Outside a store during India's 21-day lockdown in Kolkata on Thursday. (Express Photo: Shashi Ghosh)
The centre is considering options as to how to lift the lockdown on April 14. PM Modi has already warned states of a “possible second wave of spread of the virus in some countries”. Civil Aviation Minister Hardeep Singh Puri has said flights can resume bookings from April 15, and it looks like the Railways is issuing tickets from the same date. International flights, however, will be permitted depending on the point or origin.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi Thursday underlined that “in the next few weeks, testing, tracing, isolation and quarantine should remain the areas of focus” in the country’s war against the coronavirus threat, and told Chief Ministers of all states to “formulate a common exit strategy to ensure staggered re-emergence of the population once the lockdown ends” on April 14. He, however, warned that the global situation remains “far from satisfactory” and there was speculation of a “possible second wave of spread of the virus in some countries”.
The Prime Minister, according to an official statement, said “considering that this is the time to harvest crops, the government has given some relaxation from lockdown, but it is necessary to continuously monitor and maintain social distancing as much as possible”.
He asked the states to “think of other platforms for procuring grains apart from APMC (agricultural produce market committee), and explore the possibility of creating pooling platforms for rural areas, like that in ride sharing apps, which can be used for this purpose”.
Coronavirus latest news: Govt authorities are now considering options as to how to lift India's 21-day COVID-19 lockdown. (Express Photo: Bhupendra Rana)
In a tweet later in the day, Modi said: “At 9 AM tomorrow morning, I’ll share a small video message with my fellow Indians.”
As India entered the 10th day of lockdown Friday, the government is now mulling options on how to lift restrictions on April 14. Within the government, a “limited lockdown” in some areas is an option that seems to be gaining ground, at this point. One opinion currently within the government seems to be that while it may not be possible to reach a zero-new-case situation by April 14, the best option would be to focus on specific “pockets” to contain the spread.
“If we can identify pockets like these across the country — there may be several hundred of them — and if I am reasonably satisfied that the rest of the country can go about their business, then these pockets will remain the only ones left with restrictions,” a highly placed government source said.
India coronavirus lockdown: Workers sanitize an area in Nizamuddin West after several people who attended a Tablighi Jamaat congregation tested positive for COVID-19, in New Delhi on Wednesday. (Express Photo: Praveen Khanna)
Meanwhile, the Tablighi Jamaat congregation in Nizamuddin, New Delhi, last month has emerged the biggest hotspot in the country, accounting for about one-fifth of the COVID-19 positive cases. Of the total 53 deaths in India, 15 have been linked to the gathering. In Delhi, the number of positive cases almost doubled on Thursday, fuelled largely by those evacuated from Markaz Nizamuddin on Tuesday and Wednesday testing positive.
Coronavirus live news updates: People who showed coronavirus symptoms being taken to various hospitals from the Nizamuddin area in New Delhi on Monday. (Express Photo: Anil Sharma)
Here’s a quick Coronavirus guide from Express Explained to keep you updated: What can cause a COVID-19 patient to relapse after recovery? | COVID-19 lockdown has cleaned up the air, but this may not be good news. Here’s why | Can alternative medicine work against the coronavirus? | A five-minute test for COVID-19 has been readied, India may get it too | How India is building up defence during lockdown | Why only a fraction of those with coronavirus suffer acutely | How do healthcare workers protect themselves from getting infected? | What does it take to set up isolation wards?
Read our complete coverage of the coronavirus pandemic
Residents overlook as BMC civic workers undertake a sanitisation drive at Dr Baliga Nagar, Dharavi following the outbreak of coronavirus on Friday. (Express photo by Nirmal Harindran)
Amid the coronavirus pandemic, doctors at AIIMS ended their day on an upbeat note as a nine-month pregnant COVID-19 patient gave birth to a healthy baby boy Friday evening at the institute.This is the first baby to be born from a COVID-19 positive mother in Delhi. The woman is the wife of a senior resident doctor working in the department of physiology at AIIMS. The couple had tested positive for the virus Thursday. On Friday, the doctor’s brother also tested positive for the disease.
