The world needs the cooperation of the Chinese government to trace the origins of Covid-19 and prevent future pandemic threats, two leading U.S. disease experts said Sunday.

Information to support the theory that the SARS-CoV-2 virus may have escaped from a lab in Wuhan, China, has increased, said Scott Gottlieb, a commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration in the Trump administration who now sits on the board of Pfizer Inc.

The overall global Covid-19 caseload has topped 170.1 million, while the deaths have surged to more than 3.53 million, according to the Johns Hopkins University.

In its latest update on Monday morning, the University's Center for Systems Science and Engineering (CSSE) revealed that the current global caseload and death toll stood at 170,174,444 and 3,537,835, respectively.

The government of Andhra Pradesh has passed an order and accorded administrative sanction to the State Skill Development Corporation for the establishment of one skill development university and 30 skill development colleges across the state.

One college will be set up in each of the 25 parliamentary constituency, one each will be set up in IIITs across the state and one will be set up in Pulivendila, Chief Minister YS Jaganmohan Reddy's constituency.

In view of the further extension of lockdown declared by the Telangana government, Hyderabad Metro Rail service will operate its trains between 7 am and 12

In view of the further extension of lockdown declared by the Government of Telangana, the timings of the Hyderabad Metro Rail service have been rescheduled. During this period, Hyderabad Metro Rail will start its first train from respective terminal stations at 7 am; while the last train will start at 11:45 am and reach the respective terminating stations by 12:45 pm, read a statement from Hyderabad Metro Rail.

External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar and US Secretary of State Antony Blinken during their bilateral meeting on Friday (local time) discussed regional and global cooperation between India and United States, including joint efforts to address a range of regional issues, such as China, Burma and Afghanistan, a US spokesperson has said.

The United States and India have strengthened our cooperation in the region. Over the course of the past year, we have worked together to address a range of regional issues such as China, Burma and Afghanistan, said Dean Thompson, the Acting Assistant Secretary, Bureau of South and Central Asian Affairs, US.

Telangana's Health Department on Friday revoked the permission granted to Hyderabad's Virinchi Hospital to provide treatment to Covid-19 patients for 'violation of treatment protocols'.

A show-cause notice was sent to the hospital after a complaint was received by the relatives of a deceased person on May 27.

State Bank of India (SBI) and HDFC Bank have moved the Supreme Court and sought a stay on the Reserve Bank of India's directive to banks to provide financially sensitive data under the RTI act, The Times of India reported on Friday.

According to the report, the two largest banks of India feared that such directive could be detrimental to their business operations and compromise the confidentiality of customer information.

India and the US on Friday (May 28) promised to support each other amid the COVID-19 crisis in the second physical meet between External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar and US Secretary of State Antony Blinken. Both of them had met earlier this year in London on the sidelines of the G7 Foreign Ministers meeting.

Jaishankar, standing alongside the US Secretary of State, said, Our relations have grown strong over the years and I am very confident that it will continue to do so, thanking the US for the strong support and solidarity at the moment of great difficulty for us.

The single day rise in coronavirus cases was recorded at 1,73,790, the lowest in last 45 days, taking India's total tally of COVID-19 cases to 2,77,29,247, according to the Union health ministry data updated on Saturday.

The daily positivity further declined to 8.36 per cent, remaining below 10 per cent for five consecutive days, while the weekly positivity rate dropped to 9.84 per cent, it said.

A new born girl tested positive for COVID-19 at a hospital in Banaras Hindu University's (BHU) Sir Sunderlal Hospital, despite her mother testing negative before the delivery.

According to Dr Kaushan Kumar Gupta, the Medical Superintendent, the mother was tested for COVID-19 on May 24 before giving birth. The following day, she gave birth to a girl, who tested positive.

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