Covid LIVE: Maharashtra reports 36,265 new cases in a day; 15,097 in Delhi

Maharashtra's Omicron tally reaches 876, while Mumbai's active caseload stands at 79,260

2:57 PM

125 passengers of AI's Italy-Amritsar flight test positive for Covid

1:42 PM

'Mumbai expected to cross 20k cases today'

1:00 PM

Jan 10 Vibrant Gujarat Summit deferred

The state government on Thursday postponed the 10th edition of the Vibrant Gujarat Summit, scheduled from January 10, in the wake of a spike in Covid-19 cases. The three-day summit is held to attract investments and delegations from partner countries and CEOs of top companies, PTI said.

12:46 PM

RBI rate hikes inevitable as inflation surges: Nomura

The Reserve Bank of India will likely start raising borrowing costs from April as fresh curbs to tackle a resurgent Covid-19 outbreak could disrupt supply chains and drive consumer prices higher, according to Nomura Holdings Inc. “It’s a more complicated situation for RBI, but substantial further delays in normalization would be tough because the global monetary policy backdrop is changing,” Sonal Varma, chief economist for India and Asia ex-Japan at Nomura, said in an interview to Bloomberg Television

12:29 PM

Delhi HC's rejects Swamy's plea against Air India disinvestment

Delhi High Court dismisses BJP leader Subramanian Swamy's plea to scrap Air India disinvestment process and set aside government approvals.

11:56 AM

Delhi extends application date for private school nursery admissions

Delhi's government has extended the application deadline for nursery admissions in private schools by two weeks in view of the prevailing Covid situation, Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia said on Thursday. The last date to apply for admissions to entry level classes in Delhi private schools was January 12.

 

11:28 AM

SC to hear plea on PM’s security

The Supreme Court will on Friday hear a plea asking to to ensure no breach in prime minister's security takes place in the future, reports PTI.

 

11:21 AM

Djokovic waits in hotel as lawyers fight Australia deportation

Lawyers for Novak Djokovic have mounted a legal challenge against Australia’s decision to refuse him entry after federal officials overruled a state vaccine exemption for the tennis star that sparked a national uproar, said Bloomberg. The player, due to contest the Australian Open this month, offered insufficient proof to enter the country under current pandemic rules, the Australian Border Force said Thursday. 

11:05 AM

Punjab sets up committee to probe security lapses during Modi visit

The Punjab government sets up committee to investigate lapses during PM Narendra Modi's visit to Ferozepur yesterday. The committee will give its report in three days.

10:20 AM

India logs 495 new cases of Omicron, marking biggest single-day rise

India reported 495 new cases of Omicron on Thursday to take the total number of infections of the new coronavirus variant to 2,630, said the health ministry. It was the biggest increase in daily tally for Omicron infections.

9:47 AM

Delhi govt to give Rs 50,000 assistance to families for Covid-19 deaths

Families of people who died of Covid-19 in Delhi will get a one-time ex gratia assistance of Rs 50,000 from a state disaster fund and an equal amount from the state government, PTI reported quoting civil servants. Senior government officials said on Wednesday they asked district magistrates to disburse ex gratia assistance of Rs 50,000 out of the Delhi Disaster Response Fund.

9:30 AM

New Covid-19 cases jump 57% in a day

India's new Covid-19 cases soared to 90,928 in the past 24 hours, the health ministry said on Thursday, marking a 57 per cent rise from a day earlier. Daily deaths rose by 325, taking the total to 482,876. Total infections are at 35.11 million.

9:04 AM

Mumbai: 60 employees of BEST test positive for COVID-19

As many as 60 employees of Brihanmumbai Electricity Supply and Transport (BEST) including bus drivers have tested positive for COVID-19, BEST PRO informed on Wednesday.

 

"60 employees of BEST including bus drivers test positive for COVID-19," BEST PRO said.

 

Meanwhile, Mumbai reported 15,166 new COVID-19 cases and three deaths in the last 24 hours, taking the tally of active cases to 61,923 in the city, informed Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) on Wednesday.

8:57 AM

Global Covid caseload tops 297 mn

Amid an ongoing resurgence across the world, the global coronavirus caseload has topped 297 million, while the deaths have surged to more than 5.46 million and vaccinations to over 9.27 billion, according to Johns Hopkins University.

In its latest update on Thursday morning, the University's Center for Systems Science and Engineering (CSSE) revealed that the current global caseload and the death toll stood at 297,504,250 and 5,464,532, respectively, while the total number of vaccine doses administered has increased to 9,279,347,173.

8:55 AM

UN warns of harsh winter in Afghanistan, collects USD 1.5 billion to avert crisis

In order to avert a humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan, aggravated due to severe winter conditions, the UN Office of the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) collected USD 1.5 billion for the cause.

The spokesperson of the General Secretary of the United Nations, Stephane Dujarric, announced that based on the estimates of the UN Office of the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), they have so far collected USD 1.5 billion to address the ongoing humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan, reported Tolo News.