President Trump said the White House coronavirus task force will continue indefinitely and Airbnb plans to lay off a quarter of its workforce. WSJ’s Jason Bellini has the latest on the pandemic. Photo: Brendan Smialowski/AFP

The Trump administration steps up assertions that the coronavirus originated at a lab in Wuhan, governments around the world start to allow businesses to reopen, millions of imported masks fall short of N95 standards. WSJ’s Jason Bellini has the latest on the pandemic. Photo: Scott Keeler/Zuma Press

Sales rise 49.79% to Rs 21.69 crore

US President Donald Trump reached out to several world leaders, including those from Germany and Saudi Arabia, to discuss the coronavirus pandemic and the global economy on Friday, the White House said. Trump and King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al-Saud of Saudi Arabia discussed the latest positive developments in defeating the coronavirus pandemic and re-energising global economies, the White House said in a readout of the call. The two leaders agreed on the importance of stability in global energy markets and reaffirmed the strong United States-Saudi defence partnership, it said. Trump and King Salman also discussed other critical regional and bilateral issues and their cooperation as leaders of the G7 and G20, respectively, the readout of the call said. In a separate phone call with Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany, the two leaders discussed positive developments in defeating the coronavirus pandemic, research efforts and reopening the American and German economies. "The President ...

Three sisters who worked in Mexico's government hospital system were found murdered by strangling, authorities in the northern border state of Coahuila announced on Friday, stirring new alarm in a country where attacks on healthcare workers have occurred across the nation amid the coronavirus outbreak. Two of the sisters were nurses for the Mexican Social Security Institute and the third was a hospital administrator, but there was no immediate evidence the attack was related to their work. The state prosecutor told local media the motive might have been robbery. State police said the bodies were found in a house in the city of Torreon. The Social Security Institute said they were killed on Thursday. The National Union of Social Security Employees called the killings "outrageous and incomprehensible". In other parts of Mexico, nurses have had been hit, kicked off public transport or had cleaning fluids poured on them amid fears they might spread the coronavirus. Mexican health ...

US Vice President Mike Pence's press secretary has the coronavirus, the White House said on Friday, making her the second person who works at the White House complex known to test positive for the virus this week. President Donald Trump, who publicly identified the affected Pence aide, said he was "not worried" about the virus spreading in the White House. Nonetheless, officials said they were stepping up safety protocols for the complex. Pence spokeswoman Katie Miller, who tested positive on Friday, had been in recent contact with Pence but not with the president. She is married to Stephen Miller, a top Trump adviser. The White House had no immediate comment on whether Stephen Miller had been tested or if he was still working out of the White House. Katie Miller had tested negative on Thursday, a day before her positive result. "This is why the whole concept of tests are not necessarily great," Trump said. "The tests are perfect but something can happen between a test where it is ...

China has reported 15 new asymptomatic coronavirus cases, taking their total to 836 while one new imported COVID-19 infection was confirmed, health officials said on Saturday. According to China's National Health Commission (NHC), as for Friday 836 asymptomatic cases, including 63 from overseas, were still under medical observation. The NHC said one imported case of coronavirus was reported on Friday and 15 new asymptomatic cases, all domestic ones, were confirmed in the country. Most of the asymptomatic cases were being reported from first coronavirus epicentres Hubei province and its capital Wuhan where no confirmed cases were reported for the 35 days, the local health commission said. Normalcy is returning to the province as the lockdown has been lifted and offices, business and factories have been opened since last month. The province still has 628 asymptomatic cases under medical observation, after 13 new cases were reported on Friday, the commission said. Death toll in China ...

AC Milan president Paolo Scaroni has revealed that some of his squad members were still recovering from coronavirus. Serie A has been on hold since mid-March but Italian Sports Minister Vincenzo Spadafora said on Thursday he was hopeful group training could resume on May 18. "We have some infected players in the process of recovery," Scaroni told local media. Scaroni believes Italian football must live with COVID-19 and take an example from the Bundesliga which will restart on May 16. "We have to get used to living with the virus and this also applies to football," he said. "It is not possible to stand still until there is zero infection. Basically we can adopt the German formula that provides that those who are sick go into quarantine while their teammates continue." Milan technical director Paolo Maldini, together with his 18-year-old son Daniel, a youth team player, have both recovered from the virus. "Maldini father and son are doing well. There are players who are improving, but .

