Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan said on Sunday that the Centre is working on plans to procure 400-500 million doses of COVID-19 vaccine, which will be administered to up to 25 crore people by July 2021.

Government plans to receive and utilise 400-500 million COVID-19 vaccine doses. Our target is to cover 20-25 crore people by July 2021. For that, we are building capacities in HR, training, supervision, etc, on a massive scale, he said at his weekly webinar 'Sunday Samvaad'.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will inaugurate on Saturday the strategically important all-weather Atal Tunnel, which reduces the distance between Manali and Leh by 46 km and the travel time by four to five hours, at Rohtang in Himachal Pradesh.

After the inauguration, Modi will also attend public functions at Sissu in Lahaul Spiti and at Solang Valley, said his office on Thursday.

India’s Covid-19 death count has reached close to the 100,000-mark, eight months after the first case was reported and less than seven months after the first death in the country. Only two other countries— the US and Brazil—have seen more Covid deaths than India. Around 68 per cent of the deaths were concentrated in just five states: Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh.

The overall number of global coronavirus cases has topped 34.4 million, while the deaths have increased to more than 1,026,700, according to the Johns Hopkins University.

As of Saturday, the total number of cases stood at 34,495,372 and the fatalities rose to 1,026,717, the University's Center for Systems Science and Engineering (CSSE) revealed in its latest update.

North Korea leader Kim Jong-un on Friday wished US President Donald Trump quick recovery from COVID-19 after he was admitted to Walter Reed hospital in Washington.

He sincerely hoped that they (Donald and Melania Trump) would be recovered as soon as possible. He hoped they will surely overcome it. He sent warm greetings to them, the Korean Central News Agency was quoted as saying by Yonhap.

Amazon.com Inc. said almost 20,000 US employees have tested positive for Covid-19 during a time period of a little over six months, a disclosure that follows criticism from some lawmakers and employees that the world’s largest online retailer was too secretive about outbreaks within its ranks.

The retailer said in a blog post Thursday that 19,816 workers tested positive for the respiratory disease, or were presumed positive, out of 1,372,000 US front-line employees who worked for the company from March 1 to Sept.

US President Donald Trump is moving to a military hospital for treatment after being diagnosed with Covid-19, the White House said on Friday, as his administration and election campaign scrambled to adjust to an extraordinary twist in his turbulent presidency.

Trump, 74, will be moved to a special suite at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Bethesda, Maryland, for the next few days as a precautionary measure, White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany said.

Senior BJP leader Uma Bharti on Friday raised doubts over the behaviour of UP Police in the Hathras incident and asked state CM Yogi Adityanath to allow mediapersons and politicians to meet the victim's family.

In a series of tweets, the leader said that as per her knowledge, there's no rule that the family cannot meet anyone during SIT probe, adding that the investigation by the Special Investigation Team (SIT) in Hathras incident has dented the image of BJP, UP government and CM Yogi.

Indian oil-to-telecoms conglomerate Reliance Industries Ltd said on Saturday Singapore sovereign wealth fund GIC and global private equity firm TPG Capital invested a combined Rs 7,350 crore (about $1 billion) in its retail unit.

Reliance, controlled by Asia's richest man Mukesh Ambani, has secured more than $2 billion in investments from global investors, including KKR & Co, Abu Dhabi state fund Mubadala and Silver Lake Partners, in Reliance Retail Ventures Ltd over the past few months.

Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) National Secretary from West Bengal Anupam Hazra who had dared to hug West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee if infected with cornavirus, tested postive for the virus on Friday.

Covid Positive, posted Anupam Hazra on his Facebook page today.

He has been shifted to BP Poddar Hospital for treatment.

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