9.10 pm: Maharashtra records 10,442 new Covid-19 cases and 483 deaths in the last 24 hours, reports News18. The recovery rate stands at 95.44%.

9.03 pm: Here are the daily Covid-19 figures of a few states and Union Territories:

8.01 pm: The International Monetary Fund Managing Director says there is a moral imperative for the world’s richest countries to back programmes to end the coronavirus pandemic but the donation of excess vaccines is only the first step, reports PTI.

7.54 pm: British Prime Minister Boris Johnson says the Group of Seven countries have pledged over 1 billion, or 100 crore, coronavirus vaccine doses for poorer nations, reports AP.

7.51 pm: The Himachal Pradesh government forms a committee for planning and impact mitigation in view of a possible third coronavirus wave, reports ANI.

7.46 pm: Here are the daily Covid-19 figures of a few states.

  • Telangana: 1,280 new cases, 2,261 recoveries and 15 deaths 
  • Manipur: 530 new cases, 726 recoveries and 15 deaths 
  • Rajasthan: 308 new cases, 1,260 recoveries and 7 deaths 
  • Goa: 420 new cases, 581 recoveries and 14 deaths
  • Kerala: 11,584 new cases, 17,856 recoveries and 206 deaths 

5.10 pm: Jharkhand registers zero deaths for the first time during the ongoing second wave of the coronavirus pandemic, reported PTI. However, the state registers 239 new cases, pushing the state’s infection tally to 3,43,304 since the pandemic broke out on January 2020.

5.05 pm: Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin announces more relaxations in curbs for 27 non-hotspot districts, reports NDTV. According to the new guidelines, offices of construction companies in will be allowed to operate with 50% attendance to handle salaries and other payment-related work.

Shops selling sweets and savouries can now stay open from 8 am to 5 pm and tea shops are allowed to give takeaways between 6 am and 5 pm.

5 pm: Gujarati folk singer Geeta Rabari gets vaccinated against the coronavirus at her home in Kutch district at a time when many citizens are struggling to get vaccine slots, reports the Hindustan Times. The district administration has issued a show-cause notice to the health worker, who administered the jab, after a complaint was filed with the district administration

4.57 pm: Delhi residents violated Covid-19 norms at Gaffar Market in the national Capital, reports ANI

3.21 pm: Delhi reports 255 new Covid-19 cases, taking the infection count in the national Capital to 14,31,139 since the pandemic broke in January last year. The tolls climbs by 23 to 24,823. The positivity rate stands at 0.35%.

3.16 pm: NITI Aayog chief Amitabh Kant says that a lot of foreign direct investment has come into India and it is an opportunity for us to attract the best manufacturers, reports ANI. “Covid has accelerated the change, global supply chains will get relocated, there will be a China plus one strategy for manufacturing, a lot of FDI has come into India & it’s an opportunity for us to attract best manufacturers,” he says.

3.08 pm: A senior officials of the European Medicines Agency says that countries should avoid giving AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccines to people aged over 60, amid fear over rare blood clotting, reports Reuters. The chief of the drug regulator’s Covid-19 task force Marco Cavaleri adds that as more vaccines are available, it is better to use on the younger population Covid-19 vaccines based on messenger RNA technology, such as Moderna and the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccines.

3.03 pm: Assam directs fully-vaccinated government employees to attend office from Monday, following all Covid-19 protocols, reports ANI.

1.24 pm: The Sputnik-V coronavirus vaccine will be available at Delhi’s Indraprastha Apollo Hospital from June 15, The Indian Express reports, quoting a spokesperson of the private facility.

12.19 pm: Here are other guidelines in Delhi effective from 5 am on Monday:

  • Restaurants will be allowed to open with 50% seating capacity.
  • Markets and malls in Delhi will be open from 10 am to 8 pm.
  • Weddings will not be allowed in public places such as banquet halls, only in homes or court complexes, with no more than 20 people.
  • Funerals cannot have more than 20 attendees.
  • Government offices will function with 100% attendance of Group A officers and 50% for the rest. 
  • The Delhi metro can function with 50% capacity.

12.14 pm: Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal announces further easing of restrictions in the Capital.

Kejriwal says “most activities” will be allowed to resume from 5 am Monday. This will not include educational institutions or any mass gatherings. Swimming pools, cinema halls and sports complexes will remain closed.

12.10 pm: Puducherry records 402 new cases and seven deaths due to Covid, reports PTI. Meanwhile, Ladakh has 38 fresh cases of the virus, while the Andaman and Nicobar Islands record ten more cases, with one more death.

11.28 am: Pakistan’s National Command and Operation Centre places restrictions on travelers from 26 countries, including India, reports the Dawn.

11.25 am: Uttarakhand government orders investigation into allegations that fake Covid-19 test reports were issued by a private laboratory roped in for conducting random tests during the Kumbh Mela, reports The Indian Express.

11.20 am: Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan holds review meeting on pandemic situation with district and crisis management officials, reports ANI.

10 am: Active cases are down to 10,26,159, according to the health ministry.

9.50 am: India reports 80,834 new coronavirus cases over the last 24 hours, taking its overall tally to 2,94,39,989 since the pandemic broke out in January 2020,shows government data. This is lowest single-day rise in cases since April 1, when the country logged 72,330 cases. Deaths rise by 3,303 to 3,70,384.

(Source: Health ministry)

9.46 am: Here are the top updates from Saturday:

  • All India Institute of Medical Sciences, Delhi, Director Dr Randeep Guleria said that a “mis-classification” of Covid-19 deaths by hospitals and states can go against India’s efforts to form strategies to fight the pandemic. 
  • India reported 84,332 new coronavirus cases and 4,002 deaths.
  • The Madras High Court on Friday observed that there were grievances all over the country that deaths due to the coronavirus disease may not have been appropriately recorded. The Centre, meanwhile, refuted a report by The Economist which claimed that the country’s toll due to Covid-19 could be “five-to-seven times” higher than the official number.