Here are the updates from Saturday:

  1. The Tamil Nadu government on Saturday extended the Covid-19 restrictions in the state with certain relaxations till July 19. From Monday, shops will be allowed to operate till 9 pm, and conducting central and state government recruitment exams will also be allowed.
  2. India registered 42,766 new cases of Covid-19 on Saturday, taking the country’s tally since the pandemic broke out in January 2020 to 3,07,95,716. The country’s toll rose to 4,07,145 with more 1,206 deaths recorded in a span of 24 hours.
  3. The Sabarimala temple in Kerala will reopen for its five-day monthly puja between July 17 and July 21. Devotees who are completely vaccinated and those with negative RT-PCR reports, issued within 48 hours, will be allowed to visit the temple.
  4. The Centre told the Delhi High Court that it has asked all states and Union territories to ensure strict compliance with the Covid-19 directives and take necessary measures under the Disaster Management Act. The statement was made in a status report on High Court’s suo motu proceedings on violation of Covid-19 protocols in various markets in the national Capital.
  5. Kerala Health Minister Veena George said that continuing reportage of a large number of coronavirus cases in the state was a part of the government’s strategy in tackling the pandemic and that it was not a cause of alarm. She said that infections have overall plateaued and a similar trend was seen in the first wave too.
  6. Maharashtra records 8,296 new cases and 179 deaths in the last 24 hours, taking the infection tally to 61,49,264 and the toll to 1,25,528. Its capital Mumbai reported 504 new coronavirus cases and 13 deaths. With this, the city’s total infection count climbed to 7,27,141 and the toll rose to 15,612. Delhi logged 76 new cases, pushing the case count to 14,35,030. With one death, the toll in the national Capital mounted to 25,012. In Tamil Nadu, the infection tally stood at 25,16,011 after the state registered 2,913 new cases. The toll rose by 49 to 33,371.
  7. Meghalaya Chief Minister Conrad Sangma said that 92% of those who died due to Covid-19 in the state had not taken even a single dose of the vaccine. He said that of the 749 deaths due to the infection in Meghalaya, 691 citizens were not inoculated.
  8. Union Home Secretary Ajay Kumar Bhalla chaired a meeting to review the steps taken by state governments to check the spread of Covid-19 in hill stations and tourist spots. In the meeting, he said that the second wave was not yet over and asked the and states to ensure strict adherence to the Covid-19 protocols.
  9. The Tripura government said that at least 90% of the Covid-19 samples that it sent for genome sequencing contained the highly contagious Delta Plus variant. As many as 138 of 151 samples were of the variant, Deep Kumar Debbarma, the state’s nodal Covid-19 officer, said.
  10. Globally, the coronavirus disease has infected over 18.59 crore people and killed over 40.17 lakh since the pandemic broke out in December 2019, according to Johns Hopkins University. Meanwhile, World Health Organization’s chief scientist Soumya Swaminathan said that the Covid-19 pandemic has not been “slowing down”.