The teeming metropolis of Mumbai and other parts of Maharashtra, the Indian state worst hit by the pandemic, face stricter restrictions for 15 days starting Wednesday in an effort to stem the surge of coronavirus infections. Top state officials stressed that the closure of most industries, businesses, public places and limits on the movement of people didn’t constitute a lockdown. Last year, a sudden, harsh, nationwide lockdown left millions jobless overnight. Stranded in cities with no income or food, thousands of migrant workers walked on highways to get home. Since then, state leaders have repeatedly stressed that another lockdown wasn’t on the cards. The distinction did little to allay Ramachal Yadav’s anxieties. On Wednesday morning, he joined thousands of others at a Mumbai railway station getting on a train back home. “There is no work,” said the 45-year-old. India has detected over 180,000 new infections in the past 24 hours, about a third in Maharashtra state. India has so far confirmed over 13.9 million cases and 172,000 dead in what is l ikely an undercount. Also read: India sees new record of 184,372 COVID-19 cases in 24 hrs Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray said that most public places, shops and establishments will be shut starting 8 p.m. Wednesday, expect essential services like grocery shops and banks. Although the state has announced a relief package of $728 million that will include assistance for the poor, industry experts say that the new restrictions might prove fatal for businesses that were only just recovering from last year’s economic recession. “Livelihoods are important, but life is more important,” Thackeray said, echoing a difficult choice faced by other states in India. The scenes playing out in Maharashtra in the past week mirror those developing in other parts of the country: patients gasping for air turned away from hospitals that are running out of oxygen and weeping families waiting their turn to bid farewell to their loved ones at crematoria. Compounding concerns is the question of whether India, despite being the world’s largest maker of vaccines, will have enough to immunize its vast population swiftly enough to slow down the virus. Also Read: India records highest spike of daily COVID-19 cases this year India said Tuesday that it would authorize vaccines that had been given an emergency nod by the World Health Organization or regulators in the United States, Europe, Britain or Japan. Indian regulators also approved Russia’s Sputnik V for emergency use. But experts said that the decision was unlikely to have any immediate impact on supplies available in the country. Also Read: India's COVID-19 tally rises to 11,599,130 with nearly 44,000 new cases .   “All one can think of is that, I hope I don’t fall ill over the next month or so,” said Dr. Vineeta Bal, who studies immune systems at the Indian Institute of Science Education and Research in Pune city in Maharashtra state.

France is set to announce new coronavirus restrictions on Thursday, including a potential lockdown in the Paris region and in the north of the country, as the number of COVID-19 patients in intensive care units spikes.

The US-Bangla Airlines has decided to operate a weekly flight on the Dhaka-Singapore-Dhaka route from October 3.

As the U.S. closed in on 200,000 coronavirus deaths Monday, the crisis deteriorated across Europe, with Britain working to draw up new restrictions, Spain clamping down again in Madrid and the Czech Republic replacing its health minister with an epidemiologist because of a surge of infections.

Mango growers in Chapainawabganj, known as the mango capital of the country , are passing their days in great worries as the marketing  of their produce has become uncertain amid the restrictions imposed to slow down coronavirus transmissions.    Local farmers said if the situation does not improve they will have to count huge financial losses in this season.   Mango is the main cash crop of Chapainawabganj. Hundreds of delicious varieties of mangoes, including Gopalbhog, Khirsapat, Langra and Fazli are produced in the district.   Mangoes produced here are supplied to different parts of the country alongside  meeting the local demand and are also exported to other countries. Mango harvesting will start in mid-May.

Inmates in a Sri Lanka prison scuffled with guards and some tried to escape during a protest against new strict measures to control the spread of the coronavirus, leaving two dead and six wounded, police said Sunday.

Authorities around the world turned to increasingly drastic measures Sunday to try to slow the spread of the new coronavirus, with lockdowns, curfews and travel restrictions spreading.