UK Health Secretary Matt Hancock has said that that almost half, and possibly three-quarters, of all new coronavirus cases in the country are of the B.1.617 variant.

Addresing a press conference at Downing Street on Thursday, Hancock said: We always expected cases to rise as we rolled out the roadmap, we must remain vigilant.

China is coming under increasing pressure over probe into the origins of the COVID-19, even as scientists are demanding more clarity to go into the roots of the global pandemic.

Sky News Australia host Andrew Bolt on Wednesday spoke to Professor Nikolai Petrovsky, Director of Endocrinology at Flinders Medical Centre, who said that the world's scientific community had been tricked by China, reported New York Times Post.

The Delhi government will give compensation amount of up to Rs 5 lakh to families of those COVID patients who died due to lack of oxygen.

This amount will be an add-on to the already-announced Rs 50,000 compensation to families of those who died due to COVID-19 infection.

Apollo Hospitals will start administering Russian COVID-19 vaccine Sputnik V from the second week of June, the group announced on Thursday.

In a statement to the media, Executive Vice-chairperson Shobana Kamineni of the Apollo Group of Hospitals said that the group has completed administering one million vaccine doses across 80 locations in India, prioritising frontline workers, high-risk population, and corporate employees.

Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath said that the state has now moved into a Covid 'safe zone'.

In a statement, he said that the state has proved the critics wrong and managed to successfully blunt the surge through the trace, test and treat method.

Antigua and Barbuda Prime Minister Gaston Browne has asked neighbouring Dominica, where fugitive businessman Mehul Choksi was caught, to hand the diamantaire over to India directly, local media reported.

After news of Choksi's arrest in Dominica came on Tuesday night (local time), Browne told local media that he has given clear instructions to the Dominican authorities to repatriate Choksi to India.

Cadila Healthcare has sought permission from India’s drugs regulator for starting the next phase of human clinical trials for its biological therapy to treat mild Covid-19 cases.

The company on Thursday said that the therapy named ZRC-3308, which is a cocktail of two SARS-CoV-2-neutralising monoclonal antibodies (mAbs), targets SARS-CoV-2 spike protein. It significantly reduces viral load in mild patients and their rate of hospitalisation, said the company after seeking permission from Drugs Controller General of India (DCGI) for phase 1 to 3 trials.

Mumbai local train services are unlikely to resume for the general public anytime soon. State cabinet Minister Vijay Wadettiwar on Monday, while talking to the media, said the Mumbai local trains may not open their doors for the general public for at least the next 15 days as a precautionary measure against COVID-19.

The minister said that social distancing will not be possible in local trains, therefore the trains will continue to ply for essential services staffers only at the moment.

Shares of Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited (BPCL) rose 4 per cent and hit a 52-week high of Rs 488 on the BSE in intra-day trade on Thursday after the state-owned oil marketing company's board recommended a final dividend of Rs 58 per equity share, including one-time special dividend of Rs 35 per equity share of Rs 10 each, for the financial year ended March 31, 2021, subject to the approval of the shareholders.

In the past one month, the stock has outperformed the market by gaining 15 per cent, as compared to 5.5 per cent rise in the S&P BSE Sensex.

A five-judge Bench of the Calcutta High Court is scheduled to hear the Narada Scam case on Thursday at 11 am.

On May 24, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) had filed a Special Leave Petition (SLP) before the Supreme Court challenging the Calcutta High Court's order which allowed the house arrest of four Trinamool Congress (TMC) leaders, who are accused in the Narada case.

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