1. India reported 32,695 new coronavirus cases on Thursday, taking the total to 9,68,876. The toll rose by 606 to 24,915. This is the highest daily rise in the number of infections as well as deaths. More than 6.12 lakh people have recovered. Gujarat-based pharmaceutical giant Zydus Cadila’s coronavirus vaccine candidate entered the human trials stage. The clinical trials will be conducted across multiple sites in India with over 1,000 subjects.
  2. Civil Aviation Minister Hardeep Singh Puri said that the Centre aims to start operating 55% to 60% of the pre-coronavirus capacity of domestic flights by Diwali in November. Puri added that India will soon use bilateral air bubbles to resume international travel amid the coronavirus pandemic. The Union minister said that Air France will operate 28 flights from Delhi, Mumbai and Bengaluru to Paris between July 18 to August 1. Eighteen flights will also operate between India and the United States from July 17 to July 31.
  3. Maharashtra reported 8,641 new coronavirus cases and 266 deaths in the last 24 hours. The state’s tally rose to 2,84,841 and the toll reached 11,194. Delhi recorded 1,652 new coronavirus cases and 58 deaths on Thursday. The Capital’s tally rose to 1,18,645 and the toll reached 3,545. In Tamil Nadu, 4,549 new coronavirus cases took the state’s tally to 1,56,369. The toll went up to 2,236 with 63 new deaths. Kerala’s tally rose to 10,275 with 772 new cases. The toll reached 37 after two more deaths.
  4. Punjab capped the cost of coronavirus treatment at all hospitals. Private hospitals cannot charge patients with moderate symptoms more than Rs 10,000 per day. For patients requiring intensive care but not ventilators, the cost of treatment at private hospitals has been fixed at Rs 15,000. Private hospitals can charge critically ill patients Rs 18,000 per day. The government has also fixed treatment cost at healthcare facilities certified by the National Accreditation Board for Hospitals and Healthcare Providers.
  5. Microsoft Co-founder Bill Gates said India’s pharmaceutical industry has the capacity to produce coronavirus vaccines not just for the country but for the whole world. However, Gates also said that India faces a huge challenge in combating the coronavirus due to its gigantic size, and urban areas with high population density.
  6. Former Indian Administrative Service officer and Maharashtra’s first woman election commissioner Neela Satyanarayan died of the coronavirus in Mumbai. The 72-year-old officer died at the Seven Hills Hospital in Mumbai, where she had been admitted after being diagnosed with Covid-19. Fourteen priests of the Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams in Andhra Pradesh, meanwhile, tested positive for the coronavirus.
  7. The Odisha government ordered a complete 14-day lockdown in Ganjam, Khordha, Cuttack, Jajpur and Rourkela districts from 9 pm on July 17. The state also began plasma therapy for the treatment of Covid- 19 patients at a hospital in Cuttack.
  8. Early-stage human trial data on a vaccine being developed by AstraZeneca and Oxford University will be published on July 20, British medical journal, The Lancet, said.
  9. International Monetary Fund Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva said the world economy is not yet “out of the woods. She added that the $11 trillion in fiscal measures by G20 members and other countries has helped the global economy.
  10. The United States posted a new daily record of 67,632 new cases in 24 hours. The global coronavirus count is now over 1.35 crore, while the toll has crossed 5.83 lakh, according to the Johns Hopkins University. More than 75 lakh people have recovered so far. Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro tested positive for the coronavirus for a second time.