Coronavirus Highlights: Total number of cases in Delhi stands at 224

Air India has lifted about 300 tons of essential medical cargo so far this month through China-India aerobridge. It is planned that Air India along with SpiceJet and Blue Dart will airlift another 220 tons of this critical cargo in the next three days: Aviation Minister Hardeep Puri

Vietnam will loosen travel restrictions as the country lifts a nationwide shutdown after no new COVID-19 cases were reported the past week.

The government announced the confinement order will be lifted starting Thursday in most cities and provinces except in the capital Hanoi, which has nearly half of the country's 268 infections. Vietnam is among a few countries with no reported deaths from the virus.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will interact with CMs of all states via video conference on 27th April, reports news agency ANI.

With 15,859 active cases as of Wednesday evening, India's count rose to 20,471. The country also recorded 652 deaths. 3,959 people have been cured, according to the data released by health ministry.

The Epidemic Diseases (Amendment) Ordinance, 2020 manifests our commitment to protect each and every healthcare worker who is bravely battling COVID-19 on the frontline.

It will ensure safety of our professionals. There can be no compromise on their safety!

— Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) April 22, 2020

Taiwan's President Tsai Ing-wen apologised Wednesday for "major shortcomings" within the military after a cluster of coronavirus infections emerged on a navy vessel recently returned from a goodwill mission to Palau.

The Delhi Police received over 900 calls on its 24x7 helpline number from 2 pm on Tuesday and the same time on Wednesday, seeking assistance on issues faced during the lockdown, officials said. A total of 27,007 calls were received by the police on its helpline number (23469526) so far since the lockdown, they said.

Professors at the Banaras Hindu University (BHU) have proposed to carry out a clinical trial of immunity-boosting ayurvedic drug fifatrol to check its efficacy in tackling the deadly Covid-19.

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.

Hydrochloroquine, the anti-malaria drug which US President Donald Trump called a "game changer" against COVID-19, is not effective against the disease, according to a study which raises concerns about the drug's widespread usage by many governments across the world in fighting the pandemic. The yet to be peer-reviewed study, published in the preprint server medRxiv, made a retrospective analysis of patients hospitalised with COVID-19 in all the Veterans Health Administration medical centers across the US.

Iran announced on Wednesday 94 new deaths from the novel coronavirus but said the cases of people infected in the country was on the way down.

Health ministry spokesman Kianoush Jahanpour said the fatalities detected in the past 24 hours took Iran's overall death toll to 5,391.

Ensure adequate security for healthcare professionals, medical staff, frontline workers to prevent violence against them: MHA to states

One more person died of coronavirus in Rajasthan on Wednesday, pushing the death toll to 27 in the state, whose infection count soared to 1,868 with 133 fresh cases. "The death of a COVID-19 patient has occurred in Bharatpur district. A total of 133 fresh cases have been reported in nine districts of the state, including 66 in Jaipur and 44 in Ajmer," Additional Chief Secretary (Health) Rohit Kumar Singh said.

As many as 146 Indian crew members stranded on a cruise ship due to the coronavirus pandemic, will disembark in Mumbai on Thursday, over a month after it set off from Thailand, the Maharashtra Chief Minister's Office (CMO) said on Wednesday.