6,088 Coronavirus Cases In 24 Hours, Biggest Single-Day Spike In India

Maharashtra, the state worst-affected by the coronavirus outbreak, registered 2,345 new COVID-19 cases in a 24-hour period, state health officials said late Thursday night, taking the total number of cases to 41,642 with 1,454 deaths linked to the virus. This was the fifth consecutive day in which the state reported more than 2,000 new cases. Mumbai, the worst-affected metro city, crossed the 25,000-case mark at the same time with 1,382 new cases.

Air tickets will be capped between Rs 2,000 and Rs 18,600 across seven bands based on flying time, the Civil Aviation Ministry said on Thursday while announcing the "calibrated" re-opening of domestic flights from Monday. Airlines grounded due to the COVID-19 lockdown can resume around a third of their operations starting next week, with SOPs for passengers and staff including web check-ins, use of the Aarogya Setu app and, for cabin crew, full protective gear.

Passengers disembarking from short-haul domestic flights need not go into quarantine, Civil Aviation Minister Hardeep Singh Puri said yesterday. Mr Puri pointed out that under revised SOPs, those showing symptoms or "red" status on the Aarogya Setu app would not be allowed to enter the airport, let alone board a flight. The minister said quarantine issues for air travel would be addressed in a "pragmatic manner". Shortly after, Assam minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said his state would insist on quarantine for all air passengers.

RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das is scheduled to address the media at 10 am, the central bank said in a tweet. The briefing will take place days after Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman gave details of the Rs 20 lakh crore economic relief package announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi to help the economy recover from the coronavirus pandemic.

A virtual meeting of senior opposition leaders and parties will be chaired by interim Congress chief Sonia Gandhi today. Those expected to participate include Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, who has repeatedly clashed with the centre over the COVID-19 crisis, and her Maharashtra counterpart, Uddhav Thackeray. Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, BSP chief Mayawati and Samajwadi Party leader Akhilesh Yadav will not attend. Sources said the focus will be on the centre's handling of the COVID-19 crisis and include the lack of financial help and the migrant crisis.

The Railways will open reservation counters at select stations from today for booking of only reserved tickets, the national transporter said in a statement. These counters had been closed since March when the country went under a lockdown. Railways Minister Piyush Goyal has also said that more passenger trains will be allowed to run soon. This comes after 200 regular passenger trains were scheduled to operate from June 1. The Railways is already running 15 special passenger trains between Delhi and other cities, as well as hundreds of "shramik (worker)" specials to take stranded migrants back to their home states.

Fewer than eight people per lakh of population in India have been infected, the Health Ministry said Wednesday evening, comparing it to the global average of 62 people per lakh. The government also said India's per lakh mortality rate (0.24) was significantly better than the global average of 4.2 per lakh. It also pointed to a steady increase in recovery rate - the number of people who have recovered as a percentage of total cases - from 7.1 per cent in March to 40.31 per cent this morning.

Class 10 and 12 board exams have been granted exemption from lockdown measures and these can be conducted, Home Minister Amit Shah said on Wednesday, adding that special buses for students will be arranged by the respective state governments. The Home Minister said some conditions - such as social distancing, the use of sanitisers and face masks - would be mandatory, and exam dates would be staggered.

Global COVID-19 cases has crossed the five-million mark, with Latin America overtaking the US and Europe to report the largest number of new daily cases. It represents a new phase in the virus' spread, which peaked in China in February, before outbreaks in Europe and the US. Latin America accounted for around a third of the 91,000 cases reported earlier this week; Europe and the US accounted for just over 20 per cent each.

Doctors in China have warned the virus may be presenting differently in a new cluster of cases in the northeast of the country, suggesting the pathogen may be changing in unknown ways. Patients in the northern and northeastern provinces appeared to carry the virus longer and take longer to test negative.