10.45 pm: Here is the list of the 200 trains.

10.40 pm: The Ministry of Railways will run 200 more trains from June 1, ANI reports. All passengers will be screened. Bookings will begin at 10 am on Thursday.

10.35 pm: The Ministry of Home Affairs modifies its order announcing the fourth phase of the lockdown to allow air travel.

9 pm: Mumbai reports 1,372 more coronavirus cases on Wednesday, including 41 deaths. The city, the worst-affected in India, now has a total of 23,935 cases, including 841 deaths, according to the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation.

8.58 pm: Madhya Pradesh reports 270 new cases of the coronavirus on Wednesday, according to the state health department. The number of cases in the state has risen to 5,735, and 267 people have died.

8.56 pm: An official working with the medical education section of Health Services tests positive for Covid-19, ANI reports. The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare says the room will be sanitised, and will remain closed till 6 am on Thursday.

8.53 pm: Two policemen in Mumbai who tested positive for Covid-19 have died, PTI reports. This takes the total number of policemen who have died in Mumbai to 10.

8.44 pm: An official of the Medical Education Section of the Directorate General Of Health Services tests positive for the coronavirus.

8.28 pm: The cases in Maharashtra cross 39,000. The toll stands at 1,390.

8.26 pm: Gujarat’s coronavirus tally rises to 12,539 with 39 new cases, PTI reports. The toll reaches 749 with 30 more deaths.

7.57 pm: Assam’s tally rises to 170 with 13 new cases, ANI reports.

7.55 pm: West Bengal reports 142 coronavirus cases. The state’s tally rises to 3,103. The toll reaches 181.

7.47 pm: The Punjab government sets up a facilitation centre at the Delhi Airport for citizens returning from foreign countries.

7.44 pm: Civil Aviation Minister Hardeep Singh Puri says keeping middle seats on planes vacant would not be a viable option.

7.41 pm: Tamil Nadu reports 743 cases of the coronavirus. The state’s tally rises to 13,191. The toll rises to 87 with three more deaths.

6.20 pm: The Uttarakhand High Court directs the state government to make all possible efforts to set up functional quarantine centres at all border points so that people returning from red zones can be quarantined for a weekend, and those who have symptoms can be tested, ANI reports.

6.05 pm: New cases reported today:

Karnataka: 67 new cases, total cases rise to 1,462; toll up to 41,

Dharavi, Mumbai: 25 new cases, total rises to 1,378,

Himachal Pradesh: Total cases stands at 104; toll now three.

5.55 pm: Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman claims Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra should see why 300 trains carrying migrant workers arrived in Uttar Pradesh, a BJP-ruled state, while only five to seven reached Congress-ruled Chhattisgarh. But, she then adds: “Don’t want to politicise this as migrants are Indians and all of us in this extraordinary situation should concentrate and work together.”
She claims that while the population of the two states may not be comparable, the number of migrants may be. “Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand – the numbers maybe comparable to entire UP put together. This is unfair, dirty and clearly shows the hypocrisy of Congress.”

5.41 pm: “I appeal to people to protest outside their homes by holding black placards, black ribbons and wearing black masks between 11 am and 12 noon on Friday. They should maintain social distancing during the protest,” Chandrakant Patil adds.

5.38 pm: The Maharashtra unit of the BJP claims the state government has failed to check the spread of the virus in the state.

State BJP unit president Chandrakant Patil alleges that the health infrastructure has collapsed in Mumbai. He compares the situation in the state with that of Kerala. “Maharashtra reported its first coronavirus patient on March 9, the tally is now nearing the 40,000-mark,” he says and adds that Kerala also reported its first case on March 9 and the count in the state remains below 1,000. “In contrast, the number of the COVID-19 deaths in Maharashtra has crossed 1,300. This [data] underlines the failure of the Thackeray government,” Patil says.

However, Kerala reported its first case in January.

5.33 pm: Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman says it was “important to give stimulus for businesses” to start off, ANI reports. “In PM Garib Kalyan scheme – introduced after lockdown – we gave some cash transfer. With that done, we weren’t closing the option. For cash transfer, we thought it was far more effective because the way in which we’ve planned it, we thought there’ll be greater multiplier effect and therefore it should be through banks, businesses, through money given for working capital.”

5.28 pm: The BJP directs its state units to file reports on the aid provided to people in need amid the pandemic.

