Canada has extended the ban on direct flights from India and Pakistan by one more month until June 21 in a bid to arrest the spread of new variants of the COVID-19, according to an official announcement.

The ban on flights from India and Pakistan was extended as the previous 30-day ban, first imposed on April 22, was set to expire on Saturday, Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) News reported.

The daily rise in coronavirus cases in India remained below the 3 lakh-mark for the sixth consecutive day, with 2.57 lakh new cases recorded in a single day, the Union health ministry said on Saturday.

With the fresh cases, India's tally of COVID-19 cases climbed to 2,62,89,290.

State Bank of India’s (SBI’s) net profit rose 80.1 per cent year-on-year (YoY) to Rs 6,451 crore in the fourth quarter ended March 2021, beating analysts' estimates on high net interest income (NII) and lower provisions. It had posted a net profit of Rs 3,581 crore in Q4FY20. Sequentially, net profit was up by 24.14 per cent against Rs 5,196 crore in Q3FY21.

South Indian Bank has reported a net profit of Rs 6.79 crore in the March quarter of FY21 against a loss of Rs 143.69 crore in the year-ago period. The net profit of the lender stood at Rs 61.91 crore against Rs 104.59 crore of the previous financial year.

Murali Ramakrishnan, managing director and chief executive of South Indian Bank, said the lower quarterly profit was mainly on the account of credit cost on the fresh slippages during the fourth quarter. This resulted in additional stress in the economy due to Covid pandemic.

With no trace of 15 personnel from barge P305 and 11 from tugboat Varaprada six days after Cyclone Tauktae fury rendered the vessels adrift, the Navy on Saturday deployed specialised diving teams to boost the search and rescue operations (SAR) off Mumbai coast.

To augment the ongoing SAR ops for the missing crew of Barge P305 and Tug Varaprada, specialised diving teams onboard INS Makar with side-scan sonar and INS Tarasa sailed out early morning today from Mumbai, a Navy spokesperson tweeted.

A team of researchers has validated a faster, cheaper COVID-19 test that could kickstart the expansion of more widespread rapid testing.

The results of the study led by Simon Fraser University researchers have been published in The Journal of Molecular Diagnostics.

A 7.3-magnitude quake hit southern Qinghai, China early on Saturday (May 22) morning. The quake was centered about 10 kilometers deep in central China. Earlier on Friday night, a strong, shallow earthquake shook an area of southwestern China near Myanmar, causing at least one death and six injuries in Yunnan province.

The US Geological Survey said that the magnitude 6.1 quake was centered 10 kilometers (6 miles) below the surface northwest of the city of Dali, a scenic area in Yunnan province.

As the cases of the Black Fungus and the White Fungus infections are being reported from several states of India, doctors and health experts are elaborating on symptoms and causes.

Amid fears and concerns over the White Fungus infection, the MD of Delhi's LNJP Hospital, Dr Suresh Kumar said as quoted by news agency ANI, White fungus (Aspergillosis) is not as dangerous as black fungus. The treatment for the latter can continue for 1-1.5 months hence early diagnosis is critical. Don’t take steroids to treat COVID-19 without consulting your doctor.

The daily rise in coronavirus cases in India remained below 3 lakh for the fifth consecutive day with 2.59 lakh new cases recorded in a single day, according to the Union Health Ministry data updated on Friday.

With the fresh cases, India's total tally of COVID-19 cases climbed to 2,60,31,991.

The Uttarakhand High Court came down heavily on the state government for not ensuring that COVID protocols were followed while holding religious events like Kumbh Mela and Char Dham Yatra in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic.

While hearing a Public Interest Litigation (PIL), a bench of Chief Justice R.S. Chauhan and Justice Alok Verma said, First we make the mistake of Kumbh Mela, then there is Char Dham. Why do we repeatedly cause embarrassment to ourselves?

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