With obstruction to essential supplies continuing despite repeated reminders from the Centre, the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) has written to all states and pointed out that each item cannot be defined, so states must allow manufacturing and transport of all groceries and food item as generally understood. The MHA also clarified that laboratories, including those for testing COVID-19 samples, are exempt from lockdown restrictions.
The Punjab government is mulling extending the curfew in the state even after the courtywide lockdown to check the spread of coronavirus gets over on April 14. Chief Minister Amarinder Singh on Friday said the decision on curfew extension would be taken in light of prevailing situation around that time. Sources, meanwhile, told The Indian Express that officials across districts have been told to be prepared for an extension in curfew restrictions if things take turn for the worse.
A 55-year-old man was tested positive for novel coronavirus in a village in Punjab's Chatamli, Morinda (district Ropar). He is currently not known to have any recent travel history. His family of seven has been isolated and the condition of the patient is reported to be stable. (Express report)
With the coronavirus contagion spreading, the White House said on Friday that anyone expected to be near President Donald Trump or Vice President Mike Pence will be given a rapid COVID-19 test.
“As the physician to the president and White House Operations continue to protect the health and safety of the president and vice president, starting today anyone who is expected to be in close proximity to either of them will be administered a COVID-19 test to evaluate for pre-symptomatic or asymptomatic carriers status to limit inadvertent transmission," said White House spokesman Judd Deere. (Reuters)
At least 11 cops, who were a part of the team that evacuated 2,361 people from the Nizamuddin Markaz building, have shaved their heads in the belief that it might protect them from the coronavirus. Seven of them have been sent on two-week home quarantine.
Three more Covid-19 positive cases confirmed in Assam, one each from Kamrup (metro), Kamrup and Marigaon, taking the total number in Assam to 23. Two of these three new cases have links to the Nizamuddin Markaz event.
Britain said on Friday it was launching the biggest clinical trial of possible treatments for coronavirus in the world but a leading health official cautioned that the results were likely a few months away.
Almost 1,000 patients from 132 hospitals had been recruited in 15 days and thousands more were expected to join in the coming weeks, the health department said.
The trial is testing medicines more commonly used to treat malaria and HIV, and is designed so that when further medicines are identified, they can be added to the study within days.
England's Deputy Chief Medical Officer Jonathan Van-Tam said the next round of clinical trials should include new medicines, including those that might be in development for other diseases and might "have a role to play".
But he was cautious on the timeline for results of the trials.
"I know that there'll be a question about when are we going to get some results from these clinical trials, and my straight answer to you is: 'I don't know.' I think it's going to be a few months," he told a news conference. (Reuters)
Even as Maharashtra added another 67 cases on Friday, with the number of people with coronavirus disease (COVID-19) climbing to 490 in the state, a recent analysis by the state Health department of 335 persons who had the infection shows that a majority were men in the age group of 31 to 50 years.
India, which reported its first coronavirus case on January 30 this year, has seen a steady rise in the number of COVID-19 infections and till 8 pm on Friday, according to reports there were 2,547 active cases and 62 deaths. A total of 162 persons have been cured and discharged.
The state analysis shows that of the 335 people, 205 were men and 130 were women. There were seven children with COVID-19 infection who were below 10 years of age. An age-wise break-up shows that 136 persons who had the infection were in the age group of 31-50 years. Read more
Nineteen more Tablighi Jamaat members who had attended the gathering at Delhi’s Markaz Nizamuddin were traced from Gujarat on Friday, taking the total number of people who attended the congregation earlier this March to 103 in the state.
According to police, out of the 103 workers of Tablighi Jamaat identified in Gujarat till now, two have tested positive for COVID-19 — one in Ahmedabad who is a native of Muzaffarnagar in UP, and the second person was a 70-year-old man from Bhavnagar, who died on March 26, almost 15 days after he returned from Delhi.
