Furthermore, the government data also revealed that at 19.5 percent, India has highest share in global COVID-19 recoveries.

PM to chair review meeting with CMs

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will chair a high-level virtual meeting with chief ministers and health ministers of seven high-burden states on Wednesday to review the COVID-19 situation.

These states are Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Uttar Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Delhi and Punjab, an official statement said, noting that more than 63 percent of the active cases in the country are concentrated in these seven states.

They also account for 65.5 percent of the total confirmed cases and 77 percent of the total deaths.

"Along with the other five states, Punjab and Delhi have reported an increase in the number of cases being reported recently. Maharashtra, Punjab and Delhi are reporting high mortality with more than 2 percent Case Fatality Rate (CFR). Other than Punjab and Uttar Pradesh, their positivity rate is observed to be above the national average of 8.52 percent," the statement said.

The Centre, it added, has been leading the fight against COVID-19 in effective collaboration and close coordination with the state and union territory governments.

Delhi’s >COVID-19 tally croses 2.53 lakh

The National Capital’s COVID-19 case count mounted to over 2.53 lakh on Tuesday with 3,816 more people contracting the viral disease, while 37 fresh fatalities pushed the death toll to 5,051, according to the Delhi health department bulletin.

In total, 59,013 samples were tested on Monday, and results of 3,816 came positive today, it said.

The number of active cases on Tuesday rose to 31,263 from 30,941 on the previous day. The death toll from COVID-19 in Delhi stood at 5,014 on Monday.

The Tuesday bulletin said that the death toll due to the coronavirus infection has risen to 5,051 and the total number of cases has climbed to 2,53,075.

Maharashtra reports 18,390 new cases

Maharashtra, the state contributing the biggest share to India’s case load, reported 18,390 new cases of COVID-19 in the last 24 hours, taking the total number of cases in the state to 12,42,770.

According to the state’s public health department, Maharashtra reported 18,390 new COVID-19 cases, 20,206 recovered cases and 392 deaths in the last 24 hours, taking total cases to 12,42,770 till date, including 2,72,410 active cases, 9,36,554 discharged cases, and 33,407 deaths. The recovery rate in the state is 75.36 percent, while the case fatality rate is 2.69 percent.

United States passes 200,000 deaths

The United States registered its 200,000th death from the pandemic on Tuesday, the latest grim milestone for the country just weeks before voters decide if President Donald Trump will stay in office.

According to a rolling tally by Johns Hopkins University, 200,005 Americans have died and 6.86 million have been confirmed infected by the novel coronavirus

"COVID will be the third leading cause of death this year in the US," tweeted Tom Frieden, the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) under former president Barack Obama. "The staggering death toll from the virus is a reflection of a failed national response, but it’s not too late to turn it around."

Only the number of people who died from heart disease and cancer will be higher. It’s likely that the US actually crossed 200,000 deaths in July, said Eric Topol, director of the Scripps Research Institute, citing the excess overall mortality rate. The initial lack of tests led to an undercount of the virus’ toll.

"We are the outlier to have been caught totally flat-footed with no testing, and just not learning from mistakes," Topol said. "We never got adequate suppression, and yet we’re opening everything and trying to make believe that everything is just great."

50% efficacy needed for COVID-19 vaccine approval: DCGI

A COVID-19 vaccine candidate should show at least 50 percent efficacy during Phase III of clinical trials for it to be widely deployed, according to a draft guidance document for vaccine developers issued by the central drug authority.

However, adequate data informing about the potential risk of vaccine-associated Enhanced Respiratory Disease (ERD) will need to be generated, the Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation (CDSCO) said in its draft ’’Regulatory Guidelines for Development of Vaccines with Special Consideration for COVID-19 Vaccine’’.

It said people with a history or laboratory evidence of prior novel coronavirus infection should be allowed to participate in trials if they did not have acute COVID-19 or other acute infectious illness.

The draft guidelines have been uploaded on the CDSCO’’s website. It is seeking comments and feedback from the public till 12 October.

Considering the urgent need for a safe and effective vaccine for the prevention of COVID-19, clinical development programs of COVID-19 vaccine may proceed through an adaptive and seamless approach.

"However, as applicable for any vaccine, regardless of whether clinical development programs proceed in discrete phases with separate studies or via a more seamless approach, an adequate data, including data to inform the potential risk of vaccine-associated Enhanced Respiratory Disease (ERD) will be needed," they said.

Consideration may be needed for conducting more than one vaccine efficacy trial in case different subtypes of a pathogen are involved, the guidelines underlined.

In such cases, the efficacy trials may be required to be conducted in different regions where certain subtypes are known to predominate.

It is anticipated that adequately powered efficacy trials for COVID-19 vaccines will be of sufficient size to provide an acceptable safety database for younger adult and elderly populations, provided that no significant safety concerns arise during clinical development that would warrant further pre-licensure evaluation.

India’s single-day coronavirus cases had dipped below 76,000 on 8 September also, when 75,809 cases were reported.

India’s COVID-19 tally had crossed the 20-lakh mark on 7 August, 30 lakh on August 23, 40 lakh on September 5 and it went past 50 lakh on September 16.

According to the Indian Council of Medical Research, a cumulative 6,53,25,779 samples have been tested up to September 21 --9,33,185 of them on Monday.

The 1,053 new deaths include 344 from Maharashtra, 122 from Karnataka, 88 from Uttar Pradesh, 62 from West Bengal, 60 from Tamil Nadu, 51 from Andhra Pradesh, 47 from Punjab, 37 from Madhya Pradesh and 32 from Delhi.

A total of 88,935 deaths reported so far includes 33,015 from Maharashtra, followed by 8,871 from Tamil Nadu, 8,145 from Karnataka, 5,410 from Andhra Pradesh, 5,135 from Uttar Pradesh, 5,014 from Delhi, 4,421 from West Bengal, 3,336 from Gujarat, 2,860 from Punjab and 2,007 from Madhya Pradesh.

The health ministry stressed that more than 70 per cent of the deaths occurred due to comorbidities.

"Our figures are being reconciled with the Indian Council of Medical Research," the ministry said on its website, adding that state-wise distribution of figures is subject to further verification and reconciliation



courtesy: Yahoo