Vice President Mike Pence's press secretary has the coronavirus, the White House said, making her the second person who works at the White House complex known to test positive for the virus this week. President Donald Trump, who publicly identified the affected Pence aide, said he was not worried about the virus spreading in the White House. Nonetheless, officials said they were stepping up safety protocols for the complex. Pence spokeswoman Katie Miller, who tested positive Friday, had been in recent contact with Pence but not with the president. She is married to Stephen Miller, a top Trump adviser. The White House had no immediate comment on whether Stephen Miller had been tested or if he was still working in the White House. Katie Miller had tested negative Thursday, a day before her positive result. This is why the whole concept of tests aren't necessarily great, Trump said. The tests are perfect but something can happen between a test where it's good and then something ...

Ivanka Trump's personal assistant has tested positive for the deadly coronavirus, making her the third White House staff member to be infected from COVID-19, a media report said on Saturday. The assistant, who works in a personal capacity for US President Donald Trump's daughter, has not been around her in several weeks, the CNN reported. She has been teleworking for nearly two months and was tested out of caution, the report quoted a source as saying. She was not symptomatic. Ivanka and her husband Jared Kushner both tested negative on Friday, the person familiar with the matter told the US news channel. The development comes a day after President Trump confirmed that Vice President Mike Pence's press secretary Katie Miller had tested positive for the coronavirus. "She's a wonderful young woman, Katie, she tested very good for a long period of time and then all of a sudden today she tested positive," Trump said during a meeting at the White House. He said Miller had not come into ...

From resounding applause to ostracization and isolation. That's essentially the journey Lt. Cmdr. Robert Embleton, who served 34 years in Britain's Royal Navy, took by ambulance when discharged from Derriford Hospital in Plymouth, southwestern England, on April 8 following his near-month sickness with COVID-19. Arriving at his retirement home, he immediately went into self-isolation with his wife of 55 years, Jean, who has shown no symptoms of the virus. Soon after, Embleton realized he was carrying some new baggage the stigma of the virus. He even considered buying a bell to warn of his presence. I was regarded as a sort of leper, a plague carrier. Some people when they spotted me, they recoiled, the 79-year-old told The Associated Press. I was particularly regarded as a menace. That's some contrast to his final moments at Derriford Hospital, when the somewhat embarrassed Embleton received a round of applause from all the front-line staff from the cleaners to the doctors. Embleton ..

Roy Horn of Siegfried & Roy, the duo whose extraordinary magic tricks astonished millions until Horn was critically injured in 2003 by one of the act's famed white tigers, has died. He was 75. Horn died of complications from the coronavirus on Friday in a Las Vegas hospital, according to a statement released by publicist Dave Kirvin. Today, the world has lost one of the greats of magic, but I have lost my best friend, Siegfried Fischbacher said in the statement. From the moment we met, I knew Roy and I, together, would change the world. There could be no Siegfried without Roy, and no Roy without Siegfried. He was injured in October 2003 when a tiger named Montecore attacked him on stage at the Mirage hotel-casino in Las Vegas. He had severe neck injuries, lost a lot of blood and later suffered a stroke. He underwent lengthy rehabilitation, but the attack ended the long-running Las Vegas Strip production. The darker-haired of the flashy duo, Horn was credited with the idea of ...

Nepal has reported seven new coronavirus cases, taking the number of infections in the country to 109, the health ministry said on Saturday. Nepal is among the nations that has the least number of cases of the deadly coronavirus. The new cases involve three women and four men aged between 17 and 65 years. The women belonged to Udayapur district, while three men are from Kapilavastu district and one from Parsa district. With this, the total number of infections in the Himalayan nation has reached 109, it said. So far, 30 people have recovered from the disease, the ministry said. According to the Johns Hopkins University data, the virus has infected over 3.9 million people and claimed over 270,000 people worldwide.

Pakistan on Saturday began easing the month-long lockdown despite a steady rise in the number of the coronavirus cases which rose to 27,474 after health authorities reported a big jump of 1,637 infections and 24 deaths in a single day. Prime Minister Imran Khan on Thursday said that Pakistan would begin easing its nationwide lockdown in a phase-wise manner by allowing various businesses to open up from Saturday, citing the economic crisis due to the shutdown, which was enforced in the country in March end. The first phase of easing lockdown began as the government announced removing restrictions by allowing more business to open and operate from dawn to 5pm. The federal government was trying to provide maximum relief to the people but due to the current economic conditions of the country, the lockdown must be eased, the Express Tribune quoted Khan as saying. Sindh Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah and Adviser to Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa chief minister Ajmal Wazir said the provincial government .

Singapore on Saturday saw a drop in its daily tally of new coronavirus cases as the city-state reported 753 new COVID-19 cases, taking the country's total to 22,460, majority of them foreign nationals, including Indians, living in dormitories. On Friday, Singapore reported 768 new cases of coronavirus. The Health Ministry said the vast majority of the 753 new cases reported on Saturday are work permit holders (foreigners) residing in worker dormitories. Nine cases are Singapore citizens or permanent residents (foreigners). As of Friday, 19,232 of the 323,000 foreign workers living in dormitories, or nearly six per cent, have tested positive for COVID-19, reported The Straits Times. Singapore had placed 18,402 coronavirus patients in isolation while 1,245 are hospitalised by Friday, according to a data from the Health Ministry. The Ministry said 1,245 cases were still in hospital while 20 people have died of the disease. Singapore currently has the highest number of coronavirus cases ..

An Indian teenager here has recorded songs in over 20 languages, including Arabic, to spread awareness on the COVID-19, saying music has always been her choice for effective communication, according to a media report on Saturday. Suchetha Satish's songs advise the people to keep distance, maintain cleanliness and practice hand washing regularly, the Khaleej Times reported on Saturday. Satish, who hails from Kerala, released her first coronavirus awareness song on March 16 in English, titled 'Say No To Panic', the daily reported. Since then, 14-year-old Satish, who holds the world record for singing in most number of languages in a concert, has recorded the awareness songs in Malayalam, Bengali, Arabic, Kannada, Tulu, Konkani, Marathi, Gujrati, Rajasthani, Sindhi, Himachali, Odiya, Manipuri, Nepali, Urdu, Punjabi, Bhojpuri, Telugu, Kashmiri and Sanskrit. Her songs in Malayalam, Hindi, Bengali, Tamil and Assamese were used by the Kerala government in its 'Break the Chain' campaign, the .

The flight from Italy was one of the last arrivals that day at the Stockholm airport. A Swedish couple in their 50s walked up and loaded their skis into Razzak Khalaf's taxi. I t was early March and concerns over the coronavirus were already present, but the couple, both coughing for the entire 45-minute journey, assured Khalaf they were healthy and just suffering from a change in the weather. Four days later, the Iraqi immigrant got seriously ill with COVID-19. Still not able to return to work, Khalaf is part of the growing evidence that those in immigrant communities in the Nordic nations are being hit harder by the pandemic than the general population. Sweden took a relatively soft approach to fighting the coronavirus, one that attracted international attention. Large gatherings were banned but restaurants and schools for younger children have stayed open. The government has urged social distancing, and Swedes have largely complied. The country has paid a heavy price, with 2,769 ...

A six-week-old baby has become the youngest victim of coronavirus in England as the official death toll across hospitals and the wider community linked to COVID-19 hit 31,241 in the UK. The baby's death on Friday comes as Britain prepares for some easing in the strict lockdown measures in place to curb the spread of the deadly virus as it is believed that Britain is past the peak of the pandemic. British Prime Minister Boris Johnson is to make a televised address on Sunday, during which he will lay out a comprehensive plan to start unlocking the economy. However, Cabinet ministers have been warning against raising expectations beyond a modest easing of the social distancing rules in place to manage the pressure on the state-funded National Health Service (NHS). There are some concerns that people would start flouting the stay-at-home message during a long Bank Holiday weekend to mark the 75th anniversary of the World War II Victory in Europe (VE) Day on Friday. I'm conscious that ...

