11.01 pm: Here are the top updates of the day:

  1. India’s coronavirus infections on Wednesday jumped to 2,76,583 after 9,985 new cases were reported in the last 24 hours. The toll from the disease stood at 7,745. However, the number of recovered coronavirus patients in India exceeded the active cases for the first time today. The number of active cases in the country is at 1,33,632, while 1,35,205 people have recovered and one patient has migrated.
  2. The Maharashtra government dismissed reports of community transmission of the coronavirus in the state. The state reported 3,254 new coronavirus cases on Wednesday, taking its overall count to 94,041. The toll rose to 3,438 with 149 new deaths. This is the biggest single-day increase in cases for the state.
  3. Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said he will implement Lieutenant Governor Anil Baijal’s order on treating coronavirus patients in the city. Baijal had on Monday issued orders to not restrict treatment and admission at both private and state-run city hospitals to only residents and to not limit testing of asymptomatic direct and high risk contacts of confirmed cases. The chief minister said this was not the time for politics or arguments.
  4. Tamil Nadu reported 1,927 new Covid-19 cases and 19 deaths on Wednesday. The state now has 36,841 cases, including 17,179 active infections, 19,333 discharged, and 326 deaths, according to the state health department.
  5. Delhi reported 1,501 cases and 48 deaths on Wednesday. The Capital’s overall count rose to 32,810 and the toll reached 984.

10.14 pm: Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray says his government will cautiously ease lockdown restrictions, ANI reports.

10.12 pm: Jharkhand reports 128 new cases till 9:30 pm today. The state’s tally rises to 1,551. The toll stands at eight.

9.11 pm: Meghalaya Deputy Chief Minister Prestone Tynsong says that there is no community spread of the coronavirus in the state, PTI reports. His assurance came after a 72-year-old man with no travel history tested positive for the coronavirus on Tuesday.

9.09 pm: Prime Minister Narendra Modi discusses the coronavirus crisis with Israeli counterpart Benjamin Netanyahu.

9.05 pm: The Karnataka government bans live online classes for students till Class 5, ANI reports.

9.02 pm: Rajasthan reports 355 cases and four deaths as of 8.30 pm today. The state’s tally rises to 11,600 and the toll reaches 259.

9.00 pm: West Bengal records 343 coronavirus cases in 24 hours. The state’s tally rises to 9,328 and the toll stands at 432.

8.59 pm: Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal meets Union Home Minister Amit Shah to discuss the coronavirus situation in the Capital.

8.35 pm: The number of coronavirus cases in Ahmedabad rises to 15,305 after 343 more people test positive, PTI reports. The toll rises to 1,092 with 26 new deaths.

8.21 pm: A team of scientists from Poland designs a remote-controlled ventilator to help keep health workers safe from infection, Reuters reports.

8.17 pm: The Dakshineswar Kali temple in West Bengal’s North 24 Parganas district will reopen for devotees from June 13, PTI reports.

8.12 pm: Delhi reports 1,501 cases and 48 deaths today. The Capital’s overall count rises to 32,810 and the toll reaches 984.

8.08 pm: New cases reported today:

Goa: 28 new cases, tally rises to 387.

Gujarat: 510 new cases, tally rises to 21,554; toll at 1,347.

Jammu and Kashmir: 161 new cases, tally rises to 4,507; toll at 51.

8.05 pm: Maharashtra reports 3,254 new coronavirus cases today. The state’s tally rises to 94,041 and the toll reaches 3,438.

7.59 pm: The Supreme Court-mandated Environment Pollution (Prevention and Control) Authority directs the pollution control boards of Delhi and the National Capital Region states to submit information on biomedical waste being generated in various hospitals and quarantine centres amid the coronavirus crisis, PTI reports.

7.52 pm: Austria will reopen its border with Italy from June 16, AFP reports. The European Union, meanwhile, says it will propose reopening of its external borders from July 1.

