Coronavirus live updates | Country sees increase in number of active cases for fourth consecutive day
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With a single-day rise of 41,649 new cases, India’s COVID-19 tally climbed to 3,16,13,993 on July 31, while the death toll due to the viral disease shot up to 4,23,810 with 593 more people succumbing to it, the Union Health ministry said.
PTI reported that the number of active cases has gone up to 4,08,920, accounting for 1.29% of the total number of cases, while the national COVID-19 recovery rate was recorded at 97.37%, the data showed.
You can track coronavirus cases, deaths and testing rates at the national and State levels here. A list of State Helpline numbers is available as well.
Here are the latest updates:
Assam
Ground Zero | Lights dim for Assam’s roving theatre troupes
Bhramyoman translates into mobile theatre and ‘setting’ entails a range of activities from putting up tents to decorating the stage. A travelling theatre group of an average of 150 persons has 55-60 stage workers engaged in settings.
About one-fourth of some 4,000 stage workers and technicians employed directly by at least 30 Bhramyomans have left Assam for jobs or in search of greener pastures after the first COVID-19 wave eased by October 2020. Most of those who stayed back, primarily because of age and because they had not picked up any other skill, have been struggling to sustain their families.
Rahul Karmakar reports on how Bhramyoman groups, which are a distinct feature of the culture of the State, are on the verge of closure. Read the Ground Zero report here.
World Health Organisation
WHO urges action to suppress COVID-19 before deadlier variants emerge
The Delta variant of Covid-19 is a warning to the world to suppress the virus quickly before it mutates again into something even worse, the WHO said Friday.
The highly-transmissible variant, first detected in India, has now surfaced in 132 countries and territories, the World Health Organization said.
“Delta is a warning: it’s a warning that the virus is evolving but it is also a call to action that we need to move now before more dangerous variants emerge,” the WHO’s emergencies director Michael Ryan told a press conference.
New Delhi
Out of nearly 2,000 people, 65% had no job in April and May, shows CPI(M) survey
The Delhi unit of CPI(M) on July 30 released a report on the impact of the second COVID wave in Delhi-NCR.
The survey showed that despite the additional ration entitlement announced by the government, 27% of the households got less than 5 kg ration per person in May this year. The survey also said out of 1,917 respondents across the Capital and Ghaziabad, 65% had no employment in April and May.
“Even the rest faced a considerable loss of employment. Around 14% of them did not find any work for more than 30 days in two months, 6% for 15-30 days in two months and 4% for 15 days in two months. Only 3% of the respondents reported that they did not face any loss of employment,” the report read.
USA
U.S. sues Kaiser Permanente over alleged Medicare fraud
The federal government has sued Kaiser Permanente, alleging the health care giant committed Medicare fraud and pressured doctors to list incorrect diagnoses on medical records in order to receive higher reimbursements, officials said Friday.
The U.S. Department of Justice lawsuit, filed Thursday in federal court in San Francisco, consolidates allegations made in six whistleblower complaints.
Kaiser, based in Oakland, California, is a consortium of entities that together form one of the largest nonprofit health care plans in the U.S. with more than 12 million members and dozens of medical centers.
USA
Walmart, Disney announce new COVID-19 steps amid Delta surge
Walmart announced Friday it is again requiring some American employees to wear face masks, while Disney mandated non-union US employees get vaccinated.
The moves come as U.S. officials redouble efforts to encourage more vaccinations in response to the highly contagious Delta variant of COVID-19.
The world’s largest retailer, Walmart said it will again require employees to wear face masks at stores in areas of the United States with high rates of COVID-19 transmission. The chain, which has become something of a bellwether for safety protocols in the United States during the pandemic, said it would also post signs at stores to “strongly encourage” customers to wear masks or face coverings, the company said on its website.
Kerala
Kerala breaks single-day vaccination record
The State broke its earlier record of COVID-19 vaccination on Friday, administering 5,06,397 doses, the highest number of doses to have been delivered on a single day. The State had administered 4.91 lakh doses on July 24.
On Friday, vaccines were delivered through 1,753 vaccination sites, including 1,498 government sites and 255 centres at private hospitals. Thiruvananthapuram district emerged on top, delivering 97,507 doses, followed by Thrissur, which administered 51,982 doses. Over 40,000 doses each were delivered in Ernakulam, Kozhikode and Kannur districts
Meanwhile, the State received 2.45 lakh more vaccine doses on Friday. Two lakh doses of Covishield were received at Ernakulam regional vaccine store and 45,000 doses of Covaxin in Thiruvananthapuram.
Punjab
Punjab ‘excess deaths’ three times official toll
The number of “excess deaths” registered by the Civil Registration System (CRS) in Punjab ever since the COVID-19 pandemic hit (from April 2020 to May 2021) was an estimated 47,571, which is 3.3 times the official reported figure of 14,450 COVID-19 deaths for the same period.
The figures were arrived at from the data on deaths registered month-wise in the CRS from January 2015 to June 2021 in Punjab and accessed by The Puucho.
Read the story here.
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