A look at the headlines right now:

  1. Twelve patients, including a doctor, die as Delhi’s Batra Hospital runs out of oxygen amid coronavirus crisis: The hospital told the Delhi High Court that it ran out of oxygen for more than an hour at 1.30 pm.
  2. Serum Institute chief says he’s left India, planning to start Covid vaccine production abroad: In an interview to ‘The Times’, Adar Poonawalla claimed he flew to London before Britain banned travellers from India because of threats demanding vaccines.
  3. SC refuses to defer counting of votes for UP’s local body elections: Polling for the four-phased panchayat elections in the state ended on April 29. Votes will be counted on Sunday.
  4. Give Delhi full quota of oxygen or face contempt charges, HC warns Centre: The court noted that Delhi has not been provided its quota of 490 metric tonnes of oxygen for a single day since the allocation was done.
  5. India receives first batch of Russia’s Sputnik V coronavirus vaccines: The consignment with 1.5 lakh doses of the vaccine arrived in Hyderabad.
  6. ‘Literally lockdown for a few weeks,’ US health expert Anthony Fauci tells India on Covid crisis: He told ‘The Indian Express’ that the restrictions would provide India a window to take critical ‘immediate, intermediate, and long range’ steps.
  7. EC moves Supreme Court against Madras HC’s criticism on holding polls amid pandemic: The High Court had said that the poll body should be booked for murder for allowing rallies to continue even as coronavirus cases surged.
  8. Third phase of vaccination begins in small pockets, shortage defers rollout in most states: Several states have deferred the rollout of the third phase and many of them are unsure of when they would be able to start the process as the manufacturers have not provided them with a supply schedule.
  9. Delhi lockdown extended by a week amid surge in Covid-19 cases: This means restrictions will be in place till May 10.
  10. Maharashtra won’t reach stage of complete lockdown, says Uddhav Thackeray: Cases in the state have registered a steady drop over the past week, especially in the capital city of Mumbai.