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Prime Minister Narendra Modi Friday addressed the nation and thanked the people for cooperating with the 21-day lockdown. In a new appeal to the countrymen, the prime minister asked people 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. India has enetered into the 11th day of lockdown today.
Many states have seen a sharp spike in cases in the last few days, fuelled by those who attended the gathering and their contacts. Tamil Nadu, for instance, reported 102 new cases on Friday, of which 100 were linked to the Delhi meet.
Telangana reported 75 new cases, all linked to the Tablighi Jamaat gathering. In Uttar Pradesh, 40 of the 48 new cases reported in the last 24 hours were traced to the congregation. The states from which cases linked to the Tablighi Jamaat congregation have been reported so far are: Delhi, Andaman and Nicobar, Assam, Himachal Pradesh, Haryana, Jammu and Kashmir, Jharkhand, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, Telangana, Uttarakhand and Uttar Pradesh.
The last doubling of positive cases, from 606 to 1,251, took five days (March 26-March 31). The epidemic doubling time is an estimate of the speed of spread of a disease and the success of containment measures. In South Korea, it took 31 days to double; US took 6 days; and Italy took 12 days.
Meanwhile, a Group of Ministers headed by Defence Minister Rajnath Singh Friday carried out a detailed review of the overall healthcare system and the situation arising out of the 21-day nationwide lockdown, including the supply of essential commodities.
Also, during a meeting of one of the 11 empowered group of officers tasked with different aspects of coordinating response to the coronavirus pandemic, it has emerged that between 20,000 and 30,000 ventilators may be lying dysfunctional across the country – in both public and private sector hospitals — either for want of parts or servicing.
According to sources, the issue figured during a meeting of the empowered group of officers on Wednesday chaired by the NITI Aayog CEO Amitabh Kant. A dozen senior representatives of industry chamber Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) were among those who attended the meeting.
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?
Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot has constituted two task forces for suggestions on withdrawing the lockdown in a phased manner and to bring the state back on track. Orders in this regard were issued Friday. Gehlot formed these task forces after an appeal by Prime Minister Narendra Modi during a video conference with Chief Ministers on Thursday. Read more
In the middle of a nationwide lockdown, BJP elected representatives and senior leaders, who otherwise criss-cross states on organisational work, are coordinating community kitchens and distribution of ration to the poor, and monitoring the pandemic over telephone and through conference calls and video-conferencing. Soon after Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced the Janata Curfew on March 22, BJP president J P Nadda and general secretary (organisation) B L Santosh decided to shape and guide the party’s course of action — at least for a month.
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On Saturday, states across the country reported 107 new COVID-19 cases and two deaths linked to the Tablighi Jamaat religious congregation, held in Delhi’s Nizamuddin area.
TAMIL NADU
The state recorded two deaths and 73 new COVID-19 cases linked to the religious congregation in Delhi. Of the two deaths of COVID-19 patients reported in the state, a 51-year-old man died in Villupuram medical college on Saturday morning. The state health department said that the husband and the son of the 53-year-old woman who died in Madurai were also part of the team that travelled to Delhi for the congregation. In the state, 422 of the total 485 cases tested positive are directly linked to the congregation. Read full story
The Press Council of India has issued an advisory to newspapers to not publish any advertisement for AYUSH-related claims regarding treatment of COVID-19. “Press Council of India advises the print media to stop publicity and advertisement of AYUSH-related claims for COVID-19 treatment in order to prevent dissemination of misleading information about AYUSH drugs and services…,” said the statement. The advisory was based on an order of the AYUSH ministry on similar lines.
'I called PM Modi this morning, India makes very large amounts of hydroxychloroquine azithromycine. They have it on hold because they have 1.3 billion people and they have lots of it but they need it, however, they are making serious considerations to ship doses. We have 29 million doses,' Trump claims.
"When the brunt of it comes, which it surely is going to very soon, we want to be ready and not have spent all our resources. We will move heaven and earth to save our American citizens. We will use all our resources to get our country back to work. We want to open our country again, this country was not meant for this. Few were, but not our country. For example, we are using the Defence Production Act very carefully.," Trump said.