7.49 pm: The number of coronavirus cases in Manipur rises to 311 after two more people test positive.

7.44 pm: Haryana reports 370 new coronavirus cases and seven deaths today. The state’s tally rises to 5,579 and the toll reaches 52.

7.42 pm: Minister of Civil Aviation Hardeep Singh Puri says airlines have handled 8 lakh passengers since the resumption of domestic flights on May 25.

7.39 pm: Minister of State for External Affairs V Muraleedharan says the Ministry of Civil Aviation has accepted the foreign ministry’s request to operate special flights to bring back citizens stranded in the United States to Kerala.

7.34 pm: The Delhi High Court refuses to postpone the All India Institute of Medical Sciences’ postgraduate entrance examination, scheduled for Thursday, PTI reports. The court says that a huge amount of resources has been used to hold the exam and that safety guidelines to decrease the risk of infection will be followed.

7.30 pm: A priest at the famous Maa Vindhyavasini Temple in Uttar Pradesh’s Mirzapur city tests positive for the coronavirus, PTI reports, quoting the city’s Chief Medical Officer OP Tiwari.

7.20 pm: The police in Ahmedabad file a case against a coronavirus patient for allegedly escaping from a care centre, PTI reports.

7.18 pm: Mumbai’s Dharavi slum reports 11 cases in a day, according to PTI. The area’s tally rises to 1,964. No new death has been reported.

7.13 pm: The number of coronavirus cases in eastern Uttar Pradesh is rising as migrant workers return to the state and so is the backlog of tests.

Read here: 30 million people, one coronavirus testing lab: Crisis in eastern Uttar Pradesh

7.06 pm: Hotels, restaurants and gymnasiums open in Sikkim today, PTI reports. The state has recorded 13 cases so far.

7.00 pm: Maharashtra’s Health Minister Rajesh Tope claims that there is no community transmission of the coronavirus in the state even as the overall count breached the 90,000-mark on Tuesday.

Read here:

Covid-19: Maharashtra health minister denies community transmission of virus

6.57 pm: Travancore Devaswom Board President N Vasu says the Sabarimala temple will open for monthly puja on June 14, ANI reports. He adds that devotees from other states states will have to produce a certificate showing that they are not infected.

6.54 pm: An 82-year-old coronavirus patient died in Puducherry on Tuesday, according to PTI. The union territory’s toll stands at two.

6.49 pm: The National Human Rights Commission issues notices to the Union health ministry and the Delhi government over a complaint filed by Congress leader Ajay Maken, alleging shortage of beds for coronavirus patients in the Capital, PTI reports.

6.42 pm: Iran records 2,000 new coronavirus cases in 24 hours, AFP reports. President Hassan Rouhani attributes the surge to increased testing.

6.37 pm: Uttar Pradesh records 275 new coronavirus cases and 20 deaths, PTI reports. The state’s overall count rises to 11,610 and the toll reaches 321.

6.35 pm: The Mahabodhi Mahavihara temple in Bihar’s Gaya city reopens for devotees.

6.29 pm: A 54-year-old Mumbai police constable dies of the coronavirus, PTI reports. Thirty-five Mumbai policemen have died of the infection so far.

6.25 pm: West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee says government employees in the state will work in two shifts to reduce the risk of infection, PTI reports. The first shift will be from 9.30 am to 2.30 pm and the second shift will be from 12.30 pm to 5.30 pm.

6.22 pm: Himachal Pradesh records no fresh coronavirus cases today.

6.16 pm: The Uttar Pradesh government postpones the date of signing of an agreement for the Rs 29,560-crore Jewar Airport because of the coronavirus pandemic, PTI reports. “The signing of the concession agreement with selected developer Zurich Airport International AG has been extended by 45 days from resumption of India-Malaysia and India-Switzerland flights plus mandatory quarantine days or by August 17, whichever is earlier,” the government says in an order.

