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.

President of the United States Donald Trump on Tuesday accused the World Health Organisation (WHO) of being 'over-friendly' with China depite being largely funded by the US.

In a tweet, Trump said that the health agency gave a bad recommendation to it regarding opening its borders to China.

The world’s biggest lockdown has brought transportation of goods in the country close to a halt, even though the government has exempted the sector from restrictions to halt the spread of coronavirus.
Daily movement of trucks has collapsed to less than 10 per cent of normal levels, according to All India Motor Transport Congress (AIMTC), an umbrella body of goods-vehicle operators representing about 10 million truckers.

The number of coronavirus cases worldwide has reached 14.3 lakh with more than 82,000 deaths, according to the Johns Hopkins University tracker.

The tracker recorded 1,429,437 cases worldwide and 82,074 deaths till 8 am (IST) on Wednesday. Out of the total confirmed COVID-19 patients, 300,767 have recovered from the disease.

President of India Ram Nath Kovind on Tuesday approved the ordinance amending the Salary, Allowances & Pension of MP Act, 1954 reducing allowances and pension by 30% w.e.f. 1st April, 2020 for a year.

The Union Cabinet had on Monday approved an Ordinance cutting the salary, allowances and pension of Members of Parliament by 30% for a year and deposit the money to fight coronavirus outbreak.

The Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC), a subsidiary of the Indian Railways, has suspended bookings its three private trains till April 30 in wake of the coronavirus situation in the country, that has killed 124 people in the country till 7 PM on Monday.

It also said that people who have already booked their tickets for these trains will get a full refund.

India's largest lender State Bank of India on Tuesday announced that it will slash the marginal cost of funds based lending rate (MCLR) by 35 bps across all tenors. Effective from April 10, SBI's one-year MCLR will be 7.40% from 7.75%.

This is the 11th consecutive cut in MCLR by SBI in FY 2019-20.

The move will be beneficial for borrowers who have MCLR-linked floated rate loans, such as home loans.

Shares of Mahindra & Mahindra (M&M) jumped 12 per cent at Rs 316 on the BSE on Tuesday after the company’s board turned down a proposal to pump in fresh equity of $406 million in its ailing South Korean subsidiary SsangYong Motor Co (SYMC) amid the ongoing Covid-19 crisis.

Given the current and projected cash flows, the M&M Board took a decision that the company will not be able to inject any fresh equity into SYMC and has urged SYMC to find alternate sources of funding, the company said in a regulatory filing on Friday after market hours.

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