India all set for 'Unlock 1' as Covid-19 cases continue to soar, now 7th worst-hit country in world

On the last day of lockdown 4.0, India registered its highest single-day spike of Covid-19 cases with 8,380 new infections reported in the last 24 hours, taking the country's tally to 1,82,143, while the death toll rose to 5,164, according to the Union Health Ministry's Sunday morning tally.

India has now become the world's seventh worst-hit country in terms of coronavirus cases with its tally of 1,82,143, according to the World Health Organization's (WHO) Covid-19 tracker.

The number of active Covid-19 cases stood to 89,995, while 86,983 people have recovered and one patient has migrated.

Several states released guidelines for the fifth phase of lockdown, or 'Unlock 1.0', starting Monday, June 1.

After the Centre allowed lifting of restrictions on inter-state movement of people, states like Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu, which have reported the highest number of coronavirus cases, and those in the Northeast on Sunday decided to continue with the curbs after the end of the fourth phase of the lockdown.

Others like Rajasthan and Telangana announced they are allowing inter-state movement as part of easing of restrictions under the Unlock 1.0, after such travel was banned for over two months due to the coronavirus lockdown.

The UP government said there is no ban on interstate travel but left it to the district administrations of Ghaziabad and Noida to take a call on the movement of people from adjoining Delhi.

Here are all the latest developments:

India records highest single-day spike of 8,380 cases

India registered its highest single-day spike of Covid-19 cases on Sunday with 8,380 new infections reported in the last 24 hours, taking the country's tally to 1,82,143, while the death toll rose to 5,164, according to the Union Health Ministry.

The number of active Covid-19 cases stood at 89,995, while 86,983 people have recovered and one patient has migrated, it said.

"Thus, around 47.76 per cent patients have recovered so far," a senior health ministry official said.

In the last 24 hours, 4,614 patients were found cured, the ministry said.

India now seventh worst-hit country by coronavirus in world

India has now become the world's seventh worst-hit country in terms of coronavirus cases with its tally of 1,82,143, according to the World Health Organization's Covid-19 tracker.

According to the WHO tracker, a total of 59,34,936 cases have been recorded globally with 3,67,166 deaths as of 10:30 PM Sunday.

India registered its highest single-day spike of Covid-19 cases on Sunday with 8,380 new infections reported in the last 24 hours, taking the country's tally to 1,82,143, while the death toll rose to 5,164, according to the Union Health Ministry.

According to the WHO tracker, India is the seventh-most affected nation in terms of Covid-19 cases after US, Brazil, Russia, UK, Spain and Italy.

The US is the worst-affected country in terms of cases with 17,16,078 infections, while India is at the seventh spot with 1,82,143 cases. Germany has 1,81,482 cases, Turkey has 1,63,103 cases and Iran has 1,48,950, according to the WHO tracker.

PM Modi cautions against laxity in Covid-19 fight as country prepares to 'Unlock'

As India climbed to the seventh position in the global Covid-19 tally, Prime Minister Narendra Modi cautioned people against showing any laxity in the fight against Covid-19 and asked them to be "extra alert and careful", while acknowledging that the poor and labourers have been hit the hardest by the crisis.

“Becoming careless or lackadaisical cannot be an option”, Modi said, as the Centre's three-phase unlock plan that will restrict curbs to containment zones kicks in from Monday after the end of the fourth phase of the national lockdown.

PM Narendra Modi also said he is doing everything in his capacity to look into the problems of everyone in the nation, adding that the fight against coronavirus is "long one".

While addressing his radio program 'Mann Ki Baat', PM Narendra Modi said, "The road ahead is a long one. We are fighting a pandemic about which little was previously known."

Maharashtra reports 2,487 new cases of Covid-19, 89 deaths

On Sunday, the Maharashtra Health Department reported the detection of 2,487 new cases of Covid-19 and 89 more casualties recorded in the last 24 hours.

With these developments, Maharashtra's tally is now 67,655. Out of these, 36,031 are active cases, and 29,329 have been identified as recoveries.

Mumbai now has 39,686 confirmed cases. This figure is inclusive fo 21,610 active cases, 16,791 recoveries and 1,279 casualties to date. Over the last 24 hours, Mumbai recorded 1,244 new cases and 52 coronavirus-related deaths.

