I am doing fine after taking a two-week course of hydroxychloroquine: Trump

Trump has spent weeks pushing the drug as a potential treatment or prophylaxis for Covid-19 against the cautionary advice of many of his administration's top medical professionals.

President Donald Trump says he's doing fine after taking a two-week course of an unproven malaria drug for Covid-19.

Trump was addressing his disclosure last week that he was taking hydroxychloroquine and a zinc supplement.

He said the regimen was meant to help prevent infection after two White House staffers tested positive for the coronavirus.

Trump has spent weeks pushing the drug as a potential treatment or prophylaxis for Covid-19 against the cautionary advice of many of his administration's top medical professionals.

ALSO READ: Coronavirus LIVE: India cases at 138,845; Global tally crosses 5.5-mn mark

Speaking in an interview aired on the Sunday news program Full Measure with Sharyl Attkisson, Trump said that "I just finished the course of drug treatments and to the best of my knowledge, here I am. If it's something that helps, that's all I want."

WHO denies report claiming China pressurised it to withhold Covid-19 info

German weekly Der Spiegel reported that Xi asked Tedros during the call to hold back information about human-to-human transmission of the virus and delay declaring a pandemic.

The World Health Organisation has dismissed a media report saying that it withheld information about Covid-19 following pressure from China, and termed it as 'false allegation'.

The UN agency said in a statement late Saturday that a German magazine's report about a telephone conversation between WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus and Chinese President Xi Jinping on January 21 was unfounded and untrue.

Weekly Der Spiegel reported that Xi asked Tedros during the call to hold back information about human-to-human transmission of the virus and delay declaring a pandemic. The magazine quoted Germany's foreign intelligence agency, BND, which declined to comment on Sunday.

Der Spiegel also claimed that the BND concluded up to six weeks of time to fight the outbreak had been lost due to China's information policy.

ALSO READ: Coronavirus LIVE

WHO said Tedros and Xi have never spoken by phone and added that such inaccurate reports distract and detract from efforts to end the Covid-19 pandemic. It added that China confirmed human-to-human transmission of the new coronavirus on January 20.

WHO officials issued a statement two days later saying there was evidence of human-to-human transmission in Wuhan, but more investigation was necessary.

36% Indian firms considering salary freeze over Covid-19 lockdown: Report

The report said that 23 per cent organisations have suspended the promotion increases and 18 per cent organizations deferring or delaying salary increases.

With businesses and economic activity almost halted for over a month now amid the coronavirus crisis and the nationwide lockdown, around 36 per cent companies in India are considering a freeze in salary hikes to manage their costs, according to a report by Korn Ferry.

In India, the most commonly implemented measures for rewards and benefits are promotion and salary hike.

The report said that 23 per cent of organisations have suspended promotion increases and 18 per cent have deferred or delayed salary increases.

The Korn Ferry report said: "36 per cent of organisations have implemented or are considering implementing a salary freeze to manage costs."

The report by the global organisational consulting firm noted that given the government's extensive requests on avoiding laying-off employees, majority of the companies, around 84 per cent have not implemented or are not currently considering permanent staff layoff or redundancies.

ALSO READ: Liquor stocks in focus; Radico Khaitan,GM Breweries surge over 5%

Commenting on the survey, Roopank Chaudhary, Client Partner, Korn Ferry India said: "Given the current circumstances and uncertainties on the recovery for market conditions, business leaders are trying everything to survive this storm and manage their costs."

"Among the dozens of ways organisations are taking are layoffs, hiring freezes, reduced hours, less reliance on contractors, reducing overtime, delaying bonuses or merit increases, suspending certain benefits like retirement savings/capital accumulation programs, and many others", he said.

Coronavirus: All you need to know about new relaxation rules in your state

Coronavirus updates: The death toll due to Covid-19 infection has jumped to 556 so far.

India has over 17,000 confirmed coronavirus cases, with Maharashtra alone recording nearly 4000 cases followed by Delhi, Gujarat, Rajasthan and Tamil Nadu. The death toll due to Covid-19 infection has jumped to 556 so far.

The government had earlier announced a partial relaxation of lockdown from April 20 onwards. Let's take a look at states' position on lockdown relaxation rules.

Delhi

Delhi lockdown: The total number of Covid-19 cases crossed the 2,000-mark in the national capital on Sunday. CM Arvind Kejriwal said the government will not relax the Delhi lockdown for at least a week as the coronavirus spread appears to have gained pace. It accounts or 2 per cent of India's population but 12 per cent of the Covid-19 cases in the country.

According to a bulletin issued by the Delhi health department, 110 fresh cases were reported on Sunday, taking the tally in the national capital to 2,003. With two deaths, the fatalities jumped to 45. The AAP government in the city has started rapid testing in 78 Covid-19 containment zones and acquired 42,000 rapid-test kits.

ALSO READ: Coronavirus LIVE: India cases jump to 17,615; global cases at 2,407,255

Chief Secretary Vijay Dev said the administration will review the situation on April 27. "In view of the present scenario, it appears to be necessary to maintain status quo in larger public interest," he said.

"We want to relax it, but if we give relaxations and there is a shortage of ICUs, ventilators, oxygen in hospitals and people lose their lives, we will not be able to forgive ourselves," Kejriwal said. "Had there been no lockdown, the situation here would have been similar to Italy and Spain," he warned.

Investors brace for more pain as India goes under lockdown to curb Covid-19

Analysts say the market bloodbath is worse than in 2008. Last week, investor sentiment was crushed with the Sensex dropping as much as 17%.

Investors may have to brace for more pain as selling pressure could extend with India entering a virtual shutdown phase to contain the spread of COVID-19. 

Already, foreign portfolio investors’ selloff in March hit a record of $6.24 billion (Rs 46,200 crore).

This is far in excess of $4.4 billion outflows seen in January 2008 due to the global financial crisis.

Analysts say the market bloodbath is worse than in 2008.

Last week, investor sentiment was crushed with the Sensex dropping as much as 17% before recovering sharply on Friday to end the week with a 12% deficit.

On a month-to-date basis, the markets are down 22%, while the India VIX has more than doubled, signalling extreme anxiety.

“Many nations may have to eventually adopt harsh steps to contain the pandemic.

 However, such extreme measures, though desired, will result in extreme short-term pain for several parts of the economy,” Sanjeev Prasad, co-head, Kotak Institutional Equities, said.