The five-day lockdown, ordered after a new COVID-19 outbreak at a hotel, was due to start at midnight.
The minister also said a directive was issued on Sunday to airlines, restraining them from doing open bookings since they did not heed to government's advice in the matter
Besides the four ministerial berths, the Congress has also sought the post of Speaker of the state assembly, but Kumar is not keen on giving that, sources said.
Drones are being used for carrying out a host of tasks like surveillance to ensure that people are maintaining social distancing, spreading awareness about COVID-19 in densely populated areas, spraying disinfectants and checking people's temperature
"We have decided not to allow people from Gujarat, Maharashtra, Kerala and Tamil Nadu till May 31, but allowed in stages (staggered manner)," the CM said said.
Stating that COVID-19 has not yet been contained in India, the rating agency in a statement said the government stimulus package is low relative to countries with similar economic impacts from the pandemic. "The COVID-19 outbreak in India and two months of lockdown -- longer in some areas -- have led to a sudden stop in the economy. That means growth will contract sharply this fiscal year (April 2020 to March 2021)," it said. "Economic activity will face ongoing disruption over the next year as the country transitions to a post-COVID-19 world."
'Suddenly the world has changed, and so have the norms of living,' says Asha Parekh.
While green shoots are beginning to emerge, with June sales rebounding to pre-Covid levels thanks to a rural revival, most FMCG chief executives have voiced concerns about localised lockdowns that began in July and have extended into August in some states.
Shooting for serials like Kumkum Bhagya and Kundali Bhagya has begun, and the cast and crew are taking ample precautions while getting their work done.
"We commend your leadership and the proactive measures you and your government have taken to flatten the curve of the COVID-19 infection rate in India, such as adopting a national lockdown, expanding focused testing to identify hot spots for isolation, quarantining, and care, and significantly increasing health expenditures to strengthen the health system response and promote R&D and digital innovation," Gates wrote.
From announcing a lockdown and extending its tenure, setting up the country's first two exclusive Covid-19 hospitals, creating a hotspot zone, providing doorstep medical service and making masks compulsory, the state is doing all it can to dwarf the virus.
'We have spoken to all the foreign coaches and they have assured us that they are all committed to their jobs till Tokyo Games'
According to new guidelines imposed by authorities on Sunday, shops have been allowed to open on alternate days.
Declaring that the time had come to reopen Delhi, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said on Sunday evening, "Self-employed people like technicians, plumbers, electricians, mechanics, sanitation workers, domestic helps, and people involved with laundry and ironing are allowed to work."
These are the highlights of RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das's statement and resolution of the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC):
While majority of the state governments and union territory administrations have made at least seven days' quarantine compulsory for anyone arriving in their jurisdiction, a few of them have opted for home quarantine for those reaching their administrative limits. According to an official estimate, as on May 26, a total of 22.81 lakh people were in quarantine facilities arranged by different states and union territories -- almost double from 12 days ago (May 14) when the people put under quarantine were 11.95 lakh, a government official told PTI.
Former India boxer Dingko Singh requested the Sports Ministry to help him travel from Manipur to Delhi for his cancer treatment. Singh, who is currently in Imphal, said the doctors had asked him to undergo radiation but it can only be done in Delhi.
Play at the Australian Open continued amid the lockdown, but fans were banned through Wednesday. Thousands were forced to leave mid-matches before midnight on Friday.
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Wednesday announced Rs 3 lakh crore collateral free automatic loan for businesses, including MSMEs, to benefit 45 lakh small businesses. Detailing parts of the Rs 20 lakh crore economic stimulus package, she said this loan will have a 4-year tenure and will have 12-month moratorium, she said.
The COVID-19 experts in Karnataka expect that the state may witness coronavirus infections touching the peak on January 25 before coming down gradually, Karnataka revenue minister R Ashoka said on Monday.
He also said that there were around 620 cases of black fungus or mucormycosis in the city, but there is a shortage of Amphotericin-B injections used in its treatment.