"The hotspots authorities are constantly in touch with us. We want distributions to be made on a fair basis, we want it to reach the entire country, not just certain areas. I want to thank everyone for what they are doing— healthcare servies, medical workers, military— they are going into a battle that they are not trained for. Since 1917, the Spanish Flu, nearly 100 million people were killed. We have some good reports coming out of Washington, areas of California; looks like New York is going to be further hit hard," Trump said.
United States President Donald Trump addressing a press conference at 1:30 IST, said, "151 nations are still fighting against Coronavirus. This will be the toughest week, this and the next week and there will be a lot of deaths in the US. We are looking at some hotspots, some really hard hit regions, like we did not expect New Jersey. We want to save lives, and save as many lives as possible. I urge media to stop spreading fake news, they are the same ones, do it all for the ratings."
Two more senior government officials, including a Principal Secretary-level IAS officer, tested positive for coronavirus on Saturday. This makes three people out of four members of one of the special teams, formed by the Madhya Pradesh government to fight the pandemic, have tested positive for the virus. The special team was tasked with looking after drugs, equipment and logistics to fight the pandemic in MP. An IAS officer of the 2011 batch, who had no foreign travel history, had tested positive on Thursday. A subsequent test on the officer on Friday confirmed the infection.
CHHATTISGARH HEALTH Secretary Niharika Barik says she hasn’t entered her house in nearly a month. The 49-year-old IAS officer has been living in the outhouse to minimise contact with her aged parents and teenaged daughter. Every day, she steps out into the garden to interact with her daughter, who stands on the terrace. Over 250 km away, Raigad SP Santosh Singh remains alone in the front room while at home. The toughest part, says the 37-year-old police officer, is when his infant son crawls towards him, and he has to shut the door on his face. Barik and Singh are at the forefront of the state’s battle to contain the coronavirus. But like thousands of others like them across the country, from government officials to medical professionals, they are struggling to come to terms with the personal cost.
The Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) appealed to the people on Saturday not to consume and spit smokeless tobacco in public places.
The apex health research body said chewing smokeless tobacco products (gutka, pan masala with tobacco, pan and other chewing tobacco products) and areca nut (supari) increases the production of saliva, followed by a very strong urge to spit. READ MORE
In a significant development, the first screening test for Covid-19 conducted on the 23-year-old girl from Manipur, the first case of the state, came negative on Saturday. Dr Th. Bhimo, JNIMS director, however, said that the Covid-19 status of the patient will be declared negative after the result of a second test, which is to be conducted on Monday.
“To declare a Covid-19 patient is free from the virus two screening tests is required which is to be conducted after a gap of 24 hours”, said Dr Th. Bhimo. The JNIMS director is confident that the second result of the patient will be negative citing her improving health.
“The condition of the patient has improved a lot. She no longer has fever for the last five days. And her appetite is also improving. These are good signs”, said the JNIMS Director.
He informed that the authority will start their planning to discharge the patient if the second test came out negative. “The patient will be discharge only after she is fully recovered not only physically but also mentally”, he added.
The department also informed that all the 37 high risk co-passengers of the patient are completing 14 days of facility quarantine and they are being transferred to Regional Institute of Medical Sciences (RIMS) for mandatory testing on Saturday.
A nearly 100-year-old person, who had been under quarantine at a government facility in Jammu and Kashmir’s Udhampur district, died on Saturday late evening. Udhampur Deputy Commissioner Piyush Singla said that the deceased was put under quarantine two days ago and he was asymptomatic. His samples were sent for testing and the report was awaited.
Total number of positive cases in India rose to 3,113 after 324 out of 11,182 samples tested positive today, says ICMR.
The number of coronavirus cases has risen to 445 in Delhi but the situation is under control and there has been no community transmission, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said today. There were 40 cases of local transmission while a majority of other patients either had foreign travel history or were recently evacuated from Nizamuddin Markaz, he said. Sharing the data, he said 59 new cases came in last 24 hours in the national capital. Among all the patients who have coronavirus, around 11 are in ICU and five are on ventilators. "We can say that this is local transmission and not community transmission," he said. In community transmission, people do not get to know from whom they are getting infected but right now no such case has occurred in Delhi, he said, adding the situation is under control.
