India

Chandigarh, Mar 12 (PTI) The Haryana government on Thursday declared the contagious coronavirus infection an epidemic.

According to the state Health Department, 44 samples of suspected cases were sent for tests till Wednesday. Out of these, 38 were found negative for coronavirus while reports of six people -- four from Gurgaon and two from Panchkula -- were awaited.

Mumbai, Mar 12 (PTI) Equity benchmark Sensex crashed over 2,700 points and the broader Nifty sank below 9,700 (intra-day) on Thursday, wiping off over Rs 9 lakh crore worth investor wealth, after WHO declared COVID-19 a pandemic, spiking fears of a global economic recession.

After opening around 1,200 points lower, equities continued their downward spiral, with domestic BSE Sensex plummeting 2,707.39 points to 32,990.01 in morning session.

New Delhi, Mar 12 (PTI) Union Road Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari on Thursday advocated introduction of pink buses for women in cities with a population of over 1 crore.

Replying to a question in Lok Sabha on security of women in public transport, Gadkari said in these buses the driver, conductor and passengers are all women.

New Delhi, Mar 12 (PTI) Congress MP Shashi Tharoor has moved the Delhi High Court, challenging a trial court order summoning him in a defamation complaint over his remark that an unnamed RSS leader had compared Prime Minister Narendra Modi to "a scorpion sitting on a Shivling".

Bhopal, Mar 12 (PTI) The BJP in Madhya Pradesh will seek a floor test on March 16 in the wake of 22 Congress MLAs resigning in the state, a senior BJP leader said on Thursday.

The 15-month-old Kamal Nath-led government has been facing deep crisis following the resignation of 22 Congress MLAs after former Union minister Jyotiraditya Scindia quit the party on Tuesday.

New Delhi, Mar 11 (PTI) The number of coronavirus patients in the country has risen to 73 with 13 fresh cases, including nine from Maharahtra and one each from Delhi, Ladakh and Uttar Pradesh as well as one foreign national, the Union Health Ministry said on Thursday.

Giving a sate-wise breakup, the ministry said Delhi reported six positive cases and Uttar Pradesh 10. Karnataka has four cases, Maharashtra 11 and Ladakh three.

New Delhi, Mar 12 (PTI) US Ambassador to India Kenneth Juster and Deputy Chief of Mission Edgard Kagan called on Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Thursday and discussed a range of issues towards strengthening mutual cooperation.

Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia was also present in the meeting that took place at the Delhi Secretariat.

New Delhi, Mar 12 (PTI) The Opposition on Thursday demanded that the government not undertake privatisation of railways and come out with a separate Rail Budget to better analyse the performance.

Participating in a discussion on demands for grants of the Ministry of Railways in Lok Sabha, M K Raghavan (Cong) said the BJP government has shown consistent apathy towards railways in the last 5 years and the dismal performance is visible in the high operating ratio, which is the worst in last 10 years.

Kanpur: Coronavirus has spread its dangerous wings on the sports events at the regional level also. The inter-regional junior and sub-junior girls football championship slated to be organized at different districts have postponed due to the virus attack.

The junior girl's championship was scheduled to be held between March 14 and March 21 in Barabanki district. While the sub-junior competition was allotted for March 23 to March 30 in Bareilly.

NEW DELHI/MUMBAI (Reuters) - The India government has ordered upcoming international cricket matches to be played in empty stadiums, as travel operators warned of an unprecedented impact of a blanket visa ban by the government to combat the spread of coronavirus.

With just 68 confirmed cases and no deaths, India has so far been relatively unscathed by the virus compared to elsewhere in Asia, Europe and North America. But experts fear that its overstretched medical systems may not be able to handle the type of intensive care required to handle a spike in infections.