India

New Delhi, Apr 13 (PTI) The world's biggest lockdown that shut a majority of the factories and businesses, suspended flights, stopped trains and restricted movement of vehicles and people, may have cost the Indian economy Rs 7-8 lakh crore during the 21-day period, analysts and industry bodies said.

New Delhi, Apr 12 (PTI) A 56-year-old assistant-sub inspector of the Delhi Police has tested positive for coronavirus, police said on Sunday.

The ASI is a resident of Shyam Nagar, Okhla Phase-1, they said.

Bhopal, Apr 13 (PTI) Former Madhya Pradesh chief minister Kamal Nath has expressed concern over shifting of some NSA detainees from one district to another despite the lockdown, as some of them later tested positive for coronavirus.

Nath expressed apprehension this could spread the viral disease in other districts.

Muzaffarnagar (UP), Apr 13 (PTI) Forty-three people, including a BJP member, have been booked for allegedly violating lockdown norms in Uttar Pradesh's Muzaffarnagar district, police said.

Senior Superintendent of Police Abhishek Yadav said the FIRs were lodged and copies of it were delivered to the residences, and also put up outside the houses of the people, which included BJP member Vipul Tyagi.

Ludhiana (Punjab), Apr 13 (PTI) An assistant commissioner of police tested positive for novel coronavirus in Ludhiana in Punjab, a health official said on Monday.

Ludhiana Civil Surgeon Rajesh Bagga said the test reports of the officer, confirming him to be positive for the virus, came on Sunday night.

The ACP (North) was admitted to a local hospital, Bagga said, adding that the health teams were identifying his contacts.

New Delhi, Apr 13 (PTI) A low-intensity earthquake of magnitude 2.7 shook parts of Delhi on Monday, the National Centre for Seismology said, the second quake to hit the national capital region in less than 24 hours but no report of any damage was received.

The quake, with its epicentre near Wazirpur in northeast Delhi, occurred at 1.26 pm at a shallow depth of 5 km, said JL Gautam, Head (Operations) at NCS, an institute under the Ministry of Earth Sciences.

NEW DELHI/ISLAMABAD (Reuters) - India and Pakistan are planning to partially open up some parts of the economy, officials in the two countries said on Monday, as the costs of harsh lockdowns to limit the outbreak of the coronavirus mount across the region.

Indian officials said the number of coronavirus cases in the country increased to 9,152 on Monday, including 308 deaths, a swift rise from fewer than 1,000 two weeks ago, even though the country of 1.3 billion people is under a sweeping 21-day lockdown.

Lucknow, Apr 12 (PTI) Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav on Sunday said that the extension of the ongoing nationwide lockdown will be meaningful only if COVID-19 testing is intensified and people get access to essential items.

"The demand to extend the lockdown will be meaningful only if COVID-19 testing is intensified, health workers get protection and the public gets access to essential items, the former Uttar Pradesh chief minister said in a tweet in Hindi.

Aligarh, Apr12 (PTI) Savitri cannot go to her marital home despite the baraat waiting for three weeks and some baraat members have started to lose patience. But no one is able to do anything and Savitri does not say much but she must be confused. Vidhipur villagers say none of them would ever forget this marriage.

Savitri's baraat arrived on March 21 and it was to return to Dhanbad district in Jharkhand on March 23, but then the nationwide lockdown was announced and it got stuck, along with the bride and the groom.

New Delhi, Apr 11 (PTI) A Congress MP from Kerala has approached the Supreme Court seeking direction to the Centre to establish a specialised team to identify Indian citizens who are stranded in Gulf countries and require immediate evacuation amid the coronavirus pandemic.