Delhi Deputy CM Manish Sisodia said that Centre hasn't allocated a "single penny to Delhi" even as they gave Rs 17,000 crore to other states. In a similar vein, Kejriwal had earlier today rued the fact that despite Delhi's request for more PPE kits, not even one has been given. "Right now we urgently need PPE (personal protective equipment) kits and we have already written to the central government about it yesterday. "I do not want the doctors and nurses to work without the protective gear but the centre is yet to provide us with these kits. I will request the Centre to provide us with PPE kits urgently," Kejriwal said.
New York Governor Andrew Cuomo holds press conference. Coronavirus cases in the state, the epicenter of the pandemic in the US, crossed 100,000 and it recorded the highest increase in the number of deaths from the virus in a single day between April 2 and 3.
The National Health Authority (NHA) on Saturday said that testing and treatment for COVID-19 will be free of cost for Ayushman Bharat beneficiaries at private laboratories and empanelled hospitals. This initiative, the NHA said, will strengthen the country’s fight against the novel coronavirus pandemic. Read More
Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray on Saturday said that the decision to lift the lockdown after April 14 will depend upon the compliance by people to the government directives of maintaining social distancing and staying inside their homes. “The lockdown will end on April 14 and what is to be done afterwards depends on the people and how strictly people follow the government directives,” said CM Thackeray while addressing the state through social media platforms. Read More here
Following a conversation with US President Donald Trump, PM Modi spoke with Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro about how India and Brazil can join forces against COVID-19 pandemic.
Health Ministry appeals passengers of New Delhi to Goa, Air India Flight AI 883 of March 22 to home quarantine and report to Helpline 104/08322421810. Earlier today, GOA CM Pramod Sawant said there is no community transmission of novel coronavirus in Goa, adding that six of the seven COVID-19 patients had foreign travel history while one was an infected person's brother. He said the lockdown in force must be adhered to strictly to effectively combat the virus outbreak.
India is one of the largest synchronous interconnected grids in the world, with an installed capacity of about 370 gigawatts (3,70,000 mega watts), and a normal baseload power demand of roughly 150 gigawatts. So what will be the likely impact of switching off lights on Sunday? Read more here
Taking a dig at the Centre for not conducting enough tests to fight the novel coronavirus (COVID-19), former Congress president Rahul Gandhi Saturday said Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s appeal to light candles tomorrow won’t solve the problem. “Making people clap and shining torches in the sky isn’t going to solve the problem,” Gandhi said, emphasising on the need to hold more tests to determine the full scale of the virus. “India is simply not testing enough to fight the COVID-19 virus,” he said. Read More
ICMR issues advisory to start rapid blood tests. If you recall, ICMR earlier this week recommended the use of hydroxychloroquine for the treatment of the novel coronavirus for two categories of ‘high risk population’. The drug, that has existed for several decades, has been recommended for prophylaxis in case of asymptomatic healthcare workers involved in the care of suspected or confirmed cases of COVID-19 and asymptomatic household contacts of laboratory confirmed cases.
At least 775 samples were collected out of which 574 have tested negative and two have tested positive. On Friday, Jharkhand Health Minister Banna Gupta expressed disappointment at Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s approach to tackle the coronavirus pandemic and said the state’s needs have gone unheeded, despite two positive COVID-19 cases. Saying he was ‘astonished’ by PM Modi’s approach, Gupta added that the state needs medical supplies, food and financial package. “In two video conferences, PM Modi didn’t attempt to understand the pain of Jharkhand despite the state having two positive COVID-19 cases,” he rued.
One person from city tested positive for coronavirus on Saturday, taking the total number of people in the city to test positive till date to 17. While there was buzz in the city about the new positive case to be related to Tablighi programme in Delhi, but Civil Surgeon D V Paturkar only confirmed that he had a travel history from Delhi. Of the 17 persons from city found coronavirus positive, four have returned home after being cured. Meanwhile, 11 more from city who articipated in Markaz event in Delhi have tested negative for the virus. This was confirmed by Deputy Medical Superintendent of Indira Gandhi Government Medical College.
