India reported 40,953 new coronavirus infections in a day on Saturday, the highest single-day rise recorded in 111 days, taking the nationwide COVID-19 tally to 1,15,55,284, according to Union Health Ministry data updated on Saturday.
Registering an increase for the tenth day in a row, the total active caseload has reached 2,88,394, which now comprises 2.49 per cent of the total infections, while the recovery rate has further dropped to 96.12 per cent, the data stated.
The daily rise in infections (40,953) was the highest recorded in 111 days, while the death count increased to 1,59,558 with 188 new fatalities, the data updated at 8 am Saturday showed.
On November 29, 41,810 new infections were recorded in a span of 24 hours.
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Senior Congress leader Salman Khurshid on Sunday said minority communities should be careful while raising issues and not give the BJP an opportunity to polarise the society.
Two officers deputed on election duties in Virudhunagar have tested positive for coronavirus, said Virudhunagar District Collector R Kannan on Sunday, reported news agency ANI.
Tamil Nadu registered 1,289 new COVID-19 cases, 668 recoveries and nine deaths on Sunday. The total number of cases in the state reached 8,66,982 including 8,46,480 recoveries and 12,599 deaths. At present, there are 7,903 active cases of coronavirus in the state.
The 234-members Tamil Nadu assembly elections will be held in a single phase on April 6 and the counting of votes will take place on May 2.
Residents of Delhi's Harijan Basti were allegedly attacked by a mob after a 22-year-old man from the locality married a woman from another community, the police said on Sunday.
The three-party coalition in Maharashtra should be renamed as the "Maharashtra Vasooli (Recovery) Aghadi", the BJP said after former Mumbai Police Commissioner Param Bir Singh's extortion allegations against state Home Minister Anil Deshmukh.
He spent three decades of his life living like a destitute -- wearing torn clothes, spending days working at an eatery in Uttarakhand just for food enough to survive, nights at a nearby bus stop even in bone-chilling winters, and his plight kept only to himself as he spoke and understood nothing except Kannada.
But, the 70-year-old Kenchappa Govindappa's wait to unite with his family finally ended earlier this year when he was spotted by Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) Jawan Constable Riyaz Sunkad. Mr Sunkad was going on leave when he spotted Mr Govidappa at a roadside eatery in Uttarakhand's Chalthi village, 64 kms from Pithoragarh.
Mr Sunkad went home, but Mr Govindappa's story kept troubling him. He called his two seniors who are natives of Karnataka -- Head Constables Premananda Pai and Sharana Basava Ragapur -- and told them about the man.
The two Head Constables went to the eatery and found Mr Govidappa in a "real bad shape". "He was in emotional shock. He was lost for years and could not get in touch with his family or relatives," Mr Pai told news agency PTI over the phone.
Four people died while three more took ill after allegedly consuming spurious liquor in a village here, police said on Sunday.
A man was shot dead after he opposed celebratory firing at a wedding in Uttar Pradesh's Shamli, the police said on Sunday. The incident took place on Saturday night.
Gujarat's overall tally of cases rose to 2,87,009 with the addition of 1,580 new infections on Sunday.
"As Chief Minister, I assure you that there will be no new lockdown," Mr Rupani said in his Facebook Live address to people of the state.
He also appealed to citizens to not believe in rumours.
"The state government had to take steps like discontinuing offline education in schools and colleges, extending the hours of a night curfew, and imposing restrictions on hotels and restaurants in cities due to the rise in the number of cases," he said.
The ECAA is one of the three laws against which farmers have been protesting at Delhi's borders.
The parliamentary panel, which also has members from opposition parties, including the Congress, TMC and the AAP, asked the government to implement in "letter and spirit" the ECAA.
These parties have been demanding repeal of all three farm laws enacted by the centre recently.
"It is insensitive to the food security of poor people and the demand to increase the procurement of farmers'' crops," the Samyukta Kisan Morcha, a joint front of the protesting farmer unions, said in a statement.
