Here are the updates from Thursday:

  1. The Bombay High Court on Thursday asked the civic bodies in Maharashtra to follow the home vaccination drive model of Mumbai’s municipal corporation, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation, reported the Hindustan Times. The High Court expressed satisfaction at the Mumbai civic body’s drive after it was informed that the BMC immunised 1,317 bedridden and immobile citizens without any adverse events following inoculation till Monday.     
  2. India registered 41,195 cases of Covid-19 in the past 24 hours, taking the tally of infections to 3,20,77,706 since the pandemic began in January last year. The daily case count on Thursday was 7.41% higher than the previous day’s 38,353 cases. The toll increased to 4,29,669 with the country reporting 490 deaths in the past day.
  3. Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia on Thursday said that it was difficult to ascertain if there were any deaths due to shortage of oxygen during the second coronavirus wave in the national Capital. Sisodia made the statement amid an exchange of arguments with Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya.
  4. The West Bengal government extended coronavirus-related restrictions in the state till August 30, reported The Hindu. The government relaxed the night curfew between 11 pm and 5 pm from the existing 9 pm to 5 pm. However, the government did not allow the resumption of local suburban trains with Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee saying that it would be unwise to resume the services till half the population is vaccinated.
  5. The Rajasthan government allowed the reopening of schools for Class 9 to Class 12 with 50% capacity from September 1, reported ANI. In an order, the government said that teaching as well as non-teaching staff will need to have taken at least one dose of the coronavirus vaccine 14 days prior to the reopening.
  6. The Jagannath Temple will reopen for local residents from August 16 and from August 23 for residents living outside of Puri, reported India Today. The temple administration is currently allowing only the family members of servitors to enter the temple. The administration has also made vaccine certificates showing that the devotees are fully vaccinated or negative RT-PCR test mandatory.
  7. Union Minister of External Affairs S Jaishankar said that the scale, intensity and seriousness of the second coronavirus wave was difficult to anticipate, reported the Hindustan Times. Addressing a meeting of the Confederation of Indian Industry, he said that the problems were due to the Delta variant of the coronavirus, which had implications in terms of oxygen demand that rose by eight-nine times.
  8. Karnataka Chief Minister Basavaraj S Bommai said that there was a need to take precautionary measures in the border regions because coronavirus cases have increased due to influx from neighbouring states, reported the Hindustan Times. He also directed officials to allow residents of neighbouring states to enter only after going through a Covid-19 test. 
  9. Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya met World Health Organization chief scientist Soumya Swaminathan and held a discussion on the agency’s approval for Bharat Biotech’s Covid-19 vaccine, Covaxin, reported ANI.
  10. Globally, Covid-19 has infected 20.4 crore people and led to 43.23 lakh deaths since the beginning of the pandemic in December 2019, as per a count by the John Hopkins University.