Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced relief measures for the tourism sector. Once the government resumes issuing visas, the first five lakh tourist visas will be issued free of charge; India saw a new vaccine record as it surpassed the United States in total number of doses administered so far. While India has so far given 32.36 crore doses, the US has given 32.33 crore doses. This comes amid a dip in fresh Covid cases; Even as the centre asked for "stringent" response to the Delta plus variant, Chennai has reopened its malls besides textile and jewellery showrooms; and other top news of the day.