Union Health Minister Dr Harsh Vardhan took charge as the Chairman of the World Health Organisation (WHO) Executive Board. "When India decides, it performs. We eradicated polio and small pox in our country at a time when there was abject poverty. More recently, we faced the threat of COVID-19 in a proactive and pre-emptive way, with unmatched scale and determination. Today, we have a mortality of three per cent only. In a country of 1.35 billion, there are only 0.1 million cases of COVID-19. The recovery rate is above 40 per cent and the doubling rate is 13 days," said Dr Harsh Vardhan while a

Air India flight took off from Vancouver International Airport on May 20 with over 200 Indians on board.This is the first Vande Bharat Mission repatriation flight from Canada and the first Air India flight to operate from Vancouver."The first Vande Bharat Mission flight from Canada left from Vancouver on May 20, 2020 with 200 passengers on board. Air India-1190 left Vancouver for Delhi and Amritsar with Indian citizens that included elderly, pregnant women, children and students, who were stranded here after travel restrictions were imposed due to COVID-19 outbreak," said Consulate General of

The Director General of National Disaster Response Force (NDRF), said that the teams have their own satellite communications to tackle it. SN Pradhan said that they are dealing with the cyclone in the context of COVID-19 pandemic. "We are not depended on any other communication setup; the teams have their own satellite communications. Based on experiences during cyclone FANI, all the teams are equipped with tree cutters/pole cutters," said Director General of NDRF, SN Pradhan while addressing a press conference in New Delhi. "We are dealing with the cyclone in the context on COVID-19, this i

Mumbai on Tuesday reported 1,411 new COVID-19 positive cases and 43 deaths, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation said. Now, the tally of total COVID-19 positive cases and fatalities due to the disease stand at 22,563 and 800, respectively. Meanwhile, nine more Brihanmumbai Electricity Supply and Transport (BEST) employees have been detected positive for the disease, taking the total number of infected people in the organisation to 137. As per the Union Health Ministry, Maharashtra has so far confirmed 35,058 positive cases, including 1249 deaths. Hundred and ninety-three COVID-19 positive ca

Punjab Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh has announced the replacement of strict curfew with a lockdown till May 31 in the State, while indicating resumption of limited public transport and maximum possible relaxations in non-containment zones from May 18. The containment zones would be strictly sealed to enable the resumption of shops and small businesses in the non-containment areas, he announced, adding that details of all relaxations would be announced by Monday, taking into account the new guidelines of the Centre for Lockdown 4.0. He, however, made it clear that educational institut

Gurdas Singh Badal, father of Punjab's Finance Minister Manpreet Singh Badal, and brother of the former Chief Minister of Punjab, Parkash Singh Badal has passed away. 90 year old Gurdas Singh Badal was not keeping well due to multiple issues related to acute diabetes, blood pressure, and heart problem. He was recently admitted to a private hospital in Mohali. Manpreet Badal shared the news of his father's demise on his twitter handle, "It is with great sorrow that I inform about the demise of my father S.Gurdas Singh Badal. He passed away last night at Fortis Hospital, Mohali. He was 90. His h

The total number of coronavirus positive cases in India reached 74,281 on Wednesday, said the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare. The tally is inclusive of 47,480 active cases, 24,385 cured/discharged patients and 2,415 deaths due to the infection. While the doubling time earlier was 10.9 days, it has improved to 12.2 in the last few days. According to MoHFW, Maharashtra has the most number of positive COVID-19 cases with 24,427 positive cases, followed by Gujarat with 8,903, and Tamil Nadu with 8,718 cases. Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan today held a meeting via video conference with

Former Olympic gold medallist and hockey legend Balbir Singh Senior on Tuesday, suffered a cardiac arrest and is currently on ventilator support. Balbir's grandson Kabir said doctors will continuously assess the condition of the former player over the next two days. "Balbir Singh suffered a cardiac arrest today morning. He is currently in ICU at Fortis Hospital, Mohali. He was admitted here on May 8 in a very serious state. His condition had improved slightly but he's still critical," Kabir said in a statement. "Doctors will be continuously assessing his condition over the next 24-48 hours be

Punjab Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh on Monday pitched for extension of the lockdown with a "carefully crafted strategy", which is to be backed by fiscal and economic empowerment of the states to save lives and secure livelihood. During a video conference with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Singh said that states needed to be given greater flexibility in micro-planning as part of a carefully planned exit strategy, encompassing both COVID containment and a defined path of economic revival. He demanded urgent financial assistance to states to meet at least 33 per cent of their committed