6.10 pm: Tamil Nadu reports 1,927 coronavirus cases and 19 deaths in 24 hours. The state’s tally rises to 36,841 and the toll reaches 326.

6.00 pm: Karnataka’s coronavirus tally rises to 6,041 with 120 new cases in the last 24 hours.

5.59 pm: Kerala reports 65 new cases today.

5.41 pm: The Universities of Birmingham and Oxford say two drugs used to treat inflammatory diseases and cancer are being tested as potential coronavirus treatments, Reuters reports.

5.36 pm: Nepal Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli claims that 85% of the people who tested positive for the coronavirus in his country returned from India, PTI reports. Nepal has reported 4,364 coronavirus cases and 15 deaths so far.

5.34 pm: A Shiv Sena corporator from Thane and his mother die of Covid-19, PTI reports, quoting civic officials.

5.30 pm: Karnataka health minister B Sriramulu is seen without a mask in public. On June 2, he had violated physical distancing rules while attending a procession in Chitradurga, when he was surrounded and garlanded by several of his supporters.

Watch: No mask for this minister as Karnataka’s B Sriramulu violates Covid-19 regulations again

5.22 pm: The Indo-Tibetan Border Police reports one new coronavirus case, according to ANI. The force has recorded 194 cases so far.

5.19 pm: Germany says it will extend its travel advisory for non-European countries till the end of August but lift border restrictions by mid-June, Reuters reports.

5.12 pm: All the hospitals in Delhi will now be required to display the availability of beds on LED boards at their entrances, along with charges and details of the people to be contacted.

5.10 pm: The Union health ministry says India’s coronavirus recovery rate is now 48.88%.

4.54 pm: The Rajasthan government issues directions for the regulation of inter-state movement after it announced to seal all the state borders to curb the spread of Covid-19, ANI reports. All people arriving in the state via domestic flights, trains and buses will be screened on arrival, while the movement all Indians repatriated from other countries will be monitored on the basis of the home ministry’s guidelines, it says.

Meanwhile, all persons travelling to other states from Rajasthan will need to obtain a pass from concerned authorities. However, all those who are travelling to to and fro from the state on Wednesday, and those commuting on account of a personal emergency will be exempted.

4.48 pm: Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray demands the resumption of suburban trains in Mumbai to facilitate the movement of workers, PTI reports. However, adding a note of caution, the chief minister adds that the threat of Covid-19 still persists and asks people to avoid crowding and maintain physical distancing.

4.43 pm: West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee dismisses Union Home Minister Amit Shah’s allegation that she coined the term “Corona Express” to refer to the special trains for migrant workers, ANI reports. “I never called the trains ‘Corona Express’, it was the public,” she says, adding that 11 lakh migrant labourers have returned to the state and “30,000 are yet to come”.

4.31 pm: The Saket District Court Complex in Delhi was sealed after a judge was found to be infected with Covid-19, PTI reports.

4.28 pm: Workers at the Gandhi hospital in Hyderabad stage a protest after a doctor was allegedly attacked by a relative of a Covid-19 patient, ANI reports.

4.26 pm: The Prime Minister’s Office raises objection in the Delhi High Court over the maintainability of a plea seeking to declare PM CARES Fund as a “public authority” under the Right to Information Act, PTI reports.

4.17 pm: A pregnant woman tested positive for Covid-19 in Meghalaya, taking the state’s tally of infections to 44, PTI reports. The woman, who is in the advanced stage of pregnancy, had recently returned to the state from Delhi along with her husband. Both of them were placed under institutional quarantine.

4.15 pm: The Madhya Pradesh government issues a new rule, allowing people visiting banks and jewelry shops to remove their masks for 30 seconds, so that they can be identified and photographed by the CCTV cameras, NDTV reports.

3.55 pm: The number of Covid-19 cases in Andhra Pradesh rises to 5,247 after 218 new cases were reported in a day, PTI reports.

