Coronavirus: Goa, Himachal Pradesh extend restrictions till June 14

8.20 pm: Manipur reports 717 new cases, nine deaths and 740 recoveries, reports ANI.

8.19 pm: Himachal Pradesh extends restrictions in the state till June 14, reports ANI. Exams under the state board for Class 12 students have also been cancelled.

8.18 pm: Tamil Nadu reports 21,410 new Covid-19 cases, 443 deaths and 32,472 recoveries, reports ANI.

8.02 pm: “Timings for essential shops [in Goa] as defined will be increased to 7 am to 3 pm,” Goa Chief Minister Pramod Sawant tweets. In addition, shops/stores related to house/building repairs, monsoon preparedness, or rain protection & stationary items will be allowed to open.”

8.01 pm: Goa Chief Minister Pramod Sawant says his government has decided to extended the restrictions till 7 am on June 14.

8 pm: Maharashtra records 13,659 new Covid-19 cases, 300 deaths and 21,776 recoveries, reports ANI, citing a government bulletin. The recovery rate in the state is 95.01%.

7.42 pm: Mumbai reports 866 new Covid-19 cases, pushing the city’s overall count to 7,10,807 infections, reports ANI. As many as 29 fatalities, takes toll to 15,018.

7.40 pm: Chandigarh reports 98 new coronavirus cases, three deaths and 175 recoveries, reports ANI. The number of active cases in the Union Territory is 925.

7.34 pm: Kerala reports 17,328 new Covid-19 infections and 209 deaths, pushing the state tally to 25,88,385 and toll to 9,719, reports PTI.

7.15 pm: Telangana records 2,070 Covid-19 cases, taking the infection tally to over 5.89 lakh, toll rises to 3,364 with 18 more deaths, a government bulletin says, reports PTI.

6.04 pm: Foreign ministry asks Indian students studying abroad, but stuck in India due to Covid-19, to get in touch with OIA-II division.

6.02 pm: Andhra Pradesh reports 10,373 new cases in the last 24 hours, shows government data.

5.59 pm: Karnataka Health Minister K Sudhakar says 1,784 cases of post-Covid complication “black fungus” has been reported in the state so far, while 62 patients have recovered, reports ANI.

5.55 pm: With services set to resume from June 7, Delhi Metro Rail Corporation says that only half of the available trains will be inducted into service on Monday with a frequency ranging from about five to 15 minutes on different lines, reports ANI.

5.52 pm: Puducherry reports 613 new cases and 12 deaths, shows government data.

4.18 pm: Delhi reports 414 new Covid-19 cases, 60 deaths and 1,638 recoveries in 24 hours, reports ANI, citing a government bulletin. The city’s positivity rate has dropped to 0.53%

2.21 pm: Puri says the Centre has distributed 50% of its Covid vaccine stock to states and Union Territories to give vaccines for free. “States are profiteering on their own procurement,” he claims, according to ANI. “If the figures are true then the real amount of profit [in Punjab] is not just Rs 2.40 crore.”

2.15 pm: Puri adds that the Punjab government’s officer and incharge of Covid vaccination on May 29 “has disclosed some data and pointed out that 4.29 lakh doses of Covishield procured at Rs 13.25 crore, its average amount is Rs 309”, reports ANI. The Union minister says that 1,14,190 Covaxin doses have been procured at Rs 4.70 crore...its average amount is Rs 412.

2.10 pm: Union Minister Hardeep Singh Puri says in Punjab, the coronavirus doses that should be provided for free to people are being priced more, reports ANI. “Covishield dose purchased at Rs 309 has been sold at 1,560,” he claims.

12.35 pm: Delhi Metro will run at 50% capacity from Monday and e-commerce services will also continue.

12.33 pm: Essential shops and chemists can open on all days as the odd-even rule does not apply to them, says Kejriwal.

12.32 pm: The Delhi chief minister says the government offices with Group A officers can function with 100% attendance. For private offices, 50% attendance is allowed but work from home is being encouraged, adds Kejriwal.

12.30 pm: Kejriwal announces that malls and markets in Delhi to open from Monday on an odd-even basis. Shops with odd numbers to open on one day, and those with even numbers can function next day.

12.29 pm: Lockdown in Delhi will continue but more activities and services will be allowed to resume in from Monday, says Arvind Kejriwal.