Maharashtra Health Minister Rajesh Tope on Saturday said the government was considering relaxation of the ongoing lockdown for containment of coronavirus in phases. Earlier in the day he had said the state government may not lift lockdown on April 14 if people did not observe discipline and the number of COVID-19 cases kept rising. 'Discussion is on about whether the lockdown can be relaxed in phases. Strict rules will have to be followed in the containment zones,' Tope said in a live webcast later. The minister also urged people to take steps to boost immunity. 'Eat well and exercise indoors,' he said.The number of COVID-19 cases in Maharashtra rose by 47 on Saturday, taking the tally to 537. Twenty-six people have died due to the disease in the state till now.
In an interaction with US President Donald Trump, PM Modi spoke about ways to contain COVID-19 pandemic. PM Modi had earlier spoken with several heads of states like German Chancellor Angela Merkel, France President Emmanuel Macron, Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, among others.
Amid a countrywide lockdown due to COVID-19, Prime Minister Narendra Modi will interact with floor leaders of various political parties via a video link on April 8. Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pralhad Joshi said Prime Minister Modi will interact with floor leaders of all those parties who have more than five MPs in both houses of Parliament on April 8 at 11am. COVID-19 and countrywide lockdown are likely to be discussed during the meeting. This will be the prime minister's first interaction with opposition leaders after the lockdown.
Earlier today, PM Modi had chaired a joint meeting of the Empowered Groups where he reviewed countrywide preparedness regarding availability of hospitals, proper isolation and quarantine facilities as well as disease surveillance and critical care training.
Two tipplers in Kottaipattinam town near Pudukkottai district of Tamil Nadu died on Friday after consuming shaving lotion with a soft drink as a substitute for alcohol. The sale of alcohol is suspended in the state in the wake of the nationwide lockdown to curb the spread of coronavirus. According to the Kottaipattinam police, Anwar Raja (34), Arun Pandian (29) and Hasan Maideen (31) belonging to the fishing community were depressed due to the non-availability of alcohol in their town. To overcome this situation, on Thursday evening the trio had consumed shaving lotion with a soft drink as a substitute for alcohol. They had been lying unconscious till Friday morning and were rushed to a nearby government hospital where Pandian and Maideen they were declared dead. Raja is currently been treated at a private hospital in Aranthangi. The Kottaipattinam police have registered a case and carrying out the investigation.
Mwanwhile, third COVID-19 death was reported from Tamil Nadu. A 53-year-old woman, wife of a COVID-19 positive patient died at the Theni medical college and hospital today.
In the span of 24 hours, about 12 new deaths and 601 novel coronavirus cases were reported across the country, the Health Ministry said. The ministry assured that the doubling rate of the cases in our country is less than most other countries. As per the latest data provided by the Ministry, the death toll rose to 68 with total 2,902 Covid-19 cases, including 183 recovered.
? So far, 1,023 Covid-19 cases are linked to the Tablighi Jamaat congregation. This means 30 per cent cases are linked to one thing that we cannot control.
? Rigorous contact tracing is going on in 17 states that reported Covid-19 cases related to the Tablighi Jamaat.
? Through a massive effort around 22,000 Tablighi Jamaat workers and their contacts have been quarantined.
? The condition of 58 Covid-19 patients is critical and they are in Kerala, Madhya Pradesh and Delhi.
? Nine per cent Covid-19 patients belong to 0-20 years age, 42 per cent patients belong to 21-40 years age, 33 per cent cases pertain to patients between 41-60 years age, & 17 per cent patients have crossed 60 years age.
? We are increasing our Covid-19 testing capacity progressively. No need to panic but awareness needed to fight battle against Ccovid-19.
To effectively contain COVID-19, UK is pressing into action Reservists to prevent the spread of coronavirus in the country.
As per reports, 708 people have died after testing positive, UK's total now stands at 4,313.
The worldwide number of officially confirmed fatalities from the novel coronavirus rose to 59,456 on Saturday, according to a tally compiled by AFP. More than 1,122,320 declared cases have been registered in 190 countries and territories since the epidemic first emerged in China in December. Of these cases, at least 211,600 are now considered recovered.
Italy, which recorded its first coronavirus death at the end of February, has 14,681 fatalities, with 119,827 infections and 19,758 people recovered. Spain has recorded 11,744 fatalities and 124,736 infections. China -- excluding Hong Kong and Macau -- has to date declared 3,326 deaths and 81,639 cases, with 76,755 recoveries.
