Top 10 Covid-19 updates: Kerala reports over 100 cases for 7th day, Karnataka’s count crosses 10,000
A look at the biggest coronavirus developments of the day.
- India’s coronavirus tally rose to 4,73,105 on Thursday as the country recorded its biggest single-day increase of 16,922 cases. The toll went up to 14,894 with 418 new deaths. Over 2.7 lakh people have recovered so far.
- Maharashtra reported 4,841 new cases – a new single-day high – and 192 deaths on Thursday, taking the total count to 1,47,741, while the toll rose to 6,931. The number of cases in Delhi crossed 73,780, while Kerala reported more than 100 cases for the seventh day in a row, and Karnataka’s count surpassed 10,000. Tamil Nadu recorded 3,509 new coronavirus cases in the evening, taking the state’s total count to 70,977. With 45 new deaths, the toll has risen to 911.
- Delhi Lieutenant Governor Anil Baijal said that only those coronavirus patients who do not have adequate facilities at home to ensure isolation, will have to be shifted to Covid-19 care centres and other medical facilities. The Delhi Disaster Management Authority approved a modification to the Standard Operating Protocol to give effect to this order, he added.
- The Centre and the Central Board of Secondary Education informed the Supreme Court that they have decided to cancel the remaining Class 10 and Class 12 exams, scheduled between July 1 and July 15. The board will conduct the examinations when the conditions are conducive. Indian Certificate of Secondary Education also agreed with the government’s decision to cancel remaining exams.
- Hyderabad-based pharmaceutical firm, Hetero, which has the approval to manufacture Gilead’s antiviral drug remdesivir for the treatment of severely ill coronavirus patients, said it will deliver the first set to five states at a maximum retail price of Rs 5,400 per vial. The company will send the first set of 20,000 vials in two equal lots of 10,000 each to Maharashtra, Delhi, Tamil Nadu, Gujarat and Hyderabad.
- Karnataka Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa asked the people of Bengaluru to cooperate in following the measures taken to control the coronavirus, if they did not want another lockdown enforced in the city. The chief minister said he will confer with his Cabinet ministers as well as legislators from all parties on Thursday and Friday to seek their opinion and discuss measures taken to control the pandemic.
- A central team led by Joint Health Secretary Lav Agarwal will visit Gujarat, Maharashtra and Telangana between June 26 and June 29 to hold meetings with state officials on ways to strengthen the ongoing efforts to contain the coronavirus, the health ministry said.
- The Indian Institute of Technology Bombay announced that it will scrap classroom lectures for the rest of the year because of coronavirus risks, becoming the first major institute in the country to do so.
- Union Minister of State for External Affairs V Muraleedharan on Thursday rejected the Kerala government’s demand that citizens returning from Gulf countries first take a coronavirus test. The state government on Wednesday released different safety guidelines for travel from six countries – United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Oman, Kuwait and Bahrain.
- The global coronavirus tally reached 94,78,266 and the toll went up to 4,83,613, according to the Johns Hopkins University. More than 47.8 lakh people have recovered.