1. India reported its biggest single-day jump in coronavirus infections on Monday, adding 40,425 new cases and taking the its total count to 11,18,043. The toll rose by 681 to 27,497. The recovery rate stood at 62.61%. Meanwhile, human trials of Covaxin, the first indigenous vaccine against the coronavirus, began on Monday in Delhi and Goa. Researchers would need at least three months to get the first set of data, he added.
  2. A coronavirus vaccine being produced by scientists at the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom has been found to be safe, and produced an immune response in early-stage clinical trials in healthy volunteers, Reuters reported on Monday. The vaccine, called AZD1222, did not cause any serious side effects and elicited antibody and T-cell immune responses, medical journal The Lancet said.
  3. Maharashtra recorded 8,240 new cases on Monday, taking the total number of positive cases in the state to 3,18,695. The toll rose to 12,030. Meanwhile, Tamil Nadu reported 4,985 new coronavirus cases in a day. With this, the state’s case count rose to 1,75,678, including 51,348 active cases and 2,551 deaths. Delhi reported 954 new cases and 35 deaths in a day, taking the total number of positive cases in the Capital to 1,23,747, including 1,04,918 recoveries and 3,663 deaths.
  4. The International Cricket Council confirmed on Monday that the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup in Australia 2020 has been postponed due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.
  5. West Bengal on Monday announced a complete lockdown in the state for two days every week, in order to stem the rising number of coronavirus infections. Madhya Pradesh also announced a two-day lockdown each week, but only in districts with a high number of cases. The district administration in Chhattisgarh has announced a seven-day lockdown in Raipur and Birgaon Municipal corporation areas from July 22 due to increasing coronavirus infections.
  6. AIIMS Director Randeep Guleria dismissed reports of community transmission in India. He claimed that there was only local transmission in some places. So far, officials in Kerala and West Bengal have admitted that there is community transmission in some parts of their states. Those in Delhi, meanwhile, have said that the source of many infections is not known, which could mean that there is either local or community transmission in the Capital.
  7. Private airline IndiGo on Monday said it will lay off 10% of its workforce in an attempt to cut costs amid poor revenues due to the coronavirus pandemic. The Air India pilot association wrote to the national carrier complaining that the company’s leave without pay scheme was finalised without consulting the pilots. “Such a situation has the potential to flare to an unprecedented magnitude,” it said.
  8. The former chief priest of Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanam, Srinivasa Dikshitulu, died after testing positive for the coronavirus. He was 73. Last week, the Tirumala Tirupati Balaji temple had said it will be open for visitors despite 140 of its employees testing positive.
  9. The Sadar Hospital in Bihar’s Siwan district came under fire after a woman was left unattended for hours outside the emergency ward on Sunday. The matter came to light after a Twitter user posted pictures of the woman lying on the floor while it rained incessantly. Meanwhile, a three-member Central team visited Bihar on Sunday to assess the coronavirus situation amid an alarming rise in coronavirus cases.
  10. The global coronavirus count is now over 1.45 crore, and the toll has crossed 6.07 lakh, according to the Johns Hopkins University. More than 81.9 lakh people have recovered so far.