"We appeal to farmers, labourers and common citizens to intensify their struggle for the repeal of the three laws and legal right of minimum support price," the SKM said.
She also launched a Health Booth equipped with sanitizer, gloves, face masks and distributed face masks to the people.
The Governor released posters carrying awareness messages about preventing the spread of COVID-19.
She also helped some people wear masks. She also requested the people to follow the protocol/norms of COVID-19 laid down by the government.
A siren will be sounded in all cities of Madhya Pradesh at 11 am on March 23 for two minutes when people will take a vow to wear masks and maintain physical distance at public places to check the spread of coronavirus, Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan said on Sunday in view of a fresh surge in infections.
He said a siren will be blown again at 7 pm on Tuesday to remind people of their resolve to follow these norms.
"Putting on a mask is very important and that is why we are starting this campaign. We should be cautious. Do not let things go out of our hands," the chief minister told reporters.
Elections for the 126-seat Assam assembly are scheduled to take place in three phases from March 27 to April 6. The results will be announced on May 2.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday held an election rally in Golaghat and said that ''doosri baar, BJP (Bharatiya Janata Party) sarkar'' has been decided in Assam adding that Assam will witness a ''double engine'' National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government for the second time.
The mahapanchayat will be held at Vidhyadhar Nagar stadium, Raja Ram Meel, president of the Jat Mahasabha, said.
"It will be the first meeting of Tikait in Jaipur. Earlier, he has held a few meetings in other districts like Hanumangarh and Ganganagar," Mr Meel told reporters.
"Farmers have understood that the Modi government has cheated them and is trying to weaken farmers. The government is planning to hand over the agriculture sector to industrialists and farmers have understood this thing. Therefore, there are countrywide protests against the farm laws," he said.
He also called for making the vaccination drive a "Jan Aandolan" (mass movement).
"Until this morning, nearly 4.5 crore COVID-19 vaccine doses have been given to the people in this country. More than six crore doses have been sent to 76 nations," Mr Vardhan said during a media interaction at the Institute of Microbial Technology (CSIR-IMTECH).
"Our Prime Minister Narendra Modi and party (BJP) president JP Nadda have called for making the vaccination drive a ''jan andolan'' (mass movement)," he said.
The Madhya Pradesh government had on March 19 announced Sunday lockdowns in Bhopal, Indore and Jabalpur till further orders in view of the spurt in coronavirus cases.
"With a rampaging virus that has a 2-14 day incubation period this one-day lockdown is meaningless tokenism. All it will do is create a misplaced sense of complacency," Mr Abdullah tweeted.
Till now, unregistered beneficiaries were being inoculated between 3 pm and 5pm, he said.
Beneficiaries need to register themselves on Co-WIN portal to get jabs. Those who do not have access to the Co-WIN portal can go to the centre and take COVID-19 vaccines.
"Only registered beneficiaries will be given vaccine shots between 9 am and 3 pm. The unregistered ones can take the jabs from 3 pm to 9 pm...They just need to carry their Aadhaar card or any other valid identity proof," Mr Jain said.
International passengers from the UK, Europe, Middle East, South Africa and Brazil will no longer have to undergo the mandatory week-long institutional quarantine on arrival in Mumbai if they have received both doses of COVID-19 vaccine." itemprop="description
In the light of the increasing trend of COVID-19 cases, schools in Tamil Nadu will remain shut for classes 9, 10, and 11 from tomorrow until further orders, according to the state Revenue and Disaster Management Department, reported news agency ANI.
Hostels for these students will also remain closed. However, online/digital mode of education will continue for students of these classes.
Veteran Trinamool Congress (TMC) MP Sisir Adhikari, the father of Suvendu Adhikari who has been pitted against Mamata Banerjee from Bengal's Nandigram, met BJP leader Mansukh Mandviya on Saturday, raising speculation about him attending Amit Shah's rally at Egra in Purba Medinipur on Sunday.