Here are the latest developments on coronavirus from India and the world:

Worldwide coronavirus cases at 1.41 million, death toll crosses 83,400

20 coronavirus hotspots in Delhi sealed

SC directs approved govt, pvt labs to conduct free of cost COVID-19 tests

Coronavirus cases recorded in Europe pass 750,000: AF

773 new infections, 32 deaths due to COVID-19 in 24 hours

Centre releases Rs 14,103 cr GST compensation to states

PM interacts with floor leaders of political parties on coronavirus

Uttar Pradesh government seals 15 districts

ESMA invoked in Madhya Pradesh, says CM

576 COVID-19 cases in Delhi

Maharashtra records highest single-day count

About 400 million workers in India may sink into poverty: UN

Health professionals struggle amid a shortage of PPE

PM Modi condoles death of veteran Indian-American journalist

Kirana stores come to rescue of consumers

14-month-old India's youngest victim of Covid-19

More on Covid-19

Karaga festival allowed but with restrictions

The '

' of containment

Containing coronavirus one cluster at a time

Chandigarh makes it mandatory to cover mouth and nose

WORLD

Jack Dorsey pledges 28% of his wealth to fight coronavirus

Boris Johnson's condition stable

Pakistan's coronavirus cases rise to 4,072

Joy, relief as exodus from Wuhan begins

Virus may spark 'devastating' global condom shortage

Trump threatens to freeze WHO funding, accuses it of being 'China centric'

Taiwan, South Korea, Hong Kong continue unhindered

NYC virus deaths exceed 4,000, topping toll for 9/11 attacks

(With inputs from agencies)

