Coronavirus: Railways to operate 350 local trains in Mumbai from tomorrow

10.55 pm: Here are the top updates of the day

10.37 pm: Chhattisgarh reports 63 new cases. The health department says total number of cases rise to 2,858, including 595 active cases, 2,250 discharged cases and 13 deaths.

10.13 pm: Delhi records 2,199 new coronavirus cases and 62 deaths today. The Capital’s case count rises to 87,360 and toll stands at 2,742, reports ANI, citing the health ministry’s daily bulletin.

10.11 pm: The Railways will expand to 350 local trains in Mumbai from tomorrow. However, the services will only be accessible to essential workers and not general passengers.

9.45 pm: Jharkhand’s health department reports 60 new coronavirus cases and 35 recoveries today, according to PTI. The total number of cases stands at 2,490 including 591 active cases, 1884 recoveries and 15 deaths.

9.05 pm: Jammu and Kashmir reports 260 new coronavirus cases, of which 32 are from Jammu division and 228 from Kashmir. The state tally stands at 7,497 and 101 people have died so far.

9 pm: Rajasthan records 354 new coronavirus cases and eight deaths till 8:30 pm today, reports ANI. The total number of positive cases stands at 18,014.

8.35 pm: Mumbai records 893 new cases and 93 deaths, reports News18. This takes the city’s total infections to 77,658 and the toll stands at 4,556.

8.30 pm: Maharashtra records 4,878 new coronavirus cases, taking the worst-hit state’s tally to 1,74,761, reports ANI. With 245 new deaths, the toll stands at 7,855.

8.28 pm: The output of eight core infrastructure industries shrank by 23.4% in May due to the coronavirus-induced lockdown in the country.

8.22 pm: Kerala’s coronavirus count has reached 4,442 after 131 new cases, reports PTI. Of these, 65 patients had come from abroad and 46 from other states, Health Minister KK Shailaja said.

8.18 pm: West Bengal reports 652 new coronavirus cases and 15 deaths today, according to ANI. The total number of infections in the state has risen to 8,559 and the toll is at 668.

8.12 pm: A private hospital in Madhya Pradesh’s Indore city has formally started a plasma bank for coronavirus treatment, reports PTI. Plasma of patients who have recovered from the infection is being stored at Sri Aurobindo Institute of Medical Sciences, an official adds.

8.10 pm: The European Union has excluded the United States from its initial “safe list” of countries from which the bloc will allow non-essential travel from Wednesday, reports Reuters. The bloc agreed to open its borders to 15 countries earlier in the day. The countries are Algeria, Australia, Canada, Georgia, Japan, Montenegro, Morocco, New Zealand, Rwanda, Serbia, South Korea, Thailand, Tunisia and Uruguay.

8.02 pm: The West Bengal government issues an order to extend the lockdown in containment zones till July 31. Schools, colleges, cinema halls, swimming pools, gyms, entertainment parks, social, political, religious and other large congregation shall remain prohibited during this period.

7.55 pm: The Maharashtra government has provided free treatment to more than 1.2 lakh coronavirus patients under the Mahatma Jyotiba Phule Jan Arogya Yojana, says Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray’s office.

7.47 pm: Punjab records 150 new coronavirus cases, taking the state’s count to 5,568, according to ANI.

7.40 pm: The Delhi government has extended its scheme offering a one-time waiver of water bill arrears and late payment surcharge till September 30 due to the coronavirus outbreak. Under the scheme, launched in August last year, all categories of houses get an exemption from late fee payments, while their pending water bills are waived partly or fully depending on the housing category.

“This will benefit those who have not been able to avail the scheme due to lockdown restrictions,” Aam Aadmi Party leader Raghav Chadha tweeted.

7.18 pm: Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation reports six new Covid-19 cases from Dharavi area of Mumbai today, taking the total number of cases to 2,268, reports ANI.

7.16 pm: Karnataka records 947 new coronavirus cases, taking the state tally to 15,242, according to ANI. The toll in the state stands at 546.

