The military is 'totally prepared to stand up to the demands made by the government and the people.'
Parents across the country, and the world, are grappling with an unprecedented challenge of dealing with their children who are too old to be shushed or placated and too young to understand the inexplicable situation the world has found itself in. PTI journalists across India shared experiences and conversations with their children aged 2 to 13, which ranged from cute to poignant and heart-wrenching to humorous, and some with sagacity far beyond their age.
With the coronavirus pandemic halting all sport activities, India's former chief badminton coach Vimal Kumar on Tuesday urged the government to allow the Olympic-bound athletes to continue their training after conducting the required tests. Following the respective directives of the Talengana and Karnataka governments, the Pullela Gopichand academy in Hyderbad and Prakash Padukone Academy in Bangalore have been shut down for two weeks.
The Union Health ministry put the number of positive cases at 82, eight more since Thursday night, which includes the woman and a 76-year-old man from Karnataka who became the country's first coronavirus fatality besides 17 foreign nationals, Health Ministry officials said.
World number one Naomi Osaka was beaten in her opening match at the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships on Tuesday, losing to France's Kristina Mladenovic 6-3, 6-3 on her return to competitive action after winning last month's Australian Open.
Despite accounting for the largest number of fatalities, the death rate, however, in the US is much lower than other countries.
The state is following surveillance, containment, increasing testing facilities, and ensuring essentials at people's doorstep, among other strategies, reports T E Narasimhan.
'Sometimes we remember our plans and preoccupations from early March.' 'They seem laughably unreal now,' says Shuma Raha.
In an attempt to stem the spread of coronavirus in India, Prime Minister Modi on Tuesday announced a nationwide lockdown for three weeks.
Several Premier League clubs have furloughed employees since the new coronavirus outbreak while others, such as West Ham United and Southampton, have said their players have accepted wage deferrals. While CA announced plans to furlough almost 80% of staff last week, putting them on 20 per cent pay until June 30 when it is hoped more will be known about how long government curbs to control the coronavirus will last.
'We don't know how complicated things will get with the onset of the monsoon.'
India is the fifth worst-hit nation by the COVID-19 pandemic after the United States, Brazil, Russia and the United Kingdom, according to data issued by the Johns Hopkins University.
Will the fans rush back to the stadium once sport resumes? Will training abroad be as hassle-free as it used to be? What about contact sports where social distancing can't really be practised? Some of India's biggest sportspersons -- current and former -- gave their views on future of sports once the action resumes.
'Install the app for yourself and your family.' 'Make sure that everybody you come in contact with on a daily basis -- your drivers, your maids, your colleagues at work -- make sure they too are using the app.' 'Also encourage people who carry some influence, like office managers, to convince their employees to do the same.' 'This only helps in improving your safety levels.'
'Our Lockdown Life has a sort of schizophrenic, Dr-Jekyll-and-Mr-Hyde personality about it,' says Vaihayasi Pande Daniel.
"We are facing a global health crisis unlike any in the 75-year history of the United Nations -- one that is killing people, spreading human suffering, and upending people's lives. But this is much more than a health crisis. It is a human crisis," Guterres said.
'Nobody can control Kashmir and what happens here.' 'Even a government with a full sweeping majority and strong mandate hasn't been able to control the state.'
The wave of deaths, one-third of which has come from the world's financial capital of New York and neighbouring New Jersey and Connecticut, has had a devastating impact on American economy which has now gone into recession with an unprecedented over 35 million losing their jobs in the last three months.
'When fund managers talk of being bullish for the long term, they assume strong economic growth.' 'That is what they have assumed every year, naively believing the pronouncements and promises of ministers.' 'Unfortunately, they have been wrong year after year,' observes Debashis Basu, editor, www.moneylife.in.
'India is in a slowdown which most of us have not seen in our living memory.'
In his opening address, Prime Minister Modi said the South Asian region has reported less than 150 coronavirus cases, but "we need to remain vigilant". "Prepare, but don't panic" has been India's guiding mantra in dealing with coronavirus outbreak, he said.
'Even though we have around 156 patients, we don't have anyone who requires ventilatory support or the ICU facility.'
A PTI tally of figures announced by different states and union territories, as of 9.25 pm, showed a higher number of 1,76,792 confirmed cases and at least 5,100 deaths. It also showed nearly 86,000 recoveries and close to 85,700 active cases.
The Paytm employee, who tested positive for the contagious disease with flu like symptoms on Wednesday, came in touch with 91 people in Gurgaon, an official said, citing his counterpart in the suburban town.
'Their air force is no match to ours!'
Singapore is the most favoured destination for people living in India, Indonesia, Thailand, Hong Kong and the Philippines when it comes to post-lockdown travel.
However, the Indian economy is expected to bounce back in 2021, the World Bank said.
'Employees may well be expected to be on call at almost all times -- much like the standard Indian approach to the workday,' points out Mihir S Sharma.
The Centre on Saturday issued fresh guidelines relaxing the nationwide lockdown, the fourth phase of which ends on May 31.
