Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray on Friday announced closure of government offices non-essential shops in Mumbai and Pune. Addressing the media, Thackeray said the state government has ordered complete shutdown in Mumbai Metropolitan Region, except essential services and public transport. "This is not a holiday, avoid crowding. Banks to remain open in the state," he said. He further announced that in Mumbai Metropolitan Region, Pune, Pimpri-Chinchwad and Nagpur - which have international airports, all shops (other than essentials) and offices to remain closed till 31st March, 2020 amid COVID-19 outbreak.
Minutes after Thackeray's announcement, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal announced that all the malls in the national capital will be shut untill further notice. Kejriwal made the announcement on Twitter. He said, "In view of the prevailing situation, we are closing down all Malls (except grocery, pharmacy and vegtable shops in them)." In an earlier order, the Delhi government had advised all private sector offices including multinational companies, IT firms, industries, corporate offices situated in NCT of Delhi to allow their employees to work from home till March 31.
India on Friday recorded its fifth death due to the novel coronavirus as an Italian citizen, who had reportedly recovered three days ago, passed away in Jaipur. The global death toll due to the coronavirus outbreak has reached 9,881, with over 2,42,000 infections.
Delhi has, so far, reported 17 positive cases which includes one foreigner, while Uttar Pradesh has recorded 19 cases, including one foreigner.
Maharashtra has 47 cases, including three foreigners, while Kerala has recorded 28 cases which include two foreign nationals.
Karnataka has 15 coronavirus patients.
The number of cases in Ladakh rose to 10 and Jammu and Kashmir four. Telangana has reported 16 cases which include nine foreigners.
Rajasthan has also reported seven cases including that of two foreigners. Tamil Nadu has three cases so far while Andhra Pradesh has two.
In Haryana, there are 17 cases, which include 14 foreigners.
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