8.58 pm: New cases reported today:

West Bengal: 743 new cases, 19 deaths; total rises to 21,231; toll to 736,

Gujarat: 712 new cases, 21 deaths; total rises to 35,398, toll now 1,927.

8.53 pm: Pune Mayor Muralidhar Mohol says he has contracted the coronavirus, PTI reports.

8.51 pm: Karnataka reports 1,839 cases and 42 deaths in a day. This takes the state’s cases to 14,140 and the toll to 335.

8.50 pm: The global coronavirus tally rises to 1,11,24,651 and the toll rises to 5,26,003, according to the Johns Hopkins University. More than 59 lakh people have recovered so far.

8.45 pm: Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and his deputy Sushil Kumar Modi have sent their swab samples for testing after they sat next to a leader who has tested positive for the coronavirus, NDTV reports.

8.18 pm: Bangladesh reports 3,288 cases in a day, taking the total number of infections in the country to 1,59,679. Nearly 2,000 people have died, PTI reports.

8.15 pm: Delhi reports 2,505 coronavirus cases and 55 deaths in a day. This takes the total number of cases in the national Capital to 97,200 and the toll rises to 3,004.

7.15 pm: In Jammu, people will not be allowed to move in public between 10 pm to 5 am, except for essential work, ANI reports.

7.12 pm: Kerala reports 240 new coronavirus cases in a day, taking the state’s tally to 5,204. This is the highest daily increase in the state so far.

6.54 pm: New cases reported today:

Dharavi, Mumbai: Two new cases, two deaths; total cases rises to 2,311, toll now 86,

Puducherry: 80 new cases, total rises to 904; toll at 14,

Tamil Nadu: 4,280 new cases, 65 deaths; total rises to 1,07,001, toll now 1,450.

6.32 pm: The toll in Uttar Pradesh touched 773 on Saturday, while the total number of infections rose to 26,554, with 757 new cases, PTI reports.

6.30 pm: The coronavirus toll in Russia has crossed 10,000, local news agency TASS reports. The overall toll is now 10,027, and the total number of infections has risen to 6,74,515.

6.25 pm: The Bihar government will now impose a fine of Rs 50 on people who don’t wear face masks in public places.

“Wearing a face mask or face cover has been made compulsory (for people at public places or in offices) and Rs 50 will be imposed as fine for violating the regulation,” Anupam Kumar, the secretary of the Information and Public Relations Department, said, PTI reports.

6.20 pm: The Odisha government announces a ban on “Kanwar Yatra” by devotees of the Hindu god Shiva this year in view of the rising number of coronavirus cases, PTI reports.

6 pm: The lockdown in Chennai will be relaxed from July 6, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Edappadi Palaniswami says. The lockdown in Madurai, however, will be extended till July 12.

5.30 pm: Gujarat Chief Minister Vijay Rupani says 200 ventilators will be made available in Surat and the government will allocate Rs 100 crore to convert two hospitals into Covid-19 facilities, PTI reports. Rupani and his deputy, Nitin Patel, met the local administration on Saturday.

“The government is concerned about Surat and is making arrangements to contain the viral spread in the city. We want to ensure that no patient has to face unavailability of beds,” the chief minister says.

5.25 pm: BJP leader and former Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis claims there is no coordination among the three constituents of the Maha Vikas Aghadi government in the state, as well as between Uddhav Thackeray and his Cabinet members in the fight against the coronavirus, PTO reports.

5.20 pm: Goa Health Minister Vishwajit Rane says the state will create a plasma bank to treat patients and added that the Goa Medical College and Hospital has the facilities to operate one, PTI reports.

5.02 pm: “Just as red tape was not allowed to become a hindrance in the fast track approval of new indigenous testing kits or for introducing in the Indian market potential COVID-19 related drugs, the indigenous vaccine development process has also been sought to be insulated from slow file movement,” ICMR’s statement adds. “The aim is to complete these phases at the earliest, so that population-based trials for efficacy could be initiated without delay.”

4.55 pm: The Indian Council of Medical Research issues a statement on the criticism surrounding its direction to clinical trial sites of Covaxin to fast-track approvals and launch it by August 15.

“ICMR’s process is exactly in accordance with globally accepted norms to fast-track the vaccine development for diseases of pandemic potential wherein human and animal trials can continue in parallel,” the statement reads. “The letter by DG-ICMR to investigators of the clinical trial sites was meant to cut unnecessary red tape, without bypassing any necessary process, and speed up recruitment of participants.”

4.05 pm: Flights from Delhi, Mumbai, Pune, Nagpur, Chennai and Ahmedabad will not operate to Kolkata from July 6 to July 19, the Kolkata Airport announces in a tweet. The move comes amid the West Bengal government’s plans to ramp up measures to contain the coronavirus.

