Coronavirus April 15 Highlights: Death toll touch 392 as cases near 12000-mark

The Madhya Pradesh government on Wednesday threatened to take strict action under the Essential Services Maintenance Act (ESMA) against 69 bonded doctors if they fail to reach reach Indore, a major COVID hotspot, by 5.30 pm on Friday.

As the cases continued to surge in the state's biggest city, the government had on April 11 asked 32 senior doctors and 70 bonded doctors to reach Indore immediately. They were told that they will work under the chief medical and health officer, Indore.

Four days after the order, only one bonded doctor reached Indore. The government on Wednesday issued the list of doctors who had been asked to rush to Indore immediately. Health Commissioner Faiz Ahmed Kidwai said the government will invoke ESMA against the junior doctors if they violate the order.

Slamming the USICRF for condemning a report by The Indian Express that claimed a hospital in Gujarat has segregated coronavirus wards into two on the basis of faith, the Ministry of External Affairs said the USICRF "must stop adding religious colour to our national goal of fighting the pandemic and distract from larger efforts."

In response to media query on a tweet today by USCIRF on India, the official spokesperson Mr. Anurag Srivastava said, "as if its peremptory commentary on religious freedom in India is not enough, the USCIRF is now spreading misguided reports on the professional medical protocols followed to deal with spread of COVID19 in India. It must stop adding religious colour to our national goal of fighting the pandemic and distract from larger efforts. No segregation is being done in civil hospitals on the basis of religion, as clarified by the Gujarat Government."

USCIRF is concerned with reports of Hindu & Muslim patients separated into separate hospital wards in #Gujarat. Such actions only help to further increase ongoing stigmatization of Muslims in #India and exacerbate false rumors of Muslims spreading #COVID19 https://t.co/GXigs4w5na

— USCIRF (@USCIRF) April 15, 2020

Congress MP Rahul Gandhi Wednesday said he is proud that his constituency Wayanad in Kerala "has been recognised by the Health Ministry for its excellent results in tackling Covid-19."

"I’m proud that Wayanad District, in my constituency, has been recognised by the Health Ministry for its excellent results in tackling Covid-19. The district has had no new cases for the past 16 days.I salute the DC, SP, DMO &district administration for their hard work & dedication," he said.

I’m proud that Wayanad Dist., in my constituency, has been recognised by the Health Ministry for its excellent results in tackling #Covid19. The district has had no new cases for the past 16 days.I salute the DC, SP, DMO &district administration for their hard work & dedication. https://t.co/TyRn3hmNPH

— Rahul Gandhi - Wayanad (@RGWayanadOffice) April 15, 2020

A man was injured after being shot at for allegedly coughing in Greater Noida on Tuesday evening. According to police, the victim Prashant was rushed to Kailash Hospital where he is receiving treatment and is currently stable.

“We received information that a man has been shot in village Dayanagar in Greater Noida, at around 9 pm. As the police reached the spot, we found that the victim was playing Ludo with three other people when another resident came and argument broke out over coughing and the accused shot at him. A case has been registered and arrests will be made”, said an official from Jaracha Police Station.

An FIR has been lodged against a resident of Gurgaon's New Colony area for allegedly tearing up the quarantine sticker pasted by the Municipal Corporation of Gurugram (MCG) outside his home, and also venturing out despite being asked to remain in quarantine. According to the FIR registered in the matter, police were alerted to the incident by a tip off from a source on Tuesday morning.

'When a team reached the spot, the sticker was found on the ground, on which it was written that people in the house were under quarantine from April 7 to April 21," said a police official.  "When the team asked for the accused, Vinit, who the source had claimed had torn the sticker, they were told he was not at home despite being told to remain under quarantine," he said.
An FIR was registered in the case under various sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), as well as the Disaster Management Act, 2005 on Tuesday.  "The accused has denied the allegations as of now, and matter is under investigation. We are looking at CCTV footage to determine what actually happened. No arrests have been made yet," said the official.

