While the number of active COVID-19 cases stood at 7,409, as many as 764 people have been cured and discharged, and one had migrated, it said. Of the total 273 deaths, Maharashtra tops the tally with 127 fatalities, followed by Madhya Pradesh at 36, Gujarat at 22 and Delhi at 19.
Authorities have put almost the entire country under lockdown, banning gathering of people and suspending road, rail and air traffic till March 31.
As India prepares for a calibrated exit from the lockdown by easing more restrictions, 'Unlock-1 -- the first of the three-phase plan for reopening of prohibited activities in non-containment zones with a stringent set of Standard Operating Procedures(SOPs) -- kicks in at a time when the country recorded a daily jump of COVID-19 cases by over 9,000 for the fifth straight day on Sunday.
Long queues outside grocery stores, inflated prices, difficulty in getting important items -- these were some of the problems encountered by people in the National Capital Region (NCR).
The government is learnt to have decided not to go ahead with the proposed National Counter Terrorism Centre after facing strong opposition from non-Congress chief ministers.
The PFI, formed in 2006 in Kerala and headquartered in Delhi, called the raids a gimmick and an attempt to divert attention from the farmers' issue.
The court said the situation is "going out of control" in Gujarat.
Four people have died including one each in Delhi, Karnataka, Punjab and Maharashtra.
The lawyer said another petition challenging the imposition of President's rule in the state was being readied.
The court also directed that police officers, who were earlier appointed as nodal officers to deal with incidents of mob lynching, would be now responsible to deal with cases of alleged assault on Kashmiris.
'Time and again, through their actions, often more covert than overt, the BJP has shown that it is a power-hungry party and its hunger isn't getting satiated sitting in the Opposition.'
The decision was taken at a high-level meeting of chief secretaries of all states and the cabinet secretary and the principal secretary to the prime minister. The districts where lockdown was announced include 10 districts each in Maharashtra and Kerala, six districts each in Uttar Pradesh and Gujarat, five each in Karnataka and Haryana, three each in Tamil Nadu and Punjab.
In a review meeting by Cabinet Secretary Rajiv Gauba, these states and the union territory were asked to continue with rigorous vigil so as to contain the spread of infection as well as take steps to reduce fatalities.
Whenever the Census operation resumes, it will capture the impact of Covid-19 to a large extent, including the extra-lethal second wave, reports Abhishek Waghmare.
The prime minister also asserted that in view of the COVID-19 situation, the states must ensure that people follow all health precautions such as wearing of face masks, hand sanitisation and maintaining an adequate physical distance with each other while undertaking rescue efforts.
Akhtar was trying to gather information pertaining to deployment of security forces along the western coast, Sir Creek and Kutch areas and also about military installations in Gujarat, Maharashtra and Goa
The country has recorded over 20,000 cases of the infection for the fourth consecutive day. India went past Russia on Sunday to become the third worst-hit nation by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Amid a scare about the spread of the Omicron variant, Delhi recorded 331 fresh coronavirus cases on Monday, the highest single-day rise since June 9, and one death in the past 24 hours, while the positivity rate mounted to 0.68 per cent, according to data shared by the city health department.
'Farmers love cows but find it uneconomical to afford fodder expenses'
Will it be home or defence for Amit Shah?
Eight terrorists of the banned Students Islamic Movement of India escaped from the Central Jail in Bhopal on Monday by killing a security guard and scaling the prison wall with the help of bed sheets, following which some officials responsible for jail security have been suspended.
'What matters to me is that the film is reaching out and touching hearts.' 'An 85-year old man and his 75-year wife, who had never stepped into a cinema, went to see The Kashmir Files.' 'That is my real achievement.'
Folk artist from Chhattisgarh Teejan Bai, Guelleh, Naik and theatre actor from Maharashtra Balwant Moreshwar Purandare will be honoured with Padma Vibushan.
Out of the 932 trains which have been operated so far, 215 are in transit while 717 have terminated at various stations. Sixty-seven more are in the pipeline, an official said.
The Centre stressed that the next three weeks will be critical for the country reeling from the worst health crisis as it announced a series of measures to shore up medical infrastructure and supplies and scale up vaccination.
Under the NSA, people can be detained without a charge for up to 12 months if the authorities are satisfied that the person is a threat to the national security or law and order.
The tally of 114 includes two fatalities and 17 foreigners as well as 13 people who were discharged after they recovered from the infection.
Sawant took the oath in Konkani language.
The government will chart out a plan for the evacuation of seafarers stuck on international waters amid the Covid-19 pandemic, Union Minister Mansukh L Mandaviya has said. Thousands of Indian seafarers are currently stuck aboard cruise ships and cargo vessels in far off waters, and maritime bodies have been demanding from the government strategies for bringing them home fearing that delays might result in disruption in supply chain.
In this COVID-19 phase, the BJP leveraged its pre-eminence again to tip the power scales in its favour and relegate its allies in the National Democratic Alliance to a lesser position. Radhika Ramaseshan reports.
In his second national broadcast in a week on the pandemic raging across much of the world with the number of infections rising in India, Modi made a fervent appeal to the countrymen not to cross the 'lakshman rekha' of their homes in the next three weeks.
Two cases of the new Omicron variant of coronavirus have been detected in Karnataka, the Union government said on Thursday while asking people not to panic but follow Covid-appropriate behaviour and get vaccinated without delay.
The apex court also pulled up the Gujarat government for extending the deadline till July next year for hospitals to rectify the building by-laws violations, and said the "carte blanche" notification was in teeth of its order of December 18 last year and people will continue to die in fire incidents.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi has boosted the representation of backward castes, dalits, tribals and women in his Council of Ministers in a big shake-up of his government with a focus on politically crucial states, including the all-important Uttar Pradesh.
Actor-politician Urmila Matondkar on Sunday said she has bought a new office with her 'hard-earned money' after Kangana Ranaut took a dig at the purchase, linking it with her joining Shiv Sena.
The cases reported on Wednesday include a couple and their two-year-old daughter in Rajasthan who had recently returned from Italy. The patients belong to Rajasthan's Jhunjhunu and had returned from Italy on March 8.
Satara, Sangli, Panvel have stopped vaccination while Buldhana has only one day's vaccine doses left in stock, said Maharashtra Health Minister Rajesh Tope.
Three passengers who travelled on Delhi-Jammu flight on Tuesday, six passengers who were on Bengaluru-Coimbatore flight on Wednesday, two passengers who were on Delhi-Coimbatore flight on Wednesday and one passenger who was on Bengaluru-Madurai flight on Wednesday tested positive for the novel coronavirus, the airline said.
The rate of doubling of COVID-19 cases has increased to 12.6 days
India is the fifth worst-hit nation by the COVID-19 pandemic after the United States, Brazil, Russia and the United Kingdom, according to the Johns Hopkins University data.