6.54 pm: Tripura’s Education Minister Ratan Lal Nath says his state is not planning to impose a lockdown yet, reports PTI. “Even though the lockdown has been extended in three northeastern states – Assam, Manipur and Meghalaya – we are not thinking on these lines now. Our condition is stable and our frontline workers are doing a commendable job.”

6.51 pm: Uttar Pradesh records 25 more coronavirus deaths, taking the overall toll in the state to 697. The state’s tally rises to 23,492 cases after 664 new infections, reports PTI, citing health department officials.

6.50 pm: Andhra Pradesh reports 704 new coronavirus cases, taking the state’s tally to 14,595, reports PTI.

6.45 pm: Medical director of Medanta in Lucknow, Dr Rakesh Kapoor, says that the condition of Madhya Pradesh Governor Lalji Tandon is now stable, reports ANI. This comes a day after Tandon was put on ventilator support.

6.31 pm: Himachal Pradesh’s coronavirus tally rises to 948, of which 358 patients are being treated. The toll stands at eight, and 569 patients have recovered so far, according to ANI.

6.20 pm: Authorities have imposed a 10-day total lockdown in Mumbai’s Thane and Mira Bhayander from July 2 to 12 to contain the coronavirus crisis, reports PTI. Non-essential services will not be allowed to operate during this period, the order said. Movement of vehicles, except for medical and essential travel, will also not be allowed. Home delivery of food grains, vegetables, fish, meat, bakery items will be allowed between 9 am to 11pm, while milk and dairy items will be delivered at doorsteps between 5 am and 10 am.

6.16 pm: Tamil Nadu records 3,943 new coronavirus cases and 60 deaths today. The total number of cases in the state has risen to 90,167 and the toll stands at 1,201. Over 50,000 people have recovered from the infection.

6.06 pm: Maharashtra Home Minister Anil Deshmukh says 4,861 police personnel in the state have tested positive for the coronavirus so far, reports ANI. Of these 3,699 have recovered and 59 have died.

5.50 pm: The World Health Organization says it will “read carefully” a Chinese study on a new flu virus found in pigs, Reuters reports. “We cannot let our guard down on influenza and need to be vigilant and continue surveillance even in the coronavirus pandemic,” WHO says.

5.45 pm: Delhi Metro services will remain closed to commuters until further notice, PTI reports.

5.24 pm: Banerjee adds that her government has asked the Centre to restrict flights from coronavirus hotspots but resume metro services for essential workers.

5.21 pm: West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee extends free ration scheme in the state till the next year, ANI reports.

5.13 pm: After the prime minister’s announcement to extend the free food grain scheme, Union minister Prakash Javadekar says no one in India will go hungry.

5.07 pm: Chandigarh’s coronavirus count stands at 440 as of 4 pm on Tuesday. The toll is at six.

4.58 pm: West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee says 50 people will be allowed at weddings and funerals in the state instead of 25, ANI reports.

4.52 pm: Union minister Ram Vilas Paswan welcomes Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s announcement to extend the Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Yojana scheme. He adds that it is a “historic announcement”.

4.47 pm: Patanajali Ayurved Chairperson Acharya Balkrishna says that the company never claimed that its medicine ‘coronil’ could cure the coronavirus, ANI reports.

4.41 pm: Britain’s economy contracted the most since 1979 in early 2020 because the coronavirus pandemic, Reuters reports, quoting official data. The country’s gross domestic product fell by a quarterly 2.2% between January and March.

4.18 pm: “Today, if the government is able to provide free food grains to the poor, the credit goes to the hardworking farmers of our country, and the honest taxpayers. I thank you from my heart,” says the prime minister and concludes his address.

4.16 pm: Modi reiterates that physical distancing must be maintained. “Everyone should try to stay healthy, maintain a distance of two metres, use a cloth or face cover or masks. Make sure you do not neglect any of the preventive measures.”