Twitter users as Parth (@ParthEkal) and Indrajeet (@Jaggu_4) from Pune started a chat on Twitter expressing their desire to meet. “3rd May tak nahi hoega sorry (Not possible till May 3, sorry),” wrote one of the user to which other one commented, “We’ll meet uske pehele kabhi toh (We’ll meet before that only soon). Soon, the first person replied, “Jaggu, we can meet right now. You stay 1 street across. Tu bol fkta kadhi (You just tell when).”

However, little did the friends know that their causal conversation will be intercepted by the cops. Pune Police on Twitter noticed their chat and cheekily asked if they could join in. “Hey! Even we’d like to join and give you company for longer! Tumhi saanga fakt kuthe ani kadhi? (You just tell us when and where),” the cops tweeted.

On Wednesday, Assam received an import of 50,000 Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) kits from China. A special flight brought the kits from Guangzhou to Guwahati on Wednesday evening. Health Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma and Minister of State for Health and Family Welfare Pijush Hazarika were at the Lokpriya Gopinath Bordoloi Airport (LGBI) airport to receive the kits. “While this has been purchased by the Central government, we are the first state government to have imported the order,” said Sarma, addressing reporters. According to Sarma, Assam had one lakh PPE kits. “Now we have 50,000 more. We are closer to our aim of getting 2 lakh PPE kits as buffer stock,” he said.

A day after United States President Donald Trump announced that he was freezing funding for the World Health Organisation (WHO) over its handling of the coronavirus pandemic, the organisation’s chief voiced ‘regret’ over the decision and said the body was purely focused on saving lives and halting spread of the virus, AFP reported.

“There is no time to waste. WHO’s singular focus is on working to serve all people to save lives and stop the COVID-19 pandemic,” director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said on Twitter following Trump’s decision.

As India entered the 22nd day of the national lockdown, the Ministry of Home Affairs released a set of revised guidelines allowing activities like agriculture, Information Technology and movement of trucks from April 20 in order to “mitigate hardships to public”. This comes as the total coronavirus cases in India neared the 12,000-mark with 392 deaths.

Under the revised guidelines, the exemptions from the lockdown have also been granted to all health services, financial services, MNREGA works, public utilities, the supply of goods, e-commerce and cargo services. The government has also made face masks mandatory in public as well as work spaced and also emphasised on practising social distancing. Here is a curated list of striking stories that happened across the country

Through a series of sustained contact tracing measures, relatively high testing of symptomatic patients and observance of strict quarantine, Kerala’s health department has been largely successful in flattening the curve of new infections and thus contain the spread of the pandemic in its second wave.

But experts and government officials are wary about a new challenge: when a significant proportion of its 20 lakh-strong expatriate population in the Middle East start to return home once the national lockdown is lifted.

For now, Kerala’s government officials have requested the local authorities in UAE, Saudi Arabia and other Gulf countries to ensure proper supply of food and medicines for its expatriates. “Stay where you are right now. Once the lockdown is lifted and flights begin to operate, you can come home,” is the message. However, officials are bracing for the wave of returnees and possible job losses. Read more here

Coronavirus cases in Delhi rise to 1,578 with 17 new cases reported in the last 24 hours. The death toll stands at 32.

The Mumbai police on Wednesday arrested a Marathi journalist over his news report that railways will be running trains for migrants amidst an extended nationwide lockdown.

The police, earlier today, registered three FIRs in connection with the gathering of a crowd near Bandra station on the day the nationwide lockdown was extended by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. While the first FIR was registered against a crowd that had gathered near Bandra station, the second was against one Vinay Dubey who had put up a video on social media saying migrants should take to the streets. Dubey has been formally arrested and remanded in custody until April 21. The third FIR by the police was against ABP Correspondent Rahul Kulkarni for his news report railways will be running trains for migrants.

They started preparing for it Tuesday morning until late evening. By the time they left, it was post-midnight. A group of about 150 persons — migrant labourers and their families — staying in and around Katraj area of Pune and hailing from Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh, had taken to the road to walk to their hometowns around 1,000 km away.

