A special train departed from New Delhi Railway Station for Bilaspur in Chhattisgarh with 1072 passengers, the first passenger train during the coronavirus-enforced lockdown as the Railways moves towards gradually resuming the operation.

New Delhi-Bilaspur Rajdhani Superfast train (No-02442) is the first of 30 trains (15 pairs) to operate as special trains as Railways moves towards resuming the full services.

The government on Monday released Rs 6,195.08 crore to 14 states as the second equated monthly instalment of the Post Devolution Revenue Deficit Grant as recommended by the Finance Commission.

This would provide them additional resources during the coronavirus crisis, the Finance Ministry said in a statement.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi is all set to address the nation tonight at 8 PM, one day after his six-hour meeting the Chief Ministers of all states on Monday. The Prime Minister is expected to inform citizens about the next stage in the exit from the coronavirus disease (COVID-19)-necessitated nationwide lockdown, which is supposed to end on May 17.

Yesterday, Prime Minister Modi took feedback from the states on further easing of restrictions on activities while gradually restarting economic activities in a phased manner.

The total number of confirmed cases of COVID-19 infection in India crossed the 70,000-mark on Tuesday, while the death toll is nearing the 2,300-mark. At 9 AM on this day, the COVID-19 tally in this country has reached 70,756 cases, which includes 46,008 active cases, 22,455 cured, discharged or migrated patients, and 2,293 deaths.

According to the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, as many as 3,604 new COVID-19 cases and 87 deaths were reported in the country in the last 24 hours, marking a significant spike.

As the total number of confirmed cases of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) infection in Maharashtra crosses the 23,000-mark, some alarming developments have emerged in the state. According to reports, as many as 221 police personnel in the state have contracted COVID-19 in the last 24 hours, taking the total number of cops affected by the virus so far to more than a thousand. Till now, seven policemen have lost their lives fighting against the disease.

While the world is still guessing on whether Kim Jong Un's healthy situation, the North Korean Supreme Leader is in the headlines again for inaugurating an unfinished factory in his country.

As per the latest reports from DailyNK, Kim was the main guest at the ribbon-cutting ceremony at North Korea's Sunchon Phosphatic Fertiliser Factory.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday interacted with the chief ministers of all the states and UTs in the country to discuss the road ahead in India’s fight against COVID-19.

In his opening remarks, the Prime Minister said, We now have a reasonably clear indication as to the geographical spread of the pandemic in India, including the worst affected areas. Moreover, over the past few weeks, officials have understood operating procedures in a time such as this, right up to the district level.

Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray on Monday requested deployment of the Central forces in Maharashtra to give rest to police personnel who are exhausted due to COVID-19 duty.

During his interaction via video conferencing with the PM who chaired a COVID-19 strategy meeting with chief ministers, Uddhav said, We need some help from the Central forces so that our police staff can take some rest. The staff is currently exhausted. We can not let them fall sick.

Amid criticism over the privacy issue and user data of Aarogya Setu app, the government on Monday said ‘Privacy first’ has been the principle on which the app has been developed and its has been playing and will continue to play a crucial role in India's fight against COVID-19.

Addressing a media briefing, Ajay Sawhney, Chairman of Empowered Group 9 which deals with Technology and Data Management, said the Aarogya Setu App has been developed in order to make proper health data on testing and contact tracing available to health professionals and administrators.

The government Monday said a revised discharge policy has been issued by the ICMR as several countries have changed their discharge criteria from ‘test-based strategy to ‘symptom-based strategy or ‘time-based strategy’.

According to the revised policy, for mild, very mild, pre-symptomatic cases and moderate cases, the discharge will be based on clinical conditions, testing is not required while under the previous policy, a patient was considered fit to be discharged if he or she tested negative on day 14 and then again in a span of 24 hours.

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