4.15 pm: Modi says the welfare scheme will be extended till the end of November, and adds that it will cost more than Rs 90,000 crore.

4.12 pm: The prime minister says during the lockdown, rules were strictly followed. “Now, governments, local administration and citizens again have to show similar caution,” he adds. “We need to have a special focus on containment zones. If you see someone flouting norms, tell them to not do so.”

4.10 pm: Modi says under the Prime Minister’s Garib Kalyan Yojana scheme, his administration announced a package of Rs 1.75 lakh crore. “In the last three months, Rs 31,000 crore has been deposited in bank accounts of 20 crore poor families,” he says. “Also, Rs 18,000 crore has been deposited in bank accounts of more than nine crore farmers.”

4.04 pm: Modi says that authorities have reported a lot of lockdown violations during lifting of restrictions under “Unlock 1”. “People who are not following the rules will have to be convinced, stopped, and asked to follow the rules,” he adds.

4.03 pm: Prime Minister Narendra Modi begins his address to the nation.

1.59 pm: External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar discusses the coronavirus crisis with his French counterpart Jean-Yves Le Drian.

1.57 pm: Pakistan records 2,846 new coronavirus cases in the last 24 hours, taking the nationwide tally to 2,09,337, according to PTI. The country’s toll rises to 4,304 after 118 new deaths.

1.54 pm: Scientists in the United Kingdom have found that a combination of antiviral drugs commonly used to treat HIV-positive people showed no beneficial effects on hospitalised coronavirus patients, PTI reports. The findings “convincingly rule out any meaningful mortality benefit of lopinavir-ritonavir in the hospitalised COVID-19 patients we studied,” the scientists running the RECOVERY trial at the University of Oxford said.

1.49 pm: Assam reports 41 new coronavirus cases on Tuesday. The state’s tally rises to 7,835.

1.20 pm: Delhi’s historic Jama Masjid will open on July 4, PTI quotes the mosque’s Shahi Imam Syed Ahmed Bukhari as saying.

“Under unlock 1.0, almost everything has opened and normal activities have resumed,” Bukhari tells PTI. “We took this decision to open the mosque for people to offer namaz as the scare of the virus has lessened and awareness about safeguards against it has increased.” He adds that experts were consulted before the decision was made.

Jama Masjid, which was reopened after the lockdown was eased, during was closed again on June 11 due to a steep increase of Covid-19 cases in Delhi.

12.14 pm: Karnataka Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa holds a meeting with representatives of private hospitals at Vidhana Soudha.

12.12 pm: Rajasthan reports 94 new cases and four deaths, according to the state health department. With this, the total number of cases in the state is now 17,754 and toll stands at 409.

12.11 pm: The Gujarat government announces shops can remain opened till 8 pm in the state while hotels and restaurants till 9 pm from July 1, reports News18. Night curfew will remain in place from 10 pm to 5 am.

12.05 pm: In Maharashtra, 67 police personnel test positive for the virus. So far, 59 police officials have died of the virus in the state and 4,810 have contracted the virus, reports ANI.

12 pm: Mumbai has a total of 750 containment zones now, says the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation.

11.06 am: With 206 new Covid-19 cases reported in the last 24 hours, Odisha’s tally of infections rises to 7,065, ANI reports.

11.04 am: The number of coronavirus cases in Nagaland rises to 460 after eight more infections were reported in the state on Tuesday, ANI reports, quoting state health department’s figures.

10.07 am: The Assam Police checks vehicles in the Kamrup Metropolitan district of Guwahati, where a complete lockdown has been imposed till July 12, to curb the spread of the coronavirus, ANI reports.

9.40 am: India records 18,522 new coronavirus cases on Tuesday, taking the overall count to 5,66,840, according to the figures by the health ministry. The toll from the disease rises by 418 and is now 16,893. Over 3.3 lakh people have recovered so far.

