10.58 pm: Prime Minister Narendra Modi instructs ministers to create awareness about Covid-19 protocols and vaccination, instead of speaking about the possible third wave of infections, India Today reports.

10.55 pm: Punjab reports 262 new coronavirus cases and and 15 deaths on Wednesday, according to ANI.

10.53 pm: The Kochi Metro will resume services from July 1 after being shut for 53 days, ANI reports.

6.53 pm: Kerala registers 13,658 new coronavirus cases and 142 deaths on Wednesday, PTI reports. The state’s tally of infections rises to 29,24,165, while the toll reaches 13,235.

6.50 pm: The Odisha government pauses vaccinations in 11 districts because of a shortage of Covishield doses, PTI reports.

6.47 pm: The Uttarakhand government moves the Supreme Court against the stay imposed on Char Dham yatra by the High Court, ANI reports.

6.41 pm: The Covid-19 vaccine developed by Novavax may get approval for use in India between July and September, NDTV reports, quoting the American biotech firm’s Chief Executive Officer Stanley Erck. It is likely to have a higher price than Serum Institute of India’s Covishield.

5.30 pm: Delhi reports 94 new coronavirus cases and six deaths on Wednesday. The Capital’s tally of infections rises to 14,34,188, while the toll reaches 24,977.

5.23 pm: The Calcutta High also directs the West Bengal government to submit a report to it by Friday about its investigation in connection with unauthorised vaccination camps in the city, PTI reports.

Also read: MP Mimi Chakraborty, hundreds get vaccinated at unauthorised camp in Kolkata; one arrested

5.18 pm: West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata says her government is taking action against those running unauthorised vaccination camps, ANI reports. She accuses the Centre of spreading misinformation about her government.

5.06 pm: The Union health ministry directs the West Bengal government to conduct an inquiry into unauthorised vaccination camps allegedly being run in parts of Kolkata and submit a report to it in the next two days, according to PTI.

2.10 pm: Four major Australian cities are under a lockdown amid efforts to contain an outbreak of the highly contagious Delta coronavirus variant, reports Reuters.

1.26 pm: The Bombay High Court tells the Maharashtra government to stop any political rally, which flouts Covid-19 protocols, from being carried out in the state amid the pandemic, reports News18. The High Court asks how such rallies, including one held earlier in June over an upcoming airport in Navi Mumbai, were allowed when the state government had prohibited large gatherings to prevent the spread of Covid-19.

1.22 pm: Puducherry logs 264 new Covid-19 cases during the last 24 hours ending 10 am on Wednesday, reports NDTV. With this, the infection tally in the Union Territory rises to 1,17,249 since the pandemic broke out in January last year.

1.17 pm: Ranchi’s Covid-19 vaccination centres wear a deserted look amid a shortage of doses, reports ANI. Jharkhand Health Minister Banna Gupta says that he has requested the central government to give vaccines so that the state government can inoculate its citizens and save them from the potential third wave of Covid-19.

12.25 pm: The Directorate General of Civil Aviation extends restrictions on international passenger flights to and from India till July 31.

12.15 pm: South Western Railway says that passengers travelling from Maharashtra to Karnataka will need to produce a negative RT-PCR certificate or have to be administered at least the first dose of Covid-19 vaccine, reports ANI.

12.14 pm: The Maharashtra government tells the Bombay High Court that it will soon start Covid-19 home vaccination for residents who are immobile or bedridden on an experimental basis, and would not wait for an approval from the Centre, reports PTI.

12.11 pm: Bharat Biotech says that the pricing of Covaxin has been clearly established between $15-20 (around Rs 1,100 to Rs 1,500) per dose for supplies to governments outside India, reports ANI. The pricing for Brazil has also been indicated at $15 per dose, it says.

“Covaxin has now received emergency use authorisations in 16 countries including, Brazil, India, Philippines, Iran, Mexico, etc. with EUA’s in process in 50 countries worldwide,” it adds.