5.22 pm: Kerala reports 24 new Covid-19 cases, says Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan. “Of them, 12 have returned from abroad, 11 others have returned from other states and one has been infected by contact,” he says. “Total positive cases stand at 666, including 161 active cases.”

5.17 pm: The Indian Navy will begin to evacuate citizens stranded in Sri Lanka from June, PTI reports, citing defence sources.

5.13 pm: A 60-year-old legislator from Pakistan dies of the coronavirus, PTI reports. Shaheen Raza was a member of the ruling Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf party. Pakistan President Arif Alvi and Prime Minister Imran Khan expressed their condolences.

So far, Pakistan has recorded 45,895 coronavirus cases and over 980 deaths.

5.08 pm: “Adding the TOIFA trophy I won for ‘Moh Moh Ke Dhaage’ (DLKH, 2015) for charity auction to raise funds for Covid test kits,” Varun Grover says. “Putting it up on ebay in 2050 was my retirement fund plan but i believe now is a better time to use it to secure India’s future.”

5.05 pm: Filmmaker Anurag Kashyap, writer Varun Grover and comedian Kunal Kamra are auctioning their trophies to raise funds for Covid-19 test kits, PTI reports. They aim to raise Rs 13.44 lakh in the next 30 days for ten kits. It is expected to help 1,000 people get tested.

“Highest bidder gets the original trophy for the Filmfare critics award best film 2013, ‘Gangs of Wasseypur,’” Kashyap said in a tweet.

5.02 pm: The Haryana government reverses decision to ply inter-state buses, PTI reports. State Home Minister Anil Vij says public transport will only run within state.

5 pm: Domestic flights will restart in a calibrated manner from May 25, Union minister Hardeep Singh Puri says. “All airports and air carriers are being informed to be ready for operations from 25th May,” Puri says on Twitter. “SOPs for passenger movement are also being separately issued by @MoCA_GoI.”

4.55 pm: Agarwal adds that of the 61,149 active cases in India, only 2.94% need oxygen support, around 3% are in ICUs and about 0.45% need ventilators.

4.53 pm: Union Health Ministry Joint Secretary Lav Agarwal says India’s recovery rate has consistently gotten better. When the lockdown was initiated in March, the recovery rate was 7.1%, it went to 11.42% during the second phase of the lockdown and to 26.59% during the third phase. “Today, the recovery rate is 39.62%,” he says.

4.47 pm: Agarwal says the Indian government has been able to manage the situation so far.

India on Wednesday morning recorded its biggest daily rise of 5,611 new coronavirus cases, taking the total in the country to 1,06,750. With 140 fatalities, the toll rose to 3,303. There are 61,149 active cases in the country and 42,297 people have been discharged.

4.45 pm: “If the total population of the world is taken into account, then 62 people per lakh population have been affected due to Covid-19,” Lav Agarwal says. “In India, 7.9 people per lakh population got affected.”

He adds that the mortality rate in the world is 4.2 people per lakh population but it is only 0.2 in India.

4.42 pm: The health ministry is holding a press conference after more than a week.

Also read:

As India’s Covid-19 cases cross the 100,000 mark, why has health ministry stopped its briefings?

4.40 pm: Union Health Ministry Joint Secretary Lav Agarwal says “it is satisfactory” that 42,298 people have recovered from coronavirus so far.

4.38 pm: Bihar government transfers Health Secretary Sanjay Kumar amid the coronavirus crisis. The 1990-batch IAS officer will be made the state’s principal secretary for tourism department. Uday Singh Kumawat, a 1993-batch officer, who earlier held the post, will now be the health secretary, PTI reports.

4.34 pm: Foreign investors have pulled an estimated $26 billion (over Rs 1.9 lakh crore) out of developing Asian economies amid the crisis of the coronavirus pandemic, fuelling concerns of a major recession in the region, according to a report by the Congressional Research Center. Out of this, more than $16 billion (Rs 1.2 lakh crore) was pulled out of India.

Read more here:

Coronavirus lockdown: Foreign investors pulled out more than $16 billion from India, says report

4.31 pm: The Ministry of Human Resource and Development on Wednesday announced that all pending Central Board of Secondary Education exams for Class 10 and Class 12 will be held at the schools where the students are enrolled, instead of an external examination centre, PTI reported. This has been done to avoid the spread of the coronavirus infection, the ministry said.

