LIVE: World Bank approves $1 billion in emergency funding to India

The World Bank has approved $1 billion of emergency funding to India to help the country beat the coronavirus. The Bank in all approved a plan to roll out USD 160 billion across various countries as the pandemic spreads.
US unemployment claims jumped to 6.6 million last week, a record in the country's history. In all, US has seen a loss of ten million jobs since the coronavirus epidemic spread. 38 US states have announced plans for stay-at-home orders that will last for weeks.
A big tracing effort of attendees is underway across states - particularly Telangana and Kerala - after a big religious gathering was held at the Markaz building in Nizamuddin between 13-15 March. The religious gathering came into the spotlight after over 24 people who attended the event tested positive for coronavirus.
Cases worldwide have risen to 860,000 with the US reporting the highest number, accounting for 1 in 5 covid cases worldwide.
The US Centers for Disease Control is apparently reconsidering its earlier guidance that people not wear masks, with new data showsingthat individuals who show no symptoms are carrying the virus.
"Since we are dealing with a communicable disease, even one case is a hotspot", the Indian Health Ministry says.
ICMR says that 42,788 samples have been tested for coronavirus. 4,346 samples have been tested yesterday. 123 labs are currently functional for testing while 49 private labs have been given permission to carry out tests.
Johnson and Johnson (J&J) has announced that the company will start human trials for its experimental coronavirus vaccine by September, to potentially have it approved by the beginning of 2021. The company plans to invest $1 billion alongside US agencies to fund vaccine research.
The first test results for various coronavirus treatments, which have been tested on 3000 human volunteers, will be made public later this week, the French Minister of Research Frédérique Vidal has said.
The US Food and Drug Administration on Sunday issued an emergency use authorization for hydroxychloroquine and chloroquine in the treatment of covid. Some doctors such as Dr. Jeff Colyer, have come out saying they are seeing favorable results of these drugs on patients.
The US is recommending that Americans limit their travel upto April 30. Over 2,500 people have died nationwide, even as states implement social distancing - but not full lockdowns.
Some hopeful signs for Italy, the worst hit country in Europe with nearly 11,000 deaths. The country saw deaths drop for a third day in a row, from 969 to 889 to 756.
Russia has put Moscow on lockdown with four hours of notice, not letting city residents leave their homes.
The Japanese government is approving Avigen - favpiravir - as a treatment for coronavirus, saying that it has seen success in trials against the disease. Favipiravir is now an off-patent drug, and Avigen in Japan is manufactured by the drug maker Fuji. In India Lasa Supergenics, a Mumbai company, is the first to be working on this molecule. If it gets regulatory approval for clinical trials, it can test and start manufacturing the drug, the company had said.
It also remains to be seen if Lasa has the operational wherewithal to be the primary supplier of this drug, if the trials are successful.
US President Donald Trump has after initial reluctance, decided to invoke the Defense Production Act, a wartime law to force auto giant General Motors to manufacture ventilators amid a rising shortage as American hospitals are deluged with coronavirus cases.
Tata Trusts commits Rs. 500 crore to fight the virus. Wipro's Azim Premji is also in the news for a donation of Rs. 50,000 crore, although this was done in March 2019. The then chairman of Wipro donated 34 percent of his shares, worth Rs 52,750 crore to an endowment under the Azim Premji Foundation.
Self isolation of a different kind: The King of Thailand has rented every room in a hotel in Germany to self-isolate with a harem of 20 women.
Moody’s has downgraded South Africa’s sovereign credit rating to "junk' level, as the country struggles against the coronavirus pandemic.
From this Saturday the Delhi government will be reportedly serving lunch and dinner to nearly four lakh people at over 224 night shelters, 325 schools and other locations.
The UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson has the coronavirus, and is self-isolating at home. He is the second significant British political figure after Prince Charles to test positive.
The government will pay the EPF contribution of both the employer and employee - 24% (12%+12%) for the next three months for those companieswhich have upto 100 employees and 90 percent of them are earning less than Rs 15,000 per month.
A relief package of Rs. 1,70,000 crore for poor via cash transfer and food subsidies has been announced. Farmers will be given Rs. 2000 in April out of the Rs. 6000 they receive annually,
FM Nirmala Sitharaman has announced a Rs. 50 lakh cover for all medical workers on the coronavirus frontlines.
Mahindra and Mahindra is working with an existing manufacturer of high-spec ventilators to help them simplify design and scale up capacity, the company said. Ventilator demands are likely to rise in the coming weeks, as one of the effects of the coronavirus is difficulty breathing for affected patients.
South Korea now mandatorily requires every incoming visitor to download a self-quarantine app, which tracks the user and alerts the authorities if the person leaves their quarantine area.
The coronavirus cases in California is doubling every three to four days, creating worries that San Francisco is going to be the next epicenter for the infection after New York. A health official noted,.

