Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Thursday addressed the media and said that people do not need to panic amid the lockdown as shops providing essential services will remain open 24x7 in the city during the entire 21-day lockdown announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Kejriwal also said that food delivery has also been allowed in the national capital.

Congress President Sonia Gandhi on Wednesday wrote a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, annoucing her support to the 21-day lockdown to contain the spread of coronavirus, which has infected around 649 people across the country.

In the letter, the Gandhi said that her party stands with the people of India in thte time of criris. Congress stands with people of India at this time of national crisis. We extend full support to the 21-day lockdown and extend cooperation to the government.

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman today announced a relief package for the poor and migrants in the country in light of the 21-day lockdown in the country to tackle the challenge posed by the coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic.

The Prime Minister Gareeb Kalyan scheme worth Rs 1.7 trillion will have two parts — cash transfer and food security, said the Finance Minister.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will on Thursday join a meeting of G20 leaders via video conferencing, that has been organised to discuss the COVID-19 pandemic.

The meeting will be chaired by Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Mohammad Bin Salman.

The prime minister took to Twitter on Wednesday to inform about the development.

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.

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