* Cyclone Amphan: Wind speed may touch 40 to 45 kmph in south Odisha districts from tomorrow evening & touch 75 kmph on May 19. Likely to increase 110 to 120 kmph gusting to 135 kmph in north Odisha coast on May 20.
* 567 cyclone & flood shelters, 7,092 buildings available to house people in case evacuation is required: Odisha Special Relief Commissioner P K Jena.
* ICAR- International Centre for Foot and Mouth Disease (ICFMD) at Argul in Khordha district has started testing Covid 19 samples.
* 17,820 Odia people have returned to Odisha today. So far, 1,51,065 Odias have returned to Odisha by train/bus and other vehicles.
* Odisha reports 91 new cases. Total Positive Cases in Odisha mounts to 828. Total Covid deaths of Odisha stand at 4.
* 24 more COVID-19 patients recover in Odisha – Ganjam (19), Jajpur (3), Balasore (2). Number of recovered cases in the State rises to 220.
* Odisha Govt revises COVID-19 Death Toll in the State to 4 saying the “suspected” 2nd death in Ganjam District tested NEGATIVE for Coronavirus.
* IISER Berhampur granted necessary approval by AIIMS Bhubaneswar to conduct Covid-19 testing.
* In Odisha, 10 teams have been sent to 7 districts & more than 10 are on standby; SN Pradhan, DG NDRF on Cyclone Amphan.
* Rich Tributes paid to Senior Video Journalist Sukanta Panigrahi who passed away yesterday.
* The Severe Cyclonic Storm ‘AMPHAN’ further intensified into Very Severe Cyclonic Storm over central parts of South Bay of Bengal, at 1430 IST today. It is very likely to intensify further into an Extremely Severe Cyclonic Storm during next 24 hr: IMD.
* Centre extends lockdown till May 31, issued guidelines.
* Inter-state movement of passenger vehicles, buses to be allowed with mutual consent of states involved during COVID-19 lockdown 4.0.
* State/UT Governments shall not dilute the lockdown guidelines issued under the Disaster Management Act 2005, in any manner.
* To be Strictly enforced in Red zones/containment zones. All social, political, religious functions, and places of worship to remain shut during extended lockdown till May 31.
* Metro rail services, schools, colleges, Hotels, restaurants, cinema halls, malls, swimming pools, gyms to remain close till May 31.
* Final Tranche of Rs 20 lakh crore Economic Stimulus announced by FM Nirmala Sitharaman.
* Additional Rs 40,000 crore allocated for MGNREGA to boost rural employment for MigranWorkers. Rs 11,000 crore released to States as SDRF Funds.
* New Public Sector Policy to come up. All sectors opened for private players. Public Sector Enterprises (PSEs) to be privatised.
* Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) issues guidelines on measures to be taken by Ministries/Departments of Government of India, State Governments/UT Governments & State/UT authorities for containment of COVID19.
* India reports its biggest daily increase since the coronavirus outbreak, with 4,987 new cases and 120 deaths. Total cases mounts to 90,927 and 2,872 deaths.
* Only essential activities will be allowed in red zones.
* 93,365 samples of corona virus tested in last 24 hours: ICMR.
* Vande Bharat Mission: A special Air India Express repatriation flight with 183 Indians on board departs for Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala. More than 13,000 people returned home, so far.
* Zakir Naik’s Peace TV fined Rs 2.75 crore for broadcasting hate speech, inciting murder in UK.
* Gujarat: Migrants attack cops, damage vehicles near Rajkot demanding immediate travel arrangements.
* Death toll in Auraiya road accident in UP rises to 26.
* With 14,919 cases reported in a single day, Brazil has now become the 4th largest Corona epicentre after USA , UK and Russia. 816 new deaths reported in the country. Total Cases – 233,142; Death Toll – 15,633.
* 639 new COVID-19 cases & 4 deaths reported in Tamil Nadu today, taking the total number of cases to 11,224.
* Coronavirus Pandemic: Indian Olympic Association seeks grant to meet financial crisis.
* General Atlantic pics 1.34 pc stake in Jio platforms for ₹6,598.38 crore.
* ULA successfully launched the US Air Force’s X-37B spaceplane into orbit.
* U.S. reports 25,060 new cases of coronavirus and 1,224 new deaths. Total: 1,467,884 cases and 88,754 deaths.