Coronavirus LIVE Updates: Haryana CM ML Khattar Tests +ve, Asks Close Ones to Go in 'Strict Quarantine'

Coronavirus LIVE Updates: Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar on Monday tested positive for the novel coronavirus. Taking to Twitter, Khattar appealed to all his colleagues and associates, who had come in contact with him over the last week, to get themselves tested and also requested his close contacts to move into strict quarantine immediately.

India reported over 61,000 new cases in the last 24 hours, taking the total cases count to over 31 lakh. 61,408 new cases and 57,468 recoveries takes tally to 31,06,349 including 23,38,036 cured/discharged/migrated cases. 836 new fatalities take the death toll to 57,542, reports the Health Ministry.

Sources said to accelerate the process of developing and manufacturing safe and effective COVID-19 vaccines in the country that can be easily accessible and affordable for the public, a 'Mission COVID Suraksha' has been proposed to be set up with a corpus of nearly Rs 3,000 crore.

Piloted by the Department of Biotechnology, the proposed mission will focus on end-to-end vaccine development from clinical trial stage to regulatory facilitation to manufacturing, sources added.

Here are the live updates on the coronavirus pandemic:

◕ Haryana Assembly Speaker Gian Chand Gupta and two BJP MLAs tested positive for COVID-19 on Monday, two days before the monsoon session is set to begin here, Health Minister Anil Vij said. Gupta is in home isolation and his health is stable, says Panchkula Civil Surgeon Jasjeet Kaur.

◕ Bengal BJP Chief Goes Into Self-Isolation | West Bengal BJP President Dilip Ghosh goes into self-isolation after his driver and security guards test positive for Covid-19. He also cancels all his meetings and scheduled political programmes for the next three days.

◕ The government has decided to allocate money from the PM-CARES Fund Trust for establishing 500-bed Covid-19 Makeshift Hospitals at Patna and Muzaffarpur, Bihar by DRDO. The 500-bed hospital at Bihta, Patna will be inaugurated today and the 500-bed hospital at Muzaffarpur will be inaugurated very soon, tweets Prime Minister Narendra Modi. These hospitals have 125 ICU beds with ventilators and 375 normal beds each. Each bed also has oxygen supply. The doctors and paramedical staff will be provided by the Armed Forces Medical Services.

◕ Singer SP Balasubramanyam's son SP Charan issues a statement on his father's health and says the former has tested negative for Covid-19 and is doing fine. He is also expected to get discharged from the hospital soon.

◕ Testing Update | According to the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), a cumulative total of 3,59,02,137 samples have been tested up to August 23 with 6,09,917 samples being tested on Sunday.

◕ India's Tally Rises Over 31 Lakh | India reported 61,408 new Covid-19 cases, 57,468 recoveries and 836 deaths in the last 24 hours. With this, the total COVID-19 tally rises to 31,06,349 including 23,38,036 cured/discharged/migrated cases and 57,542 deaths: Union Ministry of Health

◕ American authorities announced on Sunday an emergency authorisation for doctors to use blood plasma from recovered coronavirus patients as a treatment against the disease that has killed over 176,000 in the US. The development comes after Trump expressed unhappiness at the slow pace of approval for coronavirus treatments. The plasma is believed to contain powerful antibodies that can help fight off the disease faster and help protect people from being seriously hurt by it, news agency AFP reported.

◕ 'Pleased to Make Truly Historic Announcement': Trump | "Today I am pleased to make a truly historic announcement, in our battle against China virus, that will save countless lives. The FDA (Food and Drug Administration) has issued an emergency use authorisation for a treatment known as convalescent plasma," US President Donald Trump said.

◕ The French health ministry on Sunday reported 4,897 new coronavirus infections over the past 24 hours, marking the highest daily level since the end of a two-month lockdown in May to combat the pandemic. The ministry said the total coronavirus deaths in the country had risen by one in the past 24 hours to 30,513, Reuters reported.

◕ Odisha on Sunday registered its highest single-day spike of 2,993 COVID-19 cases and 10 more deaths due to the infection. With this, the state's COVID-19 death toll has mounted to 409 and the infection tally reached 78,530, a health official said.

◕ COVID-19 Cases Reappear at Singapore's Largest Dormitory | Around 4,800 workers have been issued a stay-home notice at Singapore's largest foreign workers' dormitory after fresh coronavirus emerged there. The Sungei Tengah Lodge dormitory was among the largest COVID-19 clusters in Singapore with over 2,200 confirmed cases before it was declared cleared of the disease by the Ministry of Manpower (MOM) last month. On Sunday, 58 fresh coronavirus cases were confirmed in the dormitory, a day after a new COVID-19 cluster emerged there.

◕ Meghalaya's Covid-19 tally goes up to 1,929 | At least 12 more people,including nine security personnel, tested positive for COVID-19 in Meghalaya on Monday, taking the northeastern state's tally to 1,929, a health department official said. Of the new cases, 10 were reported from East Khasi Hills district and two from Ri-Bhoi, Health Services Director Aman War said.

◕ Jharkhand's COVID-19 tally rises to 30,178 | Jharkhand's COVID-19 tally rose to 30,178 on Monday as 967 more people tested positive for the infection, while nine fresh fatalities pushed the state's coronavirus death toll to 320, a health bulletin said. The fresh infections have pushed the number of active cases in the state to 9,722, while 20,136 people have recovered from the disease, it said.