Unlock 2.0, Day 7: Burglars wearing PPE kits flee with gold; patient goes missing from Thane Covid facility, and more

India has ramped up its hospital infrastructure to adequately and effectively manage coronavirus cases, the ministry said. As on July 7, there are 1,201 dedicated COVID hospitals, 2,611 COVID healthcare centres and 9,909 COVID care centres to look after patients with ‘very severe’ to ‘very mild’ coronavirus symptoms, it said.

Follow Coronavirus India LIVE Updates

Here are some interesting stories from across the country on day 7 of unlockdown 2.0.

Burglars wearing PPE kits flee with 780 gm gold in Maharashtra

Burglars wearing personal protective equipment (PPE) kits broke into a jewellery shop in Satara district and walked away with 780 gm gold, police said on Tuesday. CCTV footage from the shop, located in Phaltan area, shows the burglars taking hold of the gold jewellery from the showcases and cupboards within, police said.

The footage of the 2-day-old incident during the coronavirus-induced lockdown shows the burglars wearing caps, masks, plastic jackets and hand-gloves taking the jewellery from the display cases.

A case has been registered at the Phaltan police station after a complaint by the jewellery shop owner, who said the burglars took away 78 ‘tola’ (one tola is 10 gm) gold, police said. The shop owner said the burglars broke in through the shop wall, police said.

COVID-19 patient goes ‘missing’ from Thane facility, probe on

A 72-year-old COVID-19 patient has gone missing from a dedicated facility in Maharashtra, as per the complaint lodged with local police. The Thane Municipal Corporation (TMC) has formed a committee to probe the incident, its PRO Sandip Malavli said on Tuesday.

The 1,000-bed COVID hospital was recently inaugurated by Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray. Family members of the missing patient have claimed that he was shifted from Thane civil hospital to the COVID facility on the night of June 29. On July 1, hospital staff told them the septuagenarian was doing well, they claimed. When the family members called up the hospital again on July 5 they were told that the old man was missing from his bed, they said.

IIT-Guwahati students build pocket-sized device to sanitise surfaces

The fear of contracting COVID-19 from touching surfaces has prompted many people to clean door knobs and wipe elevator keys, but all that could soon be a thing of the past as two IIT-Guwahati students have now claimed to have built a device that could disinfect objects.

‘UV-Astra’, a nano Ultra-Violet (UV) device, can kill viruses and bacteria and sterilise surfaces within three seconds, its creators Anant Mittal and Shubham Yennawar, both civil engineering students at the institute, insisted. Mittal, who has applied for a patent for the device, told PTI that “UV-Astra will prove to be the best affordable personal protection weapon against the virus.”

It could also disinfect Personal Protection Equipment (PPE) for reuse, he said. “Ultra-violet light is known to have disinfectant
properties. Our solution uses a very low-power UV light that does not cause any harm. The pocket-sized device, with a sterilisation rate of 99.9 per cent, is for personal use and can be powered by mobile phones. It has a service life of 5,000 hours,” he said.

Qutub Minar gets max footfall, turnout very low at ASI monuments in Delhi on day 1

ASI-protected monuments were reopened for the public on Monday but the footfall on day one was very low, even as the number of coronavirus cases in the national capital crossed the one lakh-mark.

Qutub Minar, a United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) World Heritage Site, attracted maximum crowd of just 100 visitors, sources said.

The 12th century minaret on regular days gets a footfall in the range of 8,000-10,000, according to Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) officials.