LIVE News Updates: Congress leader Rahul Gandhi reaches Kerala

Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray on Sunday said that if the situation deteriorates in the state, he may have to impose lockdown.

"Those who want lockdown can roam around without mask while those who don't want it must wear mask and follow all the rules," he said.

Maharashtra reported around 7,000 fresh COVID cases on Sunday even as the pandemic appeared to be receding in the rest of the country.

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Sunday evening reached the Calicut International Airport on a two-day visit to Kerala.

The Wayanad MP is scheduled to attend the programme to mark the culmination of padayatra being undertaken by state Leader of Opposition Ramesh Chennithala and other programmes on February 22 and February 23.

A Border Security Force (BSF) jawan sustained critical injury in a landmine explosion during a search operation in Odisha's Malkangiri district, said an official on Sunday.

The incident took place at Gugapadar village under Mathili police station in the district. The jawan, identified as Dharmendra Sahoo, has been airlifted to Raipur for treatment and his condition is stable, said Malkangiri SP Rishikesh D. Khilari.

The 10th round of India-China Corps Commander Level meeting was held on the Chinese side of the Moldo/Chushul border meeting point on Saturday, the Defence Ministry informed today.

"Two sides agreed to follow the important consensus of their state leaders, continue their communication & dialogue, stabilize & control the situation on the ground, push for a mutually acceptable resolution of the remaining issues in a steady & orderly manner," the Defence Ministry said.

The number of active coronavirus went up by 16 to 620 as Andhra Pradesh reported 88 fresh positives, the highest in ten days, with 72 recoveries on Sunday.

No COVID-19 deaths were reported during the 24 hours ending 9 am, the latest bulletin said.

Chittoor district reported 21, Krishna 19 and Visakhapatnam 11 cases afresh in a day while seven districts added less than ten each.

Three districts reported no cases, according to the bulletin.

Goa's coronavirus caseload went up by 39 and reached 54,562 on Sunday, while the death toll remained unchanged at 787 and the recovery count rose by 44, an official said.

The number of people who have been discharged stands at 53,287, leaving the state with 488 active cases, he added.

The Uttar Pradesh Special Task Force (STF) conducted raids at the Popular Front of India’s office located in Delhi’s Shaheen Bagh area on Sunday.

The cops reportedly seized pamphlets, CDs and DVDs and pen drives, posters, placards and banners from their office.

The UP STF has claimed that raids on PFI and CFI locations were conducted in the national capital after PFI members arrested from Mathura in October last year gave credible information during questioning.

One week lockdown in Maharashtra's Amravati from Monday amid spike in COVID-19, reports NDTV

Chandrayaan-3, India's third mission to Moon, is likely to be launched in 2022, ISRO chief K Sivan has said.

The COVID-19 lockdown has hit several projects of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) including Chandrayaan-3, which was scheduled to be launched in late 2020, and Gaganyaan, the country's first manned space mission.

Unlike its predecessor, Chandrayaan-3 will not have an orbiter.

We are working on it. It is the same configuration like Chandrayaan-2 but it will not have an orbiter. The orbiter launched during Chandrayaan-2 will be used for Chandrayaan-3. With that we are working on a system and mostly the launch will be next year in 2022, Sivan told PTI.

Vinka (60kg) and T Sanamacha Chanu (75kg) clinched gold medals as Indian youth boxers continued their outstanding show at the 30th Adriatic Pearl Tournament in Budva, Montenegro.

Apart from the two gold medals, the Indians added two silver and three more bronze to their tally on the penultimate day of the competition.

Earlier, Alfiya Pathan (+81kg) secured the country's first gold in the on-going tournament.

Rohtak's Vinka blanked her opponent Kristina Kriper from Moldova 5-0 in the final, while in an all-Indian clash in the 75kg category, Manipuri girl Sanamacha, outpunched Raj Sahiba 5-0.

Another silver for the day, in the women's event, came when Gitika went down fighting 1-4 against Uzbekistan's Farzona Fozilova in the 48kg final.

In the 57kg women's semi-final, Preeti went down 1-4 to Montenegro's Bojana Gojkovic to settle for a bronze.

Meanwhile, Priyanshu Dabas (49kg) and Jugnoo claimed bronze medals each for the Indian men's team.

Both the boxers lost their respective semi-final bouts.

Delhi reports 145 new COVID-19 cases, 97 discharges, and two deaths today, as per Delhi Health Department Total cases: 6,37,900 Total discharges: 6,25,929 Death toll: 10,900 Active cases: 1,071

In a shocking incident, two teenagers allegedly killed their employer's 5-year-old son in the Raghupura village because they were upset with his father for paying them a paltry sum of Rs 30 to Rs 50 for working in the fields.

The accused teenagers executed the murder after watching crime serials.

Both have been arrested and sent to the juvenile home after being produced before a Juvenile board on Saturday.

According to reports, Aditya, 5, was allegedly kidnapped and then strangled to death by two boys, both aged 16 years, on February 13.

Another 10,406 people in Britain have tested positive for COVID-19, bringing the total number of coronavirus cases in the country to 4,105,675, according to official figures released on Saturday.

The country also reported another 445 coronavirus-related deaths. The total number of coronavirus-related deaths in Britain now stands at 120,365. These figures only include the deaths of people who died within 28 days of their first positive test, the Xinhua news agency reported.

More than 17.2 million people in Britain have so far been given the first jab of the coronavirus vaccine.

The total number of global coronavirus cases has topped 111 million, while the deaths have surged to more than 2.46 million, according to the Johns Hopkins University.

In its latest update on Sunday morning, the University's Center for Systems Science and Engineering (CSSE) revealed that the current global caseload and death toll stood at 111,055,945 and 2,460,216, respectively.

The US is the worst-hit country with the world's highest number of cases and deaths at 28,075,801 and 497,574, respectively, according to the CSSE.

Andaman and Nicobar Islands did not report any new COVID-19 case in the last three days, an official said on Sunday.

The coronavirus tally in the union territory remained at 5,014, the official said.

The archipelago now has only three active COVID-19 cases and all the patients are in South Andaman district, he said.

The other two districts of the union territory - North and Middle Andaman and Nicobar - are COVID-19 free as both don't have any active coronavirus case, the official said.

A large quantity of arms and ammunition was recovered after police and security forces in a joint operation busted a terrorist hideout in South Kashmir's Anantnag district, officials said on Sunday.

Police said the hideout was busted after the arrest of a conspirator of Krishna Dhaba attack in Srinagar.

A large quantity of arms and ammunition including three AK 56 rifles and two Chinese pistols were recovered from the hideout.

India reports 14,264 new COVID cases, 11,667 discharges, and 90 deaths in the last 24 hours, as per Union Health Ministry Total cases: 1,09,91,651 Total discharges: 1,06,89,715 Death toll: 1,56,302 Active cases: 1,45,634 Total Vaccination: 1,10,85,173

Five persons have died allegedly after consuming suspected spurious liquor in the past three days in Muzaffarpur district of Bihar where sale and consumption of alcohol are banned.

They died after drinking spurious liquor in Dargah village under Katra police station area, a relative of one of the victims, Khelawan Manjhi, said on Saturday.

Several political leaders including a BJP MLA also backed Manjhi's assertation.

The saffron party is part of the ruling alliance in the state.