In the backdrop of Washington announcing assistance to India amid the COVID crisis, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and US President Joe Biden spoke to each other on Monday. India has been reporting over three lakh COVID-19 cases in the last few days, with allies rushing to assist it.

India PM Modi tweeted, saying, Had a fruitful conversation with @POTUS @JoeBiden today. We discussed the evolving COVID situation in both countries in detail. I thanked President Biden for the support being provided by the United States to India.

The Delhi High Court on Monday requested the AAP government to set up more testing centres in view of the rise in COVID-19 cases in the national capital which is recording over 24,000 fresh infections for the last few days.

A bench of Chief Justice D N Patel and Justice Jasmeet Singh also asked the Delhi government to put in place necessary infrastructure to streamline the sample collectionprocess.

COVID-19 tally in Telangana breached four lakh mark with 6,551 fresh infections and the toll crossed 2,000 with 43 more casualties.

Thetotal number of cases now stands at over 4.01 lakh while the toll rose to 2,042.

Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) accounted for the most number of cases with 1418, followed by Medchal Malkajgiri (554) and Rangareddy (482), a government bulletin said on Monday providing details as of 8 PM on April 25.

In the urgent fight against the second wave of Covid-19 pandemic, e-commerce major Amazon has joined hands with various industry partners and non-governmental organisations (NGOs) to urgently bring in 10,000 oxygen concentrators and BiPAP (bilevel positive airway pressure) machines to India.

The company has joined hands with ACT Grants, Temasek Foundation, Pune Platform for COVID-19 Response (PPCR) and other partners to urgently airlift over 8,000 oxygen concentrators and 500 BiPAP machines from Singapore.

State governments are drawing up plans to procure vaccines for people in the 18-45 age group and have started price negotiations with manufacturers.

While Uttar Pradesh has sought 10 million doses (five million each from Serum Institute and Bharat Biotech), Maharashtra is looking to procure 15 million and is floating a global tender for this. Vaccine makers, however, say states are seeking to procure the products at Rs 150 per dose after the Centre said it would continue to get them at that price.

With 3,52,991 people testing positive for coronavirus infection in a day, the highest so far, India's total tally of COVID-19 cases has climbed to 1,73,13,163 while active cases have crossed the 28-lakh mark, according to the Union Health Ministry data updated on Monday.

The death toll increased to1,95,123 with a record 2,812 new fatalities, the data updated at 8 am showed.

Investors rushed to pick shares of Natco Pharma on the BSE on Monday as the firm sought Central Drugs Standard Control Organization's (CDSCO's) for approval of Phase-III clinical trial of Molnupiravir Capsules for the treatment of Covid-19 positive patients. At 11:30 am, shares of the pharmaceutical firm were ruling 5 per cent higher on the BSE, at Rs 923 apiece, as against a 1.4 per cent rise in the benchmark S&P BSE Sensex. In the intra-day deals, the shares surged 7.5 per cent to Rs 944 per share on the BSE.

The SP Group has filed a review petition before the Supreme Court challenging the court’s March 26 verdict, in which it had ruled in favour of the Tata group. The SP group and the Tata group were locked in a bitter dispute after SP group scion, Cyrus Mistry, was removed by the Tata Sons board as its chairman. A Bench led by former Chief Justice of India S A Bobde had ruled that Mistry's removal was in sync with the law and SP group, a minority shareholder in Tata Sons, could not seek a board seat.

The raw material urgently required for the Indian manufacture of Covishield vaccine will immediately be made available to India, the White House said on Sunday local time.

According to a readout from The White House, Sullivan affirmed America's solidarity with India, the two countries with the greatest number of COVID-19 cases in the world.

In a one-sided encounter, Virat Kohli-led Royal Challengers Bangalore faced a crushing 69-run defeat against Chennai Super Kings in their Indian Premier League (IPL) 2021 clash at the Wankhede Stadium, Mumbai on Sunday. The RCB skipper was also fined Rs 12 lakh for maintaing a slow over rate in the match.

It is to be noted that this was the first time that Kohli has faced action under the IPL’s Code of Conduct relating to minimum over-rate offences.

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