Breaking News: September 16, 2020 | As it happened

Over 3.08 lakh Indian workers returned from abroad as part of the Vande Bharat Mission, the government said on Wednesday, asserting that not all of them had lost their jobs, but returned on account of the COVID-19 situation.

In a written response to a question in Lok Sabha, Minister of State for External Affairs V Muraleedharan said the Vande Bharat Mission commenced on May 7 and since then, more than 13,74,237 Indians (as on September 10, 2020) have returned to India via air, land and sea.

The Meghalaya government on Wednesday withdrew its odd-even vehicle rationing system across the state except in the state capital, a notification issued by the Transport department said.

Amid a surge in COVID-19 cases, Nagpur Mayor Sandip Joshi on Wednesday said 'Janta curfew' would be observed in the city on Saturdays and Sundays during remaining two weeks of this month.

"A meeting will be convened after September 30 to decide whether the curfew will be extended," Joshi told reporters after attending a meeting with municipal commissioner Radhakrishnan B, corporators and local representatives.

Nagpur district on Wednesday registered 2,052 new coronavirus cases, taking its tally to 57,482, the local administration said.

Thai Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha on Wednesday said that the emergency decree will be extended for another three months in three southern provinces of the country. They are Narathiwat, Yala and Pattani Provinces.

"The Royal Gazette had already published the announcement on its website after I signed the approval," confirmed Prayut.

The extension announcement was signed by Prayut on September 11 under the Emergency Decree on Public Administration in an Emergency Situation, Xinhua news agency reported.

The emergency extension had also been approved by the Cabinet.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will dedicate to the nation the "historic" Kosi rail mega-bridge through video-conference on Friday and also inaugurate 12 rail projects related to passenger facilities in Bihar, the Prime Minister Office said.

Vietnam reported no new cases of Covid-19 infection on Wednesday, with its total confirmed cases standing at 1,063 and 35 deaths from the disease so far, according to its Ministry of Health. As many as five more Covid-19 patients have been given all-clear, raising the total cured cases in the country to 936 as of Wednesday, according to the ministry, Xinhua news agency.

Meanwhile, more than 32,400 people are being quarantined and monitored in the country, the ministry said.

Vietnam has gone through two weeks without any Covid-19 cases in the community, according to the ministry.

The Supreme Court on Wednesday issued a notice on a plea against the 30-day public notice to furnish details of couples who intend to marry under the Special Marriage Act.

Light to moderate rain and thundershowers occurred at isolated places over Uttar Pradesh in the last 24 hours till Thursday afternoon, the meteorological department in Lucknow said. Thunderstorm accompanied with lightning also occurred at isolated places over the state during the period, it said.

The weather department said rain and thundershowers are very likely at isolated places in the state on Friday.

The income tax department on Wednesday said it has issued refunds of over Rs 1.06 lakh crore to more than 30 lakh taxpayers between April 1 to September 15.

This includes personal income tax (PIT) refunds amounting to Rs 31,741 crore issued to 29.17 lakh taxpayers and corporate tax refunds worth Rs 74,729 crore to over 1.74 lakh taxpayers.

Uganda is ready to reopen its pandemic-bruised tourism sector with a live-streamed, virtual safari starting Tuesday.

The virtual tour, featuring six videographers and photographers traversing across the country, has been promoted by the Ugandan government to incentivize tourists, when many parts of the world have barely emerged from travel restrictions, Xinhua news agency reported.

Air India earned a revenue of Rs 2556.60 crore from flights that have been operated under the Vande Bharat mission till August 31, Civil Aviation Minister Hardeep Singh Puri said.

Scheduled international passenger flights have been suspended in India since March 23 due to the coronavirus pandemic.

However, the Central government started the mission from May 6 to help people stranded in different countries reach their destinations through special international flights.

National Security Advisors (NSAs) of BRICS nations to hold a virtual meeting tomorrow.

A boat carrying around 45 devotees to a temple capsize in Chambal river Kota district. "Three bodies have been recovered. The rescue operation is underway," says SDM (Etawah) Ramavtar Barnala, Kota.

