LIVE News Updates: Rahul slams PM Modi over ‘frightening not flattening corona curve’

An unidentified man's body was found dumped along a road in Uttar Pradesh's Greater Noida on Thursday, police said.

The body was spotted by passersby in the morning in a greenbelt on Kasna road, barely 200 metres from the busy Pari Chowk area, the police said.

"The deceased appears to be around 30-years-old. An FIR has been lodged under Indian Penal Code section 302 (murder) and efforts are underway to ascertain the man's identity and arrest those behind the killing," SHO Beta 2 police station Sujit Kumar Upadhyay said.

Corona curve- Frightening not Flattening.

If this is what PM calls 'controlled state' then what will be the worsening condition?

The Biological E. Limited (BE) on Thursday announced that it has entered into an agreement with Janssen Pharmaceutica NV, one of the Janssen Pharmaceutical companies of Johnson & Johnson, for the creation and enhancement of manufacturing capacities for drug substance and drug product for the latter's COVID-19 vaccine candidate.

Johnson & Johnson's COVID-19 vaccine candidate Ad26.COV2.S. is currently in Phase 1/2 clinical trials, BE said in a statement.

"We are very pleased indeed to collaborate with an organisation like Johnson & Johnson. Given the magnitude of the COVID-19 pandemic, our ability to mount an effective response will be predicated on the ability to supply the vaccine globally and in significant quantities. This is best achieved through collaboration," said Mahima Datla, Managing Director of BE.

"We look forward to deploy our manufacturing infrastructure to support Johnson & Johnson's commitment to global access for its COVID-19 vaccine," said Narender Dev Mantena, Director of BioE Holdings Inc., who heads BE's novel vaccine initiative.

Delhi records 956 fresh coronavirus cases, taking tally to 1,49,460; death toll mounts to 4,167 with 14 more fatalities reported: Authorities

The INOX group will be the official sponsor of the Indian team for the rescheduled Tokyo Olympics, the Indian Olympic Association (IOA) announced on Thursday.

The Tokyo Olympics was rescheduled to next year due to the COVID-19 pandemic. It will be held from July 23 to August 8 in 2021.

As part of the partnership the Group will also support team's promotions through its entertainment company -- INOX Leisure Limited, which owns a chain of multiplexes in the country.

"INOX Group has always assigned priority to India's all-round progress. We are honoured and privileged to be able to support India's Olympic dream through this prestigious association with the Indian Olympic Association," INOX Group Director, Siddharth Jain said.

4,537 new COVID-19 cases in Uttar Pradesh, tally 1,40,775, active cases 49,709; toll rises to 2,280 with 50 more deaths: Health official.

There was light to moderate rain and thundershowers at most places in Uttar Pradesh on Thursday, with extremely heavy rainfall at isolated areas in the eastern part.

The Lucknow weather office said heavy rain occurred at isolated places in the western part of Uttar Pradesh, and thunderstorm accompanied with lightning was reported from some areas in the state.

The maximum temperature was recorded in Hardol at 35 degrees Celsius.

The weather office said rain and thundershowers are very likely at most places in the state on Friday, while heavy to very heavy rains are very likely at isolated places.

Moderate to severe thunderstorm is very likely at isolated places across Uttar Pradesh, it said.

Eleven more people died of Covid-19 in Telangana while 1,931 tested positive for the virus, officials said on Thursday.

With the new fatalities the death toll rose to 665 and the cumulative case tally mounted to 86,475.

The case fatality rate in the state stands at 0.76 per cent against the national average of 1.97 per cent. Officials said 53.87 per cent of the deceased had comorbidities.

51 new COVID-19 cases and 24 recoveries reported today taking the tally to 3,687, including 1,257 active cases, 2,386 cured cases and 16 deaths till date: State Health Department, Himachal Pradesh.

The Himalayan kingdom of Bhutan has imposed its first nationwide lockdown due to a virus infection in a returning traveler who had been released from quarantine.

