COVID-19: All elective surgeries cancelled in Safardarjung Hospital, all OPD appointments postponed in AIIMS

All remaining students (except international students & students with special needs) are requested to vacate the hostels at the earliest. Hostels will function with skeleton staff & packed food will be provided for remaining students: IIT Delhi

IIT Delhi COVID-19 Update and Immediate Action Items pic.twitter.com/tJ3MboKyKf

— IIT Delhi (@iitdelhi) March 18, 2020

Delhi Airport has created a dedicated waiting zone for arriving passengers from high-risk countries to be quarantined by Govt authorities. 

#DelhiAirport has created a dedicated waiting zone for arriving passengers from high-risk countries to be quarantined by Govt authorities. We continue to work with all our stakeholders to minimize inconvenience to our passengers. #COVID19 #LetsFightCoronaTogether pic.twitter.com/3zsnU17dCC

— Delhi Airport (@DelhiAirport) March 18, 2020

In view of the emergency situation arising out of the threat of coronavirus and following section 144 of CrPC it is announced that no social, political, cultural, religious, sports, and business gatherings shall be allowed in Gautam Budh Nagar district till April 5, 2020: Noida Police

CBSE postpones class 10, 12 board exams in view of Coronavirus. The exams will be rescheduled after March 31.

A person jumped from the 7th floor of Delhi's Safdarjung Hospital and committed suicide. It is being reported that the suicide victim was suffering from coronavirus. However, the police are now checking whether the person was infected with the coronavirus.

All ongoing examinations, including that of CBSE (Central Board of Secondary Education) and university exams, may be rescheduled after March 31: Ministry of Human Resource Development

In view of the prevailing threat of Coronavirus, the meeting between family/visitor with prisoners (normally twice in a week) shall remain suspended from March 19 to March 31. The visitations with their legal counsels will however continue. The Inmate Phone Calling system which allows prisoners to talk to their family members on two pre-declared numbers daily for five minutes, as per prevailing practice, will continue.

A day after a man tested positive for Coronavirus in Kolkata, his bureaucrat mother, father and their driver tested negative on Wednesday. This came as a major relief for those working in the West Bengal secretariat, as the mother works in Nabanna. This was said by the Beleghata ID hospital where they were kept in isolation. Five samples, including these three, were sent to NICED. Four of them tested negative and the remaining report is awaited. 

As per govt guidelines, Trinamool Congress (TMC) MP Mimi Chakraborty will be home quarantined for 14 days as she returned from London today, said Anirban Bhattacharya, Press Secretary of Chakraborty.

PM Narendra Modi lauds Delhi doctor.

Well said, Doctor!

Also a shout-out to all those working to make our planet safer and healthier. No words will ever do justice to their exceptional efforts. #IndiaFightsCorona https://t.co/4ENZlehiwD

— Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) March 18, 2020

We will be, by mutual consent, temporarily closing our Northern Border with Canada to non-essential traffic. Trade will not be affected. Details to follow: US President Donald Trump

The Government has constituted a high-level Group of Ministers (GoM) under the Chairpersonship of Union Minister of Health and Family Welfare to review, monitor and evaluate the preparedness and measures taken regarding the management of COVID-19 in India. External Affairs Minister is also a member of this GoM. Ministry of Health and Family Welfare has also issued several advisories in this regard, including the most recent one on March 11: MEA in Lok Sabha. 

As of now, the confirmed coronavirus cases in India are given below:

Allahabad High Court closes for 3 days amid COVID-19 scare

Four passengers were deboarded from coach number G4 and G5 of 12216 Garib Rath on Wednesday at Palghar station in Maharashtra when the TTEs noticed and also co-passengers raised an alarm seeing a stamp on their hands. They had flown down from Germany and were headed to Surat. They were taken to the Govt. Hospital, Palghar. They had undergone checking at the Airport and had seal mentioning home quarantine of 14 days. They were handed over to the district medical authorities.

Indian Army has issued advisory to all commands regarding COVID19. All wargames and conferences are hereby postponed until further orders. All training activities to be postponed or cancelled, in view of the current circumstances. As per Indian Army advisory, the leave granting authorities have been told to grant leave only on essential or compassionate grounds till the situation improves.

The rate of platform tickets will be increased from Rs 10 to Rs 50 from March 19 to April 30 on all 12 A1 & A class stations of Firozpur Division including Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Katra, Amritsar, Ludhiana and Jammu Tawi to prevent the spread of Coronavirus: Northern Railway

Two more coronavirus cases recorded from Bengaluru tweets B Sriramulu Minister for Health and Family Welfare & Backward Classes Welfare Government Of Karnataka.

2 more #Covid19 case has been registered in Bangalore today, taking the total infected cases to 13. 56yr old male, resident of Bangalore returned from USA on 6th March. Another, 25 yr old female, who has returned from Spain. Both are admitted in designated isolated hospital

— B Sriramulu (@sriramulubjp) March 18, 2020

Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Yatra has been closed from today. Operations of all inter-state buses, both incoming and outgoing from J&K, are banned from today due to coronavirus scare: Department of Information and Public Relations, Government of Jammu & Kashmir.

