Highlights: Delhi govt imposes 70% tax on liquor, to be implemented from May 5

Worldwide coronavirus cases exceed 3.5 million: AFP tally

India recorded over 2,500 new Covid-19 cases since Sunday morning, according to the Union health ministry figures released at 8 am on Monday.

In all, India now has 42, 533 coronavirus cases. These include 29,453 active cases, 11,706 cured /discharged patients and 1,373 deaths from the disease.

"Despite repeated demands by Congress, central govt and Rail Ministry have chosen to ignore migrants' free travel home,"says Congress presidentt Sonia Gandhi.

She also said, "It is particularly disturbing that central govt, Railways are charging migrants for train tickets in this hour of crisis", reports PTI

Congress will pay for the rail travel of every needy worker and migrant labourer. This was conveyed in a statement attributed to party president Sonia Gandhi released on Monday morning.

"Congress has taken a decision that every Pradesh Congress Committee shall bear the cost for the rail travel of every needy worker and migrant labourer and shall take necessary steps in this regard. This will be the Indian National Congress’ humble contribution in service of our compatriots and to stand shoulder to shoulder in solidarity with them," said the statement.

कांग्रेस अध्यक्षा, श्रीमती सोनिया गांधी का बयान

भारतीय राष्ट्रीय कांग्रेस ने यह निर्णय लिया है कि प्रदेश कांग्रेस कमेटी की हर इकाई हर जरूरतमंद श्रमिक व कामगार के घर लौटने की रेल यात्रा का टिकट खर्च वहन करेगी व इस बारे जरूरी कदम उठाएगी। pic.twitter.com/DWo3VZtns0

— Congress (@INCIndia) May 4, 2020

President Donald Trump promised a “conclusive” report from the U.S. government on the Chinese origins of the coronavirus outbreak, adding that he has little doubt that Beijing misled the world about the scale and risk of the disease before it became a global pandemic, reports Bloomberg.

“We will be giving a very strong report on what we think happened, and I think it will be very conclusive,” Trump said during a “virtual town hall” hosted by Fox News on Sunday, after he was asked about evidence the virus is related to research conducted in a laboratory in the central Chinese city of Wuhan.

China reported three new coronavirus cases for May 3, up from two the day before, data from the national health authority showed on Monday, reports Reuters.

All of the new cases were imported, the National Health Commission said.

Delhi will allow self-employed people including domestic help, those involved in laundry services, technicians, electricians and plumbers to operate in the national capital from today as the third phase of lockdown begins today with some relaxations in restrictions.

The Delhi government released its implementation strategy over the guidelines released by the Union home ministry, with chief minister Arvind Kejriwal saying on Sunday that the Capital will follow the lockdown restrictions enforced by the Centre.

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The US Air Force planes staged flyovers in various parts of the country to honour healthcare workers engaged in battling Covid-19: Reuters

U.S. Air Force planes staged flyovers in various parts of the country to honor healthcare workers pic.twitter.com/1TpcwnIyDI

— Reuters (@Reuters) May 4, 2020

Novel coronavirus deaths in the United States climbed by 1,450 in the past 24 hours, a tally by Johns Hopkins University showed Sunday, bringing the total number of fatalities to more than 67,600, reports AFP.

The Baltimore-based university had recorded more than 1.15 million cases in the country as of 8:30 pm Sunday (0030 GMT Monday), with 67,674 deaths.