Tens of thousands of people have turned out in the capital of Belarus despite sharply rising coronavirus infections to watch a military parade celebrating the defeat of Nazi Germany in World War II. Belarus has not imposed wide-ranging restrictions to halt the virus' spread and authoritarian President Alexander Lukashenko has dismissed concerns about it as a "psychosis." At Saturday's parade of some 3,000 soldiers, Lukashenko said Belarus' ordeal in the war is incomparable with any difficulties of the present day. Some aged war veterans in the stands at the parade wore masks, but in general there were few masks to be seen in the throng of spectators. Belarus, a country of about 9 million, has recorded more than 21,000 cases of coronavirus infection.

The president of French soccer club Lyon says players in the men's and women's teams all tested negative for the coronavirus. The squads were tested by club doctors at Lyon's training center and "there were no positive cases," Lyon president Jean-Michel Aulas told regional newspaper Le Progrs. The men's French league was canceled with 10 rounds of matches remaining amid coronavirus concerns, with Paris Saint-Germain declared champion and Lyon finishing outside the European places in seventh. Aulas had argued fervently for it to be completed in late August with a playoff system, but with PSG staying the champion given its large lead before play was stopped. Lyon's women's team reached the French Cup semifinals before women's matches were canceled.

The Maldives, an Indian Ocean archipelago nation with one of the world's most congested capitals, has seen a rapid rise in coronavirus cases over the past few weeks. Health officials predict that more than 77,000 people or a fourth of those currently living in the country could become infected, with more than 5,000 possibly needing intensive care treatment. Official figures updated Saturday showed 766 cases, including 743 that are still active. A vast majority of the patients are residents of Male, the capital. Three people have died so far. The Maldives, known for its luxury tourist resorts, reported its first case of COVID-19 in March, and until mid-April appeared to have contained the virus within the isolated resort islands that had been converted into quarantine centers. Male is highly congested, housing more than 150,000 people in a 5.8-square-kilometer (2.3-square-mile) area. The government had taken precautions to stop the virus from entering the capital by suspending ...

The Drug Controller of India has allowed clinical trial of Favipiravir medicine, developed indigenously a CSIR laboratory, on coronavirus patients, Director General Shekhar Mande said on Friday. He said the Indian Institute of Chemical Technology (IICT), Hyderabad has developed the technology to make the drug Favipiravir. The technology has been transferred to a private company, IICT Director S Chandrashekar said. The company will now tie up with hospitals for clinical trials so that the drug could be tested on patients suffering from COVID-19. Approval from patients will be necessary as per the protocols, he said. Mande said Favipiravir is used in countries such as China and Japan to treat influenza. Whenever, a virus enters a cell, it tries to create multiple replicas. Favipiravir stops the replication process, he explained. The CSIR has already tied up with Cadila Pharmaceuticals Ltd to evaluate Mycobacterium W (Mw) for faster recovery of hospitalised COVID-19 patients and minimise

Fifty-seven new coronavirus cases were reported in Rajasthan on Saturday morning, taking the total number of cases in the state to 3,636 officials said. Maximum of the new cases -- 20 -- were reported from Udaipur and 15 in Jaipur, a government official said. Eleven cases were from Ajmer, three from Pali, two each from Rajsamand and Churu, and one each in Kota, Barmer, Jalore and Dausa, the official said. Rajasthan has reported 103 deaths due to COVID-19 so far and the maximum cases (1,160) and deaths (54) are from Jaipur.

Homegrown mobile phone maker Lava on Saturday said it has resumed manufacturing operations with 20 per cent capacity. "Lava has resumed production at its manufacturing facility in Noida. The company has started operating with 20 per cent of its production capacity, post receiving an approval from the state authorities. 600 out of its 3500 workforce have resumed work," Lava said in a statement. The factory has been shut since the time the government announced the coronavirus lockdown. However, it kept meeting export requirements through its facility in China, it added. The government has given permission to mobile phone companies to start work at factories but the firms are expected to face bottlenecks in component supply and worker availability. "We welcome the government's move to permit mobile phone companies to resume operations. Though, we might face some challenge due to the delayed availability of manpower & materials, we have sufficient inventory to maintain the pace of our

