Top 10 coronavirus updates: Flights to start next week, online booking for 200 trains from tomorrow
A look at the biggest Covid-19 developments of the day.
- The Union health ministry said that India’s coronavirus recovery rate has gone up to 39.62%. India recorded its biggest single-day rise on Wednesday, with 5,611 new coronavirus cases. The nationwide tally is now 1,06,750 and 3,303 patients have died so far.
- The Centre announced that domestic flights will begin to operate in a “calibrated manner” from May 25. Both domestic and international flights were suspended in March. The Ministry of Home Affairs modified its order announcing the fourth phase of the lockdown to allow air travel. The Indian railways, meanwhile, will on Thursday open online bookings for the 200 more trains it will run from June 1.
- Tamil Nadu reported over 700 coronavirus cases and three deaths. The state’s tally rose to 13,191. The toll reached 87 with three more deaths. The cases in Maharashtra crossed 39,000 and the toll stood at 1,390.
- Foreign investors have pulled out an estimated $26 billion (over Rs 1.9 lakh crore) from developing Asian economies due to the outbreak, 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.
- Cab aggregator Ola said the company will lay off 1,400 employees as the nationwide lockdown to curb the spread of coronavirus has significantly dented its revenues.
- Uttar Pradesh Congress Committee President Ajay Kumar Lallu was arrested for staging a protest related to his party’s offer to ferry migrant workers in buses.
- The Ministry of Personnel 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.
- The World Bank 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.
- Nepal Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli on Tuesday blamed people entering illegally from India for spreading the coronavirus in his country. His comment came amid escalating border tensions between the two nations.
- The coronavirus has infected over 49.01 lakh people, and killed more than 3.23 lakh as of Tuesday morning, according to a tracker by the Johns Hopkins University.