Coronavirus update: Latest news from around the world

A waiter serves food to customers at a hotel in Mumbai, India, on Monday, October 5. Rajanish Kakade/AP

India on Monday recorded 61,267 new cases of coronavirus — the lowest single-day increase since August 25, according to a CNN tally of Indian Health Ministry figures.

As of Tuesday, India has reported more than 6.6 million cases of Covid-19 and more than 103,000 deaths. There has been a decline in daily reported cases in October, figures showed.

For two consecutive weeks, the Indian Ministry of Health has reported fewer than 1 million active cases. The ministry attributes the decline in active cases to early detection thanks to widespread testing.

India’s testing: On Monday, India conducted 1,089,403 coronavirus tests, bringing the total tests conducted to more than 81 million, according to the Indian Council of Medical Research. The Health Ministry said Tuesday that ICMR has scaled up testing and India’s positivity rate continues to be steadily maintained below 10%.

The World Health Organization has said that a good benchmark for whether a country is testing adequately is to have at least 10 negative cases for every one positive case confirmed.

Recovery rate: The central government has also outlined a standard treatment protocol that has increased the national recovery rate, the Health Ministry said Monday. The recovery rate is currently at 84.34%. In India, patients with mild and moderate symptoms are considered no longer active after 10 days of symptom onset if they meet certain conditions. A test to confirm that they no longer have the virus is not required. Severe cases can only be discharged after one negative coronavirus test.

Schools reopening: The Education Ministry on Monday issued guidelines for schools to reopen from Oct. 15, emphasizing the need for health and safety measures and social distancing. States have the discretion to reopen schools based on their local pandemic situation. 

The western state of Maharashtra and the capital city of Delhi — two of the hardest hit areas — have decided to keep schools shut until at least Oct. 31. States will be allowed to decide timelines for any potential reopening of schools or continuing online learning and are expected to announce decisions over the coming week.



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