“Special teams have been formed which will work in containment zone and do contact tracing and house-to-house surveys. Cases of fever, cough and breathlessness will be identified in the survey and requisite action will be taken as per protocol,” Agarwal said, adding that there has been no community transmissions so far but some local outbreaks

According to the ministry’s data updated on Tuesday morning, the highest number of confirmed cases in the country is from Maharashtra at 2,334 followed by Delhi at 1,510 and Tamil Nadu at 1,173.

Noting that while India is still not officially calling the infections to be in the community transmission stage, the existing restrictions on movement are causing much more economic damage than anticipated.

The CBIC clarification comes at a time when sectors like aviation and hospitality are grappling with mass cancellation of bookings in view of the lockdown due to the pandemic. Rajat Mohan, Senior Partner at AMRG & Associates, said “this clarification would help worst-hit sectors of the business fraternity to claim a tax refund from the government, which would also have a ripple effect in the entire supply chain”.

“We make it clear that the benefit of free testing by a person can be availed only when he or she is covered under any scheme like Ayushman Bharat Pradhan Mantri Jan Aarogya Yojana.We are also of the view that looking to the plight of persons belonging to economically weaker sections of the society, the Government may consider as to whether any other categories of persons belonging to economically weaker sections of the society can be extended benefit of free testing of Covid-19,” it said.

All India Motor Transport Congress (AIMTC) secretary-general Naveen Gupta said the accumulated losses to truckers during the first 15 days of lockdown were about Rs 35,200 crore given an average Rs 2,200 loss to per truck per day.

“More than 90 per cent of the about one crore trucks in the country are off roads during the lockdown as truckers with only essential commodities are on the move,” he said. “Even if the lockdown is lifted, it will take at least 2 to 3 months for truckers to limp to some normal scale as we apprehend consumption of non-essential items to remain hit on the account of lack of purchasing power.”

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will finally be addressing the nation at 10 am on April 14, which is the last day of the 21-day lockdown.

The prime minister is also likely to announce plans to revive the Indian economy which has been badly hit by the lockdown.”Prime Minister @narendramodi will address the nation at 10 AM on 14th April 2020,” the PMO tweeted. Last month, the prime minister had addressed the nation twice — on March 19 and March 24.