11.52 am: Bharat Biotech says that it followed a “step-by-step approach” for the regulatory approval and supply contract of its Covid-19 vaccine, Covaxin, in Brazil and that it has not received any advance payment for it nor supplied the vaccine to the South American country, reports ANI.

11.50 am: Haryana Minister Anil Vij says that the state has so far recorded one case of the Delta Plus variant of coronavirus, reports ANI. Vij says that the patient’s contract tracing is underway. He adds that he had ordered to set up a lab in Rohtak for genome sequencing.

11.42 am: The Supreme Court posts for July 5 the hearing of the plea of Yoga guru Ramdev seeking the clubbing of first information reports against him and the transfer of all cases to Delhi over his alleged remarks on efficacy of allopathy treatment of Covid-19, reports ANI.

11.37 am: The Centre says that private hospitals will no longer be allowed to directly procure Covid-19 vaccines from manufacturers from July 1 and have to place orders on the CoWIN portal, reports ANI. The government also says that private hospitals will have to register on the portal as a Private Covid-19 Vaccination Centre.

10.57 am: The Supreme Court orders the National Disaster Management Authority to fix an ex gratia assistance in six weeks for the families whose loved ones died of the coronavirus, reports The Hindu. The court SC holds that the disaster management body failed to perform its statutory duty by not already fixing the compensation.

10.12 am: The United States’ National Institute of Health says that Bharat Biotech’s Covaxin effectively neutralises both Alpha and Delta variants of coronavirus, reports PTI.

10.08 am: Indore Collector Manish Singh says that PC Sethi Hospital and the Hukumchand Polyclinic will be designated as Covid-19 dedicated hospitals where pregnant women and newborns infected with Covid-19 will be admitted, reports ANI. Singh adds that the arrangement is in view of a possible third wave of the pandemic.

10.06 am: East Delhi district magistrate says that Laxmi Nagar main market and surrounding markets such as Mangal Bazaar, Vijay Chowk, Subhash Chowk, Jagatram Park, Guru Ramdas Nagar will be shut down till 10 pm on July 5 for not following Covid-19 appropriate behaviour, reports ANI.

10.02 am: “Widows Forum for Justice”, a group of widowed wives of Air India pilots who lost their lives after contracting Covid-19 in the line of duty, has written to the airline’s management seeking adequate compensation and alternative employment for themselves, reports ANI.

9.57 am: The Indian Council of Medical Research says that it has conducted 41,01,00,044 till Tuesday, It adds that 19,60,757 tests were done on June 29 alone.

9.41 am: India records 45,951 new coronavirus cases and 817 deaths on Wednesday morning, data from the Union health ministry shows. With this, the infection tally climbs to 3,03,62,848 and the toll to 3,98,454. Wednesday’s infection tally is 18.24% higher than Tuesday’s count. There are 5,37,064 active cases and 2,94,27,330 patients have recovered so far from the infection.

Here are the top updates from Tuesday:

  • The Union home ministry on Tuesday asked all states and Union Territories to increase the pace and coverage of Covid-19 vaccinations and focus on a five-fold strategy to manage the pandemic.
  • India reported 37,566 new infections, taking the total number of cases since the Covid-19 outbreak to 3,03,16,897. This is the lowest single-day rise in cases since March 18, when the tally rose by 35,871. The country’s toll rose by 907 to 3,97,637. Meanwhile, the Centre said that 51 cases of the “Delta plus” variant of Covid-19 had been found in 12 states. 
  • The Centre announced that India’s drug regulator has granted permission to import Moderna’s Covid-19 vaccine for restricted emergency use.
  • Moscow’s Gamaleya Institute, which developed Sputnik V, said that the vaccine is around 90% effective against the Delta variant of Covid-19.
  • Delhi recorded 101 new coronavirus cases on Tuesday, taking its total number of infections since the outbreak of the pandemic in January 2020 to 14,34,094. This was a huge jump compared to the 59 cases that the Capital recorded on Monday. Delhi’s toll rose by four to 24,971.