Mumbai reported 106 COVID-19 cases on Friday, which took the tally in the city to 11,49,551, a civic official said.
The death toll remained unchanged at 19,728, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation official added. The addition to the tally breached the 100-mark a day after the metropolis saw 98 cases, he pointed out. Of the 106 cases, only 15 are symptomatic, he said. The recovery count rose by 159 and reached 11,29,071, leaving the city with an active caseload of 752.

Amid an outbreak of lumpy skin disease in cattle, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has started vaccinating cows against the disease and so far the civic body has vaccinated 2,203 cows in Mumbai.
As per the civic body data, 2,203 cows have been vaccinated so far, while the remaining cows will be vaccinated next week.

According to the notification issued by the state government, the BMC administration is continuously taking various measures in the municipal area keeping in view the possibility of an outbreak of a lumpy virus.

The virus is mainly found in cattle and the pesticide department has also started fogging and pest control measures in cowsheds and surrounding areas.

The instructions of BMC Commissioner Dr Iqbal Singh Chahal and Additional Municipal Commissioner (City) Ashish Sharma and Deputy Commissioner (Special) Sanjog Kabare are being followed by the Veterinary Health Department.

According to the 2019 Animal Census, there are 3,226 cows and 24,388 buffaloes in the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation area.

Out of these, cows are being vaccinated as per the prescribed priority for the prevention of lumpy.

The Head and General Manager of the Veterinary Health Department of Deonar Slaughterhouse informed that the remaining cows will be vaccinated next week.

The virus has been found only in cows and buffaloes. There is no danger to humans in eating meat or using milk of animals that do not have the symptoms of Lumpy. Animals can be cured from Lumpy, however, the milk of such animals may get affected due to the virus.

As per reports, lumpy skin disease is a viral disease that affects cattle. It is transmitted by blood-feeding insects, such as certain species of flies and mosquitoes, or ticks. It causes fever and nodules on the skin and can lead to the death of the cattle.

Meanwhile, providing relief to the livestock of the country, Union Minister for Agriculture and Farmers Welfare Narendra Singh Tomar on August 10 launched the indigenous vaccine Lumpi-ProVac to protect livestock from Lumpy skin disease.

The vaccine has been developed by the National Equine Research Center, Hisar (Haryana) in collaboration with the Indian Veterinary Research Institute, Izzatnagar (Bareilly).

Ever since the disease came to India in 2019, research institutes have been engaged in developing the vaccine.

 India reported 5,383 new Covid-19 cases and 20 deaths in the last 24 hours, the Union Health Ministry said on Friday.

The new fatalities increased the nationwide death toll to 5,28,449.

The active caseload stood 45,281, accounting for 0.10 per cent of the country’s total positive cases.

The recovery of 6,424 patients in the last 24 hours took the cumulative tally to 4,39,84,695. Consequently, India’s recovery rate stands at 98.71 per cent.

Meanwhile, the daily and weekly positivity rates stood at 1.68 per cent and 1.70 per cent, respectively.

Also in the same period, a total of 3,20,187 tests were conducted across the country, increasing the overall tally to over 89.30 crore.

As of Friday morning, India’s Covid-19 vaccination coverage exceeded 217.26 crore.

Over 4.08 crore adolescents have been administered with a first dose of Covid-19 jab since the beginning of vaccination drive for this age bracket.