Highlights: Assam flags off India's first vaccination drive for transgenders

The origin of the novel coronavirus is still unclear and there is not yet enough evidence to say conclusively if it occurred naturally or was caused by a laboratory leak, a group of senior scientists said in a letter.

A smattering of places, mainly across the Asia Pacific region, have seen breathtaking victories in the battle against Covid-19 by effectively wiping it out within their borders. Now they face a fresh test: rejoining the rest of the world, which is still awash in the pathogen.

Mizoram reported 201 fresh Covid-19 cases, including security personnel and an infant, pushing the tally to 8,377, an official said on Friday.

Singapore announced on Friday the strictest curbs on social gatherings and public activities since easing a Covid-19 lockdown last year, amid a rise in locally acquired infections and with new coronavirus clusters forming in recent weeks.

Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison on Friday said the temporary pause on flights from India to Australia will end at May 14 midnight and facilitated commercial flights by the Australian Government will resume as promised, with a strict pre-flight testing regime.

A quarantine-free travel agreement between Hong Kong and Singapore due to start on May 26 may not go ahead due to a rise in coronavirus cases in Singapore.

With the addition of 1,782 new coronavirus cases, the infection count in Thane district of Maharashtra rose to 4,96,104, an official said on Friday.

India on Friday registered 343,144 new Covid-19 cases in the last 24 hours, taking the country's total coronavirus infection tally past the 24-million mark. 4,000 new fatalities were recorded, taking the death toll to 262,317. The country's total case count has now reached 24,046,809, according to the Union health ministry's dashboard.

As many as 31,13,24,100 samples have been tested in the country up till May 13 including 18,75,515 samples tested yesterday: Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR).

The number of confirmed coronavirus cases in Germany increased by 11,336 to 3,577,040, data from the Robert Koch Institute (RKI) for infectious diseases showed on Friday. The reported death toll rose by 190 to 85,848, the tally showed.

Odisha reports 12,390 new Covid-19 cases, 8,665 recoveries and 22 deaths in the last 24 hours

Total cases: 5,88,687

Total recovered cases: 4,82,345

Death toll: 2,273

Active cases: 1,04,016

Chinese biotech firm Kintor Pharmaceutical Limited [9939.HK] saw its stock price jump by more than 20% the day after it announced on April 25 that it had "completed the first patient enrollment and dosing" in a late-stage U.S. clinical trial of its experimental Covid-19 treatment.

Britain's government is anxious about the spread of the Covid-19 variant first detected in India and rules nothing out to tackle a sharp rise in cases of it, Prime Minister Boris Johnson said on Thursday.

Dr Anthony Fauci, the Biden administration's top medical adviser on Thursday (local time) said that it is imperative for India to collaborate with other countries, and companies to ramp up its vaccine production capability to vaccinate country's huge population against Covid-19.

Chinese biotech firm Kintor Pharmaceutical Limited [9939.HK] saw its stock price jump by more than 20% the day after it announced on April 25 that it had "completed the first patient enrollment and dosing" in a late-stage U.S. clinical trial of its experimental Covid-19 treatment.

Taiwan Premier Su Tseng-chang said on Friday that there is no need to raise the island's Covid-19 alert level for the time being and that compared with last year it has more experience and resources to fight the pandemic.

The Uttarakhand government on Thursday announced that all shops of the Public Distribution System will open for 3 hours ( i.e. from 7 am to 10 am) from May 14 till May 18.

US president Joe Biden on Wednesday (local time) praised the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's latest guidelines on removing the requirement of masks for fully vaccinated people, but cautioned those not vaccinated to protect themselves unless they have reached the finish line.

Brazil's Fiocruz biomedical institute said on Thursday it would interrupt production of the AstraZeneca vaccine for certain days next week due to a lack of ingredients, until new supplies arrive on May 22.

Indian-Americans have been a pillar of support for India in its fight against Covid-19, Ambassador Taranjit Singh Sandhu said.

Qatar on Thursday sent a consignment of medical supplies including 200 oxygen concentrators, 40 ventilators and 4,300 Remdesivir vials to India as the latter reels from a devastating Covid-19 crisis.

A special flight from South Korea carrying medical aid arrived at the Delhi airport.