11.09 pm: Punjab records 340 new Covid-19 cases, 1,271 discharges and 24 deaths in the past 24 hours, reports ANI.

11.07 pm: The Kerala government conducts door-to-door vaccination for seriously ill and bedridden patients in Thiruvananthapuram, reports ANI.

9.47 pm: Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar announces easing of coronavirus-induced lockdown in the state. Kumar says that offices will function with 100% attendance between June 23 to July 6. Shops will open till 7 pm and night curfew will be in force from 9 pm to 5 am for the same time period.

The chief minister adds that parks and gardens will be open from 6 am to 12 pm.

9.45 pm: The Centre tells the Supreme Court that it would consider granting insurance cover on the lines of other frontline workers to those working in crematoriums and helping conduct last rites of Covid-19 victims, reports PTI.

9.37 pm: Maharashtra Health Minister Rajesh Tope says that 21 cases of the Delta Plus variant of the coronavirus have been found in the state so far, reports NDTV.

8.57 pm: Haryana reports 162 new coronavirus cases, 287 recoveries and 29 deaths today, reports ANI.

8.45 pm: Maharashtra registers 6,270 new Covid-19 cases, 13,758 recoveries, and 94 deaths in 24 hours, reports ANI. There are 1,24,398 active cases, 57,33,215 recoveries and the toll stands at 1,18,313. Of these, Mumbai alone reports 521 new infections and seven deaths.

7.37 pm: Telangana registers 1,197 new coronavirus cases, 1,707 recoveries and nine deaths in 24 hours, reports ANI.

7.36 pm: Kerala reports 7,499 new Covid-19 cases, 13,596 recoveries and 94 deaths, reports ANI.

7.35 pm: Goa reports 218 new coronavirus cases, 413 recoveries and seven deaths in 24 hours, according to ANI.

7.34 pm: Uttarakhand reports 163 new Covid-19 cases, 323 recoveries and eight deaths today, reports ANI, citing the government bulletin.

7.32 pm: Himachal Pradesh’s Covid-19 count goes up to 2,00,603 with 193 new cases, toll climbs to 3,432 with six more deaths, reports PTI.

7.31 pm: The Assam State Disaster Management Authority issues a special Covid-19 advisory for residents who will stay in temporary shelters, apart from government relief camps, during the floods, reports PTI.

7.30 pm: Karnataka includes six more to the list of 17 districts under “Unlock 2.0”, where Covid-19 curbs have been eased, allowing hotels, gyms, and public transport services to resume operations, reports PTI.

7.21 pm: The Union health ministry says over 75 lakh doses have been administered so far on the first day of the implementation of the new vaccination guidelines.

4.23 pm: Home Minister Amit Shah calls “historic” Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s decision to provide free vaccines to residents aged above 18 years, reports ANI. “This is an important decision in the fight against Covid-19,” he adds.

4.18 pm: Uttarakhand Director General of Police Ashok Kumar says he has instructed Haridwar senior superintendent of police that the special investigation team should inquire in depth about the 5-6 serious points that have come up in the alleged RT-PCR testing scam, reports ANI.

4.16 pm: India administers 47,51,080 coronavirus vaccine doses in 24 hours, the highest single-day coverage till now, reports NDTV.

4.10 pm: Delhi records 89 new coronavirus cases, its lowest single-day tally this year, reports PTI. This is the first time since February 16, when 94 Covid-19 cases were recorded, that the number of daily infections has dropped below 100. The national Capital also registered 11 deaths. The daily positivity rate stood at 0.16%.

3.16 pm: “The Delhi government’s officials were also asked to put out advertisements saying ‘thank you, Modiji’”, says Sisodia.

3.11 pm: Sisodia adds that the country has more advertisements for Covid-19 vaccines than the shots. “One newspaper has four to five advertisements,” the Delhi deputy chief minister says. “If this much money was spent on the vaccination drive, then we would get vaccines from outside the country as well.”

3.06 pm: “I got to know that no free vaccine has been supplied for use beyond June 2,” Sisodia says.

3.01 pm: Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia says the Centre will be providing 15 lakh free Covid-19 vaccine doses for the Capital in July, reports PTI. “Going by this rate, it will take 15-16 more months to vaccinate entire Delhi,” Sisodia says.

1.20 pm: Union Home Minister Amit Shah visits a Covid-19 vaccination centre in Kolavda village of Gandhinagar, Gujarat.

1.18 pm: Canada is likely to extend the suspension of direct flights from India by another month, reports the Hindustan Times. Canadian officials will make an announcement later today.

12.47 pm: Supreme Court reserves judgement on petition seeking compensation of Rs 4 lakh from the government to family members of those who died because of Covid-19, reports ANI.