Read more here:

Covid-19: CBSE board exams to be held in schools and not at external centres, says HRD ministry

4.25 pm: Uttar Pradesh Congress Committee President Ajay Kumar Lallu was booked on Wednesday, a day after he was detained for staging a protest related to his party’s offer to ferry migrant workers in buses. Senior party leaders Pradeep Mathur, Vivek Bansal and Manoj Dixit were also arrested.

Read more here:

Coronavirus lockdown: UP Congress chief arrested for protest over buses for migrants

4.20 pm: The World Bank on Tuesday said that the coronavirus pandemic will push over 6 crore people into extreme poverty, even as it announced emergency operations worth $160 billion (Rs 12.1 lakh crore) in 100 developing countries to fight the virus.

Read more here:

Coronavirus will push over 6 crore people into extreme poverty, says World Bank

4.15 pm: The Ministry of Personnel on Tuesday said that all central government departments have been asked to exempt pregnant women, people with disabilities and those with comorbid conditions from coming to office during the coronavirus outbreak. In a directive issued to central government departments, the ministry said that it has been decided that government servants who have underlying conditions, or comorbidities, and were undergoing treatment for these ailments before the lockdown, may as far as possible be exempted from roster duty. This can be done after they submit a medical prescription from physicians treating them.

Read more here:

Coronavirus: Centre asks departments to exempt pregnant women, disabled people from going to office

3.52 pm: Bihar reports 60 more coronavirus cases, taking the total tally of infections in the state to 1,579, according to PTI.

3.47 pm: “Had the buses been been allowed to ply, 92,000 people would have reached home safely,” says Priyanka Gandhi. “If you don’t wish to use the buses, please tell us. We’ll call back the buses.”

3.43 pm: “If you want to stick BJP stickers on these buses, please do,” says Gandhi. “If you want to say these buses are yours, please do. But please get the buses running. Give us permit.”

3.40 pm: Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi speaks about the migrant crisis in the country. “We will have to understand our responsibilities,” she says. “They [labourers] are walking to return to their native states. They aren’t just Indians but India’s spinal cord. The country runs on their blood and sweat. It’s everyone’s responsibility. It’s not the time for politics.”

3.37 pm: Tripura records four new coronavirus cases, taking the total number of cases in the state to 173. All the four patients had recently returned from Chennai and are now under treatment.

3.35 pm: The Centre releases guidelines for conducting exams amid the coronavirus crisis. “Taking into consideration the academic interest of large number of students, it has been decided to grant exemption from the lockdown measures to conduct board examination for Classes 10 and 12, with few conditions like social distancing, face mask etc, for their safety,” tweets Home Minister Amit Shah.

3.26 pm: Meanwhile, Bahujan Samaj Party chief Mayawati criticises both Congress and BJP for politicising the matter of sending migrant workers’ home. “The disgusting politics being done in the past several days, specially by the BJP and Congress in the name of sending migrant labourers home is most unfortunate,” she tweets. “Are these parties accusing each other in connivance to divert attention from the tragedy?”

The former Uttar Pradesh chief minister also claims BSP workers have been helping migrants in the entire country “without caring for publicity”.

3.23 pm: Congress spokesperson Abhishek Singhvi attacks the Uttar Pradesh government over providing buses to transport migrants. “I beseech with folded hands,” he says. “If the Adityanath government cannot help the migrants, let Priyanka [Gandhi] ji and the Congress party help them. It is shameless politics amidst crisis and devastation.”

3.16 pm: Offices in Gurugram can operate with up to 50% strength and industries can operate with 100% staff, say new guidelines issued for the fourth phase of the lockdown, according to The Indian Express. Marriages and funerals can take place with guests restricted to 50 and 20 respectively, four-wheeler vehicles can have a maximum of two passengers besides the driver, among other key norms

3.08 pm: Britain’s Cambridge University announces that all its lectures would be delivered online over the next academic year because of the coronavirus outbreak, reports Reuters. “Given that it is likely that social distancing will continue to be required, the university has decided there will be no face-to-face lectures during the next academic year,” the university says in a statement.

3 pm: The Gautam Buddh Nagar administration says Noida-Delhi borders will remain sealed. A clarification regarding movement between Delhi and Noida has been sought from the state government and the rules will be in place till directions are received, according to The Indian Express.

On Tuesday, the Adityanath-led government said people in Delhi can travel to Noida and Ghaziabad.

Meanwhile, new guidelines for the fourth phase of the lockdown have been released. A Noida resident can have two persons besides the driver in a private vehicle. In a three-wheeler public transport, only two persons besides the driver to be allowed, according to the order.

2.49 pm: Rajasthan reports 107 new cases till 2 pm, taking the state’s tally of infections to 5,952.

2.45 pm: The health ministry says a coronavirus case was detected in Directorate General of Health Services in Nirman Bhawan today, reports ANI. Proper protocol for sanitisation of entire area will take place and contact tracing initiated has been initiated.

2.38 pm: The Cabinet has approved Centre’s “atma-nirbhar” (self-reliant) economic package for allocation of foodgrains to the migrants amid the extended lockdown.

2.29 pm: Delhi reports 534 new cases in the past 24 hours, taking the total number of cases to 11,088. This is the biggest single-day jump in the number of cases in the city so far. The toll has risen to 176 after 10 new fatalities.

2.26 pm: In phase 3 of Operation “Samudra Setu”, the Indian Navy will bring Indian nationals from Sri Lanka. INS Jalashwa will bring stranded Indian nationals from Colombo on June 1.

2.16 pm: Russia’s coronavirus case tally, the second highest in the world, has crossed 3,00,000, reports Reuters. With 8,764 new coronavirus cases, the nationwide total rose to 3,08,705. But the daily increase is the lowest since May 1.

2.08 pm: Nepal Prime Minister KP Oli has blamed India for spread of the coronavirus in his country, reports NDTV. “Those who are coming from India through illegal channels are spreading the virus in the country and some local representatives and party leaders are responsible for bringing in people from India without proper testing,” Oli said in his speech on Tuesday, his first in Parliament since the pandemic began. “It has become very difficult to contain Covid-19 due to the flow of people from outside. Indian virus looks more lethal than Chinese and Italian now. More are getting infected.”

2 pm: Twelve people, who had recently returned from Mumbai, test positive for the coronavirus in Himachal Pradesh, reports PTI. The state now has 105 Covid-19 cases.

1.44 pm: Odisha has crossed the 1,000 mark after 74 more people tested positive for the coronavirus, taking the state’s total to 1,052.

1.40 pm: The Manipur Police has detained 521 people for violating curfew and lockdown norms in the state, reports PTI.

1.36 pm: Uttar Pradesh Congress Committee President Ajay Kumar Lallu has been arrested for staging a protest, demanding that the buses offered by his party to take migrant workers home be allowed to enter the state, reports PTI. Senior party leaders Pradeep Mathur, Vivek Bansal and Manoj Dixit have also been arrested, says Senior Superintendent of Police, Agra, Babloo Kumar.

1.33 pm: The Centre will address the media at 4 pm about the coronavirus situation, reports NDTV.

1.29 pm: App-based taxi aggregator Ola will layoff 1,400 employees as the weeks-long nationwide lockdown to contain the coronavirus outbreak hits revenues, reports PTI. “Revenue down 95% in last two months, prognosis for business is unclear and uncertain,” says the company.

Read more here:

Coronavirus lockdown: Ola to lay off 1,400 employees, says CEO

1.25 pm: South Korea Vice Health Minister Kim Gang-lip says 193 coronavirus cases have been linked to a Seoul nightclub cluster, reports CNN. Authorities have used credit card records, cell phone data, and other methods to track down all the people who had visited Itaewon district, and asked them all to be tested.

1.20 pm: The assistant superintendent of the Rohini Jail in Delhi has tested positive for the coronavirus, reports PTI. This comes five days after 15 inmates from the prison contracted the infection.

1.17 pm: RD Bajpai, Railways executive director, says 200 return journeys of non-AC trains will run from June 1, reports ANI. “Only online ticket booking will be available for these trains,” he adds. “A schedule of these trains will be released soon. Yesterday, a record 204 ‘shramik special’ trains were run.”

1.13 pm: The number of coronavirus cases in Madhya Pradesh’s Indore district has increased to 2,715 after 78 more people tested positive in the last 24 hours, reports PTI.

