Coronavirus highlights: Meghalaya reports first Covid-19 case

Sports Minister Kiren Rijiju on Monday visited the Sports Authority of India's headquarter where senior officials and other essential staff resumed operations after more than a fortnight of working remotely due to the COVID-19 pandemic, reports PTI.

"The ministry has started its office with minimum staff because work has to go on. We are ensuring strict compliance of rules like social distancing, wearing masks and temperature checks," Rijjiju said.

Delhi: Union Youth Affairs and Sports Minister Kiren Rijiju who is joining office from today arrives at the Sports Authority of India. He says,"Only senior officials&minimum required staff will be coming to the office today onwards. We'll follow all guidelines regarding COVID19". pic.twitter.com/QPwbKUgWaH

— ANI (@ANI) April 13, 2020

Forty four Indian evacuees from Iran who were quarantined at the Indian Navy's facility at Ghatkopar, Mumbai have returned to their homes in Srinagar , Jammu and Kashmir after completing 30 days at the facility and testing negative for Covid-19. They were quarantined at the facility on March 13.:ANI

44 Indian evacuees from Iran who were quarantined at the Indian Navy's facility at Ghatkopar, Mumbai have returned to their homes in J&K's Srinagar after completing 30 days at the facility and testing negative for COVID19. They were quarantined at the facility on March 13. pic.twitter.com/WQwqzWHxl8

— ANI (@ANI) April 13, 2020

Jharkhand reported two more Covid-19 positive cases on Monday, reports PTI. Both the novel coronavirus were found in Bokaro district, taking the number of cases in Jharkhand to 19, an official said.

Officials in New Zealand and Australia, hailed globally for their early signs of success in combating the spread of the coronavirus, said on Monday it is too soon to start easing social distancing rules or reopening their economies, reports Reuters.

New Zealand recorded its fifth death due to coronavirus on Monday, but new confirmed cases in the Pacific nation of about 5 million rose only by 15, a sixth of what was seen in early April, bringing the total of cases to 1,064.

According to Australia's health ministry, the number of new confirmed cases rose on Monday by 33, the slowest rate in a month and less than a tenth seen two weeks ago. Australia has now recorded 6,322 cases, with 61 deaths.

Nagaland recorded its first case of Covid-19 with a patient admitted in Assam’s Guwahati testing positive for the coronavirus on Sunday.

Assam health minister Himanta Biswa Sarma tweeted late on Sunday night that the patient, who was referred to Guwahati from a private hospital in Dimapur in Nagaland, was found positive.

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Rajasthan on Monday reported 11 new Covid-19 positive cases which included 0 from Bharatpur and one case from Banswara, The total number of positive cases in the state rises to 815, according to the state Health Department: ANI

Four new COVID-19 cases, including one death, in Dharavi; Mumbai's slum tally rises to 47, a Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation official said.: PTI

India's coronavirus numbers crossed the 9,000 mark on Monday morning, according to health ministry figures. These include 7,987 active infections, 856 patients who have been cured and / discharged, 308 Covid-19 fatalities and one migrated patient case.

Mumbai's civic body, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has declared Ganesh Gully in Lalbaug area as a 'containment area'; the total number of Covid-19 cases in the Maharashtra stands at 1982

Mumbai: Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has declared Ganesh Gully in Lalbaug area as a 'containment area'; the total number of COVID19 cases in the Maharashtra stands at 1982 pic.twitter.com/MGiONhE8Ml

— ANI (@ANI) April 13, 2020

Nagaland recorded its first case of Covid-19 with a patient admitted in Assam’s Guwahati testing positive for the coronavirus on Sunday.

Assam health minister Himanta Biswa Sarma tweeted late on Sunday night that the patient, who was referred to Guwahati from a private hospital in Dimapur in Nagaland, was found positive.

Fifty-nine Indians working in Singapore are among the 233 new coronavirus cases reported on Sunday, taking the total number of COVID-19 patients in the city-state to 2,532, reports PTI.

Of the new cases, 51 are linked to known clusters while 15 to earlier cases.

Prince William has said Britain is at its best in a crisis, his office said on Sunday, the latest in a series of messages from the royal family seeking to galvanise the nation during the coronavirus pandemic, reports Reuters.

"I think Britain is at its best when faced with a crisis," the queen's grandson said during a call with a community charity in northern England that runs a food bank and has been delivering hot meals to isolated people.

"We all pull together and that community spirit comes rushing back quicker than anything else," William said on the call, according to his office at Kensington Palace.

His message came on a day when the Covid-19 death toll in hospitals across the United Kingdom passed 10,000.

China reported the highest number of new daily coronavirus cases in nearly six weeks, driven by a rise in infected travellers arriving from overseas and underscoring challenges Beijing faces in preventing a second wave of COVID-19.

A total of 108 new coronavirus cases were reported on Sunday, up from 99 a day earlier and marking the highest number of cases since 143 cases were reported on March 5.

The United States recorded 1,514 deaths related to the coronavirus pandemic over the past 24 hours, according to a tally by Johns Hopkins University as of 8:30 pm Sunday (0030 GMT Monday).

The United States may be ready to start gradually reopening next month, the government's top infectious diseases expert said Sunday, as signs grew that the coronavirus pandemic was peaking, reports AFP.

Anthony Fauci, the veteran pandemic expert who has quietly sought action to stem infections, said in a televised interview that parts of the country could begin easing restrictions in May -- but was cautious.

"I think it could probably start at least in some ways maybe next month," Fauci, head of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, told CNN.