Breaking news: July 18, 2020 | As it happened

Telangana reported 1,284 new COVID-19 positive cases and 6 deaths today. The total number of cases in the State stands at 43,780 including 12,765 active cases, 30,607 recovered cases and 409 deaths.

129 new COVID-19 positive cases reported in Madhya Pradesh's Indore today, taking the total number of positive cases in the district to 6,035. The death toll in the district stands at 292.

711 new COVID-19 positive cases, 7 deaths, 518 recovered and 453 discharged in Rajasthan today. The total number of positive cases in the state rises to 28,500 including 553 deaths, 21,144 recovered and 20,459 discharged.

Jammu and Kashmir reported 441 new COVID-19 cases (398 in Kashmir) and 5 deaths in the last 24 hours, taking active cases to 5,797 and death toll to 236. A total of 7,165 patients have recovered from the disease till date.

Four new COVID care centers have been set up in Ranchi, Jharkhand for asymptomatic patients, with a combined capacity of 313 beds. One of the centers, PARAS HEC is equipped with an ICU facility.

Punjab reported 350 new COVID-19 cases and seven deaths in the last 24 hours. Total number of cases in the state now stands at 9,792 including 6,454 recoveries 246 deaths.

174 new COVID-19 cases have been recorded in Uttarakhand today, taking total number of cases to 4,276 including 3,081 recoveries and 51 deaths.

Andhra Pradesh reported 3,963 new COVID-19 cases and 52 deaths in the last 24 hours, taking total cases to 44,609 including 21,763 recoveries and 586 deaths.

96 animals died at Kaziranga National Park and Tiger Reserve, Bokahat in the flood which hit parts of the state. 8 rhinos, 3 wild buffaloes, 7 wild boars, 2 swamp deers, 74 hog deers, and 2 porcupines have died in the flood.

1,986 new COVID-19 positive cases reported in Uttar Pradesh in the last 24 hours. The total active cases now stand at 17,264. A total of 28,664 people have been discharged after recovering from the disease, death toll 1,108.

Bihar reported 739 new COVID-19 cases today, taking the total number of positive cases to 24,967.

Delhi AAP leader Atishi donates blood plasma at Institute of Liver and Biliary Sciences in Vasant Kunj.

Singapore reported 202 new COVID-19 cases on Saturday, taking the national tally to 47,655. Most of the cases were foreign workers living in dormitories while among the seven community cases five are Singaporean citizens or permanent residents and two are foreigners holding work passes, said the Ministry of Health (MOH).

Health authorities have expressed fears that the COVID-19 outbreak in Madhya Pradesh's Indore district, which has so far reported more than 5,900 cases, is likely to reach its peak by late July or early August.

Keeping in view the enthusiastic participation from app developers and innovators the last date for submitting your entries for #AatmaNirbharBharat App Innovation Challenge has been extended to 26th July, 2020. 
Click on the link below to participate:
https://innovate.mygov.in/app-challenge/

Here are the latest updates on the coronavirus crisis in India and other parts of the world on Saturday.

• Odisha's COVID-19 tally rises to 16,701 with a death toll of 86.
• Two people died and 14 recovered of COVID-19 in UP's Muzaffarnagar, officials say.
• About 43 per cent of children with disabilities are planning to drop out of studies due to difficulties faced by them in online education, according to a survey conducted with 3,627 respondents.
• Sri Lanka issues strict health guidelines for election campaigning.
• Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik has said the expansion of banking network will facilitate implementation of welfare programmes, particularly during the COVID-19 pandemic.
• With 34,884 people testing positive for coronavirus in the last 24 hours, India's COVID-19 caseload surged to 10,38,716.
• Centre asks WB, Assam, Bihar, and Odisha to strengthen efforts to combat COVID-19.
• Ten people including four NDRF personnel have tested positive for COVID-19 in Mizoram, taking the northeastern state's caseload to 282 on Saturday, a health official said.

Ambala receives light rainfall. India Meteorological Department (IMD) predicts, cloudy skies with few spells of rain or thundershowers in the area, for the next week.

591 COVID-19 cases, 453 recovered and 3 deaths reported in Odisha on 17th July (yesterday). Total number of cases in the state is now at 16,701, including 5,259 active cases, 11,330 recovered and 86 deaths

The total number of COVID-19 positive cases in Jharkhand stands at 5,110 (till 10am today) including 2487 active cases, 2577 recovered cases and 46 deaths

• For up to eight of the Twitter accounts involved, the attackers took the additional step of downloading the account’s information through our “Your Twitter Data” tool. We are reaching out directly to any account owner where we know this to be true: Twitter
• We believe attackers targeted certain Twitter employees through a social engineering scheme. They manipulated a small number of employees & used their credentials to access Twitter’s internal systems, including getting through our two-factor protections: Twitter on Bitcoin scam
• As of now, we know that they accessed tools only available to our internal support teams to target 130 Twitter accounts. For 45 of those accounts, the attackers were able to initiate a password reset, login to the account, and send tweets: Twitter

Spike of 34,884 cases and 671 deaths reported in India in the last 24 hours.Total positive cases stand at 10,38,716, including 3,58,692 active cases, 6,53,751 cured/discharged/migrated and 26,273 deaths

Election Commission of India has asked national and regional political parties to send in their views and suggestions on how to conduct election campaigns and public meetings, in view of COVID19 pandemic. The last date for sending suggestions is July 31.

Yoga gugu Swami Ramdev reveals yoga asanas and tips to achieve healthy and strong body | WATCH NOW 

West Bengal's COVID-19 tally rose to 38,011 on Friday after it reported a record single-day spike of 1,894 cases, while the death toll jumped to 1,049 with 26 more deaths, a health department bulletin said.

Thunderstorm with rain would occur over and adjoining areas of Uttar Pradesh- Khataoli, Shamli, Muzaffarnagar, Hastinapur, Bijnor, Adampur, Nazibabad and Chandpur during the next 2 hours: India Meteorological Department

Latest satellite imagery shows moderate to intense convection over parts of Uttarakhand, North Rajasthan, South Punjab, Haryana,West UP, Bihar, South Coastal Andhra Pradesh, Sub-Himalayan West Bengal, northeastern states. Thunderstorm/lightening with rain likely over these areas: IMD
 

Defence Minister Rajnath Singh to visit Amarnath Temple today

Hello and welcome to today's live coverage of coronavirus news in India and across the world, with me, Sushmita Panda and my colleagues Himanshu Shekhar, Shashwat  Bhandari, Vani Mehrotra, Priya Jaiswal,  Sidhant Mamtany and Rashi Hardaha. You can get in touch with us directly on twitter ​​@sushmitapanda, @himaanshus, @ShashBhandari​ @vani_mehrotra​ @priyajais, @SidMamtany, and  @rashihardaha for news, tips, photos, questions and comments. Stay tuned to Indiatvnews.com (@indiatvnews) for all the latest updates on what's happening around the world. 

Here's a quick overview: 

The total number of global cases has surpassed 14.1 million, including more than 599,000 fatalities. More than 8,454,000 patients are reported to have recovered.

Total positive cases country-wise: