Lockdown, Day 25: India’s toll nears 500-mark

With the country’s case count dangerously close to the 15,000-mark, India is slowly getting ready to restart business. From Monday, select services will resume in parts of the country, although which parts will be allowed to get back to work remains to be decided.

In another major development, Air India has started accepting bookings for select domestic flights from May 4, renewing hope of lockdown ending once and for all on May 3.

Here are the other top stories of the day…

COUNT SO FAR

• Mumbai’s Dharavi breaches 100-mark
• Virus infiltrates Indian Navy, 26 infected
• 50 more patients in Indore; MP tally now 1,360
• Two tests positive in Bihar, total 85
• Tally rises to 38 in Himachal
• 24 new cases reported in Agra
• 7, including an infant, test positive in Moradabad, UP
• Gujarat reports 176 new cases; state count now 1,272
• Andhra Pradesh reports 31 new cases; state count tops 600
• Meghalaya reports two more cases; state case count rises to 10
• Karnataka reports 12 more cases; case count hits 370
• Delhi case count now 1,767
• 41 new cases and 2 deaths reported in Rajasthan

LIFE & HEALTH

• Drug Controller General permits clinical trial of convalescent plasma
• NHAI to resume toll collection on National highways from April 20
• Hyundai ties up with Air Liquide to scale up production of ventilators
• Maharashtra to give Rs 2,000 each to 12 lakh registered construction workers

BUSINESS UPDATE

• Air India starts bookings for select domestic flights from May 4th; International flights from June 1st
• Ficci seeks bailout package for aviation industry
• Coal India to not offer supplier’s credit to consumers
• Government nod now must for investment from China and neighbours

WORLD VIEW

• Large global contraction in the first half of 2020 inevitable: IMF
• France toll rises to 18,681
• US death toll passes 35,000, cases top 700,000
• Germany case count up by 3,609, hits 1,37,439
• Confirmed cases in Japan hit 10,000
• China’s imported cases reach 1,566; revised death toll 4,63
• Mexico registers 578 new cases, 60 deaths
• UK sets up new Vaccine Taskforce
• San Diego Comic-Con cancelled for the first time in 50 years

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