Delhi

New Delhi, May 21 (PTI) The daily rise in coronavirus cases in India remained below 3 lakh (300,000) for the fifth consecutive day with 259,000 new cases recorded in a single day, according to the Union Health Ministry data updated on Friday.

With a total of 259,551 fresh cases, India's total tally of COVID-19 cases climbed to 26,031,991.

The death toll climbed to 2,91,331 with 4,209 daily deaths, the data updated at 8 am showed.

New Delhi, May 19 (PTI) The Congress on Wednesday attacked the Narendra Modi government over a hike in fertiliser prices, and said this will put an additional burden of Rs 20,000 crore on the farmers.

Party leader Rahul Gandhi said the government has increased the prices of fertilisers, petrol and diesel, and lowered agri subsidies and income of farmers.

New Delhi, May 19 (PTI) An AAP councillor has joined the investigation in a case wherein over 20 people were arrested for allegedly pasting posters across the city criticising Prime Minister Narendra Modi for the COVID-19 vaccination drive, officials said on Wednesday.

A notice was sent to Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) councillor from Sitapur Praveen Kumar to join the investigation, a senior police officer said.

New Delhi, May 18 (PTI) The Delhi government will provide Rs 50,000 ex gratia to each family that has lost a member to Covid-19, besides a monthly assistance of Rs 2,500 if the deceased was an earning member, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal announced on Tuesday.

He also said that the children who have lost both parents, or single parent, due to Covid-19 will also be provided a monthly assistance of Rs 2,500 up to the age of 25 years. Also, the government will take care of their education, he said.

New Delhi, May 18 (PTI) The central government was rapped by the Delhi High Court on Tuesday for not filing its response to a plea by climate activist Disha Ravi for restraining the police from leaking to the media any probe material in relation to the FIR lodged against her in the toolkit case, despite granting a last and final opportunity to it in March this year.

New Delhi, May 17 (PTI) Despite the second coronavirus wave entering rural areas and lockdown in several states, the demand for work under rural employment scheme MGNREGA is on the rise, according to the data released by Rural Development Ministry on Monday.

In the wake of the pandemic, there have been casualties in operating staff for implementation of rural development schemes and those work in the front have witnessed casualties due to COVID-19, the ministry said in a statement.

New Delhi, May 18 (PTI) India's COVID-19 death toll climbed to 278,719 with a record 4,329 fresh fatalities, while the single day rise in coronavirus cases stood at 2.63 lakh, the lowest in 28 days, according to the Union Health Ministry data updated on Tuesday.

The country reported a total of 263,533 new cases in a span of 24 hours, taking the total tally of COVID-19 cases to 2,52,28,996, the data updated at 8 am showed.

A total of 2,59,170 cases were reported in a span of 24 hours on April 20.

New Delhi, May 18 (PTI) Padma Shri awardee and eminent cardiologist Dr K K Aggarwal, who gained more prominence in recent months by posting informative videos about COVID-19 on social media, has died of the same disease, a statement posted on his Twitter handle said.

Aggarwal, 62, who was admitted to the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) here and was on ventilator support since last week, died at 11.30 pm on Monday after a lengthy battle with COVID-19, according to the statement.

New Delhi, May 18 (PTI) The BJP hit out at the Congress on Tuesday over an alleged toolkit of the opposition party, saying it wants to tarnish the image of the country and Prime Minister Narendra Modi by calling the new strain of the coronavirus the "India strain" or the "Modi strain".

New Delhi, May 17 (PTI) The Centre on Monday told the Delhi High Court that it views the new privacy policy of WhatsApp as a violation of the Indian Information Technology (IT) law and rules, and sought directions to the social media platform to make it clear whether it was confirming to the same.

The central government's claim was made before a bench of Chief Justice D N Patel and Justice Jyoti Singh during hearing of several pleas challenging WhatsApp's new privacy policy, which according to the platform has come into effect from May 15 and has not been deferred.