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Amid an exponential rise in coronavirus cases, the Supreme Court has urged the Centre and states "to consider imposing a lockdown to break the chain in the interest of public welfare". It also directed the central government to revisit its initiatives and protocols, including the availability of oxygen, availability and pricing of vaccines, and availability of essential drugs at affordable prices.

A three-member apex court bench, comprising Justice D Y Chandrachud, Justice L Nageswara Rao and Justice Ravindra Bhat said, "We are cognisant of the socio-economic impact of a lockdown, specifically, on the marginalized communities thus, in case the measure of a lockdown is imposed, arrangements must be made beforehand to cater to the needs of these communities."

Chief minister Mamata Banerjee’s Trinamool Congress (TMC) scored an emphatic win in the keenly watched assembly elections in West Bengal, MK Stalin’s Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) returned to power in Tamil Nadu after a decade, and Kerala’s Left government scripted history by winning two consecutive terms on Sunday, putting an end to a month-long polling exercise that was held under the shadow of the Covid-19 pandemic.

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) was poised to return to power for a second straight term in Assam, while its alliance was ahead in the Union Territory (UT) of Puducherry — the silver lining for the saffron camp that suffered a heavy defeat at the hands of the TMC in the most-talked-about poll battle since the 2019 Lok Sabha elections. Another national party, the Congress, had nothing significant to showcase in this round of elections, apart from ally DMK’s Tamil Nadu win.

New Delhi India received a shipment of Russia’s Covid-19 vaccine Sputnik V on Saturday as the first batch of 1,50,000 doses arrived in Hyderabad from Moscow. Another three million doses of the Russian vaccine are scheduled to arrive this month. The vaccines will be delivered to Dr Reddy’s Laboratories, which has joined hands with Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF) to produce Sputnik V in India.

Russian Ambassador to India Nikolay Kudashev tweeted, “Happy to share that the first batch of the #SputnikV vaccine delivered in Hyderabad! As #RussiaIndia continue dedicated joint efforts to combat the #COVID19, this move is especially important to support the Indian Government’s endeavors to mitigate deadly 2nd wave & save lives."

Prime Minister Narendra on Friday urged Union ministers to constantly stay in touch with people in their respective regions and ensure that local-level needs are addressed promptly.

Chairing a cabinet meeting on the prevailing second wave of Covid-19, PM Modi said all arms of the government are working unitedly and rapidly to deal with the situation.

"He urged the ministers to stay in touch with people of their respective regions, help them and keep getting their feedback. He stressed upon the need to ensure that issues at the local level are promptly identified and addressed," the government said in a statement.

The Union Health Ministry on Thursday issued fresh set of guidelines for home isolation of mild/asymptomatic Covid-19 patients. The government has strictly advised people not to procure or administer Remdesivir injections at home. AIIMS Director Randeep Guleria has reiterated at several occasions that “Remdesivir is not a magic bullet” and should be administered only in a hospital setting.

India saw a record single day rise of 3,79,257 new coronavirus infections pushing the total tally of Covid-19 cases to 1,83,76,524, while active cases crossed the 30-lakh mark, according to the Union Health Ministry data. The death toll increased to 2,04,832 with a record 3,645 daily new fatalities, the data updated at 8 am on Thursday showed.