Coronavirus live updates: India registers record single-day spike of 9,887 cases, 294 deaths

CM Captain Amarinder Singh has announced the constitution of an SIT to thoroughly probe the illicit sale and smuggling of liquor during the lockdown period: Punjab CM's Office

President Trump says India, China will have more Covid-19 cases with more tests, reports PTI.

Commenting on the Covid-19 tests in the US, Trump said: “We will be well over 20 million tests. Remember this, when you test more, you have more cases. “I say to my people every time we test; you find cases because we do more testing. If we have more cases, if we wanted to do testing in China or in India or other places, I promise you there would be more cases… you are doing a fantastic job in getting out the swabs," he added.

India reports 9,887 new Covid-19 cases & 294 deaths in the last 24 hours.

President Jair Bolsonaro threatens to pull Brazil from WHO, reports AFP.

"I'm telling you right now, the United States left the WHO, and we're studying that, in the future. Either the WHO works without ideological bias, or we leave, too," the far-right leader told journalists outside the presidential palace.

Germany's confirmed coronavirus cases rise by 407 to 183,678, reports Reuters.

Brazil reported an additional 1,005 novel coronavirus deaths and 30,830 new cases over the last 24 hours, taking the tally to 645,771 cases, reports Reuters.

China warns against travel to Australia, citing discrimination, reports Reuters.

"There has been an alarming increase recently in acts of racial discrimination and violence against Chinese and Asians in Australia, due to the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic," the Ministry of Culture and Tourism said in a statement. It did not give any specific examples of such discrimination or violence. Australia rejected the accusations saying they had no basis in fact.

Read: Parents wary of sending children to schools as of now, survey reveals

While the HRD ministry is preparing guidelines for reopening of schools, parents seem to be in no hurry. Only 11% of the parents surveyed are in support of schools restarting as per the original calendar, suggests the countrywide survey by LocalCircles, a non-profit social media community group.

China reports 3 new Covid-19 cases, 2 asymptomatic cases, reports Reuters.

All of the cases were imported, involving travellers arriving from abroad, the National Health Commission (NHC) said on its website. The NHC also confirmed two new asymptomatic cases, or people who are infected with the virus but do not show symptoms, compared with three the day before.

Bookings for select destinations in USA, Canada, UK and Europe under Phase-3 of Vande Bharat Mission open, reports ANI

"#FlyAI: Bookings for select destinations in USA, Canada, UK & Europe etc under Phase3 of #MissionVandeBharat opened at 5pm today. Around 60 million hits received till 7pm on our website & 1700 seats sold through website alone in 2 hrs. Bookings continue & tickets are being issued," the national carrier said in a tweet on Friday.

Read: Migrant exit, tax hit beer, desi daru sales

Steep taxes and migrant workers, who have beaten a hasty retreat to their home towns, have left a gaping hole in the demand for strong beer and country liquor, categories that are some of the largest in terms of volumes in their respective segments. Beer sales tanked 60-94% across states during the period of three weeks in May from the time liquor shops reopened, while country liquor, also called Indian Made Indian Liquor (IMIL), witnessed a sharp drop of 30-40%, according to industry estimates.

Read: Ahmedabad has India’s highest corona deaths/m population

Though Delhi and Mumbai might seem to be worst off with the highest number of Covid-19 cases and deaths each day, Ahmedabad with less than half the population of these metros has the highest deaths per million population in the country. It also has the highest case fatality rate (CFR) — number of deaths per 100 cases — among the nine megapolises with populations of over 5 million. At 115 deaths per million, Ahmedabad is much worse than Mumbai in second place with 80 deaths per million

Read: India’s Covid count now 6th highest in world

With this, the country’s total number of Covid-19 cases went past Italy’s count of 2,34,531, taking India to the sixth spot among countries with the highest caseloads of the virus. India’s cumulative count of Covid-19 cases stood at 2,36,117 (after adding 7,610 cases not assigned to any state, as per the health ministry website), according to data from state governments.

Read: Long-awaited darshan for devotees, but shrines taking abundant caution

The Mahakaleshwar temple in Ujjain will open its doors on June 8 after being shut for 79 days. But devotees will have to book a slot via an app or a toll-free number a day in advance. They will not be allowed to attend Bhasmarti ritual or enter the sanctum sanctorum. The Lord Venkateswara temple at Tirumala will also reopen on June 8 with unprecedented precautions. There will be a trial run from June 8 for two days in which only Tirupati Tirumala Devasthanams employees will be allowed.

6cr hits in 2 hrs: Big demand for AI tickets to N America, Europe

Within the first two hours after it opened on Friday for bookings on outboundVandeBharatflightsto North America and Europe, the Air India website was overwhelmed with a record six crore hits. Being the only flights available for eligible people to fly out of India, the demand is skyhigh and passengers are having a tough time grabbing a seat. The maximum demand is for flights totheUS. “Bookings for selectdestinations in the US, Canada, UK and Europe etc under Phase-3 of Mission Vande Bharat opened at 5pm Friday. Around 60 million hits receivedtill 7pm on our website and 1,700 seats sold through website alonein 2hours,” Air India tweeted. With such huge demand for tickets, people seeking to book a seat and fly backtojoin work attheearliest are having a tough time getting one. A senior Air India official assured, “People should not panic. We will put moreflights if required.”