They were, however, intercepted by police Wednesday morning even before they could cross the city limits. They had walked for two hours carrying just the bare minimum needed for the journey. Around 3.30 am, the police put an end to their trek while telling them that they had two options: going back to their rented houses in Katraj, or staying in a government shelter for migrants. Read more here

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A fourteen-day old baby girl and her parents were among the six persons from Rajkot city who tested positive for the novel coronavirus on Wednesday. This is the sharpest single-day spike in COVID-19 cases in Rajkot, taking the total number confirmed cases of the infectious disease to 23 in the district.

Samples were taken of the infant after she displayed symptoms of the disease on Tuesday. Those samples returned positive at 11 pm on Tuesday. On Wednesday evening, PDU Medical College reported that samples of the baby's parents had also returned positive. "The infant and her mother were symptomatic of the disease while the father had mild symptoms. They have been admitted to the isolation ward in civil hospital," Dr Mitesh Bhanderi, chief district health officer (CDHO) of Rajkot told The Indian Express.

While the mother is 18-year-old, the father is aged 25. The other three patients include a 37-year-old woman and two men aged 47 and 84 years.

The infant is the youngest in Gujarat to contract the novel coronavirus.

As Delhi’s coronavirus cases climbed to over 1,500, the state government on Wednesday announced that plasma enrichment technique would now be used to treat severely-ill COVID-19 patients on trial basis at a government hospital. Last week, Kerala became the first state to receive ICMR approval for exploring the feasibility of convalescent plasma transfusion.

Lt Governor Anil Baijal advised healthcare workers to strictly adhere to the guidelines and protocols issued by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare while dealing with COVID-19 patients. “Delhi will use plasma technique for treatment on a trial basis to save lives of critical COVID-19 patients,” news agency ANI quoted him as saying. Click here to read

The number of cases in Maharashtra rose to 2,916 with 232 new cases reported today. Also, 295 pateitns have been cured or discharged. The death toll stands at 187 now. Of the total 392 deaths in the country, Maharashtra tops the tally.

The current count of COVID19 patients in the state of Maharashtra is 2916 Today newly 232 patients have been identified as positive for Covid19. From these, 295 Covid19 patients have been cured and discharged from the respective hospitals.#CoronaVirusUpdates #MeechMazaRakshak

— Rajesh Tope (@rajeshtope11) April 15, 2020

Migrant labourers stranded across the country amidst a nationwide lockdown will not be allowed to go to their native places due to prohibition of rail, air, and road traffic till May 3 to control the spread of COVID-19 pandemic, the government said on Wednesday.

Replying to a media query on guidance provided by the government to migrant workers, Additional Secretary in the Home Ministry Govind Mohan said it is clear that movement of migrant labourers is not possible till end of the lockdown. He said that necessary facilities for migrant workers such as food and shelter camps have been made and states have been allowed to use State Disaster Relief Fund for this purpose.

On Monday, Jammu and Kashmir’s Srinagar was included in a list of 16 districts to share best practices in an effort to contain the spread of COVID-19, with representatives of 700 districts of the country. The key factors that distinguish Srinagar in dealing with the pandemic, include early response, aggressive contact tracing and use of information technology alongside enhanced testing and surveillance.

Nearly 15,000 policemen and 1000 surveillance teams scan the city every day to enforce stringent lockdown. The district has, so far, recorded 53 positive coronavirus cases against a population of over 17 lakh, since the first case was reported on March 18. Nineteen others from Delhi and Kerala are also quarantined by the administration on their arrival in the district on March 26 after the administration’s ‘control room intelligence team’ tracked them. Read more here

Food regulator FSSAI on Wednesday issued guidelines related to hygiene and safety that food business operators (FBOs) need to follow during the coronavirus disease outbreak. In its 14-page 'Food Hygiene and Safety Guidelines for food businesses during coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic', the FSSAI has suggested various measures that need to be taken by the FBOs. "These specific measures, detailed in the document, include maintaining high levels of personal hygiene; excluding COVID-19 infected persons from the operations; practicing social distancing; and appropriate cleaning/sanitisation of the food operations' premises, food contact materials etc," FSSAI said in a statement. As per the guidelines, food business owners or employers should have a COVID 19 screening protocol in place to screen all personnel entering the premises. Those with temperature more than 99 degree Fahrenheit and/or flu like symptoms should not be allowed to enter establishments.

