Coronavirus LIVE Update: India's Cases Rise To 59,92,532; 94,503 Dead

39 Million Americans File For Unemployment Benefits

The number of Americans applying for unemployment benefits in the two months since the coronavirus took hold in the U.S. has swelled to nearly 39 million, the government reported Thursday, even as states from coast to coast gradually reopen their economies and let people go back to work.

US Senator Announces Three Bills Against China For Medical And Political Censorship

US Senator Ted Cruz announced that he introduced three bills to counter Chinese propaganda and hold China accountable for what he described as medical and political censorship that helped fuel the spread of the coronavirus pandemic.

"Today I introduced three pieces of legislation to directly address Chinese censorship and their responsibility for this pandemic," Cruz said, speaking at the Senate on Thursday "We as a body, as a bipartisan body, need to stand and stand strong protecting US national security, protecting the lives of Americans and ensuring accountability."

One legislation, if adopted, will sanction Chinese officials involved in the suppression of medical experts, journalists, and political dissidents. The second one calls to cut off Hollywood studios from the federal government assistance if they censor films for screening in China. The third bill seeks to prevent the Chinese Communist Party from exploiting loopholes "to propagandize to Americans from radio stations in Mexico or Canada."

India Records Highest One-Day Spike In Cases

On May 22, the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare reported 6,088 new cases and 143 new deaths taking the country's total number of cases to 1,18,447 and deaths to 3,583. 

These are the highest number of cases recorded by India so far. Sikkim and Nagaland have not reported any cases while Arunachal Pradesh, Dadra Nagar Haveli and Mizoram have only reported 1 case each. 

Oxfam To Close 18 Offices Due To COVID-19 Financial Hit

The international aid agency Oxfam is set to close 18 offices across the world due to the financial strain caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, reports AP. The closure of offices will see 1,450 people being laid off.

Ahmedabad Hospital Accounts For Half Of COVID-19 Deaths In Gujarat

The Ahmedabad Civil hospital has accounted for half the COVID-19 deaths in Gujarat, reports PTI. As many as 351 COVID-19 deaths of the state's 749 deaths have occurred at the hospital. 

ICMR Validates India- Made Diagnostic Platform For COVID-19 Testing

India has been testing over 1 lakh samples for COVID-19 daily for the past two days. To further augment this process, the Indian Council of Medical Research has validated TrueNet assays that can test over 12-48 samples daily. 

These TrueNet machines earlier could not conduct confirmatory tests. They have been used before to test for Tuberculosis.

According to an ICMR representative, most district hospitals already have these TrueNet machines and the new assays will be provided to them.

The platform comprises of a TrueNat machine, inbuiltRNA extraction system, RT-PCR chips, collection swabs and viral lysis medium (VLM).

A Single assay has a turnaround time of 35-50 minutes for 1-4 samples.

Booking For 200 Trains To Start Today

Online ticket booking for 200 trains which will start operations from June 1 will start from 10 am today.

India's Cases Rise To 1,12,359; Death Toll At 3,435

India added more than 5,600 cases for the second day in a row adding 5,609 cases to take the total case count to 1,12,359. 132 patients died due to COVID-19 taking the death toll to 3,435. 45,299 patients have been discharged from hospitals.

India Is Better At Managing COVID-19 Than Other Countries: Health Ministry

In the COVID-19  press conference held after eight days, the Health Ministry, Home Ministry, and the Indian Council of Medical Research to update about India's current health infrastructure and measures to tackle COVID-19, the health ministry stated that only 6.39% of the active 61 thousand COVID-19 cases require any hospital management oxygen or ventilator support.

Around 2.94% of the active cases require oxygen support, 3% require ICU services and around 0.45% require ventilators.  

According to the health ministry, India has 7.9 cases per one lakh population when the world average is 62 per lakh. Similarly, India's mortality rate per one lakh population is 0.2 compared to the world average of 4.2 deaths per one lakh of population. 

The Health Ministry claims that India is doing a better job when the population of the country is taken into consideration. The country has been proactive and pre-emptive in its prevention and containment measures. 

India's recovery rate has been improving since the beginning of the lockdown. It currently stands at 39.62% whereas it was at 7% when the first lockdown started. 

The ICMR stated that more than 1 lakh tests have been conducted across the country for the past two days. A network of 555 laboratories are actively carrying out COVID-19 testing. 

When asked about the use of hydroxyhloroquine, the ICMR has decided to wait for results, review them and then take a call. 

Domestic Flight To Resume From May 25: MoCA

Domestic flights will resume from May 25 in a calibrated manner, Minister of Civil Aviation Hardeep Singh Puri announced today.