Some states to continue curbs on inter-state travel, others lift ban

After the Centre allowed the lifting of restrictions on inter-state movement of people, states like Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu, which have reported the highest number of coronavirus cases, and those in the Northeast on Sunday decided to continue with the curbs after the end of the fourth phase of the lockdown.

Others like Rajasthan and Telangana announced they are allowing inter-state movement as part of easing of restrictions under the 'Unlock-1', after such travel was banned for over two months due to the coronavirus lockdown.

The Karnataka government, while allowing inter-state movement, said separate orders will be issued by Health and Family Welfare Department on inter-state travel of people to Karnataka.

The UP government said there is no ban on interstate travel but left it to the district administrations of Ghaziabad and Noida to take a call on the movement of people from adjoining Delhi. The state has, however, not restarted its inter-state bus service.

The Odisha government said it has initiated the process to pave way for resumption of inter-state bus services.

Several states extend lockdown

Several states like Maharashtra, Telangana, Tamil Nadu, Punjab, Mizoram, Meghalaya etc, extended the lockdown till June 30, while lifting some restrictions.

The Maharashtra government extended the lockdown in the entire state till June 30, and announced easing of restrictions and phase-wise resumption of activities under the "Mission Begin Again".

As per the revised guidelines issued on Sunday, all markets, market areas and shops, except malls, will be allowed to function from June 5 on an odd-even basis.

While all private offices can operate with up to 10 per cent their employee strength as per the requirement from June 8 with others working from home. This will exclude Covid-19 containment zones, the guidelines said.

Shooting of films, television serials and digital series has also been allowed in non-containment zones in Maharashtra in the latest phase of the lockdown with certain conditions.

The Tamil Nadu government also extended the coronavirus lockdown till June 30, albeit with more relaxations that include the partial and conditional resumption of public transport and restaurants.

The West Bengal government, on the other hand, extended the lockdown in the state up to June 15 with further relaxations and certain conditions, which included nod to indoor and outdoor activities related to TV and cinema production, barring reality show production, from June 1.

Meanwhile, Opening of salons, shops in malls on an odd-even basis and religious places are among the activities the Delhi government is likely to allow in the national capital in the coming days, even as the city continued to witness a spike in Covid-19 cases, with the highest single-day record of 1,295 fresh infections on Sunday.

Noida, Ghaziabad borders with Delhi to remain shut due to capital's Covid-19 boom

Despite various relaxations being provided in the Lockdown 5.0, the borders of Noida and Ghaziabad with Delhi will remain closed due to the spike in Covid-19 cases in the capital.

The Gautam Buddh Nagar Health Department submitted a report on Sunday which stated that in the last 20 days, 42 per cent of the Covid-19 cases in the district have been tracked to Delhi. Therefore, the Noida administration has decided that the status at the Delhi-Noida border will remain same as before.

Gautam Buddh Nagar DM issued guidelines for maintaining the status quo at the Delhi-Noida border. Previous guidelines will remain in force for opening of shops or markets.

Malls, hotels, restaurants & religious places to reopen in UP from June 8

The Uttar Pradesh government said on Sunday that it will be extending the lockdown till June 30, said UP Additional Chief Secretary (Home), Awanish Awasthi.

He said the state government will allow religious places, hotels, restaurants and shopping malls to reopen from June 8.

Further, the UP transport corporation said bus services will resume in the state from 8 am on June 1. The transport corporation said it "heartily welcomes all passengers and is committed to smooth and safe journey of all its passengers".

The decision comes as part of the first phase of the extended lockdown 'Unlock 1', which will allow almost everything to resume to normal in a phased manner. READ FULL GUIDELINES HERE

Asian Games gold medalist boxer Dingko Singh tests positive for Covid-19

Asian Games gold medalist boxer Dingko Singh tested positive for Covid-19 in Manipur on Sunday. Dingko is the first high-profile name from the Indian sporting fraternity who has tested positive for Covid-19 which has been declared a pandemic by the World Health Organization.

Dingko Singh was recently in Delhi for cancer treatment but undertook a 2,400-km journey to return home to Manipur by road. He had earlier been airlifted to the national capital thanks to the efforts made by the Boxing Federation of India (BFI).

(Photos: PTI)