The government issued a stay-at-home order for its approximately 750,000 people, and all schools, offices and commercial establishments were closed.

The government's statement said the lockdown would be enforced from five to 21 days to identify and isolate all positive cases, immediately breaking the chain of transmission.

The 27-year-old Bhutanese woman returning from Kuwait tested negative in mandatory quarantine for arriving travelers. But between her discharge from quarantine and her positive test result Monday, she is believed to have traveled extensively in Bhutan.

Ganesh Chaturthi in Tamil Nadu will be celebrated on 22nd August. People are advised to celebrate Vinayaka Chaturthi at their home to curtail COVID-19 spread. No installation of idols in public and no rallies to immerse idols in water bodies allowed: Government of Tamil Nadu.

Odisha reports highest single-day spike of 1,981 COVID-19 cases, which took tally to 52,653; death toll climbs to 314 with nine more fatalities: Official.

In view of the COVID-19 pandemic, there are restrictions on large religious congregations. So, no permission has been given to Puja mandaps to celebrate Ganesh Puja at the community level. All are requested to cooperate: Commissionerate Police, Bhubaneswar.

At least 103 more people, including 44 security personnel, have tested positive for COVID-19 in Arunachal Pradesh, raising the state's tally to 2,430, a health department official said on Thursday.

Barring one, all the new patients are asymptomatic, State Surveillance Officer Dr L Jampa said.

A civilian injured last week in Pakistan ceasefire violation on the Line of Control (LoC) in Jammu and Kashmir's Kupwara district succumbed in the hospital on Thursday.

Police said 60-year-old civilian, identified as Mohammed Yaqoob Mir of Kachadia Bagh Bella village in the Karnah sector of Kupwara district, succumbed in Srinagar on Thursday morning.

"The deceased had been injured in Pakistan firing and shelling in the Karnah sector last Friday.

"Another civilian injured in the same incident had expired last week", police said.

A total of 24 civilians have been killed and over 100 injured in more than 2,720 ceasefire violations by Pakistan on the LoC so far this year.

Ram Janmabhoomi trust head tests positive for coronavirus. He was on stage with PM for temple ceremony last week, reports NDTV.

Acommittee of seven Supreme Court judges is learnt to have recommended holding physical hearings in at least two or three of its 15 benches in the apex court as early as next week with some additional safety measures. The apex court, since March 25, has been holding hearings through video conferencing due to a nationwide lockdown and even after the restrictions were relaxed, it has decided to continue with the practice.

In the last week of July, the 7- judge panel headed by senior most judge Justice N V Ramana had apprised the bar leaders of its decision to not open the apex court for physical hearings "for the time being" and had assured to meet them again after two weeks to reconsider the issue.

Sixteen new cyber crime police stations have been set up in Uttar Pradesh to check growing cases of crime in the virtual domain, an official said on Thursday.

Till now, the state had just two such police stations, one each in Lucknow and Gautam Buddh Nagar.

With this, there are 18 cyber crime police stations in the state, Additional Chief Secretary (Home) Awanish Awasthi said.

Directives have been issued to make available closed user group (CUG) numbers of officials posted in these police stations on social media so that common people come to know about them, he said.

Heavy to very heavy rains lashed isolated parts of Mumbai and neighbouring Thane, Palghar and Raigad districts in the last 24 hours, the MeT department said on Thursday.

It predicted more showers in the Konkan region and some areas of central Maharashtra over the next one day.

Turkey will resume academic year via distance learning programs and gradually restart face-to-face schooling in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, Education Minister Ziya Selcuk announced.

"Distance education will begin on August 31. We decided to start face-to-face education in classrooms recommended by the Scientific Committee on September 21. The committee will decide which age group will return to school and when," Selcuk told the media on Wednesday.

