Perry said she had been in touch with the local organising team on a daily basis as they prepare to start the tournament on October 19, pending government approval and confirmation that players will be able to travel.
The Western powers appear to regard Delhi as the most logical destination in the region in these extraordinary times -- as a counterpoint to the ascendance of political Islam and a rising red star over Afghanistan, observes Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
Various events, award functions, interviews, shooting schedules have been called off in view of the novel coronavirus outbreak.
Images for Sunday's closing ceremony at the Tokyo Olympics.
'There's a cycle of fear where everyone fears each other. We are keeping a distance from everyone,' says Ashish Yadav, an associate professor at Wuhan Textile University. The professor along with his wife Neha Yadav, a resident of Etah in Uttar Pradesh have been stranded since January 22 at their home inside Wuhan University, the epicentre of the coronavirus, which has now killed more than 2,000 people in China alone. The couple had earlier appealed to the government to rescue them and wait eagerly for that Air India plane to come and evacuate them from the living nightmare. Speaking to Syed Firdaus Ashraf over the phone, hear their story in their own words.
Khan's spokesman Dr Shehbaz Gill said that the prime minister has just a slight fever and cough.
All international passengers will henceforth be screened at airports, Health Minister Harsh Vardhan said at a press conference. Earlier, travellers from only 12 countries were screened at airports for the disease that has claimed over 3,000 lives and infected more than 90,000 worldwide.
The executive director of the World Health Organisation, Michael Ryan, said India, the world's second most populous country, has a tremendous capacity to deal with the coronavirus outbreak as it has the experience of eradicating the small-pox and polio through targeted public intervention.
The total number of positive cases has increased by 106 in the last 24 hours to reach 1,024.
The action followed concerns about the spread of the deadly flu-like SARS virus which originated in China.
'If you delay the diagnosis even by 24 hours, in that 24 hours individuals would have affected more people.' 'So, contact tracing, testing, isolation, quarantine needs to continue.'
Justice Najmi Waziri issued the direction to three private companies which had entered into an agreement to import 10 lakh test kits from China and distribute them here at a cost of Rs 600 each, the rate approved by the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR).
In a time of crisis like this, a government needs its people and politics united. A nation of India's size and diversity can't fight a stronger rival with fraying social cohesion, observes Shekhar Gupta.
Modi urged the country to show patience during the vaccination drive as it had shown till now in fighting the pandemic.
'It is clear that primary care would be extremely critical in providing care to and preventing deaths of large numbers of patients,' says Pavitra Mohan and Jagdish Rattanani.
These fake medicines include several life-saving drugs, as well as common medicines like Paracetamol. These low-quality drugs are imported from China and freely available in the market.
'In our country, there is a lot of checks and balances, the figures cannot go wrong.' 'Because they are being checked by not only the governments, but by doctors themselves.'
The Union health ministry said West Bengal and Himachal Pradesh reported a casualty each on Monday, taking the total number of deaths to nine in the country due to COVID-19.
The Indian government on Wednesday said it was focusing on bringing back Indians stranded in coronavirus-hit Italy and Iran after screening them.
Since India is one of the largest vaccine producers in the world, it is the country's 'moral responsibility' to fast-track vaccine development process to break the chain of coronavirus transmission, ICMR Director General Dr Balram Bhargava said referring to the two vaccine candidates developed indigenously.
'Our drains are not filled with bodies, our hospitals not run out of beds.' 'That good news, or absence of expected bad news, is the truth that so many in the international community, and also within India, seem unable to handle,' notes Shekhar Gupta.
Across the country, companies have stepped up their act to contain the crisis. IT and other new economy firms seem to have taken a lead.
India is currently under the 21-day lockdown since March 25, with only essential services exempted to contain the fast-spreading virus.
'We want to clarify that our desire has always been to apply a drop in salary because we fully understand that this is an exceptional situation and we are the first ones who have ALWAYS helped the club when asked'
But, the Wall Street Journal said that the US labour market is operating with millions fewer jobs than in February, the month before the coronavirus pandemic struck the country's economy.
During the day, Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan held a meeting to review preparedness for COVID-19 management, through video conference with health ministers, chief secretaries of all states and UTs, central ministers and representatives from the related organisations and stressed on the need for keeping testing and quarantine facilities, isolation wards, and labs in active readiness.
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.
In an address during the virtual meeting of the American Association of Physicians of Indian Origin (AAPI) on Saturday, Modi said COVID-19 had been used as an opportunity to work towards making the country self-reliant.
Mumbai saw an average 46 per cent decline in congestion during the morning rush hour on Tuesday. New Delhi's data also showed an average 34 per cent decline in congestion during morning.
India opener Rohit Sharma on Monday advised people to be be smart and proactive in their fight against the spread of the coronavirus pandemic. Various state governments in the country have ordered closures of schools, malls, cinema halls in a bid to avoid gatherings while also asking people to practice social distancing.
The two remaining India-South Africa ODIs in Lucknow and Kolkata were on Friday called off owing to the coronavirus pandemic after the visiting players "expressed unwillingness" to continue in view of the rising positive cases in the host country. The game in Lucknow was scheduled to be held on Sunday, while the Kolkata ODI was meant to be on March 18.
Aseem Chhabra watched some great films and some huge disappointments in 2020.
This is a national leadership gone so wrong that India's most powerful prime minister in four decades has personally taken charge of medical oxygen shortages, observes Shekhar Gupta.
The lockdown in India has been a timely, graded, proactive and pre-emptive public health measure to fight the COVID-19 pandemic and has been part and parcel of the government's overall strategy, Dr V K Paul, Member (Health), NITI Aayog, and Chairman, Empowered Group 1, said at a media briefing on the COVID-19 situation.
Authorities also said the recovery rate of COVID-19 patients was improving consistently in India and it was in a much better position in handling the pandemic, which has seen more than 63 lakh people testing positive for this virus since its emergence in China last December and over 3.7 lakh having lost their lives.
Trump's remarks came as Deborah Bix, a member of White House Task Force on coronavirus, based on a model from actual data from the ground, said the death toll in the US could be between 1,00,000 to 2,00,000, with the strict implementation of the existing mitigation measures including social distancing till April 30.
In an interaction with former Congress chief Rahul Gandhi on the impact of lockdown on India's economy, Rajiv Bajaj, MD, Bajaj Auto, said India tried to implement a hard lockdown which was still porous and ended up with the worst of both worlds.
Thanks to technological support provided by BlinkIN, a Bengaluru-based intelligent visual-assistance company, engineers in Wuhan were able to remotely install air ventilation systems in two hospitals in Wuhan, the epicentre of the coronavirus pandemic, reports Peerzada Abrar.
With the Tokyo Games due to begin on July 24, organisers have set up a task force to coordinate with public health authorities over the epidemic.