The police on Friday identified 19 more people in Ahmedabad, who had attended the congregation in New Delhi earlier this March. Read more
69,245 samples have been tested till April 3, out of whom 2653 individuals have been confirmed positive. Today, on 03 April 2020, till 9 PM IST, 10,034 samples were tested and reported. Of these, 575 were positive for SARS-CoV-2
Congress MP Shashi Tharoor lauded the efforts of his team who delivered manufactured and delivered first batch of 1,000 rapid test kits in Kerala's Thiruvananthapuram constituency. The test kits were handed over to Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan.
IMF chief Kristalina Georgieva, during the media brifing of the WHO declared the world is in recession. "This is a crisis like no other. Never in the history of IMF, have we experienced a standstill. We are in recession. We are in a global crisis," she said.
The test results of 16 health care workers of a private hospital who came in contact with the second Covid-19 patient from Thoubal district is turned out to be negative, said Health department Manipur. A 56-year-old man from the district who attended Tablighi Jamaat, in New Delhi tested positive on Thursday making him the second positive case in the state.
After returning to Imphal he was admitted to a private hospital situated in Imphal East district on March 20 and discharged after two days. As per the health department, the 56-year-old man had symptoms of Covid-19 when he was admitted to the hospital.
On learning his positive status the department on Thursday quarantined 16 health care workers of the hospital including doctors, nurses and other staff and samples were sent for testing. While the results of the test of the 16 health workers are negative, the department said they will continue to be in the quarantine centre. (Express report by Leivon Jimmy from Imphal)
Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Israeli counterpart Benjamin Netanyahu Friday "explored possible collaboration between India and Israel in fighting the pandemic, including by improving availability of pharmaceutical supplies and by innovative use of high technology,” while agreeing to "maintain a focused channel of communication to explore such synergies."
China will observe national day of mourning for people who sacrificed their lives, including the "whistleblower" Dr Li Wenliang, in the fight against the coronavirus outbreak and the over 3,300 people who died of the infection in the country on April 4. At 10:00 a.m. Saturday, Chinese people nationwide will observe three minutes of silence to mourn the deceased, while air raid sirens and horns of automobiles, trains and ships will wail in grief.
In this Feb. 1, 2020, file photo, funeral home workers remove the body of a person suspected to have died from the coronavirus outbreak from a residential building in Wuhan in central China's Hubei Province. (Chinatopix via AP, File)
PM Modi and Israeli counterpart Benjamin Netanyahu spoke to each other and discussed steps to deal with the COVID-19 pandemic. PM Modi has in the last few days spoken with other heads of states like Germany Chancellor Angela Merkel, France President Emmanuel Macron> He also spoke with Britain's Prince Charles, who was tested positive for coronavirus and has thus recovered.
Two persons from Tripura have been tested positive for COVID-19 at Bikaner in Rajasthan. The duo attended the Nizamuddin Markaz in Delhi and visited Rajasthan before returning to Tripura.
Speaking to reporters at the state secretariat, Health Secretary Debashish Basu said two persons from Tripura’s Sipahijala district who visited Nizamuddin Markaz along with nine others from the state, earlier this month have been tested positive. However, they are not in Tripura since they decided to visit Rajasthan before returning home. All 11 persons are under quarantine at Bikaner, the official said.
“We have received news that a 11-member team from Boxanagar in Sipahijala district visited Nizamuddin Markaz in Delhi. They didn’t return to Tripura, instead they went to Bikaner in Rajasthan. After they were tested there, these two persons from Tripura were found positive. We have got verbal information about this and are yet to receive written details. Both are under quarantine at Bikaner”, the Health Secretary informed.
On Friday, District Collector Rajendra Bhatt (purple shirt) discharged 9 persons who have been cured of coronavirus. They're being sent home with a rose, and administered an oath that they won't leave their homes for 14 days. And their hands are being stamped to discourage them from jumping home quarantine.
Here's the latest COVID-19 update: 2,547 positive cases, 162 recovered, 62 deaths. Nearly 18 deaths have happened in the last 24 hours. Meanwhile, as many as 647 COVID-19 positive cases found in 14 states in the last two days are linked to the Tablighi Jamaat congregation, the Union health ministry said on Friday.
