As many as 9,851 fresh cases were registered since Thursday evening, according to the latest data provided by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare. (Express photo: Gurmeet Singh)
Air India Friday opened bookings for around 300 flights to various countries including the US and the UK under phase-3 of Vande Bharat Mission.
Meanwhile, the Covid-19 tally in India rose to 2,26,770 on Friday even as the Centre prepared to reopen malls, restaurants and religious places as part of the plan to gradually reopen the country. As many as 9,851 fresh cases were registered since Thursday evening, according to the latest data provided by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.
On Thursday, the government issued Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) for reopening of malls, religious places, restaurants and hotels. Restaurant and food courts in malls will operate at 50 per cent seating capacity with a mandatory distance of six feet between tables. No common prayer mats, physical offerings like prasad, or a sprinkling of holy water, will be permitted in places of worship. Age and health-based restrictions will also be in place for stepping out of home.
Globally, over 6,430,705 cases have been reported, 3,85,947 people have succumbed to the infection and 2,804,982 have recovered. The United States continues to be the worst-affected nation with 1,872,660 cases and 1,08,211 deaths.
Coronavirus India LIVE updates: Family members of Charan Singh at Delhi border, who came to Delhi by train from Gujarat's Palampur village and going to Kalyanpur village in Kasganj UP. (Express photo by Gajendra Yadav)
Coronavirus India LIVE updates: Poaching of hares, among other small mammals, has shown an increase. (Source: WWF-India)
Even as WHO restarted the hydroxychloroquine (HCQ) arm of the Solidarity Trial, investigators for the Recovery Trial at Oxford University have announced that they would stop enrollment for its HCQ arm as no benefits have been found from the drug.
India continues use HCQ for prophylaxis and treatment of Covid-19. All eyes will now be on the Solidarity Trial.
Peter Horby, professor of Emerging Infectious Diseases and Global Health in Nuffield Department of Medicine, Oxford University, and chief investigator of the trial, said: “HCQ and chloroquine have received a lot of attention and have been used very widely to treat Covid patients despite the absence of any good evidence. The Recovery Trial has shown that HCQ is not an effective treatment in patients hospitalised with Covid-19. Although it is disappointing that this treatment has been shown to be ineffective, it does allow us to focus care and research on more promising drugs.” Read more
With Covid-19 cases on a steady rise in Vadodara, the number of patients on oxygen (O2) support, ventilator and BiPAP (Bilevel Positive Airway Pressure) has also seen a significant jump since the beginning of June. From 14 cases of O2 and eight cases of ventilator support/BiPAP on May 31, the numbers have gone up to 45 and 28 respectively on June 5. The numbers have doubled in the past three days but officials say that the proportional increase is expected as cases are going up. Read more here
Three days after the state government allowed private hospitals to conduct Covid-19 test without prior approval of government authority in case of an emergency medical procedure if prescribed by a physician, the Ahmedabad Hospitals and Nursing Homes Association (AHNA) has written to principal secretary health Jayanti Ravi requesting her to allow hospitals to adopt the same testing policy in outpatient department (OPD). The new guidelines issued by the Gujarat government has allowed testing only on indoor patients. Read more here
State Medical Education Minister Amit Deshmukh, who was in Pune on Friday to review the situation in the city, said the price to conduct a Covid-19 test has already been lowered in Mumbai. “Along similar lines, we are also planning to reduce the Covid-19 test price in Pune and other districts,” said Deshmukh. Read more here
A government team visited containment zones in Kherwadi, Bandra east area to take stock of the situation on Friday. According to the BMC, joint secretary, Ministry of Health, K K Kumar, two professors from AIIMS, Nagpur Dr AS Kushwaha and Dr S Banaerjee along with civic officials also inspected the covid facility at BKC.
Officials said that it was a routine visit and the team was overall satisfied with the measures taken by BMC against COVID-19. "They were happy with preparations and also suggested to focus more on vulnerable population like people living in slums with comorbidities," an official said.
