Breaking News: June 18, 2020 | As it happened

Delhi Health Minister Satyendar Jain (file pic) is now being given oxygen support only at times when it is needed, his fever has also reduced. His health is improving: Office of Delhi Health Minister after Satyendar Jain tested positive for COVID-19 yesterday.

No one critical as of now, all are stable. 18 soldiers are at our hospital in Leh, they will be out on duty in about 15 days. 58 soldiers are at other hospitals they should be back on duty within a week. Status as of today afternoon: Indian Army Sources

54 COVID-19 cases reported in Manipur in the last 24 hours, all returnees from other states. Total number of cases in the state is now at 606, including 407 active cases & 199 recovered: State Health Department

The government is considering hiking customs duty on a number of products, mainly imported from China, amid ongoing border tensions with the neighbouring country, a source told PTI.

1298 #COVID19 cases, 518 recoveries & 67 deaths reported in Mumbai today. Total number of cases in the city is now at 62,799, including 31,856 recovered/discharged, 27,634 active cases, & 3,309 deaths: Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC)

149 new cases have been reported in Jammu and Kashmir; 49 from Jammu division and 100 from Kashmir division. Total number of cases stand at 5555 including 2340 active cases, 3144 recovered and 71 deaths: J&K Govt

PM Modi today reviewed the situation arising out of OIL India Limited oil well blow out and fire in the oil well No. Baghjan-5 in Tinsukia District, Assam. Review meeting was attended by Home Minister, Petroleum & Natural Gas Minister, Chief Minister Assam & others: PM's Office

​The Congress has staked claim to form government on Manipur. It also wrote to the governor calling for a floor test to prove their majority in the state assembly. This comes a day after three BJP MLAs resigned and joined Congress while four National People's Party (NPP) MLAs, an independent MLA and Trinamool Congress (TMC) MLA also withdrew support to Chief Minister N Biren Singh govt.   

I'm happy to note the growing popularity of yoga in the last few years, especially among the youth. We are marking 6th Yoga Day in extraordinary times, usually, it's about public events but this year it goes indoors. This year's theme is 'yoga at home & yoga with family': PM Modi

The IAF has placed a proposal before the Defence Ministry. IAF is seeking a go-ahead to purchase 33 fighter aircrafts from Russia. These will include 12 Sukhoi 30 MKI and 21 Mig-19 fighter jets. The deal is projected to be of Rs 6000 crore.

INDIAN ARMY: "This is with reference to the article 'In China-India Clash, Two Nationalist Leaders with Little Room to Give' by New York Times dated 17 June 2020. It is clarified that there are no Indian troops Missing In Action"

• Prime Minister Narendra Modi will launch a mega job scheme for migrant workers who have returned to their states.
• The mega employment scheme will be launched on Saturday, June 20 from Bihar's Khagaria district.
• Accordingly, the Centre plans to roll-out the scheme in 116 districts in 6 states which have received the largest numbers of workers from urban centres.

• 25 existing schemes have been brought together to provide jobs to migrant workers.
• The total amount involved in the schemes is around Rs 50,000 crore that will be used for the Rojgar Abhiyan and it will provide livelihood support for at least 125 days. The government will take a call after that if it needs to continue or not.
• The skill sets of the migrant labour has been mapped and work will be allocated according to that in those districts. The districts have been chosen where migrant workers population is at least 25,000.

Indian front-line troops broke the consensus and crossed the Line of Actual Control, deliberately provoking and attacking Chinese officers and soldiers, thus triggering fierce physical conflicts and causing casualties: Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokesperson

India must not misjudge the current situation or underestimate China's firm will to safeguard its territorial sovereignty: Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokesperson

The Supreme Court of India has rejected a plea filed by a Madurai resident seeking direction to the Centre to drag China to the International Court of Justice (ICJ). The resident wanted the govt to drag China to the ICJ and seek damages worth $600 Billion for spreading COVID-19. 

With 57 persons testing positive for coronavirus in the last 24 hours, the case count in Madhya Pradesh's Indore district has gone up to 4,191. At least 2,266 samples were tested on Tuesday, of which reports of 57 persons came out positive for the infection

Forty-three fresh COVID-19 cases were reported in Tripura, taking the northeastern state's tally to 1,138 on Thursday. Of the 1,138 cases, 582 are active while 556 people have recovered.

Chief Minister Biplab Kumar Deb tweeted late on Wednesday night, "43 people found COVID-19 positive out of 1,250 samples tested. Majority of them have travel history & others were in contact of COVID-19 patients. Among them: 3 from 34 Bn BSF, 6 from Maharani BSF Camp, 4 from 120 Bn BSF, 26 from 74 BN BSF, 4 civilians."

A 72-year-old man was erroneously declared as having tested positive for COVID-19 in Meghalaya, which officials have attributed to a mechanical error. The man, from Umsamlem village in Ri-Bhoi district, was declared a COVID-19 patient on June 9 after his samples tested positive for the infection in an RT-PCR test.

The patient had complained of respiratory problems and was admitted to a private hospital, he said. "Following the outcome of the test, we started contract tracing but none of his contacts tested positive for COVID-19.

Two more people have died due to COVID-19 in Jammu city raising the number of fatalities in Jammu and Kashmir to 71

Opposition's behaviour is very unfortunate. When the entire nation should stand with Army & govt, it's unfortunate that main opposition party issues statements that benefit India's enemies. They use Rahul Gandhi's statement to form their argument: BJP General Secretary Ram Madhav

Delhi government has decided to cap the rates for COVID-19 RT-PCR test at Rs 2400 inclusive of all charges: Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia

Your Tweet, your voice: Twitter will soon allow users to add 140 seconds audio to their tweets, in a move to add more personal touch in an effort to save "conversational nuances lost in translation."