Here's a district-wise breakup of positive COVID-19 cases. As many as 102 people on Friday tested positive for coronavirus in Tamil Nadu, taking the total number of cases in the state to 411, Health Minister C Vijayabaskar said. Of the 3,684 samples sent for testing so far, 411 have tested positive for the deadly virus while 2,789 were negative he said in a tweet.
Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Friday approved the release of Rs 11,092 crore to all states under the State Disaster Risk Management Fund (SDRMF) for setting up quarantine facilities and arranging other facilities for checking the spread of coronavirus. The Home Ministry said the fund has been approved following the assurance given by Prime Minister Narendra Modi to chief ministers during his video conference on Thursday. The Centre has released in advance its share of the first installment of SDRMF for 2020-21 amounting to Rs 11,092 crore with a view to augment funds available with the state governments.
Expressing concern over the gathering of migrant workers in Anand Vihar and congregation of Tablighi Jamaat in Nizamuddin, President Ram Nath Kovind Friday said these two incidents caused a setback to the efforts to combat the coronavirus outbreak, according to a statement issued by Rashtrapati Bhavan. In a video-conference with the Governors, Lieutenant Governors and Administrators of states/union territories, the president emphasized the need to ensure that no one remains hungry during the nationwide lockdown. Read more here
The trauma centre at the Dr RML Hospital will function as a dedicated COVID-19 isolation ward while the Safdarjung Hospital's super specialty block has been converted into a state-of-the-art isolation management centre, Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan said on Friday. He made these announcements after visiting the Dr RML Hospital and the Safdarjung Hospital. The minister was at the health facilities to review their COVID-19 preparedness. At the Dr RML Hospital, Vardhan visited the flu corner, emergency care centre, trauma centre and coronavirus screening centre. After inspecting these centres, the minister expressed satisfaction over the pace of the screening process. He also visited the microbiology department, which has been handling a huge number of samples everyday and appreciated it for following infection control protocols. (PTI)
Nine more people have tested positive for COVID-19 in Kerala today, out of which 3 are linked to the Tablighi Jamaat conference in Delhi. The total number of infected in the state has increased to 295, out of which 251 are currently under treatment. So far, 42 have recovered and two have died.
A newborn baby could be seen wearing a protective face shield in a Thailand hospital as the country faces over 1900 confirmed cases of novel coronavirus and 19 deaths.
With Karnataka recording 12 Covid-19 cases linked to the Tablighi Jamaat meet in Delhi’s Nizamuddin Markaz, Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa held a meeting with leaders belonging to the Muslim community and sought their help in containung the spread.
Four more have tested positive for COVID-19 in Assam, Health Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma confirmed. Three are from Nalbari district and one is from South Salmara District. The fresh cases, too, are connected to the Tablighi Jamaat event held in Delhi last month. Assam now has a total of 20 cases.
A total of 411 persons have tested positive for coronavirus in Tamil Nadu, state health minister Dr C Vijayabaskar said. This is a rise of 102 cases in the last 24 hours.
A total of 384 coronavirus positive cases have been found in Delhi till now and that there has been a rise of 91 cases in the last 24 hours, announced Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal. Out of these 384 cases, 58 patients have a history of foreign travel. Many of them are not from Delhi but were quarantined here in Delhi. 259 people, out of them, had attended the Nizamuddin Markaz event. Overall, five persons have died due to COVID-19, including one from Markaz.
The Health Ministry is presently giving its daily briefing on the coronavirus related updates in India.
With thinning out of activity impacting market liquidity and increasing volatility of financial prices, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) decided to restrict trading hours across markets it regulates from 10 am to 2 pm starting April 7 to April 17. The RBI also said that all regular banking services for customers. including RTGS, NEFT, e-kuber and other retail payments systems will continue to be available as per extant timings.
Mysuru city corporation built a ‘disinfection tunnel’ as part of the precautionary measures against COVID-19 at the entrance of the Mysuru exhibition ground market. The visitors to the market should walk through a tunnel before entering the sprawling ground for shopping. Mysuru City Corporation started the disinfection tunnel to prevent further spread of coronavirus in the market since many people gather to shop.People who enter the market are asked to walk through the ‘disinfection tunnel’ for three to four seconds during which nozzles fitted throughout the length of the tunnel spray a disinfectant solution.
