Coronavirus

Congress leader and former Deputy chief minister of Rajasthan, Sachin Pilot tested positive for the novel coronavirus on Thursday. "I have tested positive for Covid 19. Anyone who may have come in contact with me over the last few days, please get yourselves tested. Am taking appropriate doctoral advice. Hope to recover soon," Pilot informed via Twitter.

Delhi recorded its biggest single-day jump of 8,593 Covid-19 cases on Wednesday that took its infection tally to over 4.59 lakh, while 85 new fatalities pushed the national capital's death toll to 7,228, authorities said.

With 3,589 fresh infections and 49 deaths on Friday, Karnataka's Covid-19 tally and cumulative fatalities reached 8,20,398 and 11,140 respectively. A total of 8,521 people were discharged, taking the aggregate recoveries to 7,49,740.

Telangana on Thursday recorded 1,432 new cases of Covid-19 and eight deaths, taking the caseload tally to 2,17,670 and and toll to 1,249. So far, 1,93,218 patients have recovered from the infection while 23,203 patients remain active cases.

West Bengal on Tuesday reported the highest single-day recovery of 4,415 Covid-19 patients, taking the total number of cured people to 3,72,265, the health department said in a bulletin. The death toll rose to 7,403 after 53 more people succumbed to the disease.

A 43-year-old sub-inspector with the Kandivali police station succumbed to Covid-19 on Wednesday. Mahesh Kadne had no co-morbidites, his colleagues said. With Kadne’s death, the toll in the Mumbai Police force has reached 92, and that in the state force has reached 283.

China has hosted a vice-ministerial-level meeting with Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal and Sri Lanka on controlling the Covid-19, expanding its first such meeting held in July involving Islamabad, Kathmandu and Kabul.

Perhaps one of the earliest fictional accounts of a global threat that wipes out all forms of life is Arthur Conan Doyle’s The Poison Belt, which features the scientific genius, Professor Challenger, and was written in 1913.

Bharat Biotech is planning to launch its vaccine for Covid-19 in the second quarter next year if it gets the requisite approvals from the Indian regulatory authorities. The company's vaccine candidate- Covaxin- has been developed in collaboration with the Indian Council of Medical Research - National Institute of Virology using inactivated Sars-Cov-2, the virus that causes Covid-19.