Coronavirus pandemic live updates: Celebs wish Amitabh and Abhishek Bachchan a speedy recovery

Bengaluru, Mumbai & NE cities go for lockdown

Amid a rapid surge in Covid-19 cases in the state capital and signs of the contact-tracing model crumbling, Karnataka CM B S Yediyurappa on Saturday announced a complete lockdown in Bengaluru Urban and Rural districts from 8pm on July 14 to 5am on July 22. Several other cities and towns — from Maharashtra in the west to Guwahati and Shillong in the Northeast – on Saturday got either an extension or a return to lockdown.

Govt OKs use of skin ailment drug for Covid patients

Drug regulator Drugs Controller General of India (DCGI) has approved Itolizumab, for restricted emergency use on Covid-19 patients with moderate to severe acute respiratory distress. Itolizumab is already in use to cure skin ailment psoriasis. Drug maker Biocon has been selling the medicine under brand Alzumab in India for psoriasis since 2013.

Odisha: Regional Medical Research Centre has initiated sero-surveillance study under Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation

Jaya Bachchan and Aishwarya Rai Bachchan have tested negative for coronavirus

Maharashtra health minister Rajesh Tope said the actor is asymptomatic and stable

Amitabh, Abhishek admitted to Nanavati hospital, Mumbai

His actor-son Abhishek tweeted he too has tested positive

Amitabh Bachchan used the social media late on Saturday to announce he is Covid-19 positive

Covid-19: India’s share in daily global cases now 12%

India’s Covid-19 caseload crossed 8.5 lakh, a day after going past the 8 lakh mark, as the country added another record number of cases on Saturday — nearly 29,000 — with the daily count of fresh infections touching a new peak for the fourth day in a row. The day’s death toll was 540, the second-highest single-day rise in deaths so far, discounting the 2,003 mostly back-dated fatalities added on June 16. The rapid spread of the pandemic this week has upped India’s share in daily global cases to nearly 12%.