10.53 pm: Gujarat registers 1,152 new cases on Friday, which take its tally to 1,86,116, PTI reports. The state’s toll rises by six to 3,791.

10.50 pm: Karnataka will allow international travelers exemption from home quarantine if they submit negative RT-PCR test reports, PTI reports.

10.46 pm: Jharkhand reports 288 new cases in a day, which take its tally to 1,05,569.

10.43 pm: Mumbai’s COVID-19 case count rises to 2,68,404 on Friday as the city reports 800 new infections. The city’s toll rises by 17 to 10,539.

9.11 pm: Indian troops for United Nations peacekeeping in South Sudan are training hard at an Army camp in New Delhi before their induction. They will undergo two Covid-19 tests before being sent to that country, senior officials tell PTI.

9.10 pm: Andhra Pradesh’s case count rises to 8.51 lakh with 1,593 new cases. The toll goes up by 10 to 6,847, reports PTI.

9.09 pm: Uttar Pradesh’s case count rises by 2,183 to 5.08 lakh. The active cases in the state are 23,095, toll is 7,327, reports PTI.

9.07 pm: A plea has been filed in the Supreme Court, seeking directions to the Centre and states to fix maximum rate for RT-PCR tests for Covid-19 uniformly all across the country, reports PTI.

9.03 pm: With 51 more fatalities, West Bengal’s toll rises to 7,557. The state’s case count rises by 3,835 to 4,27,675, according to PTI.

8.59 pm: Maharashtra records 4,132 new cases, taking state’s Covid-19 case count to 17.40 lakh. The toll stands at 45,809 with 127 more deaths, reports PTI.

7.46 pm: Surat becomes the first city to finalise an affordable rental housing scheme for migrant workers, which was announced by the Centre in May, The Hindu reports.

7.43 pm: Israel signs a deal with Pfizer for 8 million [80 lakh] doses of the company’s coronavirus vaccine, Reuters reports.

7.40 pm: The Karnataka government makes it mandatory for all eachers, students and non-teaching staff members to submit negative Covid-19 test certificates, ahead of the reopening of colleges from November 17, PTI reports.

7.06 pm: Himachal Pradesh High Court directs the state government to raise the number of beds and ventilators in the Covid-19 hospitals and health centres and also increase the distribution of Oximeters to infected patients, reports ANI.

7.04 pm: The Covid-19 tally in Tamil Nadu climbs to 7,54,460 after the state reports 1,939 new cases, reports ANI. The toll rises by 14 to 11,454. There are 17,748 active cases, 7,25,258 recoveries and 11,454 deaths.

7.02 pm: Andhra Pradesh reports 1,593 new Covid-19 cases, pushing the tally in the state to 8,51,298, according to ANI. The overall tally includes 20,262 active cases, 8,24,189 recoveries and 6,847 deaths.

7.01 pm: Rajasthan logs 2,144 new coronavirus cases, 12 deaths and 1,827 recoveries, reports ANI. There tally is 2,21,471, including 2,044 deaths and 2,01,770 discharges.

6.58 pm: The coronavirus tally in Jammu and Kashmir rises to 1,01,594 after the Union territory registers 626 new infections, reports ANI. The overall tally includes 5,645 active cases, 94,375 recoveries and 1,574 deaths.

6.56 pm: Uttarakhand reports 467 new Covid-19 cases, pushing the tally in the state to 67,706, according to ANI. The toll climbs by 4 to 1,097. There are 4,307 active cases and 61,732 recoveries in the state.

5.53 pm: A facility set up by the World Health Organization and the GAVI vaccine group has raised more than $2 billion to buy and distribute the shots for poorer countries, reports Reuters. However, authorities think they still need more.

5.49 pm: The Delhi Metro Rail Corporation announces the last train on Saturday will start at 10 pm from terminal stations on all lines.

5.42 pm: Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Adityanath has directed officials to ensure compliance of all the required Covid-19 precautions during the festival season, reports PTI.