“We originally thought that it would be doubling every six to seven days and we see cases doubling every three to four days
The world is running out of gloves at the worst possible time: The world's biggest maker of medical gloves by volume, Top Glove Corp Bhd in Malaysia, has the capacity to make 200 million gloves a day, but a supplier shutdown has left it with just two weeks of boxes to ship them in
Sadiq Khan, the mayor of London, has said that a significant portion of London's tube services may have to be cut with staff sickness rates approaching 30%.
China has permanently banned the trade and consumption of wild animals in the wake of the pandemic.
German industrial conglomerate Thyssenkrupp has announced ithat it is cutting 3,000 jobs in its steel unit as part of a coronavirus "crisis package
Prime Minister Modi extends the lockdown - scheduled to end on March 31st - by 21 days starting midnight on March 24.
Karnataka Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa has warned people not to come out onto the streets without good reason, threatening strict action against those who do so. Total cases in the state rose to 41, of which 6 were Kerala residents transiting through Karnataka airports.
US President Trump is questioning how much quarantining and lockdowns are worthwhile. “Life is fragile and economies are fragile,” he said on Monday, and suggested he may be looking at more targeted shutdowns. Trump said he is reviewing existing restrictions, and that Americans may see revisions after March 31.

"We are going to get it all going again very soon," Trump said. Deaths however, continue to climb in major American cities, particularly New York where officials say the "attack rate" of the virus is one in a thousand people. National deaths in the US crossed 100 in one day.

After pressure from countries, the Tokyo Olympics have been postponed to 2021. Japan had been resisting postponing the Olympics despite the pandemic, worried, Japanese officials said, about the cost impact of doing this.
One in five people worldwide are now under lockdown, as governments battle the coronavirus. UK goes into lockdown starting today. India, much of Europe and US citizens are under lockdowns.
A total of 482 people in India have tested positive for the coronavirus as of Tuesday morning. While the numbers are rising, infection rates inside samples tested are holding steady, and will need to be closely watched in the coming days.
Wuhan, China, the original epicenter of the coronavirus outbreak, will lift its outbound travel restrictions on April 8.
India's ICMR is recommending the use of hydroxychloroquine for coronavirus. "Hydroxy-chloroquine is found to be effective against coronavirus in laboratory studies and in-vivo studies," ICMR says, and has recommended it for use for high risk populations to prevent the disease: asymptomatic health workers, and for asymptomatic household contacts of confirmed cases.

ICMR recommends a dosage of the anti-malarial drug at 400 mg twice a day on Day 1, followed by 400 mg once weekly for next 7 weeks; to be taken with meals, only on a prescription. Read the full notification.

A European clinical trial has been launched with 3,200 people, which will be testing four experimental coronavirus treatments.
The Director General of CIvil Aviation (DGCA) is requiring precautions to be taken by airlines, including the seat between two passengers to be kept empty.
The Emirates airline has announced a suspension of all flights for two weeks in response to the United Arab Emirates’ decision to temporarily pause all inbound and outbound passenger flights in the country.
IPCA Labs has had its import ban in the US partially lifted by the FDA for its chloroquine formulations. This ban has been lifted as clinical trials for chloroquine against the coronavirus begin in New York on Tuesday.

New York, the first to be doing these trials in the US, has acquired 750,000 doses of chloroquine, 70,000 doses of hydroxychloroquine and 10,000 doses of an antibiotic. The success of the treatment will determine further demand for the medication and APIs.

