Sri Lanka's Cabinet of Ministers resigned with immediate effect late on Sunday night, as the country experienced its worst economic crisis of all time.

Speaking to reporters, Education Minister and Leader of the House, Dinesh Gunawardena said the Cabinet ministers handed over their resignations to Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa.

India recorded less than 1,000 new COVID-19 cases for the first time in 715 days even as the virus tally rose to 4,30,29,044, while the active infection count fell below 13,000, according to the Union Health Ministry data updated on Monday.

The number of active cases is the lowest in 714 days, the data showed.

Ten gram of 24-carat gold became cheaper by Rs 20 on Monday to trade at 52,460. The price of silver remained unchanged at Rs 66,800.

Ten gram of 22-carat gold is trading at Rs 47,950 as the price remained unchanged.

The price of 10 gram of 24-carat gold in Delhi and Mumbai stood at Rs 52,460.

Petrol and diesel prices were on Monday hiked by 40 paise a litre each, taking the total increase in rates in the last two weeks to Rs 8.40 per litre.

Petrol in Delhi will now cost Rs 103.81 per litre as against Rs 103.41 previously, while diesel rates have gone up from Rs 94.67 per litre to Rs 95.07, according to a price notification of state fuel retailers.

Rates have been increased across the country and vary from state to state, depending upon the incidence of local taxation.

Housing Development Corporation Limited (HDFC) and HDFC Bank rallied up to 10 per cent on the BSE in Monday’s intra-day trade after their respective boards approved the merger of HDFC into HDFC Bank.

As part of the deal, shareholders of HDFC Ltd will receive 42 shares of the bank for 25 shares held. Existing shareholders of HDFC Ltd will own 41 per cent of HDFC Bank. Shares held by the housing finance company in the lender will be extinguished, making HDFC Bank a full-fledged public company, reports suggest.

The global coronavirus caseload has topped 491.3 million, while the deaths have surged to more than 6.15 million and vaccinations to over 10.98 billion, according to the Johns Hopkins University.

In its latest update on Monday morning, the University's Center for Systems Science and Engineering (CSSE) revealed that the current global caseload and the death toll stood at 491,395,201 and 6,152,813, respectively, while the total number of vaccine doses administered has increased to 10,981,351,918.

As many as 12 Indian fishermen from Tamil Nadu have been arrested by the Sri Lankan navy for allegedly fishing in its waters, a Fisheries official here said on Sunday.

One boat was also impounded.

They fishers were engaged in fishing near Katchatheevu late on Saturday when they were apprehended by the Lankan navy, the official said.

Zydus Lifesciences on Friday announced that the safety and efficacy analysis data from phase III clinical trial of its Plasmid DNA Covid-19 vaccine ZyCoV-D has been peer reviewed and published in The Lancet, a reputed and well known medical journal.

The double blind, placebo controlled, randomised Phase III clinical trial of the world’s first plasmid DNA vaccine, ZyCoV-D was one of the largest trials for a Covid-19 vaccine in India and was conducted on over 28,000 healthy adult volunteers at over 50 sites across the country.

The price of 10 gram of 24-carat gold remained unchanged on Friday at Rs 51,980, while silver became cheaper by Rs 5,300 per kg to Rs 66,800.

Ten gram of 22-carat gold is trading at Rs 47,650.

The price of 10 gram of 24-carat gold in Delhi and Mumbai stood at Rs 51,980.

With 1,335 new coronavirus infections being reported in a day, India's total tally of COVID-19 cases rose to 4,30,25,775, while the active cases dipped to 13,672, according to the Union Health Ministry data updated on Friday.

The death toll climbed to 5,21,181 with 52 fresh fatalities, the data updated at 8 am stated.

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