Central Railway suspends 16 AC services running on the trans-Harbour line till March 31

In an attempt to contain the novel Coronavirus spread, the Central Railway has suspended 16 AC services running on the trans harbour line i.e. Thane - Vashi/Nerul/Panvel from March 20 to March 31, 2020. Earlier in the day, the Western Railway also announced the suspension of Mumbai's AC locals till March 31. Apart from this, the administration in Mumbai has reduced the number of ST buses to 50 per cent as a preventive measure to curb the deadly virus. 

Maha CM declares 'Coronavirus epidemic'

Meanwhile, the Maharashtra government has invoked the Epidemic Diseases Act declaring the Coronavirus as an epidemic, as announced by Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray. Informing the state Assembly of the number of positive cases detected at that time, he declared all the schools to be shut in Pune and Pimpri Chinchwad till further notice. 

Along with it, the Health Ministry has also ordered a temporary closure of all educational establishments (schools, universities, etc), gyms, museums, cultural and social centres, swimming pools and theatres till March 31. The Ministry has advised students to stay home and also urged the promotion of online education.

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Coronavirus in India

The novel Coronavirus cases in India rose to 169 on Thursday after 18 fresh cases were reported from various parts of the country, according to the Health Ministry. The cases include 25 foreign nationals - 17 from Italy, 3 from the Philippines, two from the UK, one each belonging to Canada, Indonesia and Singapore. The figure also includes three deaths reported from Delhi, Karnataka and Maharashtra so far.

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Maharashtra has the highest number of cases - 45 cases, including three foreigners, while Kerala has recorded 27 cases which include two foreign nationals. Delhi has, so far, reported 12 positive cases which include one foreigner, while Uttar Pradesh has recorded 17 cases, including one foreigner. Karnataka has 14 Coronavirus patients.

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The number of cases in Ladakh rose to eight and Jammu and Kashmir four. Telangana has reported six cases which include two foreigners. In Haryana, there are 17 cases, which include 14 foreigners. Rajasthan has also reported seven cases including that of two foreigners. Tamil Nadu has two cases so far. Andhra Pradesh, Odisha, Uttarakhand, West Bengal, Pondicherry, Chandigarh and Punjab have reported one case each.

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