With the 21-day lockdown to contain the spread of COVID-19 having come into force, the Centre on Wednesday postponed the process of updating the contentious National Population Register (NPR) and the first phase of the Census 2021.

The house listing and housing enumeration of the Census 2021 and NPR were slated to be carried out simultaneously from April 1 to September 30.

The global coronavirus death toll crossed 20,000-mark on Wednesday Italy recorded another 683 deaths within 24 hours, taking the number to 7503. The number of cases in the country reached 74,384 with 5,210 more cases being recorded on Wednesday.

Spain, the second most affected country in the European Union, surpassed China in terms of the number of deaths as added 443 dead to its yesterday's figure. Spain has recorded 3,434 deaths against China's figure of 3,281.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday said the Mahabharata war was won in 18 days and it would take 21 days for India to win the war against novel coronavirus.

His remarks came a day after he announced a 21-day nationwide complete lockdown to combat the spread of COVID-19.

Walmart-owned Flipkart said on Wednesday it would resume services and Amazon said it was working with the government to enable its deliveries after state governments reached out to the firms, which had temporarily stopped accepting new orders amid reports of police high-handedness.

The Delhi police issued a statement saying they were proactively engaging with e-commerce portals and were issuing passes to ensure agents were able to commute seamlessly and deliver essential goods to residents during the 21-day lockdown.

Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik has donated his three months' salary to the Chief Minister's Relief Fund to help those affected by coronavirus.

Odisha Chief Minister's Office said, "Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik has donated his three months' salary to Chief Minister's relief fund to help those affected by Covid-19, reiterating that extraordinary circumstance demands extraordinary response." The Chief Minister has appealed all to donate generously for the cause.

The Election Commission has deferred the Rajya Sabha polls scheduled for March 26 in view of the coronavirus outbreak, official sources said on Tuesday.

Election to fill up 55 seats in the Upper House of Parliament was to be held on March 26, but 37 candidates have already been elected without a contest.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will address the nation at 8 PM on Tuesday on the coronavirus outbreak.

Will address the nation at 8 PM today, 24th March 2020, on vital aspects relating to the menace of COVID-19, Modi tweeted.

He had addressed the nation on efforts to combat the virus on March 19.

In a unprecedented move, the central government is likely to extend the March 31 deadline of paying income taxes by a month, in view of Covid-19 pandemic, said two officials privy to the development. If situation worsens, it may be pushed till June end, officials added.

The move follows the difficulties being faced by the taxpayers in meeting the compliance requirement under the Income-tax laws.

Amazon.com Inc is teaming up with a research program funded by Bill Gates to pick up and deliver coronavirus test kits in Seattle, the e-commerce giant said on Monday.

The Seattle Coronavirus Assessment Network, a group of medical, public health and research organizations, is collecting nasal swabs from a sample of people across King County and Seattle to learn how the infection is spreading in the areas.

Tihar Jail authorities on Monday said they have decided to release about 3,000 prisoners to decongest the prison to contain the spread of the novel coronavirus infections as the number of cases across the country jumped to 467.

Tihar Prisons Directo General said the inmates will be released in the next 3-4 days. While 1500 of them are convicts who will be released on parole or furlough other half are undertrials who will be released on interim bail.

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