Coronavirus News Highlights: Follow all precautionary COVID-19 protocols: Congress leader Rahul Gandhi

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Saturday urged people not to lower their guard against COVID-19 and to follow all precautionary steps. "Please keep the guard up - follow all precautionary protocols," he said on Twitter, using the hashtag "CovidIsNotOver".His remarks came amid concerns that over-crowding at many places, including hill stations, may lead to an early third wave of the pandemic. Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the central government have also expressed concern over the issue and urged all states and union territories to ensure that COVID-19 protocols are strictly followed.

COVID-19 has shifted the focus to biotech and genetic interventions, and this offers an appropriate opportunity to work on strategic research outcomes which are specifically India-centric, Union Minister Jitendra Singh has said. Addressing scientists and officials of the Department of Biotechnology (DBT) in his first review meeting on Friday after taking charge as the science and technology minister, Singh said India has huge resource material for research.It can offer the world exclusive preventive and therapeutic options, particularly considering the fact that Indian phenotype and genotype are different from the rest of the world, he said. As a result, both epidemiology as well as the clinical course of diseases, including the currently prevalent infections due to coronavirus or the mutant viruses, could be different and therefore, the country's researchers and scientists also owe responsibility to provide Indian remedies for the Indian patient, Singh pointed out.

Karnataka Health Minister K. Sudhakar said that it is wrong to presume that the third wave of the covid pandemic is imminent but it would surely hit us if people let their guard down by not following COVID19 safety protocols.

Haryana records 38 new cases, 8 deaths and 50 recoveries today; active case tally at 973

Total cases 61,49,264
Total recoveries 59,06,466
Death toll 1,25,528

Active cases 1,14,000

Punjab reports 124 new cases, 6 deaths and 248 recoveries today; the number of active cases in the state is 1,674

Mumbai reports 504 new cases and 13 deaths today; the number of active cases is 7,484

76 new COVID-19 cases, one more death in Delhi; positivity rate falls below 0.10%

The national capital recorded 76 fresh COVID-19 cases and one death due to the disease on Saturday, while the city's positivity rate slipped to 0.09 per cent, according to data shared by the health department here. The COVID-19 positivity rate had dropped to 0.11 per cent on Friday from 0.12 per cent the day before when 93 cases and three deaths were recorded in the city.The new fatality pushes the death toll in Delhi to 25,012, according to the latest bulletin. On Tuesday, Delhi had reported 79 cases of the infection and four fatalities. A day later, 93 cases and four deaths were recorded, according to official figures.

2,913 new COVID19 cases, 49 deaths and 3,321 recoveries recorded in Tamil Nadu today; active cases in the state are 32,767

Goa reports 155 new COVID19 cases, 7 deaths and 183 recoveries in the last 24 hours

Karnataka reports 2,162 new cases, 48 deaths and 2,879 recoveries today; active caseload at 37,141

Andhra Pradesh records 2,925 new COVID-19 cases, 26 deaths

Kerala's Sabarimala temple to be opened for devotees from July 17 to 21 for monthly puja. Devotees with complete COVID vaccination certificates or RTPCR negative report, issued within 48 hrs, will be allowed. Maximum of 5,000 devotees will be allowed through online booking system