Coronavirus Highlights: 'Does He Have Proper Proof to Support Claim?' IMA's Tough Question to Harsh Vardhan on Ayurveda Protocols for Covid-19

Coronavirus LIVE Updates: The Indian Medical Association (IMA) on Thursday criticised the Centre after it released a document entailing the protocol for treating asymptomatic and those Covid-19 patients with mild symptoms based on AYUSH and Yoga. In a release, the IMA demanded evidence to be provided in the public domain regarding how successful such a treatment would be on coronavirus patients.

India’s Covid-19 tally crossed the 68-lakh mark on Thursday with a spike of 78,524 new cases & 971 deaths reported in the last 24 hours. With this, the total case tally stands at 68,35,656 including 9,02,425 active cases, 58,27,705 cured/discharged/migrated cases and 1,05,526 deaths, the Union Health Ministry said today. India’s Covid-19 recoveries have witnessed an exponential rise, from 50,000 in May to over 57 lakh in October. Notably, more than 75,000 recoveries are being reported every day. Recoveries are 6.3 times the number of active cases. Meanwhile, Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched a campaign today to encourage people’s participation in the battle against Covid-19, where he emphasised on the importance of wearing masks, following physical distancing, and maintaining hand hygiene.

Here are the highlights on coronavirus pandemic:

◕ Ministry of Health said on Thursday that India has performed remarkably on fulfilling World Health Organisation’s advice of 140 tests/day per million population. “National average of tests/day per million population stands at 865 with 35 states/UTs performing more than 140 tests per day per million population,” it added.

◕ ‘Have to Protect our Citizens from Virus’: PM Modi | “India’s COVID-19 fight is people-driven and gets great strength from our COVID warriors. Our collective efforts have helped saved many lives. We have to continue the momentum and protect our citizens from the virus. #Unite2FightCorona,” PM Modi wrote on Twitter.

◕ Today’s Data Highlights:

– Fall in active cases for the 5th consecutive day. Total active cases now at 9.02 lakh down from a high of 10.02 lakh 20 days ago.

– Deaths below 1k for the 5th consecutive day

– 78.5k new cases, up from 72k new cases yesterday. Total cases: 68.36 lakh

– Active cases in Andhra Pradesh now below 50k. The highest active cases in Andhra was 1.04 lakh on September 4. Andhra has the second-highest total cases (7.34 lakh) in India behind Maharashtra (14.8 lakh). Andhra ranks No.4 in India in active cases.

– Only three states now have more than 50k active cases: Maharashtra, Karnataka and Kerala

– Kerala reports more than 10k new cases in a day for the first time. Total cases in Kerala cross 2.5 lakh with 92k active cases

– India’s tests per million population crosses the 60k mark. 60.32k tests/million population.

– Brazil crosses 5 million cases

◕ Two More Kerala Ministers Test Positive for COVID-19 | Kerala ministers MM Maniand K T Jaleel tested positive for the coronavirus on Wednesday. With this, five members of the Pinarayi Vijayan cabinet have so far been infected by the deadly virus. While Mani, the Electricity minister, has been admitted to the government medical college hospital here, Jaleel, Higher Education Minister, is under observation at his official residence. The 75-year old Mani, in a Facebook post, requested all those who had come in contact with him in the past few days to be on guard.

◕ Seen here, a member of the White House cleaning staff spraying the press briefing room, and more scenes from inside the White House as a growing number of Trump administration staff and senior Republicans have tested positive for COVID-19.

◕ Wall Street Jumps on Hope That Partial Coronavirus Stimulus Deal May Occur | US stocks rose on Wednesday as investors were optimistic that at least a partial deal on more US fiscal stimulus may happen. After abruptly calling off negotiations on a comprehensive bill on Tuesday, President Donald Trump later that day urged Congress to pass a series of smaller, standalone bills that would include a bailout package for the airline industry battered by the coronavirus pandemic.Airline shares jumped, including United Airlines up 4.3%.

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