3.51 pm: As of Wednesday, Goa has 359 cases of the coronavirus, Chief Minister Pramod Sawant says, according to ANI. Of these, 108 patients are those who came back from other states, he adds.

3.42 pm: The Maharashtra government dismisses reports of community transmission of the coronavirus in the state, NDTV reports. “I don’t believe there is community spread,” Health Minister Rajesh Tope says. “This is the assumption in my state.”

3.26 pm: International humanitarian non-governmental organisation Doctors Without Borders sets up a 100-bed temporary hospital in Patna, Bihar, for treatment of Covid-19 patients, PTI reports. The facility, set up in collaboration with the Bihar government at Patliputra Sports complex, will be fully managed by the organisation’s India unit.

3.21 pm: An undertrial in Haryana, who had tested positive for the coronavirus, escaped from a hospital in the Jind district, PTI reports. The accused, who was out on bail, wore a personal protection equipment kit to conceal his identity. However, he was caught by the police hours after his escape.

3.19 pm: Goa Chief Minister Pramod Sawant says that starting Thursday, those entering the state will have the option of skipping Covid-19 testing, provided they show no symptoms of the virus during screening at entry points, PTI reports.

3.16 pm: The number of coronavirus cases in Uttarakhand rises to 1,560 after 23 more infections were reported in the state, ANI reports, quoting the state health department’s figures.

2.33 pm: A 35-year-old officer of the Border Security Force succumbs to Covid-19 in Delhi, taking the total number of fatalities in the force due to the pandemic to three, PTI reports.

2.29 pm: The Delhi High Court asks the Centre and the Delhi government to treat as representation a plea seeking proper implementation of the guidelines issued by the World Health Organization on spraying disinfectants in public places, PTI reports.

2.25 pm: The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development says the global economy will contract at least 6% this year due to economic shutdowns to contain the coronavirus outbreak, AFP reports.

2.16 pm: Sixty-one people test positive in Nagpur district of Maharashtra, taking the district’s total caseload to 840, PTI reports. The toll from the infection is 14.

2.16 pm: Twenty-six more people test positive for Covid-19 in Tripura, taking the total number of cases in the state to 867, Chief Minister Biplab Kumar Deb says, according to PTI.

1.56 pm: The United States Embassy says its consulate in the Chinese city of Wuhan, where the coronavirus pandemic is believed to have originated late December, will soon resume operations, according to Reuters.

1.50 pm: Thailand is considering a plan to reopen more businesses and establishments from June 15, reports Reuters. The country has reported no local transmissions of the coronavirus cases in the last 16 days.

1.20 pm: Assam reports 42 new coronavirus cases, taking the state’s tally to 3,092. So far, five people have died and 1,097 patients have recovered.

1.11 pm: As many as 14 staff members of the Harsul Jail in Maharashtra’s Aurangabad district have tested positive for the coronavirus, reports PTI. Their samples were sent for testing after 29 undertrial prisoners of the jail tested positive.

1.08 pm: The Union Health Ministry has said that all Central Government Health Scheme, or CGHS empanelled hospitals, notified as coronavirus-hospitals by the state governments, will provide treatment facilities to the beneficiaries.

1 pm: Nineteen staffers, including two doctors at Udhampur district hospital, in Jammu and Kashmir test positive for the coronavirus, reports PTI. They came in contact with a pregnant woman who had tested positive.

12.58 pm: Apple Inc has told its staff at the Silicon Valley headquarters in US that plan to work from office will begin on June 15, reports Bloomberg. However, the company has said that most employees will not return to the office for several months due to the coronavirus pandemic.

12.50 pm: The number of recovered coronavirus patients in India has exceeded the total active cases for the first time today, according to the health ministry figures. The number of active cases in the country stands at 1,33,632, while 1,35,205 people have recovered and one patient has migrated.

12.42 pm: Andhra Pradesh reports 136 new coronavirus cases in the last 24 hours, according to ANI. The state now has 4,126 total infections.

