You'll need to locate the cause, which will be something that you installed (there are no true viruses, i.e. self-propagating malware, for Android, so it will be an app that you installed or were tricked into installing). If you've installed apps from sources other than the Play Store they are much more likely to be the cause. If you clicked on a fake system message from some dodgy ad server on a website that could also be how it happened, but then it's less likely that you'll know what the app is.
If it was just your browser I'd suggest clearing caches for the browser, and if necessary clearing data in the app, but if other apps are being redirected then that sounds more serious. Does this happen just when clicking icons on a desktop, or also from the app drawer?
Worst comes to worst there's always a factory reset, but some recent malware survives that, so it would be better if we could identify the app responsible. What "anti virus" have you installed (please not "CM", that's a problem in itself!)? Try installing Malwarebytes and scanning the phone, and see whether it can identify the cause.
Really appreciate it very much. Will try out the suggestions & if the problems still prolong, I guess the best thing to do is to master reset the phone