Facing a revenue crunch due to the lockdown over coronavirus, the Central government on Tuesday increased the excise duty and imposed additional road cess on petrol and diesel prices.

But this will not impact consumers and the retail price will remain unchanged, the government said.

The India Navy has deployed two ships as part of its Operation Samudra Setu (Sea Bridge) to repatriate Indian citizens from overseas as India rolled out a massive evacuation plan to bring back its citizens from abroad.

Lakhs of Indian citizens are stranded abroad due to the lockdown over the novel coronavirus. All international flights operations were suspended in March before the nationwide lockdown began on 25th that month.

Independent India's largest repatriation mission to bring back its citizens stranded abroad due to COVID-19 pandemic is all set to begin with New Delhi giving the formal green signal. India will be getting back 1,92,000 people in the first phase of the mammoth exercise starting May 7 with the focus on the Gulf.

UAE will be the first country from were India will start getting back its nationals with the first two Air India flights landing in Kerala on May 7.

The Delhi government on Tuesday hiked the Value-Added Tax (VAT) on petrol and diesel, making fuel costlier in the national capital starting today. The VAT was increased to the tune of 3% on petrol (from 27% to 30%) and as much as 13.25% on diesel (from 16.75% to 30%).

This translates to an increase of Rs 1.67 and of Rs 7.10 on petrol and diesel respectively.

The total number of confirmed cases of COVID-19 infection in India had crossed the 46,000-mark on Tuesday, while the death toll topped the 1,500-mark as well. At 10 AM on Tuesday, the COVID-19 tally in India has reached 46,433, which includes 32,138 active cases; 12,727 cured, discharged, or migrated patients, and 1,568 deaths.

In view of the necessary restrictions pertaining to the coronavirus disease (COVID-19)-necessitated lockdown, the Mumbai Police on Tuesday informed that Section 144 of the Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC) has been imposed in Mumbai till May 17, 2020.

The order informed that movement in the city of one or more persons for all non-essential services is prohibited between 8 PM to 7 AM. However movement of vehicles for medical reasons, including emergencies, and essential services will still be allowed.

Long queues outside liquor shops were a common sight on Monday as people queued up in large numbers after restrictions were relaxed from May 4 following 40 days of strict lockdown.

The Ministry of Home Affairs had extended the 40-day nationwide lockdown from Monday for two more weeks and allowed liquor and tobacco shops to open outside containment zones.

With the war of words between the United States and China over the accountability regarding the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic outbreak reaching its zenith, the World Health Organisation (WHO) has now pitched in with its two cents about the US-China feud.

The WHO has said that till now, the US has not provided any evidence to back up its claims that the COVID-19 virus originated in a lab in Wuhan, China.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday said that even as the world fights COVID-19, some people are busy spreading other deadly viruses like terrorism and fake news.

He was speaking at a video-conference of leaders of the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM).

The boy, identified as Mohammad Hazim Bhat, was also found dead at the scene of the incident.

The area has been cordoned off and additional forces rushed there to track down the terrorists, the officials said

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