1. The Centre on Tuesday took note of crowding in hill stations and stressed on the importance of following Covid-appropriate behaviour. It said some states are still in the midst of the second wave of the pandemic. “People are indulging in revenge travel with restrictions being lifted,” said Lav Agarwal, joint secretary, health ministry. Meanwhile, Balram Bhargava, Director General of the Indian Council of Medical Research, said pictures of people thronging popular hill stations was frightening.
  2. India recorded 34,703 new Covid-19 cases on Monday morning, taking its tally since the pandemic broke out in January 2020 to 3,06,19,932. This the lowest daily rise in cases in 111 days. India’s toll rose to 4,03,281 with 553 more deaths. The number of active cases in the country stood at 4,64,357.
  3. The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare has admitted to using facial recognition technology for online verification of beneficiaries at Covid-19 vaccination centres. However, the government failed to provide an order from legal or legislative authorities for the use of such technology. It said that no privacy impact assessment of the use of facial recognition technology was done before it was used.
  4. The Supreme Court refused to interfere with the Odisha government’s decision to limit the Rath Yatra this year to the Puri Jagannath temple. The court dismissed petitions that sought permission to hold Rath Yatras at other temples as well.
  5. The Supreme Court also directed the Centre to ensure that all people in mental health establishments are fully vaccinated at the earliest. “It’s a very serious matter,” a two-judge bench of Justices D Y Chandrachud and MR Shah said.
  6. Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia said the city has run out of Covid vaccine stock. “In the last two weeks, vaccination was done in the national capital at a record speed,” he tweeted. “But, for the time being, vaccine stock is over in Delhi and no supply is coming from the central government as of now. It is my appeal to the central government to send vaccine to the people of Delhi as soon as possible...”
  7. The Assam government imposed a complete lockdown in Goalpara, Golaghat, Jorhat, Lakhimpur, Sonitpur, Biswanath and Morigaon districts from July 7. These seven districts have recently reported a high Covid-19 positivity rate.
  8. Chinese President Xi Jinping warned against politicising the coronavirus pandemic while addressing the ruling Communist Party of China and World Political Parties Summit virtually. His comments came amid growing calls for an independent inquiry into the origins of the virus, which was first reported in the Chinese city of Wuhan in late 2019.
  9. The German government’s health agency said Covid-19 restrictions on travel from India, the United Kingdom, Russia, Portugal, and Nepal would be relaxed. The ease on curbs, to be implemented from Wednesday, means that non-residents from these four countries can enter Germany as long as they observe quarantine and testing rules.
  10. Globally, the coronavirus disease has infected over 18.41 crore people and killed more than 39.83 lakh since the pandemic broke out in December 2019, according to Johns Hopkins University.