Bharuch civil staff nurses aged 32 and 42 tested Covid-19 positive, taking the tally to 13. The nurses had attended to Covid-19 positive patients on April 9 during their transit stay at Bharuch civil hospital before being shifted to Ankleshwar Covid-19 hospital. Bharuch Collector confirmed that the two nurses, both residents of Bharuch city, were instructed to wear PPE suits while attending to the Covid-19 patients on April 9.

Bharuch Collector confirms that the two nurses, both residents of Bharuch city, were instructed to wear PPE suits while attending to the Covid19 patients on April 9. @IndianExpress

— Aditi Raja (@aditijf) April 15, 2020

Two persons have been arrested in Hyderabad Wednesday for assaulting a doctor at Osmania General Hospital. The duo – Md Ashfaq and Md Arshad Ali – were booked under sections 332, 188, 269, 270, 271 of IPC and section 3 of the Epidemic Disease Act, 1897 and section 4 of Telangana Medicare Service Person and Medicare Service Institution Act, 2008. The duo was produced before the magistrate and remanded in judicial custody, said the police.

In a statement, the Commissioner of Police Anjani Kumar warned that any person assaulting a doctor would be arrested and sent to jail immediately. He said Hyderabad City police is committed to taking prompt action against any person who assaults a doctor or any medical staff in any of the hospitals. In these challenging times, doctors and the entire medical staff are true leaders of the society. Read here more

With WHO underlining the importance of continuing prevention and treatment of Tuberculosis (TB) during the COVID-19 crisis, the Indian Express explains how the current situation can also help to zero in on ‘missed out’ TB patients. Health experts believe that because of the fear of the coronavirus, several people will step forward for testing since symptoms for TB – fever, cough and difficulty in breathing - are almost similar to coronavirus. The medical examination then will help reveal their TB bacteria infection. What exactly has WHO said for TB patients during COVID-19?

A team of doctors and researchers from the University of California in San Francisco are using a smart ring from Oura to study if there are early markers of COVID-19, even before the actual symptoms manifest. This is crucial because a large number of COVID-19 patients are asymptomatic, but still end up transmitting the virus to many.

Harpreet Singh Rai, CEO, Oura, tells indianexpress.com in a call from San Francisco that the smart ring is able to track symptoms “two to three days in advance”. He explains: “Since we are tracking temperature 24×7, since we track both heart rate variability and respiratory rate all throughout the night, we see these things change. I think it was really that interesting use case that we felt could be helpful for potentially identifying COVID-19.”

Vistara CEO Leslie Thng on Wednesday announced that senior employees will be going on compulsory leave without pay for up to three days between April 15 and April 30 as a measure to further conserve the airline’s cash flow amid the lockdown to combat the coronavirus threat.

On March 27, the airline had also introduced compulsory leave without pay for up to three days between April 1 and April 14 for the same set of senior employees. Read here more

Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan Wednesday said that 1 new COVID-19 case was reported in the state today, taking the total number of positive cases in the state to 387. This includes 167 active cases. Briefing the media about the Covid-19 situation in the State, Kerala Chief Minister, Shri Pinarayi Vijayan said, “Just one fresh case of the Coronavirus infection was reported in Kerala today while the test results of seven patients under treatment came as negative.” The lone case from Kannur district has got the infection through primary contact. Four patients from Kasargod district, two from Kozhikode district and one from Kollam district are those who have recovered from Covid-19 and tested negative.
 
Till date, there have been a total of 383 confirmed cases of Coronavirus infection in Kerala and 167 patients are currently under treatment in various hospitals across the State. 264 of the confirmed cases were people, who had come to Kerala from outside the State and from abroad, eight were foreign nationals and 114 were cases of local transmission.
 
The number of people under surveillance in the State has further come down to 97,464. Of these, 96,942 are isolated at their homes and 522 are in the isolation wards in hospitals. 86 persons were hospitalised today. So far, 16,472 samples from people with symptoms have been sent for testing and 16,002 samples have tested negative with no infection.
 