The team has also suggested BMC to make mobile app and system on which the worst affected areas can be seen. "They have suggetsed geo-tagging in the areas that have maximum numbers of COVID-19 cases and mobile App can be created to maintain data. They had also told us that to do documentation of all jumbo health facilities to battle pandemic for the reference in future, "said Suresh Kakani, Additional Municipal Commissioner of BMC. (ENS)
Forty eight more people tested positive with COVID-19 in Tripura on Friday, raising the state's total corona tally to 695. Among them, 173 have 'recovered' and were discharged from the hospital couple of days back.
Tripura Chief Minister Biplab Kumar Deb Tweeted about the new cases late evening and wrote, "48 people found COVID-19 #POSITIVE in Tripura out of 1026 samples tested. All of them have travel history. Stay safe, follow the Gov't norms. #TripuraCOVID19Count".
Earlier this evening, Law Minister Ratan Lal Nath told a press conference that Tripura's recovery rate is impressive and added his government has engaged doctors serving at Tripura Medical College and Dr BR Ambedkar Teaching Hospital, a private society run medical college, to treat coronavirus patients as well.
According to the latest reports, 23,291 out of 36,902 persons placed under surveillance for coronavirus have completed their 14 days observation period and were discharged.
However, 829 others continue to be housed in different quarantine centres and 12,782 are still placed under home quarantine.
30,379 persons were tested in Tripura till date, with the highest testing rate proportionate to the population in NE India.
(Reported by Debraj Deb)
Delhi recorded 1,330 fresh coronavirus cases on Friday taking the COVID-19 tally in the city beyond the 26,000-mark, and the death toll due to the disease jumped to 708, authorities said.
In a bulletin issued on Friday, the Delhi health department said the death toll from coronavirus infection has risen to 708 and the total number of cases mounted to 26,334.
A total of 58 fatalities were reported on June 4, which took place between May 4 and June 3, the bulletin said, adding 25 of these deaths took place on June 3. It, however, added the cumulative death figures refers to fatalities where the primary cause of death was found to be COVID-19, as per the report of the Death Audit Committee on the basis of case sheets received from various hospitals.
On Thursday, the total number of cases stood at 25,004 including 650 deaths. With fresh 1,330 cases, the total number of coronavirus cases in Delhi has climbed to 26,334.
Meanwhile, Delhi Health Minister Satyendar on Friday said reports that there is a "shortage of beds" for COVID-19 patients in city hospitals were "misleading". (PTI)
The Pune Municipal Corporation has issued a show-cause notice to a private hospital in the city for allegedly denying treatment to two patients.
Municipal Commissioner Shekhar Gaikwad issued a notice to Poona Hospital on Friday.
According to the notice, a medical officer at the hospital allegedly asked two patients -- a 60-year-old man and a 75-year-old woman -- to go to another hospital when they sought to be admitted.
"Looking at the health condition of both the patients, the hospital was expected to conduct complete health check-up of the patients and provide the proper medication and also admit them into oxygen step-down ward. But the hospital did not do so.
"Instead of arranging an ambulance, the patients were sent in the auto-rickshaw (to another hospital) which is a shameful act," said Gaikwad. (PTI)
With the rise in number of Covid-19 cases, Pune MP Girish Bapat urged the Army authorities to treat civilian patients across military hospitals. Bapat was present at a special meeting of the Pune Cantonment Board (PCB) held on Friday.
Members of the PCB raised the issue and said civilian patients were not being admitted for Covid-19 treatment at army-run hospitals at Armed Forces Medical College, Military Hospital-Cardio Thoracic Centre, Command Hospital and Military Hospital, Khadki. Read more here
Air India opens bookings for around 300 flights to various countries including USA and UK under phase-3 of Vande Bharat Mission. (PTI)
Beijing on Friday decided to lower its Covid-19 emergency response, marking the return of normalcy in China’s capital following the coronavirus outbreak, while the central city of Wuhan, the origin point of the pandemic, cleared all its confirmed cases.
