Coronavirus live updates: After Delhi, other NCR cities to roll out rapid antigen tests

Indian man among two new coronavirus cases in New Zealand

An Indian man is among two persons who tested positive for the novel coronavirus in New Zealand, taking the total number of active COVID-19 cases in the country to nine after having none at all earlier this month, health officials said on Monday. The man in his 30s travelled from India along with his wife. He had been staying at a hotel in Auckland. He came to New Zealand on an Air India flight, reports say. The second case involves a teenage girl who arrived from Islamabad via Melbourne on June 13.

Film, pop stars line up for global Covid-19 fundraising gig

International music and film stars will headline a globally televised and streamed fundraising concert on Saturday to help fight COVID-19 as part of a joint initiative by the advocacy group Global Citizen and the European Commission. The initiative, called "Global Goal: Unite For Our Future," is aiming to raise billions of dollars in private and public donations to help lessen the impact of the pandemic on marginalised communities. Hosted by actor Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson, the virtual concert will feature Cyrus, Chloe x Halle, Christine and the Queens, Coldplay and Shakira and others, and include actors Charlize Theron and Hugh Jackman as well as retired soccer star David Beckham.

NCR cities to roll out rapid antigen tests to scale up Covid-19 surveillance

Both Haryana and Uttar Pradesh are set to roll out rapid antigen testing in NCR cities. While Gurugram organised a training session for the new test method on Sunday, Uttar Pradesh announced testing should begin in a few days. This comes three days after home minister Amit Shah had said NCR should respond to the Covid-19 outbreak as a single unit. Delhi had started using rapid antigen tests on Thursday.

Saudi Arabia returns to 'normality' amid new COVID-19 cases

Saudi Arabia returned to "normality", lifting its coronavirus-related curfew and reopening mosques in the Muslim holy city of Mecca despite a steady surge in number of new COVID-19 cases. The night-time curfew, imposed at the end of the holy month of Ramadan, was lifted on Sunday as the total number of confirmed coronavirus cases in the country stood at 157,612, reports Efe news. This is the last phase of a three-stage reopening plan the Kingdom began implementing on 28 May.

Arunachal Pradesh's Covid-19 tally rises to 139

Four more persons were found to be positive for COVID-19 in Arunachal Pradesh, taking the total number of cases in the Northeastern state to 139, officials said on Monday. There are 118 active cases in the state at present, they said. Most of the active cases are in Changlang district where 68 people are undergoing treatment, followed by Capital Complex (20), West Kameng (12), East Siang (five), Lohit and Lower Dibang Valley (three each), Namsai and Tirap (two each), West Siang, Tawang and Lower Siang (one each).

Karnataka CM BS Yediyurappa calls an emergency meeting of concerned officials and departments today, to discuss measures to control rising Covid-19 cases in Bengaluru.

445 deaths and spike of 14,821 new positive cases reported in India in last 24 hrs: Health ministry

India's total corona cases rise to 425,282: Health ministry

Total cases:4,25,282; Active:1,74,387; Cured/Discharged/Migrated:2,37,196; Deaths:13,699

Hardeep Singh Puri thanks private carriers for assisting govt in repatriation efforts under Vande Bharat Mission

"With private Indian carriers like @airvistara @IndiGo6E & @goairlinesindia joining forces with AI Exp @airindiain, @MEAIndia and our missions abroad, we are able to bring back Indians in even larger numbers under Vande Bharat Mission. Today 6084 people return from different countries," Puri tweeted. The current repatriation exercise of bringing home Indian nationals stranded in foreign countries amid the pandemic outbreak is taking place under the Government of India's flagship 'Vande Bharat' mission.

Germany's confirmed coronavirus cases rise by 537

The number of confirmed coronavirus cases in Germany increased by 537 to 190,359, data from the Robert Koch Institute (RKI) for infectious diseases showed on Monday. The reported death toll rose by 3 to 8,885, the tally showed.

S Korea reports 17 new cases, fewest in month

The country over the past two weeks has been reporting 40 to 50 new cases per day amid increased public activity and eased attitudes on social distancing. There has also been an uptick in imported cases, mostly from passengers arriving from southwest Asia, prompting authorities to halt providing new visas for travelers from Pakistan and Bangladesh.

First Covid-19 death in Goa: 85-year-old woman loses battle with coronavirus, says state health minister

Delhi containment zones need to be redrawn: Panel

A central government panel set up on the direction of home minister Amit Shah has called for a complete overhaul of the Covid-19 containment strategy in Delhi, recommending a fresh delineation of containment zones in the capital. This is to be followed by strict monitoring and regulation of activities not only within such zones but also listing and tracking of households outside. Importantly, the report has set timelines for undertaking the containment measures proposed by it.

Read: WHO reports largest single-day increase in coronavirus cases

The World Health Organization on Sunday reported the largest single-day increase in coronavirus cases by its count, at more than 183,000 new cases in the latest 24 hours.The UN health agency said Brazil led the way with 54,771 cases tallied and the US next at 36,617. Over 15,400 came in in India.Experts said rising case counts can reflect multiple factors including more widespread testing as well as broader infection.Overall in the pandemic, WHO reported 8,708,008 cases — 183,020 in the last 24 hours — with 461,715 deaths worldwide, with a daily increase of 4,743.More than two-thirds of those new deaths were reported in the Americas.

MEA tells missions to resume visa services

The move comes at a time when the government is considering a calibrated resumption of international flights from next month depending on the pandemic situation. “This ministry is receiving a number of requests from Indian nationals/trade bodies/other organisations regarding difficulties being faced by bona fide Indian nationals in obtaining visas of foreign countries due to continued suspension of such services by some diplomatic missions in India… Several of them intend to travel to foreign countries for various reasons including emergency/compelling reasons, to rejoin family members residing abroad, resumption of education,” MEA's letter to diplomatic missions stated.

Record spike of 15,372 cases, 423 deaths in India

India registered its biggest single-day spike yet again on Sunday with 15,372 patients testing positive for Covid, taking the country’s caseload to 4,26,397. For the first time, the country’s daily fatality count crossed the 400-mark — barring June 16 when adding backdated deaths by Maharashtra and Delhi governments took that day’s count to 2003 — with 423 casualties recorded on Sunday. The country’s cumulative death toll now is 13,695. The spike in both fatalities and fresh cases was contributed to a large extent by Maharashtra.

Modi: In Covid times, world’s feeling need for yoga more

In his message on the sixth International Day of Yoga, Modi said due to the coronavirus pandemic, the world was feeling the need for yoga more than ever. “If our immunity is strong, it is of great help in defeating this disease. For boosting immunity, there are several techniques in yoga, various asanas are there,” he said.

US adds 305 more virus deaths

The United States recorded another 305 coronavirus-related deaths in 24 hours, a tally by Johns Hopkins University showed Sunday at 8:30pm (0030 GMT Saturday).It marked the 11th consecutive day in which the daily toll from the virus has been fewer than 1,000, and the third time the toll has been under 400 since the pandemic seemed to peak in mid-April.But the US remains the country hardest-hit by the pandemic, with 119,959 deaths out of 2,278,373 official cases.