 "In pics: Afghan peace talks with Taliban, vaccine update and more")
After record daily spike of 248,86 cases, Maharashtra's Covid tally crosses the one-million mark. On a positive note, a record 81,533 patients have recuperated from the infection in a single day. With this, India's total recoveries on Saturday surged to 3,624,196 of which 60 per cent are from five states, including Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka.
The much-awaited face-to-face talks between representatives of the Afghan government and the Taliban began in Doha on Saturday after several delays. The negotiations are intended to bring about a political settlement to a decades-long conflict that has taken many lives and destabilised the country, reports TOLO News. The intra-Afghan talks were part of a landmark agreement signed between the US and the Taliban on February 29, also in the Qatari capital.
Bharat Biotech's vaccine candidate Covaxin succeeded in challenge trials on Rhesus monkeys. The firm said that the vaccine prevented infection and disease in the primates upon high amounts of exposure to live virus Sars-CoV-2. In a challenge trial the participant is exposed deliberately to the pathogen after being given the vaccine shot. The vaccine is now undergoing trials at 12 sites across India.
The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) asked IndiGo on Friday to take "appropriate action" after the regulator found an alleged violation of safety and social distancing protocols by mediapersons in the airline's Chandigarh-Mumbai flight in which actor Kangana Ranaut was a passenger. Post this, DGCA on Saturday warned that a scheduled flight will be suspended for two weeks if anyone is found taking photographs inside it.
People's Liberation Army (PLA) has handed over five youths missing from Arunachal Pradesh to the Indian authorities, Union minister Kiren Rijiju said. Local media had reported that Toch Singkam, Prasat Ringling, Dongtu Ebiya, Tanu Baker, and Ngaru Diri -- all belonging to the Tagin community -- had gone to the forest for hunting when they were reportedly kidnapped on September 4 near Nacho in Upper Subansiri district. The PLA had on Tuesday conveyed to the Indian Army that the five youth, who went missing on the Sino-Indian border in Upper Subansiri district, were found by them in their territory.