Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan, who is at the forefront of India's battle against COVID-19, is set to take charge as the chairman of the WHO Executive Board on May 22, officials said on Tuesday.

As cyclone "Amphan" hurtled towards the coast, heavy downpour coupled with high velocity winds pounded coastal Odisha, uprooting trees and flattening fragile structures, officials said on Wednesday.

 The death toll due to COVID-19 rose to 3,303 and the number of cases climbed to 1,06,750 in the country on Wednesday, registering an increase of 140 deaths and a record spike of 5,611 cases in the last 24 hours, according to the Union Health Ministry.

Amidst the global economic recession due to the coronavirus pandemic, foreign investors have pulled out an estimated USD 26 billion from developing Asian economies and over USD 16 billion out of India, according to a Congressional report.

 The survival of coronavirus gradually decreases with time in a dead body, as per scientific literature till now, though there is no specific duration to declare a body as non-infective, the ICMR said on Tuesday.

 Uttar Pradesh Congress president Ajay Kumar Lallu and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra's secretary were booked by police Tuesday after the state government said a list of 1,000 buses on which the party planned to ferry migrant workers contained registration numbers of autorickshaws, cars and trucks.

New Delhi: The Congress on Tuesday accused the BJP and Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath of indulging in "cheap politics" and "doublespeak" by not allowing its buses to ferry migrants stranded at the borders.