The West Bengal circle has emerged the highest grosser in small savings mobilisation during the ongoing lockdown in the country, an official of the postal department said on Saturday. The West Bengal circle also includes Sikkim and Andaman and Nicobar. "In this country during the lockdown period which is continuing, the West Bengal circle is the highest grosser in terms of small savings mobilisation", acting Chief Post Master General (CPMG) Niraj Kumar said. He said only in one day on May six, the circle grossed Rs 361.25 crore only from post offices (PO) which are run on CBS platform. Kumar said the main reason behind this is post offices having CBS are able to carry out transactions which are centrally monitored by the circle team and ably supported by required technical support. Even last year, the West Bengal circle recorded highest growth in the postal financial services in the country, he told PTI. This performance has also been a result of small savings agents who

Seventy-six fresh coronavirus cases surfaced in Rajasthan on Saturday, pushing the state's infection count to 3,655. The state has so far reported 103 deaths. Among the fresh cases, the maximum 23 were reported from Udaipur, followed by Jaipur where 20 people were found infected with the virus on Saturday. Thirteen cases surfaced in Ajmer; six in Jodhpur; four in Pali; three in Jalore; two each in Rajsamand and Churu; and one each in Kota, Barmer and Dausa, according to a government official. Jaipur is the worst-hit Rajasthan district with a total of 1,165 case, including 54 deaths.

The number of COVID-19 fatalities in Maharashtra's Amravati district rose to twelve on Saturday with the death of a 53-year-old man at the COVID facility here, an official said. The deceased, a resident of Masanganj locality in the city, tested positive for coronavirus on Friday night, he said. He was suffering from fever and breathing difficulty, the official said, adding that swab samples of the patient were taken on May 7. "There are now 60 active patients at the COVID ward. While five have been recovered, another patient was referred to Nagpur," the official added.

The Delhi Sikh Gurudwara Management Committee (DSGMC) on Saturday announced an insurance cover of Rs 2 lakh for its employees in the forefront of the coronavirus fight in case of death due to the disease. As the country battles the COVID-19 pandemic, the DSGMC has been providing free food to the lockdown-hit homeless people and shelter to health workers in its gurudwaras. It will now provide an insurance cover of Rs 2 lakh each to its 2,500 frontline workers who are providing free community meals, and sanitation and transport-related services across the national capital, its president Manjinder Singh Sirsa said. Staff members of the DSGMC-managed gurudwaras have been distributing food and relief material in JJ colonies, labour camps, shelter homes, etc., as a result of which there is a risk of them contracting the novel coronavirus, Sirsa said. The life insurance scheme will include sanitation staff, cooks preparing langar, religious preachers, security staff and other frontline ...

A 51-year-old police constable who had tested positive for coronavirus died in Maharashtra's Nashik district on Saturday afternoon, an official said. This is the sixth death of a police personnel due to COVID-19 in the state, he said. The constable, a resident of Nashik city, was deputed on security duty in Malegaon town in the district which has emerged as a coronavirus hotspot. He was admitted to the civil hospital in Nashik after showing symptoms of infection on May 1, the police official said. Three policemen in Mumbai and one each in Pune and Solapur had died due to the virus infection before.

Despite having a valid official pass to move between Jammu and Kashmir, hundreds of travellers have ended up at administrative quarantine centres set up by the government on the outskirts of the winter capital as part of its efforts to combat the coronavirus. The move is agitating the people who questioned the logic behind sending them to an institutional quarantine when they are given the passes in extremely exceptional situations, like a medical emergency or joining their duties after completing the formalities due to a lockdown. One such quarantine centre is set up at Excise and Taxation Training institute in Nagrota, 15 km from Jammu city, where 35 persons, including women and a seven-year-old girl, are anxiously waiting for their sample reports the outcome of which will decide their future at the sprawling facility. While a majority of them are expected to be released after their test reports are negative, four labourers from Amritsar in Punjab who had travelled from Srinagar to

Joining the efforts of the government to combat coronavirus, a group of young women equipped with a latest hi-tech machine is conducting fogging in Jammu and Kashmir's Udhampur district. The five women, aged between 18 and 22, have already covered six villages in the district and are also distributing masks and educating people about COVID-19. "We are volunteers of NGO 'Team Khalsa' and have managed to get the machine to conduct fogging, especially in remote areas which usually remain unattended," Gagan, the leader of the five-member group, told PTI. She said they have already covered Chhakhar, Vishal Jatta, Sambal, Sui and Kahjahir villages in the past one week. "We are targeting one village for sanitisation and awareness every day," Gagan said while distributing face masks in Cherry Swail village. Asked about the challenge and the response of their families, she said they are cooperating and appreciating their efforts. "We had a tough time convincing our parents for permission as ...

