Breaking News: October 30, 2020 | Highlights

Bihar reported eight fresh COVID-19 fatalities in the past 24 hours, taking the death toll to 1,084, while 1,018 fresh cases took the tally to 2,15,963, the health department said in a bulletin on Friday.

Uttar Pradesh's Gautam Buddh Nagar recorded 211 new COVID-19 cases on Friday, pushing the district's infection tally to 17,633, official data showed.

Income Tax refunds worth Rs 1.27 lakh crore has been issued to individuals and businesses so far this fiscal, Finance Secretary Ajay Bhushan Pandey said on Friday. He said the quick refund payment system is fully automated and transparent and the revenue department is monitoring the refund system every week.

"In this financial year, income tax refund of about Rs 1,27,000 crore has been sent to bank accounts of individuals and businesses. This has been done to ensure that businesses get liquidity in this difficult time," Pandey said.

Between April 1 and October 27, the I-T department has issued refunds worth Rs 1,26,909 crore to more than 39.14 lakh taxpayers.

Out of which Rs 34,532 crore were issued as refunds to Individual taxpayers in about 37.22 lakh cases, while Rs 92,376 crore were issued as refunds to 1,92,409 in corporate tax cases, Pandey said.

The curb the spread of COVID-19, the Jammu and Kashmir administration on Friday imposed night restrictions on the inter-district movement of individuals for all non-essential activities in the territorial limits of Jammu district.

According to the order issued by district magistrate Sushma Chouhan, under powers of the Disaster Management Act the movement of individuals for all non-essential activities between 10 pm to 5 am in the territorial limits of district Jammu has been restricted up to November 30.

Any violation of this order shall invite punitive action under section 188 of Indian Penal Code and other relevant sections of epidemic diseases act and the Disaster Management Act, the order stated.

West Bengal occupies the top position in the decline of dropout rate among school students during 2018-2020, the ruling Trinamool Congress said in a
statement quoting a national survey.

 Japan’s coronavirus cases have topped 100,000, nine months after the first case was found in mid-January, the health ministry said on Friday.

State-owned Indian Oil Corp (IOC) on Friday said international oil prices have been range-bound in the last few weeks, warranting no revision in retail petrol and diesel rates.

While petrol price hasn't changed since September 22, diesel rates have been static from October 2.

Delhi Lt Governor Anil Baijal has approved the Delhi government's proposal to allow buses to run with full seating capacity even as COVID-19 cases are witnessing a surge in the city. The buses are currently running with 20 passengers in view of the outbreak of coronavirus.

Baijal, who is the chairman of the Delhi Disaster Management Authority (DDMA), has also approved resuming inter-state bus services and the process to plan a standard operating procedure for it is on and the service is likely to restart from next week, a senior government officer said.

The issue of raising the number of passengers in DTC and Cluster buses was raised in a DDMA meeting on October 23.

Transport minister Kailash Gahlot had sought permission for full seating without any passenger standing on buses.

The number of DTC and Cluster buses seat up to 40-45 passengers.

Bus stops in the city witnessed long queues as a result of reduced capacity of passengers allowed in the buses.

The first phase of the Malabar naval exercise featuring navies of India, the US, Japan and Australia will take place from November 3 to 6 in the Bay of Bengal off Visakhapatnam coast, officials said on Friday.

The second phase of the mega exercise is scheduled to be held from November 17 to 20 in the Arabian sea, they said.

The Jammu and Kashmir administration on Friday said 15,000 pilgrims will be allowed per day to pay obeisance at the cave shrine of Mata Vaishnodevi from November 1.

Earlier, only 7,000 pilgrims were allowed to visit the shrine due to COVID-19 restrictions.

The 15th Finance Commission will submit its report for fiscal years 2021-22 to 2025-26 to President Ram Nath Kovind on November 9, an official statement said on Friday.

Kerala was adjudged the best-governed state in the country while Uttar Pradesh ended at the bottom in the large states category, according to the Public Affairs Index-2020 released by the Public Affairs Centre here on Friday.

In its annual report released on Friday, the city-based not-for-profit organisation, headed by former Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) chairman K Kasturirangan, said the states were ranked on governance performance based on a composite index in the context of sustainable development.

Uttarakhand Police seize a huge cache of Fake Indian Currency Notes (FICN) today in the Udham Singh Nagar district. Five people have been arrested in connection with the case.

Thane Mayor Naresh Mhaske has asked the civic administration to conduct an audit of all COVID-19 deaths reported from within the civic limits of Maharashtra''s Thane city, an official said on Friday.

In a letter to Thane municipal commissioner Dr Vipin Sharma on Thursday, Mhaske directed that a committee be formed to undertake the task.

The mayor noted that the municipal corporation and the administration have taken effective measures and strictly implemented the state government's guidelines to prevent the viral spread. 

This audit will help in planning measures that need to be taken in the future, he added.

 A seven-year-old girl was allegedly raped by a 15-year-old boy at a village here, police said on Friday. The incident took place on Thursday evening, and the boy has been apprehended, Superintendent of Police (Rural) Aparna Gautam said. He will be produced before a Juvenile Court, the officer said and added that the girl has been admitted to a hospital. 

Thane district of Maharashtra recorded 1,802 fresh cases of coronavirus, taking its tally to 2,10,096, an official said on Friday.  The official said the death toll increased to 5,302 after 40 more patients succumbed to the infection in the district on Thursday.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday greeted people on the occasion of Milad-un-Nabi and hoped that this day furthers compassion and brotherhood.Milad-un-Nabi marks the birth anniversary of Prophet Muhammad and it is observed in the month of Rabi' al-awwal, the third month in the Islamic calendar.

"Best wishes on Milad-un-Nabi. Hope this day furthers compassion and brotherhood all across," Prime Minister Modi tweeted. 

"May everybody be healthy and happy. Eid Mubarak!" he said. 

Telangana reported 1,531 new COVID-19 cases taking the tally to 2,37,187 while six more deaths pushed the toll to 1,330, the state government said on Friday.

Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) accounted for the most number of cases with 293, followed by MedchalMalkajgiri (120) and Rangareddy (114) districts, it said in a bulletin, providing data as of 8 PM on October 29.

As many as 18,456 are under treatment and43,790 samples were tested on October 29. Cumulatively,42,40,748 samples have been tested.

Police have recovered firecrackers and explosive material worth over Rs 1.5 lakh from a shop here, an official said on Thursday. Acting on a tip-off, officials of Kotwali police and the fire department raided a shop on Wednesday night and found 185 kg firecrackers and explosive items there, Deputy SP Varun Kumar said. He said the market value of items recovered is over Rs 1.5 lakh. 

 Odisha's COVID-19 tally mounted to 2,87,099 on Thursday as 1,617 more people tested positive for the infection, a health department official said.

Thirteen fresh fatalities pushed the coastal state''s coronavirus death toll to 1,297, he said. As many as 941 new cases were reported in quarantine centres, while 676 infections were detected during contact tracing, the official said.

A youth was allegedly burnt alive by his uncle in Jabrapur village here, police said on Thursday. The incident took place on Wednesday in Fagehganj area when one Binda Prasad (55) set Ram Bhorase ablaze after sprinkling petrol on him, they said.

The victim was rushed to hospital in a serious condition where he died during treatment, police said. According to Circle Officer Satyaprakash Sharma, the youth was not returning money he had taken from the accused. Police is probing the matter, he said

Russia has temporarily stopped vaccinating new volunteers in its COVID-19 vaccine trial due to high demand and a shortage of doses, a representative at the firm running the study said on Thursday, in a setback for Moscow’s ambitious plan to roll out the shot