Here is a look at the latest updates on the outbreak of

and around the world —

Govt asks Tiktok, Facebook to remove rogue content

Health ministry announces insurance cover for medical workers

Government classifies health facilities into 3 categories

Private hospitals urged to inform about Covid-19 patients

Govt eases food grain packaging norms to protect wheat farmers

Kerala CM writes to counterparts on plight of nurses

India to provide malaria drugs to all neighbouring countries, says govt

Always better to take extra precaution, PM tweets in support of TOI's #MaskIndia campaign

Always better to take that extra precaution. Will help you and those around you.I commend the @timesofindia group… https://t.co/j7ds0uVXC1 — Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) 1586244440000

40 booked for coming out on roads with candles

Lifesaving drugs should be made available to Indians first: Rahul Gandhi

Odisha makes it mandatory to cover mouth and nose while venturing out of house

Major air pollutants down by at least 50% in Delhi

Delhi govt to conduct over 1 lakh COVID-19 tests

Prepare for ‘new normal’, draft biz continuity plans, PM Modi tells ministers

63% of Covid-19 deaths in India among 60-plus

Some community spread in hotspots: AIIMS chief

Bhilwara model may become template for other badly-hit states

Over 25,500 Jamaat members isolated across the country

WORLD

United Kingdom's Johnson spends night in ICU

Bengal tiger born in Mexico zoo named Covid

Swiss coronavirus death toll rises to 641

Indonesia records biggest daily rise

Japan declares state of emergency

Denmark looks to begin gradual ease of lockdown

US coronavirus deaths pass bleak 10,000 milestone

Bangladesh, Nepal expecting surge

(With inputs from agencies)

COVID-19: India reports 354 confirmed cases in last 24 hours

NEW DELHI: The total number of confirmed cases of COVID-19 in India has climbed to 4,789, as per the data provided by the ministry of health on Tuesday. The death toll due to the coronavirus has risen to 124 while 353 patients have been cured/discharged/migrated.Worldwide, close to 1.35 million have been infected with the death toll now standing at 74,807. Around 277,402 people have recovered worldwide.The ministry of electronics and information technology (MeitY) is learnt to have asked social media platforms like Tiktok, Helo and Facebook to remove rogue messages spreading misinformation and weakening government's effort to fight against the coronavirus.Social media companies have also been asked to save details of uploaders of such malicious content which can be shared with law enforcement agencies when required.The Union health ministry on Tuesday said medical professionals losing lives due to coronavirus or while treating such patients will be covered under the Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Package Insurance scheme.Under the scheme, 22.12 lakh public health care providers and community health workers will get an insurance cover of Rs 50 lakh.The Union Health Ministry on Tuesday proposed classification of health facilities into three categories COVID Care Centre, Dedicated COVID Health Centre and Dedicated COVID Hospital.These COVID-19 dedicated facilities will have separate earmarked areas for suspected cases and confirmed cases, and ensure the available hospital bed capacity is used only for moderate to severe cases of the infection, it said in a document. The ministry said that under no circumstances should suspected and confirmed cases be allowed to mix.The Delhi Police on Tuesday appealed to the hospitals and the nursing homes in the national capital, to inform the police or the authorized COVID-19 hospitals, in case they get any coronavirus positive patient. MS Randhawa, the Delhi Police PRO said that there have been cases wherein the private hospitals did not inform the police. "It will be seen as concealment of facts and whoever violates it, legal action will be taken against them," said Randhawa.The government has eased jute packaging norms to allow alternative packing arrangements for foodgrain in a move to protect the interest of wheat farmers amid the closure of jute mills during the lockdown. The Union textiles ministry on Tuesday said that the limit for high-density polyethylene or polypropylene (HDPP/PP) has been increased to 2.62 lakh bales from the earlier 1.80 lakh bales with a view to protecting the produce of wheat farmers by providing them alternate packaging bags.Kerala chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan has shot off letters to chief ministers of Delhi and Maharashtra to ensure the safety of nurses hailing from Kerala working in these states following reports of para- medical staff being affected with Covid-19. Vijayan had said 46 nurses from Kerala in Mumbai have been infected by the virus and more than 150 nurses were under observation there. He had also said that five nurses in Delhi's prestigious Cancer Institute have been confirmed with coronavirus and there were complaints regarding lack of PPEs across the country. He had also written to PM Modi and requested that the state governments concerned may be advised to urgently look into protection given to the health personnel.In view of the humanitarian aspects of coronavirus pandemic, it was decided that India would licence paracetamol and Hydroxychloroquine in appropriate quantities to all the neighbouring countries who are dependent on our capabilities, the ministry of external affairs said. "We will also be supplying these essential drugs to some nations who have been particularly badly affected by the pandemic. We would therefore discourage any speculation in this regard or any attempts to politicise the matter," the ministry added. READ MORE Prime Minister Narendra Modi has endorsed The Times of India's Mask India campaign which encourages people to cover their faces while venturing out to stop the spread of coronavirus. "Always better to take that extra precaution. Will help you and those around you. I commend the @timesofindia group for this very innovative movement. #IndiaFightsCorona," the PM tweeted.A case has been registered against 40 people in Balrampur district of Uttar Pradesh for defying lockdown norms and coming out on the roads despite Prime Minister Narendra Modi's request to lit lamps indoors, police said on Tuesday. ASP Arvind Kumar Mishra said some people in Tulsipur Bazar came out on the roads in large numbers. Taking note of it, an FIR has been registered against 40 people for violating lockdown norms, he said. On Monday, BJP's Mahila Morcha district president Manju Tiwari was booked for allegedly firing in air on Sunday night. Tiwari was removed from her post with immediate effect.Congress leader Rahul Gandhi said on Tuesday that India must help all countries in their fight against coronavirus but lifesaving medicines should be made available to Indians first. "Friendship isn't about retaliation. India must help all nations in their hour of need but lifesaving medicines should be made available to Indians in ample quantities first," he said on Twitter.Odisha has become the first state in the country to make a face mask or use of cloth in "at least two layers" mandatory for the citizens when they come out of home for any purpose. The order shall come into effect from 7 am on April 9. It further stated that COVID-19 is "assuming grave threat to the health of the general public in the state" and the virus is "believed to be spreading through droplets."With vehicles off the road and industries shut due to the ongoing lockdown imposed to combat the coronavirus outbreak, the presence of major pollutants in the air -- PM2.5, PM10 and NOx -- has reduced by at least 50 per cent in Delhi. The highest reduction in these three pollutants have been seen in Delhi. The other cities where a similar analysis was done by SAFAR was Mumbai, Pune and Ahmedabad. Environmentalists have said these figures prove that the most air pollution is man made.The Delhi government has decided to conduct over 1 lakh COVID-19 tests in the city over the next few days, government sources said. Sources added that testing would be randomly done in areas where more positive cases have been found. Quarantine facilities in large numbers are also being set-up.Prime Minister Narendra Modi advised his ministers to prepare for a ‘new normal’ post the lockdown, asking them to work towards mitigating the economic impact of Covid-19 even as he said the country needed to brace for a long battle against the disease. Modi said that it was also essential to strategise for emergent conditions, including a graded plan to slowly reopen activity outside of hotspot areas.Those above 60 years of age make up just 19% of coronavirus patients in India but account for 63% of the fatalities so far, with those having pre-existing health conditions being even more vulnerable. Of the rest, 30% of those who died were 40-60 years old and only 7% were younger than 40. As many as 86% of the fatalities had conditions such as diabetes, hypertension, heart and kidney disease.There may be some community spread of Covid-19 in hotspots and these areas need to be monitored closely to prevent community transmission of the virus, AIIMS director Dr Randeep Guleria said on Monday, even as fresh coronavirus cases in the country registered a slight dip and fell below 500 for the first time in the past five days.The "ruthless" Covid-19 containment model adopted by Rajasthan's Bhilwara since detecting the first of its 27 positive cases on March 19 has been acknowledged by the Centre as a potential template for states battling a spurt in infections. There were two key takeaways from the review of strategies to combat the novel coronavirus pandemic – aggressive containment like in Bhilwara and preparation in terms of scaling up hospitals and quarantine facilities.The government has quarantined over 25,500 Tablighi Jamaat members and their contacts across the country and sealed five villages in Haryana where some “foreign members” of this Islamic organisation had stayed. Residents of these villages have also been placed under quarantine, the government said on Monday.British Prime Minister Boris Johnson spent the night in the intensive care unit of a London hospital with the new coronavirus, but is not on a ventilator, a senior government minister said Tuesday, as pressure grew on the government to release more details of Johnson's condition. Johnson was admitted to St. Thomas' Hospital late Sunday, 10 days after he was diagnosed with COVID-19, the first major world leader to be confirmed to have the virus. He was moved to the ICU Monday after his condition deteriorated.At Bio Zoo in the eastern state of Veracruz, Mexico, a Bengal Tiger cub was born last month as coronavirus was spreading like wildfire, forcing half the world's population to stay home and devastating millions of businesses -- including the privately-run zoo. The cub named Covid has given hope to the zoo. Kitzia Rodriguez, a vet at the zoo said that the cub was a gift and brought them hope in desperate times of coronavirus. "It is a name of hope, of a virus that came to teach us to look after ourselves," said Rodriguez. Covid was born big and strong weighing a healthy three pounds.The Swiss death toll from the new coronavirus has reached 641, the country's public health agency said on Tuesday, rising from 584 people on Monday. The number of positive tests also increased to 22,242 people from 21,652 on Monday, it said.Indonesia confirmed on Tuesday 247 new coronavirus infections, taking the total to 2,738, said a health ministry official. Achmad Yurianto, the official, reported 12 more deaths, taking the total to 221, while 204 people had recovered. More than 14,300 coronavirus tests have been carried out.Japan on Tuesday declared a state of emergency over a spike in coronavirus cases, ramping up efforts to contain infections but stopping short of the strict lockdowns seen in other parts of the world. The move allows governors in seven affected regions including Tokyo to ask people to stay indoors and request businesses close. But many supermarkets and other shops will stay open, transport will continue to run and there are neither enforcement mechanisms nor penalties laid out for those who fail to comply with government requests. Pressure to declare an emergency had increased after Tokyo reported several days of record infections, with 143 new cases logged on Sunday.Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen said late Monday that her government planned opening schools for younger students up until class five first because the requirement to care for them represented a greater burden on society. Reopening is planned for April 15. She said restaurants, bars and cafes would remain closed for now. Also churches, libraries, sports venues and shopping centers would remain closed until at least May 10. Denmark will keep in force border controls and ban gatherings of more than 10 people at least until May 10.Americans were put on notice Monday not to let up in the fight against the coronavirus, as a grim milestone of 10,000 deaths cast a pall over the first signs of optimism about the outbreak's trajectory. The United States has emerged as one of the world's worst-hit nations, with a steadily mounting number of fatalities and millions facing the possibility of economic ruin.Across South Asia, home to one fifth of the world's population, there are growing concerns that it won't escape the surge seen in other parts of the world. Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina warned of a big outbreak this month. She said the garment industry will also have to remain shut as part of the lockdown till April 14. Bangladesh has reported 123 cases including 12 deaths. On the other hand, Nepal Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli said risks to the landlocked country sandwiched between India and China were rising because people were not following quarantine properly.