France has reported 6,507 deaths and 83,165 cases. The United States has the highest official number of infected people with 278,458 diagnosed cases, 7,159 deaths and 9,772 recoveries.
Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, in the meantime, says he has written to the Centre for more medical PPE kits but hasn't received even one so far. "We are facing a shortage of PPE kits. We have written to the Centre to supply the kits, essential for our doctors and nurses. But we haven't received even one PPE kit from the Union government so far," says CM Arvind Kejriwal.
Similarly, here's another advisory by discoms to citizens.
After PM's call to the nation to put out lights at 9pm on Sunday, discoms across the country are rushing to clarify that there's no need to switch off domestic appliances. Punjab State Power Corporation Ltd said there's no danger of power supply failure due to PMs call of switching off lights for 9 minutes and requested customers to only switch off lights and not domestic appliances
Coronavirus update from Karnataka: 16 new cases confirmed. As of 5 pm of 4 April, 144 COVID-19 positive cases have been confirmed in Karnataka, including 4 deaths & 11 discharged.
The health ministry also refuted as false apprehensions about instability of grid and fluctuations at 9 pm tomorrow and they advised people to not use alcohol-based hand sanitizers. In his address to the nation on Friday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi asked people across the country to turn off the lights in their homes for 9 minutes on April 5, starting at 9 pm. In response to this appeal, grid managers across states such as Punjab, Uttar Pradesh, Gujarat and Tamil Nadu, though their respective state load despatch centres (SLDCs), are learnt to have flagged the risks and are preparing for the worst case scenario as a contingency measure, with the assumption being that all lighting load in the country could simultaneously go off for 9 minutes on Sunday evening and then come back on.
During the press briefing, Punya Salila Srivastava, Joint Secretary, MHA, said that 22,000 people linked to Tablighi Jamaat and their contacts are in quarantine.
Lav Agarwal, Joint Secretary, Health Ministry said that so far 1,023 Covid-19 cases are linked to Tablighi Jamaat meet, which means that 30 per cent cases are linked to one thing we could not control. The Tablighi Jamaat is a conservative Muslim organisation set up in 1926 by Maulana Muhammad Ilyas in Mewat (in present-day Haryana), and aims to spread religious knowledge among Muslims. Several COVID-19 cases in the country have been traced to Tablighi Jamaat gathering that took place in New Delhi’s Nizamuddin West mid-March. In fact, the Nizamuddin area has been identified as one of the 10 “hotspots” where “unusual” transmission of coronavirus has been detected.
While establishing that confirmed cases are on the rise, the health ministry said the 'doubling rate in India is less than most other countries at the moment'. In India, cases rose to 2,902 including 68 deaths and 183 people who have been treated and discharged so far. While Maharashtra has reported 47 new cases, 25 new infections emerged from Agra on Saturday. There has been a spike of 355 cases in the country in the last 12 hours.
According to the health ministry, 9 per cent of patients belong to 0-20 years age, 42 per cent belong to 21-40 years age, 33 per cent cases pertain to patients between 41-60 years age, & 17 per cent patients have crossed 60 years age.
In a routine press briefing on COVID-19 situation in the country, the health ministry said there are 2,902 COVID-19 positive cases so far. '601 positive cases have been reported since yesterday, 12 deaths also reported yesterday taking total deaths to 68. 183 people have recovered/discharged,' said Lav Aggarwal, Joint Secretary, Health Ministry
Two more people tested positive for Coronavirus in Gurgaon today, with officials saying the patients are a doctor who hails from Agra, and his son, who had recently travelled to Gurgaon. “The doctor practices in Agra. His son and he have both tested positive and been admitted at Medanta-The Medicity. The authorities in Uttar Pradesh (UP) have also been alerted,” said Dr Jaswant Singh Punia, Chief Medical Officer (CMO), Gurgaon. A total of 17 cases have been recorded in the district so far, of which 9 people have recovered.
In an attempt to reverse the perception that the Mumbai Police is only interested in using baton to enforce the COVID-19-induced lockdown, Sachin Sooryavanshi, an assistant police inspector at Kherwadi Police Station, has made a video to explain the need for people to stay indoors. The clip has now gone viral on social media.
