10.17 am: “Resilience of agriculture, gathering momentum of global economy can provide tailwind to domestic economy,” says the RBI governor, according to Mint.

10.14 am: The second wave of the Covid-19 pandemic has caused “upside risks of inflation”, Das says.

10.12 am: Das says that the reverse repo rate is maintained at 3.35%, and MSF rate is 4.25% and bank rate at 4.25%.

10.09 am: “The RBI’s Monetary Policy Committee has decided to continue with an accommodative stance until necessary to mitigate impact of Covid-19,” the RBI governor says. “The Marginal Standing Facility rate and bank rates remain unchanged at 4.25%. Reverse repo rate also remains unchanged.”

10.08 am: “The Monetary Policy Committee keeps status quo, continues accommodative stance,” Das says.

10.04 am: Das announces key rates after a panel concludes its three-day meeting. The repo rate is unchanged at 4%, Das says.

10.02 am: Reserve Bank of India Governor Shaktikanta Das addresses a briefing.

9.39 am: As many as 35,74,33,846 samples have been tested in the country so far for the coronavirus disease, including 20,75,428 samples tested on Thursday, says Indian Council of Medical Research.

9.32 am: India reports 1,32,364 new coronavirus in the last 24 hours, taking the country’s tally since the pandemic broke out in January 2020 to 2,85,74,350. The toll rises by 2,713 to 3,40,702. As many as 2,65,97,655 people have recovered from the infection. India now has 16,35,993 active cases of the coronavirus.

9.25 am: Japan is donating more than one million doses of the AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccines to Taiwan, reports AFP.

“We have received requests from various countries and areas for the provision of vaccines,” says Japan’s Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi. “At this point, we have finished the arrangement for the request from Taiwan. And we will deliver free of charge 1.24 million doses of the AstraZeneca vaccines that have been produced in Japan.”

9.20 am: K VijayRaghavan, principal scientific advisor to the government, warns that India could face another surge in coronavirus cases if the population is “lulled into complacence” amid decline in infections, reports The Hindu.

“More people got infected, and we will face this rise until cautionary steps and infection-based immunity grows again,” he says.

9.15 am: As the Narendra Modi government is trying to allay concerns about shortages of vaccine, Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Arindam Bagchi says it would not be right to talk about the supply of doses to other countries at the moment, reports PTI.

9.09 am: The Congress criticises the Centre’s vaccination policy, saying it is “incoherent, inefficient and ineffective”, reports PTI.

Congress spokesperson Abhishek Singhvi says instead of admitting its “failures and mistakes”, the Modi government responded to suggestions from his party’s leaders on the vaccination drive with “contempt and sarcasm”.

A look at the developments from Thursday: