Covid LIVE: Record 920 deaths in Maharashtra in a day; 346 in Karnataka

Coronavirus live updates | Statewise list of fresh Covid-19 cases: Maharashtra records 51,880 cases, followed by Karnataka (44,631), UP (25858), Tamil Nadu (21,228). Stay tuned for corona-related news

9:12 AM

Coronavirus update: Opposition parties, business leaders, health experts call for full lockdown

The Opposition, along with business leaders, international health experts and other senior politicians, has called for a full national lockdown. 

 

Dr Anthony Fauci, America's top public health expert, described the situation as "extremely serious" and said a nationwide lockdown was needed alongside a massive vaccination drive and the construction of makeshift hospitals.

 

8:43 AM

Coronavirus updates: RBI presser at 10 am

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on March 27 issued the circular, which allowed lending institutions to grant a moratorium on payment of instalments of term loans falling due between March 1, 2020, and May 31, 2020, due to the pandemic. Later, the moratorium was extended till August 31, 2020. 

8:30 AM

Uttarakhand coronavirus update: 7,028 new Covid-19 cases reported

Uttarakhand reports 7,028 new Covid-19 cases and 85 deaths in last 24 hours. Active cases at 56,627 and total death toll at 3,015.

8:30 AM

Key Covid-19 bulk drugs see 180% price increase over four months

Prices of key bulk drugs that go into making medicines actively used to treat Covid patients and relatives have surged in the range of 25-180 per cent in the past few months owing to two factors — a sudden surge in demand and slower supplies from China.

 

No shortage, however, is expected at the retail level anytime soon as big firms carry a few months of inventory. READ ON...

8:24 AM

Coronavirus second wave: Clamour for packages for banks and NBFCs grows

Lenders are seeking a three-month moratorium on loan repayments and another opportunity for restructuring the debt for borrowers who did not avail of recast under the last year’s regulatory package and are now feeling the heat of the second wave of the pandemic.

 

Senior bankers said the situation had become serious and it was tough to gauge the economic impact of the pandemic this time around. This is more so for sectors such as hospitality, which got battered in the first wave.

The banks have made a plea to either extend the window for invocation of the regulatory package to June 2021 and allow more time for implementing it, or announce a new window. The invocation date for recast under the Covid package was December and it was to be implemented by June. The relief is being sought especially for the medium and small enterprises, which are under higher stress and have limited capability to withstand shocks. The demand for a regulatory package has been building up for the past month. The Indian Banks’ Association approached the Reserve Bank of India for three relaxations — an extension of working capital assessments, a standstill clause for invocations, and extension by a year of the Commercial Operations Date for those projects whose COD was happening before March 31. Read on...

8:19 AM

Tamil Nadu reports 21,228 new Covid cases

Tamil Nadu reports 21,228 new Covid cases, 19,112 recoveries and 144 deaths in the last 24 hours.

 

Total cases: 12,49,292

Total recoveries: 11,09,450

Active cases: 1,25,230

Death toll: 14,612

8:10 AM

RBI governor to make unscheduled speech at 10am as Covid devastates India

7:43 AM

Covid-19 deaths in India may double in coming weeks, forecasters warn

The coronavirus wave that plunged India into the world’s biggest health crisis has the potential to worsen in the coming weeks, with some research models projecting that the death toll could more than double from current levels.

 

A team at the Indian Institute of Science in Bangalore used a mathematical model to predict about 404,000 deaths will occur by June 11 if current trends continue. A model from the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation at the University of Washington forecast 1,018,879 deaths by the end of July.

7:37 AM

Working from home 'doesn't work for those who want to hustle': JPMorgan CEO

Working from home does not work for everyone, especially those who want "to hustle," JPMorgan Chase & Co's chief executive said on Tuesday at a conference in New York.

 

The largest American bank recently told it workers that it expects all U.S.-based employees back in offices on a rotational basis by early July, subject to current public health rules limiting office capacity to 50%.

 

Bank CEO Jamie Dimon said he wants people back at work because exclusively working from home "doesn't work for young people."

 

"It doesn't work for those who want to hustle. It doesn't work for spontaneous idea generation. It doesn't work for culture," Dimon said at a conference hosted by the Wall Street Journal.

 

Dimon said he is open to some employees working from home a few days a week, a policy other banks like Deutsche Bank, HSBC and UBS are reportedly exploring. Read on...