Covid 19 Updates: With 90,802 new cases, infections cross 42 lakh mark..

Coronavirus India Live Updates: With 90,802 new cases, infections cross 42 lakh mark; metro services resume today

Over 90,000 cases, 71,000 deaths in India; Total infections in the country cross 42 lakh mark; Metro services resume across parts of India; India takes over Brazil to have the second-highest caseload in the world. Follow LIVE updates

National Conference leader Rachpal Singh passes away

Former Kalakote MLA and National Conference leader Rachpal Singh died of Covid-19 on Monday. Expressing grief, National Conference leader and former Chief Minister Omar Abdullah said that he had spoken to him yesterday. "He was on oxygen support but in good spirits.

Australia expects to receive AstraZeneca's COVID-19 vaccine within months

Australia expects to receive its first batches of a potential COVID-19 vaccine in January, Prime Minister Scott Morrison said on Monday, as the number of new daily infections in the country's virus hotspot fell to a 10-week low. Morrison said his government has struck a deal with CSL Ltd to manufacture two vaccines - one developed by rival AstraZeneca and Oxford University, and another developed in CSL's own labs with the University of Queensland.

A general view of AstraZeneca's Sydney headquarters (Reuters)

Delhi hotels, banquet halls unlikely to be roped in again for Covid

As Covid cases rise in the city, the Delhi government is making preparations to ensure there are enough beds for patients. Hotels, however, are not expected to be roped in this time. Banquet halls too will not be asked to handover facilities for now.

'Only if the number of cases rises suddenly will banquet halls be requisitioned. The last time, making arrangements took some time as such an exercise was carried out for the first time. This time, we are more prepared. Initially, we don't believe there is a need to requisition these facilities. If they are needed at a later stage, we will be ready,' said a senior government official. Hotels, officials said, will not be requisitioned as experience shows occupancy remained low.

On Sunday, 3,256 cases were recorded and over 36,000 people were tested.

Maharashtra Monsoon Session from today: Two MLAs, 37 govt staffers test positive

At least two MLAs and 37 government staffers who were to attend the Monsoon Session of the Maharashtra legislature from Monday have tested positive for Covid-19. Sources said that while around 2,200 people, including legislators and government officials, have been tested since Saturday, the reports of some are yet to come in. Maharashtra's legislators are set to converge at the Vidhan Bhavan in Mumbai for a two-day Monsoon Session - the first since the pandemic - amid strict safety measures place by the Legislative Secretariat.

Restarting today, Delhi Metro says talk less, travel light

Talk less, avoid commuting unnecessarily and travel light — as Delhi Metro resumes operations in the capital after 169 days on Monday amid the Covid pandemic, authorities have asked commuters to follow guidelines to help stop the virus spread. Services started in a staggered manner, with the Yellow Line (Samyapur Badli in Delhi-HUDA City Centre in Gurgaon) and the Rapid Metro in Gurgaon the first to be made operational. Remaining lines will restart gradually by September 12.

At a testing centre in New Delhi (Express photo/Amit Mehra)

With 90,633 new cases, the infections in India crossed the 41 lakh mark. Of the 41,13,812 cases, 8,62,320 are active infections, while 31,80,866 patients have already been discharged. As many as 1065 deaths were reported in the past 24 hours, taking the casualties in the country to 70,626.

India has overtaken Brazil to now become the country with the second-largest number of people infected with novel coronavirus. Brazil, according to the latest figures from the World Health Organisation, has 40.41 lakh infected people. Only the United States, where more than 60 lakh people have so far been infected, is ahead of India now. This is the first time that India has reported over 90,000 new cases.

Maharashtra reported the fastest growth is coronavirus infection in August, registering over 3.70 lakh cases, a senior state health official said. According to data of the Maharashtra health department, the state reported 3,76,587 COVID-19 cases last month, 2,41,820 cases in July and 1,04,748 cases in June. "On August 1, the total number of COVID-19 cases in the state was 4,31,719, which jumped to 8,08,306 on September 1. This is probably the fastest growth of cases in the state since January," the health official said. One of the reasons for the growth in number of positive cases is the increased number of tests, he said, adding that last month, the state carried out 20,16,809 tests.