Wuhan recorded zero cases of the virus following testing of 10 million people.
Beijing city will lower its emergency response to the novel coronavirus epidemic from the second level to the third level starting Saturday, a local official announced on Friday.
"We had a meeting on vaccines yesterday, we are doing incredibly well. We can have some very positive surprises. Tremendous progress is being made on vaccines," US President Donald Trump said in a press briefing on Friday.
Goa will be opening restaurants on June 8, confirmed Chief Minister Pramod Sawant on Friday. Earlier this week, with Mangor Hills, a densely populated cluster showing local transmission, the state government had decided to take a decision once they saw a decrease in the spread of transmission.
On Friday, 131 cases were counted as active with 26 testing positive from the containment zone. Four others tested positive after they returned from Dubai.
Of the 400 swabs collected in the third drive at Mangor Hills, 26 tested positive, allowing the government to make a decision. This means of the wider perimeter radius the confirmed positives were decreasing, allowing the Government to make the assumption that cases and the spread have been restricted.
Chief Minister Sawant also added that the government will be allowing religious worship spaces to open but with a “strict SOP” in place. No mass functions will be allowed, though the government will now open the religious spaces for individual prayers, he confirmed.
Of the SOPs in place, Government has reteriated that most patients who have tested positive have been shifted to Covid facilities allowing for routine operations like restaurants and businesses to function with social distancing measures in place. (ENS)
The Jammu and Kashmir government Friday decided to reopen all its offices across the Union Territory at full strength from Saturday onwards.
However, older employees, pregnant employees and those having underlying medical conditions are not to be given work involving direct contact with the general public, according to a government order issued by General Administration Department in Jammu.
The order read: "All the officers and staff, at all levels, shall attend office on a regular basis on all working days with effect from June 6.’’ However, ``employees who are at higher risk i.e. older employees, pregnant employees and those who have underlying medical conditions should take extra precautions and should preferably not be exposed to any front line work requiring direct contact with the public,’’ it read, asking ``office management to facilitate work from home wherever feasible’’.
The government also ordered a suspension of routine issue of visitors/temporary passes, adding that only those visitors with a proper permission of the officer who they want to meet should be allowed after being properly screened.
Coronavirus cases continue to rise in Chhattisgarh as 90 more people, including a Border Security Force (BSF) personnel, tested positive on Friday, news agency PTI reported. On Thursday, the state had reported 93 COVID-19 cases. The state's COVID-19 count is now 863, though active cases are 630 as 231 people have been discharged and two patients have died, he said.
Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan Friday termed the situation in Kerala 'grim' as the state recorded over 100 new Covid-19 cases in a day for the first time. He said that 111 new positive cases have been reported in the state today, taking the total number of cases to 1,697, of which 973 are active cases.
The coronavirus outbreak in India has led to a rethinking of how people practise their faith. For Christians and Muslims in Kolkata, the pandemic and the subsequent national lockdown coincided with two major festivals, Easter and Eid, both of which were celebrated in ways that the communities have never done before. Although the West Bengal government allowed places of worship to reopen following advisories on June 1, many religious institutions have chosen not to open their doors owing to concerns of possible Covid-19 infections. Click here to read our dispatch from Kolkata.
TN continues to witness a surge in Covid-19 infections. As many as 1,438 cases and 12 deaths were reported on Friday, taking the count to 28,694 and fatalities to 232.
Maharashtra records 139 deaths today, the highest number of deaths due to COVID-19 in a single day. As many as 2,436 persons tested positive for COVID-19 in the state today. Total cases in the state are now at 80,229, including 2,849 deaths, news agency ANI reported citing State Health Department.
The Finance Ministry asked all the other ministries and their departments Friday to not initiate any new schemes in the current financial year, adding that the resources shall be put to better use in the wake of the coronavirus crisis in the country. “It may be appreciated that in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic, there is unprecedented demand on public financial resources and a need to use resources prudently in accordance with emerging and changing priorities,” the Department of Expenditure, which comes directly under the Finance Ministry, said in an office memorandum.
