West Bengal has taken a major step towards starting plasma therapy to treat COVID-19 patients after a state-run hospital collected and preserved the blood component from a woman who recovered from the disease in March, a senior official of the health department said on Thursday.
The number of coronavirus cases in India crossed 1.6 lakh on Thursday, making it the ninth worst-hit country by the deadly virus infection, while the number of deaths crossed China's official count, data from states governments and America's Johns Hopkins University showed.
Over 45,000 stranded Indians were brought back home from abroad under the Vande Bharat mission and another 1,00,000 will be evacuated till June 13, the Ministry of External Affairs said on Thursday.
The BJP on Thursday accused the Congress of "seeking benefit from challenges" the country is facing currently, and said the opposition party is indulging in "political slander" which is "unfortunate but expected".
The Railways on Thursday increased the advance reservation period from the present 30 days to 120 days for all special trains -- the 15 pairs operating since May 12 on Rajdhani routes and the 100 new pairs of special trains scheduled to run from June 1.
The Trinamool Congress leadership has cautioned senior party leader and minister Sadhan Pande and asked him not to publicly express views against the party, days after he blamed the TMC-run Kolkata Municipal Corporation for "lack of planning" in dealing with cyclone Amphan.
Stepping up efforts to control the spread of crop-damaging locust swarms mostly prevalent in northern India, the Union Agriculture Ministry on Thursday said that 15 sprayers will be procured from the UK in a fortnight and plans are afoot to deploy drones and helicopters for the aerial spray of pesticides.
The death of migrants returning home on Shramik Special trains are "small and isolated" incidents, and the railways cannot be blamed for it, West Bengal BJP president Dilip Ghosh said on Thursday, provoking accusations of "insensitivity" from political rivals.
Reiterating his offer to mediate on the border dispute between India and China, US President Donald Trump has said that he spoke with PM Narendra Modi about the "big conflict" and asserted that Indian Prime Minister is not in a "good mood" over the latest flare-ups between the two countries.
Swarms of locusts are expected to reach as far as Bihar and Odisha in July but there are less chances of migratory pests reaching south India, according to the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO).
Principal Chief Conservator of Forest, Uttarakhand on Thursday said that some people are circulating false information and are spreading rumours about the forest fire on social media.
External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Thursday held discussions with European Union foreign policy chief Josep Borrell on initiatives to promote post-Corona economic recovery and preparations for the 15th EU-India Summit.
Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh on Thursday demanded that the centre give Rs 10,000 to the poor and provide financial assistance to small and medium enterprises to resume operation.
The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) has send notices to the Union Home Secretary, the Railways and the governments of Gujarat and Bihar over hardships faced by migrants onboard trains due to delay in services and lack of food and water allegedly leading to sickness and death of some of them, officials said on Thursday.
A timely tweet from an alert co-passenger to the railway minister brought immediate help to a young couple travelling by a Bihar-bound Shramik Special when the wife went into labour inside the moving train, an official said on Thursday.
