1. India on Tuesday recorded 96,982 coronavirus cases, taking the overall tally to 1,26,86,049. The toll went up to 1,65,547 after 446 deaths were registered in the last day. India’s number of active cases stood at 7,88,223, while the number of recoveries reached 1,17,32,279. Maharashtra, Chhattisgarh, Karnataka, Uttar Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Delhi, Madhya Pradesh and Gujarat accounted for 80.04% of the new cases registered in the last day, government data showed.
  2. At a press conference, Union Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan said that the situation in Maharashtra, Punjab and Chhattisgarh was cause of maximum concern. The government flagged Maharashtra for its share in daily cases and deaths, while situation in Punjab and Chhattisgarh is worrying because of their share in the number of deaths.
  3. The Centre has denied the calls for coronavirus vaccination for all age groups, saying that the government’s approach is to cover at the earliest the people who are the most vulnerable. Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and his Maharashtra counterpart Uddhav Thackeray were among those who raised the matter.
  4. Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan held a meeting with the health ministers of 11 states on Tuesday evening to discuss the steps being taken to contain the surge in coronavirus cases. He said Prime Minister Narendra Modi will hold meeting with chief ministers to review the situation after two days.
  5. The health minister said that 80% of cases in Punjab have UK variant of the virus. He suggested that the reasons behind the surge in fresh infections could be marriages, local body elections and farmers’ protests.
  6. The Delhi government imposed a night curfew from 10 pm to 5 am, with immediate effect, amid the rise in coronavirus cases. The restriction will stay in effect till April 30. The city reported 5,100 new coronavirus cases on Tuesday, taking the tally to 6,85,062. This is the first time since November 27 that the city registered more than 5,000 Covid-19 infections.
  7. Mumbai on Tuesday reported 10,030 new coronavirus cases, taking its total count to 4,72,332. This is the second-highest daily count so far. The city had recorded 11,163 Covid-19 infections on April 4. With 31 deaths, the toll in the city jumped to 11,828. This is the highest rise in deaths since October-end.
  8. The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation said any housing society having more than five coronavirus cases will be sealed and declared a micro-containment zone.
  9. The Indian Medical Association has also urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to allow all citizens above the age of 18 to get inoculated. “Walk-in Covid vaccination should be available for all, free of cost at their nearest possible places,” the doctors’ body added. Meanwhile, government data showed that a record 43,00,966 vaccine doses were administered on Monday.
  10. Globally, the coronavirus has infected more than 13.16 crore people and killed 28,59,868, according to the Johns Hopkins University. More than 7.47 crore people have recovered from the infection.