Normally, kharif sowing of vegetable seeds starts during the first week of May across the country. Farmers start preparing their fields to make them suitable for kharif sowing during the second fortnight of April. Now, however, faced with the lockdown, farmers are in a hurry to clear their fields of rabi crop and prepare for kharif planting. With a normal monsoon forecast this year, they are doing all they can to take advantage of pre-monsoon showers.
Auckland in New Zealand has been named the world's most liveable city.
Barcelona are taking measures to cut the wages of their players and staff to reduce the economic effects of the coronavirus crisis, the La Liga club said on Thursday. All professional players at Barcelona, including six-times world player of the year Lionel Messi, as well as non-playing staff, will face a compulsory wage reduction during the period of lockdown, the club's directors decided at a board meeting held via video conference.
'The option to re-open restaurants comes as a big relief to restaurateurs. Although, it is a good development, not all restaurants are geared up to re-open immediately. 'We expect only around 30 per cent of the restaurants to open starting Monday and the rest will re-open gradually through the month,' Hotel and Restaurant Association of Western India (HRAWI) senior vice-president Pradeep Shetty said in a statement.
The 48-year-old trooper prepares ration packets, using his savings, for the poor in his village.
Union home secretary Ajay Bhalla issued an order excluding the non-essential items from sale by the e-commerce companies from the consolidated revised guidelines, which listed the exemption given to the services and people from the purview of the lockdown.
Payments can be made till April 21; for motor the relaxation is only for third-party insurance.
Clashes were reported from a number of places in Srinagar city and parts of Budgam district but nobody was hurt in these incidents, police said.
Though the 2000 year-old shrine remains closed in line with the national lockdown, all rituals are being conducted uninterruptedly and flawlessly by the priests
India's cricketers will not be rushed back into training even after the country gave the green light on Sunday for sports facilities to open, the Board of Control for Cricket in India said. India has extended a nationwide lockdown to May 31 as it tries to curb the spread of the novel coronavirus, and while stadiums and sports complexes are reopening to allow athletes to train there will be no events staged that would draw spectators.
In the Army headquarters, the wings handling military operations, military intelligence, operational logistics and strategic movement will carry out their functions with bare minimum staff strength till April 19, according to the order. Within the command headquarters, wings handling manpower, logistics and operations will only function with skeletal staff.
Of the 20 deaths reported in the last 24 hours, eight were from Maharashtra, three each from Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh, two from Jammu and Kashmir and one each from Punjab, Uttar Pradesh, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu.
The government said it had received many representations seeking extension of time citing many difficulties due to the second wave of Covid-19 and the subsequent lockdowns. MCA has asked the registrar of companies to approve the extension of the time limit to hold the AGM.
The approval is in addition to the existing scheme for the wage months of March to May, 2020 approved on April 15, 2020. The total estimated expenditure is Rs 4,860 crore and over 72 lakh employees in 3.67 lakh establishments will be benefitted.
Taking to Twitter, Chief Minister Arvind Kejrjiwal said that cinema halls will be allowed to reopen from October 15 and they will have to follow all guidelines issued by the central government.
If 2019-20 (FY20) was an unusual year for highway construction in India, with the pace of work slowing down for the first time since the Narendra Modi government assumed power in 2014, largely due to the general elections in May and liquidity crunch, the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020-21 (FY21) only made matters worse with lockdowns and labour unavailability. The pace of highway construction in 2021-22 (FY22) has not been able to bulldoze the pandemic barriers in a year marred by two Covid-19 waves - the second at the start of the fiscal year, the third towards the close. With localised lockdowns and restrictions on mobility, highway construction growth in the country has now fallen to a five-year low.
'Clearly, the next few months will be very challenging for industry.' 'We are clearly in a phase where recovery is a dream.'
It took 64 days for COVID-19 cases in India to touch the (May 19) one lakh-mark from 100 cases, and another fortnight to cross two lakh cases on June 3. It took 10 days for the tally to touch the three lakh-mark and another eight days for the cases to climb to four lakh.
The death toll due to COVID-19 rose to 543 and the number of cases climbed to 17,265 in the country on Monday, according to the Union health ministry.
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