India saw 43,846 new coronavirus infections being reported in a day, the highest single-day rise recorded this year, taking the nationwide COVID-19 tally to 1,15,99,130, according to Union Health Ministry data updated on Sunday.
In the 24-hour period, India reported 197 deaths linked to the virus taking the total number of fatalities to 1,59,755.
Maharashtra on Saturday reported over 27,000 daily coronavirus cases for the first time ever. The worst Covid-hit state in the country also logged 92 deaths because of the illness in the last 24 hours.
The state government said in a statement that Maharashtra today reported 27,126 cases, which is its highest single-day count. It had reported 25,833 cases on Thursday - which was the state's previous record - and over 25,600 cases on Friday.
India is witnessing surge in Covid cases amid a countrywide vaccination drive through which over four crore people have been administered anti-Covid vaccine jabs so far.
Here are the updates on coronavirus (COVID-19) cases:
The West Bengal CID on Saturday took over the investigation into the Nandigram incident in which Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee was injured during her election campaign, a senior officer of the agency said.
As many as 409 youth of Jammu and Kashmir joined the Indian Army's Light Infantry Regiment on Saturday after the completion of training, reported news agency ANI.
The young soldiers had undergone year long training. They took part in a parade at the Bana Singh Parade Ground of Jammu and Kashmir Light Infantry Regimental Centre.
Speaking at the event, Lieutenant General MK Das, Commandant, Officers Training Academy said, "The young soldiers will encourage the youth of Jammu and Kashmir. More youth from the Union Territory will come forward to join the security forces."
Amid the protest by farmers at the borders of Delhi against the three central farm laws, Bharatiya Kisan Union (BKU) leader Rakesh Tikait urged farmers in Karnataka to organise a protest in the state similar to the one in the national capital and gherao Bengaluru from all sides.
Congress on Saturday released a list of 39 candidates for the upcoming West Bengal Assembly polls, fielding Neajuddin Sk in Murshidabad, Silvi Saha in Krishnanagar Uttar (north) and Dharmendra Shaw in Bhatpara.
After former Mumbai Police Commissioner Param Bir Singh wrote to Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray alleging that Home Minister Anil Deshmukh was indulging in "malpractices" and had asked suspended police officer Sachin Vaze to collect Rs 100 crore every month, Congress said BJP has conspired against the Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government by putting officials under pressure from agencies.
In an attempt to promote tourism and revive traditional cultural activities in Kashmir, the government has announced the opening of the historic Badamwari garden in Srinagar that is witnessing an almond bloom from today, reported news agency ANI.
The garden, located in the foothills of historic Koh-e-Maraan in Srinagar city, is famous for almond bloom and is also known as "Badam Waer".
The tourism department organised pre-opening and colourful cultural programmes at Badamwari on Saturday to announce that the garden will be open for the general public from today.
IndiGo airlines on Saturday said it has handed over a passenger to security on arrival at Kolkata airport for not wearing a face mask despite repeated requests made by the crew on board, reported news agency ANI.
Face masks have been made mandatory in public spaces after the COVID-19 outbreak in March last year.
40,953 new coronavirus cases and 23,653 recoveries were reported, the Union Health Ministry informed on Saturday.
Various "Gurmat Samagams" (religious events), which were scheduled to be organised by the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) at Anandpur Sahib in Punjab to mark the 400th birth anniversary of Guru Tegh Bahadur, have been postponed, reported news agency PTI.
Hours after Prime Minister Narendra Modi accused the ruling Trinamool Congress of doing little to improve the "dismal education scenario" in West Bengal, state Education Minister Partha Chatterjee said on Saturday that PM Modi is making "false allegations without knowing the real truth", reported news agency PTI.
Three people have been sent to 20 years in jail by a court in Uttar Pradesh's Mahoba on Saturday for the gang-rape of a 15-year-old girl.
Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) chief Raj Thackeray said state Home Minister Anil Deshmukh should resign in the wake of allegations levelled against him by former Mumbai Police Commissioner Param Bir Singh and a thorough probe must be conducted into the matter.
Goods worth Rs 5.80 lakh belonging to an e-commerce firm were stolen from a truck that was going from from Telangana to Nagpur in Maharashtra, the police said on Saturday, reported news agency PTI.
Uttarakhand BJP on Saturday constituted a panel of six potential candidates for the party's central board to choose from for the by-election to be held in Salt assembly constituency on April 17, excluding Chief Minister Tirath Singh Rawat, reported news agency PTI.
After a meeting of the state BJP core group in Dehradun, party's state unit president Madan Kaushik told reporters that based on a survey of a three-member committee, formed under the leadership of Cabinet Minister Yashpal Arya for the Salt bypoll, the party has prepared a panel of six names which will be sent to the central leadership on Sunday.
Himachal Pradesh has issued instructions to limit gatherings indoors and outdoors to 50 per cent of the occupancy, with a maximum number of 200 for social functions held indoors, reported news agency PTI.
The Adani Group has said that it will reimburse charges incurred on vaccination against coronavirus by its employees and their families, reported news agency ANI.
"We are pleased to share that we will reimburse vaccination charges for every Adani employee, their spouse and children as well as employees' parents, between now and April 30 2021," Chief Human Resources Officer Vikram Tandon said in a letter.
The letter noted that the government is accelerating the vaccination programme to control the spread of COVID and to minimise the number of cases on account of the pandemic.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi will address a rally in poll-bound Puducherry on March 30, reported news agency ANI. BJP leader R Embalam Selvam told media persons on Saturday that the rally would be held at 4 pm.