12.25 pm: Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal is addressing a press conference. He says around 400 new coronavirus cases have been reported in the city in the past 24 hours. The coronavirus positivity rate has slipped to below 0.5%.

11.57 am: Here are the relaxed rules in the remaining districts, according to The News Minute:

• Street vendors of fruits, flowers and vegetable can function between 6 am and 5 pm. 
• Government offices can work with 30% of their staff.
• Matchbox industries can work with 50% of their staff.
• Vegetable and meat shops, and standalone department stores can be open from 6 am to 5 pm. 
• Rental taxis and autos can ply if they are e-registered.
• Hardware, electrical and stationery shops can stay open from 6 am to 5 pm.

11.50 am: Restrictions will remain in 11 districts that still have a high coronavirus caseload, reports The News Minute. The districts are Coimbatore, Nilgiris, Tiruppur, Erode, Salem, Karur, Namakkal, Thanjavur, Thiruvarur, Nagapattinam and Mayiladuthurai.

11.47 am: The lockdown in Tamil Nadu has been extended, but with new relaxations.

11 am: Chief whip in the Himachal Pradesh Assembly and BJP MLA Narinder Bragta has died due to the coronavirus disease, reports PTI.

10.55 am: Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal is likely to announce more lockdown relaxations from the next week as daily coronavirus cases continue to decline, weeks after the national Capital reported an unprecedented surge, reports PTI.

Kejriwal, who is scheduled to address a press conference later in the day, is also expected to announce the steps to deal with a possible third wave of the coronavirus.

10.50 am: The Indian Medical Association’s Uttarakhand unit criticises the proposal to include Coronil, a product manufactured by yoga guru Ramdev’s firm Patanjali Ayurved, in a coronavirus kit, ANI reports. The association says that the drug is not recognised by the World Health Organization and Drugs Controller General of India.

Ramdev claims Coronil can cure the coronavirus disease in seven days, even though there is no firm scientific evidence to back his assertion.

10 am: Cases of serious post-coronavirus complications are rising in Delhi, reports NDTV. Weeks after their recovery, many now require oxygen support.

“Classically, we see lung fibrosis in patients who are over 65 or have been smokers but this time, because middle-aged people, younger patients and even children were admitted in larger numbers, we have patients who are on oxygen support even after discharge; we have had to send them home with oxygen onflow,” says Dr Vivek Nangia, head of the Department of Respiratory Medicine at Max Hospital in Saket.

9.45 am: India reports 1,20,529 new coronavirus cases in the last 24 hours, taking the country’s tally since the pandemic broke out in January 2020 to 2,86,94,879. The toll rises by 3,380 to 3,44,082. As many as 2,67,95,549 people have recovered from the infection. India now has 15,55,248 active cases of the coronavirus.

This is the lowest daily rise in cases in 58 days, according to NDTV.

9.30 am: The Tamil Nadu government will today announce its decision on whether to extend the intense lockdown imposed in the state, The Hindu reports.

9.20 am: Nobel laureate Amartya Sen says India’s “confused” government has focused on taking credit for its actions, instead of working to rein in the coronavirus pandemic, reports PTI. “The result was a certain amount of schizophrenia,” he adds.

A look at the developments from Friday:

• India reported 1,32,364 new coronavirus cases, while deaths rose by 2,713. The country’s tally of infections now stands at 2,85,74,350 since the outbreak in January 2020, while the toll has reached 3,40,702.
• The delta variant of coronavirus, first identified in India, was responsible for the devastating second wave of the pandemic in the country, a study by scientists of the Indian SARS-CoV-2 Genomic Consortia, or INSACOG, and the National Centre for Disease Control, has found. The study also found that the Delta variant is 50% more contagious than the Alpha strain.
• The risk of contracting the coronavirus disease is substantially reduced for up to 10 months following the first infection in an individual, a study in medical journal Lancet said. Meanwhile, a separate study published in Lancet showed that the Pfizer vaccine generates nearly six times lesser antibodies against the delta variant of the virus, first detected in India, as compared to the original strain.
• All India Institute of Medical Sciences chief Randeep Guleria has said that the coronavirus vaccine developed by Pfizer is expected to be available soon in India for adults, as well as children. He said that the matter of Pfizer’s demand for indemnity “also seems to be resolved”.
• The Delhi government has formed a four-member panel to look into deaths due to oxygen shortage during the second wave of the coronavirus pandemic.