Total cases of the virus in India have hit 396, the ICMR says. The infection rate among the suspicious cases tested has remained steady over the last few days, but testing numbers have risen.
The German Chancellor Angela Merkel is in quarantine after her doctor tests positive for the virus.
Anil Agarwal, Executive Chairman of Vedanta, has pledged Rs 100 crores to fight the novel coronavirus pandemic.
Bangalore's typically heavy-traffic ORR Ring Road goes quiet on Janata Curfew

Photo by jaanakinihon

Mumbai's Marine Drive is empty, sky unusually clear on Janata Curfew

Katta News Photo

What happens when a pigeon crosses the road?: Streets in Delhi go quiet as country observes Janata curfew

HeroMotoCorp has paused its operations in India, Columbia, Bangladesh with immediate effect and all manufacturing plants have been put on hold till 31 March. To search for terms such as coronavirus in corporate filings, try Discover.
Future Retail says store operations in many states have been temporarily closed under government orders, and the company does not yet know what the coronavirus impact on sales will be.
Coronavirus testing clinics in India have expanded to 111, and state governments are identifying public and private hospitals as first responders for cases. Coronavirus cases have risen to 315, out of 16,021 people tested. ICMR has now issued guidelines to private clinics to test for coronavirus.
Brazil’s president Bolsanaro has come under heavy criticism for the government's half-hearted response to the coronavirus crisis.
Japan is set to reopen its schools in April, ending the lockdown for its students. The country has over 1000 active cases.
Mainland China has reported no new locally transmitted cases of the coronavirus for the third day running. Cases have spiked in Spain and Italy amid shutdowns, and the UK introduced stringent new measures closing down businesses, and asking people to stay home.
The virus does not negotiate: After Michel Barnier, Brexit negotiator for the EU, now David Frost who is the Brexit negotiator for the UK, is in isolation after showing coronavirus symptoms
Maharashtra CM Uddhav Thackeray has announced a lockdown of "non-essential shops and offices in Mumbai, MMR region, Pune, Pimpri Chinchwad and Nagpur" today.
The VHP in UP has cancelled the Shobha Yatras and rath yatras it had planned to celebrate Ram Navami. The celebrations were set to start on March 25.
Countries are now trying to be the first to make a coronavirus vaccine, with firms like German companies Curevac and BioNTech getting takeover offers from US and China.
The US government is planning to give every American $1,200 as part of a $500 billion economic revival effort. Europe is planning a economic infusion of $1.7 trillion.
A little less clarity: At the EU's insistence, Netflix has agreed to slow its speed down by 25% inside Europe to ensure that a vast continent under quarantine can access its broadband effectively. Right now Netflix is a monster gobbling up bandwidth as millions try to entertain themselves while under virtual house arrest.
Hero MotoCorp has filed an application today before the Hon’ble Supreme Court of India seeking the relaxation of the deadline set for sale or registration of BS-IV vehicles, currently 31st March. The company has asked for an extension of three months, noting that the coronavirus pandemic has made it difficult to meet the deadline.
A new study published in the journal Nature Medicine, has found that the death rate in Wuhan, China from the coronavirus was lower than previous estimates. The study calculated that people with coronavirus symptoms in Wuhan had a 1.4% likelihood of dying, unlike the range of 2-4% estimated earlier.
A clinical trial has been announced at the University of Minnesota, that will test whether hydroxychloroquine, a derivative of the anti-malarial drug chloroquine, can protect people from getting infected by the coronavirus.
At 3,405 deaths, Italy's toll has taken over China's total on the same day China reported zero new domestic coronavirus cases. China is preparing to reopen its movie theatres at the end of the month.
India has temporarily stopped the landing of all international commercial passenger flights from March 22nd to 29th. The Civil Aviation Ministry and Railways will also suspend all concessional travel on flights and trains, except for students, patients and disabled people, to limit travel volumes and discourage movement during this week.
The Kerala government has announced a revival package worth Rs 20,000 crore, including universal ration. The state government has been on an aggressive footing on tackling cases, and has included daily updates to journalists from the government on progress.
In a national address, Prime Minister Modi recommended a slew of voluntary measures including self quarantining, restricting outdoor visits, no panic buying and 'janata curfew' on Sunday.

Tracking the movement of the coronavirus around the globe.