The Dhauladhar range, which is part of a Himalayan chain of mountains in Himachal Pradesh, has become visible to the people of Jalandhar, which is in Punjab, due to the improvement in air quality following the nationwide lockdown in the wake of the coronavirus epidemic. The mountain rises from Kangra and Mandi. In India, pollution levels have dipped as the lockdown in megacities has kept cars off the road and closed factories. Read more here
Tariq Thachil, an Associate Professor in the Department of Political Science at Vanderbilt University, spoke to the Indian Express about internal and circular migrant labour in India. He underlined: 'one silver lining of the lockdown will be that the exodus of migrants renders visible the essential role they play in the functioning of Indian cities'. Read more here
Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath has ordered imposing the National Security Act (NSA) against the Tablighi Jamaat patients in Ghaziabad for allegedly misbehaving with medical staff while being in quarantine at the district hospital’s isolation ward. “They would not follow the law, they would not follow the system, they are enemies of humanity, whatever they have done with women health workers is a heinous crime. We are imposing NSA on them,” CM Adityanath said, referring to the Ghaziabad incident related to the Tablighi Jamaat members.
In news from the tech world, video conferencing app Zoom's popularity has come with increased scrutiny. The video conferencing app, which is currently the top free app on Google Play Store in India, has seen daily meeting participants cross 200 million in March alone using both free and paid sessions. In December 2019, this stood at 10 million daily participants, which shows just how much the service has grown thanks to the COVID-19 pandemic and almost all companies in many countries adopting work from home. So what is the problem? A number of privacy issues, security flaws have been highlighted around Zoom, and it looks like the company is taking some serious action.
Mangoes have started arriving in Pune APMC market in Gultekadi. However, lack of customers have seen prices going for a toss. (Express Photos: Pavan Khengre)
Around the same time members of the Tablighi Jamaat gathered at the Nizamuddin dargah in Delhi, a congregation was scheduled in Vasai, 50 km from Mumbai. The Maharashtra government, however, cancelled permission for the event, preventing what could have become a Delhi-like Covid-19 hotspot. A Tablighi Jamaat ijtema or congregation “expecting attendance of 50,000 people” was planned at Suncity in Vasai on March 12-13. The organisers had received permission for the same earlier in the year. However, on March 6, four days after Maharashtra registered its first two Covid-19 cases, the state government realised it would be wise to cancel the event. The organisers also agreed, officials said. Mohamed Thaver, Sadaf Modak and Manoj Dattatrye More report.
Watch this video to understand the stages of a pandemic, why it is important to categorise an outbreak in stages and where the world is.
Here's the top news on the coronavirus pandemic this afternoon:
Leaders from opposition parties have hit out at Prime Minister Narendra Modi calling his video message a mere “symbolism” and asked if he has any concrete relief measures or vision of the future. Former finance minister P Chidambaram, in a series of tweets, called for steps to boost growth and said: “serious thought to ideas and measures” was as important as symbolism. Senior Congress leader Shashi Tharoor called Modi a “Photo-Op PrimeMinister.” TMC’s Mahua Moitra called for fiscal package to protect poor workers.
A couple in Chhattisgarh has decided to name their newborn twins 'Corona' and 'Covid'. The Raipur-based couple said this symbolises triumph over hardships. The twins, a boy and girl, were born on the intervening night of March 26-27. Read more here
Google is providing $6.5 million in funding to fact-checkers and non-profits fighting misinformation on the coronavirus pandemic. One of the organisations it is supporting is BOOM Live in India.
The New York Times has compared the coronavirus outbreak in the US and western Europe (which includes Germany, Italy, Austria and countries of mainland Europe to their west, like France and Spain). The two have nearly the same population -- western Europe has a population of 320 million, while the US has 330 million people. Both populations are affluent and distributed similarly, with a mix of urban and rural areas. An analysis suggests that the US is still weeks away from the peak of the outbreak.