1.06 pm: Congress leader Sachin Pilot hits out at the Adityanath-led government in Uttar Pradesh for detaining Ajay Kumar Lallu, ANI reports. “If Congress is arranging food and buses for people, every government should welcome it,” he adds. “Not providing permission at borders, arresting leaders and doing petty politics, is it justified? It is unfortunate that the UP Government is not allowing buses.”

Both the Congress and the Uttar Pradesh government have been engaged in a war of words over providing 1,000 buses to ferry migrant workers.

1 pm: The Kerala State Road Transport Corporation commences operations in all 14 districts of the state after a 54-day lockdown, reports The Hindu. The buses will operate from 7 am to 7 pm only.

12.56 pm: British multinational engineering company Rolls-Royce announces that it would cut at least 9,000 jobs from its global staff of 52,000 and is also likely to shut factories to adapt to the much smaller aviation market due to the coronavirus pandemic, reports Reuters.

12.49 pm: Pakistan records 1,932 new cases of the novel coronavirus and 46 fatalities during the last 24 hours, according to PTI. The country now has total 5,898 cases with 985 deaths.

12.42 pm: Karnataka reports 63 more coronavirus cases, taking total to 1,458 infections in the state.

12.38 pm: In a series of 14 tweets, Nationalist Congress Party chief Sharad Pawar highlights the problems faced by educational institutions due to the coronavirus pandemic. He calls for formation of a study group to ensure that the process of education is not disrupted in Maharashtra.

12.32 pm: Two months after the lockdown was announced in India, millions of migrant workers are still stranded, the situation is turning volatile with multiple instances or unrest, forcible roadblocks, stone pelting and even attacks on police being reported.

Read here: With no relief in sight, unrest grows among migrant workers trapped in cities

12.26 pm: Around 500 personnel of the Kolkata Police Combat Force protest in the city, alleging that they were being deployed in areas where chances of contracting coronavirus is high, reports PTI. “There are several policemen who have been infected with the virus,” a police officer of the Combat Force says. “This cannot go on.”

12.20 pm: A six-year old girl has died in Uttar Pradesh’s Mainpuri district after being hit by a speeding truck, reports NDTV. The girl was waiting for a bus arranged by the state government when the incident occured. “I used to work in other people’s fields in Haryana,” says her father. “We were just trying to get home. The lockdown really affected our lives, so we were desperate to get home.”

12.12 pm: The Ministry of Human Resource Development says that students who will appear for pending Class 10 and 12 board exams will take tests in their schools, instead of an external test centre, reports PTI. “Schools will be responsible for ensuring social distancing norms are followed and students will be required to carry their own sanitiser bottles and cover their face with mask,” adds an official.

12 pm: Locals throw stones at police on Delhi-Gurugram border allegedly for not being allowed to enter Gurugram, reports ANI.

11.22 am: A man has been sentenced to death in Singapore via a Zoom video-call for his role in a drug deal as the court hearings in the city-state have been adjourned due to the lockdown, reports Reuters. “For the safety of all involved in the proceedings, the hearing for Public Prosecutor v Punithan A/L Genasan was conducted by video-conferencing,” a spokesperson for Singapore’s Supreme Court says.

11.15 am: The Karnataka State Road Transport Corporation has planned to operate 2,000 buses today, reports The Indian Express. It also extended the timings of operating buses and the last departure from the stations will be now at 7 pm.

11.11 am: India’s health ministry has not addressed a press briefing since May 11. There has been no explanation for why its daily briefings have stopped. The country crossed the one-lakh mark in the number of coronavirus cases on Tuesday.

Read here: As India’s Covid-19 cases cross the 100,000 mark, why has health ministry stopped its briefings?

11.08 am: Andhra Pradesh records 68 fresh coronavirus cases, taking total number of infections in the state to 2,407, according to the state health department.

11.06 am: Brazil reports 17,408 new coronavirus cases and 1,179 new deaths – its largest one-day jump since the pandemic began, reports Reuters. Brazil now has the third-highest number of confirmed infections, after the United States and Russia.

10.58 am: The Indian Council of Medical Research says 25,12,388 samples have been tested for the coronavirus till 9 am. Of these, 1,08,121 samples were tested in the last 24 hours.

10.44 am: Gahlot says drivers, conductors and bus marshals have been strictly asked not to run buses with more than 20 passengers. “If it comes to surface that they did not follow these directions strong action will be taken against all three,” he adds.

10.40 am: Delhi Transport Minister Kailash Gahlot tells ANI that most DTC buses are engaged in ferrying migrants to railway stations. He adds that the government has received information that the Revenue Department has requisitioned around 1,200 buses while the police have asked for about 500 buses.

10.35 am: The Congress has called a video conference meeting of the Opposition parties on Friday to discuss the the Narendra Modi-led government’s handling of the coronavirus crisis. The meeting will be held at 3 pm on Friday. Other items in the agenda include the migrant crisis triggered by the lockdown, the states’ suspension of labour laws, and the freeze on the activities of the various Parliamentary committees which function even when the Parliament is not in session.

Also read

Coronavirus: Congress calls meeting of 18 Opposition parties to discuss Centre’s handling of crisis

10.31 am: The number of cases in Jharkhand rises to 248, says the health department. Of these, 118 cases are active.

10.30 am: World Health Organization Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus says he will continue to lead the global fight against the coronavirus pandemic even after Donald Trump threatened to cut off funding to the body, reports Reuters. “We want accountability more than anyone,” Ghebreyesus adds. “We will continue providing strategic leadership to coordinate the global response.”

10.28 am: The Howrah-New Delhi AC Special Express for Wednesday has been cancelled owing to the super cyclone Amphan, says the Eastern Railway.

10.21 am: The Union Cabinet will meet at 11 am today.

10.20 am: A Rohini jail official has tested positive, reports ANI. The personnel who live in staff quarters near the infected person will be asked to undergo self-quarantine at home for 14 days.

10.16 am: United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres says the developed countries could take lessons from the preventative measures taken by many African nations to stem the spread of infection. “Covid-19 has made much slower progress [in Africa] than the predictions that were made at the beginning,” he adds, according to AFP. There have been less than 3,000 deaths out of the 88,000 cases registered throughout the African continent.

10.07 am: There are no active cases as of May 18 in Ladakh, the nodal officer tells ANI.

10.05 am: Bihar’s Health Ministry says the state has recorded 54 new cases and the total number of infections are now 1,573.

10.01 am: In fresh guidelines for workplace, the health ministry says anyone diagnosed as a suspected or confirmed case of Covid-19 should immediately inform the office authorities and isolate themselves. A large outbreak would require that the building be shut down for 48 hours and disinfected but there is no need to close the entire office building or halt work if one or two cases were detected.

9.59 am: Minister for Civil Aviation Hardeep Puri says domestic flights will resume once the state governments express their willingness to open airports.

9.55 am: Two people, including an Indian Coast Guard officer, have tested positive in Goa. This takes the tally of active cases in the state to 41, reports PTI.

9.50 am: A man, who returned to Meghalaya from Chennai, has tested positive, says Chief Minister Conrad K Sangma. The number of cases in the state has risen to 14.

9.47 am: Six people, including three of a family, who returned to Himachal Pradesh from Mumbai have tested positive for coronavirus, reports PTI. With this, the state’s tally goes up to 99.

9.43 am: In Tamil Nadu, migrant workers gather in large numbers at Sundarapuram, Coimbatore, to collect passes for today’s ‘shramik special’ trains for Uttar Pradesh and Bihar.

9.41 am: Public bus services resumes on select routes in Punjab with 50% occupancy.

9.40 am: 61 more cases reported in Rajasthan as of 9 am today, says the state health department. The state’s total count now rises tp 5,906, including 143 deaths.

9.02 am: One hundred and forty people have died of the virus in the last 24 hours.

9 am: The number of Covid-19 cases in India rises to 1,06,750, according to the Ministry of Health. This includes 3,303 deaths, and 61,149 active cases.

8.50 am: A Congressional report shows the pandemic has forced foreign investors to pull out more than $16 billion from Indian markets, according to PTI. The report adds that $26 billion worth of investments have been pulled out of emerging Asian markets.

8.47 am: 50 migrants, who returned to Uttar Pradesh’s Basti district from Maharashtra last week, were found positive, reports NDTV. Of these, 28 have recovered. A top district official said 28 have recovered. With this, the total number of cases in the district stands at 104.

“No need for public to panic,” says District Magistrate Ashutosh Niranjan. “As a matter of understanding high numbers simply indicate that high rate of sampling and meticulous contact tracing exercise undertaken in Basti is helping us to identify coronavirus carriers. Their timely identification is surely helping us in breaking chain of coronavirus transmission in the district.”