4.10 pm: Serum Institute of India Chief Executive Officer Adar Poonawalla says that the company will have 100 million [10 crore] doses of AstraZeneca’s Covid-19 shot ready for India by December, Bloomberg reports.

2.30 pm: South Korea will start fining people for not wearing masks in public, reports Reuters. The country reports 191 new coronavirus cases as daily infections continue to rise.

2.25 pm: Tesla Chief Executive Officer Elon Musk raises questions on the accuracy of the Covid-19 test, claiming that the results showed he tested positive twice and then negative twice all on the same day.

2.15 pm: Lucknow Chief Medical Officer Dr Sanjay Bhatnagar says people coming to the city for Diwali for other states, especially Delhi and its adjoining areas, will have to take Covid-19 test at bus stands, railway stations and the airport, reports PTI. He adds that 13 teams of the Health Department have been deployed at these locations.

2.13 pm: Sixty-six Indians test positive for Covid-19 in Sri Lanka’s Capital Colombo, reports PTI, citing a top health official of the country. All of them are construction workers.

12.46 pm: The Maharashtra government says a second wave of coronavirus is likely in the state between January and February, PTI reports. In a circular issued by the state’s health services directorate dated November 11, the government asks authorities to ensure there is no complacency in testing, and said that labs should be functional in every district and municipal corporation limits.

12.45 pm: Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal claims the coronavirus situation in the Capital – which has been recording over 8,000 cases past few days – should come under control in “7-10 days”, reports PTI. “We are considering taking several steps next week,” he adds.

12.39 pm: Puducherry records 75 new coronavirus cases, pushing its tally to 36,252, PTI reports. The toll climbs to 608 after a 68-year-old woman succumbed to the infection.

12.33 pm: Experts say that stressing over the disruption of one’s lifestyle because of the pandemic, and the fear of contracting the coronavirus has led to “caution fatigue” and even “avoidance behaviour”, PTI reports.

Due to this, individuals may become lax in following important precautionary measures such as social distancing, wearing masks and maintaining hygiene – that may lead to a resurgence in infections and stall the progress in curbing the disease, said Prabhdeep Kaur, deputy director at Chennai’s ICMR-National Institute of Epidemiology. “Yes, people are definitely getting tired but unfortunately the virus is not,” she added.

12.29 pm: India told the G-77 annual ministerial meeting that it is committed to work with developing country partners towards a “resilient and sustainable recovery” from the coronavirus pandemic, PTI reports. “India’s assistance to other nations does not create indebtedness, is without conditionalities and the country’s cooperation is guided by its partners’ development priorities,” New Delhi said.

12.23 pm: Hospitalised Covid-19 patients, who received an inhaled form of an immune system protein, were less likely to develop severe symptoms, noted a study conducted at nine British hospitals and published in The Lancet Respiratory Medicine journal, PTI reports. The findings serve as proof-of-concept that this treatment could help hospitalised patients recover. However, scientists added that further research is required.

12.20 pm: At least 1,018 more people tested positive for Covid-19 in Odisha on Friday, pushing the state’s tally to 3,07,004, while the toll rose by 12 to 1,495, PTI reports.

11.01 am: Here’s a state-wise breakup of the coronavirus cases reported in India so far by the Union health ministry.

10.59 am: Maharashtra’s Thane recorded 535 new coronavirus on Thursday, taking the district’s tally to 2,18,000, PTI reports. The total deaths in the district rose to 5,501 after 12 more patients succumbed to the infection.

10.54 am: The mayor of Chicago issued a new stay-at-home advisory on Thursday, AFP reports. The new restrictions come as the United States, already the world’s hardest hit country, experiences its third and worst-by-far surge in coronavirus cases.

Lori Lightfoot called on people of Chicago to go out only for essential tasks or to attend work or school, to scrap Thanksgiving plans and to avoid travel. “Every single one of us needs to step up and ‘Protect Chicago’ right now, or 2020 could go from bad to worse,” said an explanatory note on the city’s website.