NEW DELHI: The death toll due to the novel coronavirus rose to 149 and the number of cases to 5,194 in the country on Wednesday, as per health ministry. As many as 401 people were cured/discharged and one had migrated. The total number of cases include 70 foreign nationals. Twenty-five deaths have been reported since Tuesday.More than 1.41 million people have been reported infected by the novel coronavirus across the world and 83,414 have died, according to a Reuters tally.Infections have been reported in 212 countries and territories since the first cases were identified in China in December 2019.The Delhi government has sealed 20 COVID-19 hotspots in the national capital to combat the spread of the novel virus, Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia announced on Wednesday.According to the government, the 20 hotspots include parts of Sangam Vihar, Malviya Nagar and Jahangir Puri that have been notified as "containment areas" where people cannot go out of their houses and the government will ensure delivery of essential items.Talking to reporters after a high-level meeting, he said, "Nobody will be allowed to enter or exit from these areas."The Supreme Court on Wednesday directed that COVID-19 tests in approved government labs or private laboratories should be conducted free of cost and the Centre should immediately issue directions in this regard.The top court said the private hospitals including laboratories have an important role to play in containing the scale of the pandemic by extending philanthropic services in the hour of national crisis.More than 750,000 coronavirus cases have been recorded across Europe, according to an AFP tally compiled from official sources at 1100 GMT.That accounts for more than half of the cases identified worldwide so far, although the official figures probably reflect a fraction of the actual number. With at least 750,276 cases and 58,627 recorded, Europe remains the continent hit hardest by the pandemic.To date, 1,438,291 cases of novel coronavirus have been recorded across the world, and 82,726 deaths.The Union health ministry said that 32 people have died and 773 persons have tested positive for the novel coronavirus in India since Tuesday.Joint secretary at the health ministry Lav Agarwal said that the total number of cases of coronavirus infections stand at 5,194 and the death toll at 149.An Indian Council of Medical Research official said at the briefing that 1,21,271 tests for COVID-19 have been done in the country, so far.In a bid to provide further relief to states amid the coronavirus outbreak, the finance ministry has released about Rs 34,000 crore in two phases to states as compensation for their revenue loss in the goods and services tax (GST) regime.With the release of Rs 14,103 crore to states on Tuesday, the Centre has paid a total of Rs 34,053 crore pending GST compensation cess for October and November, sources said.Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday told floor leaders of opposition and other parties in Parliament that the nationwide lockdown will not be lifted in one go on April 14, according to BJD's Pinaki Misra.Modi's comments came during an interaction with these leaders to discuss the situation arising out of the COVID-19 pandemic and the government's efforts to contain the fast-spreading virus in the country.The government of Uttar Pradesh on Wednesday announced that 15 districts in the state will be sealed. These districts are: Lucknow, Noida, Agra, Shamli, Kanpur, Varanasi, Bareily, Sitapur, Bulandshahr, Meerut, Maharajganj, Firozabad, Basti, Saharanpur, and Ghaziabad. Furthermore, only doorstep delivery to be allowed in these districts.The Madhya Pradesh government on Wednesday invoked the Essential Services Management Act (ESMA) with immediate effect. The ESMA helps state governments maintain uniformity by providing minimum conditions of essential services across the nation in an event of disruption caused by events like a strike etc. Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan said that the Act has been invoked in a bid to manage the COVID-19 outbreak in a better way and in the interest of the citizens. So far, 327 persons have been tested positive for coronavirus in Madhya Pradesh with 14 more cases being reported on Wednesday.Delhi Health Minister Satyendar Jain on Wednesday confirmed a total of 576 positive COVID-19 cases in Delhi so far, out of which 35 patients are in ICUs and eight on ventilators. As per a health bulletin, 51 new coronavirus positive cases have been reported in Delhi on Wednesday, including 35 with a history of travel to a foreign country and four from Markaz. Two deaths were reported on Wednesday. Jain said that the government has put around 2600-2700 people, who had attended Tablighi Jamaat, in quarantine and 3,000 people have been rescued so far.Maharashtra alone recorded 150 new cases — the highest single-day count for any state — on Tuesday with total number of infections crossing 1,000. Sixteen deaths were reported from Maharashtra on Tuesday. The total death toll in the state stood at 64. That's nearly 43% of all deaths from the virus in the country. Maharashtra is followed by Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh at 13 each.About 400 million people working in the informal economy in India are at risk of falling deeper into poverty due to the coronavirus crisis which is having "catastrophic consequences", and is expected to wipe out 195 million full-time jobs or 6.7 per cent of working hours globally in the second quarter of this year, warned International Labour Organization (ILO) in a report. The UN body report has described coronavirus pandemic as "the worst global crisis since World War II".Personal Protection Equipment or PPE is the protective gear that doctors and nurses, who are dealing with Covid-19 positive patients are required to wear so they don't get infected. Global standards limit usage of one set of PPE to 6-7 hours and doctors cannot wear their suits a second time. Doctors and nurses treating Covid-19 patients in government hospitals in Bengaluru are avoiding drinking water to reduce the need to go to washrooms. Some are using adult diapers. PPE causes excessive sweating in hospitals as ACs and fans remain switched off to prevent the virus from spreading. Over 50 doctors and medical staff have tested positive for coronavirus across the country and over 100 have been quarantined.PM Modi on Wednesday condoled the demise of veteran Indian-American journalist Brahm Kanchibotla who died of coronavirus, saying he will be remembered for his fine work. Kanchibotla, who was a former contributor to the United News of India news agency, died of coronavirus at a New York hospital on Monday night. "Deeply anguished by the passing away of Indian-American journalist Mr. Brahm Kanchibotla. He will be remembered for his fine work and efforts to bring India and USA closer," the prime minister tweeted.Due to the lockdown, the e-commerce platforms are struggling to keep pace with deliveries. However, the friendly neighbourhood kiranawalla has come to the rescue of many. Not only are the local kirana store owners going the extra mile to ensure consumers get their daily essentials, they are also turning out to be more innovative than their digital counterparts. Like the small kirana shop owners in Kolkata’s Shyambazar area, who have adopted a primitive yet useful way of maintaining supply chain during the lockdown.A 14-month-old COVID-19 positive child died at a government hospital in Gujarat's Jamnagar