“In our country, the recovery rate is the highest in Kerala and 218 patients have been completely cured of the disease. There is good progress in testing and we are doing increased numbers now. But we cannot afford to give more exemptions and relaxations in the lockdown condition,” said the Chief Minister.

Nearly 2,000 migrant workers gathered outside the suburban Bandra West station in Mumbai Tuesday demanding the right to return home, and access to food and rations. The police had to resort to a lathi-charge to disperse the crowd. See more photos here

Four persons tested positive for COVID-19 in Bihar on Wednesday, taking the total number of people afflicted with the disease to 70. Principal Secretary, Health, Sanjay Kumar told PTI that three persons from Nalanda district a 60-year-old man and two women aged 25 and 35 years all of whom came in contact with a coronavirus-infected patient with travel history to Dubai, have tested positive. In addition, a 60-year-old man from Munger has also tested positive, Kumar said, adding that his contact-tracing is on.

The Containment Zones in Gurgaon have been reduced from 9 to 6 Wednesday. The areas that remain under containment are Devi Lal Colony, Sun City, Sector 39, Fazilpur Jharsa village, Pataudi ward 11 and Raipur village in Sohna,as per the order issued by District Magistrate.

For owners of captive elephants in Kerala, the summer months of March, April and May are generally a hectic period. This is the time when a large number of temples in the state observe their annual festivals which are considered ritualistically incomplete without caparisoned elephants swaying to traditional percussion beats. However, the ongoing nationwide coronavirus lockdown, which just got extended to May 3, has left elephant owners staring at dark days ahead as all temples have suspended elaborate festivals and shut its doors to the public.

“This year’s season began on January 21 and we had regular bookings till May. But we have lost all of that now. The next season would begin only in January next year. Till then, managing the elephant’s requirements is a mammoth task. We incur a daily cost of Rs. 4000 per elephant for food and other needs,” said Sreejith, a native of Thrissur district who owns the elephant going by the name of Guruji Sivaranayanan. Read more here

In view of the Consolidated Revised Guidelines and National Directives issued by the Ministry of Home Affairs(MHA), all IMFL "OFF"/CS "OFF" shops, wholesale warehouses, bottling plants, distilleries and breweries in Assam are now directed to shut down, confirmed Excise Minister Parimal Suklabaidya. Since April 13, liquor shops have been open from 10 am to 5 pm, functioning with bare minimum staff. According to Suklabaidya, the shops, warehouses, factories, will now remain closed until further orders.

Europe’s economic powerhouse Germany has been in recession since March, with the slump sparked by the coronavirus pandemic likely to last until the middle of the year, the economy ministry said Wednesday. “Falling global demand, interruption of supply chains, changes in consumers’ behaviour and uncertainty among investors” had all made themselves felt in export giant Germany, the ministry said, news agency AFP reported.

Meanwhile, Berlin today condemned US’ decision to freeze payments to the World Health Organisation (WHO), as German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas warned against “blaming others” for the coronavirus crisis, AFP reported. “Blaming others won’t help… one of the best investments is to strengthen the UN, above all the under-financed WHO… in the development and distribution of tests and vaccines,” Maas wrote on Twitter, a day after Trump’s announcement. Here’s all the global news that you should know

The United Kingdom will receive nearly 3 million units of paracetamol following talks with India. This will arrive in the next two weeks and will be stocked in the UK’s leading supermarkets Flag of United Kingdom Flag of India.

NEWS: UK to receive nearly 3 million units of paracetamol following talks with India.

This will arrive in the next two weeks & will be stocked in the UK’s leading supermarkets ????pic.twitter.com/Pxk5vOirXy

— Foreign Office ?? (@foreignoffice) April 15, 2020

According to the latest update by the Health Ministry Wednesday, the number of coronavirus cases rose to 11,933 including 1,343 people who have been treated and discharged. The death toll now stands at 392. A total of 1,118 cases and 39 deaths were reported in the last 24 hours.

Taking to Twitter, Chhattisgarh Health Minister TS Singh Deo shared a video of the nursing staff at AIIMS, Raipur taking care of a 3-month-old daughter of a woman who has tested positive for COVID-19. "Exemplary sense of duty & humanity being displayed by the nurses. So proud of them & the entire medical staff at @aiims_rpr & across Chhattisgarh.", his post read.

