1. India on Sunday reported 15,413 new coronavirus cases in 24 hours – its biggest single-day rise so far. The country now has 4,10,461 cases and the toll stood at 13,254. As many as 2,27,755 people have recovered. Tamil Nadu reported the highest single-day surge of 2,532 cases and 53 deaths, taking the state’s tally to 59,377.
  2. Prime Minister Narendra Modi said that practising yoga can help strengthen the immune system and help fight the highly-contagious coronavirus. “The coronavirus attacks our respiratory system,” the prime minister said during his virtual address. “Pranayaam or breathing exercises help strengthen the respiratory system to fight the disease.”  
  3. The Delhi government said in an order on Sunday that all coronavirus patients will be referred to Covid-19 care centres to determine whether they can be isolated in their homes, or need institutional quarantine. The revised order came after Lieutenant Governor Anil Baijal withdrew an order mandating five-day institutional quarantine for all those who test positive for the virus.
  4. Union Home Minister Amit Shah held a meeting with Delhi Lieutenant Governor Anil Baijal and other senior officials on Sunday. Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia also participated. However, details of the meeting are not yet available.  
  5. The condition of Delhi Health Minister Satyendar Jain, who was admitted to hospital earlier this week after being diagnosed with the novel coronavirus, has improved. A statement from Jain’s office said that his condition improved after he was provided plasma therapy. “His fever has subsided and his oxygen level has improved,” the office said. “Doctors say he can be shifted to the general ward by tomorrow.” The minister is currently in the intensive care unit.
  6. The Mumbai Police and the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation are at loggerheads about reimposing a strict lockdown in parts of the city where the number of coronavirus cases have surged. While the police want a total lockdown in parts of Malad, Kandivali, Borivali and Dahisar, the civic body feels it is not feasible.
  7. The chief servitor at the Puri Jagannath Temple in Odisha urged the Supreme Court to recall its order cancelling the yearly rath yatra because of the coronavirus pandemic. Pattajoshi Mohapatra told the top court that lakhs of devotees attend the Jagannath Rath Yatra every year. He added that the procession was an “essential religious practice” protected by the Constitution of India and its cancellation would affect the holiness of the temple. Mohapatra also claimed that the yatra had not been stopped even during the Spanish Flu outbreak of 1919.  
  8. Indian pharmaceutical firm Hetero announced that it has received approval from the Drug Controller General of India to both manufacture and market the experimental antiviral drug remdesivir, to treat coronavirus patients. Hetero’s generic version of Remdesivir will be sold under the brand name Covifor in India. 
  9. Seven foreigners who attended a Tablighi Jamaat congregation in New Delhi in March have moved the Supreme Court, challenging the decision of the Ministry of Home Affairs to blacklist them. The foreigners include two citizens of Thailand, and one each from Kenya, Mali, Morocco, Tunisia and Malaysia.
  10. Globally, the coronavirus has infected 88,20,125 people so far, and 4,64,952 people have died of it, according to the Johns Hopkins University.