A 25-year-old man was thrashed and left unconscious with serious injuries on suspicious of being a coronavirus carrier' in Uttar Pradesh's Aligarh. The incident took place on Friday evening outside a chemist shop in the Shivpuri locality of Aligarh. Police have booked six people in this regard. Abdul Samad fell unconscious after the accused attacked him, alleging that he was a coronavirus carrier', police said on Saturday. He was rushed to Malkhan Singh District Hospital by members of his family who arrived at the spot after people raised an alarm. According to the victim's father Laiqur Rehman, Samad was feeling dizzy after his Ramzan fast on Friday night. He had gone to a chemist shop in the neighbourhood to purchase some medicine where he was accosted by some people, who abused and beat him up without any provocation. Had not the family rushed him to the hospital, the injuries could have been fatal, the father claimed. Samad is now out of danger and has been referred to Jawaharlal .

A group of 20 migrant workers returning to Jharkhand from West Bengal's Birbhum district by walking along railway tracks had a narrow escape when an inspection van stopped in front of them on a river bridge, officials said on Saturday. The labourers had managed to reach the temple town of Tarapith from Purba Bardhaman district during the lockdown and started on foot from there towards neighbouring Jharkhand on Friday night. When they were on a bridge over the river Brambhani around 9.30 PM, an inspection van came from the opposite direction, from Pakur in Jharkhand, officials said. The driver of the inspection van applied emergency brake after he noticed the people, who included women and children, on the track. After the driver informed the control room, a GRP team reached there and brought them to Nalhati in Birbhum district, officials said. Efforts are on to send the 20 people, who are now sheltered in the Nalhati I BDO's office, to Jharkhand. The incident occurred ...

Union Jal Shakti Minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat on Saturday lashed out at the Rajasthan government, saying it gave politics precedence over people's health and failed to contain the coronavirus spread. The Jodhpur MP said asked the state Congress government to introspect over deficiencies in dealing with the situation in his constituency, which is also the hometown of Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot. "Had there been no deficiencies, the government would not have failed in tackling coronavirus in Jaipur and Jodhpur, said Shekhawat. He alleged that the state government gave priority to politics over people's health' due to which the condition worsened' in the state, especially Jodhpur. In a statement, Shekhawat also accused Gehlot of not taking serious steps to contain coronavirus cases, saying the chief minister was indulging in politics of appeasement. Referring to Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot's claim that the Centre did not release funds for the state, Shekhawat said adequate budget ...

Hockey India employees will have to review their health status on 'Aarogyasetu' App before starting for office and they can travel only if their status is 'safe' or 'low risk', according to an advisory issued by the sports body. The Hockey India advisory outlined the preventive measures which all its employees need to be follow at office to contain the spread of the dreaded COVID-19 pandemic. The highly-contagious disease has so far claimed nearly 2000 lives and infected over 59,000 in the country, forcing the government to enforce a lockdown till May 17. "With reference to the directive issued by the Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions, Department of Personnel & Training, Government of India ... All the staff members should download 'Aarogyasetu' App on their mobile phones immediately," the advisory said. "Before starting for office, they must review their status on 'Aarogyasetu' and commute only when the app shows 'safe' or 'low risk' status. "The staff members

Former Uttar Pradesh chief minister and Samajwadi Party founder Mulayam Singh Yadav was discharged from a Lucknow hospital where he was admitted after he complained of stomach and urine-related issues. The Samajwadi Party founder, admitted to Medanta Hospital on Wednesday, was discharged on Saturday afternoon and he is fine now, party spokesman Rajendra Chaudhary said. He had gone to the hospital for a routine check-up but the doctors admitted him for observation, Chaudhary said. Chaudhary said Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav met him on Friday and enquired about his health.

