Record 24,850 COVID-19 cases in single day in India
New Delhi: With a record single-day surge of 24,850 coronavirus infections and 613 fatalities, India's COVID-19 caseload zoomed to 6,73,165, while the death toll due to the disease climbed to 19,268 on Sunday, according to the Union health ministry. With this, the country has recorded over 20,000 cases of the infection for the third consecutive day.
According to the Johns Hopkins University in the United States, which has been compiling COVID-19 data from all over the world, India is the fourth worst-hit nation by the pandemic after the US, Brazil and Russia and at the eighth position in terms of the death toll due to the disease.
Maharashtra crossed the grim milestone of two lakh COVID-19 cases, recording a single-day increase of 7,074, the health ministry's updated data at 8 am showed.
Tamil Nadu registered 4,280 coronavirus cases in the last 24 hours, while Delhi, Telangana, Karnataka, Assam and Bihar added a total of 7,935 cases in a day. These seven states accounted for around 78 per cent of the fresh cases.
With a steady rise, the number of recoveries stands at 4,09,082 in the country while one patient has migrated. There are 2,44,814 active coronavirus cases in the country, the data showed. The number of recovered cases exceeded that of the active cases by 1,64,268 as of Sunday, the ministry said. "Thus, 60.77 per cent of the patients have recovered so far," it said.
The total number of confirmed cases also includes foreigners.
According to the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), a total of 97,89,066 samples were tested for the disease in the country till July 4, with 2,48,934 of those tested on Saturday.
Of the 613 deaths reported in the last 24 hours, 295 are from Maharashtra, 81 from Delhi, 65 from Tamil Nadu, 42 from Karnataka, 24 from Uttar Pradesh, 21 from Gujarat, 19 from West Bengal, 12 from Andhra Pradesh, nine from Bihar, eight from Jammu and Kashmir, seven from Rajasthan, five each from Haryana, Madhya Pradesh, Odisha, Punjab and Telangana, two each from Goa and Jharkhand and one fatality was registered in Himachal Pradesh.
Of the 19,268 deaths reported so far, Maharashtra accounted for 8,671, followed by Delhi (3,004), Gujarat (1,925), Tamil Nadu (1,450), Uttar Pradesh (773), West Bengal (736), Madhya Pradesh (598), Rajasthan (447) and Karnataka (335).
The COVID-19 death toll reached 288 in Telangana, 260 in Haryana, 218 in Andhra Pradesh, 162 in Punjab, 127 in Jammu and Kashmir, 89 in Bihar, 42 in Uttarakhand, 34 in Odisha and 25 in Kerala.
Jharkhand has registered 17 deaths due to the disease, Chhattisgarh and Assam have reported 14 each, Puducherry has recorded 12, Himachal Pradesh 11, Chandigarh and Goa have registered six each and Meghalaya, Tripura, Ladakh and Arunachal Pradesh has reported a fatality each, according to ministry. More than 70 per cent of the deaths were due to comorbidities, it said.
Maharashtra has reported the highest number of 2,00,064 cases, followed by Tamil Nadu (1,07,001), Delhi (97,200), Gujarat (35,312), Uttar Pradesh (26,554), Telangana (22,312) and Karnataka (21,549). The number of COVID-19 cases has gone up to 21,231 in West Bengal, 19,532 in Rajasthan, 17,699 in Andhra Pradesh, 16,548 in Haryana and 14,604 in Madhya Pradesh. It has risen to 11,700 in Bihar, 10,668 in Assam, 8,601 in Odisha and 8,246 in Jammu and Kashmir. Punjab has reported 6,109 cases of the infection, while Kerala has 5,204 cases.
A total of 3,161 people have been infected with the virus in Chhattisgarh, 3,093 in Uttarakhand, 2,739 in Jharkhand, 1,684 in Goa, 1,546 in Tripura, 1,325 in Manipur, 1,046 in Himachal Pradesh and 1,005 in Ladakh. Puducherry has recorded 802 COVID-19 cases, Nagaland 563, Chandigarh 460 and Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu have together reported 271 cases. Arunachal Pradesh has reported 259 cases, Mizoram 164, the Andaman and Nicobar Islands 119, Sikkim 103 and Meghalaya 62.
"Our figures are being reconciled with the ICMR," the ministry said, adding that 4,629 cases are being reassigned to states. State-wise distribution is subject to further verification and reconciliation, it said.
