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In a striking contrast with many countries, men in India more than women appear disproportionately likely to test positive for COVID- 19, an analysis of global data shows. This anomaly, experts told The Hindu, could be a statistical reflection of relatively low testing for the disease in India. Last week, the Health Ministry said 76% of the confirmed cases in India were men.

Tests relating to COVID-19, whether done in approved government or private laboratories, shall be free of cost, the Supreme Court ordered on Wednesday. Issue the necessary directions immediately, it told the government.

The Centre has expressed serious concern over the “polarising public opinion on religious lines” against the backdrop of a particular community being targeted as being responsible for the spread of COVID-19 in the country.

With the Centre expecting an extreme cash crunch due to the COVID-19 crisis, most Central government departments have been asked to cut their first quarter expenditure to 15-20% of the year’s budget estimates (BE).

Pending income tax, GST and customs refunds amounting to ₹18,000 crore are to be released immediately to provide relief to 14 lakh taxpayers and one lakh businesses.

At a time when the export of hydroxychloroquine, an anti malarial drug that is also being used in the treatment of COVID-19, is a subject of debate, the country’s only public sector undertaking that makes an allied anti-malarial drug — chloroquine phosphate — is waiting for orders for producing more of the drug.

The Uttar Pradesh government on Wednesday decided to completely seal COVID-19 hotspots within 15 districts till the end of the lockdown on April 14. The announcement, first made orally by a senior official, triggered panic buying among anxious public who stepped out to the markets in big numbers as confusion prevailed over which areas would come under the purview of the total lockdown.

Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders suspended his campaign on Wednesday, making former Vice President Joe Biden the presumptive nominee to face Republican President Donald Trump in the Nov. 3 election.

After 76 days in lockdown, the Chinese city at the heart of the global pandemic reopened on Wednesday, and tens of thousands immediately hopped on trains and planes to leave. Elsewhere, the economic, political and psychological toll of fighting the virus grew increasingly clear and more difficult to bear.

Ben Stokes has ended Virat Kohli’s three-year reign as Wisden’s leading cricketer in the world after playing a starring role in England’s World Cup win last year. Australia’s Ellyse Perry reclaimed the leading women’s cricketer in the world title from Smriti Mandhana.