Delhi

New Delhi, Apr 16 (PTI) The BCCI on Thursday suspended the 2020 Indian Premier League "till further notice" in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, which has claimed more than 400 lives and affected over 12,000 in the country.

The PTI reported on April 14 that the Indian cricket board (BCCI) had intimated the eight franchisees along with other stakeholders about the indefinite postponement of the tournament's 13th edition but there was no official word from the parent cricketing body.

New Delhi, Apr 15 (PTI) The Supreme Court took note of the Centre's submission on Wednesday that it was taking steps to implement relief measures to help the poor during the nationwide lockdown due to the COVID-19 pandemic and disposed of a PIL seeking relief such as financial help and food for them.

A bench headed by Justice N V Ramana recorded the statement of Solicitor General Tushar Mehta who explained the steps taken by the centre to address the concerns raised in the petition.

New Delhi, Apr 16 (PTI) India needs to "significantly ramp up" the number of tests done across the country to trace COVID-19 infection if the virus is to be contained in time, experts said.

The death toll due to coronavirus rose to 414 and the number of cases to 12,380 in the country on Thursday, according to the Union Health Ministry.

New Delhi, Apr 15 (PTI) India's exports plunged by a record 34.57 per cent in March due to a steep decline in shipments of leather, gems and jewellery and petroleum products, dragging the total exports in 2019-20 down to USD 314.31 billion, official data showed on Wednesday.

Merchandise exports in March stood at USD 21.41 billion, down by 34,57 per cent compared to USD 32.72 billion in the same month last year.

Kolkata, Apr 16 (PTI) The 40-day country-wide lockdown may prevent the spread of coronavirus, but the measure would bring a "financial epidemic" on five crore families of hawkers and those who supply them with products, an official of the national hawkers' body said.

The lockdown was imposed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on March 25 to break the chain of coronavirus transmission and it was scheduled to be lifted on April 15.

New Delhi, Apr 16 (PTI) Six Indian companies are working on a vaccine for COVID-19, joining global efforts to find a quick preventive for the deadly infection spreading rapidly across the world, says a top Indian scientist.

Nearly 70 vaccine candidates' are being tested and at least three have moved to the human clinical trial stage, but a vaccine for the novel coronavirus is unlikely to be ready for mass use before 2021.

New Delhi, Apr 15 (PTI) Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday urged the government to organise flights to bring back Indian workers stuck in the Middle East and desperate to return.

He said the workers are in deep distress there due to shutting of businesses in the Middle East due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

New Delhi, Apr 15 (PTI) As the world grapples with coronavirus, researchers have found the presence of a different kind of coronavirus -- bat coronavirus (BtCoV) --in two bat species from Kerala, Himachal Pradesh, Puducherry and Tamil Nadu, according to a study by the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR).

There is no evidence or research to claim that these bat coronaviruses can cause disease in humans, said Dr Pragya D Yadav, Scientist at the National Institute of Virology (NIV), Pune and also the first author of study.

New Delhi, Apr 15 (PTI) All Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) security personnel who frisk passengers at airports will be provided personal protective equipment (PPE) suits once commercial flight operations resume in the country, a senior official said.

The force has procured about 500 pieces and is in the process of obtaining more.

New Delhi, Apr 14 (PTI) The Labour Ministry on Tuesday said it has set up 20 control rooms on pan-India basis to address wage-related grievances and to mitigate problems faced by migrant workers amid the lockdown period to contain the Covid-19 crisis.

The Prime Minister has announced extension of the nationwide lockdown till May 3 with conditional relaxation from April 20 in some areas on the basis of evaluation of the situation.