1. India on Tuesday added 37,148 new cases to its tally, taking the its total count to 11,55,191. The toll rose by 587 to 28,084. The total active cases are now more than 4 lakh, while over 7.24 lakh people have recovered. The Centre, meanwhile, said its ultimate aim was to maintain aggressive testing to bring the positivity rate in India below 5%. It also warned against the use of N-95 masks with valved respirators, saying they do not prevent the virus from spreading out and are “detrimental”.
  2. The Amarnath Yatra has been cancelled this year in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic, the board that manages the shrine in Pahalgam, Jammu and Kashmir, said on Tuesday. The yatra was set to begin today. Saudi Arabia, meanwhile, announced that this year’s Hajj pilgrimage will begin on July 29. In June, the kingdom had announced it would hold a “very limited” Hajj this time to include only around 1,000 Muslim pilgrims, to control the spread of the coronavirus.
  3. Maharashtra’s coronavirus tally rises to 3,27,031 with 8,369 new cases, and the toll rose to 12,276. Tamil Nadu, the second most affected state in India, reported 4,965 new infections, taking the tally to 1,80,643, and the toll to 2,626. Delhi, meanwhile, reported 1,349 new cases, taking the Capital’s count to 1,25,096 and toll to 3,690.
  4. Karnataka, which has been reporting a steady increase in cases over the past few weeks, crossed the 70,000-mark on Tuesday. It now has 71,069 infections and 1,464 deaths. But Karnataka Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa announced on Tuesday that his state will not go into another lockdown from Wednesday as the economy “is also very important”. He added that the restrictions will only be imposed in containment zones.
  5. The Serum Institute of India on Monday said it will apply for a licence to start clinical trials of the coronavirus vaccine developed at Oxford University. The Pune firm is the world’s largest vaccine maker in terms of the number of doses produced and sold globally. Meanwhile, the vaccine manufactured by the University of Oxford could be rolled out for public use by the end of the year, but there is no certainty that will happen, the lead developer of the vaccine Sarah Gilbert said on Tuesday.
  6. A serological survey done in Delhi has revealed 23.48% of the participants developed Immunoglobulin G antibodies that indicate they may have been infected by the coronavirus, the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare said. The study also noted that a large number of those infected were asymptomatic. But the Progressive Medicos and Scientists Forum on Tuesday alleged that the results of the survey showed the “utter failure” of the central and state governments to control the pandemic.
  7. Jawaharlal Nehru University student Sharjeel Imam has tested positive for the coronavirus, an official of the Guwahati Central Jail in Assam said. Imam is in prison in a case related to allegedly making inflammatory speeches during the protests against the Citizenship Amendment Act.
  8. United States President Donald Trump said wearing a face mask was patriotic – a marked departure from his stance so far. Trump publicly wore a mask for the first time only on June 11. The US has been the country worst hit by the coronavirus by far.
  9. The Nobel Prize banquet, that follows the presentation of the Nobel Prize every year, has been cancelled this time due to the pandemic, Reuters reports. This is the first time the banquet has been cancelled since 1956.
  10. The global coronavirus count is now over 1.47 crore, and the toll has crossed 6.11 lakh, according to the Johns Hopkins University. More than 83.38 lakh people have recovered so far.