1. The number of people infected with the coronavirus rose to 13,835 with 452 deaths on Friday evening, according to the health ministry. Out of the total number of cases, 11,616 patients are being treated, 1,747 have recovered, and one person has migrated. Gujarat became the sixth state to cross the 1,000 mark in coronavirus cases with 1,021 patients. The other states are Maharashtra (3,205), Delhi (1,640), Madhya Pradesh (1,308), Tamil Nadu (1,267) and Rajasthan (1,131), according to the Centre’s latest figures.
  2. The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare said that the rate of doubling of coronavirus cases in India has reduced from three days before the lockdown to 6.2 days. The health ministry added that there has been a 40% decline in the growth factor of Covid-19 cases.
  3. The Reserve Bank of India cut its reverse repo rate by 25 basis points from 4% to 3.75%, in a bid to push banks to deploy excess funds within the system toward lending and help revive growth amid the coronavirus pandemic. Prime Minister Narendra Modi praised RBI for the measures it had announced earlier in the day to revive the economy, in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic. Modi said the measures will enhance liquidity and improve credit supply, thus helping small businesses.
  4. The Centre made new additions to the list of activities that will be allowed from April 20 amid the nationwide lockdown in parts of the country that are least affected by the pandemic. Non-banking finance corporations and micro-finance institutions will be allowed to resume services. Coconut, spice bamboo, areca nut and cocoa plantations, and forest produce by scheduled tribes have also been added to the list.
  5. Union Minister for Human Resource Development Ramesh Pokhriyal on Friday urged private schools to reconsider annual fee hikes amid the nationwide lockdown to combat the spread of the coronavirus pandemic. Private schools in Delhi, meanwhile, will not be allowed to alter their fee structures and can only charge the tuition fee until they reopen after the lockdown.
  6. The economic calamity accompanying the spread of the novel coronavirus, and the resulting global recession could cause hundreds of thousands of additional child deaths this year, and push a million more into abject poverty, a report released by the United Nations on Thursday said.
  7. The Ministry of Home Affairs has asked the states to screen Rohingya refugees for Covid-19 as many of them had allegedly attended the Nizamuddin markaz.
  8. The National Commission for Women on Friday said the number of domestic violence cases in the country has continued to surge this month amid the countrywide lockdown imposed to prevent the spread of the coronavirus pandemic. The women’s organisation said it has received 587 distress calls or complaints between March 23 and April 16.
  9. China’s Wuhan city, the epicentre of the coronavirus outbreak, abruptly raised its toll from the pandemic by 50%, from 2,579 to 3,869. The country admitted that many cases were “mistakenly reported” or missed entirely. Meanwhile, the Chinese economy shrank by 6.8% in the first quarter of 2020-’21 as the pandemic ravaged parts of the country in January and February.
  10. Globally, the coronavirus has infected 21.96 lakh people and caused over 1.49 lakh deaths, according to the Johns Hopkins University tracker.