The PM said there was a need to 'fight' rumours that the lockdown could be reimposed.
'The aim of issuing these guidelines is to instil COVID appropriate behaviour to contain the spread of the disease while allowing social and economic activity'
The video conference, which began at 11 am, comes amid indications that the central government may extend the nationwide lockdown with some possible relaxations even as Punjab and Odisha have already announced extending the lockdown beyond April 14 when the current spell of 21-day shutdown across the country ends on Tuesday.
Janata Party Chief Subramanian Swamy on Friday moved the Supreme Court seeking scrapping of the controversial Sethusamudram project claiming that a government expert body has doubted its feasibility.
Out of the 12 deaths reported in the last 24 hours some are related to the Tablighi Jamaat congregation, Joint Secretary in the Health Ministry Lav Agarwal said in a daily media briefing.
'In states where all shops are allowed to function and pedestrians are allowed to move around, there is no reason to presume that vendors are not allowed to operate. But ambiguity surrounding the operation of street vendors de jure has led the police to harass them de facto,' say Bhuvana Anand, Jayana Bedi and Prashant Narang.
The Nationalist Congress Party on Tuesday asked its ally Congress to decide on alliance for coming assembly polls in Maharashtra by July 15 and in an apparent overture to facilitate the tie-up party, president Sharad Pawar proposed the Bandra-Worli sealink be named after Rajiv Gandhi.
Barely hours after the Bandra-Worli sea link was named 'Rajiv Gandhi Setu', the move drew criticism from Opposition Shiv Sena-Bharatiya Janata Party alliance, which favoured it being named after Swatantrayaveer Savarkar.
The Centre had withdrawn the controversial affidavits in which it had questioned the existence of Lord Rama and that the Rama Setu was a man-made structure.
The Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) authorities on Sunday reiterated that stations located in containment zones, as per the status on the day of journey, will remain closed.
In a stern two-page letter to West Bengal Chief Secretary Rajiva Sinha, Union Home Secretary Ajay Bhalla said stricter enforcement of lockdown norms was necessary to contain the spread of coronavirus in the state.
'The Mumbai-Pune expressway took shape during the BJP rule in Maharashtra and I had declared that time that it would be named after popular Marathi litterateur P L Deshpande, the most versatile and loved personality of the state famously known for his creative and artistic genius,' Shiv Sena Chief Bal Thackeray said in the editorial of party mouthpiece Saamana on Thursday.
Asked during a press briefing if special trains and private vehicles will also be allowed to transport these people as demanded by some states and others, Joint Secretary in the Union home ministry Punya Salila Srivastava said the orders issued at present were for 'using buses and for group of persons'.
'Each of them is a setu (bridge) that links the government with the party, but their territories are different.'
At least six persons were killed and 40 others injured when a minibus skidded off the Bankim Setu flyover and fell on the railway tracks at Howrah station near Kolkata today.
In an order, Union Home Secretary Ajay Bhalla said buses shall be used for transport of such groups of stranded people and these vehicles will be sanitised and will have to follow safe social distancing norms in seating.
The Union health minister said of the total active COVID-19 cases in the country, 1.5 per cent are on oxygen support and 2.34 per cent are in ICUs.
Beauty technicians and hairstylists in PPEs. Constant disinfection of instruments such as scissors and combs, Disposable neck-wraps and fresh towels. That's what beauty may look like now, reports Amrita Singh.
Modi said the coronavirus pandemic made people learn new things.
India, with the right blend of the physical and the virtual, can emerge as the global nerve centre of complex modern multinational supply chains in the post COVID-19 world.
The fatality rate is down to 3.1 per cent and the recovery rate has improved to 37.5 per cent, he said.
Only asymptomatic passengers with confirmed e-tickets will be allowed in these trains and they will have to report at the station at least 90 minutes ahead of the scheduled departure.
Harvard Global Health Institute Director Dr Ashish Jha noted that the number of cases in India may be higher than what the data suggests because while testing has been improving, it has not been rolled out in a way that will capture all low-symptomatic patients.
The death toll due to the coronavirus infection rose to 7,466 and the cases mounted to 2,66,598 in the country.
The Union Government has submitted in the Supreme Court that the Ram Sethu was destroyed by Lord Rama himself while returning from Sri Lanka.
'The safety regulations drastically reduce the chances of contracting the virus on a two-hour flight.'
He claimed that he had attempted to lodge a complaint with the police but it was not entertained
States and Union Territories have been given the powers for delineation of Red, Green and Orange Zones as per COVID-19 situation, the MHA said. All shops, except those in containment zones and malls, will be allowed to open from Monday with staggered timings during lockdown 4.0, it said.
Trucks detained on either side of the LoC following a drug haul from POK last month, on Wednesday, crossed over ending a month long standoff.
The bench has fixed May 28 for hearing of the writ petition filed by Dandi Swami Vidyananda Bharti and others.
Lok Sabha adjourned for the day on Wednesday following uproar over the Sethusamudram project.
The BJP has accused the government of attempting to destroy evidence of the existence of ancient 'Ram Setu' (bridge) linking India and Sri Lanka through the Sethusamudram ship channel alignment.
Barely two weeks after she asked Archeological Survey of India's Director General Anshu Vaish to submit a report on her role in the filing of the controversial Ram Setu affidavit, Ambika Soni praising the ASI chief at a public function.
The party has asked members to put an immediate end to the campaign for and against Soni.
At a function in Salem on Friday, Karunanidhi had stated that Lord Ram was an imaginary character.
'When the virus, in a way, tires itself out, because it is not finding any more people to attack or keep itself viable, that is when the peak actually has been reached and you are on the downward limb (of the curve).'
As Antony talked to army officers and journalists accompanying him, several camera flashes went off on the Pakistani side.
From the Gulf countries to Malaysia and the UK to the US, the multi-agency operation christened 'Vande Bharat Mission' will see the state-owned AI operate 64 flights till May 13 in the first phase to ferry around 15,000 Indian nationals from 12 countries.
Countering the claim in Lok Sabha, Shipping Minister T R Baalu, joined by DMK members, strongly objected to the issue being raised in the House on the ground that it was sub-judice.
In a video conference with the chief ministers, fourth such interaction since March 22 when he first spoke to them about the pandemic, Modi stressed on the need for the states to strictly enforce lockdown guidelines in the coronavirus hotspots zones, and strongly pitched for the mantra of 'do gaz doori' (a distance of two yards) to protect people from the infection, according to a government statement.
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