ADVISORY- PTI SPECIALS

PTI is recommending to its subscribers the following exclusive and special stories on March 31, Tuesday as part of our continuing coverage of the COVID-19 crisis: 1.VIRUS-KL-COUPLE-EXPERTS -- DEL71  New Delhi: The recovery of an elderly couple, aged 93 and 88, in Kerala from coronavirus in the face of high mortality rate in the older population globally due to the infection has brought a ray of hope to other patients, with some experts describing it as "rarest of the rare" case. 2.VIRUS-LD TABLIGHI-KASHMIR -- DEL 42 New Delhi: A Srinagar-based businessman who attended the Tablighi Jamaat congregation in Nizamuddin travelled by air, train and road to Delhi, Uttar Pradesh and back to Jammu and Kashmir before he died of COVID-19, raising fears he may have infected many others along the way, officials said on Tuesday. Among his possible victims is a doctor battling for life in a Jammu hospital.

3. LOCKDOWN-DOMESTIC VIOLENCE -- DEL39  New Delhi:  Domestic violence cases in India have increased since the March 24 lockdown with husbands venting their frustration on wives, who have no escape from their abusers, say experts. 4.MN-VIRUS-WOMEN VENDORS -- DEL 20   Imphal: Cutting down on meal portions, skipping breakfast, exchanging vegetables with neighbours are some of the survival tactics that many vendors at Manipur's popular women's only market -- Ema Keithel -- have resorted to in order to tide over the lockdown imposed to curb spread of coronavirus pandemic.

5. BIZ-VIRUS-PDS -- DEL18   New Delhi: Distribution of free wheat in place of flour is causing tremendous hardship to beneficiaries registered under the Public Distribution System (PDS) with no way to grind it as local chakkis being shut, owing to a countrywide COVID-19 lockdown. 6. VIRUS-IIT-SANTISE-DRONE -- DEL6   New Delhi: A group of students at the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Guwahati, has developed a drone with an automated sprayer to sanitise large areas including roads, parks and footpaths, to prevent the spread of coronavirus.

7.KL-VIRUS-LD LIQUORPASS --MDS14 Thiruvananthapuram: The Kerala government has decided to issue special passes for tipplers, who have  withdrawal symptoms and doctor's prescription, to purchase liquor from the Excise department. 8. WB-VIRUS-MAMATA BLOOMS -- CAL6 Kolkata: She walks briskly into a crowded marketplace, admonishes people for the unnecessary hubbub, picks up a broken brick and draws a circle around her.

For the last three weeks West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has been following this routine. 9.GJ-VIRUS-SURVIVORS --  BES2 Ahmedabad: Social distancing and strong willpower are the 'mantras' shared by some of the coronavirus patients who defeated the deadly viral infection and recovered from it.

10.VIRUS-WB-LD ECONOMY -- FGN 20   Washington: About 11 million people could be driven into poverty in East Asia and the Pacific as a result of the coronavirus pandemic that has impacted over 780,000 people and killed more than 37,000 globally, the World Bank has warned. 11.VIRUS-US-DRUG -- FGN16  Washington: The US has started procuring malaria medicine 'Hydroxychloroquine' for treating COVID-19 patients as it anticipates a favourable result from its ongoing treatment of some 1,100 coronavirus infected people in New York.

12:US-H1B-WORKERS -- FGN3   Washington: Foreign IT professionals, a majority of them Indians with H-1B visas in the US, have urged the Trump administration to extend their permissible stay from 60 to 180 days after job loss, amidst the massive layoffs in America due to the coronavirus pandemic. 13: VIRUS-UN-ECONOMY -- FGN 13   United Nations: The world economy will go into recession this year with a predicted loss of trillions of dollars of global income due to the coronavirus pandemic, spelling serious trouble for developing countries with the likely exception of India and China, according to a latest UN trade report.

PTI RT RT.