Union Health and Family Welfare Minister Dr Harsh Vardhan reviewed the status of Nipah Virus disease in New Delhi yesterday.

An official release said, a total of 316 contacts are being followed up on daily basis. It said one positive case admitted in Ernakulam is now conscious and having mild fever and six symptomatic contacts have been admitted in the quarantine facility at Medical College and all the samples were found to be negative. 

The Ministry said, on the basis of the epidemiological investigation, team from National Institute of Virology Pune and Animal Husbandry are investigating bats and other animals in the vicinity of confirmed case residence.

Indian Air Force has further intensified and expanded search for the AN-32 aircraft which went missing on Monday. The Fighter aircraft, C130, Helicopters, aircraft carrying specialised sensors, satellites and all possible civil, police and local administrative agencies have further expanded search based on human and sensor inputs.

Indian Navy aircraft P8i will again fly a sortie today morning as the weather is likely to improve slightly.

Search parties have set out on foot in likely directions to locate the aircraft and its occupants. These parties have been encountering thick forests as they tirelessly search every part of a very difficult terrain. The search by parties on foot and night capable aircraft continued through the night and satellites data is being analysed regularly.

The aircraft, with 13 people on board, lost contact with ground agencies after taking off from Jorhat airbase in Assam on Monday.

External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar will embark on a two-day visit to Bhutan from today.

Disclosing this to reporters in New Delhi, External Affairs Ministry Spokesman Raveesh Kumar said, this is Mr. Jaishankar's first overseas visit after assuming charge of the Ministry.

Mr. Kumar said, during the visit, Mr Jaishankar will call on Bhutanese Prime Minister Lotay Tshering and meet his counterpart Tandi Dorji.

 Replying to a media query, Mr. Raveesh Kumar said, India has ruled out any bilateral meeting between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Pakistani counterpart Imran Khan on the sidelines of Shanghai Cooperation Organization, (SCO) Summit at Bishkek in Kyrgyzstan. Mr Modi will attend the annual summit on 13th and 14th of this month.

The government has effected changes in the Committees of Union Cabinet and included Defence Minister Rajnath Singh in most of the Committees. On Wednesday, the government had reconstituted eight Cabinet Committees. These are, Appointments Committee, Cabinet Committees on Accommodation, Economic Affairs, Parliamentary Affairs, Political Affairs, Security, Investment and Growth and Employment and Skill Development.
 
According to a release issued by Cabinet Secretariat, Rajnath Singh's name has been included in four more committees which are Cabinet Committee on Parliamentary Affairs, Political Affairs, Investment and Growth and Employment and Skill development. Earlier, Mr Singh was the part of only two Committees-Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs and Cabinet Committee on Security. 

Sunil Chhetri became the most capped India player today by surpassing Bhaichung Bhutia's 107 international matches. 

In his milestone match of the King's Cup football tournament in Buriram, Thailand, he scored the lone goal for his side in the 31st minute from a spot kick for his 69th goal. His effort, however, did not make any difference as India, ranked 101, lost 1-3 to higher ranked Curacao. 

The 82nd ranked Caribbean island nation has two players associated with English Premier League and some others in European leagues. They scored three goals in the space of 18 minutes through Roly Bonevacia, Elson Hooi and Leandro Bacuna. 

The Government has reconstituted eight Cabinet Committees. These are Appointments Committee, Committees on Accommodation, Economic Affairs, Parliamentary Affairs, Political Affairs, Security, Investment and Growth and Cabinet Committee on Employment and Skill Development.

Cabinet Secretariat said in a press release that the Cabinet Committee on Security will have Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, Home Minister Amit Shah, Minister of Finance and Corporate Affairs Nirmala Sitharaman and External Affairs Minister Dr. S Jaishankar.

Appointments Committee of the Cabinet has Prime Minister Modi and Mr Shah. While Cabinet Committee on Investment and Growth will have the Prime Minister and Ministers of Home, Road Transport and Highways, Finance and Corporate Affairs and Railways and Commerce and Industry. 

In the ICC Cricket World Cup, India began its campaign with a victory. Men in blue defeated South Africa by 6 wickets in their opening match at Southampton in England last night. 

India achieved the target of 228 runs, with 15 balls to spare. Opener Rohit Sharma hit a blistering unbeaten 122 while Mahendra Singh Dhoni contributed important 34 runs. Rohit was adjudged man of the match.

Earlier, electing to bat first, South Africa were restricted at the score of 227 runs for 9 wickets in stipulated 50 overs as Indian Leg-spinner Yuzvendra Chahal grabbed four wickets. For Proteas, Chris Morris was the highest scorer at 42.

In Russia, the first tourist train traveling through Russia's Arctic region and on to Norway, set off from St. Petersburg station yesterday with 91 passengers aboard for the inaugural trial journey. 

The tourists came from seven countries including the US, Germany, Norway and Russia.

The train, named, Zarengold, complete with two restaurant cars will travel from Saint Petersburg through according to the organisers, the whole trip will take 11 days and allow passengers to discover areas difficult to access by other means.

The Swachh Bharat initiative of the government has led to reduced ground water contamination. A study by the UNICEF said the substantial reductions may potentially be attributed to the improvement in sanitation and hygiene practices. 

It said, supportive systems such as regular monitoring and behaviour change messaging, which have all been critical aspects of the Swachh Bharat Mission (Grameen), also helped reduce ground water contamination.

While another study by Gates Foundation said that Swachh Bharat leverages 23 thousand crore rupees for behaviour change.

These studies were aimed at assessing the environmental impact and communication footprint of the Swachh Bharat Mission (Grameen).

Reserve Bank of India will announce its second bi-monthly monetary policy for current fiscal year in Mumbai this morning. 

The three day meeting of the monetary policy committee (MPC) began on Tuesday amid expectations of a third straight rate cut of 25 basis points. 

The key lending rate or the repo rate currently stands at 6 percent. AIR reports correspondent that it is believed that RBI has enough room to cut rates further as inflation has remained below the RBI's medium-term goal at 4 per cent. 

The CPI inflation for April 2019 stood at 2.92 percent. 

The rate cut is also likely to revive the economy that is going through a slowdown. 

The only constraining factor for the apex bank could be the unwillingness of banks to pass on the rate cut benefits to customers.