India reports 78,000 new coronavirus infections

India has registered 78,524 new coronavirus cases in the past 24 hours, driving the country’s total since the pandemic began to 6.8 million.

The Health Ministry on Thursday also reported 971 deaths in the past 24 hours, taking the death toll to 1,05,526.

India has witnessed a steady drop of confirmed coronavirus cases for three consecutive weeks now — from recording more than 86,000 daily cases in the last two weeks of September to an average of more than 70,000 cases daily so far this month. The numbers have also fallen sharply from earlier in September when daily cases averaged around 93,000 in India.

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More than 1.1 million samples have been tested daily on an average so far in October, according to the Health Ministry.

Authorities in Sri Lanka have closed key government offices and further expanded a curfew to contain a surging coronavirus outbreak.

More than 1.1 million samples have been tested daily, according to the Health Ministry.

The foreign ministry closed the consular affairs office for the week and suspended all services to prevent the public from congregating. The ministry said Thursday it would only accept queries and documentation assistance related to deaths of Sri Lankans overseas, strictly by appointment.

Other departments providing services related to revenue, immigration, pensions, vehicle license and registrations also closed for the week, and a state-sponsored exhibition was canceled.

The outbreak that surfaced this week has grown to 1,034 cases with more than 2,000 others asked to quarantine at home.

President Donald Trump says he wants everyday Americans to have access to the same experimental treatment he received for the coronavirus.

Trump has played down the threat of the virus since receiving VIP care, but he says in a new video taped in the White House Rose Garden that he wants "to get for you what I got” and will make the drug free.

Trump says he’s feeling "great” and "like perfect” and calls his diagnosis "a blessing in disguise.”

Trump received an experimental antibody cocktail made by Regeneron through a "compassionate use” exemption. The safety and effectiveness of the drug have not yet been proven. And there is no way for the president or his doctors to know that the drug had any effect. Most people recover from COVID-19.