12.42 pm: Maharashtra has so far recorded 7,998 cases of post-Covid complication mucormycosis, shows government data. As many as 729 patients have died of the infection, more commonly known as “black fungus”, while 4,398 patients are currently under treatment.

12 pm: The Health Department of Bihar government has set up a three-tier committee to compile, verify and update the recording and reporting of coronavirus-related deaths during the second wave of pandemic, reports NDTV.

This comes two days after the Patna High Court criticised the existing system as “opaque”. The court had said that the Nitish Kumar government’s reluctance to publish the actual figures was uncalled for and not protected by law.

11.55 am: Congress leader Rahul Gandhi criticises the Modi government for not paying ex-gratia compensation to families of those who died of the coronavirus disease.

“It is impossible to valuate life, government’s compensation is only a small help, but the Modi government is not ready to even do that,” Gandhi tweets. “First the lack of treatment during the Covid pandemic and then the false figures and on top of that the government’s cruelty.”

The Centre has informed the Supreme Court that compensation of Rs 4 lakh cannot be paid to the families of those who have died of Covid-19 as the finances of central and state governments are under severe strain.

10.28 am: Hotels, gyms and public transport services resume in 17 districts of Karnataka from Monday, PTI reports.

10.25 am: Outdoor weddings will be allowed in England and Wales for the first time since the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic in 2019, the BBC reports.

10.23 am: Four weddings were held without permission at a temple in Karnataka’s Mangaluru city on Sunday, according to ANI. The police have filed a case against those who violated Covid-safety guidelines.

10.17 am: World Health Organization Chief Scientist Soumya Swaminathan says its too early to tell if booster shots of Covid-19 vaccine, targeted against emerging variants, will be needed, Bloomberg reports.

“We do not have the information that’s necessary to make the recommendation on whether or not a booster will be needed,” she says. “The science is still evolving.”

Swaminathan adds that calls for using booster shots are premature, since high-risk individuals in most countries haven’t even completed the first course of vaccination yet.

10.09 am: Delhi Health Minister Satyendar Jain says no one can misreport the number of deaths in India, including those due to Covid-19, since all fatalities are recorded properly, PTI reports.

“No one can increase or decrease the number of deaths in Delhi,” he says. “So far, around 24,900 people have died due to coronavirus in the city.”

His remark came amid reports of excess deaths from several states amid the Covid-19 crisis.

Also read:

  1. Bihar saw about 82,500 more deaths between January and May than same period in 2019
  2. Assam saw 28,000 more deaths than normal in months when first wave of Covid-19 struck

9.59 am: Andhra Pradesh on Sunday set a record by administering more than 13 lakh vaccine doses in a single day, according to NDTV.

9.56 am: India has tested more than 39.24 crore samples for Covid-19 so far. Over 13.88 lakh tests were done on Sunday alone.

9.44 am: India reports 53,256 new coronavirus cases on Monday, taking its overall count of infections since the pandemic broke out in January 2020 to 2,99,35,221. This is India’s lowest daily rise in cases in 88 days, according to reports. The country’s toll rises by 1,422 to 3,88,135.

Source: Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.

9.43 am: Prime Minister Narendra Modi says yoga has become a ray of hope amid the global fight against the coronavirus crisis. He addresses to the country on the seventh International Yoga Day.

Read more here: Yoga a ray of hope in fight against Covid-19 crisis, says PM Modi

9.36 am: Everyone above the age of 18 is eligible for free vaccination from Monday.

On June 7, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had announced that the state governments would no longer have to spend on Covid-19 vaccines and the Centre will now provide doses for the 18 to 44 age group.

“The Centre will procure 75% of the jabs manufactured by vaccine makers and provide them to states free of cost,” Modi had said.

However, private hospitals will continue to buy 25% of the total vaccine stock. This means some beneficiaries will have to pay for their vaccines if they choose to get inoculated at non-government medical facilities.

9.32 am: Here are the top updates from Sunday:

  1. India registered 58,419 new Covid-19 cases and 1,576 fatalities in 24 hours, pushing the country’s overall tally to 2,98,81,965 and toll to 3,86,713. This was the lowest single-day jump in infections since March 31 when the country reported 53,480 new cases.
  2. All India Institute of Medical Sciences chief Dr Randeep Guleria said that the new “Delta plus” strain of coronavirus could become a “variant of concern”, if Covid-related guidelines are not followed properly.
  3. Tamil Nadu extended its coronavirus lockdown till June 28. However, the state government allowed some relaxations and classified the districts into three tiers based on number of active cases.
  4. The Delhi government said bars could open from Monday with 50% seating capacity between noon and 10 pm. Public parks, gardens, golf clubs and outdoor yoga activities will also be allowed, while restaurants can now stay open from 8 am to 10 pm.
  5. The West Bengal government said that it will only inoculate those in the priority groups from Monday due to shortage of vaccines.