With an inmate of the Guwahati Central Jail testing positive for COVID-19, the district authorities on Friday have sealed the complex with immediate effect to contain spread of the virus. Issuing the order, Kamrup Metropolitan Deputy Commissioner Biswajit Pegu declared the entire jail premises as "containment zone" after detecting the first jail inmate to have tested coronavirus positive in Assam. "In view of the detection of a COVID-19 positive patient at Central Jail in Guwahati city, in the interest of maintenance of public hygiene and to prevent further spread of COVID-19 virus in the said area, the Central Jail area is declared as a Containment Zone," the order said.
Karnataka, now has a total of 4320 number of covid-19 cases.
Epidemiologists at the state-run Tamil Nadu Dr MGR Medical University has predicted, based on mathematical projections, that Chennai city may witness 1.5 lakh Covid-19 cases and up to 1,600 deaths by July second week at the current rate of growth. The university controls medical education and medical colleges in the state, and its projections are used by the government for active surveillance and preparedness.
The Kerala government is betting on its tried-and-tested model of home quarantine aided by strict grassroot-level monitoring for its expats coming from abroad at a time when coronavirus infections are surging in the state.
Revising its earlier guideline, which mandated seven days of institutional quarantine followed by seven days of home quarantine, the government has now stated that all expatriates returning from abroad can directly go for a 14-day quarantine period at their homes without spending a day at the government’s institutional facilities. Those who don’t have adequate facilities at their homes for quarantine can choose to stay at institutional premises arranged by the government.
Commencing hearing on the plight of stranded migrant workers due to the Covid-19 lockdown, the Supreme Court Friday said it intends to give 15 days to the Centre and states for transporting all such labourers to their native places. “What we intend to do is give you and states 15 days time to transport all migrants. States should bring on record how they will provide employment and other kinds of relief to migrants who returned. There should be a registration of migrants,” Justice Ashok Bhushan told Solicitor General Tushar Mehta. More details here.
With seven frontline workers from the health department testing positive for COVID-19 in Goa, there is a fear that the viral infection might travel to the interiors of the state, news agency PTI reported. State Health authorities had confirmed Thursday that seven personnel from an urban health centre posted at Mangor Hill in Vasco had contracted the deadly infection. Mangor Hill was declared a COVID-19 containment zone after over 40 cases were detected in the area since early this week.
Tripura Police Friday said that it has so far arrested 4,751 people and booked over 40 others for purportedly violating lockdown restrictions in the state.
A senior official of the state government said that since lockdown was first imposed on March 25 this year, the state police has slapped a fine of Rs 100 on 3,900 people for failing to sport a face mask. Sharing statistics, police also said that it has resolved 7,973 public calls for information and assistance, booked 192 black marketers, visited 28,008 people placed under home quarantine and assisted nearly 1,870 senior citizens during the lockdown period.
The total number of Covid-19 cases in Tripura are at 647, the second-highest in the northeast after Assam. Among them, 173 have recovered and were discharged from the hospital. The state has also reported one death.
In a reminder of George Floyd’s case, a video of a police constable pinning a man on the ground and kneeling on his neck in Rajasthan’s Jodhpur has gone viral on social media. Jodhpur DCP (West) Priti Chandra said the policeman had acted in self-defence to prevent the man from attacking him. The incident took place Thursday when Mukesh Kumar Prajapat was caught roaming without a mask by two police constables. The policemen alleged that Prajapat began slapping and hitting them when they confronted him for violation of the norms. Click here to watch the video.
Mumbai, the city that accounts for 20 per cent of all novel Coronavirus infections in India, has come under scrutiny for its stagnating testing numbers. The city has been testing around 4,000 samples every day and this number has not increased for over a month now. This, despite the fact that it has the capacity to carry out about 10,000 tests per day, and the number of positive cases that it discovers each day has been on a steady rise. The debate on testing has been going on since the outbreak started in India at the beginning of March. The conventional wisdom is that the more tests are carried out, the more are the chances of finding positive patients.
