1. India on Thursday registered a record single-day increase of 24,879 new cases, pushing the country’s tally to 7,67,296. The toll in the country stood at 21,129 with 487 new fatalities. More than 4.76 lakh people have recovered.
  2. Delhi reported 2,187 new Covid-19 cases and 45 deaths. With this, the total number of infections in the Capital rose to 1,07,051. The toll is 3,258 and 88,226 people have recovered. Maharashtra recorded 6,875 new cases of the coronavirus and 219 deaths, along with 4,067 recoveries. With this, the total tally of infections in the state rose to 2,30,599, including 9,667 deaths.Tamil Nadu recorded 65 deaths and 4,231 new coronavirus cases. The state tally is 1,26,581, and toll is 1,765.
  3. Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan once again reiterated that there is no community transmission of the coronavirus. “There may be some localised pockets where transmission is high but as a country, there’s no community transmission,” he said.
  4. The Uttar Pradesh government announced a complete lockdown from 10 pm on Friday to 5 am on July 13, in view of the rising number of coronavirus cases. Only essential services will be allowed to operate. However, factories can continue to operate in rural areas, and road construction works have been permitted.
  5. Research by the Institute of Mathematical Sciences in Chennai has shown that India’s coronavirus transmission rate has increased for the first time since March. The virus reproduction rate rose in the first week of July to 1.19 after steadily falling from peak transmission of 1.83 since March 4. The rate needs to be below one for authorities to flatten the new curve of infections in the country. The modelling added that India’s total active cases could reach around 6 lakh by the end of July.
  6. The Union Civil Aviation Ministry on Thursday said India has decided to resume limited flights to and from the United Arab Emirates from July 12. These will be repatriation flights, and the arrangement will be in place till July 26, following which it will be reviewed, the ministry said.
  7. Union Human Resource Development Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank claimed a “false narrative” was being created about the Central Board of Secondary Education’s decision to drop topics such as federalism, citizenship, nationalism, and secularism from the political science curriculum of Class 11 for the academic year 2020-’21. The syllabus for Classes 9 to 12 has been reduced by 30% this year due to the disruption caused by the coronavirus pandemic.
  8. The World Health Organization on Thursday said it was setting up an independent panel to examine both its own and other countries response to the coronavirus pandemic. The committee will be headed by former Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf and former New Zealand Prime Minister Helen Clark, who will both also choose its members.
  9. The Delhi Police have told a local court that there was no evidence to file culpable homicide not amounting to murder charges against the 956 foreign nationals who had attended the Tablighi Jamaat congregation in Delhi in March. The police, however, added that they were still conducting investigations against other accused people, including Maulana Saad Kandhlawi and his son. Kandhlawi has been charged with culpable homicide not amounting to murder after some of the attendees died of the coronavirus.
  10. The global coronavirus count is now over 1.20 crore, while the toll has crossed 5.48 lakh, according to the Johns Hopkins University. More than 65 lakh people have recovered so far.