Prime Minister Narendra Modi will be inaugurating the construction of the Agra metro project today at 11.30 am via video conferencing. The PM will be joined by Union Minister of Housing & Urban Affairs Hardeep Singh Puri, Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath and other dignitaries at the 15 Battalion PAC parade ground in Agra.

The Serum Institute of India (SII) on December 6 applied to the Drugs Controller General of India (DCGI) to seek emergency use authorisation for its COVID-19 vaccine candidate Covishield.

It is reported that the SII cited unmet medical needs in the country owing to the coronavirus pandemic and public interest at large as reasons for its application.

The global coronavirus caseload nears the 66 million cases mark, as per the latest update by Johns Hopkins University.

As of Saturday, the world count stood at 65,842,942, while the death toll at 1,518,560.

According to JHU, the US continues to be the worst-affected country from the COVID-19 pandemic with 14,353,740 cases and 279,726 deaths.

Haryana Health Minister Anil Vij has tested positive for COVID-19 and has been admitted to Civil Hospital, Ambala Cantt. This comes 15 days after he was administered a trial dose of COVID-19 vaccine Covaxin.

Taking to Twitter on Saturday, Vij (67), who is also the state's home minister, urged all those who had come in contact with him recently to get tested.

A day ahead of the fifth round of negotiations with the central government on the three farm laws, agitating farmers on Friday hardened their stand, threatening to hold a Bharat Bandh on December 8 and occupy toll plazas if their demands are not met by then.

Addressing a press conference, farmer leader Gurnam Singh Chaduni said if the Centre does not accept the demands in Saturday's talks, farmers will intensify their agitation against the new agriculture laws.

All the states have now opted for the special window for the goods and services tax (GST) compensation with Jharkhand also choosing that option. All the three union territories with legislatures which are part of the GST Council have already chosen the window.

The Centre has set up the window to borrow on behalf of states the shortfall arising out of the GST implementation.

The National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) has approved a resolution plan for Reliance Infratel submitted by a group entity of Reliance Industries, according to a regulatory filing.

"... the resolution plan submitted by Infrastructure Projects - a division of Reliance Projects & Property Management Services Limited, a wholly owned subsidiary of Reliance Industries Limited.

Moscow began distributing the Sputnik V COVID-19 shot via 70 clinics on Saturday, marking Russia's first mass vaccination against the disease, the city's coronavirus task force said.

The task force said the Russian-made vaccine would first be made available to doctors and other medical workers, teachers and social workers because they ran the highest risk of exposure to the disease.

In what seems to be a direct fall out of remarks by Canadian Prime minister Justin Trudeau, India's External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar will not attend Canada headed Covid foreign ministers grouping meeting.

The meeting takes place next week, and ahead of that, Canada was told that India will not attend the meet.

Almost 100% of COVID-19 patients develop antibodies no matter the course of the disease, WHO's Maria Van Kerkhove said on Friday.

What we understand is 90 to 100% of people who are infected with the virus do develop an antibody response, whether you have mild infection or asymptomatic infection all the way to severe infection, Van Kerkhove, an expert on epidemiology, said at a virtual press briefing.

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