Coronavirus live news updates: At 36,902 cases, Maharashtra sees highest one-day spike; night curfew from March 28

In view of the increasing number of Covid-19 cases in Madhya Pradesh's Indore, the state government is considering imposing a two-day lockdown in the city on Holi. This was discussed in a meeting chaired by Madhya Pradesh cabinet minister Tulsi Silawat with divisional officers on Thursday.

The UK and European Union (EU) have issued a conciliatory joint statement, pledging to find a "win-win” solution to a row over the supply of Covid-19 vaccines. The EU has been struggling to meet its member-countries requirements and has piled pressure on British-Swedish biopharma giant AstraZeneca to increase the supplies of the Oxford University vaccines and even indicated possible export blocks.

The duration of Kumbh Mela in Haridwar has been curtailed to just one month for the first time in its history in view of a recent surge in Covid-19 cases and it has been made mandatory for pilgrims to have a "negative" RT-PCR test report to attend the mega congregation.

From April 1 onwards, all interstate passengers landing at Bengaluru are mandated to carry RTPCR Covid negative certificate, said Health Minister K Sudhakar. The new rule is applicable only for those coming to Bengaluru, following the spike in Covid cases.

The lengthy report is being published after months of wrangling, notably between US and Chinese governments, over how the outbreak emerged, while scientists try to keep their focus on a so-far fruitless search for the origin of a microbe that has killed over 2.7 million people and stifled economies worldwide.

Brazil surpassed 300,000 deaths from the virus Wednesday evening. Foes and allies alike are pleading with the president to change course to stem a recent surge of daily deaths accounting for almost one-third of the total worldwide.