Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu tests COVID-19 negative, to resume normal activities soon

Nearly two weeks after being diagnosed with COVID-19, Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu tested negative for the novel coronavirus on Monday, October 12. This development came to the fore after a medical team from the All India Institute of Medical Sciences examined him. Being asymptomatic, Naidu was undergoing home quarantine after testing positive for COVID-19 on September 29.

However, his wife Usha Naidu had tested negative for the novel coronavirus. As per the Vice President's Secretariat, Naidu remains in good health. He will resume his normal activities according to medical advice. 

Read: Bihar Minister Dies Of Post-COVID Complications

Prominent politicians contract virus

Earlier, several members of the Union Cabinet such as Prahlad Patel, Amit Shah, Nitin Gadkari, Shripad Naik, Dharmendra Pradhan, Kailash Choudhary, Arjun Ram Meghwal, Gajendra Shekhawat and Suresh Angadi were diagnosed with COVID-19. However, in a shocking development on September 23, Angadi passed away at AIIMS in the national capital. Moreover, in mandatory tests carried out before the beginning of the Monsoon session of Parliament, it was revealed that at least 25 MPs- 17 from Lok Sabha and 8 from Rajya Sabha have contracted the virus. This includes BJP parliamentarians such as Meenakshi Lekhi and Anant Kumar Hegde.

Read: COVID-19 Survives On Smooth Surfaces For 28 Days, Harder To Control In Winter: Study

COVID-19 crisis in India

Currently, there are 71,20,538 confirmed novel coronavirus cases in India out of which 61,49,535 patients have recovered while 1,09,150 deaths have been reported. There are 8,61,853 active cases in the country. With 71,559 patients getting discharged in the last 24 hours, the recovery rate has soared to 86.36%. The gap between recovered and active cases rose to 52,87,682. 77% of the newly recovered cases are from Maharashtra, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Uttar Pradesh, Odisha, Telangana, West Bengal, and Delhi. 

Maharashtra, Karnataka, Kerala, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal, Rajasthan, Delhi, and Odisha account for 81% of the 66,732 cases reported in the last 24 hours. On the other hand, nearly 85% of the 816 new deaths were reported from Maharashtra, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, West Bengal, Uttar Pradesh, Delhi, Punjab, Andhra Pradesh, Kerala, and Madhya Pradesh. On October 8, PM Modi reiterated that India can succeed in the fight against COVID-19 if people wear a mask, wash hands and follow social distancing. 

Read: Kalyan Singh Recovers From COVID, Discharged From Ghaziabad Hospital