India 'on war footing' as coronavirus infections pass 24 million

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi sounded the alarm over the rapid spread of the coronavirus through India's vast countryside on Friday. A herd of eighteen wild Asiatic elephants were found dead in India’s north eastern state of Assam,  possibly because of a massive lightning strike,  local officials said on Friday. The Pakistani Interior Ministry has been directed to add opposition leader Shahbaz Sharif to the country's Exit Control List after the approval from the Federal Cabinet on Thursday. K.P. Sharma Oli was on Friday administered oath of office as Nepal's Prime Minister by President Bidhya Devi Bhandari,  a day after being re-appointed once again after opposition parties were unable to put together a coalition government. A Swiss and an American climber died on Mount Everest due to exhaustion this week,  hiking company officials said on Thursday,  the first fatalities on the world's highest peak this season. As the average number of new coronavirus infections reported in the South Asian country each day peaks at a new high,  Sri Lanka has imposed a three-day nationwide lockdown starting from Thursday. Muslims in parts of India on Friday offered prayers at mosques and at their homes on the occasion of 'Eid al-Fitr' festival,  which marks the end of Islam's holiest month of Ramadan.