"So starting today, we’re testing a new feature that will add a more human touch to the way we use Twitter – your very own voice. "Tweeting with your voice is not too different from Tweeting with text. To start, open the Tweet composer and tap the new icon with wavelengths. You’ll see your profile photo with the record button at the bottom – tap this to record your voice," Twitter said in a blog post. 

"Each voice Tweet captures up to 140 seconds of audio. Have more to say? Keep talking. Once you reach the time limit for a Tweet, a new voice Tweet starts automatically to create a thread. Once you’re done, tap the Done button to end your recording and go back to the composer screen to Tweet.
People will see your voice Tweet appear on their timeline alongside other Tweets. To listen, tap the image. On iOS only, playback will start in a new window docked at the bottom of your timeline and you can listen as you scroll. You can also keep listening while doing other things on your phone or on the go," it further said, 

Video conferencing platform Zoom has said it will be providing end-to-end encryption to all users, reversing its earlier decision to offer the privacy features. "Today, Zoom released an updated E2EE design on GitHub. We are also pleased to share that we have identified a path forward that balances the legitimate right of all users to privacy and the safety of users on our platform. This will enable us to offer E2EE as an advanced add-on feature for all of our users around the globe – free and paid – while maintaining the ability to prevent and fight abuse on our platform," Zoom said in its blog post attributed to Eric S. Yuan. 

"To make this possible, Free/Basic users seeking access to E2EE (end-t-end encryption) will participate in a one-time process that will prompt the user for additional pieces of information, such as verifying a phone number via a text message," Zoom said. 

E2EE will be an optional feature as it limits some meeting functionality, such as the ability to include traditional PSTN phone lines or SIP/H.323 hardware conference room systems. Hosts will toggle E2EE on or off on a per-meeting basis, Zoom said. 

Prime Minister Narendra Modi, while launching the auction of coal mines for commercial mining, has said that India will depend less on imports in its approach to become Atmanirbhar. 

• The govt is taking various steps to promote Atmanirbhar Abhiyan: PM Modi
• India is serious about turning this COVID-19 crisis into opportunity: PM Modi
• We are bringing coal sector out of a decades-long lockdown: PM Modi
• We are the world's second biggest coal importer despite being one of the largest producers of coal. Why can't we be the largest exporter?: PM Modi

The number of novel coronavirus cases in Arunachal Pradesh has crossed the 100-mark with four Border Roads Task Force (BRTF) personnel testing positive for the infection. The four new cases have taken the virus count in the northeastern state to 103, of which 93 are active cases and ten persons have recovered.

The supreme sacrifice of our brave soldiers while guarding our motherland in Galwan valley will always be remembered. The nation is indebted to them. I pay homage to martyrs. BJP has decided to postpone all its political programs including virtual rallies for next 2 days: BJP President JP Nadda

A truck driver raped a 15-year-old girl after offering her family a lift in his truck. Bijnor Superintendent of Police (SP) Lakshmi Niwas Mishra said: "Police have registered a case against the truck driver Umesh Chand. The incident took place on Tuesday and the accused has been sent to jail on Wednesday.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday said he is "deeply grateful" for the overwhelming support shown by the global community for India's membership of the UN Security Council. India will work with all member countries to promote global peace, security, resilience and equity, he said.
India garnered 184 votes out of the 192 ballots cast in the General Assembly to win the election for the non-permanent seat in the powerful Security Council.

PM Modi to launch 'Garib Kalyan Rojgar Abhiyaan' on 20 June to boost livelihood opportunities in rural India. The campaign of 125 days across 116 districts in 6 states to work in mission mode to help migrant workers: Prime Minister's Office

China is on Nato's radar more than ever in the past, a top American envoy to the North Atlantic Treaty Organisaion (NATO) said that the organisation was reassessing its situation with regards to China. 

China can be a peaceful partner but it is not projecting that at the moment, Kay Bailey Hutchison, US Permanent Representative to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), told reporters at a virtual meeting here. Read More

Hello and welcome to today's live coverage of coronavirus news as well as the rest of the breaking news from India and across the world with me, Sidhant Mamtany and my colleagues Himanshu Shekhar, Shashwat  Bhandari, Vani Mehrotra, Priya Jaiswal, Sushmita Panda 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  8.4 million, including more than 450,000 fatalities. More than 4,414,000 patients are reported to have recovered.

Deaths by country:

• United States- 119,941
• Brazil- 46,665
• Italy- 34,448
• Spain- 27,136
• France- 29,575
• United Kingdom- 42,133
• Belgium - 9,635

Coronavirus in India: Total COVID-19 positive cases cross 350,000
Coronavirus Death Toll in India: As of Friday evening, the death toll stood at 11,903

The COVID-19 death toll in West Bengal reached 506 on Wednesday with 11 more fatalities, while the total number of cases reported in the state so far crossed the 12,000-mark. 

Assam reported 184 new COVID-19 cases on Wednesday, taking the state's total tally to 4,694. The state's COVID-19 recovery rate has improved to over 57 per cent with 231 patients discharged from hospitals on Wednesday, taking total recoveries to 2,642, which is higher than the number of active cases.

Two COVID-19 positive patients, both senior citizens, from Shopian and Baramulla districts of Jammu and Kashmir died here on Wednesday taking the number of fatalities due to the coronavirus in the union territory to 65

Mizoram reports 9 new COVID-19 positive cases, the total number of cases in the state stands at 130 including 129 active cases and 1 cured/discharged, state's health department stated. 

Yogarishi Swami Ramdev shows how to cut excess fat and reduce weight without starving yourself. Yoga asanas can be performed in your rooms and help you cut fat, Swami Ramdev says. By performing these yogas you can reduce excess fat, get rid of stress, stay fit both mentally and physically.