1. India on Thursday registered a record 45,720 new cases and 1,129 additional deaths. With this, the country’s tally rose to 12,38,635 and toll stood at 29,861. There are 4,26,167 active cases, and 7,82,606 patients have recovered so far. Prime Minister Narendra Modi said that till a vaccine is introduced, the country will have to fight “vigorously against the coronavirus”, adding that “development works also have to be carried forward with full force”. 
  2. A total of 84 security and fire services personnel tested positive for the coronavirus at the Raj Bhavan premises in Chennai, the official residence of the Tamil Nadu governor. A statement said none of them came in contact with Governor Banwarilal Purohit or senior officials. Tamil Nadu on Thursday reported 6,472 new cases and 88 deaths, taking the state’s total to 1,92,964 and the toll to 3,232.
  3. A senior delegation from Israel’s Directorate of Defense Research and Development will travel to New Delhi in the coming weeks to develop new and rapid coronavirus tests in cooperation with their Indian counterparts. The delegation plans to test four different technologies for detecting coronavirus: sound waves, breathalyzers based on terahertz waves, isothermic identification and checking polyamino acids.
  4. Maharashtra reported 9,895 new cases of the coronavirus and 298 deaths on Thursday, taking the total tally of infections in the state to 3,47,253, including 12,854 deaths. Delhi, meanwhile, has recorded 1,27,364 cases and 3,745 deaths so far.
  5. Veteran actor Amitabh Bachchan dismissed reports that he has tested negative for the coronavirus. The 77-year-old, admitted to Mumbai’s Nanavati hospital, announced on July 11 that he has contracted the infection.
  6. A three-member central team, which visited Bihar to assess the coronavirus situation, on Wednesday warned that the state’s low testing rate may affect its case fatality rate – the number of deaths among the cases detected. The team asked health authorities to keep a weekly tab of the case fatality rate to improve the state government’s preparedness.
  7. A Dalit youth allegedly died in police custody after he was detained for not wearing a mask and helmet in a Covid-19 hotspot in Prakasam district of Andhra Pradesh. Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy initiated an inquiry into the incident and announced a compensation of Rs 10 lakh to the his family. Meanwhile, Delhi Health Minister Satyendar Jain said that the family of a contractual doctor, who died of the coronavirus, will get Rs 1 crore as compensation.
  8. Madhya Pradesh Assembly Pro tem Speaker Rameshwar Sharma claimed on Wednesday that construction of the Ram temple will destroy the coronavirus.
  9. The United Nations on Wednesday decided that world leaders will not travel to New York to attend the annual meeting of the General Assembly in September amid the coronavirus crisis and can instead submit recorded messages. The General Assembly meeting to mark the 75th anniversary of the UN will take place on September 21.
  10. The global coronavirus count is now over 1.52 crore, and the toll has crossed 6.24 lakh, according to the Johns Hopkins University. More than 87.11 lakh people have recovered so far.