Leading the way in manufacturing indigenous medical equipment, Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy on Wednesday launched COVID-19 testing kits manufactured by Andhra Pradesh MedTech Zone (AMTZ).

Minister for Industries, Mekapati Goutham Reddy, said that AMTZ is now manufacturing 2000 testing kits per day. Once it gets the laser welding equipment, the production will be scaled up to 25,000 units per day.

Stocks traded in the green in the opening session on Thursday as market benchmark SENSEX jumped over 700 points and stood at 30,619.77, amid strong investment. Meanwhile, Nifty rose more than 200 points to 8,952.70.

Sensex components like HDFC, ICICI Bank, ONGC, Tech Mahindra, Axis Bank, and Hero MotorCorp were trading on a positive note. All NSE components were trading in the green, with Nifty Pharma and Financial Services gaining the highest.

President of the United States of America Donald Trump on Thursday thanked Prime Minister Narendra Modi for India delivering the order of the hydroxychloroquine drug that the US had requested for, to deal with the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) crisis, which is spreading like wildfire across the globe, with the US at the frontline.

Trump said that it was terrific and that the United States will 'remember' this act by India.

In an attempt to provide some relief to taxpayers during the nationwide lockdown, the Income Tax Department on Wednesday announced that it will release all pending income tax refunds up to Rs 5 lakh immediately. The move is said to benefit around 14 lakh taxpayers.

In the context of the COVID-19 situation and with a view to providing immediate relief to the business entities and individuals, it has been decided to issue all the pending income-tax refunds up to Rs 5 lakh, immediately. This would benefit around 14 lakh taxpayers, read a statement by the Department of Revenue, Ministry of Finance.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday interacted with leaders of the political parties to discuss the situation arising out of the spread of coronavirus and the ongoing nationwide lockdown.

Modi held a video conference with floor leaders of various parties, including the opposition, in Parliament to discuss the COVID-19 crisis.

India has given a green signal to the order of the hydroxychloroquine (HCQ) drug of three countries -- the United States (US), Spain, and Australia. All of these countries had placed an order for the drug earlier.

The US administration terms 'hydroxychloroquine' as a game-changing drug to deal with the COVID-19 crisis although there is still no consensus in the medical community on its use. India is the largest producer of Hydroxychloroquine (HCQ).

The coronavirus pandemic is expected to erase 6.7 per cent of working hours globally during July-December, 2020 - equivalent to 195 million full-time workers, which far exceeds the effects of the 2008-09 financial crisis, the International Labour Organization (ILO) warned on Tuesday.

Large reductions are foreseen in the Arab states (8.1 per cent, equivalent to 5 million full-time workers), Europe (7.8 per cent, or 12 million full-time workers) and Asia and the Pacific (7.2 per cent, 125 million full-time workers).

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will hold a meeting in the Parliament with leaders of various parties on Wednesday at 11 am through video conferencing, to decide the future course of action as far as coronavirus outbreak in India is concerned along with other key issues.

The meeting will be based on the key agenda - whether to end the shutdown or extend it, and what should the course of action be for the states as well as the Centre if lockdown is extended.

The Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) has estimated that one sick person could infect up to 406 others in 30 days if there was no lockdown, health ministry officials said on Tuesday as the number of confirmed coronavirus cases climbed to 4,789.

The ICMR study comes at a time when various state governments have requested the Centre to extend the 21-day lockdown beyond April 14.

With a rising number of doctors and nurses contracting the novel coronavirus in the United Kingdom as they treat the COVID-19 patients, there are several casualties in the community. A number of doctors, including a highly-respected Indian origin surgeon, have died in the UK after testing positive for the virus.

Dr Jitendra Kumar Rathod, Associate Specialist in cardio-thoracic surgery at the University Hospital of Wales (UHW), died at a hospital in Cardiff in the UK after testing positive for COVID-19.

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