PM instructs ministries to resume operations from 13 Apr with restricted staff: Sources

With several states having announced an extension of the lockdown and with others awaiting the Centres directives, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has asked all ministries to resume work from upcoming Monday, as per sources. According to sources, the Prime Minister has directed all ministers in the council to start work from Monday following social distancing norms. 

The Ministries have been directed to resume work with Class 2, 3 and 4 staff working on a rotational basis, while there has been no decision on the resumption of airlines, trains and interstate transport. Earlier in the day, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had chaired a meeting with Chief Ministers of all states via video conference. As per sources, states across the country have been allowed to ease restrictions for the agriculture sector.

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It has been reported that during the video interaction between the Chief Ministers and the PM on Saturday, CMs of several states urged the Prime Minister to allow economic activities within the state in an attempt to generate certain revenue. 

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Coronavirus crisis in India

Union Health Ministry's Joint Secretary Lav Agarwal on Saturday informed that India's tally has risen to 7447 cases of which 642 have recovered. Moreover, India has witnessed a rise of 1035 cases in the past 24 hours with a total death of 229 people. ICMR's Dr Raman R Gangakhedkar informed that India is still awaiting the arrival of the rapid anti-body tests in the next 1-2 days. There are 586 COVID-19 dedicated hospitals and more than 1 lakh isolation beds in the country, the Health Ministry informed on Saturday. 

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