Delhi government on Monday issued guidelines for the Lockdown 4.0, allowing shops to open on an odd-even basis and running of buses with only 20 passengers.

However, religious places, Metro services, schools, colleges, cinema halls and saloons will remain closed.

Shares of multiplex and hotel operators were under pressure, hitting their respective 52-week lows on the BSE on Monday after the government on Sunday extended the nationwide lockdown by another two weeks, until May 31, to contain the spread of the novel coronavirus.

Chalet Hotels, EIH, Indian Hotels, Lemon Tree Hotels and Wonderla Holidays from the hotel sector and the multiplex operators - PVR and Inox Leisure – touched their respective 52-week lows on the BSE today.

Foodtech giant Swiggy will lay off 1100 employees citing business losses because of the lockdown to contain the coronavirus, two days after rival Zomato revealed plans to cut 13 per cent of its workforce.

The company backed by China’s Tencent and Prosus NV has about 8,000 employees and it is reducing 13.75 per cent of its workforce.

Major worker unions for Brihanmumbai Electric Supply and Transport (BEST) employees, led by Shashank Rao's BEST Sanyukt Kamgaar Kruti Samiti (BSKKS), have now called for a lockdown or strike from today onwards, in view of the rising number of positive cases of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) infection amid BEST employees.

The total number of confirmed cases of COVID-19 infection in India crossed the 96,000-mark on Sunday, while the death toll has topped the 3,000-mark as well. At 9:30 AM on this day, the COVID-19 tally in the country has reached 96,169 cases, which includes 56,316 active cases; 36,824 cured, discharged, or migrated patients, and 3,029 deaths.

According to the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, as many as 5,242 new COVID-19 cases and 157 deaths were reported in the country in the last 24 hours, marking a significant spike.

The US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has launched a fresh attack on China, claiming that he has reasons to believe that they are interfering in the work of US journalists in Hong Kong.

Back in 1997, Britain returned Hong Kong to China. Pompeo now is saying that China is interfering in Hong Kong's working.

Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray will take his oath, along with eight others, as the newly elected members of the state Legislative Council today at 1 PM. Thackeray was one among the nine candidates belonging to the ruling and opposition parties who were declared elected unopposed to the Council last week.

The biennial elections for the nine seats of the Maharashtra Legislative Council, which fell vacant on April 24, were scheduled to be held on Thursday.

In what comes as a huge relief for e-commerce firms, the new Union Ministry for Home Affairs (MHA) guidelines under Lockdown 4.0 has directed such that both essential and non-essential items can be delivered by e-commerce platforms like Amazon, Flipkart, Snapdeal, etc to all places outside containment zones.

This means that the entire range of products on online shopping sites are now open for all citizens, irrespective of them residing in red, orange, green, or buffer zones, with the sole exception of containment zones, where e-commerce activity has still not been permitted.

After the Centre announced that the nationwide COVID-19 lockdown will be extended till May 31, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Sunday said that a detailed plan to ease restrictions in the national capital will be announced on Monday.

"Delhi govt will prepare the detailed plan for Delhi based on the Centre's guidelines and announce it tomorrow," he wrote on Twitter.

The coronavirus scare has reached the Rashtrapati Bhawan after an Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP) of Delhi Police posted there tested positive for the virus.

The 58-year-old was posted at Rashtrapati Bhawan Police Lines, away from the Rashtrapati core area, which houses the residence of the President of India, officials said.

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