India on Friday reported its highest single-day spike of COVID-19 cases with 22,771 cases reported in the last 24 hours, said the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.

With these fresh cases, India's coronavirus cases tally has gone up to 6,48,315, out of which there are 2,35,433 active cases in the country and 3,94,227 cases have been cured/discharged or migrated.

While the government has made wearing a mask in public places mandatory, people are using whatever they find to cover their face to safeguard themselves from coronavirus.

However, a Pune man has gone a little more extravagant and got a face mask made of gold that costs a whopping Rs 2.89 lakh.

Air France and regional subsidiary Hop announced 7,500 job cuts Friday after the virus pandemic grounded most flights and darkened prospects for future air travel.

Activists from multiple unions protested at Air France headquarters at Paris' Charles de Gaulle Airport as talks began Friday morning about future job prospects at France's flagship airline.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday will review the relief work done by Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) units during the countrywide lockdown period.

The announcement was made by the party's general secretary Arun Jain on Friday.

The Jammu and Kashmir administration on Friday issued fresh guidelines regarding the coronavirus lockdown in the union territory and classification of districts in the Union Territory as Red, Orange and Green for the purpose of implementing the lockdown with effect from July 4.

All districts of Kashmir province expect Bandipora district and Ramban district of Jammu province is under the red zone whereas Samba, Ganderbal, Poonch, among others, are under the orange zone. Only Doda and Kishtwar districts are under the green zone.

The total number of coronavirus cases worldwide has touched 1.1 crore or 11 million, according to the latest data by the Johns Hopkins University on Saturday.

More than 5,23,613 people have died globally due to the infection, according to the data compiled by the university.

Though the virus is believed to have emerged from the Chinese city of Wuhan, the United States is the worst-hit country from COVID-19, which was declared as a pandemic by the WHO on March 11.

Tamil Nadu has become the second state in India after Maharashtra to record over 1 lakh coronavirus cases. The south Indian state has crossed this grim number at a time when its capital city Chennai and three adjoining districts with high population density are under an intense lockdown since June 19. The lockdown is in place till July 5, after which partial normalcy would resume with offices and standalone shops allowed to function with limited capacity.

Friday’s health bulletin issued by the state government said that Tamil Nadu had recorded 4,329 new cases, taking the total count to 1,02,721.

Pakistan Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi on Friday announced that he has tested positive for COVID-19 and said he will carry on his duties from home.

This afternoon, I felt a slight fever and immediately quarantined myself at home. I have now tested positive for COVID-19. By the grace of Allah, I feel strong and energetic. I will continue to carry on my duties from home. Please keep me in your prayers, Qureshi said in a tweet.

Asset monetisation in Jio Platforms along with the $7 billion rights issue should reduce Reliance Industries Limited's (RIL) net debt by more than half, according to a report by Morgan Stanley.

It said that multiple catalysts are in play with faster than expected deleveraging, improving demand and margin outlook on refining and chemicals, top quartile earnings CAGR of 23 per cent over F20-23, and digitisation, supporting multiples.

Amid the ongoing faceoff between India and China along the Line of Actual Control (LAC), Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday made a surprise visit to Ladakh to take stock of the situation.

He was accompanied by Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) General Bipin Rawat and Army Chief General Manoj Mukund Naravane.

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