Coronavirus live updates: India's tally goes past 40 lakh, Maharashtra adds over 20,000 cases in a day

While setting up a system to conduct Covid-19 tests on demand is likely to take some time, Delhi government has decided to start testing at weekly markets and outside central government offices. The idea is to expand the testing base and keep a check on the spread of the novel coronavirus in sensitive areas. Weekly markets were recently permitted to function on a trial basis.

We contact positive patients, trace their contacts&advise them to get tested. Our aim is to get maximum no. of people tested. We've trained volunteers to counsel & give medical advice to positive patients. We also take care of their non-medical needs: Head-'Mission Vishwas',

US Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell said that wearing masks and social-distancing measures could lead to "enormous economic gains" for the US economy."So certainly to get us back to full employment, we're going to need to get the spread of the disease under control. And the best way to do that, short of arriving at a vaccine, is to take these social-distancing measures and employ them," Powell said in an interview with National Public Radio on Friday, Xinhua news agency reported.

South Korea recorded 168 new coronavirus cases as of midnight Friday, posting the lowest daily tally in three weeks after imposing stricter social distancing rules to blunt a second wave of infections.

Swiss major Novartis has sought regulatory approval in India to initiate Phase III clinical trials for its drug Ruxolitinib for Covid-19. These trials will be part of a global study that the company started in May to evaluate the use of Ruxolitinib (sold as Jakavi) for treatment of a severe immune overreaction — cytokine storm — that can lead to life-threatening respiratory complications in patients with Covid-19, a Novartis official confirmed to TOI.

Only 8% of Haryana’s population has developed antibodies against Covid-19, according to the results of a sero-survey held last month that covered nearly 19,000 people in all 22 districts of the state.

Covid-19 cases in India raced past 4 million on Friday, just 13 days after hitting the 3 million mark, even as fresh cases in the past 24 hours surged to a new high of over 87,800. This was the third consecutive day of highest rise in new infections. India is the third country after the US and Brazil to record 4 million cases of the coronavirus.

Amid rising number of Covid-19 cases across the country, the Centre on Friday nudged states to allow testing on demand — a move that is likely to help early detection of positive cases leading to timely contact-tracing and treatment to prevent deaths. The Centre has asked states to decide on simplified modalities such as doing away with need for prescription and setting out the method of testing.

As India tested more than 11.7 lakh samples to detect Covid-19 on Thursday, high testing levels helped keep the daily positivity rate under check at 7.1%. The total number of tests conducted across the country now stands at 4.66 crore, whereas the cumulative positivity rate is around 8.5%.

he Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) on Friday issued a new advisory on COVID-19 testing strategy, allowing 'testing on demand' for individuals but left it to the states to modify the approach as per their discretion. It also advised testing on demand for "all individuals undertaking travel to countries or Indian states mandating a negative Covid-19 test at the point of entry". The 'Advisory on Strategy for Covid-19 Testing in India' (version VI) said the state governments can simplify the modalities to facilitate testing on demand.