The BJP is fighting the election in alliance with the NR Congress and AIADMK. He alleged corruption in the Congress government that was headed by V Narayanasamy. Polling for 30 assembly seats in Puducherry will be held on April 6.
The Rajasthan government has compulsorily retired police officer Kailash Chand Bohra, an official order said Saturday, days after he was arrested for allegedly demanding sexual favours from a rape survivor for taking action in cases lodged by her.
Amid a rise in Covid cases in the state, teams of Punjab Police on Saturday persuaded over 4,400 face-mask violators to undergo RT-PCR testing, reported news agency PTI.
As many as 1,800 more people were fined as they were found without face masks, the police said. They also distributed free face masks to over 12,000 people.
The move came a day after Chief Minister Amarinder Singh made face masks mandatory in the state.
He had directed the police and health authorities to take people in public places without face masks to the nearest RT-PCR testing facility to ensure that they were not asymptomatic coronavirus cases.
The active COVID-19 cases rose to 16,988 and 1,011 more patients were recuperated, taking the number of recoveries to 1,87,198, according to a bulletin.
The 2,587 new infections took the tally to 2,10,466, while the death count rose to 6,280 with 38 more deaths. There are 25 critical patients who are on ventilator support and 287 on oxygen support, the bulletin said.
The death count in the district now stands at 9,537, he said.
"Pune city accounted for 3,111 of the new cases, and now has a caseload of 2,32,494. Pimpri Chinchwad's tally rose by 1,431 to touch 1,20,949. The number of COVID-19 cases in rural, civil hospital and Pune cantonment areas increased to 1,10,627," he added.
Madhya Pradesh reports 1380 new #COVID19 cases, 571 recoveries and 2 deaths in the last 24 hours.
- ANI (@ANI) March 20, 2021
Total cases 2,74,405
Total recoveries 2,63,158
Death toll 3903
Active cases 7344 pic.twitter.com/RCQ3BRPMdi
Mr Khan has tested positive for the COVID-19 and is self-isolating at home, his top aide on health announced, two days after he got the first shot of a vaccine.
"Best wishes to Prime Minister @ImranKhanPTI for a speedy recovery from COVID-19," PM Modi tweeted his wishes to Mr Khan.
Maharashtra reports 27,126 new #COVID19 cases, 13,588 recoveries and 92 deaths in the last 24 hours.
- ANI (@ANI) March 20, 2021
Total cases 24,49,147
Total recoveries 22,03,553
Death toll 53,300
Active cases 1,91,006 pic.twitter.com/RkwOd7VmWZ
Ms Tagore's daughter Saba Ali Khan, a jewellery designer, took to social media to share the news about her mother getting a vaccine jab.
In the photo, shared by Ms Saba on her Instagram, the 76-year-old actor is seen flashing the victory sign as she gets vaccinated at the Artemis hospital.
Ms Tagore is the latest Indian celebrity to have received the COVID-19 vaccine, after veterans like Dharmendra, Hema Malini, Mohanlal, Nagarjuna, Paresh Rawal, Satish Shah, Jeetendra, Kamal Haasan, Anupam Kher, filmmaker Rakesh Roshan and comedian Johnny Lever.
In a video message on Instagram, the actor said he is asymptomatic, healthy and fit, and under home quarantine.
"I have self-isolated. I am under home quarantine. I am following all the rules advised by the doctor and Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC)," he said.
The 44-year-old actor thanked all his well wishers for their prayers and urged everyone to wear masks, maintain social distancing and follow the COVID-19 guidelines.
#COVID19 | Rapid Antigen Testing to be done randomly without citizens' consent at crowded places like malls, railway stations, bus depots, khau galli, markets, tourist places, govt offices. If a citizen refuses to get tested, they'd be booked under Epidemic Act: BMC #Mumbai pic.twitter.com/oFi16CWZZf
- ANI (@ANI) March 20, 2021
The former chief minister was speaking to the media after attending a meeting with Nagpur Guardian Minister Nitin Raut and district officials at the divisional commissionerate.
"I feel a team of experts should be constituted to study the surge in COVID-19 cases in the state. Maharashtra is no different from other states, but then why is it witnessing such a surge in infections?" Mr Fadnavis said.
India and the US focused on expanding their military engagement during the recent meeting between Defence Minister Rajnath Singh and the US Secretary of Defence, General Lloyd Austin, a joint statement said today. The talks focussed on wide-ranging defence cooperation, information-sharing in emerging areas, and mutual logistical support, he said." itemprop="description
It did not specify how many members of staff had been infected.
The number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in Brazil has increased by a record 90,570 to 11,871,390 within the past 24 hours, the national Ministry of Health said on late Friday.
The death toll has risen by 2,815 to 290,314 people within the same period of time.
More than 10.38 million patients have recovered since the start of the outbreak.
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson on Friday received a first dose of AstraZeneca's Covid vaccine, at the London hospital where he fought for his life almost a year ago, assuring the public the jab is safe." itemprop="description
A volcano erupted just 40 kilometres (25 miles) from Iceland's capital Reykjavik on Friday, a red cloud lighting up the night sky as a no-fly zone was established in the area.
Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Friday offered Rs 4 lakhs as compensation to the family of a girl who was electrocuted in Darbhanga, according to the Chief Minister's Office, reported news agency ANI.
The girl was electrocuted when she touched an iron gate of her classroom in Darbhanga on Friday.
Nine other students of the school were injured from electrocution as they tried to pull her away from the gate in which the current was flowing.
The first ever night flight took off for Delhi from the Srinagar international Airport on Friday, officials said.