Coronavirus LIVE Updates: India’s cases cross 2 lakh-mark; Delhi govt forms 5-member panel to assess preparedness for COVID-19

Coronavirus (Covid-19) Tracker, India Lockdown 5.0 Guidelines News Live Updates: With India reporting 8,908 cases in the last 24 hours, the total number of coronavirus infections in India crossed the 2 lakh-mark to reach 2,07,614 on Wednesday, including 5,815 deaths and 1,00,302 cured/ discharged.

Coronavirus India News Live Updates: With India reporting 8,908 cases in the last 24 hours, the total number of coronavirus infections in India crossed the 2 lakh-mark to reach 2,07,614 on Wednesday. This includes 5,815 deaths and 1,00,302 cured/ discharged. As many as 217 people have died in the last 24 hours across the country.  Also, for the first time in nearly two months, the growth rate of infections in Maharashtra has slowed to fall below that of the country as a whole. The seven-day compounded daily growth rate (CDGR) for Maharashtra has remained below the national average for three consecutive days now.

Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) scientist Dr Nivedita Gupta has said that the country is still “very far away from the peak”. In an infectious disease, a peak signifies the point at which the daily case count will start to fall. Over the last few days, over 8,000 new cases have been reported from across the country daily. “We are very far away from the peak. Our preventive measures have been very effective. We are in a much better position vis-a-vis other countries and you will see the data soon,” Dr Gupta said.

Also, according to the new findings by ICMR’s National Institute of Occupational Health (NIOH), Ahmedabad, only seven per cent of coronavirus samples have a “high viral load” — meaning these people would, on average, transmit the infection to 6.25 other people. The vast majority (84%) have a low infectiousness, transmitting to only 0.8 persons on average. Nine per cent have a moderate viral load.

In a press conference on Tuesday, Health Ministry Joint Secretary Lav Agarwal said one in every two COVID-19 deaths in India has been of senior citizens who constitute 10 per cent of the total population, while 73 per cent of COVID-19 deaths in the country are of people with comorbidities.

India is currently on the 7th spot on the global list of countries worst-hit by Covid-19. Globally, over 6,378,239 cases have been reported, while 3,80,250 people have succumbed to the infection. The United States continues to be the worst-affected nation with 1,831,821 cases and 1,06,180 deaths.

# Coronavirus India LIVE Updates: Over 1.98 lakh cases in India; curbs relaxed as India enters 'unlock 1.0'; Globally, over 6,378,239 cases have been reported, while 3,80,250 people have died. Follow all the latest news from across the world here:

The Punjab and Haryana High Court on Tuesday imposed Rs 10,000 as cost on a runaway couple for not wearing masks at the time of the marriage ceremony. The couple from Punjab had married against the wishes of their families and approached the High Court for protection against the threats to separate them.

While directing the Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP), Gurdaspur, take appropriate remedial measures regarding their threat perception and ordering the officer to pass a necessary order to ensure that no harm is caused to their life and liberty, the court also took note of the photographs attached with the petition which showed the couple and other attending persons were not wearing masks at the time of marriage ceremony. The masks are otherwise mandatory in Punjab in view of the COVID-19 pandemic.

A homoeopathic drug, Arsenicum album 30, has become a subject of debate after several states recommended it for prophylactic (preventive) use against Covid-19. This was after the Ministry of AYUSH listed the drug among “preventive and prophylactic simple remedies” against Covid-19. The debate stems from the fact that there is no scientific evidence that the drug works against Covid-19, a fact stressed not only by medical scientists but also by some homoeopathic practitioners themselves.

Arsenicum album 30 has been recommended by the state governments in Rajasthan, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh and Kerala. While the Maharashtra government is yet to take a formal decision, Mumbai civic authorities have been distributing the drug to high-risk populations in at least two wards. The Haryana prisons department and Mumbai police too are also distributing the drug to prisoners and officers respectively.