12.36 pm: Kejriwal says 81,000 beds might be needed by July as cases increase in Delhi, adding that he would personally monitor setting up temporary coronavirus centres in places such as stadiums. “If we keep fighting among ourselves, corona will win,” he adds.

12.30 pm: Kejriwal says the Delhi government has not been unsuccessful in the fight to tackle the coronavirus pandemic. He, however, admits that a lot more needs to be done.

12.22 pm: Bihar reports 128 new coronavirus cases, taking the state’s tally to 5,583, according to ANI.

12.16 pm: Kejriwal praises media for highlighting the problems faced by the coronavirus patients in Delhi. He adds that directives of Anil Baijal will be implemented in letter and spirit, saying this is not the time for disagreements or arguments with Opposition parties.

12.15 pm: On the matter of reserving beds for residents of Delhi, Kejriwal now says Lieutenant Governor Anil Baijal’s orders will be implemented. Baijal had directed the government and medical authorities in the national Capital to ensure that treatment was not denied to anybody on the grounds that they were not residents of the city.

12.12 pm: “Coronavirus cases expected to spread rapidly in coming days...over 5 lakh cases likely by July 31,” says Arvind Kejriwal. He says the city faces a big challenge.

12.09 pm: The Delhi chief minister urges people to wear masks, follow physical distancing guidelines and make this a people’s movement. He likens this to the odd-even scheme.

12.07 pm: Kejriwal says he was constantly thinking of ways to tackle the coronavirus numbers in Delhi when he was in quarantine.

12.05 pm: “Thank you for your blessings and wishes, have tested negative for the coronavirus,” says Kejriwal.

12.02 pm: Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal addresses the media about the coronavirus situation.

12 pm: The Jama Masjid may have to be closed again due to the deteriorating coronavirus situation in Delhi, the mosque’s Shahi Imam Syed Ahmed Bukhari. This comes after the Shahi Imam’s secretary Amanullah died due to Covid-19 on Tuesday.

11.52 am: The Rajasthan government has decided to seal its borders for a week due to the increasing coronavirus cases, reports ANI. Only those with valid passes will be allowed to enter.

11.44 am: The Delhi health minister says the government has issued orders to increase bed capacity in the city. “It is expected that we would need 15,000 beds by end of June,” he tells ANI. “We will even use space available in banquet halls, hotels and stadiums, if required. We are working accordingly.”

11.41 am: Delhi Health Minister Satyendar Jain says up to the Centre to declare whether the city has entered the community transmission phase, reports ANI. “There is transmission in the community,” he adds.

11.38 am: An administrative inquiry into the death of a pregnant woman in Noida, after at least eight hospitals, including government hospitals, denied her admission, has recommended action against several medical officials, reports The Indian Express. The investigation also found that private hospitals made excuses not to admit the 30-year-old.

11.33 am: Rajasthan records 123 new coronavirus cases, taking the state’s total to 11,368. The toll stands at 256.

11.30 am: The Punjab government has allowed the distribution of prasad at places of worship and said all community kitchens and langars will also be reopened. The Ministry of Home Affairs in its guidelines to stop the spread of the coronavirus had advised against all physical offerings like prasad distribution or sprinkling of holy water inside a religious place.

Read here: Punjab allows distribution of prasad, opening of community kitchens at religious places

11.28 am: Delhi Health Minister Satyendar Jain tells ANI that it takes around two weeks for an infected person to recover from the coronavirus. “Considering the present situation, it’s expected that in next 12 to 15 days, there’ll be around 30,000 more cases,” he adds.

11.17 am: With five new coronavirus cases, Mizoram’s tally has risen to 93, reports PTI. The Mizoram government has extended the lockdown in the state by two more weeks from Tuesday.

11.15 am: A World Health Organization expert has clarified that “modelling studies have put the extent of asymptomatic transmission to about 40%”. This came a day after Maria Van Kerkhove claimed that asymptomatic transmission was “very rare”. However, Van Kerkhove still maintained that real world data suggested it could be a rare event.

