All shopping malls across Maharashtra will remain closed till month-end. Grocery stores which sell commodities of daily need will remain open, he said. The state government also issued a directive that all schools and colleges in areas of municipal corporations, municipalities and nagar panchayats shall remain closed till 31 March.
All malls in the national capital will be closed in view of the COVID-19 threat but grocery and pharmacy stores in them are exempt, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said on Friday. “In view of the prevailing situation, we are closing down all malls (except grocery, pharmacy and vegetable shops in them),” Kejriwal tweeted.
Three more persons were found positive for coronavirus infection in Maharashtra, taking the number of such cases in the state to 52, state Health Minister Rajesh Tope said on Friday. Addressing a press conference in Mumbai, Tope said these new cases were detected in Mumbai, Pune and Pimpri- Chinchwad. Till Thursday night, 49 positive cases of COVID-19 had been found in the state, including a 64-year person, who died in Mumbai earlier this week.
One more person tested positive for the coronavirus in Andhra Pradesh, taking the total number of COVID-19 cases in the state to three on Friday, officials said. The patient tested positive in Visakhapatnam, they said. A person who returned to his native Nellore from Italy became the first coronavirus case in the state on March 12 while a youngman who came from England tested positive on Thursday. Of the total 119 samples sent for screening so far, three returned positive while 12 results were awaited. Others tested negative, health department officials said on Friday. Stay at Home notice is in place for all foreign returnees, they added.
After Akshay Kumar’s “Sooryavanshi”, Ranveer Singh-starrer cricket drama “83” is the latest Bollywood film to indefinitely postpone its release due to coronavirus pandemic. Ranveer took to his Twitter to share the news with his fans, saying “health and safety of the nation” came first. The film, directed by Kabir Khan, was set to be released April 10 but it will now arrive in theatres at a later date. “In the wake of the risks posed by the recent outbreak of Covid-19 and the growing health concerns, the release of ’83’ has been put on hold. We will take a decision regarding the next course of action once the conditions return to normal. “We urge our fans to take all the necessary precautions and take care of their loved ones. ’83’ is a film about fighting the odds and we hope we all will bounce back from this soon,” the statement from the team of ’83’ read. The drama chronicles India’s first World Cup win under the captaincy of Kapil Dev in 1983.
The Cannes Film Festival has been postponed to contain the spread of the coronavirus. The event, which was scheduled for May 12 through 23, might be shifted to June or July, the organisers said. “Several options are considered in order to preserve its running, the main one being a simple postponement,” the organisers’ statement said. “As soon as the development of the French and international health situation will allow us to assess the real possibility, we will make our decision known, in accordance with our ongoing consultation with the French Government and Cannes City Hall as well as with the Festival’s Board Members, Film industry professionals and all the partners of the event,” they added.
The US has seen a significant spike in coronavirus cases with the number of fatalities surging past 200 and the total confirmed infections crossing 14,000, pushing health care officials and political leaders to step up efforts to contain the fast-spreading pandemic. According to Worldometer, a website which compiles new case numbers of COVID-19, there were 14,299 confirmed infected cases and 218 deaths reported in the US as of Thursday night, making it the sixth top coronavirus infected country. China with 80,967 infected cases and 3,248 deaths tops the list followed by Italy (41,035 cases and 3,405 deaths), Iran (18,304 infected cases and 1,284 deaths), Spain (19,077 infected cases and 831 deaths), Germany (15,320 infected cases and 44 deaths) and France (10,995 infected cases and 372 deaths).
Leave a comment