Coronavirus live updates: 158,333 total cases in India, death toll at 4,531

Rs 2,000 fine for home quarantine violation in MP

In an order issued on Wednesday, the state health department also said that in case of violation of the norms for the second time, the person would be shifted from home to a quarantine centre. According to the central government's guidelines, people should be home-quarantined in mild and pre-symptomatic COVID-19 cases. An undertaking is also taken in suspected COVID-19 cases that the person would follow the home quarantine norms, it said.

Kerala state government has exempted biomedical waste collection bags from the purview of plastic ban

Six more positive cases reported from Bapu Dham colony in Chandigarh

3 more positive cases reported in Himachal Pradesh today, taking the total number in the state to 276, including 201 active cases

Cabinet secretary Rajiv Gauba to hold video conference with municipal commissioners, DMs of 13 Covid-19 hit cities: MHA officials

Municipal Commissioner of following Cities have been requested to join: Mumbai, Chennai, Delhi/New Delhi, Ahmadabad, Thane, Pune, Hyderabad, Kolkata/Howrah, Indore, Jaipur, Jodhpur, Chengalpattu and Thiruvallur. Collectors of the concerned districts may also join.

Chennai division of Southern Railway shuts down all offices at its headquarters in Park town after a senior official tests positive for Covid-19

UN: Virus could push 14 million into hunger in Latin America

New projections released late Wednesday estimate a startling increase: Whereas 3.4 million experienced severe food insecurity in 2019, that number could more than quadruple this year in one of the world's most vulnerable regions. Signs of mounting hunger are already being felt around the region, where desperate citizens are violating quarantines to go out in search of money and food and hanging red and white flags from their homes in a cry for aid.

Covid may never go away even with a vaccine : Report

Even after a COVID-19 vaccine is developed and deployed, the coronavirus will likely remain for years to come, and may eventually, become endemic like HIV, measles and chickenpox, The Washington Post reported. Experts say that amid all the uncertainty revolving around the contagion, the persistence of the novel virus is one of the few things we can count on about the future. There are four endemic coronaviruses that are present, causing the common cold. And many experts believe that COVID-19 will become the fifth.

South Korea sees largest spike in virus cases in nearly two months

Officials announced 79 new cases Thursday -- taking its total to 11,344 -- with most fresh infections from the densely populated Seoul metropolitan area. It was the largest increase since 81 cases were announced on April 5. An outbreak at a warehouse of e-commerce firm Coupang in Bucheon, west of Seoul, has seen 69 cases, said the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Around 95 quarantined after one tests positive at wedding in MP's Chhindwara

Around 95 attendees, including the newlywed couple, were quarantined on Wednesday after a guest at the wedding ceremony in Chindwara district tested COVID-19 positive. "We have commissioned the protocol required for this situation and will be making the area containment zone as a precautionary measure," said Rajesh Shahi, municipal commissioner. "As of now, we have got the information that the COVID-19 positive patient had come from Delhi to attend the wedding," informed officials.

Bill Gates conspiracy theories echo through Africa

On March 15, Nairobi governor Mike Sonko published an old video of Gates warning about the consequences of a future pandemic, with the caption "Bill Gates told us about the corona virus 2015 (sic)". While the clip shows the philanthropist telling an audience that the world was unprepared for global outbreaks in his TED talk five years ago, he made no mention of the coronavirus. So far, the post been shared more than one million times and has garnered 38 million views on social media.

Crime Branch of Delhi Police to file 12 chargesheets against 536 Tablighi Jamaat members from three countries: Officials

India's total coronavirus cases cross 158,000 mark

According to latest figures from health ministry, total cases:1,58,333 , active cases: 86,110 , cured/discharged/migrated: 67,692, deaths: 4,531

Domestic flight operations resume at Kolkata airport

The first flight from Kolkata left for Guhawati at 6.05 am with 40 passengers, whereas 122 passengers arrived from New Delhi on Thursday morning. On Thursday, ten flights will take off from Kolkata, and an equal number will arrive in the city, sources at the Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose International Airport said. Though domestic flight operations across the country began on May 25, they could not be restarted in Kolkata as the state machinery was involved in relief and restoration work after Cyclone Amphan whiplashed many areas of the state.

Covid-19 2nd wave in US not inevitable: Fauci

A second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic in the US "could happen" but it was "not inevitable", America's top infectious diseases expert Anthony Fauci said. The US can prevent another wave of COVID-19 as long as states reopen "correctly", Xinhua news agency quoted Fauci as saying in a CNN interview on Wednesday. Fauci has previously warned that Americans need to prepare for the possibility of a second wave of the coronavirus in the fall, which would run alongside the flu season.

Germany's confirmed coronavirus cases rise by 353 to 179,717

The number of confirmed coronavirus cases in Germany increased by 353 to 179,717, data from the Robert Koch Institute (RKI) for infectious diseases showed on Thursday. The reported death toll rose by 62 to 8,411, the tally showed.