10.50 am: Incoming White House Chief of Staff Ron Klain says President-elect Joe Biden will appoint a “COVID coordinator” who will lead the United States administration’s pandemic response, AP reports.

Speaking on MSNBC on Thursday night, Klain said the individual will have “direct access” to the president and will brief him daily on the pandemic. They will also have a team of people underneath them, who will coordinate vaccine distribution, address supply chain disruptions and improve access to testing, he added.

10.44 am: With the coronavirus dampening this year’s Christmas cheer, Italian Prime Minister on Thursday assured children of the country that Santa Claus will not be under lockdown as he wears a mask and “can travel the world thanks to a special permit”.

“Father Christmas assured me that he already has an international travel certificate: he can travel everywhere and distribute gifts to all the world’s children,” Conte wrote on Facebook. He was responding to a letter by five-year-old Tommaso who had pleaded with him not to confine “Babbo Natale,” as Santa is known in Italy.

10.39 am: Asian shares have opened lower as rising cases of coronavirus infections in the US, Europe and Asia add to worries that economies will once again be hamstrung by pandemic restrictions on travel and businesses, PTI reports. Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225 sank 1.0% to 25,254.31. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 fell 0.5% to 6,383.70. South Korea’s Kospi edged 0.2% lower to 2,471.26. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng slipped 0.8% to 25,958.49, while the Shanghai Composite dipped 1.3% to 3,294.57.

10.34 am: Japan on Thursday registered a new daily record of 1,661 coronavirus infections, topping the previous high set during a surge in August. AFP reports. While numbers are low in absolute terms compared to many other countries, a sharp rise in infections in northern Japan is leading to concerns cases could spread as winter sets in. Yasutoshi Nishimura, the minister overseeing the country’s coronavirus response, said more stringent steps would be needed if infections continued to rise.

9.40 am: India records 44,879 new coronavirus cases and 547 deaths in the last 24 hours. With this, the country now has 87.28 lakh cases and the toll has risen to 1,28,668.

9.28 am: TS Tirumurti, India’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations, has said that the coronavirus pandemic cannot be used as an excuse to not fulfil the commitments of the developed countries or to undermine environmental conventions, reports ANI.

9.20 am: China’s customs office says that it will suspend imports from India’s Basu International firm for a week after detecting the coronavirus on three samples taken from the outer packaging of frozen cuttlefish, reports Reuters.

9.10 am: Delhi on Thursday recorded 104 more fatalities, the highest in a day in over five months, pushing the toll to 7,332. With 7,053 new coronavirus cases, the tally rose to over 4.67 lakh.

9 am: Here are the top updates from Thursday:

  • India recorded 47,905 new coronavirus cases, pushing the tally in the country to 86,83,916, according to the health ministry’s data. The toll rose by 550 to 1,28,121 in 24 hours. There are now 4,89,294 active cases and 80,66,501 recoveries.
  • Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced a collateral-free loan scheme for 26 sectors that were earmarked as “stressed” by the Reserve Bank of India-constituted KV Kamath committee in September. Under the newly-announced Emergency Credit Line Guarantee Scheme 2.0, companies with outstanding dues of up to Rs 500 crore will be eligible to avail for collateral-free loans worth 20% of their dues. 
  • The Delhi High Court vacated the stay order on the Aam Aadmi Party government’s directive to reserve 80% of intensive care unit beds in 33 hospitals in the Capital. 
  • Congress leader Sachin Pilot said that he has tested positive for Covid-19. “Anyone who may have come in contact with me over the last few day, please get yourselves tested,” he tweeted. “Am taking appropriate doctoral advice. Hope to recover soon.”
  • The Indian Council of Medical Research and the Serum Institute of India said their vaccine candidate, Covishield, could be a realistic solution to the Covid-19 pandemic.