The last three coronavirus patients in Wuhan, the first epicentre of the COVID-19, have been discharged and the central Chinese city has recorded zero cases of the virus after mass testing of about 10 million people, state media reported on Friday. According to China’s National Health Commission (NHC), five imported cases, including four in Shanghai and one in Sichuan Province, were reported in China on Thursday. More details here.
The Supreme Court today said it intends to give 15 days to the Centre and states for transporting all stranded migrant workers to their native places, commencing hearing on their plight during the lockdown period. A bench of Justices Ashok Bhushan, SK Kaul and MR Shah was informed by Solicitor General Tushar Mehta that till June 3, over 4,200 "Shramik Special' trains have been deployed to transport migrant workers to their native places. Mehta said that till now over one crore migrant workers have been transported to their destinations and most of the trains ended up in Uttar Pradesh and Bihar. He said state governments can tell as to how many more migrant workers need to be shifted and how many trains are required for that purpose. The hearing in the case, which has been taken cognizance on its own by the top court, is underway.
Environment Minister Gopal Rai today said that the Delhi government will run a special campaign to promote medicinal and herbal plants in the next one year in view of the coronavirus threat. These medicinal and herbal plants will be given free at the forest department's nurseries in the city. These include curry leaves, gooseberry, neem, bahera, jamun, guava, arjun, sahjan, wood apple and lemon, the minister said on the occasion of World Environment Day. "These plants help boost immunity which is crucial in view of the coronavirus outbreak. Anyone can get them for free from the forest department's nurseries. Pamphlets listing the benefits of the plants will also be given to the people," the minister told PTI. A campaign will be run to make people aware about the benefits of these plants, he said.
No new scheme/sub-schemes will be initiated in 2020-21, except the proposals announced under the PM Gareeb Kalyan Package, Aatma Nirbhar Bharat Abhiyan Package and other special package, the Finance Ministry said today. "The in-principle approval for such schemes will not be given this financial year. The initiation of new schemes already appraised/approved will remain suspended for one year till March 31, 2021, or till further orders, whichever is earlier," it added.
Inder Singh Yadav went the extra mile to hand over a milk pouch to a woman and her child. A constable at the railway protection force, he went out of the station to get milk and ran along a moving train to deliver the item. Railway Minister Piyush Goyal has announced a cash award for him.
With a daily surge in Covid-19 cases, NITI Aayog CEO Amitabh Kant today said there is a "need to dynamically contain new emerging areas".
Twenty Delhi Metro staff, staying in Delhi-NCR, have tested positive for coronavirus till date, sources told news agency PTI. Many Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) officials have been coming to office or to station premises to ensure smooth resumption of services, whenever the orders come from the government. The DMRC on Thursday also put out a tweet, saying, "Along with the rest of the country, DMRC is also fighting the battle against Covid-19. Delhi Metro's employees have shown exemplary resilience in reporting back to their duties to keep the Metro system in all readiness for eventual resumption of services. #DMRCFightsCOVID". The tweet carried a poster showing the Metro girl, DMRC's mascot, wearing a mask and a pair of gloves.
A 67-year-old nurse at a maternity centre in West Delhi died Wednesday, four days after she tested positive for Covid-19. Rajamma worked at Shivaji Maternity Centre, a two-bed clinic, in Tagore Garden for over two decades. Around 10 days ago, she returned home from work and complained of bodyache and cough, said her daughter Divya Madhusudan (29). “She stopped going to work, and developed fever and severe cough. Last Friday, we got her test done, and on Sunday, the result came positive. By then, she had developed breathing issues,” said Divya. Soon after, she was moved to the ICU, and around 1.30 am Wednesday, she passed away. Her daughter said Rajamma was diabetic. As of now, Divya is under home quarantine and is unwell, while her father Madhusudan (68) is also in home quarantine and has displayed no symptoms so far.