on Tuesday. The toddler, who tested positive for the virus on April 5, and who was put on a ventilator soon after being hospitalised, passed away around 4 pm, officials said. The death was due to multiple organ failure. His parents, both labourers, however, tested negative for the virus and they have not shown any symptoms so far. Health officials are yet to ascertain the source of the baby's infection. Gujarat has so far recorded 175 positive cases of COVID-19, with 16 deaths linked to the novel coronavirus.The Karnataka government has granted permission for the celeberations of the annual Karaga festival with certain restrictions. Chief minister BS Yediyurappa said that not more than five people would participate in the event, which starts at the city's Sri Dharmarayana Swamy Temple, old Bengaluru from today. The event which is associated with the Thigala community attracts thousands of devotees every year. But due to the coronavirus spread, the government has banned all events across the state which involves public gathering.The SCST strategy to contain the spread of Covid-19 — surveying, combing, screening, testing— seems to have worked well in Rajasthan's Bhilwara. Coupled with an intensive curfew an extensive house-to-house survey was started. The survey till March 27, had covered 22 lakh people and by the end of last week, the entire population of 28 lakh had been screened — to identify people suffering from influenza like illness (ILI). The strategy appears to have borne fruit, with Bhilwara's last new case being reported on Saturday — that too after a gap of four days. Additionally, the district reported no new positive case from those who had been quarantined. The city was dubbed "India's Italy" as out of 43 cases in Rajasthan, 20 were from Bhilwara.The government's cluster containment strategy to tackle Covid-19 seems to be working. Lav Agarwal, joint secretary, ministry of health and family welfare said that the strategy is producing positive results, especially in Agra, Gautam Buddh Nagar, Pathanamthitta, Bhilwara and East Delhi. Citing a study by the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), Agarwal said one Covid-19 patient could potentially infect 406 people in 30 days if he/she doesn't practise social distancing. Agarwal said that if people follow the proper measures and social distancing, the infection rate can be cut down to just 2.5 people per patient in 30 days.The Chandigarh Administration has made it mandatory for people to cover their nose and mouth either with a piece of cloth or with a mask while venturing outside their homes. Notably, Chandigarh is the first Union Territory which has made wearing mask compulsory. On Tuesday Odisha had issued a similar directive to residents in the state.Twitter co-founder and chief executive Jack Dorsey on Tuesday announced to pledge 28 per cent of his overall wealth to fighting coronavirus. Dorsey said in a series of tweets that he would transfer his equity in his digital payments group Square to his limited liability corporation Start Small. The move could be the largest from a single individual for coronavirus relief. Dorsey said that after the pandemic ends, the fund would focus on health and education for girls and "universal basic income" efforts. Dorsey's net worth is estimated at about $3 billion including his stake in Twitter and Square.British Prime Boris Johnson spent a second night in intensive care and he was "stable" and "in good spirits" while receiving treatment for coronavirus, a senior health official said on Wednesday. Johnson, 55, was admitted to the Intensive Care Unit of the St Thomas' Hospital here on Sunday "for close monitoring" after his condition worsened. The Prime Minister is "comfortable, he's stable, he's in good spirits", Edward Argar, serving as the minister of state for health, told the BBC on Wednesday.Pakistan's novel coronavirus cases rose to 4,072 on Wednesday, as Army chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa directed his top commanders to provide full support to the federal and provincial governments in combating the pandemic which has killed 58 people in the country. The Ministry of National Health Services in its morning update said that 208 new COVID-19 patients were added to the list during the last 24 hours. So far 58 patients have died, including four in the last 24 hours, while 467 had recovered.Voicing joy and excitement from behind face masks, tens of thousands of people fled Wuhan on Wednesday after a 76-day travel ban was lifted on the Chinese city where the coronavirus pandemic first emerged. Previously quiet train and bus stations bustled as an exodus began from the city of 11 million, with some passengers wearing hazmat suits. Up to 55,000 people are expected to leave Wuhan on Wednesday just by train, according to government estimates. Wuhan led the world with an unprecedented quarantine lockdown on January 23 in a bid to stop the spread of the then-mysterious respiratory virus.A global condom shortage is looming as the coronavirus pandemic shutters factories and disrupts supply chains, the world's top maker of the contraceptives said, with the United Nations warning of "devastating" consequences. Malaysia -- one of the world's top rubber producers and a major source of condoms -- imposed a nationwide lockdown last month as infections surged to the highest level in Southeast Asia. But restrictions on the operations of Malaysian contraceptive giant Karex, which makes one in every five condoms globally, mean the firm expects to produce 200 million fewer condoms than usual from mid-March to mid-April.President Donald Trump has threatened to put a "very powerful" hold on US' funding to the World Health Organization, accusing the UN agency of being "very China centric" and criticising it for having "missed the call" in its response to the coronavirus pandemic. "The WHO helped the Chinese Communist Party hide the threat of COVID-19 from the world and now more than 10,000 Americans are dead, a number that is expected to rise dramatically in the coming weeks," Congressman Guy Reschenthaler alleged. The Geneva-headquartered World Health Organization (WHO), receives vast amounts of money from the United States.Life has continued comparatively unhindered in places like Taiwan, South Korea and Hong Kong after their governments and citizens took decisive early action against the unfolding crisis. Taiwan's response was forged in a previous epidemic -- the deadly SARS outbreak in 2003. This time the island was ready. Before Wuhan was even locked down, Taiwan activated its Central Epidemic Command Centre, began screening arrivals, rolled out comprehensive testing and deployed detailed contact tracing. South Korea is being hailed in a different way -- as a country that managed to flatten the infection curve despite a major outbreak. South Korea had a workable test within just a few weeks of the government issuing tenders and is now a major exporter of kits around the world. Similar successes have been seen in Hong Kong and Singapore, although their outbreaks are beginning to worsen.New York City's death toll from the coronavirus rose past 4,000 on Tuesday, eclipsing the number killed (2,977) at the World Trade Center on 9/11. New York state recorded 731 new coronavirus deaths, its biggest one-day jump yet, for a statewide toll of nearly 5,500. But in an encouraging sign, Gov. Andrew Cuomo said hospital admissions and the number of those receiving breathing tubes are dropping, indicating that social distancing measures are succeeding.