The Income Tax Department on Friday issued a notification allowing hospitals and nursing homes to accept cash payments of Rs 2 lakh and more for the treatment of coronavirus infected patients.

The Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT), that frames policy for the department, issued the notification.

With 48,781 new cases, Karnatka's Covid tally crossed the 18 lakh mark, while 592 patients succumbed to the infection in the last 24 hours, said the state health bulletin on Friday.

With 48,781 new cases registered on Thursday, the state's Covid tally shot up to 18,38,885, including 5,36,641 active cases, while recoveries increased to 12,84,420, including 28,623 patients discharged during the day, it said.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) on Friday approved the Chinese Sinopharm COVID-19 vaccine for emergency use, paving the way for it to be rolled out globally.

The Sinopharm vaccine is produced by Beijing Bio-Institute of Biological Products Co Ltd, a subsidiary of China National Biotec Group (CNBG).

India saw a record 4,187 fatalities due to COVID-19 in a single day, taking the country's death toll to 2,38,270, while 4,01,078 new infections were reported in a day, pushing the tally to 2,18,92,676, according to the Union health ministry data updated on Saturday.

Registering a steady increase, the active cases have increased to 37,23,446, comprising 17.01 per cent of the total infections, while the national COVID-19 recovery rate has dropped to 81.90 per cent, the data updated at 8 am showed.

As foreign aid continues to pour in to assist India in its fight against coronavirus, the government on Friday said that it has received as many as 2,933 oxygen concentrators, 2,429 oxygen cylinders, 13 oxygen generation plants, 2,951 ventilators/ Bi PAP/ C PAP and more than 3 lakh Remdesivir vials as part of international donations.

The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare also informed that the Central government continues to allocate and deliver COVID-19 supplies received from the global community to states and UTs.

Amid a spike in COVID-19 cases, the Tamil Nadu government has announced a two-week lockdown from May 10 to May 24. The order was issued a day after the state recorded its biggest day spike of new Covid infections.

Chief Minister M K Stalin said in a statement that the lockdown was being enforced due to unavoidable reasons and pointed out that the decision was taken based on inputs received at a review meeting he had with district collectors on Friday, besides consultations with medical experts.

Amazon.com Inc. is pausing plans for its annual sale Prime Day in Canada and India due to concerns about Covid-19, the company confirmed on Thursday. The pause won’t affect Prime Day in the U.S., which is scheduled for an undisclosed day in June, according to an email reviewed by Bloomberg.

Based on the increasing impact of Covid-19 in Canada, and the importance we place on protecting the health and safety of our employees and customers, we will pause plans for Prime Day 2021 in Canada, said the email, sent to Amazon sellers Thursday.

It will be a while before it’s fully understood why India has been so swiftly and so disastrously engulfed by the coronavirus. But there is one thing for sure: India’s problem is now the world’s problem.

India shut down too abruptly when the virus arrived, and then was too quick to reopen. In March 2020, the country was locked down at four hours’ notice though it did not yet have many cases.

DMK president M K Stalin's Cabinet, including him, would be 34-member strong and he has retained senior leaders like Duraimurugan and over a dozen shall be ministers for the first time.

Chief Minister-designate Stalin's list of persons to be appointed as ministers along with their portfolios has been approved by Governor Banwarilal Purohit, a Raj Bhavan release said.

As India faces one of its worst public health crises, a top Indian-American CEO has said it is time for other countries to step up their efforts and help the country deal with the COVID-19 situation.

Deloitte CEO Punit Renjen said the company is encouraging its 3,00,000 professionals across the globe to support three charities -- GiveIndia, United Way India and the PM cares Fund.

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