The coronavirus variant first identified in India is highly infectious and can be caught by people who have already had the disease or been only partially vaccinated, a panel of Indian government scientists said in a report published yesterday.

Serum Institute of India has got Drug Controller General of India's green signal to manufacture Russia’s Sputnik V Covid-19 vaccine in the country for examination, test and analysis with certain conditions, official sources said today.

India has decided to extend the validity of its visa or stay stipulation period for foreign nationals, who are stuck in that country due to Covid-19 induced suspension of normal international flights, from June 30 to August 31.

The United States on Thursday told India about its plans to make COVID-19 vaccines available to other countries, including the South Asian nation, Prime Minister Narendra Modi's office said.

India’s Supreme Court today quashed an FIR lodged against noted journalist Vinod Dua for alleged sedition and other offences -- filed by a local Bharatiya Janata Party leader in Himachal Pradesh state over Dua’s YouTube show.

The Indian Union Muslim League (IUML) today moved the Supreme Court against the Indian government’s notification inviting non-Muslims from Bangladesh, Afghanistan and Pakistan residing in 13 districts of five states to apply for Indian citizenship.

India’s Supreme Court has said it will examine the interpretation of sedition law, particularly in light of media rights and free speech.

The meteoric rise of Covid-19 cases during the second wave that overwhelmed the health infrastructure in India is now being matched by an equally steep decline in infections.

The Serum Institute of India (SII) has said it will be able to manufacture and supply 90 to 100 million doses of the Covishield Covid-19 vaccine next month, a senior company official was quoted as saying in a letter to the Indian government.

India will have nearly 120 million doses of Covid-19 vaccines available for domestic use in June, the government said on Sunday.

Monsoon rains are likely to hit India's southern coast around May 31, in line with typical patterns, the state-run India Meteorological Department said in its latest forecast on Sunday.

Prone to cyclones, the eastern Indian state of Odisha has decided to include disaster and pandemic management in the curricula of high school and college.

India reported on Saturday 173,790 new coronavirus infections during the previous 24 hours, its lowest daily rise in 45 days, while deaths rose by 3,617.

India yesterday invited Hindus, Sikhs, Jains and Buddhists from Bangladesh, Afghanistan and Pakistan, currently residing in five Indian states to apply for Indian citizenship.

Eleven days after their arrest by CBI in Narada sting operation case relating to alleged graft, senior West Bengal ministers Firhad Hakim and Subrata Mukherjee, ruling Trinamool Congress (TMC) legislator Madan Mitra and former Kolkata mayor Sovan Chatterjee were granted interim bail by the Calcutta High Court yesterday.

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal today announced that process to lift the city’s month-long Covid-19 induced lockdown will start from May 31.

The Calcutta High Court today granted interim bail to two West Bengal ministers Firhad Hakim and Subrata Mukherjee, TMC legislator Madan Mitra and former Kolkata mayor Sovan Chatterjee arrested by Central Bureau of Investigation in Narada sting operation case relating to alleged graft.

The Halda river, the lone natural breeding ground of carp-like fish in South Asia, has seen a poor yield of eggs mainly due to heavy salinity in the river water this year.

India today termed a recent report in the New York Times (NYT) on the estimated Covid-19 death count in India as “completely baseless and false.”

India’s capital Delhi reported its first case of white fungus, which causes multiple perforations in the intestine of a Covid-19 patient, doctors in a leading private hospital said today.