Read here: WHO epidemiologist backtracks after claiming asymptomatic transmission ‘very rare’

11.08 am: The International Air Transport Association says airlines will lose $84 billion due to the coronavirus pandemic, reports Reuters. This will be the worst year in the sector’s history.

11 am: The Indo-Tibetan Border Police mess in Leh has been declared as a containment zone after eight people tested positive, NDTV reports. “The objective of this cluster containment is to stop transmission, morbidity and mortality due to Covid-19,” says an order.

10.55 am: No new coronavirus cases have been reported in the Maharashtra Police in the last 48 hours, according to ANI. So far, 2,562 infections have been recorded in the force.

10.52 am: Odisha reports 110 new coronavirus cases, taking the state’s tally to 3,250, according to ANI.

10.47 am: Indian biscuit maker Parle Products recorded a surge in the sale of Parle-G during the coronavirus-enforced restrictions in April and May. Mayank Shah, category head at Parle, says the company gained a market share of around 5% as more people worked from home and stocked up the biscuits for consumption.

Read here: Parle-G recorded best growth in four decades during the lockdown, says biscuit maker

10.40 am: The West Bengal’s Health Department has said that over 66% of those who have died of the infection in the state had comorbidities, reports The Hindu. The health department also shared age-wise fatality rate. It was 20.48% among those aged over 75, 15.38% among those aged 61 to 75, and 6.83% among those aged between 46 to 60.

The state has so far recorded 415 deaths.

10.33 am: The World Health Organization has recommended authorities in Pakistan to reimpose intermittent lockdown in targeted areas to contain the spread of the coronavirus, reports Reuters. The health body says the country did not meet the conditions for lifting restrictions. A total of 108,316 cases and 2,172 deaths, have been recorded in the country so far.

10.30 am: The Gujarat High Court has issued notices to the state government and the Indian Council of Medical Research on a petition challenging a health department circular about the revised coronavirus testing policy, reports PTI. The plea was filed by the Indian Medical Association’s Gujarat unit.

10.22 am: The District and Sessions Court in Madhya Pradesh’s Khandwa district has been closed after two of its senior most judges tested positive for the coronavirus, NDTV reports. All 86 staff members of the court, including judges and their families, have been quarantined and the entire Judges’ Colony has been declared as a containment zone.

10.17 am: The Arvind Kejriwal government has ordered government and private hospitals in Delhi to prominently display information about the availability of beds on a flex board at their main gates, reports PTI. The matter on the boards to be displayed by hospitals, having a capacity of 50 beds or more, shall be in both English and Hindi. This comes as complaints mounted on social media that hospitals in Delhi were turning back people affected by the coronavirus.

10.05 am: Communist Party of India (Marxist) General Secretary Sitaram Yechury has said that India’s coronavirus growth rate is alarming.

“India’s Covid growth rate is the fastest of the worst five countries,” he tweets. “Testing, testing and more testing followed by isolation, contact tracing and quarantine is the only way to combat this pandemic. We are amongst the lowest testing countries – 3.4 per thousand people.”

10 am: Delhi BJP MP Gautam Gambhir criticises the Aam Aadmi Party-led government for the rise in coronavirus cases, reports News18. He claims Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal has been lying since the pandemic began. “They have been lying since day 1,” he adds. “Just come out and say you were not ready to handle this pandemic. The chief minister starts playing blame games and ultimately he will start blaming the people of Delhi. He says asymptomatic people should not be tested. He has no right to say that. He needs to be honest with the people of Delhi and tell us if he needs support.”

9.50 am: Pune city in Maharashtra has 10,012 coronavirus cases and the toll stands at 442. Maharashtra is India’s worst-affected state due to the pandemic.

9.25 am: India now has 1,33,632 active cases. As many as 1,35,205 people have recovered.

