10.52 pm: Read the top updates of the day here.

10.51 pm: Himachal Pradesh minister Ram Lal Markanda says he has tested positive for Covid-19.

10.30 pm: Jharkhand registers 701 new cases and seven deaths.

10.20 pm: Mumbai’s tally rises to 2,32,395 with 1,325 new cases.

8.46 pm: Maharashtra registers 8,522 fresh cases, taking the total count to 15,43,837. The state’s toll rises to 40,701 with 187 additional deaths.

8.43 pm: West Bengal’s tally crosses three lakh with highest single-day spike of 3,631 new cases while 62 more deaths push the state’s toll to 5,744.

8.42 pm: Manipur reports 237 fresh infections and 4 additional fatalities.

8.41 pm: The Western Railway will run 194 additional trains from October 15 in maintain physical distancing and avoid overcrowding, reports ANI.

8.40 pm: Haryana adds 1,081 new coronavirus cases and nine deaths to its tally.

8.39 pm: Karnataka registers 8,191 new cases and 87 additional deaths. With this, the state’s tally rises to 7,26,106 including 10,123 deaths.

8 pm: Footballer Cristiano Ronaldo tests positive for the coronavirus, AP reports. He is doing well and has shown no symptoms, according to a statement by the Portuguese soccer federation.

6.06 pm: NITI Aayog member VK Paul stresses on the need to take precautions ahead of the winter season. “There is stabilisation in the impact of coronavirus,” he says, according to ANI. “We have to be more careful in our hygiene practices as it is a respiratory virus and most respiratory viruses escalate during winter. Behavioral change is necessary, masks are mandatory.”

5.58 pm: India’s recovered cases (over 62 lakh) are the highest in the world, says health ministry.

5.55 pm: Union Health Ministry Secretary Rajesh Bhushan says there is a consistent trend of decline in average daily positivity rate.

5.52 pm: The health ministry gives an age and gender-wise break-up of coronavirus deaths. Of the total deaths, 30% are among women and 70% among men. Patients above the age of 60 account for 53% of the total deaths.

5.49 pm: Indian Council of Medical Research Director General Balram Bhargava says there is still no decision on the cut-off period for coronavirus re-infection.

4.56 pm: A trustee of Jhandewalan Temple in New Delhi says thermal screening and sanitisation will be done in the temple in view of the Navaratri celebrations to prevent the spread of the coronavirus, reports ANI. He adds that children below 10 years and senior citizens will not be allowed inside the temple.

4.52 pm: A Mumbai civic body official says Dharavi has reported 10 new Covid-19 cases, taking the tally in the slum to 3,346, reports PTI. With 2,882 patients recovered, the number of active cases was 162, the official adds.

4.48 pm: Delhi government removes Hindu Rao Hospital from the list of designated Covid-19 medical facilities after receiving a request from the New Delhi Municipal Council, reports ANI. The government says the decision was made in view of low average bed occupancy.

4.41 pm: Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan says the percentage of active cases in India was 11.69%, out of which 11% were in Kerala, 13% in Karnataka and 25% in Maharashtra, according to ANI. He adds the government was holding discussions with these states to find a way to curb the number of cases.

3.45 pm: European Union countries approve common guidelines for travel amid the coronavirus pandemic, AP reports. The members agree to provide coronavirus data to the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control, which will sort regions according to the seriousness of coronavirus outbreaks and publish a weekly map.

3.42 pm: Coronavirus patients and voters above the age of 80 will be provided postal ballot facility for Maharashtra Legislative Council’s graduates constituency election in Marathwada division, according to PTI.

3.35 pm: Dakshina Kannada district Deputy Commissioner KV Rajendra tests positive for coronavirus, PTI reports.

3.30 pm: The coronavirus toll of Maharashtra’s Aurangabad city crosses 1,000, PTI reports. The city’s tally stands at 35,442.

2.22 pm: Telangana registers 1,708 new coronavirus cases, taking its tally to 2,14,792, says the state health department, according to ANI. The state’s toll rises by 5 to 1,233.

2.18 pm: Russia reports 13,868 new Covid-19 infections, the highest daily cases since the outbreak, reports Reuters. The country’s tally was 13,26,178.

2.14 pm: Iran reports 272 deaths due to the Covid-19 infection in the past 24 hours, pushing the toll to 28,816, reports Reuters, citing the country’s health ministry. Its coronavirus tally was 5,00,075.

2.10 pm: South Korea reports 102 new Covid-19 cases as of Monday, according to Reuters. The country crossed the triple-digit for the first time in six days.

2.05 pm: British Housing Secretary Robert Jenrick says the government may have to impose stricter restrictions if the second wave of the coronavirus accelerates in high-risk areas, reports Reuters.

1.58 pm: The Takeda Pharmaceutical-led group, developing a blood plasma treatment for Covid-19, has started the manufacturing process for the cure, says Chief Executive Officer Christophe Weber, according to Reuters. The late-stage trial to determine if the treatment would work is ongoing, he adds.

1.54 pm: Assam Health Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma says Durga Puja committee will have to get priests tested on Panchami, the fifth day of the festival, and also on the day of idol immersion, reports ANI.