Sooryavanshi says he made the three-minute clip after getting frustrated over the resistance shown by a number of people to comply with the lockdown rules. In the dramatised clip, Sooryavanshi can be seen explaining why people need to follow the lockdown orders and how the Mumbai Police takes no pleasure in using force to enforce the lockdown. Read more
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday chaired a meeting of various empowered groups set up to respond to the coronavirus threat and directed officials to ensure sufficient availability of all essential medical equipment such as personal protective equipment, masks, gloves and ventilators. In a series of tweets, the Prime Minister's Office said Modi reviewed the countrywide preparedness regarding availability of hospitals, proper isolation and quarantine facilities as well as disease surveillance, testing and critical care training.
Health Minister Dr Harsh Vardhan said the procurement process for PPE (Personal Protective Equipment) kits, N95 masks, ventilators is in the advanced stage and these will reach the states soon. He, however, said that “there is no shortage as of today”.
France on Saturday evacuated 112 French citizens stranded in Kerala and Tamil Nadu in a special Air India flight, news agency PTI reported quoting its official sources. The Embassy of France had made a request to the Kerala government to facilitate the journey of the French citizens stranded due to the lockdown announced by the central government to prevent the spread of the novel coronavirus.
According to the ministry’s state wise updated data as of now, six fresh deaths were reported today — three from Maharashtra, two from Delhi and one from Gujarat. Thus, Maharashtra has reported the most deaths (19) so far, followed by Madhya Pradesh (11), Telangana (7), Gujarat (9), Delhi (6), Punjab (5), Karnataka (3), West Bengal (3), Jammu and Kashmir (2), Uttar Pradesh (2) and Kerala (2). Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Bihar and Himachal Pradesh have reported a death each. The figure of 2,902 includes 55 foreign nationals.
New York Governor Andrew Cuomo said he would order the redistribution of critically needed ventilators. New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio called for a national enlistment program for doctors and nurses. And the coronavirus outbreak picked up speed with more deaths and more hospitalisations. Cuomo said Friday he will order the redistribution of hundreds of ventilators to hospitals overwhelmed with critical coronavirus patients amid alarming increases in outbreak-related deaths and hospitalizations. Read More
Germany accused the US on Friday of confiscating thousands of protective face masks that Berlin authorities have already paid for, calling it “an act of modern piracy.” Berlin Interior Minister Andreas Geisel said US officials intercepted a shipment of 200,000 face masks in Bangkok intended for use during the coronavirus outbreak. Read More
In Chhattisgarh, a 16-year-old boy from Katghora has been found positive with Covid-19 taking the number of positive patients in the state to 10. He had come from Maharashtra and was quarantined in a mosque.
Three more positive cases reported from Narso, Udhampur in Jammu division on Saturday. All the three have come in contact with one positive case from Udhampur, who had a travel history to abroad, UT govt spokesperson Rohit Kansal said.
The FIFA Under-17 Women’s World Cup to be held in India in November was on Saturday postponed by football’s governing body due to the worsening COVID-19 pandemic across the globe. The women’s age group showpiece was to be held at five venues in the country –Kolkata, Guwahati, Bhubaneswar, Ahmedabad and Navi Mumbai — from November 2-21. Read More
Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra on Saturday said it is imperative for India to immediately ramp up its rate of testing for coronavirus and that the government must act now for the lockdown to yield results. The Congress general secretary asserted that extremely valuable information about the severity of the disease, disease clusters and focal points is gained from testing. "It is imperative that India immediately ramps up its rate of testing. Extremely valuable information about the severity of the disease, disease clusters and focal points is gained from testing," she said in a tweet.? "In order for this lockdown to yield results, it has to be backed up by large scale testing and other measures to support the medical infrastructure systems in this country. The government must act now," she said.
The WHO and IMF chiefs insisted Friday that saving lives was a "prerequisite" to saving livelihoods in the coronavirus pandemic -- a crisis they called "one of humanity's darkest hours". World Health Organization director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus and International Monetary Fund managing director Kristalina Georgieva said getting the COVID-19 virus under control first was necessary to revive economic activity -- though they admitted it was difficult to strike the right balance.--AFP