ICMR Suggests Hydroxy Chloroquine For Prevention
The Indian Council of Medical Research has recommended the use of anti-malarial drugs hydroxy chloroquine for prophylactic (preventive) measures to asymptomatic health workers tending to patients with COVID-19 and the asymptomatic household contacts of the laboratory confirmed cases. Only these section of people are eligible to receive them and they should be prescribed by a registered medical practitioner.
Direct Tax Filing Extensions On The Cards?
CNBC reports to have accessed a letter from the IT Department writing to the CBDT asking for an extension of deadlines pertaining to filing of returns, penalties and other activities whose deadline is March 31
Gujarat, Chandigarh, Telangana Report New Cases
Gujarat, Chandigarh, Telangana have reported new cases of COVID-19.
Gujarat has recorded 11 new cases taking the count to 29 cases.
Chandigarh's cases are at 7.
Telangana reported 3 new cases taking the count to 30. Two of them have travel history while one was in contact with a person who returned from Indonesia and had tested positive.
Maharashtra Says Mumbai Death Not A COVID-19 Death
Earlier in the day, Maharashtra Health Minister Rajesh Tope had tweeted saying Maharashtra has 89 cases and three deaths. Later, the man who returned from Philippines was not counted to have died from COVID-19 but due to earlier complications.
Minister's tweet at 10:00 am, March 23, 2020
Minister's tweet at 11:31 am, March 23, 2020
Maharashtra with 89 cases has the highest number of cases in the state.
States Asked To Enforce Lockdown, Action Against Violators
The Ministry of Information and Broadcasting released a press release asking states to enforce a strict lockdown due to the increasing number of COVID-19 cases. It also states that legal action will be taken against violators.
The order comes an hour after Prime Minister Modi tweeted that he could see that people are not taking the lockdown seriously and asked states to do the needful.
ICMR Confirms 415 Cases
The Indian Council of Medical Research has stated that they have found 415 positive cases of COVID-19 till 10 AM, March 23, 2020.
Sensex Stops Trading For 45 Minutes
Stock exchanges BSE and NSE shut down for the second time in 10 days.
On Monday, March 23, the exchanges halted trading for 45 minutes after an hour of opening since the benchmark index Sensex crashed 10% in early trade.
Maharashtra Confirms Third Death
The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation confirmed that Mumbai and Maharashtra recorded its third death and the country its 8th. The Centre's confirmation on the same is still awaited.
A 68-year-old Philippines citizen, initially tested positive for COVID-19. But subsequently became negative and passed away yesterday. He was shifted from Kasturba hospital to a private hospital. He had developed acute renal failure and respiratory distress
Centre Reports 390 Cases
While the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare had recorded 390 cases and states that Maharashtra and Kerala have 67 cases, the Maharashtra government has reported more cases.
The Ministry's update is per 9 AM on March 23, 2020.
ICMR Approves Two More Private, Govt Labs Respectively
Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) has approved two more private and government labs respectively to test for COVID-19 positive cases. The private labs are in Karnataka and Gujarat which are Unipath Specialty laboratory limited, Ahmedabad, and Neuberg Anand Reference Laboratory, Bengaluru. This takes the total number of government labs to 116 from 114 and private labs to six from four.