10.38 am: India says the discussions about “vaccine passports’” for international travel need to consider the matter of vaccine equity, since many developing countries haven’t been able to immunise a large chunk of their population, PTI reports.

10.37 am: The United Kingdom records more than 10,000 coronavirus cases on Thursday for the first time since February 19, the AP reports. The country is dealing with a surge in cases of the Delta variant.

10.34 am: The United States delivers 1 million or 10 lakh Covid-19 vaccine doses to Canada, Reuters reports.

9.25 am: Around 3.5 lakh doctors of the Indian Medical Association will take part in a demonstration on Friday to demand a central law to end violence against health workers, PTI reports.

9.16 am: Former United States President Donald Trump demands that China pay $10 trillion to the US for allegedly being responsible for the spread of Covid-19, PTI reports.

“Our country was hit so hard,” he says. “But other countries were hit much harder. Look at what’s going on in India now. You know, they used to say, look how well India was doing, because they were always looking for an excuse – look how well India is doing. The fact that India has just been devastated now, and virtually, every country has been devastated.”

9.12 am: India reports 62,480 new coronavirus cases on Friday, taking its overall count of infections since the pandemic broke out in January 2020 to 2,97,62,793.

The country’s deaths rise by 1,587 to 3,83,490. The number of deaths is the lowest in two months, according to PTI. Active cases fall below 8 lakh.

Source: Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.

9.10 am: The Serum Institute of India is likely to start clinical trials of its Covid-19 vaccine candidate, Novavax, on children in July, The Indian Express reports.

9.07 am: Children are unlikely to be affected disproportionately should a third wave of the coronavirus pandemic hit India, interim findings of an ongoing sero survey has shown. The study is yet to be peer reviewed but was shared on medRxiv, an online portal for unpublished reports on medical sciences.

Read more here:

Third Covid wave unlikely to affect children more than adults, shows ongoing AIIMS-WHO study

9.05 am: Here are the top updates from Thursday:

  1. The Russian Direct Investment Fund said that it will offer a booster or second dose of Sputnik V to other vaccine manufacturers. The shot has been adjusted to work against the Delta variant of the coronavirus disease.
  2. India recorded 67,208 new coronavirus cases, taking its overall tally to 2,97,00,313 since the pandemic broke out in January 2020. The new cases are 8% higher than Wednesday’s count. The toll rose by 2,330 to 3,81,903. The number of active cases stood at 8,26,740.
  3. The Central Board of Secondary Education informed the Supreme Court about its assessment criteria for Class 12 students and said it would declare the results by July 31. The board exams were cancelled due to the coronavirus pandemic.
  4. The police in Chhattisgarh’s Raipur filed a first information report against yoga guru Ramdev for allegedly spreading false information about the medicines being used to treat Covid-19
  5. The Uttarakhand government directed the Haridwar district authorities to register cases against private laboratories that allegedly conducted fake coronavirus tests during the Kumbh Mela in April.