Here are the top developments: 1 India The ordinance approved by the Union Cabinet said that in case of grievous injuries to the health workers, the accused can be sentenced from 6 months to 7 years. They can be penalised from Rs 1 lakh to Rs 5 lakh.

The ordinance also provides for compensation for injury to healthcare service personnel or for causing damage or loss to property. The proposed ordinance will amend the Epidemic Diseases Act, 1897.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will hold a video conference with the chief ministers of all the states on April 27 over the Covid-19 crisis.

The Cabinet okayed Rs 15,000 crore for 'India COVID-19 Emergency Response and Health System Preparedness Package' to mount an urgent response for containing the spread of the virus in India through development of dedicated treatment facilities and setting up laboratories among others.

The Union health ministry advised chief secretaries of all states and Union territories to adopt adequate measures in ensuring the safety of health workers involved in Covid-19 services.

The Centre has asked all the states and Union territories to encourage more corona warriors to undergo online training courses in order to handle the pandemic efficiently.

India sent 23 tonnes of essential medicines to Nepal to help it fight the coronavirus pandemic which has infected 45 people in the country. 2 States Maharashtra: The state recorded 431 coronavirus positive cases, taking its coronavirus tally to 5649.

Uttar Pradesh: UP reported 75 fresh COVID-19 cases, taking the total number of coronavirus cases in the state to 1,412.

Madhya Pradesh: With 40 more persons testing coronavirus positive in Madhya Pradesh, the number of such patients in the state climbed to 1,587.

Rajasthan: One more person died of coronavirus in Rajasthan, pushing the death toll to 27 in the state, whose infection count soared to 1,868 with 133 fresh cases.

Kerala: Eleven new Covid-19 cases were reported in Kerala today, 5 of them have foreign travel history and 3 infected through local contacts, taking the total number in the state to 437.

Delhi: Delhi health minister Satyendar Jain said that there are a total 2,156 coronavirus cases in the national capital, including 611 who have recovered from the disease.

Karnataka: Seven new cases of coronavirus have been confirmed in Karnataka, taking the total number of infections in the state to 425.

Gujarat: The number of coronavirus cases in Gujarat rose to 2,272 after 94 more people tested positive for the disease in the state.

Andhra Pradesh: Covid-19 cases crossed the 800-mark in Andhra Pradesh, reaching 813 as 56 new cases were added in the state in the last 24 hours.

Bihar: Five more people have tested positive of coronavirus in Bihar, taking the total number of positive cases in the state has mounted to 141.

J&K: Twenty-seven new COVID-19 cases were reported in Jammu and Kashmir and all the new cases were reported from the Kashmir division. The total number of positive cases in the state now stands at 407.

Odisha: One more person has tested positive for coronavirus in Odisha's Jajpur, taking the total number of positive cases in the state to 83.

Haryana: There are 264 cases of Covid-19 in Haryana, including 24 cases related to foreign nationals.

Tamil Nadu: With 33 more people testing positive for coronavirus in the state, the number of cases has risen to 1,629 in Tamil Nadu.

Himachal Pradesh: No new case of Covid-19 has been reported in Himachal Pradesh and there are 23 active cases in the state, so far.

Assam: The state has reported no new Covid-19 case for the seventh consecutive day. The state currently has 14 active coronavirus cases.

Telangana: The state has reported 711 active cases of coronavirus, so far.

Uttarakhand: No new Covid-19 case reported in Uttarakhand for the second consecutive day; the total number of cases now stands at 46, of which 23 patients have recovered.

West Bengal: There are 300 active cases of coronavirus in West Bengal. While 79 patients have been cured, 15 others have succumbed to the infection, so far.

Punjab: Six more persons contracted coronavirus in Punjab, taking the total count of infected cases in the state to 257 and active ones to 188. 3 World The death toll from the novel coronavirus in Europe has passed 110,000. With 110,192 people dead from 1,246,840 cases registered, Europe is the hardest hit continent by the pandemic that has killed 177,368 people around the world.

President Donald Trump confirmed he would sign Wednesday an order partially blocking immigration to the United States in a move he has said would protect workers from the economic fallout of the coronavirus pandemic. The US -- with 45,000 deaths and more than 825,000 coronavirus infections -- is the world's hardest-hit country due to the coronavirus.

New clusters of coronavirus infections in northeastern China near the Russian border forced officials to tighten restrictions on movement as they seek to prevent a second outbreak of the contagion. There were 537 confirmed domestic coronavirus cases in the province and another 384 imported cases in China.

Iran announced 94 new deaths from the novel coronavirus but said the cases of people infected in the country was on the way down. The fatalities detected in the past 24 hours took Iran's overall death toll to 5,391 and the total infections to 85,996.

Germany has authorised its first clinical test of a vaccine for the novel coronavirus, the country's regulatory body, green-lighting trials on human volunteers for an RNA vaccine developed by German firm Biontech and US giant Pfizer.

Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan underwent a test for the novel coronavirus, days after meeting a well-known philanthropist who was diagnosed positive for the COVID-19 infection. The reported is expected later today.

Over 1,000 foreign workers, including Indian nationals, tested positive for coronavirus in Singapore, taking the total number of infections to 10,141, as the city-state battles a second wave of contagion.

At least 34 crew members aboard a cruise ship docked in the Japanese city of Nagasaki have tested positive for coronavirus, local authorities said.

With three new coronavirus cases in Udayapur, the total number of people who have contracted the infection reached 45 in Nepal.

A Palestinian woman from Syria has become the first refugee living in a camp in Lebanon to test positive for the coronavirus, the UN agency for Palestinian refugees said.

NEW DELHI: Against the backdrop of attacks on healthcare personnel fighting coronavirus, the Union Cabinet on Wednesday approved an ordinance making acts of violence against them as cognizable and non-bailable offences, Union minister Prakash Javadekar said. Meanwhile, the total number of confirmed coronavirus cases in India stands at 20,471 while the death toll has reached 652, according to the Union health ministry.