Top 10 Covid-19 updates: India’s count nears 60,000; Tamil Nadu, Delhi record huge increase
Here is a look at the biggest developments of the day.
- Tamil Nadu reported over 500 new cases on Saturday and the state’s tally rose to 6,535. Delhi’s tally reached 6,542 with 224 new cases.
- Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan said India’s Covid-19 testing capacity has been scaled up to 95,000 tests per day. He added that more than 15 lakh tests have been conducted so far across 332 government and 121 private laboratories.
- Two Indians, who were among the 363 citizens brought back from Abu Dhabi and Dubai on special flights that reached Kerala on Thursday, tested positive for Covid-19. One of the patients is being treated in Kozhikode, while the second is under medical supervision in Kochi
- The number of coronavirus cases in India rose to 59,662 and the toll climbed to 1,981. Of these, Maharashtra alone accounts for over 20,000 cases.
- The Mamata Banerjee-led Trinamool Congress hit out at Union Home Minister Amit Shah over his accusation that the West Bengal government was being unjust to the migrant workers by not allowing ‘Sharmik’ special trains to reach the state. The party leaders, meanwhile, claimed that the government has scheduled eight trains to ferry the workers.
- The Tamil Nadu government announced relaxations in lockdown guidelines in the state, including extension of business hours of standalone and neighbourhood shops and allowing private establishments to function with fewer employees. The relaxations will be applicable from Monday in non-containment zones.
- Minister of Human Resource Development Ramesh Pokhriyal said that the evaluation for the Central Board of Secondary Education’s Class 10 and 12 board exams will be done by teachers at home from Sunday and 3,000 schools have been designated as exam centres to deliver the answer sheets to them.
- The Karnataka government issued an order on Friday saying that restaurants, pubs and bars in the state can sell liquor at retail price.
- The World Health Organization’s special Covid-19 envoy David Nabarro said that the pandemic will reach its peak in India by the end of July before it is contained.
- Globally, the coronavirus has infected more than 39 lakh people and killed more than 2.75 lakh people, according to the Johns Hopkins University.