8.42 am: Donald Trump says he may impose a ban on travel from Brazil, reports Reuters. “We are considering it,” the US president tells reporters at the White House. “I don’t want people coming over here and infecting our people. I don’t want people over there sick either. We’re helping Brazil with ventilators. ... Brazil is having some trouble, no question about it.”

8.40 am: Mexico’s cases hit a new daily record of 2,713, reports Reuters.

8.39 am: The Indian Council of Medical Research has said there is no specific duration to declare a body as non-infective, PTI reports. However, the medical research body adds that the survival of coronavirus gradually decreases with time in a body.

8.38 am: People line up outside liquor shops in Ranchi. Jharkhand has levied 75% Value Added Tax on liquor including Indian-Made Foreign Liquor.

8.32 am: Delhi’s Feroz Shah Kotla ground has been turned into a facility to house and test migrant labourers from Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and Madhya Pradesh before being transported to bus and railway stations, reports Hindustan Times.

8.30 am: China records five new cases for May 19, says the National Health Commission. Four of the new cases are local tranmissions and one is an imported case. The total number infections in China stands at 82,965, while the toll remains unchanged at 4,634.

8.05 am: The crisis threatens to push some 60 million people into extreme The World Bank on Tuesday said that the coronavirus pandemic will push over 6 crore people into extreme poverty, even as it announced emergency operations worth $160 billion (Rs 12.1 lakh crore) in 100 developing countries to fight the virus, PTI reported on Wednesday.

, wiping out the gains made over the past three years, warns the head of World Bank. David Malpass urges donor nations to step up aid to poorer countries to ensure a durable recovery.

8.02 am: Schools in South Korea reopen.

7.56 am: People arrive at wholesale fruit and vegetable market in Ghazipur.

7.55 am: US President Donald Trump continues to defend anti-malarial drug hydroxycholoroquine, saying it is still the first “line of defence” against Covid-19. The US president claims the drug earned a bad reputation only because “he was promoting it”. “So, I am obviously a very bad promoter. If anybody else were promoting it, they would say this is the greatest thing ever,” he says.

7.53 am: United States records 1,536 fresh deaths in the last 24 hours. The toll in the country has crossed 90,000.

7.50 am: Here are the top updates from Tuesday

  • The total number of coronavirus cases in India rose to 1,01,139 on Tuesday, and the toll to 3,163. As many as 4,970 new patients were added in the last 24 hours and 134 people died. Maharashtra reported 2,100 new Covid-19 cases on Tuesday, taking the overall tally to 37,158, while Tamil Nadu’s count rose to 12,448.
  • The Indian railways will run 200 non-AC trains from June 1, besides the shramik special trains. 
  • The Ministry of Home Affairs asked states and Union Territories to proactively coordinate on the operation of more trains to take migrant workers back to their hometowns, 56 days after a nationwide lockdown began. The ministry also suggested that states make arrangements for rest places, food and shelter for migrants who are on their way back to their villages on foot. At least 18 migrant labourers were killed in four separate road accidents late on Monday and early Tuesday. 
  • Uttar Pradesh Congress Committee President Ajay Kumar Lallu was detained on Tuesday for staging a protest, demanding that the buses offered by his party to take migrant workers home be allowed to reach Noida and Ghaziabad. The Adityanath-led government and the Congress have been locked in an escalating fight over transportation arrangements for stranded migrant workers, beginning with party leader Priyanka Gandhi’s Vadra’s offer to provide 1,000 buses to the state government.
  •   The Maharashtra government on Tuesday released guidelines for the fourth phase of the nationwide lockdown to control the coronavirus, retaining most restrictions in red zones and containment areas. The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation on Monday, meanwhile, revised its protocol for sealing buildings where coronavirus cases are detected and said that the entire building need not be sealed.
  • United States President Donald Trump once again threatened to cut funding to the World Health Organization, accusing it of being a “puppet” of China. Trump said the United States pays around $450 million (over Rs 3,400 crore) annually to the global health organisation. He said his government was making plans to slash this amount because “we’re not treated right”.
  • Globally, the coronavirus has infected over 48 lakh people, and killed more than 3.18 lakh as of Tuesday morning, according to a tracker by the Johns Hopkins University.