Coronavirus live updates: Give loan to eligible borrowers without fear of CBI, CVC and CAG, says FM

South Korea reported 23 new cases of the coronavirus, mostly from the densely populated Seoul metropolitan area where authorities have shut down thousands of nightclubs, bars and karaoke rooms in a desperate attempt to stem transmissions.

Economist Nouriel Roubini has warned of a prolonged downturn and sluggish recovery from the coronavirus.Nicknamed Dr Doom for his gloomy predictions, Professor Roubini said there are some jobs that simply will not come back after this crisis, the BBC reported on Friday.Even if the global economy recovers this year from the impact of the coronavirus, it will be "anaemic".He warned of "unprecedented" recession. Professor Roubini foresaw the financial crisis in 2008 before many others.

President Donald Trump on Friday labeled churches and other houses of worship as "essential" and called on governors nationwide to let them reopen this weekend even though some areas remain under coronavirus lockdown.The president threatened to "override" governors who defy him, but it was unclear what authority he has to do so."Governors need to do the right thing and allow these very important essential places of faith to open right now — for this weekend," Trump said at a hastily arranged press conference at the White House. Asked what authority Trump might have to supersede governors, White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany said she wouldn't answer a theoretical question.Trump has been pushing for the country to reopen as he tries to reverse an economic free fall playing out months before he faces reelection. White evangelical Christians have been among the president's most loyal supporters, and the White House has been careful to attend to their concerns throughout the crisis.

The armed forces, amid guarding the frontiers, maintaining operational readiness and helping civil administrations combat the coronavirus pandemic, are facing a confounding new question: Should explicit orders be issued to ensure their personnel wear masks that match their uniforms?Senior officers of the Army, Navy and IAF, fortunately, have not yet been seen in public wearing ‘stars' on their masks, akin to the ones worn on their collar tabs, to denote their ranks like some of their police counterparts are doing. The director-general of police in a state, for instance, made quite a splash recently by wearing a mask with ‘three stars'.

Fresh Covid-19 cases in Delhi touched another new peak on Friday, the fourth in as many days, with 660 infections added to the city’s virus count, which crossed the 12,000 mark. With this, 2,263 infections have been recorded in the past four days, more than a third of the 6,214 active cases in the city, indicating a surge in infections. The city’s death toll crossed 200, with 14 fatalities reported in Friday, taking the total to 208. Read more

China recorded no new confirmed Covid-19 cases on the mainland for May 22, down from four the previous day, the National Health Commission (NHC) said in a statement on Saturday. This was the first time China had seen no daily rise in the number of cases since the pandemic began in the central city of Wuhan late last year.The number of new asymptomatic cases of the coronavirus fell to 28 from 35 a day earlier, the NHC said.The number of confirmed cases in the mainland stands at 82,971 and the death toll remained unchanged at 4,634.

Ivanka Trump, the daughter of US President Donald Trump and also the senior White House adviser, on Friday praised the heroic tale of a 15-year-old Indian girl, who had pedaled 1,200km in seven days from Haryana's Gurgaon to her native village in Bihar, carrying her ailing father on the rear seat of her bicycle during the national lockdown. Highlighting the story of the pandemic-struck Indian family, Ivanka tweeted: "15-yr-old Jyoti Kumari, carried her wounded father to their home village on the back of her bicycle covering +1,200 km over 7 days. This beautiful feat of endurance & love has captured the imagination of the Indian people and the cycling federation! Flag of India."

The World Health Organization (WHO) has reiterated that Covid-19 vaccines must be recognised as public goods for the whole world, and that all countries must contribute."We can't prevent pathogens, germs from crossing our borders. And that's why these vaccines have to be recognised as protecting the whole of the world and the contributions from every country to do that," Katherine O'Brien, director of WHO's Department of Immunization, Vaccines and Biologicals, said in a press conference in Geneva on Friday, reiterating Covid-19 vaccines be recognized as "global public health goods".

A surging coronavirus is ravaging parts of Latin America, setting records for cases and deaths Friday in some countries in the world's most unequal region even as the pandemic's march slows in much of Europe, Asia and the United States. Latin America's two largest nations Mexico and Brazil reported record numbers of infections and deaths almost daily this week, fueling criticism of their presidents, who have slow-walked shutdowns in an attempt to limit economic damage. Brazil reported more than 330,000 confirmed cases as of Friday, surpassing Russia to become the nation with the second-highest number of infections, behind only the U.S., according to a tally kept by Johns Hopkins University. Brazil also has recorded more than 21,000 deaths, though experts believe the true numbers are higher.

Indian states reported 6,339 new Covid-19 cases on Friday — the fourth peak in daily cases in as many days and the first time that more than 6,000 infections were recorded within 24 hours — on the back of another explosion of cases in Maharashtra, where 2,940 more people tested positive for the virus, the highest single-day increase in any state so far. India has recorded 1,23,081 coronavirus infections so far, with nearly a third of all active cases having been declared in the past four days alone, when 22,794 cases were added to the count. Read more

US records a further 1,260 deaths from Covid-19, bringing its total to 95,921, with more than 1.6 million cases of the virus, far more than any other nation, according to a tally kept by Johns Hopkins University

Covid-19 has hit the income of around 60% households across India, showed a survey. The study, conducted by Nielsen across 12 cities, also discovered that eight of every 10 respondents had one or more mid- and bigticket items, such as domestic travel or a durables purchase, planned in the March-June period. However, only 28% of them wanted to go ahead with their plans once the restrictions are relaxed, the rest have either put their plans on hold or cancelled them.

Argentina surpassed 10,000 confirmed cases of the coronavirus on Friday, after recording the highest single-day increase since the start of the pandemic. There are 10,649 cases, up by 718 from a day earlier, mostly in capital Buenos Aires, government data showed. The death toll is at 433. The rate of daily confirmed infections has steadily increased in the last week, though Argentina is still heavily outpaced by its regional neighbors. Brazil has the highest infection rate on the continent and became the world no.2 hotspot in terms of case numbers on Friday.

India has clear rules to deal with biomedical waste but the Covid-19 pandemic has presented a unique challenge where the country has to deal with an unestimated amount of such waste exclusively from dedicated Covid hospitals, quarantine centres and home quarantine facilities. The task has become all the more difficult as many states lack strict monitoring mechanisms. Read more