The National Commission for Women (NCW) has raised concerns about the increase in the number of cases of domestic violence and abuse during the lockdown period in the country in the wake of the coronavirus outbreak. NCW Chairperson Rekha Sharma Thursday said the Commission has been receiving complaints mostly via emails. In the first week of March (2-8), NCW had received 116 complaints of crimes against women from across the country. During the lockdown period, the number of the same for 10 days, from March 23-31, is 257.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi is holding a meeting with 40 sportspersons via video-conferencing on the COVID-19 situation in India, reports news agency ANI.
Civilians should not use medical-grade masks, which are in short supply and must be reserved for health care workers on the front line. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention currently advises against healthy people wearing masks but is reviewing its guidance, particularly in light of a new belief that as many as 25 per cent of people infected with the new coronavirus may not show symptoms. Here's how you can make a face mask at home.
In a press briefing, Health Minister Dr. Harsh Vardhan said, "All passengers were screened at the airports. PM Modi has been monitoring the situation closely. All the citizens had followed the Janata curfew on March 22. The medical staff is doing its best to contain the spread. They are risking their lives each day. We are all very proud of them." He also added that only a selected few are fortunate to tackle the challenge, head-on. "That you have got a chance to be a Corona warrior should be looked like a blessing in disguise. Nation will always be grateful for your services," he told in a message to the health workers. He had earlier visited the Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital in Delhi.
The number of coronavirus cases in India rose to 2,301 this morning, with 336 cases being reported in the last 24 hours. Of these, 156 have been discharged. The death toll stands at 56
Amid, the COVID-29 lockdown, the Indian Railways has stepped in to help fight the pandemic in other ways. From converting train coaches to isolation centres, to delivering N95 masks for DRDO tests, trains are being utilised to serve many purposes at a time when COVID-19 cases are on the rise.Check them out here
Rajya Sabha Chairman M Venkaiah Naidu has put on hold the oath-taking of 37 newly-elected members till the lockdown in view of the coronavirus outbreak is over. Fifty-five vacancies are due to arise in the Rajya Sabha from 17 states between April 3 and 13, against which 37 members have already been elected unopposed. "The newly-elected members of Rajya Sabha are advised to wait for subscribing oath or affirmation till the lockdown period is over," an advisory from the Rajya Sabha chairman to the newly-elected members said. Naidu said in the context of the nationwide travel restrictions on account of the lockdown, the newly-elected members of the Upper House of Parliament were informed that there was no immediate requirement of taking oath.
In Goa, 8,000 plus messages have been received on the WhatsApp helpline. Unfortunately, people also used helpline saying 'they want milk'. On 104 helpline, 11,850 calls were alerts of quarantine people roaming, Chief Minister Pramod Sawant informed in the presser today. “If you see Goa today, I think Goans are very content compared to other states. All grocery shops are open. Excess of vegetables have come into Goa, Thursday 250 trucks of vegetables came. Now I'm afraid that it may rot, so much has come," he said, adding that an economic revival team will be in place after April 14 for Goa
A 78-year-old man from Godhra who tested positive and was under treatment at a hospital in Vadodara, passed away last night. The patient suffering from kidney ailments did not have any travel history. This is the first positive COVID19 case from Panchmahals
In case you missed Prime Minister Narendra Modi's address the nation, here it is. In a new appeal, he has asked his countrymen to put off the lights in their houses for nine minutes at 9 pm on Sunday, April 5, and light lamps at their doors or balconies. “You are not alone, no one is alone in the fight against coronavirus. The light from the lamps will show that we are together in this battle," he said.
"We have to move towards the light from the darkness created by coronavirus. No force stronger than our spirit and enthusiasm," the prime minister said, adding that social distancing is essential on April 5.
"Unprecedented discipline and sense of service by people during coronavirus lockdown. This Sunday on April 5, we have to challenge coronavirus. I need your nine minutes at 9 pm. Close the lights of your house. Light up a candle, lamp or use the mobile torch. This light will show that we are together in this battle," PM Modi said, asking people not to gather outside their houses.
Stating that many are worried about how many days will this continue, PM Modi said, "While this is a lockdown, don't think you are alone in this process. We are all together in this," he said thanking the people for cooperation