Indian men’s hockey team captain Manpreet Singh and four other players were tested positive for Covid-19 ahead of a national camp in Bengaluru on Friday. Besides Manpreet, defender Surender Kumar, Jaskaran Singh, drag-flicker Varun Kumar and Krishan B Pathak were also tested Covid positive.
Team’s captain Manpreet said, “I have self-quarantined myself in the SAI campus and I am very happy with the way SAI (Sports Authority of India) authorities have handled the situation. I am very happy that they made testing of athletes mandatory. The proactive step helped in identifying the problem right in time. I am doing fine and hoping to recover very soon.”
Meanwhile, with a massive surge in the number of fresh Covid cases, India has now become the third country in the world to cross 2 million coronavirus cases. The country registered a record 62,538 new cases and 886 deaths in the last 24 hours. More than 41,585 people have lost their lives so far due to the deadly virus here. India had passed 1 million confirmed cases just three weeks ago and now only the United States of America and Brazil are ahead of the country in the list of the world’s most affected countries. However, the recovery rate continued to show good signs and stood at 67.98 percent and the fatality rate also went down to 2.05 percent.
India’s worst-hit state Maharashtra reported 10,483 new cases and 300 deaths in the last 24 hours. Total tally in the state now stands at 4,90,262 with 1,45,582 active cases and 3,27,281 recoveries. 7 new coronavirus cases were also reported in Mumbai›s Dharavi area in the last 24 hours, taking the total number of cases here to 2,604. More than 17,092 people have died in Maharashtra so far due to coronavirus.
Meanwhile, Delhi also reported 1,192 fresh cases and 23 fatalities in the last 24 hours. The total number of cases in the national capital now stands at 1,42,723 with 1,28,232 recoveries. Around 4,082 people have lost their lives in Delhi so far. The state now has 10,409 active cases. Tamil Nadu reported 5,880 new coronavirus cases and 119 deaths in the last 24 hours, taking the total tally here to 2,85,024 cases with 4,690 deaths. The state has so far recorded 2,27,575 recoveries and now has 52,759 active cases.
With 2,147 new cases in Bengaluru Urban area alone, Karnataka reported 6,670 new coronavirus cases and 101 deaths in last 24 hours, taking the total number of cases to 1,64,924. The death toll here now stands at 2,998. The tally includes 77,686 active cases and 84,232 recoveries.
Uttarakhand also reported 278 new Covid-19 cases, taking the total number of positive cases to 8,901. Meanwhile, 28 more new cases were registered in Himachal Pradesh in the last 24 hours. The total number of coronavirus cases in the state now stands at 3,076.
Madhya Pradesh registered 734 new cases of Covid-19 and 16 deaths in the last 24 hours, taking the state’s tally to 37,298 while the death toll rose to 962. The state now has 8,715 active cases. Punjab also recorded 1,063 new cases and 23 deaths in the last 24 hours. The state’s total count now stands at 21,930. The tally includes 7,351 active cases, 14,040 recoveries and 539 deaths. Also, Gujarat reported a total of 1,074 new Covid-19 cases in the last 24 hours. The total number of cases in the state now stands at 68,885 and includes 14,587 active cases, 51,692 recoveries. The death toll rose to 2,606 after 22 fresh fatalities were recorded on Friday.
Jammu and Kashmir reported 473 new Covid-19 cases in the last 24 hours. 128 cases were from Jammu division and 345 cases were from Kashmir division. The total number of cases reached 23,927 and includes 7,260 active cases, 16,218 recoveries, and 449 deaths.