9.34 am: The Indian Council of Medical Research says a total of 86.08 lakh samples have been tested for Covid-19 so far. Of these, 2.10 lakh samples were tested on Monday.

8.51 am: North Delhi Mayor Jai Prakash announces that the number of beds at the civic-run Hindu Rao Hospital, which was recently converted into a dedicated Covid-19 facility, will be increased to 200 in a phased manner, PTI reports.

8.48 am: Researchers in China discover a new type of swine flu that is capable of triggering a pandemic, AFP reports, quoting a study published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America. Named G4, the virus is genetically descended from the H1N1 strain that caused a pandemic in 2009.

8.42 am: The coronavirus pandemic is not even close to being over, World Health Organization chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus says, according to Reuters. “We all want this to be over,” he adds. “We all want to get on with our lives. But the hard reality is that this is not even close to being over. Although many countries have made some progress globally, the pandemic is actually speeding up.”

7.59 am: Kerala enforces a “triple lockdown” in parts of Malappuram district amid a sharp rise in coronavirus cases, NDTV reports. This came after two doctors, a staff nurse and two paramedical workers in two private hospitals, were among 47 people who tested positive.

7.56 am: The World Health Organization calls on Brazil to do more to integrate its efforts at different levels of government to curb the coronavirus pandemic, Reuters reports. Brazil, which is the second-worst affected from the outbreak, reported 24,052 new cases and 692 additional deaths on Monday, taking the overall toll in the country to 58,314.

7.54 am: The Drug Control General of India gives approval to the Hyderabad based-Bharat Biotech to conduct human clinical trials of a potential Covid-19 vaccine, NDTV reports. COVAXIN, developed in collaboration with the Indian Council of Medical Research and the National Institute of Virology, will be clinically tested across the country from next month.

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7.06 am: Here are the top updates from Monday:

1. The Maharashtra government extended the lockdown in the state till July 31, amid a sharp increase in the number of coronavirus cases. Maharashtra is India’s worst-affected state with 1,69,883 total infections, including 7,610 deaths. Earlier in the day, Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray launched a plasma therapy project, which he claimed to be the world’s largest trial.
   
2. Tamil Nadu recorded its highest single-day rise in cases in the evening. A total of 3,949 people tested positive, taking the state’s tally to 86,224. The state extended lockdown in the state till July 31, and a complete lockdown will be maintained till July 5 in Madurai and Greater Chennai Police limits, including Chennai, Kanchipuram, Chengalpattu and Thiruvalluvar districts. Delhi recorded 2,084 new coronavirus patients and 57 deaths today. The tally in the Capital rose to 85,161, and a total of 2,680 patients have died.
   
3. Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said that his government will launch a plasma bank in the Capital to help critically-ill coronavirus patients. The plasma bank will be set up at the Institute of Liver and Biliary Sciences and begin functioning in two days. Kejriwal appealed to recovered patients to donate their plasma and help save lives.
4. The Centre allowed the export of Personal Protection Equipment medical coveralls, with a monthly quota limit of 50 lakh units.
5. A senior doctor at the Lok Nayak Jai Prakash Hospital in Delhi died of the coronavirus. Doctor Aseem Gupta was an anaesthesia specialist at the hospital, which is a designated Covid-19 facility. The Delhi government announced a Rs 1 crore-compensation for his family.
6. The Supreme Court asked the Ministry of Home Affairs to clarify whether over 2,500 foreign nationals, who attended the Tablighi Jamaat congregation in Delhi in March, were issued individual orders about the cancellation of their visas. The gathering had emerged as a coronavirus hotspot following the event.
   
7. Haryana Health Minister Anil Vij said the state will start convalescent plasma therapy for coronavirus patients in all its medical colleges, after receiving approval from the Indian Council of Medical Research.
8. Telangana Home Minister Mohammed Mahmood Ali tested positive for the coronavirus. He had been experiencing symptoms for the last four days. Meanwhile, Madhya Pradesh Governor Lalji Tandon was put on critical care ventilator support.