1. India’s coronavirus tally rose to 72,39,389 on Wednesday as the country reported 63,509 new infections in 24 hours. The country’s toll climbed by 730 to 1,10,586. India’s active cases stood at 8,26,876. The active cases stayed below 9 lakh for the sixth straight day. India’s number of recoveries rose to 63,01,927. The recovery rate is 86.78% and the mortality rate stood at 1.53%.
  2. The Maharashtra government on Wednesday allowed Mumbai Metro services to restart in a phased manner from Thursday, and also increased the number of local trains. It also restarted air conditioned local train services. Besides this, government and private libraries and weekly bazaars will be allowed to run.
  3. Samajwadi Party leader Mulayam Singh Yadav tested positive for coronavirus. Himachal Pradesh Assembly Speaker Vipin Singh Parmar also said he has tested positive for the coronavirus. He added that he has isolated himself at his official residence on doctors’ advice. 
  4. Russia has granted regulatory approval to a second coronavirus vaccine, President Vladimir Putin said at a meeting. Russia had in August granted regulatory approval for the first Covid-19 vaccine, without completing all trials.
  5. Actor Soumitra Chatterjee has tested negative for coronavirus, said the Kolkata hospital where he is admitted. He had tested positive on October 5. “Mr Chatterjee is still in a confused state which is progressive in nature with COVID-related encephalopathy and metabolic encephalopathy,” said the hospital in a statement. “He continues to be restless, arousable and has mild agitation and involuntary limb movements but no focal or generalised seizure event occurred.”    
  6. Indian Council of Medical Research Director General Balram Bhargava said that there were at least three suspected cases of coronavirus reinfection in the country. Two such cases were in Mumbai and one was in Ahmedabad. Bhargava added that India was considering 100 days as the cut-off period for reinfection.   
  7. American pharmaceutical company Eli Lilly and Co said on Tuesday that it has paused the government-sponsored clinical trial of its coronavirus antibody treatment because of a safety concern.  
  8. The Supreme Court on Wednesday refused to allow the Centre a month’s time to implement the interest waiver on loans of up to Rs 2 crore. It asked why it should take such a long time to implement a decision already taken, and directed that the execution of waiver should be done by November 2. The government claimed that the deadline for providing relief to borrowers was November 15.
  9. The International Monetary Fund on Tuesday estimated that India’s per capita Gross Domestic Product will shrink 10.3%, ending March 31, 2021, while the figure in Bangladesh is expected to grow 3.8%. India faces the biggest contraction of major emerging markets in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic.  
  10. Globally, the coronavirus has infected more than 3.82 crore people and killed 10,88,051, according to Johns Hopkins University. The recoveries are more than 2.65 crore.