Rituals in view of Rath Yatra are underway at Jagannath Temple in Puri. The district magistrate has said that no devotees have been allowed inside the temple.
The Supreme Court today sought the Centre's response on a PIL seeking capping of treatment cost of infected patients in private hospitals. A bench headed by Justice Ashok Bhushan issued notice to the Centre on the PIL filed by Avishek Goenka for fixing an upper limit of cost for Covid-19 treatment by private hospitals. The court said that the copy of the PIL be served on Solicitor General Tushar Mehta who would take instruction on the issue and reply in a week. The plea has also sought increasing the number of private quarantine facilities and hospitals with an option to the infected people for availing such facilities on payment basis and said that currently such an option is not given to patients. It also said that the government be asked to fix indicative rates of treatment for similar standards of such facilities. There should be a time-bound settlement of mediclaim by insurance companies and cashless treatment facilities be extended to all insured patients, the plea said.
A 19-year-old migrant woman, who was returning home in Odisha after being stuck in Telangana due to the lockdown, gave birth to a baby on a 'Shramik Special' train on Friday, railway officials said. The woman, identified as Meena Kumbhar of Thodibahal in Balangir district, was travelling in the Balangir-bound 'Shramik Special' train from Lingampali in Telangana when she complained of labour pain in the morning, an East Coast Railway (ECoR) spokesperson told news agency PTI. As per information received from Titilagarh, the woman delivered a baby boy on the train. A railway doctor in Titilagarh attended and examined the woman and the baby and found them to be in good condition, he said. Subsequently, the woman and her baby were shifted to the government hospital at Titilagarh on the advice of the medical authorities of Balangir district, he added.
A farmer was found hanging from a tree in Muzaffarnagar district of Uttar Pradesh with the authorities suspecting that he committed suicide fearing failure to sell his sugarcane produce due to the coronavirus-induced lockdown, police said on Friday. According to the police, Ompal Singh, a resident of Sisoli village in the Bhorakala police station area, had left home for his fields on Thursday and later in the day, his body was found hanged from a tree. His family told the police that he had been depressed over inability to sell his sugarcane produce due to the lockdown to combat the novel coronavirus. Police have sent the body for post-mortem and begun a probe.
Three authors of the paper, “Hydroxychloroquine or chloroquine with or without a macrolide for treatment of COVID-19: a multinational registry analysis”, have retracted their study that was published in The Lancet on May 22. According to the retraction notice that was published today in The Lancet, they were unable to complete an independent audit of the data underpinning their analysis. As a result, they have concluded that they “can no longer vouch for the veracity of the primary data sources..”
India has called for prioritising the needs of the poor and vulnerable through digital initiatives, emphasising that disruption caused by the virus pandemic has highlighted that technology and people-centric solutions should become a critical component of nations' development paradigm. In his first public remarks at the UN since assuming charge late last month, India's Permanent Representative to the UN Ambassador T S Tirumurti on Thursday said that the global outbreak of COVID-19 has triggered a health crisis which has quickly transformed into an economic, social and humanitarian crises with potential long-term effects on development prospects. "It is hard to imagine how the world would have coped with such a disruption by COVID-19 without the digital tools that we possess today. Hence, technology and digital people-centric solutions should become a critical component of our development paradigm," Tirumurti said at the 2020 Annual Session of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Executive Board on Thursday.
The Uttar Pradesh government has removed Kanpur’s GSVM Medical College principal Arati Dave Lalchandani from her post in the wake of a controversial video that went viral last week. In the video, she had purportedly launched a diatribe against Tablighi Jamaat members and had accused the BJP government in the state of “appeasement” and wasting resources on them. According to sources, the action was taken after Kanpur District Magistrate Brahm Dev Tiwari submitted his report on the controversy to Principal Secretary (Medical Education) Rajneesh Dube. “Lalchandani has been transferred to Jhansi where she will serve as principal of Maharani Laxmi Bai Medical College Medical College,” a source said. Professor R B Kamal is most likely to replace her. However, there is no official confirmation yet.