9.24 am: India’s tally rises to 2,76,583 on Wednesday morning after 9,985 cases were reported in 24 hours. The toll increased to 7,745 after 274 deaths were reported in a day. India is now the fifth most-affected country in the world.

9.10 am: The Arvind Kejriwal government on Tuesday directed 22 private hospitals in Delhi to reserve more than 20% beds for the treatment of coronavirus patients. Delhi, one of the hotspots, has over 31,000 cases so far. It is expected to climb to more than 5 lakh by the end of July, Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia told reporters hours before the new order. By then it will need 80,000 beds to tackle the escalating health crisis.

Read more here:

Coronavirus: Delhi to increase bed capacity in 22 private hospitals amid surge in cases

9 am: The Punjab government has decided to allow community kitchens, langar and serving of ‘prasad’ at religious places. However, physical distancing and hygiene must be adhered to, ANI reports.

8.50 am: Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam MLA J Anbazhagan died of coronavirus at a hospital in Chennai on Wednesday morning, The Times of India reports. It was also his 62nd birthday.

Anbazhagan was admitted to a hospital in Chromepet on June 2 but his condition deteriorated on Tuesday night, doctors said.

8.30 am: The number of coronavirus cases in Peru crosses 2 lakh, making it the eighth most-affected country in the world, AFP reports.

8.15 am: The World Health Organization urges Pakistan to implement intermittent lockdowns to curb the spread of coronavirus infections, AFP reports.

7.55 am: The International Monetary Fund approves a $5 billion relief package for Ukraine to help the country deal with Covid-19 challenges. About $2.1 billion will be released immediately.

7.45 am: The number of coronavirus cases in Maharashtra rose to 90,787 on Tuesday after 2,259 more people tested positive for the infection. Mumbai alone has 50,878 cases, which is more than the 50,333 cases in Wuhan, where the coronavirus is said to have emerged.

7.40 am: The number of coronavirus cases in Delhi rise to 31,309 after 1,366 new cases were reported on Tuesday, ANI reports. The toll rises to 905.

7.35 am: Globally, the coronavirus has infected more than 72.37 lakh people and claimed over 4.11 lakh lives so far, according to the Johns Hopkins University. As many as 33.70 lakh people have recovered.

7.30 am: Here are the top updates from Tuesday:

  • India’s tally rose to 2,66,598 on Tuesday morning, after 9,987 cases were reported in 24 hours. This is the highest single-day rise so far. The toll increased to 7,466 after 266 deaths were reported in a day. India is now the fifth most-affected country in the world.
  • Maharashtra’s coronavirus tally reached 90,787 after 2,259 more people tested positive for the infection. Mumbai alone has over 50,000 cases now. Meanwhile, Tamil Nadu reported 1,685 new cases and 21 deaths. The state’s tally rose to 34,914 and the toll reached 307.
  • The Supreme Court directed the Centre and state governments to identify stranded migrant workers and transport them back to their hometowns within 15 days.
  • Delhi Lieutenant Governor Anil Baijal said that the Centre, state governments and local administrations must work together to fight the coronavirus pandemic. He added that the Arvind Kejriwal-led government’s order to reserve hospitals for residents of the Capital violated the Right to Equality and Right to Life. On Monday, Baijal had passed an order prohibiting such reservation.
  • Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia claimed that there was no community transmission of the coronavirus in the Capital. This came after he held a meeting with the State Disaster Management Authority.
  • The Indian Council of Medical Research dismissed media reports based on a survey that showed that about one-third of the people living in containment zones and hotspots may have already been infected with Covid-19 but also recovered.
  • The Centre issued fresh guidelines for its officials and staffers on attending office and the conduct of activities therein, given the continuing rise in coronavirus cases around the country.
  • The district magistrate of South East Delhi was served a notice for pursuing a “conspiracy to defame the Muslim community” by keeping the Nizamuddin area in Delhi sealed for more than 65 days, even after no new cases of the coronavirus were reported.