Shubhajit Roy

India is on a national lockdown for three weeks till April 14, while in the US, 37 states have given orders or directives to stay at home.

PM Modi informed Merkel about the recent Indian initiatives to disseminate simple yoga exercises and immunity-enhancing Ayurvedic remedies.

Modi said that he looks forward to working with Li to “further deepen and strengthen our closer developmental partnership and take it to even greater heights in the years to come”.

The source said PM-CARES was set up following requests from India and abroad from individuals and organisations willing to make contributions to support the government in its fight against COVID-19.

The leaders discussed the domestic and international aspects of the crisis, and underlined the importance of global collaboration and solidarity in the present situation, a statement by the Ministry of External Affairs said.

The PM’s interaction with the envoys, part of a video conference with about 130 Indian envoys across the world, was to discuss responses to the global COVID-19 pandemic.

India said that the bodies of Indian national Tian Singh and two other Afghan Sikhs are being repatriated to India where their families live.

Health experts from SAARC countries will form a WhatsApp or an email group to exchange information on the coronavirus pandemic in real-time, officials said on Friday.

At the end of the two-and-a-half hour virtual G20 summit — which was not on a purely economic agenda — the leaders decided to inject “$5 trillion into the global economy”.

Saudi Arabia’s King Salman will chair the virtual summit on March 26 to advance the global coordinated response to the coronavirus pandemic.

About 6,000-10,000 foreign nationals are expected to be evacuated on special flights, as all international flights have been cancelled.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi condemned the attack, and New Delhi said “such cowardly attacks” at the time of the COVID-19 pandemic is reflective of the “diabolical mindset” of the perpetrators and their backers.

On Tuesday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi spoke to European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and discussed the global situation in the context of the pandemic.

The students said that their medical colleges had shut down due to the coronavirus scare and that they were told to leave the hostels and return home.

This will be a follow-up to the video-conference of SAARC leaders on March 15.

While Lok Sabha was adjourned around 3.30 pm after passing the Finance Bill, 2020, without any discussion, Rajya Sabha was adjourned around 7 pm.

About 280 Indians are stuck in Kuala Lumpur. The Indian High Commission there has tied up with some local NGOs to provide temporary accommodation to them.

Sources said Jaishankar’s phone calls to Indian envoys is to make sure that they are on the “same page” with the South Block, as the situation is “fast evolving”, with more confirmed coronavirus cases around the world and in India.

Giving details of the evacuation exercise for stranded Indians in Italy, the ministry said 380 swab samples of Indians were brought back from Italy.