Lockdown diary, Day 25: Railways transports medicines to teen, woman attends husband’s funeral through video call, and more

In a routine press conference held to apprise media of the coronavirus situation in the country, Joint Secretary in the Health Ministry Lav Agarwal also said that 991 new positive cases and 43 deaths have been reported in the last 24 hours. He added that three districts — Nadia, Patna and Panipat — reported new cases after more than 14 days.

Here is a curated list of some striking stories from across the country on Day 25

Tripura migrant couple names their newborn son ‘Lockdown’

A migrant vendor couple from Rajasthan, stranded in Tripura, has given birth to a baby boy. Born during the nationwide lockdown due to COVID-19, the parents have named him ‘lockdown’. “We have named him lockdown so no one ever forgets how he was born”, they said. Migrant vendors from Rajasthan, Bihar and UP carrying huge usually visit Tripura for six months starting at the outset of every year and keep going in rotation.

Sanjay and Manju Bauri came on a similar errand which got delayed. Manju was pregnant and didn’t risk the ardous journey via road and rail back to Dawsa district of Rajasthan. But after Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced lockdown on March 25, the family, along with 61 others, found themselves in grave peril. They reached Badharghat Railway Station in Agartala but found he trains were not running either.

Amid lockdown, a locality is being sanitised n Kolkata.

Earlier too, a Madhya Pradesh couple had named son ‘Lockdown’ to hail fight against COVID-19. A couple in Chhattisgarh had also named their newborn twins as ‘Corona’ and ‘Covid’. They said the words symbolised triumph over hardships as their children — a boy and a girl — were born during the lockdown that had otherwise disrupted normal life.

Rajasthan allows family members of prisoners to deposit money online

In view of the woes of money transfer brought in by the lockdown, the Rajasthan jail department has started online payment service for the family members of prisoners who can now deposit money in their bank accounts. The facility is available for verified family members registered with the jail administration who will be able to deposit money through internet banking, debit or credit card, Paytm and BHIM App directly in the bank accounts of the prisoners from their homes. About 20,000 prisoners lodged in various jails in the state will be able to avail the benefit of the service. “We have prepared a database and only registered family members can deposit money,” DIG (Jail) Vikas Kumar told news agency PTI on Saturday. (PTI)

A testing centre in Dharavi in Mumbai.

Birthday, anniversary greetings from police to GK residents

Delhi Police Saturday came into Roshina Gautam’s balcony with sirens blaring and then proceeded to play music outside her home, much to her surprise.  Gautam, a resident of Greater Kailash, turned 71 on Saturday and the police personnel just came to greet her.  She isn’t the only one. Hoping to bring some cheer amid the lockdown, police officials are wishing residents on their birthdays and anniversaries in the south Delhi locality. The police also landed up outside the home of Greater Kailash residents Rajat and Vartika Juneja on their 25th wedding anniversary. (PTI)

Railways transports medicines for teen in Ahmedabad, post-ops drugs to Ratlam

This week, the railways using its network to transport medicines for a teen in Rajasthan and a boy recovering from a liver transplant in Madhya Pradesh, hence becoming a lifeline for people struggling to get essential drugs during the nationwide lockdown. Impressed by quick transportation of camel milk to a child in Mumbai by the railways earlier, Ahmedabad-based Hitesh Sharma called for help for his 14-year-old autistic cousin in Ajmer and termed the prompt response a miracle. In the second case, 16-year-old Urmil Patidar, who underwent a liver transplant surgery in Chennai, approached the railways for help to ferry his medicines from the Gujarat city to Ratlam in Madhya Pradesh where he is based. In both cases, the railways transported the medicines till the station and the families collected them after getting permission from their local police station. (PTI)

A group of delivery boy waiting for orders outside a food mart in Lucknow on Saturday.

Woman attends husband’s funeral through video call

A woman in Maharashtra’s Sindhudurg district saw her husband’s last rites being performed 490 km away through a video call. With lockdown to contain coronavirus in force, there was no way for Vasanti Bandekar, resident of Morle village in Dodamarg tehsil, to travel to Mumbai where her husband Chandrakant died on Thursday.
“My father died here of cancer on April 16. There was no way to take the body to our village, nor could we get mother here due to the lockdown,” Amit, the couple’s son, told PTI. “So we had to resort to video call facility to let mother see him for the last time and pay respects,” a grief-stricken Amit said. (PTI)

AP govt delivers fruits at doorstep in Kurnool

The Andhra Pradesh government Saturday said it has started delivering fruits during the lockdown at people’s doorsteps in Kurnool district. A kit consisting of 20 fruits, including bananas, oranges and papaya, is being sold at a price of Rs 100, the government said in a statement. The agricultural marketing department of the state has already procured over 7,000 tonnes of bananas from the farmers directly, it said. “This not only helps the government utilise the produce procured from the farmers during these times but also ensures availability of nutritious and good quality fruits to citizens at their doorstep,” the statement added. (PTI)