1. India on Wednesday recorded 37,724 new cases, taking the country’s tally to 11,92,915. The toll increased by 648 to 28,732. The overall count includes 4,11,133 active cases and 7,53,049 recoveries. The Centre said recovery rate of coronavirus patients has crossed 63% after a record 28,472 patients were discharged in the last 24 hours.
  2. Several states in India on Wednesday extended lockdowns in an effort to control the increasing spread of coronavirus cases as India’s tally neared the 12-lakh mark. In Manipur, a complete lockdown would be imposed for 14 days from July 23. The Jammu and Kashmir administration has announced a six-day shutdown in the Valley, except for Bandipora district, from Wednesday evening. Bhopal will also be under lockdown from July 24 to August 3.
  3. The World Health Organization said India has been responding with utmost urgency to the coronavirus pandemic since the start. “It’s been continually strengthening preparedness and response measures, including ramping up testing capacities, readying more hospitals, arranging and stocking up medicines and essentials,” said Poonam Khetrapal Singh, regional director, WHO South-East Asia Region.
  4. Nearly 15% of India’s population may have developed antibodies against Covid-19, according to an analysis by a private laboratory. The facility, Thyrocare, on Tuesday shared the data from its 60,000 antibody tests conducted across 600 locations over 20 days.
  5. The vaccine against the coronavirus being developed at the Oxford University in the United Kingdom is likely to arrive in India by November and will be worth around Rs 1,000, said the Indian company collaborating with the British experts.
  6. Maharashtra recorded 10,576 new cases in a day on Wednesday. This is the state’s highest single-day rise so far. The total number of positive cases in the state is now 3,37,607. This includes 1,87,769 recoveries and 12,556 deaths. The count in Delhi rose to 1,26,323 with 1,227 new cases, and that of Tamil Nadu went up to 1,86,492.
  7. The Centre extended work from home guidelines for Information Technology and business process outsourcing companies till December 31.
  8. The Delhi High Court asked the University Grants Commission to clarify if final year examinations can be conducted based on multiple choice questions, assignments and presentations. The court was hearing a petition filed against the Delhi University’s decision to hold open book exams for final year undergraduate students during the coronavirus outbreak.
  9. United States President Donald Trump on Tuesday cautioned that the coronavirus situation in the country is expected to “get worse before it gets better”.
  10. The global coronavirus count is now over 1.48 crore, and the toll has crossed 6.15 lakh, according to the Johns Hopkins University. More than 84.29 lakh people have recovered so far.