PTI is recommending to its subscribers the following exclusive and special stories on April 20, Monday as part of our continuing coverage of the COVID-19 crisis:

PTI is recommending to its subscribers the following exclusive and special stories on April 20, Monday as part of our continuing coverage of the COVID-19 crisis: 1. UP VIRUS LD ROBOTS -- DES22 Bulandshahr (UP): Robots are helping people maintain social distancing and minimise spread of coronavirus by dispensing sanitiser to people at the district collectorate and giving food and medicines to patients at the COVID-19 designated hospital here. . 2. VIRUS-POLLUTION-MORTALITY -- LST5 Berlin: Higher levels of nitrogen dioxide pollutants in the air may be associated with an increased number of deaths from COVID-19, according to a study. .

3. LOCKDOWN-CULTURE-ARTISTES -- DEL58 New Delhi: In an effort to give the world a taste of Indian culture during the global lockdown, Culture Minister Prahlad Patel has appealed to artistes to upload their performances online and urged his ministerial colleagues to post photographs of themselves in traditional attires typical of their regions on social networking sites. . 4. VIRUS-IIT-ALUMNI -- DEL33 New Delhi: Together we can sail through - say several Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) who are reaching out to their alumni settled abroad to help the younger alumni and students stranded in foreign countries due to the COVID-19 situation. .

5. VIRUS-DRUG-TRIAL -- LST6 Houston: Researchers claim that COVID-19 patients in a clinical trial are responding quickly to Remdesivir, a finding which they said is "promising," while also emphasising the need for more trials to test the effectiveness of the antiviral drug. . 6. VIRUS-GENOME-MUTATION -- LST1 London: Researchers have developed a new method to analyse the genetic code of the novel coronavirus, an advance that can shed light on how the virus evolves, and help identify new clusters of the disease. .

7. RAJKAMAL-LITERATURE -- ENT20 New Delhi: In a unique initiative for Hindi literature lovers, publishing house Rajkamal Prakashan will offer a bouquet of poetry, stories, excerpts from classic novels on readers' Whatsapp during the lockdown due to coronavirus. . 8. SPO-VIRUS-MILKHA-DAUGHTER -- SPD9 New Delhi: Legendary sprinter Milkha Singh's daughter and ace golfer Jeev Milkha Singh's elder sister has been running a "marathon" in New York -- not on a track but at a hospital, battling the COVID-19 pandemic that has ravaged the world. .

9. SPO-VIRUS-ARUN -- SPD7 Kolkata: Having fought cancer four years ago, former India batsman and Bengal coach Arun Lal knows a thing or two about conquering a dreadful disease and as the country battles the COVID-19 pandemic, he feels both immunity and optimism need to be kept high. . 10. SPO-VIRUS-CRI-SALIVA -- SPD3 New Delhi: Bowlers using saliva to shine the ball is common sight in cricket but in a post COVID-19 world, they might have to reconsider the practice, making their lives tougher in what, many believe, has already become a batsman's game. .

11. WB-LOCKDOWN-TEACHER TREE-TOP CLASSES -- CAL13 Kolkata: Prosperity is a great teacher, adversity even greater. And adversity in times of the lockdown has brought out the best in Subrata Pati who, unlike most other professionals, isn't working from home. . 12. WB-LOCKDOWN-MODEL-ISI -- CES13 Kolkata: A mathematical model developed by four senior researchers, two of them from the Indian Statistical Institute, has predicted that a localised lockdown of around 29 days in a community of 43-68 people can temporarily halt the spread of coronavirus, and help eradicate the contagion in 2-3 years in the country. .

13. WB-VIRUS-IITKGP PROJECTS -- CES5 Kolkata: The Council of Indian Institutes of Technology, the governing body of all the IITs, has approved eight COVID-19 related projects submitted by the IIT Kharagpur and the first phase of the projects is expected to start immediately after the lockdown is relaxed. . 14. LOCKDOWN-NUTRITION -- MES1 Bengaluru: One of the biggest challenges one faces when working from home during the lockdown period is to keep nutrition in check, says a nutritionist. .

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