3.33 pm: Bihar reports 349 more coronavirus cases, taking the total number of positive cases in the state to 11,460.

3.30 pm: Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike Commissioner Anil Kumar says a complete lockdown will be imposed in the city from 8 pm today to 5 am on Monday. Only essential items will be available.

3 pm: Andhra Pradesh records 765 new cases and 12 deaths in 24 hours, taking total number of cases to 17,699 and the toll to 218.

1.54 pm: The Centre revises the dosage of antiviral drug remdesivir to be administered to coronavirus patients in the moderate stage of illness from the original period of six days to five days. The drug, administered in the form of injection, should be given at a dose of 200 mg on day one followed by 100 mg daily for four days, the new treatment protocols state.

Read more here:

Coronavirus: Health ministry revises dosage of anti-viral drug remdesivir for Covid-19 patients

1.45 pm: The number of coronavirus cases in Himachal Pradesh on Saturday stands at 1,033, according to the state health department. The toll rises by one to nine.

1.34 pm: Gujarat Chief Minister Vijay Rupani and Deputy Chief Minister Nitin Patel arrive at Surat to assess the coronavirus situation, PTI reports. Surat has reported 5,461 Covid-19 cases,including 198 deaths, so far.

1.20 pm: Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro approves a law requiring masks on streets and in public transportation, reports BBC. The country’s tally has crossed 1.5 million.

1.19 pm: CPI(M) General Secretary Sitaram Yechury alleges that the Indian Council of Medical Research is trying to fast track the production of a vaccine so that Prime Minister Narendra Modi could make the announcement on Independence Day.

1.17 pm: Arunachal Pradesh reports 20 new cases, taking the state’s tally to 252, reports PTI. “All the cases were reported from quarantine centres,” says a health official. “Sixteen of them were asymptomatic, while four have symptoms of the infection.”

1.15 pm: A 53-year-old man dies at a hospital in Puducherry, reports PTI. “The man had respiratory trouble also although he had no other complication such as diabetics and blood pressure,” says Director of Health and Family Welfare S Mohan Kumar. Puducherry’s tally rises to 904 after 80 fresh infections.

12.54 pm: The Ahmedabad civic body has identified 26 new micro-containment zones in the city, reports PTI. Door-to-door surveillance will be carried out to detect new cases in these zones. With this, Ahmedabad now has 84 micro-containment zones where around 35,000 people live.

12.50 pm: A junior resident doctor in Delhi, who had symptoms of Covid-19 but had tested negative for the virus twice, has died. “All my symptoms are of corona... I will be 100% positive,” Abhishek Bhayana had told his brother hours before he died.

Also read

Coronavirus: Junior doctor in Delhi dies even after testing negative twice, says family

12.22 pm: Jama Masjid reopens for the public from today. The mosque will remain open from 9 am to 10 pm and everyone will have to follow physical distancing norms, says Syed Ahmed Bukhari, the shahi imam of the mosque.

11.57 am: Pakistan reports 3,387 new cases and 68 deaths in the last 24 hours. With this, total number of cases in the country rises to 2,25,283 and the toll stands at 4,619.

11.46 am: The Income Tax Department extends the deadline to file Income Tax Returns for 2019-’20 financial year till November 30, reports ANI.

11.22 am: West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee claims the state’s unemployment rate, which is 6.5% in June this year, is “far better” than that of the national average of 11%.

11.20 am: Uttar Pradesh Rural Development Minister Rajendra Pratap Singh and his wife have been admitted to the Sanjay Gandhi Post Graduate Institute of Medical Sciences in Lucknow after they tested positive, reports PTI.

11.02 am: Odisha reports 495 fresh infections, taking the state’s tally to 8,601.

11.01 am: Rajasthan reports 204 new cases and three deaths till 10.30 am today, ANI reports citing the state health department. With this, the total number of cases stands at 19,256 including 443 deaths.

10.59 am: Kimberly Guilfoyle, a top fund-raising official for the Donald Trump re-election campaign, tests positive before an event at Mount Rushmore, Bloomberg reported.

10.57 am: The Mizoram government postpones the opening of schools for the 2020-’21 academic session for an indefinite period, reports PTI quoting a state minister. The government had earlier decided to open educational institutions for the current academic session from July 15.

9.59 am: This is the highest single-day rise in fresh infections in the country so far.

9.58 am: The number of coronavirus infections in India goes up to 6,48,315 as the country reports 22,771 new cases. The toll rises to 18,655 with 442 new fatalities.

9.48 am: A family in Bengaluru was made to wait for more than two hours for an ambulance after a coronavirus patient died at his home on Friday, reports News18.

