India

New Delhi, Mar 27 (PTI) Batting maestro Sachin Tendulkar on Friday donated Rs 50 lakh to fight the COVID-19 pandemic, which has so far claimed 17 Indian lives and wreaked havoc globally.

Tendulkar's donation is so far the biggest contribution among India's leading sportspersons, some of whom have pledged their salaries while a few others have donated medical equipment to fight the dreaded outbreak, which has caused more than 24,000 deaths globally.

New Delhi, Mar 27 (PTI) The Muslim clerics have appealed to people to pray at home and practice social distancing in view of the coronavirus pandemic.

Shahi Imams of the two biggest mosques in Delhi -- Jama Masjid and Fatehpuri Masjid -- said the people are gradually coming to grips with the alarming situation.

Mumbai, Mar 27 (PTI) The RBI on Friday put on hold EMI payments on all term loans for three months and cut interest rate by steepest in more than 11 years as it joined the government effort to rescue a slowing economy that has now got caught in coronavirus whirlwind.

Kanpur: There is a complete lockdown in Jajmau area. The roads look vacant as shops neither remain open nor vehicles run. Even the highways passing through the area do find the movement of the tankers and truckers only. 

What is seen in the name of noise remains the morning humming when the residents run near the shops for obtaining daily necessities. Early in the morning time, the vegetable vendors also appear on the roadside or the spaces allotted for selling the vegetables.

Mangaluru, Mar 26 (PTI): The district Wenlock hospital in the city will be turned into a dedicated hospital for the treatment of COVID-19 patients, Dakshina Kannada district-in- charge Minister Kota Srinivas Poojary said on Thursday.

Addressing reporters here, he said the 250-bed super speciality wing at Wenlock would be converted to a dedicated hospital to treat coronavirus patients in view of the prevailing situation.

New Delhi, Mar 25 (PTI) The Delhi High Court Wednesday directed the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) to ensure welfare and safety of around 300 Indian students stranded at Almaty Airport in Kazakhstan for the past 2-3 days without food and medical aid due to coronavirus pandemic.

A bench of justices Siddharth Mridul and Talwant Singh, which conducted the hearing through video conferencing, asked the authorities to expeditiously provide the students basic amenities and assistance with regard to food, medical care, lodging and transportation.

Ahmedabad, Mar 25 (PTI) The Gujarat government will provide food items like wheat, rice, pulses and sugar free of cost to around 60 lakh ration card holding families through fair price shops starting April 1, Chief Minister Vijay Rupani said on Wednesday.

The scheme is to ensure that the poor, who depend on daily wages for livelihood, are not affected by the 21-day nationwide lockdown due to the coronavirus outbreak and do not have to purchase food items for the month of April, he said after a meeting in Gandhinagar.

Kolkata, Mar 25 (PTI) Chinese-origin people in the city, some living here since birth, have become targets of racial discrimination and slurs, amid the growing panic over the Covid-19 pandemic, which began in China.

Francis Yee Lepcha (41), whose grandfather had migrated from China decades ago, said he had been encountering glares and cold stares since the outbreak of the disease.

Surat, Mar 25 (PTI) Over 5,500 persons, mostly textile traders and their employees, were asked to stay in home quarantine on Wednesday after a 62-year-old man who worked in a textile market tested positive for coronavirus.

All those who came in contact with the COVID-19 patient could have been infected, and therefore they were asked to isolate themselves at home for 14 days, said Municipal Commissioner Banchhanidhi Pani.

Srinagar, Mar 25 (PTI) Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) on Wednesday strongly condemned the attack on a gurdwara in Afghanistan, describing it a cowardly and an inhuman act.

In a statement here, PDP spokesman Harbaksh Singh expressed pain and anguish over the attack carried out on the Sikh temple in Kabul earlier in the day.