 At the Supreme Court hearing, Congress seeks fresh election in Madhya Pradesh before the floor test.

A person, with a travel history to Indonesia, has tested positive for Coronavirus. This is the fourth positive case of COVID-19 in Gautam Buddh Nagar.

TMC Rajya Sabha MP Sukhendu Shekhar Roy seeks leave from Parliament, goes into self-quarantine. In a statement, he said, "In view of such unprecedented alarming situation which is fast deteriorating, I have decided to remain in self-quarantine at home for the remaining part of the ongoing Budget Session."

Former Union minister and BJP MP Suresh Prabhu is under self quarantine at his residence for the next 14 days, as a precautionary measure following his return from Saudi Arabia on March 10. Sources said though Prabhu has tested negative for the coronavirus, he, however, has decided to stay in isolation as a precaution.

Bengali actress and TMC MP Mimi Chakraborty goes for self quanrantine at home for 14 days after she returned from London today. Mimi was in London for a shooting assignment on March 13 and was supposed to return on March 30 but due to coronavirus scare she had to pack up early and return to India. Thermal scanning was also done at the Kolkata airport after which she was advised by the airport authorities to go for self quarantine at home. Also Mimi Chakraborty’s office in Patuli has been closed for the time being.

The National Restaurant Association of India (NRAI) has advised its members to shut down their restaurants till March 31 in an effort to curb the spread of coronavirus. The NRAI represents 500,000-plus restaurants across the country. The association has advised its restaurant members to shut down dine-in operations starting Wednesday across the country till March 31, following the outbreak of the deadly coronavirus.

The flight from Iran with Indian evacuees will land in just a few hours' time. The group includes some students, one batch of 66 pilgrims from Ladakh and several NRIs.

The Municipal Corporation election at Rajasthan's Jodhpur has been postponed for six weeks amid coronavirus fears.

The Calcutta High Court set aside a leave India notice which was issued by the Central Government to a Polish student from Kolkata's Jadavpur University. He can now stay in India. The notice was issued after he uploaded pictures of his alleged participation in an anti-CAA protest. He, however, told the court that he was passing by the stretch where some agitators were staging a protest against CAA and that he merely took pictures of the event.

All BJP state units have been informed that the party will not participate in any sit-in protest for the next month. In a separate circular, it said that one should be alert, listing things what one should do, what not to do it also urged people to not panic.

In view of Covid 19 outbreak in Maharashtra, Bombay High Court will now take up very urgent court cases via video-conferencing apart from the ones on court premises. Justice A K Menon will be hearing urgent matters via video conferencing on all working days between 1 pm to 2 pm every day.

The total number of COVID19 cases in India has risen to 148 - of which 122 are Indian and 25 are foreign nationals, as per the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare at 09:00 am on Wednesday (March 18, 2020).

US President Donald Trump on Tuesday tweeted, "The world is at war with a hidden enemy. WE WILL WIN!"

The world is at war with a hidden enemy. WE WILL WIN!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 17, 2020

Globally, the total number of positive cases is at 1,87,689 and the total number of deaths recorded till Tuesday night was 7,866.

The Rajasthan Forest Department has closed all forest safari in the state due to coronavirus, till further orders. All jungle safaris including the ones at Ranthambore National Park, Sariska, Jhalan Leopard Safari. Online advance booking has also been cancelled. 

Congress leader Digvijaya Singh has now been placed under preventive arrest. He was sitting on a dharna near Ramada hotel in Bengaluru, allegedly after he was not allowed by the Police to enter. The 21 rebel Congress MLAs are lodged in the hotel.

The US Secretary of Defense Mark Esper in a press briefing on Tuesday said that the Department of Defense believes it will take 12 to 18 months to develop a vaccine for the novel coronavirus (COVID-19). Esper noted that some private firms believe they can develop a vaccine quicker than the US military`s timeline. He added that if a private firm engages to develop a vaccine, the Defense Department may be able to provide additional support. As of Tuesday, the COVID-19 virus has infected more than 195,000 people around the world in over 150 countries and killed more than 7,800 people.

Chief Minister Kamal Nath has called for a cabinet meeting at 11 am on March 18, 2020, after Supreme Court issued notice and sought his response on a plea seeking a direction for an immediate floor test in the assembly. The Madhya Pradesh political crisis took a new turn on Tuesday as the Congress leaders moved the Supreme Court (SC) accusing the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) of kidnapping and keeping in captivity its 16 MLAs. It also sought a direction for the release from of its MLAs from BJP's captivity.

The ongoing crisis in the state was sparked off by the exit of Congress leader Jyotiraditya Scindia. The application states that in the absence of these MLAs, there can be no vote of confidence. The petition has questioned Governor Lalji Tandon's order to conduct floor tests, adding that the Governor is assuming first that the Kamal Nath government is in minority. Read more here