• We want to increase the investment in agricultural sector.
• We introduced three bills for the betterment of farmers--Essential Commodities (Amendment) Bill, Farmers' Produce Trade & Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Ordinance & Farmers (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement on Price Assurance Ordinance. 

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

• Delhi BJP president Adesh Gupta tests positive for COVID-19.
• Odisha reports record 4,270 new COVID-19 cases and 11 fresh fatalities.
• The Centre says it has no data on death or injury caused to people in enforcing the countrywide lockdown to contain the spread of coronavirus.
• All-rounder Chris Woakes expects players to be asked to take pay cuts after the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) announced 20 per cent reduction in its workforce to deal with the financial impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.
• The government says more than 30 vaccine candidates for coronavirus have been supported, and three of them are in advance stages of trials now, while four are in advanced pre-clinical development stage.
• L&T Technology Services (LTTS) announces partnership with UK-based Cloud, connectivity and communications services provider, Exponential-e to jointly offer workplace transformation solutions to customers working in the post-COVID environment.
• In a bid to curb the spread of COVID-19 in Mumbai, the city civic body has decided to seal an entire building if 10 or more coronavirus infection cases are found there.
• Coronavirus and bacteria may work together to increase disease severity in some patients, study says.
• Arunachal Pradesh reports 170 new Covid-19 cases.
• Puducherry Lt Governor Kiran Bedi says joint mobile teams comprising police, revenue and municipal officials would be constituted to ensure enforcement of COVID-19 safety norms and prevention of violations of the protocols in the union territory.
• Jharkhand reports 1,702 new COVID-19 cases and 10 fresh fatalities.
• Pakistan reports 665 new cases of coronavirus, taking the total number of infections in the nation to 303,089, the health ministry says.
• In 11 days, COVID-19 cases in India cross 50-lakh mark from 40 lakh.
• Amid the COVID-19 crisis when poor students are unable to take up online classes, the zilla parishad here in Maharashtra has started an innovative way of imparting education to them by painting walls on streets and public places with mathematical concepts.
• As many as 12 new COVID-19 cases in Mizoram as tally rises to 1,480.
• Serum Institute of India gets DCGI nod to resume clinical trial of Oxford COVID-19 vaccine.
• Odisha government tells districts to strengthen COVID-19 care facilities.

Delhi BJP president Adesh Gupta on Wednesday said he has tested positive for COVID-19.

Yoshihide Suga elected as Japan’s prime minister, becoming the country’s first new leader in nearly eight years and facing a raft of challenges including reviving an economy battered by the COVID-19 crisis. 

At least 12 people, including four Border Security Force jawans, have tested positive for coronavirus in the last 24 hours, taking Mizoram's COVID-19 caseload to 1,480

Varanasi: Fire broke out at a building of Diesel Locomotive Works (DLW) in the city, this morning. More details awaited.

India's COVID-19 case tally crosses 50-lakh mark with a spike of 90,123 new cases & 1,290 deaths in last 24 hours. The total case tally stands at 50,20,360 including 9,95,933 active cases, 39,42,361 cured/discharged/migrated & 82,066  deaths: Ministry of Health & Family Welfare

The Rajasthan government on Tuesday lifted the ban from transfers and postings of government employees in all the departments. The applications for transfer will be accepted online on the website of the department concerned in view of the coronavirus outbreak.

In order to this effect was issued by the administrative reforms department. Transfers will continue till October 31, according to the order.

A new National Curriculum Framework for Teacher Education will be formulated under National Education Policy to ensure quality education for teachers: Union Minister for Education, Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank 

Shiv Sena MP Sanjay Raut has given Zero Hour notice in Rajya Sabha over 'proposed privatisation of JNPT  (Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust) ports and concern over national security.'

Yog Guru Swami Ramdev reveals the importance of pair yoga | WATCH NOW 

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, and Rashi Hardaha. You can get in touch with us directly on Twitter @sushmitapanda, @himaanshus, @ShashBhandari​ @vani_mehrotra​ @priyajais, 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 29.7 million, including more than 938,000 fatalities. More than 21,530,000 patients are reported to have recovered.

Total positive cases country-wise:

• USA 6,749,289
• India 4,926,914
• Brazil 4,349,544
• Russia 1,068,320
• Peru 733,860