Darkest night will end: Rijiju on Good Friday

Sports Minister Kiren Rijiju asked people to have "positive hope" on Good Friday. The sports calendar has come to a grinding halt due to the coronavirus pandemic with even the Olympics being postponed to next year.

"May the Darkest Night will end and the Sun will rise. Have a positive hope on this auspicious day and have a blessed Good Friday!" Rijiju tweeted.

Earlier, the Sports Ministry had moved to help hockey Olympian and member of the 1975 World Cup winning team, Ashok Diwan, who is currently stranded in the US due to travel restrictions in place amid global COVID-19 pandemic.

Rijiju's office on Thursday evening said the Indian Embassy in San Francisco has been contacted and they are sending a doctor to attend Diwan who is currently dealing with health issues.

Diwan, who represented India at the 1976 Summer Olympics, had written a letter to Narinder Batra, President of the Indian Olympic Association (IOA), asking him for help.

India is currently under a 21-day lockdown which ends on April 14. However, with there being an upstage in the number of COVID-19 patients with each passing day, it is likely that the lockdown will be extended.

Over 5500 cases have been reported in India thus far with nearly 200 deaths. Globally, the number of reported infections is over 1.5 million with nearly 90,000 killed.