Highlights- Donate blood plasma for treatment: Tablighi Jamaat chief's appeal

61 additional districts from 23 States/UTs have not reported any fresh cases in last 14 days. 4 new districts have been included in the list-Latur, Osmanabad, Hingoli and Washim in Maharashtra: Health Ministry

States advised not to use rapid testing kits for two days. A lot of variations, kits will be tested and validated by on-ground teams and we will give advisory in the next 2 days: R Gangakhedkar, Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR)

Till now, there are 18,601 positive cases. So far, 3,252 people have recovered including 705 people who recovered yesterday. This takes our recovery percentage to 17.48 per cent: Lav Agrawal, Joint Secy, Health Ministry

Details of corona warriors in 20 categories and 49 sub-categories, who can contribute to COVID19 management efforts, are available to states and union territories on the portal: Chairman of 4th Empowered Group (to tackle #COVID19) https://t.co/gQIj8iG0kP

— ANI (@ANI) April 21, 2020

Brent North Sea crude slumped to under $20 per barrel on Tuesday, reaching the lowest level for more than 18 years as the coronavirus pandemic slashed demand.

Europe’s benchmark oil contract reached $18.10 per barrel before shooting back up to $21.51 in volatile trading.

Tamil Nadu Chief Minister K Palaniswami on Tuesday regretted the episodes where locals opposed the burial of doctors who died of Covid-19 in the city and urged all to respect the dedication of the health workers.

He also equated doctors, besides other frontline workers in the battle against coronavirus, to God for the "selfless" services rendered by them.

The Karnataka Government may spare its employees from salary cuts this month despite severe resources crunch it faces following steep fall in revenue collection due to the ongoing lockdown to fight the coronavirus, official sources said on Tuesday.

As of now, there is no problem with April salary and we can manage. But if May also turns out to be a wash-out (in terms of revenue collection), then the situation is going to be very tough, a senior Minister told PTI.

The UK reported its highest weekly death count on record as the damage caused by the coronavirus epidemic continues to rise. Deaths in care homes more than quadrupled compared with the week previously.

There were 18,516 deaths registered in the week ending April 10, 76% more than the average figure for the same week over the previous five years, the Office For National Statistics said Tuesday. The difference is significantly more than the ONS officially attributed to the virus, suggesting the official count may miss many deaths caused by the epidemic.

Delhi Lieutenant Governor Anil Baijal on Tuesday took stock of the lockdown implementation in the national capital and visited temporary shelters for migrant workers and the homeless to review arrangements.

According to an official, the lieutenant governor visited two schools at Ludlow Castle Number 2 that have been converted into shelter homes amid the ongoing lockdown to combat the coronavirus outbreak.

Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on Tuesday announced a financial assistance of ₹50 lakh each for the families of all health workers and support staff who lose their lives in the fight against COVID-19.

He said the government will treat them as martyrs.

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi takes a swipe at the government over reports that rice would be used to make sanitisers and asked the poor of the country as to when will they wake up. In a tweet in Hindi, the Congress leader said while the poor are dying of hunger, the government was allowing rice to be used for making sanitisers.

आख़िर हिंदुस्तान का ग़रीब कब जागेगा? आप भूखे मर रहे हैं और वो आपके हिस्से के चावल से सैनीटाईज़र बनाकर अमीरों के हाथ की सफ़ाई में लगे हैं।https://t.co/5NjoMmsJnK

— Rahul Gandhi (@RahulGandhi) April 21, 2020

Delhi govt will conduct Covid-19 test on mediapersons in national capital as precautionary measure, CM Arvind Kejriwal said on Tuesday, reports PTI.

He said this in reply to a tweet on the subject.

Sure. We will do that https://t.co/ehcY5OMiEP

— Arvind Kejriwal (@ArvindKejriwal) April 21, 2020

Thirty three fresh Covid cases were reported in Rae Bareli district on Tuesday taking the total number of the Covid- cases in the district to 35.

Chief Development Officer, Rae Bareli, Abhisek Goyal said the 33 people, who had come to the district from outside, were quarantined in the premises of an institute and their samples were sent to SGPGI, Lucknow laboratory for test. On Tuesday morning their report was received by the district administration confirming that all the 33 people are positive. The infected people have been shifted to the Covid-19 hospital established in Community Health Center located in Rohania town in the district.

Twenty five paramedics, including 19 nurses, of Pune's Ruby Hall Clinic test coronavirus positive, according to the hospital CEO, reports PTI.