8.47 pm: The number of coronavirus cases in Mumbai rises to 73,747, after 1,460 new infections were reported on Saturday. The toll rises by 41 and is now 4,282.

8.35 pm: Gujarat reports 615 new cases and 18 deaths in 24 hours. The state’s tally now rises to 30,773, including 22,417 recoveries and 1,790 deaths.

8.25 pm: Karnataka reports 918 new cases and 11 deaths in a day, taking the total cases in the state to 11,923 and the toll to 191. This is the state’s highest daily rise in cases.

8.20 pm: From July 5, Karnataka will impose a lockdown every Sunday, ANI reports. No activities would be permitted on that day, except essential services and supplies. Government offices would remain closed on all Saturdays from July 10.

The state has also changed the night curfew timings from the existing 9 pm to 5 am to 8 pm to 5 am. This will be in effect from June 29.

8 pm: Maharashtra reports 5,318 new cases and 167 deaths in a day, taking the state’s tally to 1,59,133 and the toll to 7,273. This is the state’s highest-ever daily rise in cases.

7.40 pm: New cases reported today:

Delhi: 2,948 new cases, 66 deaths; total rises to 80,188, toll stands at 2,558,

Manipur: 25 new cases, total rises to 1,092,

Punjab: 100 new cases, 7 deaths; total rises to 5,056, toll at 128,

Uttarakhand: 66 new cases, total rises to 2,791.

6.20 pm: Tamil Nadu reports 3,713 new cases and 68 deaths in a day. This takes the total number of cases in the state to 78,335 and the toll rises to 1,025.

6.05 pm: Kerala reports 195 new cases in a day, ANI reports. This is the highest single-day increase in Kerala so far. The total cases in Kerala is now 4,071 and the toll stands at 22.

6.02 pm: Some shop in Hyderabad’s Charminar market will be shut till July 5 amid rising coronavirus cases.

5.30 pm: Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and Union Home Minister Amit Shah visit the Covid Care Centre in Chhatarpur.

5 pm: The Delhi University postpones the online exams for final year-students by 10 days, ANI reports. They were supposed to begin on July 1.

4.30 pm: A 44-year-old CRPF personnel died of the coronavirus in Delhi, ANI reports.

3.40 pm: Indians stranded in Pakistan due to the coronavirus lockdown return via the Attari-Wagah border, ANI reports.

3.22 pm: Bihar reports 180 new coronavirus cases in 24 hours, taking the state’s tally to 8,858.

3.20 pm: Union Home Minister Amit Shah and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal will visit a Covid Care Centre in Chhatarpur today, ANI reports.

3.15 pm: AIIMS Director Randeep Guleria says the rise in cases in India is not as high as that of other countries. “In US, there’ve been almost 40,000 cases per day in last two days, our numbers aren’t that high,” Guleria tells ANI. “Cases per million population continue to be low and we still have low mortality rate.”

2.40 pm: Uttar Pradesh Principal Secretary (Health) Amit Mohan Prasad says the state has reported 607 new cases in the past 24 hours. There are now 6,684 active cases, 14,215 recoveried and 649 deaths.

2.30 pm: The Kerala government issues an order suspending lockdown on Sundays till further orders. Night curfew between 9 pm and 5 am will continue across the state.

1.47 pm: Andhra Pradesh records 796 new coronavirus cases and 11 deaths in the last 24 hours, according to ANI. The state has 12,285 total cases and the toll has risen to 157.

1.35 pm: Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan says India’s recovery rate has gone beyond 58% and around three lakh people have recovered from the coronavirus, reports ANI. “Our mortality/fatality rate is near 3% which is very less. Our doubling rate has come down to near 19 days, which was three days before the lockdown,” he adds.

1 pm: Orly Airport in Paris reopens with stringent security measures, reports Reuters. Passengers cannot enter the terminals with non-flying companions, and wearing masks is compulsory

12.45 pm: Microsoft says it will shut all its stores and shift its retail operations online, and keep only four locations and transform them into “experience centers”, reports AFP.

12.30 pm: Union health ministry revises clinical management protocol for Covid-19. Glucocorticosteroid dexamethasone now allowed as alternative to methylprednisolone for moderate and severe coronavirus patients in need of oxygen support who experience excessive inflammatory response

12.17 pm: Kejriwal says his administration has bought 4,000 oxygen concentrators for coronavirus patients.

12.15 pm: Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal says the number of beds in the Capital has increased significantly in the last one week. “There are 13,500 beds in Delhi now, of which 6,500 are occupied. Also, 20,000 tests are being conducted daily. I thank [the] Centre for providing us the needed testing kits.”

11.44 am: Prime Minister Narendra Modi says that several initiatives were undertaken during the coronavirus-induced lockdown and that India is in a better state than other countries. “Earlier this year, some people had predicted that the impact of the virus in India would be very severe,” he says, according to ANI. “Due to lockdown, many initiatives taken by the Government and a people-driven fight, India is much better placed than many other nations. India’s recovery rate is rising.”

11.38 am: Rajasthan reports 127 new coronavirus cases and nine deaths today, taking the state’s tally to 16,787 and 389. The number of patients being treated are 3,249, reports ANI, citing the health department.

11.33 am: The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, in its 2020 World Drug Report, has highlighted a wide range of possible consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic on illegal drug production, supply and consumption.

11.18 am: Bajaj Auto Limited has confirmed that two of its employees, who had tested positive for the coronavirus, at its Aurangabad plant have died due to the infection, reports NDTV. The company also confirmed that at least 140 employees have tested positive at the Waluj plant in Aurangabad, Maharashtra.

