New Delhi: Digital payments company PhonePe on Wednesday announced a medical insurance policy called 'Corona Care' for people who have been infected and hospitalized for Coronavirus treatment. PhonePe launched this policy in partnership with Bajaj Allianz General Insurance, one of India’s largest and most trusted general insurance companies.

This Coronavirus insurance policy is priced at Rs 156 with an insurance cover of Rs 50,000 for a person aged under 55 years and the cover is applicable at any hospital providing Coronavirus treatment.

Besides, it covers 30 days of expenses related to pre-hospitalization costs and post-care medical treatment.

"Customers don’t need to undertake any medical tests before purchasing the 'Corona Care' policy. They can purchase it instantly from the convenience of their homes considering the current lockdown observed in the country," PhonePe said.

PhonePe users can purchase their Coronavirus insurance policy available under the “My Money” section on the PhonePe app. The entire policy purchase process takes less than 2 minutes and customers will be instantly issued their policy documents inside the PhonePe app.

Speaking on the launch Sameer Nigam, Founder & CEO, PhonePe said, “Unfortunately, despite global efforts to contain the pandemic, COVID-19 is still spreading fast and furiously across the world. The Indian government has taken very bold steps towards containing the outbreak in India."

The 67-year-old died after a heart attack around 4 am on Thursday. Amritsar civil surgeon Prabhdeep Kaur Johal said Nirmal Singh was put on ventilator after his condition worsened on Wednesday night.

Nirmal Singh was a former hazoori raagi (Gurbaani singer) at the Golden Temple in Amritsar.

Singh had addressed large religious gatherings in Delhi and in some other places after his return from abroad, news agency PTI reported. He had also taken part in a kirtan along with his family members at a house in Chandigarh on 19 March.

Singh’s two daughters, wife, son, driver and six others who went with him to the kirtan have been put in quarantine at a hospital in Chandigarh and they would be tested for coronavirus.

Emmy winner Adam Schlesinger, best known as the co-founder of the 2000s pop-rock band Fountains of Wayne, has succumbed to coronavirus complications. He was 52.

The composer was admitted to the hospital after testing positive for COVID-19 infection and was on a ventilator.

Schlesinger passed away on Wednesday morning, The Hollywood Reporter has confirmed with Schlesinger’s lawyer.

He is also known for co-writing the band’s 2003 hit “Stacy’s Mom“.

He won three Primetime Emmys: two for original music and lyrics for the 2011 and 2012 Tony Awards and, another for original music and lyrics for “Crazy Ex-Girlfriend” in 2015.

New Delhi: The government has set up a National Monitoring Dashboard where novel coronavirus or COVID-19 related grievances received in Centralized Public Grievance Redress and Monitoring System with all ministries, departments, states and Union Territories are monitored on a priority basis by a technical team.

It aims to ensure timely redress of COVID-19 grievances. Directions have been issued to all ministries and departments to prioritize these grievances and provide redress in three days.

The grievances monitored by a technical team of Department of Administrative Reforms and Public Grievances (DARPG) which developed the dashboard and implemented it at https://darpg.gov.in. DARPG is the nodal agency of the Central government for administrative reforms as well as redress of public grievances relating to the states in general and those pertaining to Central Government agencies in particular.

The 2021 world athletics championships in Eugene, Oregon will be shifted to 2022 to accommodate the re-arranged Tokyo Olympics, World Athletics said.

The announcement came immediately after Olympics organisers said the 2020 Tokyo Games -- postponed because of the coronavirus pandemic -- will now take place on July 23-August 8, 2021.

That means the world athletics championships that were scheduled to take place in Eugene on August 6-15, 2021, can no longer be held on those dates.

Philip Anderson, a Nobel Prize-winning physicist who expanded the world’s understanding of magnetism and superconductivity, has died at 96.

Anderson died Sunday at the Princeton Windrows retirement community in Princeton, New Jersey, his daughter said. No cause was reported.

Bogdan Andrei Bernevig, a Princeton professor of physics, said in a statement that Anderson will be known as the man who started solid state physics as a field.

Bernevig described Anderson as complex and said that “I was always in awe of his intellect. He was working on theories for regular days well into his 90s.”

During his career in academia, Anderson advised another Nobel Prize winner, F. Duncan Haldane, who won the 2016 prize in physics. Anderson inspired another winner, Brian Josephson, who won the 1973 Nobel Prize and took a class taught by Anderson at Cambridge.

The UN has postponed a critical summit meant to jumpstart global climate action until 2021 as the world reels from the coronavirus pandemic.

The UN talks, known as Cop26, had been due to take place in Glasgow from 9-20 November with the goal of spurring deep cuts in greenhouse gases in the coming decade to rein in rising temperatures.

Up to 30,000 delegates were expected from around the world in the biggest diplomatic event the UK has ever hosted.

“The world is currently facing an unprecedented global challenge and countries are rightly focusing their efforts on saving lives and fighting Covid-19,” Alok Sharma, UK president-designate of Cop26, said in a statement. “That is why we have decided to reschedule Cop26.”

“Covid-19 is the most urgent threat facing humanity today, but we cannot forget that climate change is the biggest threat facing humanity over the long term,” said Patricia Espinosa, head of UN Climate Change.

The Wimbledon championships were cancelled for the first time since World War Two on Wednesday as the coronavirus pandemic struck another blue-riband sports event off the calendar and wiped out the entire tennis grasscourt season.

While the decision had looked inevitable for some time, since the virtual shutdown of world sport and the postponement of the Tokyo Olympics, Wimbledon had been one of the few events not to have been officially cancelled or postponed.

But after emergency talks between the various stakeholders over the last few days, the All England Lawn Tennis Club (AELTC) announced that it was impossible for the grasscourt Grand Slam, scheduled for June 29-July 12, to take place.

World Autism Awareness Day is observed by the Member States of the United Nations on April 2 to raise public awareness of autism. Several organisations across the world contribute to the diagnosis and treatment of people with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD).

Autism is a developmental disorder and people with ASD are characterised by difficulties with social interaction and by restricted and repetitive behaviour. The problem is associated with a combination of environmental and genetic factors.

This year, World Autism Awareness Day is being observed amid the coronavirus pandemic, which has spread to over 150 countries and killed thousands of people globally.

Background

The resolution to observe World Autism Awareness Day was adopted by the UN General Assembly in 2007. The proposal to observe this day was made by the United Nations representative from Qatar and was supported by all Member States.

The biggest ever consolidation exercise in the public sector banking space is slated to take shape on Wednesday when six PSU lender will be merged into four in a bid to make them globally competitive.

The exercise assumes significance as it is taking place at a time when the entire country is under the grip of COVID-19 outbreak. It has triggered 21-day lockdown to contain the spread of the deadly virus.

Experts said merger at this point of time will not be very smooth and seamless. However, heads of the anchor banks are exuding confidence. "We don't foresee any problem it is going as per the plan. We have reviewed in the light of this situation also. Certain modification in implementation. We have done so that there is not any disruption for employees and customers. We are ensuring zero disruption," Union Bank of India Managing Director Rajkiran Rai G told PTI.