Dr Kafeel Khan’s younger brother shot at near Gorakhpur temple

New Delhi, Mar 24: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday announced total lockdown in the country from 120'clock tonight in a bid to contain the spread of coronavirus.

"From 120'clock tonight there will be a complete lockdown across the country,"said Prime Minister Modi said during his second address to the nation within days.

He also hailed the people for the success of 'Janata Curfew' saying that they showed how Indians can come together and fight against any trouble which comes before the country.

"The one-day Janta Curfew showed how we Indians come together and fight against any trouble which comes before the country and the mankind,"he added. (ANI)

Mar 30: the UAE Cabinet approved a series of new initiatives, foremost among which was the automatic extension of residence permits expiring from March 1.

The residence visas would be extended for a renewable period of three months without any fees to ease the economic impact of the Covid-19 crisis on residents, official news agency WAM reported.

The Cabinet has also waived the administrative fines associated with infractions on the services provided by the Federal Authority of Identity and Citizenship, starting April 1 and lasting for a renewable period of three months.

The initiatives also entail granting a temporary license to use digital solutions for remotely notarising and completing judicial transactions.

Government services expiring from March 1 will also be extended from April 1 for a renewable period of three months. The decision applies to all federal government services, including documents, permits, licenses and commercial registers.

The UAE has introduced a slew of initiatives to control the spread of the Covid-19 virus, including the online renewal of driving licences and vehicle’s registration cards.

The country’s telecom regulator, Telecommunications Regulatory Authority (TRA), also issued a directive that no mobile service with expired ID documents will be disconnected or suspended in the UAE.

The UAE has reported a total of 611 Covid-19 infections and five related deaths in the country.

A national sterilisation programme is underway that will continue until Saturday April 4, concluding on the morning of Sunday, April 5.

Carried out daily from 8pm until 6am the following morning, the programme will include the disinfection of private and public facilities.

Ballari, Apr 18: Hosapete town in Ballari district of Karnataka gasped in disbelief as it turned out that 11 members of one single family are positive for the coronavirus.

The whole town has been declared a containment zone and is being surveilled 24X7.

The family includes seven members whose tests returned positive today, three who tested Covid-19 positive on March 30 and one other member subsequently.

The seven who tested positive today had been negative when they were earlier tested along with the others.

They have all now been shifted to isolation wards at the District Hospital in Ballari.

Including this family of 11, Ballari has 13 positive cases so far, with one case each reported from Ballari and Siraguppa towns.

Startled by this sudden upsurge from Hosapete, the district administration has set up 16 fever clinics to screen people and six COVID care centres to treat positive cases. There are two dedicated COVID hospitals, one at Ballari and another at Torangallu in Sandur.

A team of psychological counsellors have been put on duty to provide support to the patients at the isolation centres.