11.17 am: The coronavirus outbreak, which brought India’s financial capital Mumbai to a standstill, appears to be entering the slower phase after the doubling rate increased from 30 to 41 days. A report by the city’s civic authority said the prevention plan has been effective due to aggressive testing and isolation strategy.

Read more here:

Coronavirus: Doubling rate in Mumbai increases from 30 to 41 days, says BMC’s report

11.14 am: External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar says the world is facing an attack from two things – the coronavirus pandemic and misinformation, reports PTI. “Today, once again, we stand at a transformative moment,” he says in a virtual address. “A pandemic has devastated our globalised economic system; apart from taking a toll of over 400,000 lives, it has fundamentally affected the way we live, work, travel and indeed, relate to each other.”

10.51 am: The Madhya Pradesh government has formed a panel to create employment opportunities for wage labourers who have come back to the state during the lockdown, reports PTI

10.41 am: Buildings in congested localities and slums of north Mumbai will be sealed amid a rise in coronavirus cases in the last 15 days, reports PTI.

10.20 am: Mental health experts say coronavirus has triggered panic attacks among those who tested positive for the coronavirus, reports PTI.

10.18 am: Dr Randeep Guleria, director of All India Institute of Medical Sciences in Delhi, tells Hindustan Times about the need to step up monitoring of Covid-19 patients at home. “We need an improved mechanism of monitoring people at home and rapidly shifting those who are ill from their homes to the hospital, and making sure hospital beds are available so that people don’t have to run from one hospital to another,” says.

10 am: Bengaluru City Police Commissioner Bhaskar Rao says shops, malls, banks, hotels, offices and other establishments are already aware of precautions to be taken. “If you don’t wear mask and don’t ensure safe distance, police will raid and initiate legal action, it has already started,” he adds, according to ANI.

9.45 am: Delhi’s Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal says the Capital has conducted 21,144 tests – the highest number in a single-day on Friday. “We have increased testing four times,” he tweets. “Delhi now following strategy of very aggressive testing and isolation.”

9.40 am: The number of coronavirus cases in the Border Security Force rises to 911 after 43 new cases reported in the last 24 hours, according to ANI.

9.30 am: In Karnataka’s Kalaburagi district, thermal scanning of students is being done in schools, reports ANI. The state is holding the Secondary School Leaving Certificate board exams today for Class 10.

9.15 am: India’s coronavirus tally rises to 5,08,953, and the toll stands at 15,685. Of these, 19,73,387 people are being treated, 2,95,880 have recovered. With 18,552 new cases, the country recorded the highest single-day rise.

9.10 am: The total number of samples tested upto June 26 is 79,96,707, of which 2,20,479 were tested on Friday, says Indian Council of Medical Research.

9.05 am: The Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation on Friday asked the Congress-led government in Punjab to ensure a quicker inquiry into an alleged scam involving personal protective equipment kits at a government-run hospital in Amritsar, reports Times Now.

9 am: World Health Organization’s Chief Scientist Dr Soumya Swaminathan on Friday said that more than 200 vaccine candidates are at different stages of being developed and 15 of them are in human clinical trials, reports The Indian Express. She added that there is hope that it will be ready in 12 -18 months.

8 am: The United States records 45,242 new cases of coronavirus on Friday, the largest single-day increase of the pandemic, according to a Reuters tally.

7.55 am: Bajaj Auto clarifies that its Waluj manufacturing facility in Maharashtra remains operational even as 140 coronavirus cases were reported at the plant, reports BloombergQuint. Two of the workers have died.

7.50 am: The number of containment zones in Delhi will increase in the coming days after a re-mapping, officials tell PTI. In North West district, where the exercise has been undertaken, the containment zone has risen from 21 to 28.

7.45 am: Kerala is examining potential community transmission of the coronavirus, reports The Hindu. Meanwhile, Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka are focussing on mortality and rise in fresh cases.

7.40 am: A serological survey will be undertaken from today in Delhi to analyse the coronavirus outbreak. In this, 20,000 samples will be tested to help authorities prepare a broad strategy to tackle the escalating health crisis.

7.35 am: Global experts involved in an initiative to develop and introduce a vaccine and other treatment for the coronavirus say their efforts need a big budget, reports Associated Press.

7.30 am: Here are the top updates from Friday:

  1. India on Friday reported 17,296 new coronavirus cases – the biggest one-day increase in infections so far. The country’s tally rose to 4,90,401. The toll rose to 15,301 with 407 new deaths. More than 2.8 lakh people across the country have recovered.
  2. The Assam government announced a two-week lockdown in Guwahati from Sunday midnight and night curfew across state amid rising cases. Jharkhand extended its lockdown till July 31. Karnataka Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa, meanwhile, said there would be no fresh lockdown in Bengaluru to control the spread of the coronavirus.
  3. The Centre extended the suspension of international commercial air travel till July 15. Domestic passenger services had commenced from May 25.
  4. Maharashtra on Friday reported an all-time single-day high of 5,024 coronavirus cases, taking the state’s total to 1,52,765, while the number of fatalities reached 7,106. With 3,460 new cases, Delhi’s count rose to 77,240 and the toll to 2,492. Tamil Nadu, meanwhile, reported 3,523 new cases and 46 deaths, taking the state’s total to 74,622, including 957 fatalities.
  5. Prime Minister Narendra Modi, while launching the Atma Nirbhar Uttar Pradesh Rojgar Abhiyan, praised the state government’s efforts to combat the coronavirus.
  6. The Supreme Court approved the assessment scheme submitted by the Central Board of Secondary Education for the cancelled Class 10 and 12 exams. The board said that it would mark students based on the subjects for which exams have already been conducted and internal evaluation. The results will be declared by mid-July.
  7. The European Medicines Agency suggested giving conditional approval to Gilead Sciences Inc’s remdesivir drug for treating coronavirus patients.