The temple, which opened for the monthly puja on Friday evening, will allow pilgrims to offer prayers till October 21.
As rural areas see a rise in COVID-19 cases, the Centre on Sunday issued new guidelines for containment of the virus advising that peri-urban and rural areas plan a minimum 30-bedded COVID Care Centre for asymptomatic cases with comorbidities or mild cases where home isolation is not feasible.
The death toll climbed to 55,794 with 945 fatalities being reported in a span of 24 hours.
As COVID-19 cases in China continue to rise, Beijing will soon start distributing Pfizer's Covid-19 drug Paxlovid to the community health centres in forthcoming days, CNN reported citing state media on Monday.
Named after Satyajit Ray's famed detective, the Feluda test, which is priced at Rs 500 and can deliver a result in 45 minutes, is able to differentiate SARS-CoV-2 from other coronaviruses even if genetic variations between them are minute.
India's COVID-19 caseload surpassed the somber one-crore mark Saturday, adding 10 lakh cases in nearly a month, while the total number of recoveries surged to 95.50 lakh, according to the Union health ministry data.
The Centre has asked Andhra Pradesh, Odisha, Tamil Nadu, West Bengal and Andaman and Nicobar Islands to ensure that health facilities are stocked with essential medicines and supplies to meet any exigencies in the wake of Cyclone Yaas which is expected to make a landfall later this month.
Of the 690 passengers, 189 were tested and six were found infected with the virus. Many were exempted from testing as they were transit passengers on way to neighbouring states like Manipur, Mizoram and Tripura, Sattawan said.
Thackeray directed officials to ensure that people follow health norms like wearing masks, and that violators be fined.
The apex health research body on Tuesday validated the 1,000th testing laboratory, ramping up the capacity for detection of COVID-19 in the country. Currently, three lakh samples can be tested per day, an official said.
Until now, it has been unclear what effects hypervaccination such as this would have on the immune system. Some scientists were of the opinion that immune cells would become less effective after becoming used to the antigens.
The highest single-day spike in Delhi till the third wave of the pandemic -- 8,593 cases -- was reported on November 11 in 2020, while on November 18, the city had recorded 131 COVID-19 deaths, the highest single-day fatality count till date.
The COVID-19 case fatality rate stands at 1.45 per cent.
Delhi Health Minister Satyendar Jain said the Aam Aadmi Party government is alert on the pandemic situation and keeping a "close watch" on it.
The country had recorded 355 deaths on December 17 last year.
More RT-PCR test reports are awaited and the trend shows that the number of infected persons in the Kumbh Mela Kshetra is likely to climb to 2,000.
The number of people who have recuperated from the disease surged to 96,06,111, pushing the national recovery rate to 95.53 per cent, while the COVID-19 case fatality rate stands at 1.45 per cent, according to the data.
The ICMR Advisory on Purposive Testing Strategy for COVID-19 also said individuals undertaking inter-state domestic travels do not need to get tested either.
Nearly 57.50 lakh people have recovered so far, which is 6.32 times the active cases, the health ministry said.
The country has reported more than 94,000 recoveries for two successive days, the ministry said.
A top BCCI official, after declaring all three cases to be "false positives", later clarified that Balaji along with the unnamed cleaner had come out positive even in the repeat test.
The Union health ministry data on Friday said the number of coronavirus cases in India breached the 45 lakh mark while a data released by a national public health institute in the US said the number of infections in the North American country crossed six million as of September 8.
This is the sixth day on the trot that Delhi has recorded over 300 deaths due to coronavirus.
There are 8,62,320 active cases of coronavirus infection in the country which comprises 20.96 per cent of the total caseload, the data stated.
The positivity rate also mounted to 4.11 from 3.57 per cent a day before, amid a massive surge in cases in the span of the last few weeks.
'We urge the government to have discussions with private labs on the actual cost of running a test.'
The number of active cases remained below 5 lakh for the ninth consecutive day.
The 'antisera' has been developed by the ICMR in collaboration with a Hyderabad-based bio-pharmaceutical firm. "With Biological E Limited we have developed an horse 'antisera' and we have just got clearance for conducting clinical trials for that," ICMR Director General Dr Balram Bhargava said at press briefing.
All 12 passengers carried negative Polymerase Chain Reaction COVID-19 reports but they were re-tested in line with the laid down COVID-19 safety protocols in Pakistan.
Focused implementation of 'test, track, treat' strategy by the Union and state and Union Territory governments, ramped up hospital infrastructure and testing facilities, and emphasis on treatment of the hospitalised patients through the standard of care protocol advised by the Centre have effectively ensured that mortality of COVID-19 patients is contained, the ministry said.
Tightening restrictions in the face of surging COVID-19 cases, the Maharashtra Government on Saturday prohibited movement in public in groups of five or more from 5 in the morning to 11 at night, effective January 10 midnight.
Sasikala, admitted to the Bowring Hospital on Wednesday, is presently in the dedicated COVID-19 Centre of the Victoria Hospital in the city and her condition was stable, hospital sources added.
At a meeting of the business advisory committee of Lok Sabha, which has floor leaders of all parties besides the government representatives and is chaired by the Speaker, most political parties favoured curtailment of the session, which started on September 14 and was scheduled to conclude on October 1.
The CSIR DG said the transmissibility of the new strain N501Y is a "bit higher" but this does not mean it is more lethal and more people are going to die due to it.
Monday is the 23rd day when India reported less than 50,000 cases in a day.
'We are seeing 50% fewer cases now.' 'It is primarily due to the lockdown.'
The national capital reported 407 COVID-19 fatalities and 20,394 cases with a positivity rate of 28.33 per cent on Sunday, the lowest since April 19, according to a bulletin issued by the Delhi health department.
Maharashtra Chief Secretary Sitaram Kunte in an order issued on Sunday declared Kerala, Goa, Gujarat, Delhi and the National Capital Region, Rajasthan and Uttarakhand as places of "sensitive origin".
Maharashtra continues to be the worst affected by the pandemic with 2,52,721 active cases, 11,62,585 cured and discharged cases and 38,347 deaths.
India's COVID-19 caseload went past 66 lakh, while the number of people who have recuperated from the disease surged to 55,86,703, pushing the recovery rate to 84.34 per cent, according to Union health ministry data updated on Monday.