Turkey shut down the primary, secondary and high schools on March 16 and launched a distance learning program on March 23 for around 18 million students as part of measures to curb the spread of the novel coronavirus.

With 32 fresh cases the COVID-19 tally in Agra has gone upto 2,209 as the recovery rate in this Uttar Pradesh district continued to improve and was around 80 per cent even as testing has gone up by over 1,000 cases each day.

The number of active cases now is 338, Health department officials said. The total number of samples tested exceeds 70,000.

Israel has reported 17 new single-day COVID-19 deaths, the highest since the pandemic hit the country in February, taking the overall toll to 639, the Health Ministry said.

The previous record was registered on August 4 with 15 deaths, reports Xinhua news agency.

The Ministry also reported 1,558 new coronavirus cases, bringing the total number of infections to 88,151.

The number of patients in serious condition decreased from 375 to 369, out of 762 patients currently hospitalized.

608 fresh COVID-19 cases reported in the state today till 1030 hours. The total number of positive cases in the state is now 56,708 including 14,056 active cases, 41,819 recovered cases and 833 deaths: Rajasthan Health Department.

381 more Maharashtra Police personnel test positive for COVID-19 & 3 died in the last 24 hours, taking the death toll to 124. Total cases in the police force stand at 11,773, out of which 9,416 have recovered and 2,233 are active cases: Maharashtra Police.

Did all work and no sleep lead to a case of fatricide? A 28-year-old man in Uttar Pradesh's Pilibhit district has killed his father for disturbing his peaceful slumber with his snoring.

Naveen, the elder son of Ram Swarup, apparently bludgeoned his father's head in with a club when he began snoring. The 65-year-old victim was rushed to the Puranpur community health centre where doctors declared him brought dead. His body was sent for post mortem.

Spike of 66,999 cases and 942 deaths reported in India, in the last 24 hours. The COVID-19 tally rises to 23,96,638 including 6,53,622 active cases, 16,95,982 discharged & 47,033 deaths: Ministry of Health, reports ANI

Two personnel deployed to Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur's cavalcade were tested positive for the novel coronavirus on Thursday, triggering panic among state ministers and government functionaries.

Thakur, who is in the state capital and had returned this week after his visits to Kangra and Una, is also likely to undergo a test.

One of those who tested positive is a security personnel, while another is a driver deployed in the Chief Minister's escort vehicle.

'Nature protects, if she is protected.' GOI must stop dismantling India's environmental regulations. Essential first step is to withdraw the Draft EIA 2020 Notification, tweeted Rahul Gandhi.

The overall number of global coronavirus cases has topped 20.5 million, while the deaths have increased to over 747,000, according to the Johns Hopkins University.

As of Thursday morning, the total number of cases stood at 20,550,481 and the fatalities rose to 747,845, the University's Center for Systems Science and Engineering (CSSE) revealed in its latest update.

The US accounted for the world's highest number of infections and fatalities at 5,193,266 and 165,934, respectively, according to the CSSE.

Brazil came in the second place with 3,164,785 infections and 104,201 deaths.

In terms of cases, India ranks third (2,329,638), and is followed by Russia (900,745), South Africa (568,919), Mexico (498,380), Peru (489,680), Colombia (410,453), Chile (378,168), Iran (333,699), Spain (329,780), the UK (315,564), Saudi Arabia (293,037), Pakistan (285,921), Argentina (268,574), Bangladesh (266,498), Italy (251,713), Turkey (244,392), France (244,088), Germany (220,859), Iraq (160,436), Philippines (143,749), Indonesia (130,718), Canada (122,689), Qatar (113,938) and Kazakhstan (100,855), the CSSE figures showed.

The other countries with over 10,000 deaths are the Mexico (54,666), UK (46,791), India (46,091), Italy (35,225), France (30,375), Spain (28,579), Peru (21,501), Iran (18,988), Russia (15,231), Colombia (13,475), South Africa (11,010) and Chile (10,205).