Coronavirus updates: Maharashtra reports 59,907 new cases, highest spike ever

In Paraguay, the Chinese government was "very active" in saying to the public that if Paraguay severed diplomatic ties with Taiwan they would get millions of doses of China's vaccines, which put pressure on Taiwan to help, foreign minister Joseph Wu added."In the last few weeks, we have been speaking to like-minded countries, including Japan, the United States, India etcetera, and India fortunately has been able to provide some Covaxin vaccines to Paraguay," he said, referring to a shot developed by India's Bharat Biotech and a state research institute.India has already shipped 100,000 doses to Paraguay and there will be another 100,000, Wu added.

Several districts in Maharashtra will run out of the Covid-19 vaccine stock in a day or two and the Centre has been informed about it, a senior state health official said on Wednesday.As on Wednesday morning, the state has around 14 lakh vaccine doses, principal secretary (health) Pradeep Vyas said."Many districts will run out of the stock today or tomorrow. The Centre is aware of the situation and (we) have also communicated in writing," he said.Maharashtra can easily administer five lakh vaccine shots in a day if there is a clarity on schedule and availability, the official said.For the last few days, the state has been vaccinating about four lakh people daily.Nearly 82 lakh people have been vaccinated so far in Maharashtra since the roll-out of the inoculation drive.

The Delhi government's decision on Tuesday to impose night curfew from 10pm to 5am till April 30 to stem the spread of the virus has thrown the couples and the already bleeding wedding industry into a tizzy.So now couples are mulling a "day marriage", wedding planners are making a beeline for venues in the neighbouring Noida and Gurgaon, and many hotels-banquets, reading the fine print of the order, are busy answering queries from frantic customers.

Brazil reported a 24-hour tally of Covid-19 deaths exceeding 4,000 for the first time, becoming the third nation to go above that daily threshold.Many governors, mayors and judges are reopening parts of the economy despite lingering chaos in overcrowded hospitals and a collapsed health system in several parts of the country.Brazil's health ministry on Tuesday said 4,195 deaths were counted in the previous 24 hours, with the nation's pandemic toll quickly approaching 340,000, the second highest in the world. Only the US and Peru have had daily death tolls higher than 4,000.Sao Paulo state, Brazil's most populous with 46 million residents, registered almost 1,400 deaths in the latest count. Health officials said the figure was partly due to the Easter holiday, which delayed the count.Local authorities nationwide argue that numbers of cases and hospitalizations are trending downward after a week of a partial shutdown.