Read the top updates of the day here:

8.49 am: Maharashtra reports 34,389 new cases and 974 deaths, according to government data. Capital Mumbai logs 1,544 cases and 60 fatalities in the last 24 hours.

8.48 am: Madhya Pradesh reports 7,106 new cases and 79 deaths, according to government data.

8.47 am: West Bengal reports 19,117 new cases and 147 deaths in the last 24 hours, shows government data.

8.45 pm: Gujarat records 8,210 new cases and 82 deaths in the last 24 hours, ANI reports.

8.43 pm: Oral anti-coronavirus drug 2-DG, developed by the Defence Research and Development Organisation, will be launched on May 17 with Union Defence Minister Rajnath Singh distributing nearly 10,000 doses to hospitals in Delhi, reports NDTV.

7.37 pm: Karnataka registers 31,531 new cases and 403 deaths in the last 24 hours, shows government data.

7.36 pm: Uttarakhand logs 4,496 new cases and 188 deaths in the last 24 hours, shows government data.

7.35 pm: Telangana reports 3,816 new cases and 27 deaths in last 24 hours, shows government data.

7.33 pm: Kerala records 29,704 new cases and 89 deaths, reports ANI

7.32 pm: CoWIN digital portal has been reconfigured to reflect change in dose interval of Covishield vaccine to 12-16 weeks, says cental government. Online appointments that have been already booked for second dose will remain valid.

7.29 pm: Andhra Pradesh reports 24,171 new cases of coronavirus and 101 deaths in the last 24 hours, reports ANI.

5.18 pm: Uttar Pradesh reports 10,682 new cases and 311 deaths in the last 24 hours, reports ANI.

5.14 pm: Delhi reports 6,456 new cases of coronavirus in last 24 hours, taking tally up to 13,93,867. Toll rises to 21,506 with 262 deaths.

5.13 pm: Bhopal district administration extends coronavirus curfew till 6 am on May 24, reports ANI.

5.12 pm: West Tripura district magistrate imposes coronavirus curfew in Agartala Municipal Corporation area between May 17 and May 26, restricting movement of people and all types of public gathering, reports ANI.

5.11 pm: Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh extends all existing restrictions in the state till May 31, reports ANI.

3.55 pm: Mumbai civic body Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation suspends vaccination drive in the city on Monday in the wake of Cyclone Tauktae, reports The Indian Express. Vaccination will resume from Tuesday.

3.51 pm: Two foreign nationals have been arrested for duping over 1,000 people on the pretext of providing them oxygen cylinders and Covid-19 medicines, ANI reports, quoting Delhi Police Crime Branch.

3.48 pm: More than 1.84 crore Covid-19 vaccine doses are still available with states and Union Territories, while nearly 51 lakh doses are in the pipeline and will be received by them within the next three days, says Union health ministry.

2.20 pm: Haryana also extends its lockdown by another week till May 24.

2.01 pm: The Centre issues guidelines for containment of Covid-19 in peri-urban and rural areas, reports PTI. The government advises authorities to provide Rapid Antigen Test kits at all public health facilities, including sub-centres or Health and Wellness Centres and Primary Health Centres.

At Covid Care Centres, authorities should have separate areas for suspected and confirmed Covid cases, with preferably separate entry and exit for each, it says. “Suspect and confirmed cases should not be allowed to mix under any circumstances,” the rules add.

1.58 pm: Prime Minister Narendra Modi speaks with chief ministers of Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh, and Puducherry to discuss the coronavirus situation in their states, reports ANI.

During the discussion, Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel tells Modi that testing has been increased in the state, and authorities were focussing more on the rural areas. He also appeals to the prime minister to provide more vaccines to Chhattisgarh.

1.56 pm: Punjab extends the curfew imposed in Ludhiana district till May 23, reports ANI.

1.54 pm: Prime Minister Narendra Modi holds a meeting with Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Adityanath about the coronavirus situation in the northern state. The two leaders discussed oxygen supplies, the possibility of free vaccines and the problem of vaccine wastages in the state.

12 pm: Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal says the lockdown will be extended by a week, up to May 24.

10.45 am: Congress MP Rajeev Satav dies at a private hospital in Pune on Sunday, days after recovering from Covid-19, reports PTI. He was 46.

Satav was on ventilator support. He had tested positive on April 22.

Party leader Rahul Gandhi said Satav’s death is a huge loss for the Congress. “He was a leader with huge potential who embodied the ideals of the Congress,” he writes.