The centre on Thursday submitted before the Bombay High Court that only 227 passengers out of the 58,867 Indians, who boarded special flights under Vande Bharat Mission, tested positive for Covid-19, which is 0.38 per cent of the total passengers. The Centre also said that as these cases were revealed during the institutional quarantine period, there was no proof to corroborate whether they had contracted coronavirus on the flight. The state-wise details were submitted after the HC on Tuesday had asked Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) and Air India to provide data of Indians who were not infected while they boarded special flights under the Vande Bharat Mission but tested positive for Covid-19 after landing in India.
With over 9,500 fresh cases, the Covid-19 tally in India rose to 2,26,770 on Friday.
Epidemiologists at the state-run Tamil Nadu Dr MGR Medical University has predicted, based on mathematical projections, that Chennai city may witness 1.5 lakh Covid-19 cases and up to 1,600 deaths by July second week at the current rate of growth. The university controls the medical education and medical colleges in the state, and its projections are used by government for active surveillance and preparedness. Dr G Srinivas, professor and head of the department of epidemiology at the university, said their projection shows the number of cases in Chennai will touch 1.5 lakh by July 15 and will peak in mid-October. The university began projections from April 18, and submitted it to the government in May first week. “The disease continues to spread. However, the government is currently well-prepared to handle the number of cases with enough number of beds, isolation facilities, ICUs and such crucial infrastructure,” he said.
The lockdown period saw an increase in cases of violence within the family and instances of child abuse, Supreme Court judge, Justice N V Ramana, said on Thursday. Justice Ramana, who is also executive chairman of National Legal Services Authority and is second most senior judge of the apex court, said the pandemic has also “affected rights of women, children and senior citizen”, and that this calls for a persistent and target-oriented action plan. Justice Ramana said these in his keynote speech while releasing a ‘Handbook of Formats: Ensuring Effective Legal Services’, prepared in collaboration with the NGO Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative.
Every fourth sample tested returned a positive result for the novel coronavirus in Delhi last week — positivity for a total cumulative testing rate of 2,018 tests per million population was 25.7%. In some districts like North East Delhi and South East Delhi, where testing was lower than the average for the city, the positivity rate was as high as more than 38% — that is, two out of every five samples tested — came out positive. The footprint of the infection extends to all 11 districts of the national capital. The highest rates of positivity are in South East Delhi (38.8% at 506 tests per million) and North East Delhi (38.6% at 517 tests per million), followed by West Delhi (38% at 1,817 per million), North West Delhi (36.7% at 1,334 tests per million), and East Delhi (34% at 1,452 per million).
Reporting a little less than 500 cases on a single day, Gujarat total crossed 18,600, while another 455 were discharged taking the cumulative discharge in the state to more than 12,600 on Thursday.
Ahmedabad reported 291 new cases, of which 22 were from Bavla taluka. A 63-year-old man from Viramgam died on Thursday, the same day that he tested positive. Ahmedabad also reported 27 more deaths from its AMC jurisdiction. Read more here
Maharashtra on Thursday registered 2,933 new cases, taking its total Covid-19 count to 77,793. The state also registered 123 deaths — the highest so far in a day, taking the total toll to 2,710.
Mumbai, which reported 1,439 new cases, now has 44,931 infected with 1,465 deaths. There are 41,393 active Covid-19 cases in Maharashtra, with 25,364 in Mumbai alone. Read more here
The state government has announced a Gujarat Aatmanirbhar package worth Rs 14,000 crore to help individuals, industries and businesses in the state.
