The Evening Wrap Welcome to The Evening Wrap, your guide to the day’s major news developments with concise analysis from The Hindu. We come to you late today with highlights of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s address to the nation on the growing coronavirus crisis. We cover that here, and a selection of other major stories you need to know about: PM’s address: ‘Janata Curfew’ on March 22 The main takeaway of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s special address to the nation on the coronavirus crisis was his call for a ‘Janata curfew’ on March 22, from 7am to 9pm. This would be a general curfew, voluntarily embraced by the public, and no one bar those engaged in essential services should step out of their homes. He made a fervent appeal to all citizens to give up some of their time in the coming weeks and stay at home, since the only known way to beat the virus was to stay indoors and avoid social contact. We summarise below the other highlights of his speech: - Every citizen should express their thanks to all the workers engaged in essential services, at great risk to their own lives. The PM urged the public to salute these workers at exactly 5pm on March 22, through a gesture of coming out to their doorways and balconies and showing their appreciation in some way.
- He appealed to all senior citizens to not venture out of their homes for the next few weeks.
- Noting that the coronavirus pandemic has had a major impact on the economy, he announced that a COVID-19 Economic Response Task Force has been constituted, and it will take inputs from all stakeholders on what can be done to reduce the negative impact on the economy.
- Significantly, he appealed to the public not to panic, and not to hoard essentials. He assured the nation that the government is taking steps to ensure the availability of all critical supplies such as milk, medicines and groceries.
- He appealed to businesses and employers, including employers of domestic helps, to treat their staff with consideration. He was confident that ultimately humanity and India will prevail in the tough battle against COVID-19.
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COVID watch: Latest developments The numbers continue to tick up. The number of COVID-19 cases in India crossed 180, with over 160 active cases. Punjab reported its first death, a 70-year-old man who had arrived from Germany via Italy at Delhi airport on March 7. First cases have also been reported from Gujarat. According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), as of March 18, there were 207,860 confirmed COVID-19 cases and 8,657 deaths in 166 countries. India has now banned the entry of all international commercial passenger flights from March 22 to March 29. Also, in a first, the Ministry of Railways has withdrawn concessions for all categories of passengers except students, persons with disabilities and patients, to discourage non-essential travel. Aside from the far-reaching measures related to travel, states continue to impose a series of curbs to stop the spread of the virus. Punjab will suspend all public transport services from midnight of March 20, and the Delhi government has ordered all restaurants shut till March 31, except for takeaway and home delivery services. In Andhra Pradesh, the Tirupati Balaji temple will be closed for devotees and all malls will also be shut till March 31. Our live page tracks developments as they happen in real time. We also have answers from experts on your queries about the virus, a list of State Helpline numbers, and a map of confirmed cases in India. Still at Stage-2 The Indian Council of Medical Research on Thursday said all random samples tested to monitor the presence of community transmission of the novel coronavirus have come back negative. “All random samples that we tested for severe acute respiratory infections are negative for COVID-19. This suggests there is no community transmission in India yet,” ICMR director general Balram Bhargava said. Show of hands After two days of hearings, the Supreme Court has ordered a floor test to be held tomorrow in the Madhya Pradesh Assembly. The session must conclude by 5 pm, the SC said, adding that the Assembly will have a single point agenda of floor test and no hindrance should be created by anyone. The court also ordered video recording of the entire proceedings in the Assembly. Police chiefs of Madhya Pradesh and Karnataka were directed to provide security to the 16 rebel Congress MLAs, if they choose to appear in the Assembly for the trust vote. Budget Cuts Budget airlines Spicejet has suspended all international flights and Indigo has announced a pay cut for senior employees as the aviation industry faces a mounting crisis due to fears of the coronavirus. The airline’s Chief Executive Officer Ronojoy Dutta has said that he will take the highest cut, according to the Press Trust of India. “With the precipitous drop in revenues, the very survival of the airline industry is now at stake,” Dutta said in an email to employees. “We have to pay careful attention to our cash flow so that we do not run out of it,” he is reported as saying Amid Controversy Former Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi took oath as a Rajya Sabha member with the kind of uproar that one might expect from a hugely controversial appointment. There were protests and a walkout by Opposition parties. The Congress said his appointment had disgraced the Indian judiciary. The ruckus began as soon as Chairman Venkaiah Naidu called out Justice Gogoi's name. Opposition parties, including the Congress, Left parties, DMK and the MDMK, started raising slogans, “Shame on You” and many screamed “Deal”. No Mercy A Delhi court has rejected the pleas of three of the four death row convicts in the 2012 Nirbhaya gang rape and murder case seeking a stay on their execution. The hanging is slated for early tomorrow morning. Additional Sessions Judge Dharmender Rana rejected the plea of Akshay Kumar, Pawan Gupta and Vinay Sharma seeking a stay on their execution on the grounds that the second mercy plea of one of them was pending. Evening Wrap will return tomorrow. | 
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