India Coronavirus Update, 26 May: Cases near 1.5 lakh, over 1 lakh under observation in Kerala

With just five more days left till the fourth phase of the nationwide lockdown expires, Congress MP Rahul Gandhi claimed its aim and purpose has failed. Arguing that the lockdown hasn’t produced the desired results, he said India is the only country where relaxations were further being extended when the Covid-19 caseload has been increasing “exponentially”.

“What is the central government’s plan to go forward as the disease is growing exponentially in the country,” he said.

Meanwhile, in Assam, the tally has crossed the 500-mark, mostly due to the migrant workers returning to the state. The number of coronavirus cases have jumped more than five times in the last one week, making it one of the fastest growing states.

Traffic jam a day after Ghaziabad sealed its border.

India death rate lowest, Govt says

India’s recovery rate has improved to 41.61 per cent while the fatality rate remained the lowest in the world at 2.87 per cent now, said the Ministry of Health Tuesday. Addressing a routine daily briefing on coronavirus, Health Ministry Joint Secretary Lav Aggarwal said that 4.4 deaths per lakh population have been reported for the world, while India has reported about 0.3 deaths per lakh population, which is among the lowest in the world. This has been due to the lockdown, timely identification and management of Covid-19 cases, he added.

SC takes cognizance of migrants’ miseries

Taking suo motu cognisance of the plight of lakhs of stranded migrant workers across the country, the Supreme Court on Tuesday pointed out the “inadequacies and lapses” in the handling of the crisis and issued notices to the Centre and state governments on steps taken to “redeem the situation.”

A bench of Justices Ashok Bhushan, Sanjay Kishan Kaul and M R Shah said there had been lapses on part of the Centre and state governments and directed immediate measures be taken to provide travel, food and shelter to the migrant labourers, news agency ANI said.

“We take suo motu cognizance of problems and miseries of migrant labourers, who had been stranded in different parts of the country. The newspaper reports and the media reports have been continuously showing the unfortunate and miserable conditions of migrant labourers walking on-foot and cycles from long distances,” the court’s order read.

Migrant workers cramped inside a truck to go to the CSMT station to board the special train organised by Maharashtra government to go their native place, on Tuesday.

Neighbour watch

Pakistan’s coronavirus cases on Tuesday soared to 57,705 after 1,356 new infections were reported, while 1,197 people have died so far of the disease in the country, the health ministry said.

Of the total number of 57,705 cases, 22,934 have so far been detected in Sindh, 20,654 in Punjab, 8,080 in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, 3,468 in Balochistan, 1,728 in Islamabad, 630 in Gilgit-Baltistan, and 211 in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir.

Officials have so far conducted 490,908 tests, including 7,252 done on Monday. According to the Ministry of National Health Service, 18,314 patients have till now recovered from the virus, while 1,197 have died so far, including 30 during the last 24 hours.

Inadequate quarantine facilities

Though Mizoram had recorded just a single Covid-19 case — which is no longer active — it has been struggling to cope with the influx of people returning. The government has decided to place them under home isolation due to inadequate number of quarantine centres. But they need to meet the requirements laid down for self isoaltion, Chief Secretary Lalnunmawia Chuaungo said.

“Returnees seeking home isolation must apply to the district-level COVID-19 task force after obtaining permission from the medical officer or the district medical board, subject to clearance of rapid antibody test upon arrival at any designated quarantine centre,” he told PTI.

The Mahalaxmi racecourse parking space has been converted into quarantine and hospital facility for treating Covid-19 positive patients.

Migration to be theme of next Bihar polls, says RLSP chief

Rashtriya Lok Samata Party president and former Union minister Upendra Kushwaha has said the Bihar government “stood exposed on migration” and that it would be the “dominating theme of the coming Assembly polls”.

Speaking to The Indian Express, Kushwaha said Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar had been allowing migrants into the state “reluctantly” and suggested that the state should have offered migrants the option of staying back by giving them Rs 10,000 — an estimated expense on transporting and keeping the migrant at a quarantine centre.

