New Delhi, April 2: With the countrywide coronavirus lockdown in place till April 14, Union Ministry of Home Affairs on Thursday issued a circular to all states to adhere to its guidelines on lockdown. The Home Ministry even asked the states to take strict action on violation of lockdown measures.

Issuing the letter to the states, Union Home Secretary Ajay Bhalla wrote, as quoted by news agency ANI, "The penal provisions under the DM Act and IPC should be widely circulated & for violation of lockdown measure, actions under provisions of DM Act and IPC shall be taken by law enforcement authorities." Coronavirus Lockdown: Address Grievances of Migrant Labourers As Per Supreme Court Directions, Centre Tells States.

Here's the ANI tweet:

Apart from the above development, the Union Home Ministry even claimed that they have identified 9000 Tablighi Jamat workers and their contacts, and placed them in quarantine. Joint Secretary of Home Ministry Punya Salila Srivastava said, "Out of these 9000 people, 1306 are foreigners and the rest are Indians."

Meanwhile, the Union Health Ministry informed that the total number of coronavirus positive cases in India reached 1,965 on Thursday. The number of positive cases witnessed a spike with as many as 131 COVID-19 cases in the last 12 hours. The Health Ministry, in its latest update stated that 50 deaths have been reported in India so far, with highest nine from Maharashtra, followed by Gujarat.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Apr 02, 2020 05:02 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).