Covid update: India's 10 lakh gap; New Zealand polls under cloud; WB lockdown

Covid update: India's 10 lakh gap; New Zealand polls under cloud; WB lockdown

From the gap between India's active and discharged cases increasing to almost 10 lakh, to another member of Narendra Modi's cabinet testing positive for infection - here are the top news updates on the Covid-19 pandemic.

Shripad Yesso Naik is the fifth Union minister to test positive.

Home minister Amit Shah was the first member of the Union cabinet to be infected.

Naik who is the Minister of State (Independent Charge) of Ministry of Ayurved, Yoga, Naturopathy, Unani, Siddha & Homoeopathy (AYUSH), and Minister of State in the Ministry of Defence, is in home isolation.

In Maharashtra, over 11,300 police personnel have so far been infected.

While the death toll among Maharashtra cops has crossed 120, over 9,100 have recovered, and there are 2,000-plus active cases.

In West Bengal, the state government withdrew the order regarding complete lockdown on August 28.

However, lockdown orders remain in operation for August 20, 21, 27 and 31.

India's total case tally has crossed 23.29 lakh, while the death toll has crossed 46,000.

Over 16.39 lakh patients have been discharged so far.

In international news, the discovery of a new case after 102 days in New Zealand has led the Prime Minister, Jacinda Ardern, to say that postponement of the upcoming general elections is a possibility.

Meanwhile, the Russian government said that the first batch of its Covid vaccine is likely to be released within two weeks.

Russia has become the first country to declare a vaccine ready for use.

Watch the full video for more updates regarding the spread of the Sars-CoV-2 coronavirus.