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Putin meets Iran's FM Araghchi, says Russia ready to do its best to help bring peace to West Asia
Moscow (PTI): Iran's Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi on Monday met Russian President Vladimir Putin, who hailed the Iranian people for fighting bravely and heroically for their sovereignty and said Moscow is ready to do its best to help bring peace to West Asia as soon as possible.
Araghchi, who held talks with Omani and Pakistani leadership before arriving in Russia, met Putin in St. Petersburg and thanked him for supporting Iran, state-owned TASS news agency reported.
"Russia is ready to do everything in its power to ensure that peace in the Middle East is achieved as soon as possible," Putin said during his meeting with Araghchi, which was also attended by Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov.
Revealing that he received a message from Iranian Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei last week, Putin asked Araghchi to convey his "gratitude for this message and best wishes for his health and well-being."
He praised the Iranian people for fighting "bravely and heroically" for their sovereignty, Iran's state-run PRESS TV reported.
"We really hope that, based on the courage and desire for independence, the Iranian people, under the guidance of the new leader, will weather this difficult period of trials and peace will come,” Putin said.
He also stressed that Russia “intends to maintain” its strategic relations with Iran.
Araghchi said that the world witnessed Iran’s strength in countering the US during the recent war, and that the Islamic Republic is a "stable and powerful establishment."
"With their courage, the Iranian people succeeded in resisting the US aggression and will be able to endure it,” he said.
He said that it became clear that Iran has “great friends and allies” like Russia, and conveyed “warmest greetings” from Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei and President Masoud Pezeshkian to the Russian leader.
Araghchi said relations between Moscow and Tehran represent a “strategic partnership at the highest level” and will continue to develop "regardless of circumstances."
"We are grateful to you for the solid and strong positions in support of the Islamic Republic of Iran," he said.
Foreign Minister Lavrov said that the talks between President Putin and the Iranian Foreign Minister were "useful and constructive."
Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov later said that Russia is "ready to provide any good offices, any mediation services that are acceptable to the parties."
"We will be ready to do everything so that ultimately peace ensues, guaranteed peace, and that there is no return to hostilities," Peskov was quoted as saying by TASS.
He was asked how Moscow can assist in future negotiations on the Iranian settlement.
Araghchi arrived in Russia after his whirlwind trip to Islamabad, which, according to him, was “very productive” and involved “good consultations" with Pakistan's Army Chief Field Marshal Asim Munir, amid uncertainty over the second round of peace talks to resolve the war in West Asia.
"We held good consultations with our friends in Pakistan. The trip was successful. We assessed the outcome of our recent (meetings) and discussed in what direction and under what conditions talks can move on,” Araghchi said in a video posted on his Telegram channel upon his arrival in St Petersburg.
Referring to the second round of talks between the US and Iran to resolve the conflict in West Asia, Araghchi said: "Developments have taken place in the negotiations."
"Despite some progress in earlier rounds, the talks failed to reach their objectives due to the Americans' approach, the excessive demands they made, and the wrong approaches they adopted. Therefore, it was necessary to consult with our friends in Pakistan to review the latest situation,” Iran's official news agency IRNA quoted him as saying.
He said that the trip to Pakistan was a good opportunity to review developments related to the US-Israeli war against Iran, expressing confidence that “these consultations and coordination between the two countries will be highly significant.”
Araghchi arrived at St. Petersburg's Pulkovo Airport early Monday, where he was welcomed by Russian officials and Iran’s ambassador to Russia, Kazem Jalali, the report said.
The first round of peace talks between Iran and the US, held on April 11 and 12, failed to bring the desired result for the parties to the conflict.
The Iranian minister arrived in Islamabad for the second time on Sunday after a short visit to Oman, where he held talks with Sultan Haitham bin Tariq al-Said on security in the Strait of Hormuz and diplomatic efforts to end the Iran-US conflict.
After Araghchi left Pakistan for Oman on Saturday, President Donald Trump announced that US negotiators Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner would no longer be going to Islamabad for talks with Iran, contending that Washington held all the cards on the matter.
Trump on Sunday reiterated that the US and Iranian officials can talk by phone for a peace solution to the conflict.
On Tuesday, Trump extended the two-week ceasefire with Iran indefinitely to give Tehran more time to prepare a unified proposal to end the war, just hours before the truce was set to expire.
The war began when the US and Israel jointly attacked Iran on February 28, killing Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and several top commanders. The retaliation by the Islamic Republic extended the war to the entire Gulf region.
