1. India’s coronavirus count rose to 49,30,236 on Tuesday with 83,809 new cases. This is the lowest daily rise in new cases in a week. The toll jumped by 1,054 to 80,776. As many as 38.59 lakh people have recovered from the infection, taking the recovery rate to 78.28%. The case fatality rate stood at 1.64%. The health ministry said that Maharashtra tops the daily average deaths in top five states in the country.
  2. Indian Council of Medical Research Director General Balram Bhargava said coronavirus reinfection was possible even though it was a “very rare” occurrence. “We have seen that someone gets measles and he is supposed to be protected all his life because he generates certain antibodies, but then we have seen reinfection occurring in measles,” he added. “Similarly, we can have reinfection with Covid-19 as has been described by the case in Hong Kong and it is not a matter of serious concern.”
  3. The Centre on Tuesday told the Lok Sabha that the mass exodus of migrants during the countrywide lockdown enforced to rein in the coronavirus pandemic, was roused by “fake news” circulating in media which triggered “panic” among workers.
  4. Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan told the Parliament that the battle against the “pandemic is far from over”. He added that the decision to impose a nationwide lockdown prevented around 37-78 thousand fatalities and 14-29 lakh coronavirus infection cases.
  5. Indian Council of Medical Research Director General Balram Bhargava on Tuesday said that India’s Covid-19 peak was not “huge” due to an effective lockdown. “US and countries of Europe had a peak, then they came down and there is a second wave occurring there,” he added. “We took learning from that. We distributed the curve in a way that we didn’t have many deaths. It was because we had an effective lockdown. We did not have a huge peak at all.”
  6. Congress leader Rahul Gandhi criticised the Centre after the government admitted in Parliament that it had no data on the number of migrants workers who died during the nationwide lockdown imposed to curb the spread of the coronavirus. “Modi government does not know how many migrant workers died or how many people lost their jobs during the lockdown,” he tweeted. “You didn’t count, so nobody died? The sad thing is that there was no impact on the government. The world saw them dying but the Modi government remained unaware.”
  7. Arunachal Pradesh Chief Minister Pema Khandu said he has tested positive for Covid-19. “I am asymptomatic and feeling healthy,” he tweeted. “However as per SOP [standard operating procedure] and safety of others, I am self isolating myself and request everyone who came in contact with me to adhere to the SOP.”
  8. The Asian Development Bank has said that India’s economy will contract by 9% in the 2020-’21 financial year. The contraction in the Gross Domestic Product is the result of lack of economic activity due to a lockdown imposed to curb the spread of the coronavirus.
  9. Israel has said it will impose a lockdown from Friday and it will last at least for three weeks as coronavirus cases surged in the country. School and shopping centres will be closed and people will not be allowed to go more than 500 metres from their homes except for travelling to work. A minister has resigned protesting against the decision, saying the lockdown laps over major Jewish festivals.”
  10. Globally, the coronavirus has infected more than 2.93 crore people and killed 9,29,444 people, according to the Johns Hopkins University. The number of worldwide recoveries has crossed 1.99 crore.