“After chief ministers of some states started calling back migrants, Nitish came under pressure. The way he dealt with the migrants’ issue is not at all satisfactory. Quarantine centres are just places to herd people. No social distancing is being followed.”

Mumbai’s KEM Hospital employees stage protest after worker dies

Claiming they were working in harsh conditions, Class III and IV employees of the KEM hospital in Mumbai staged a protest Tuesday after a fellow colleague died, and his body remained in the mortuary for two days.

The deceased worker, aged 45, died on May 24 after suffering from high grade fever, loss of taste and body pain. He worked in a COVID-19 ward and had been exhibiting symptoms since May 20, but was not tested or granted leave. His co-workers said he was not given leave even after he fell ill. He continued to report to work till May 24.

On May 24 evening, his family rushed him to KEM hospital, but he passed away en route. His death was declared as a suspected covid death and his body was handed over to his family on Tuesday.

Migrant workers from West Bengal were seen sitting in front of Kalupur railway station in Ahmedabad on Tuesday claiming that they have failed to get a seat in Shramik Special trains for the past 20 days.

Complete lockdown in Thane’s Mumbra area from midnight

The Thane Municipal Corporation in Maharashtra has ordered complete lockdown in Mumbra area from Tuesday midnight in view of the rising number of COVID-19 cases in the city.

Only milk and medical shops will be open in Mumbra from 7 am to 9 am, while all other shops, including of vegetables and groceries, will remain shut till further orders, municipal commissioner Vijay Singhal said in an order.

Till Monday night, Thane city recorded 2,172 COVID-19 cases, including 288 in Mumbra area, as per official figures.

Despite warnings and directives issues by the civic authorities, people were not following the lockdown and social distancing norms and crowding public places, an official release said.

Hence, the corporation decided to enforce a total lockdown in Mumbra area, it said.

Low-cost ventilators

An Indian-American couple has developed a low-cost portable emergency ventilator which is soon to hit the production stage and will be available in India and the developing world to help doctors deal with the COVID-19 patients.

Prompted by the lack of adequate ventilators during the coronavirus pandemic, Devesh Ranjan, a professor and associate chair in the prestigious Georgia Tech’s George W Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering and his wife Kumuda Ranjan, a practising family physician in Atlanta, developed the emergency ventilator from concept to prototype in just about three weeks-time.

And more good news

A US biotech company began testing vaccine on human subjects with an aim to begin mass production this year. Novavax will inject 131 volunteers in the first phase of the trial testing the safety of the vaccine and looking for signs of its effectiveness, the company’s research chief Dr. Gregory Glenn said.

About a dozen experimental vaccines against the coronavirus are in early stages of testing or poised to start, mostly in China, the US and Europe. It’s not clear that any will prove safe and effective. But many work in different ways, and are made with different technologies, increasing the odds that at least one approach might succeed.

Passengers practice social distancing inside an airport. (Express photo by Arul Horizon)

More from The Indian Express

• Union Minister DV Sadananda Gowda skipped the mandatory 7-day institutional quarantine in Karnataka for all fliers from 6 hotspot states, claiming he had exemption from quarantine as his Pharma Ministry was part of essential services.
• After the son of a 78-year-old Hindu man refused to perform his funeral, some Muslim youths from a local organisation in Akola lit his pyre. The man died of a heart attack while his wife is undergoing treatment for Covid-19.
• Delhi BJP chief Manoj Tiwari and the Aam Aadmi Party clashed over lockdown norms after a video of the Northeast Delhi MP playing cricket in Haryana’s Sonepat emerged on social media. While accused him of violating social distancing and travel guidelines, Tiwari claimed he followed all MHA norms.
• 🔊 Listen to the Three Things podcast on why the Gujarat government has been criticised for its handling of the COVID-19 pandemic and how Surat is dealing with the exodus of workers.