R Ashok, the minister in charge for coronavirus crisis, said strict action will be taken against those responsible. Bengaluru civic body commissioner Anil Kumar said that a probe will be ordered, reports NDTV. “Going to order for an inquiry and would ensure that it’s not repeated in future though there is a huge pressure on health services,” he added.

Also read

Coronavirus: Bengaluru man dies outside home after ambulance arrives two hours late

9.44 am: So far, 11,300 ‘Make In India’ ventilators have been dispatched to hospitals, out of which 6,154 have been delivered, says Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan. The health ministry is also supplying 1.02 lakh oxygen cylinders across India of which 72,293 were delivered.

9.42 am: Germany’s confirmed cases rise by 422 to 196,096, reports Reuters.

9.37 am: The World Health Organization says it was alerted by its own regional office, and not by China itself, about the first pneumonia cases, reports AFP. According to a new chronology published this week, it was the WHO office in China that on December 31 notified its regional point of contact of a case of “viral pneumonia”. The UN health body then asked the Chinese authorities on January 1 and January 2 for information about these cases, China informed WHO on January 3.

Also read

Covid-19: First alerted to virus by own office and not Beijing, says WHO in updated chronology

9.29 am: Pubs, restaurants and hairdressers reopen as England’s lockdown eases.

9.05 am: The total number of samples tested till July 3 is 95,40,132, says the Indian Council of Medical Research. Of these, 2,42,383 samples were tested on Friday.

9.04 am: Goa’s toll rises to five as a 74-year-old woman dies, reports PTI. Goa has so far reported more than 1,500 cases.

8.14 am: Andaman and Nicobar Islands have three new cases, reports ANI. With this, the tally rises to 119, of which 65 are active cases and 54 have recovered.

7.46 am: China reports three new cases, according to Reuters.

7.45 am: A doctor explains how to evaluate repurposed drugs being prescribed to coronavirus patients.

Also read

Explainer: What do we know of remdesivir, favipiravir, dexamethasone and other drugs used for Covid?

7.32 am: US records more than 53,000 cases in the last 24 hours, according to Reuters.

7.30 am: The Congress unit in Karnataka has alleged misappropriation of funds by the state government in purchase of equipment for Covid-19 treatment, reports News18. “The government has purchased corona related equipment, worth more than Rs 3,000 crore,” says former Chief Minister Siddaramaiah. “Prima facie it looks the government has paid more price than the market price.”

Also read:

Coronavirus: Karnataka buying medical equipment at double the market price, alleges Siddaramaiah

7.20 am: The World Health Organization says it should get results from clinical trials of drugs that might be effective in treating Covid-19 patients within next two weeks, reports Reuters. “Nearly 5,500 patients in 39 countries have so far been recruited into the Solidarity trial,” says WHO Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus. “We expect interim results within the next two weeks.”

7.15 am: Top updates from Friday

  • India reported 20,903 new coronavirus cases and 379 deaths on Friday. The country’s overall count rose to 6,25,544 and the toll reached 18,213. More than 3.79 lakh people have recovered from the coronavirus.
  • Maharashtra, Kerala and Uttar Pradesh recorded a single-day increase in number of new coronavirus infections in the evening. While Maharashtra recorded 6,364 new coronavirus cases and 198 deaths, taking its total to 1,92,990 and the toll to 8,376, Kerala reported a jump of 211 cases, taking its tally to 4,964. Meanwhile, a total of 972 people tested positive in Uttar Pradesh. With this, the state’s count rose to 25,797.
  • The Centre postponed the National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test and the Joint Entrance Exam (Main) to September due to the coronavirus crisis. The two exams, scheduled to be held in July, are conducted for admission into medical and engineering colleges across the country.
  • The Indian Council of Medical Research directed institutes conducting clinical trials for the country’s first coronavirus vaccine candidate Covaxin to fast-track approvals, saying that it was the Centre’s top priority. The top medical body said that it aims to launch the vaccine by August 15. A second coronavirus vaccine candidate, developed by Gujarat-based pharmaceutical company Zydus Cadila, also received approval for human trials.
  • The Directorate General of Civil Aviation said international flights will remain suspended in the country till July 31, adding that some services on selected routes may be permitted on a case-by-case basis. While domestic flights resumed in the country from May 25, the ban imposed on international flights is in place since March 23.
  • The Delhi High Court said hospitals cannot make it mandatory to obtain plasma from the recovered patients, adding that treatment should not be conditional.
  • The global coronavirus tally reached 1,08,74,146 and the toll rose to 5,21,355, according to the Johns Hopkins University. More than 57 lakh people across the world have recovered.