Punjab Government has decided to reopen schools, however the date of reopening will be announced after the Standard Operating Procedure (SOPs) receive approval from the State Health Department, said Punjab Education Minister Vijay Inder Singla on Wednesday. Schools in Punjab are shut since March this year in view of the COVID-19 pandemic. However, online classes are being conducted.
Air quality in Delhi was recorded as 'very poor' on Thursday, the Delhi Pollution Control Committee (DPCC) data showed. According to news agency ANI, Air Quality Index was at 366 in ITO, 309 in RK Puram, 313 in Anand Vihar, and 339 in Wazirpur, all four in 'very poor' category. On Wednesday, the overall air quality index (AQI) was 276 in the “poor” category, an improvement from the previous day’s 300. However, a layer of haze hung over the national capital, leading to concerns of an impending bad air crisis like previous years. 
After nearly seven months, cinemas in India are set to reopen today in the shadow of the coronavirus pandemic. Theatres and multiplexes will open in some regions of the country as the Ministry of Home Affairs has left it on the states to take a final call. The reopening comes in line with the Union government's permission to multiplexes, cinema halls and theatres to reopen from today within the framework of a set of standard operating procedures (SOPs). 
India on Thursday recorded as many as 67,708 new coronavirus cases and 680 deaths in the last 24 hours, the lowest in months, according to Union health ministry data. With Maharashtra recording highest number of Covid cases, India's COVID-19 tally has crossed 73 lakh-mark. The total cases of coronavirus infections stand at 7,307,097 while the death toll climbs to 1,11,266. Of these 8,12,390 are active cases while 63,83,441 people have been recovered, according to the health ministry. 
India's priorities should be to protect the most vulnerable people, well targeted support and protecting small and medium sized enterprises so that they do not collapse as the country battles the COVID-19 pandemic, Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund Kristalina Georgieva has said.
The Met department on Wednesday forecast thunderstorms with lightning at isolated places in coastal Andhra Pradesh and Yanam over the next five days, and in Rayalaseema region on the weekend, under the impact of a deep depression. According to a Met Department official, the depression, situated about 15 km west by northwest of Andhra's Kakinada and 200 km east by southeast of Telangana's Khammam further moved west by northwestwards at a speed of 32 km per hour in the past six hours.
At least 22 special trains would be operated by the South Western Railway (SWR) to and from Karnataka from October 23-27 to ferry passengers for Dussehra, Diwali and Chhath puja.Republic Day 2024 : As India's 75th Republic Day Parade kicked off in the national capital, a 30-member band contingent and a marching c...
