Delhi

New Delhi, Apr 14 (PTI) The Congress on Tuesday termed Prime Minister Narendra Modi's address a "rhetoric" and "hollow on specifics", saying he should spell out the government's strategy to tackle coronavirus and solve people's problems, rather than talk of what he expected of them.

A host of Congress leaders criticised Modi for not coming out with a financial package or concrete steps to revive the economy and asked what he was doing to mitigate the woes of poor, migrant labourers and farmers waiting to harvest crops.

New Delhi, Apr 14 (PTI) The Indian Railways has extended the suspension of its passenger services till May 3, senior officials said on Tuesday.

They said the decision was taken after Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced that the lockdown across the country will be extended till May 3 to fight the coronavirus pandemic.

"We have taken the decision keeping in view the extended lockdown period. More updates will be available shortly," the official said.

Earlier, all passenger services were cancelled till April 14 midnight.

New Delhi, Apr 14 (PTI) The World Health Organization on Tuesday lauded "India's tough and timely actions" against the coronavirus spread as Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced the extension of current lockdown till May 3.

NEW DELHI, April 14 (NNN-BERNAMA) — India on Tuesday extended the nationwide shutdown to contain the coronavirus until May 3 as the number of infections crossed 10,000.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi said the measure was needed to stop the pandemic’s spread to new areas and urged people to maintain discipline during the lockdown that would keep 1.3 billion people indoors.

The lockdown was initially announced for 21 days starting March 25, but many Indian states were in favour of continuing it for some more time.

New Delhi, Apr 13 (PTI) The Supreme Court on Monday refused to entertain a plea seeking quashing of the decision to set up the PM CARES Fund, where people can donate money, to deal with the situation arising out of the COVID-19 pandemic.

A bench headed by Chief Justice S A Bobde described the PIL filed by lawyer M L Sharma as "misconceived" and dismissed it in a hearing conducted through video conferencing.

New Delhi, Apr 13 (PTI) The world's biggest lockdown that shut a majority of the factories and businesses, suspended flights, stopped trains and restricted movement of vehicles and people, may have cost the Indian economy Rs 7-8 lakh crore during the 21-day period, analysts and industry bodies said.

New Delhi, Apr 12 (PTI) A 56-year-old assistant-sub inspector of the Delhi Police has tested positive for coronavirus, police said on Sunday.

The ASI is a resident of Shyam Nagar, Okhla Phase-1, they said.

New Delhi, Apr 13 (PTI) A low-intensity earthquake of magnitude 2.7 shook parts of Delhi on Monday, the National Centre for Seismology said, the second quake to hit the national capital region in less than 24 hours but no report of any damage was received.

The quake, with its epicentre near Wazirpur in northeast Delhi, occurred at 1.26 pm at a shallow depth of 5 km, said JL Gautam, Head (Operations) at NCS, an institute under the Ministry of Earth Sciences.

New Delhi, Apr 11 (PTI) A Congress MP from Kerala has approached the Supreme Court seeking direction to the Centre to establish a specialised team to identify Indian citizens who are stranded in Gulf countries and require immediate evacuation amid the coronavirus pandemic.

New Delhi, Apr 12 (PTI) Turning 'crisis into opportunity', India needs renewed focus on infrastructure in the wake of the damage caused by COVID-19 and talks are on with state governments to re-start highway construction projects where migrant labourers can be gainfully employed, union minister Nitin Gadkari said.

In a video-conference with PTI, the road transport, highways and MSME minister said talks are on with state governments for facilitating safe return of migrant labourers, an estimated 20 lakh of whom are in shelters pan-India.