1. India reported almost 35,000 new cases of the coronavirus on Saturday, taking its total to 10,38,716. The toll now stands at 26,273.
  2. Thiruvananthapuram district authorities have divided the coastal area into three critical containment zones to effectively maintain the lockdown amid community transmission of coronavirus cases. The zones will be under strict lockdown for 10 days from July 18 to July 27. Meanwhile, Kerala Health Minister KK Shailaja said the state will implement a “cluster care” method to control the spread of the coronavirus. It has reported 11,659 cases so far.
  3. Maharashtra’s caseload crossed the 3-lakh mark on Saturday after it reported 8,348 new cases. The total number of positive cases in the state is now 3,00,937 and the toll rose to 11,596. Delhi reported 1,475 cases and 26 deaths in a day, taking the total number of positive cases in the Capital to 1,21,582 and the deaths to 3,597. Meanwhile, Tamil Nadu’s positive cases rose to 1,65,714, and the toll climbed to 2,403.
  4. The Madras High Court restrained yoga guru Ramdev’s Patanjali Ayurved from using the trademark “Coronil” for one of its drugs, that the company had last month claimed cures the coronavirus. A Chennai-based company, Arudra Engineering Private Limited, had filed a plea asserting that it owns a trademark called “Coronil” since 1993.
  5. Maharashtra Cabinet Minister Aaditya Thackeray moved the Supreme Court against the Centre’s directive to universities and other academic institutions to conduct final-year examinations by the end of September amid the coronavirus pandemic. The petition was filed by the Shiv Sena’s youth wing, the Yuva Sena, which is led by Thackeray.
  6. Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi attacked the BJP government in Uttar Pradesh over the rapid rise in coronavirus cases and says the disease has taken a “gigantic form” because Chief Minister Adityanath did not pay attention to key containment measures such as testing and contact tracing. Uttar Pradesh reported 1,986 new cases of the coronavirus in 24 hours on Saturday, taking the total active cases in the state to 17,624 and the toll to 1,108.
  7. The Odisha government has exempted the use of biometric mode of Aadhaar authentication for giving out Public Distribution System commodities at fair price shops until further orders.
  8. United States President Donald Trump vowed to not order Americans to wear masks to contain the spread of the coronavirus. “I do not believe in the statement that if everyone wore a mask, everything disappears,” Trump said in an interview with Fox News. The US president publicly wore a mask for the first time last week.
  9. The World Health Organization warned that the pandemic threatens to exacerbate conflict and humanitarian crises across parts of the world. “The greatest concentration of need is in Africa, but countries in Latin America and the Caribbean, the Middle East and Asia – including middle-income nations – are also being ravaged by crippling levels of food insecurity,” it said.
  10. The global coronavirus count is now over 1.4 crore, while the toll has crossed 6.01 lakh, according to the Johns Hopkins University. More than 79 lakh people have recovered so far.