Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh said: "The decision on further course of action will be taken after two weeks, depending on the situation. The only solution is social distancing. If it is under control after two weeks, we will take a call."

Incidentally, West Bengal also has the fastest doubling time among large states in India, as pointed out in a graphical analysis by The Indian Express on Wednesday. Doubling time refers to the time taken for the number of cases to double.

Disposing a bunch of petitions by the Christian Medical College, Vellore, and others, the bench of Justices Arun Mishra, Vineet Saran and M R Shah ordered that NEET will be the only exam for admission to the courses and institutions cannot be allowed to conduct their own separate exams over and above NEET.

Thackeray sought the Prime Minister's cooperation in resolving the crisis, sources in New Delhi said. In Mumbai, sources in the Maharashtra government said the Chief Minister had expressed unhappiness over the "politics being played" over his nomination to the Upper House of the state legislature.

A couple of months after their training began at the Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center (GCTC) in Star City near Moscow, it has been put on hold -- and the pilots remain confined to their rooms while Russia grapples with the pandemic.

While there has been no indication that passenger train services will resume before May 3, the Railways carried out an internal exercise and communicated the plan to top levels in the government.

Paddy transplanting in the two states is done by over 10 lakh labourers, mostly seasonal migrants from Bihar and UP. There is uncertainty over their availability this time.

Deaths in the state touched 200 with 17 more succumbing to the disease. Rajkot reported its first death in a 60-year-old woman with hypertension who was admitted in hospital on April 20. The deceased’s husband and two sons, too, are positive, taking the district total to 58.

An estimated 15,000 ventilators are currently available for COVID-19 care across the country, of which about half are with the private sector.

Subramanian said the crisis does provide an opportunity for countries to emerge stronger by being decisive or this can even aggravate pre-existing vulnerabilities.

With his test results for coronavirus awaited (a postmortem will be done only if Ali is negative), his wife Salma Begum, 32, and family can only speculate why he died.

Only weeks ago, this was one of the largest event venues in the country at over 38,000 sq ft and a seating capacity for 8,000-10,000, at the National Sports Club of India in Worli, with a sweeping view of the Arabian Sea. Today, it is a 500-bed isolation centre for asymptomatic Covid-19 patients.

According to the panel, fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) in short supply include: “Lays chips, Haldiram Namkeen products, shampoos, moisturisers of prominent companies, products of major consumers goods companies such as Nestle, P&G, HUL, biscuits, cereals of reputed companies, sanitisers of reputed companies.”

West Bengal accused the Centre of sending mixed signals with the relaxation of some curbs, while Bihar, Jharkhand and Odisha, facing the prospect of hundreds of migrant labourers returning, asked it to specify guidelines in this regard.

With Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman attending the conference for the first time, sources said the Prime Minister assured that the state of the economy is good and there is no need to panic.

The RBI’s liquidity offer is expected to bring some degree of comfort in the debt market which has been under huge redemption pressure, especially in the credit risk fund category which has assets of over Rs 55,000 crore.

Chief Justice of India Justice S A Bobde spoke to The Indian Express on his vision for the Court in the post-COVID world.

The problems were flagged by personnel from Civil Lines police station, which surveyed two shelters at Majnu ka Tilla and the posh Civil Lines. More than 15 shelter homes were assessed by the police.

The bench of Justices N V Ramana, S K Kaul and B R Gavai asked Solicitor General Tushar Mehta to inform it about the steps being taken in this regard.

Among other measures, the report had advocated a hike in income tax rate to 40 per cent for those earning over Rs 1 crore a year for a limited period of time, levy of a 4 per cent COVID-19 cess on taxable income over of wealth tax for individuals with net wealth of Rs 5 crore and more.

Subramanian would likely reflect on the immediate and medium-term challenges facing the economy, the policy options before leaders, and the trade-offs there in.

Dr Biplab Kanti Dasgupta, who was admitted to a private hospital in Kolkata’s Salt Lake area, tested positive on April 17. Diabetic and hypertensive, his condition had deteriorated soon after, and he was put on ventilator support.

This comes days after the “Agra model of containment” was showcased as a success by both the Centre and the state government.

The Max hospital also said that 145 nurses from the Patparganj facility “were quarantined for 14 days in a private hostel, where they live.