Witnessing a decline, India on Saturday reported 3,26,098 new Covid cases and 3,890 fatalities in the last 24 hours, the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare said.

In the past 23 days India's daily Covid tally has plateaued over the three-lakh-mark and over 3,000 casualties for 17 days.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday released the 8th instalment of PM-KISAN income support totalling over Rs 20,000 crore to 95 million farmers.

Under the scheme, a financial benefit of Rs 6,000 per year is transferred directly to the bank accounts of eligible farmers, payable in three equal four-monthly instalments of Rs 2,000 each. The scheme was launched in February 2019 but was implemented with effect from December 2018.

Global investment banking major JP Morgan Chase has increased its COVID-19 support to the country manifold, taking the total planned aid to close to $16 million, of which $3.8 million is for supporting its over 35,000 employees in India.

The head of the Wall Street major Jamie Dimon had on April 30 had committed an upfront $2 million financial aid along with an appeal to its over 2.5 lakh employees globally to chip in which would be matched by an equal amount by the company.

The low-pressure area over the Arabian Sea near Lakshwadeep has intensified into a deep depression, said the Indian Meteorological Department on Saturday. According to the IMD, this depression will intensify into a cyclonic storm over the next 12 hours.

Deep Depression intensified into a Cyclonic Storm Tauktae (pronounced as Tau`Te) over Lakshadweep area and adjoining southeast and east central Arabian Sea: Cyclone watch for south Gujarat and Diu coasts, informed IMD in a tweet.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi is going to hold a high-level meeting today regarding the COVID-19 situation and vaccination in the country. Prime Minister Modi this morning will hold a high-level meeting to review India's coronavirus situation and the vaccination drive in the country. The meeting is expected to start at 11 AM.

Speaking on the COVID-19 situation in the country, the Prime Minister on Friday said, The pandemic, the worst in 100 years, is testing the world at every step. There is an invisible enemy before us.

Shares of Asian Paints moved higher by 11 per cent to Rs 2,839 on the BSE in intra-day trade on Friday after the company reported a strong 44 per cent year-on-year (YoY) revenue growth at Rs 6,651 crore in the March 2021 quarter (Q4FY21), led by a 48 per cent YoY volume growth in the decorative segment. The stock had hit a record high of Rs 2,871 on January 11, 2021.

Odisha recorded a sudden surge in Covid-19 cases on Friday as the state reported 12,390 new cases in the last 24 hours, according to the state health bulletin.

As many as 10,649 new COVID-19 cases were reported in Odisha on Thursday.

Biovet Pvt Ltd, an associate firm of Bharat Biotech, is confident of making a plant at Manjari in Pune fully functional for vaccine production by August- end, a senior administrative official has said.

Hyderabad-based Bharat Biotech is the manufacturer of Covaxin, one of the two vaccines being used in the nationwide COVID-19 inoculation drive.

Two individuals lost their lives and at least 120 prisoners tested positive for Covid-19, as per an official on Thursday.

While speaking to the reporters, DIG (Prisons), Subhakanta Mishra said, Two individuals lost their lives and at least 120 prisoners tested positive for Covid-19. Critical patients shifted to COVID hospitals and 449 convicts released on 90-day parole.

Dramatically ramping up COVID-19 vaccination drive is key to ending the crisis in India and extending the gap between two doses of Covishield is a reasonable approach, White House chief medical adviser Dr Anthony Fauci told ANI in an exclusive interview on Thursday.

When you are in a very difficult situation, the way you are in India, you have to try and figure out ways to get as many people vaccinated as quickly as you can, so I believe that it is a reasonable approach to do, Fauci said.

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