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World cases top 15 mn, India, Israel to develop testing kit with quick results: Top Covid-19 updates
As many as 15,437,206 people have been infected with the coronavirus disease in the world. The most number of cases continue to be reported from the United States, followed by Brazil (2,287,475) and India (1,238,798).
While pharma firms race to develop a vaccine to treat the coronavirus disease, the number of people infected with Covid-19 has crossed over 15 million. A total of 15,439,456 have so far contracted the disease while 631,926 fatalities have been recorded across the globe, according to latest figures released by Johns Hopkins University.
Here are top updates on the Covid-19 situation in India and the world
India’s daily Covid-19 cases now second only to the US
India now has the second highest daily Covid-19 case count after the United States. Between July 16 and July 22, India registered 269,969 new infections against Brazil’s 260,962 which —the second and third most daily cases in the world.
However, the US continues to report the maximum number of new cases with nearly half a million new cases (478,899) coming in the past week.
Global Covid-19 cases top 15 million
As many as 15,437,206 people have been infected with the coronavirus disease in the world, according to Johns Hopkins University’s dashboard. The global toll has mounted to 631,926. The most number of cases continue to be reported from the US (4,034,831), followed by Brazil (2,287,475) and India (1,238,798).
India, Israel to develop Covid-19 rapid testing kit for results in less than 30 seconds
The embassy of Israel in India on Thursday said that the two nations will jointly develop rapid testing kit which will give the Covid-19 report in less than 30 seconds.
“A special planned flight from Tel Aviv to New Delhi is set to carry a high ranking Ministry of Defence, R&D team which has been working with India’s chief scientist K. Vijay Raghavan and DRDO to develop rapid testing for #Covid_19 in under 30 seconds,” the embassy tweeted.
5 nations have 50% of global cases
Five worst-hit nations account for more than half of the world’s total Covid-19 infections and deaths. The nations with most cases are United States with 4,034,831 cases,Brazil with 2,287,475 confirmed cases, while India has 1,238,798 cases, followed byRussia and South Africa with 793,720 and 408,052 cases respectively.
India’s Covid-19 positivity rate on the rise. Why it’s still good news
India’s Covid-19 positivity rate is steadily increasing. The weekly average is around 11.7% now as against 8.1% a month ago, while in early May it was as low as 3%. However, despite what this trend suggests, the rising positivity rate in the country, under the current context, is actually good news because the positivity rate increases with testing till a point, then plateaus, and then eventually starts declining as a country, state, or city starts testing adequately. India has only tested around 1.1% of its population so far.
Air India pilots write to Hardeep Puri over psychological impact of pay cuts, compulsory leave
Air India’s executive pilots committee has written to aviation minister Hardeep Singh Puri explaining how pay cuts and compulsory leave without pay scheme may have potentially disastrous psychological impact and lead to “desperate and extreme acts.
They have appealed to the minister to rescind the decision to revise wages while informing him about 60 pilots deployed in government’s Vande Bharat Mission flights have tested positive for Covid-19. At least one pilot has lost a family member to Covid-19 and those of many others have also been infected, the letter said.
Diagnostics manufacturer warns of Covid-19 tests shortage
Chief executive officer of Roche Holding AG Severin Schwanon on Thursday said that the world needs to become more judicious about how it uses Covid-19 tests because there still aren’t enough to go around. Demand for tests is higher than the industry can supply and that may continue for months, he said.
Face masks now compulsory in UK shops, supermarkets
The Boris Johnson government in the UK has made it mandatory for people to wear a face mask while visiting shops, supermarkets, indoor shopping centres and transport hubs. The country so far has reported 298,721confirmed cases of the coronavirus disease.
Serum Institute plans to manufacture one billion Covid-19 vaccine doses over next year
Serum Institute of India, the world’s largest vaccine manufacturer by volume hopes to manufacture one billion doses of the Covid-19 vaccine over the coming year, CEO Adar Poonawal has said. The institute has partnered with biopharmaceutical company AstraZeneca to manufacture the experimental Covid-19 vaccine candidate developed by the University of Oxford.
