The government on Wednesday said sanitisers are disinfectants like soaps and anti-bacterial liquids among others, which attract 18% duty under the GST regime. Reducing the GST rate on sanitisers and other similar items would lead to an inverted duty structure and put domestic manufacturers at a disadvantage vis-a-vis importers of hand sanitisers, the ministry said.
Here is a list of State Helpline numbers. You can track coronavirus cases, deaths and testing rates at the national and State levels here.
Here are the latest updates:
Tamil Nadu’s case count likely to decline in 10 days, says CM
Tamil Nadu’s COVID-19 case count is likely to decline in the next 10 days and the spread of the virus is reducing noticeably in Chennai, Chief Minister Edappadi K. Palaniswami said on Wednesday.
Addressing the media, Mr. Palaniswami said the daily case tally was expected to come down. However, the containment of the virus was “in each person’s hands”, and what was needed was “self-regulation and people’s support”, he added.
Highest single-day spike in West Bengal
West Bengal recorded 1,589 new COVID-19 cases on Wednesday, its highest single-day spike yet, taking its tally to 34,427. The State also recorded 20 more deaths, pushing its toll to 1,000.
Of the latest victims, nine were from Kolkata, six from North 24 Parganas, three from Howrah, and one each from Hooghly and Paschim Bardhaman districts. There are 12,747 active cases in the State and its recovery rate stands at 60.06%. As many as 11,388 samples were tested on Wednesday.
Maharashtra to form panel to fix rates of masks, sanitisers
The Maharashtra government on Wednesday said it will be forming a committee to fix the rates of masks and sanitisers, which are in high demand owing to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The government will be appealing to the Centre to include these two items in the list of essential commodities, State Health Minister Rajesh Tope said after a meeting of the Food and Drug Administration Department.
High Court asks political parties to strictly adhere to COVID-19 protocol
A Division Bench of the Kerala High Court on Tuesday directed all the political parties and other organisations in the state to strictly abide by the Central government's COVID-19 guidelines issued for the Unlock-2 period, which prohibits social, political, religious and other large congregations.
The Bench led Chief Justice S. Manikumar also directed the State government to ensure that the Centre government guidelines issued on June 29 are implemented strictly in the state.