1. India’s coronavirus tally rose to 9,36,181 on Wednesday after the country reported yet another single-day rise in numbers, with 29,429 new infections. The country’s toll rose by 582 to 24,309. More than 5.92 lakh people have recovered so far.  
  2. Gujarat-based pharmaceutical company Zydus Cadila has started human clinical trials of its Covid-19 vaccine candidate ZyCoV-D. It had received approval to start phase one and two of human clinical trials of its coronavirus vaccine earlier in July. 
  3. The Authority for Advance Ruling has said that alcohol-based hand sanitisers will be taxed at 18% Goods and Services rate. The Goa-bench of the AAR added that merely classifying goods as essential commodity will not be the criteria for exempting them from GST.
  4. Air India employees will no longer be able to work from home after July 20. The national carrier also began the process of sending some under-performing employees on compulsory leave without pay for up to a period of five years, due to the economic crisis it is facing.
  5. Goa announced a three-day lockdown with stricter restrictions from July 17, in order to curb the spread of the coronavirus. There will also be a “Janata Curfew” in the state from 8 pm to 6 am every day from July 17 to August 10, Chief Minister Pramod Sawant said.
  6. West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee announced that jobs will be provided to family members of state government employees who die of the coronavirus. Banerjee added that 12 Bengal government employees have died of the coronavirus so far. The Karnataka government, meanwhile, made it mandatory for private hospitals to put up boards displaying the availability of beds. 
  7. United States biotech firm Moderna said it plans to start the final stage of human trials for its coronavirus vaccine candidate on July 27.The announcement came after the New England Journal of Medicine published results from the first stage of Moderna’s vaccine trial, which showed it was safe and all the first 45 participants developed antibodies to the virus.
  8. Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal thanked the Centre, NGOs and Opposition parties Congress and the BJP for helping the government battle the coronavirus. He added that the number of hospital beds in the Capital have gone up from 4,100 on June 1 to 15,500 on Wednesday.
  9. Union Human Resource Development Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal “Nishank” launched a low-cost coronavirus test kit, developed by the Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi.
  10. The global coronavirus count is now over 1.32 crore, while the toll has crossed 5.77 lakh, according to the Johns Hopkins University. More than 73 lakh people have recovered so far. The director of US’ National Institutes of Allergy and Infectious Disease, Anthony Fauci, warned people that the coronavirus outbreak could be as bad as the 1918 flu pandemic.