10.41 am: At least 30 transgender persons were vaccinated against Covid-19 in Guwahati, reports NDTV. The inoculation drive, carried out at a shelter home for transgender people in the city, was conducted with the support from Assam’s health department, according to the channel.

10.38 am: Nagaland’s first Pressure Swing Adsorption, or PSA oxygen generation plant will be functional at Naga Hospital Authority Kohima from Monday, reports PTI, quoting a state health department official.

10.35 am: Authorities are streamlining oxygen supply at the state-run Goa Medical College and Hospital, Health Minister Vishwajit Rane says, reports PTI.

At least 83 Covid patients have died at the facility till Saturday, allegedly due to lack of oxygen. On Saturday, authorities commissioned a 20,000 kilo litre oxygen tank to scale up supplies.

“Now, we should not have problems regarding the oxygen supply,” says Rane. “The commissioning of the tank is a major step towards solving this problem.”

9.36 am: India registers 3,11,170 new coronavirus cases today, pushing the country’s tally of infections since the pandemic began to 2,46,84,077. The toll rises by 4,077 to 2,70,284. The number of active cases stand at 36,18,458, while the recoveries climb to 2,07,95,335.

9.32 am: Prime Minister Boris Johnson says Britain will accelerate its vaccination programme, to try to contain a fast-spreading variant of the coronavirus first identified in India, reports Reuters. “I believe we should trust in our vaccines to protect the public whilst monitoring the situation very closely because the race between our vaccination programme and the virus may be about to become a great deal tighter,” Johnson says.

9.31 am: The Union Territory of Andaman and Nicobar Islands records 26 new Covid cases, pushing the tally of infections to 6,568, reports PTI.

9.29 am: The first “Oxygen Express” train to Kerala, carrying 118 metric tonnes of the life-saving gas, arrives at the Vallarpadam terminal of Kochi port.

9.27 am: Police personnel keep watch in Siliguri district of West Bengal.

9.25 am: Here’s the latest testing update from the Indian Council of Medical Research.

9.22 am: India receives the second batch of Sputnik V vaccines from Russia. The vaccine is priced at Rs 948, with 5% Goods and Services Tax per dose. The total amounts to Rs 995.5.

9.20 am: The vaccination drive has stopped in several districts of Jammu and Kashmir, reports NDTV, quoting unidentified officials.

Only 504 people were vaccinated across 10 districts in the Valley as of Saturday. Srinagar district reported zero vaccination. “We received the last supply of vaccines last Saturday,” an official tells the channel. “There are no vaccines available.”

9.15 am: The police in Mumbai arrest four volunteers for trying to extort money from a factory owner in after accusing him of not following Covid-related norms, reports PTI. The accused worked with a private security agency which is appointed by the Mumbai civic body to collect fine from those who spit in public places and do not follow other norms.

9.13 am: Senior journalist Sunil Jain dies due to post-Covid related complications, reports PTI. Jain was the managing editor of The Financial Express.

Here are the top updates from Saturday

  • India reported 3,26,098 new Covid-19 cases and 3,890 fatalities on Saturday. This pushed the country’s case count to 2,43,72,907 and toll to 2,66,207 since the pandemic began in January. There are 36,73,802 active cases and 2,04,32,898 patients have recovered from the disease so far.
  • Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday chaired a high-level meeting on the coronavirus situation in the country and vaccination. Modi took note of reports that ventilators were lying unused in some states, and ordered an immediate audit of their installation and operation.
  • Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal announced setting up oxygen concentrator banks in each district of the city. He also said that home delivery of oxygen will be done if coronavirus patients in home isolation need it.
  • West Bengal will be under a complete lockdown from Sunday till May 30 in view of the surge in coronavirus cases. All government and private offices, schools, shopping malls, cinema halls, bars and beauty parlours will remain shut during this period, West Bengal Chief Secretary Alapan Bandyopadhyay said. Private and public transport, including Kolkata Metro services, will also remain prohibited.  
  • The coronavirus situation in India remains “hugely concerning” as several states in the country were continuing to see a “worrying number of cases, hospitalisations and deaths”, said World Health Organization Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.
  • The National Human Rights Commission released an advisory to the Union government, all the states and Union Territories, calling for a special law to uphold the dignity of the dead amid multiple reports of bodies being buried along the banks of the river Ganga.