India claps in support of COVID-19 warriors, Centre shuts trains, metros, buses till March 31 and other top news of March 22, 2020

Here's a roundup of top stories from the world of politics, business, sports, and entertainment, which grabbed the spotlight and trended the most on various social media platforms on March 22, 2020.

1) India claps in support of coronavirus COVID-19 warriors as urged by PM Narendra Modi

Showing their unprecedented support to the emergency workers like doctors, paramedics, Army, police, media personnel among others, people across the country came out to their balconies and clapped or rang any musical instrument even kitchen utensils like plates and bowls at 5 pm on Sunday (March 22) for a five-minute duration. Read more here

2) In view of coronavirus COVID-19 scare, Centre shuts trains, metros, interstate buses till March 31

As the number of coronavirus positive cases is on the rise the Centre is taking all steps necessary to curb the spread of the virus outbreak. On Sunday (March 22, 2020) the government announced closing down of all passenger trains, metros rails and inter-state transport buses till March 31. Read more

3) PM Narendra Modi's 9-point action plan to curb spread of COVID-19 coronavirus in India

Amid the rising coronavirus cases in India, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday (March 19) urged  all Indians to stay indoors as much as possible to avoid getting infected by deadly virus. In a televised address to nation, the prime minister also said that the has never seen a danger as grave as this. The PM's address to the nation on combating the challenge of COVID-19 came as India witnessed a total of 173 positive cases in the country on Thursday evening. On the occasion of ‘Navratra’, the Prime Minister made nine requests to the people. Read more here

4) 17 STF, DRG, COBRA soldiers martyred in naxal encounter in Chhattisgarh's Sukma district

17 soldiers of District Reserve Guard (DRG), Special Task Force (STF) and CoBRA (Commando Battalion for Resolute Action) were martyred on Saturday (March 22, 2020) in a battle with the Naxals in Chhattisgarh's insurgency-hit Sukma district.

The encounter took place around 1 pm on Saturday afternoon and went on for three continuous hours.  Read more here

5) Coronavirus COVID-19: Air India crew involved in evacuating 263 Indians from Rome advised home quarantine

The Air India Crew onboard a special flight that evacuated 263 Indians from the coronavirus-hit Italian capital Rome, have been advised home quarantine as per the established norms of the company, an official of the national carrier said.

The special flight had returned to New Delhi carrying 263 Indians - mostly students - on Sunday morning. Later in the day, they were sent to the Indo-Tibetan Border Police-managed quarantine facility in Chhawla here. Read more here

SPORTS NEWS

6) Pin-Drop Silence: Ravichandran Ashwin hails unbelievable start to PM Narendra Modi's Janata Curfew initiative

Indian star spinner Ravichandran Ashwin on Sunday hailed an unbelievable start to the Janta Curfew initiative introduced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi as the country continues to fight the deadly coronavirus (COVID-19).

Taking to his official Twitter handle, the 33-year-old said he was amazed to see a pin-drop silence on the day of the Janta Curfew. He further hoped to see social distancing continues to have adhered in the coming days. Read more here

7) Coronavirus: Mary Kom breaks quarantine protocol by attending breakfast hosted by President

Amid panic over a possibility of community transmission of the novel coronavirus, it has now come to fore that ace boxer and Rajya Sabha MP Mary Kom broke the 14-day quarantine protocol which has been put in place by the World Health Organisation (WHO) and the governments across the world. Read here

ENTERTAINMENT NEWS

8) Aishwarya Rai Bachchan's lookalike Manasi Naik takes over the internet and how

In case you missed it, Marathi actress Manasi Naik has been ruling the trends list for a while now for her uncanny resemblance to superstar Aishwarya Rai Bachchan. Several of Manasi’s pictures are doing the rounds on the internet and they remind the netizens of Aishwarya in her early days in the film industry. Manasi has posted several pictures and videos of herself dressed just like Aishwarya from ‘Jodhaa Akbar’ and comments like "Aishwarya’s carbon copy” and "Aishwarya’s duplicate" have been posted on the thread. Manasi is a TikTok star too with a fan following of 4 million while on Instagram, she has 945k followers. Take a look at the pictures here:

9) Deepika Padukone-Ranveer Singh, Akshay Kumar, Hrithik Roshan – How Bollywood united to thank coronavirus fighters by clapping, ringing bells

As the clock struck 5 on Sunday, people came out in large numbers in their balconies to thank coronavirus fighters and tried to boost their morale by clapping, drumming utensils and ringing bells. It was an initiative proposed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in a bid to show gratitude to health professionals, police, defence forces and guards who are working day and night in the wake of coronavirus pandemic. Like all of us, Bollywood celebrities too came out to their balconies to express gratitude to the unsung warriors. Read more here