1.48 pm: Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan says India’s active Covid-19 caseload has been less than 10 lakh for the past 14 days, reports ANI. He says that the country has the highest recovery rate at 87%.

1.42 pm: The coronavirus tally in Odisha rises to 2,56,937 after 2,275 people tested positive for the infection, reports PTI. The toll rises to 1,057 with 17 new fatalities.

1.40 pm: The health condition of actor Soumitra Chatterjee remains “critical” and the doctors are planning to put him on invasive ventilation, reports PTI. The actor was admitted to the hospital on October 6 after he tested positive for the coronavirus.

11.25 am: Mizoram reports 18 new Covid-19 cases, pushing its tally to 2,202, reports ANI. The number of active cases was 156 while 2,046 people have been discharged so far.

11.22 am: Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan says India was expecting to have a vaccine by early next year likely from more than one source, reports ANI. “Our expert groups are formulating strategies to plan on how to roll out the distribution of the vaccine in the country,” the health minister says at a Group of Ministers meeting.

10.58 am: The coronavirus tally in Telangana rises to 2,14,792 after the state reports 1,708 new cases, says the health department, according to ANI. The department says 1,89,351 have recovered so far and 1,233 people have died due to the infection.

10.54 am: The Indian Council of Medical Research says it has tested 8,89,45,107 samples till Monday. It says it conducted 10,73,014 tests on October 12.

10.49 am: Arunachal Pradesh reports 220 new coronavirus cases, including two health workers and five security personnel, taking the state’s tally to 12,367, reports PTI, citing a health official.

09.18 am: India’s Covid-19 rises to to 71,75,880 as the country reported 55,342 new infections in 24 hours. The country’s toll rises by 706 to 1,09,856. India’s active cases stood at 8,38,729, while the number of recoveries rose to 62,27295. The country’s recovery rate is 86.78%, while the death rate stood at 1.53%.

9.14 am: Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates said that life will get back to normal only when a second generation of Covid-19 vaccine become available, the Hindustan Times reports.

9.12 am: The economy of the United Kingdom cannot be “fully protected” as slower growth and higher borrowing leave it with record levels of debt, the Institute for Fiscal Studies, a British think tank said, BBC reports. It said that the UK government’s borrowing this year will hit a level never seen in peacetime due to the pandemic.

9.11 am: Peru has opened the Inca ruins of Machu Picchu for a single Japanese tourist who had waited almost seven months to visit the world heritage site, BBC reports. Jesse Takayama was due to visit Machu Picchu in March, but couldn’t because of the coronavirus. Culture Minister Alejandro Neyra said Takayama was granted access after submitting a special request.

9.10 am: A man in the United States got reinfected with the coronavirus, with the second infection becoming far more dangerous than the first, doctors report, BBC reports. The 25-year-old needed hospital treatment after his lungs could not get enough oxygen into his body.

9.08 am: The Gujarat Election Commission has postponed the municipal and panchayat elections by three months due to the Covid-19 pandemic, PTI reports. The elections for local bodies of self-governance including six municipal corporations, 55 municipalities, 31 district and 231 taluka panchayats were scheduled to be held in November.

8.45 am: Sikkim reported seven new Covid-19 cases, taking state tally to 3,366, reports PTI. One more fatality pushes toll to 57.

8.40 am: Scientists of the Zoological Survey of India have managed to collate thousands of fauna samples from 16 regions of the country even during Covid-19 restrictions, reports PTI, citing a top official of the organisation.

8.35 am: United States President Donald Trump has tested negative for Covid-19, White House physician Sean Conley has said, according to AFP.

8.30 am: Drugmaker Johnson & Johnson on Monday said it had halted the advanced clinical trial of its experimental Covid-19 vaccine due to an unexplained illness in one of the volunteers.

Here are the top updates from Monday:

  1. India’s Covid-19 tally rose to 71,20,538 on Monday as the country reported 66,732 new infections in 24 hours. The country’s toll rose by 816 to 1,09,150. India’s active cases stood at 8,61,853, while the number of recoveries rose to 61,49,535. The country’s recovery rate is 86.17%, while the death rate stood at 1.54%.
  2. Vice President Venkaiah Naidu’s office said that he had recovered from the coronavirus. Naidu had tested positive for the infection on September 29. Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Jairam Thakur tested positive for the infection earlier in the day. Thakur said that he was in quarantine after meeting a few people who were positive for the infection.
  3. Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said that the coronavirus pandemic has “adversely affected” the Indian economy and consumer demands need to be stimulated. The minister announced LTC cash vouchers and special festival advance schemes for government employees to boost demand.
  4. The Supreme Court ruled that students who could not take the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test due to the coronavirus pandemic or because they were stuck in containment zones be given a chance to take it on October 14. The results of the exams will be declared on October 16.
  5. North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un got emotional as he apologised – a rare thing in itself – for failing to guide the country when it is facing the coronavirus crisis.
  6. The Chinese city of Qingdao said that it will test its 9 million, or 90 lakh, citizens for the coronavirus after a dozen cases were found in a hospital.