Here are the top updates from Saturday:

  1. The Sikkim government on Saturday decided to shut all schools and colleges in the state till October 31 after some students tested positive for coronavirus, PTI reported. “The state government is very concerned that if the schools are not closed the chances of more cases are very high,” said Education Secretary GP Upadhaya. Schools and colleges in the state had reopened on September 6.     
  2. India on Saturday registered 33,376 new infections and 308 deaths due to Covid-19 in the last 24 hours, according to data from the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare. The new cases are 4.5% lower than Friday’s count of 34,973 cases. The new cases pushed the overall tally of infections since the outbreak of the pandemic in January last year to 3,32,08,330. The toll rose to 4,42,317.
  3. Tamil Nadu Health Secretary J Radhakrishnan has told district collectors to remain alert after the state reported a marginal increase in coronavirus cases, IANS reported. He said that district collectors should increase vaccinations and ensure that people follow Covid-19 appropriate behaviour.
  4. Telangana on Saturday became the first state to launch Beyond Visual Line of Sight drones to deliver vaccines, The Hindu reported. This was part of the ‘Medicine from the Sky’ project, which aims to deliver medicines, vaccines and blood units to remote rural areas.
  5. The Kerala government is conducting a seroprevalence study to assess the spread of Covid-19 among the residents of the state, PTI reported. The state’s health minister said that the study started earlier this month and is likely to be over by the end of September.
  6. The Union government has told the Supreme Court that the health ministry and the Indian Council of Medical Research have released guidelines for issuing an “official document” for coronavirus-related deaths, PTI reported on Saturday. It also said that on September 3, the  Office of the Registrar General of India had issued a circular to provide a Medical Certificate of Cause of Death to relatives of those who died due to the disease.
  7. Universities and colleges in Madhya Pradesh will be allowed to reopen with 50% attendance from September 15, PTI reported. All teaching and non-teaching staff as well as students will have to submit certificates of having received at least the first dose of the coronavirus vaccine, state Higher Education Minister Mohan Yadav said.
  8. South Africa’s health regulator has cleared Pfizer’s coronavirus vaccine for children above 12 years of age, Reuters reported. The regulator said that it took the decision reviewing information about safety and efficacy that was submitted in March.
  9. China registered 25 new coronavirus cases, up from 17 a day earlier, authorities said on Saturday. The National Health Commission said only one of the new infections was locally transmitted.
  10. Globally, Covid-19 has infected more than 22.40 crore people and led to over 46.19 lakh deaths since the beginning of the pandemic in December 2019, according to Johns Hopkins University.