Mizoram became coronavirus-free with the discharge of the lone COVID-19 patient from a hospital on Saturday, officials said. It now shares a similar status with four other northeastern states -- Manipur, Sikkim, Nagaland and Arunachal Pradesh. Mizoram Health Minister Dr R Lalthangliana said the state's lone COVID-19 patient, a pastor, was discharged from Zoram Medical College (ZMC) on Saturday afternoon after 45 days of intense treatment. He was discharged from the hospital after four consecutive tests turned negative, the minister said. The pastor, who is in his early 50s and working under the Baptist Church of Mizoram, returned to the state from Amsterdam on March 16. He was pursuing higher study in theology in the Netherlands capital. He tested positive for novel coronavirus on March 24 and was admitted at ZMC along with his wife and two children. The pastor's wife and children were discharged from the medical college on March 28 after they tested negative for COVID-19. The state ..

The Karnataka government has clarified that migrant workers, pilgrims, tourists, students and other persons can hire and use buses provided by state-run road transport corporations on payment basis for travel to other states with relevant permissions. Inter-State travel of migrant workers, pilgrims, tourist, students and other persons stranded in different states due to lockdown were recently permitted to travel through notified entry and exit points of Karnataka by the government. The Shramik special train services too have been ferrying migrant labourers stranded in the state to destinations like Bihar, Odisha, Uttar Pradesh among others. In a circular, Revenue (Disaster Management) Principal Secretary T K Anil Kumar said similar facility on payment basis be made available by state run road transport corporations- KSRTC/NWKRTC/NEKRTC/ BMTC to transport workers to industries permitted under the issued guidelines.

An 81-year-old man was among 85 people discharged from Indore in Madhya Pradesh on Saturday after recovery, with health officials saying the octogenarian might be the oldest in the state to have overcome the coronavirus infection. All 85 were discharged from Sri Aurobindo Institute of Medical Sciences (SAIMS). "The 81-year-old man tested positive for coronavirus on April 27. After 12-day treatment, he was discharged along with 84 others in the evening from SAIMS after two consecutive negative tests," an official said. The 81-year-old is the oldest person in the state to have been discharged after recovery, he said. Indore is among the worst hit in the country by the virus outbreak and currently has 1,780 COVID-19 patients. A total of 87 people have so far died due to the infection.

For an individual, insurance offers the chance to save as well as get the benefit of avoiding paying taxes.

Gig workers are playing a bigger role in the American economy during the global pandemic. WSJ's Gerald F. Seib explores whether their eligibility for unemployment insurance will continue after the virus passes. Photo: Justin Heiman/Getty Images

This week, Senate lawmakers return to Washington to start working on the next round of aid for households and businesses. WSJ's Gerald F. Seib explains how Congress may need to come to a trade-off that pleases both parties. Photo: Patrick Semansky/AP

A growing number of hospitals are investigating antibody testing and blood plasma therapy as a way to combat the new coronavirus in sick patients. WSJ’s Daniela Hernandez explains. Photo illustration: Laura Kammermann

Wonder Land: The coronavirus lockdown model is about to collapse beneath its own weight, undermined by politics, confusion about the virus itself, and the basics of human nature. Images: AFP/Getty Images Composite: Mark Kelly

Uber and Lyft are aggressively cutting costs as fewer people take rides, UnitedHealth will offer customers $1.5 billion of help and discounts, and Russia’s Vladimir Putin moves to ease lockdowns amid economic challenges. WSJ’s Jason Bellini has the latest on the pandemic. Photo: Josh Edelson / AFP

Understanding how the body clears the new coronavirus is becoming more important as the U.S. begins to reopen. WSJ’s Daniela Hernandez explains how the body fights infection and why feeling better doesn’t equal being virus-free. Photo illustration: Laura Kammermann

April’s jobs report shows record-high job losses and unemployment, low-risk businesses in California reopen for curbside pickup today, and testing will increase at the White House. WSJ’s Jason Bellini has the latest on the pandemic. Photo: John Locher/Associated Press

Amid an increase in confirmed cases of the new coronavirus in the U.S., more companies, religious institutions and schools are asking people to stay at home if they may have come into contact with the virus. WSJ follows the case of one man under voluntary self-quarantine. Photo: Sam Dziekan

U.S. and Mexico have agreed to limit border crossings, restricting most nonessential traffic but allowing trade and workers to continue crossing amid the new coronavirus pandemic. Photo: Evan Vucci/Associated Press

As the coronavirus forces would-be travelers to stay indoors, travel deals are popping up online. Don’t be easily swayed. WSJ’s Scott McCartney breaks down how to avoid risky travel. Photo: Getty Images