India

Ahmedabad, Jun 28 (PTI) A former chief minister of Gujarat has tested positive for coronavirus, his aide said on Sunday.

He was suffering from fever for last three-four days and was quarantined at his home in Gandhinagar under doctor's guidance, he said.

"He tested positive for coronavirus on Saturday and was shifted to a private hospital on Sunday morning on the advice of his doctor," the aide said.

New Delhi, June 28 (PTI) India recorded close to 20,000 COVID-19 cases in a single day for the first time on Sunday, taking the tally to 5,28,859, while the death toll rose to16,095, according to the Union Health Ministry data.

The data updated at 8 am showed 19,906 new cases, while 410 persons succumbed to the disease in the last 24 hours.

This is the fifth consecutive day that coronavirus infections have increased by more than 15,000. The country saw a surge of 3,38,324 infections from June 1 till date.

NEW DELHI, June 28 (NNN-PTI) – One person was killed and four others were taken ill, two of them critically, due to a gas leak inside a factory in the southern Indian state of Andhara Pradesh, officials said.

The ammonia gas leaked inside a factory in Nandyala town of Kurnool district, about 310 km west of Amaravati city of Andhra Pradesh.

Chennai, June 27 (PTI) As the COVID-19 wave sweeps strongly across the country, including in Tamil Nadu, mental health experts say the pandemic has triggered panic attacks among those who tested positive for the virus, causing bouts of depression and even driving some to the brink of suicide.

New Delhi, Jun 27 (PTI) Asserting that the government's guiding light is the Constitution of India, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday said the government does not discriminate between faith, gender, caste, creed or language and is led by the desire to empower 130 crore Indians.

Addressing the 90th birthday celebrations of Rev Joseph Mar Thoma Metropolitan in Pathanamthitta of Kerala via video conference, he said, "We have taken decisions not from comfortable government offices in Delhi but after feedback from people on the ground."

Ahmedabad, Jun 27 (PTI) Five former Congress MLAs from Gujarat, out of the total eight who had resigned as legislators in March and June- ahead of the Rajya Sabha elections- joined the BJP on Saturday.

Former Congress MLAs Jitu Chaudhary, Pradyumnasinh Jadeja, J V Kakadiya, Akshay Patel and Brijesh Merja joined the BJP in the presence of party's state unit president Jitu Vaghani and other senior leaders.

NEW DELHI (Reuters) - India reported over 17,000 new coronavirus cases over the last 24 hours, pushing the country’s total above 500,000, federal health ministry data showed on Saturday, with infections surging in major cities including the capital New Delhi.

India has the world’s fourth-biggest outbreak of the virus that causes COVID-19, below only the United States, Brazil and Russia in confirmed infections, according to a Reuters tally.

New Delhi, Jun 26 (PTI) Army Chief Gen MM Naravane on Friday briefed Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on the overall situation in eastern Ladakh as well as India's military preparedness in the region where Indian and Chinese troops are locked in a bitter standoff, official sources said.

The Army Chief was in Ladakh on a two-day visit from June 23 to take stock of the situation.

"The Chief of the Army Staff apprised the defence minister about the situation in eastern Ladakh," said a military source.

Kalyani (West Bengal), Jun 26 (PTI) Unable to extract money from his mother to buy drugs, a man in West Bengals Nadia district hacked her to death and seriously injured his sister-in-law who tried to save her from the attack, police said on Friday.

After the incident that occurred on Thursday, on the eve of the International Day Against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking, local people beat him up and threw him in a pond after tying his hands and legs with ropes. Policemen took him to hospital after rescuing him.

Mumbai, Jun 26 (PTI) Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray said on Friday that Ganesh mandals should not install idols with a height of more than four feet in the coming Ganesh festival.

Thackeray had earlier appealed Ganesh mandals -- groups which celebrate the festival in public -- to keep the celebrations low-key this year in view of the coronavirus pandemic.

Ganesh festival is set to begin from August 22.

Tall Ganesh idols are especially popular in Mumbai.