The United States and Britain rushed ventilators and vaccine materials to virus-stricken India yesterday while Italy lifted many Covid-19 restrictions in a bid to kickstart a near normal summer.

India’s government has decided to leave the import of Covid-19 vaccines to state authorities and companies, two government officials told Reuters, a decision that may slow acquisitions of shots as a second wave of the pandemic rips through the country.

As India reels under an alarming surge of Covid-19 cases, the country's armed forces are recalling all their medical personnel who have retired or taken pre-mature retirement in the last two years to work in Covid-19 facilities for civilians near their present place of residence.

The Madras High Court today slammed the Election Commission of India for allowing political rallies to be conducted amid the raging coronavirus pandemic in the country, and observed that the polls body officers should probably be “booked on murder charges”.

Germany will send oxygen and medical aid to India in the coming days to help it tackle its Covid-19 crisis, Foreign Minister Heiko Maas said on Monday.

The United States will immediately provide raw materials for Covid-19 vaccines, medical equipment and protective gear to help India respond to a massive surge in Covid-19 infections, a White House spokeswoman said on Sunday.

Muslim voters are set to be a key factor as incumbent government of Trinamool Congress (TMC) and its rival Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) lock horns in the seventh phase of West Bengal assembly polls today.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi urged all citizens to be vaccinated and exercise caution, saying the “storm” of infections had shaken India, as the country set a new global record of the most number of Covid-19 infections in a day.

The Indian High Commission in Dhaka has advised Indian nationals in Bangladesh to communicate with the mission if they need to travel to India.

The European Union and Germany today promised assistance to India to help fight the second wave of Covid-19 that threatens to overwhelm the country’s healthcare infrastructure.

The Indian government asked social media platform Twitter to take down dozens of tweets, including some by local lawmakers, that were critical of India's handling of the coronavirus outbreak, as cases of Covid-19 again hit a world record.

At least eight workers were killed and hundreds were rescued after an avalanche struck a remote Himalayan region near the China border in northern India, officials said Saturday.

India’s daily coronavirus death toll set a new record yesterday as the government battled to get oxygen to hospitals overwhelmed by the hundreds of thousands of new daily cases.

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said that he was looking at what he could do to help India, where the coronavirus pandemic is entering a deadly new phase with which its health services are struggling to cope.

Hospitals in India yesterday launched desperate appeals for oxygen as the nation’s Covid crisis spiralled, while Japan issued a state of emergency in some areas just three months before the Olympics are due to open.

Johnson & Johnson's single-shot Covid-19 vaccine is expected to be imported to India for "fill and finish" by June or July, financial daily Mint reported on Friday, citing ANI.

At least 13 Covid-19 patients died in a fire which broke out at the intensive care unit of a hospital in Palghar district of western Indian state of Maharashtra today, police said.

India yesterday posted a global record for the number of coronavirus cases in a day, as US President Joe Biden hailed his government’s “stunning” vaccination drive.

Mekala Kurmayya, a shepherd, appeared at a government office in India’s Telangana state wearing a bird’s nest on his face as he could not afford a mask.

India’s Civil Aviation Ministry and Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) tonight gave conditional exemption to Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) to conduct a feasibility study on Covid-19 vaccine delivery using drones.