The package announced by Gujarat Chief Minister Vijay Rupani on late Thursday gives relief worth Rs 2,300 crore by partially waving off property tax, electricity bill and motor vehicle tax for individuals, commercial establishments and industrial entities. The government is also giving subsidies worth Rs 3,038 crore to industries. Read more here
The Goa government has established contact with its Andhra Pradesh counterpart as it continues to probe the “source of infection” of a Covid-19 containment zone in south Goa. Early this week, the densely-populated Mangor Hill in port town Vasco was designated a containment zone after a family of six tested positive.
The move comes even as the state added 40 new positive cases on Thursday, bringing the total in the state to 109. As many as 32 of the 40 cases are residents of the containment zone, making it the “priority point” for testing and treatment. The rest were people who travelled to Goa.
Amritsar reported 15 new coronavirus cases on Thursday -- of which 11 are suspected by health officials to be instances of community spread. The 11 symptomatic cases were reported at the district’s flu corners and their source of infection has not been pinpointed yet.
The new cases come at a time when the district administration has increased its sample collecting capacity in the last three days. Out of 300 samples, 15 came back positive. (ENS)
The state government has announced an ex-gratia amount of Rs 25 lakh each for the families of deceased state government employees who die due to Covid-19 while on duty.
According to a statement released from the Chief Minister’s Office on Thursday night, families of three police personnel -- who died due to coronavirus while deployed on duty in Gujarat -- will be liable to an amount of Rs 25 lakh each.
The police officers who lost their lives while on Covid duty are Armed Police Constable Bharatsinh S Thakor, Armed Assistant Sub-Inspector Govindbhai B Dataniya and KM Prajapati of State Reserve Police Force (SRPF) group three. (ENS)
As 23 more people tested coronavirus positive, the tally of such cases in Dharavi, Mumbai's biggest slum sprawl, rose to 1,872 on Thursday, a senior official of the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) said. However, as no COVID-19 fatality was reported in Dharavi in the last 24 hours, the death toll there remained unchanged at 71, the official said. Dharavi is located in G-North administrative ward of the BMC, which has so far registered the highest number of 2,820 COVID-19 cases among all the 24 wards. Of them, as many as 1,872 cases are from Dharavi alone, followed by 574 and 347 cases from Mahim and Dadar, respectively, from the same ward. Dharavi is one of the biggest slums in Asia where nearly 15 lakh people live in small shanties, making it one of the most congested areas of the metropolis.
The opening of border along Delhi is the “primary cause of spike in Covid-19 cases” in Haryana, its Home Minister Anil Vij said Thursday even as Supreme Court directed the two neighbouring governments and that of the Uttar Pradesh to devise a common platform enabling inter-state movement in the National Capital region (NCR) on a single-pass. Read more
*Thermal screening at enterance
*entry only with face masks.
*large gatherings prohibited
*seathing arrangements with social distancing
Under its unlock 1.0 plan, the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare on Thursday issued Standard Operating Procedure to contain the spread of COVID-19 in religious places/places of worship. According to the guidlines, persons above 65 years of age, persons with comorbidities, pregnant women, children below the age of 10 years are advised to stay at home.
In a bid to strengthen their fight against the COVID-19 pandemic, Meghalaya on Thursday announced that the state will consider everyone an asymptomatic carrier of the virus “by default.”
This was part of a new post-lockdown health protocol notified by the Health and Family Welfare Department, Meghalaya and described as a proactive measure adopted to “prevent the threat of community transmission by acting as though community transmission is already happening”. The order noted that “80% of the positive cases of Covid-19 are asymptomatic and cannot be ascertained without testing. Therefore it would be apt to assume that everybody by default is an asymptomatic person.”
The state has so far recorded 33 cases of COVID-19, out of which 19 are active. Many of these cases have been reported from the people who have returned to the state post inter-state relaxations on May 4. “As the state is slowly easing the lockdown and essential economic activities are being opened in a phased manner and with people returning to the State from different zones, the State needs to gear up and prepare itself for the increased risk of transmission,” said the order, signed by Health Secretary Sampath Kumar. (Report byTora Agarwal)