Exemplary sense of duty & humanity being displayed by the nurses. So proud of them & the entire medical staff at @aiims_rpr & across Chhattisgarh.

I pray for the quick recovery of all Covid19 patients. May this little baby girl be back in the arms of her mother, soon! ? https://t.co/bY0H4OWyQ3

— TS Singh Deo (@TS_SinghDeo) April 15, 2020

The Madhya Pradesh government Wednesday removed Bhopal Memorial Hospital and Research Centre (BMHRC), from the list of hospitals designated as COVID-19 facilities in the wake of allegations that survivors of the 1984 gas tragedy, for whom the super specialty hospital was set up, were left to fend for themselves.

After the government declared BMHRC as a dedicated COVID-19 hospital on March 23, Bhopal Group for Information and Action (BGIA) had moved Madhya Pradesh High Court to challenge the decision.

The organisation alleged that since the facility was closed for gas survivors in the current scenario, the condition of some of them worsened because they were denied treatment elsewhere. Rachna Dhingra of BGIA also said that a few gas survivors had died in the last few days. Read more here

The Health Ministry also said that special teams will search for new COVID-19 cases and samples will be collected and tested as per sampling criteria. Health Ministry’s Joint Secretary Lav Agarwal denied any community transmission in India but added that there have been some local outbreaks.

Coronavirus cases in India Wednesday crossed the 11,000-mark to reach 11,439 with 1,173 reported in the last 24 hours, the Health Ministry said in its daily briefing. The death toll now stands at 377, while 1,306 people have recovered. Health Ministry’s Joint Secretary Lav Agarwal said that approximately 11.41% patients are recovering.

Health Ministry’s Joint Secretary Lav Agarwal said that there are 170 hotspot districts while 207 districts were non-hotspot districts till Tuesday.

Health Ministry’s Joint Secretary Lav Agarwal said that states have issued guidelines for dealing with COVID-19 hotspots across India and door-to-door surveys are being conducted in those hotspots.

The Health Ministry said on Wednesday in its daily briefing that districts have been divided into hotspots, non-hotspot districts and green zone. Hot spots are districts with either more cases or faster doubling rate. Districts have been divided into hotspots, non hotspot districts and green zone. Hot spots are districts with either more cases or faster doubling rate.

Districts have been divided into hotspots, non hotspot districts and green zone. Hot spots are districts with either more cases or faster doubling rate: Lav Agarwal JS @MoHFW_INDIA @IndianExpress #Covid_19india

— abantika ghosh (@abantika77) April 15, 2020

The wholesale vegetable market in Navi Mumbai reopened on Wednesday.

Three more people have tested positive for Coronavirus in Haryana’s Nuh today, bringing the count of total number of cases recorded in the district to 48. According to officials from the health department, of the three persons, while 1 had attended the Tablighi Jamaat gathering at Nizamuddin last month, the other two persons had come in contact people who had tested positive earlier. “One of the people who has tested positive today is a Nuh resident who used to take food from his home to the Masjid for people from the Jamaat when they were staying in his area,” said Virender Yadav, Chief Medical Officer (CMO), Nuh.

The third person is an employee at a factory in the Rozka Meo Industrial Area, who had come in contact with a truck driver who has tested positive for coronavirus. “The driver hails from Alwar but was living on rent in Sohna. He tested positive in Alwar, and our counterparts there alerted us when this happened. We had taken the samples of his contacts at the time, and one of them has tested positive today,” said the CMO.

3 more test positive for COVID-19 in Nuh-1 who attended Nizamuddin Jamaat gathering,another who came in contact with a person who had attended the same gathering,the third had come in contact with a truck driver who tested positive in Alwar.48 cases in Nuh so far. @IndianExpress

— Sakshi Dayal (@sakshi_dayal) April 15, 2020

Fifty packs of butter worth Rs 2,400, cigarette packs worth Rs 10,000, a carton of Royal Stag beer worth Rs 8,160, a box of Kingfisher beer worth Rs 1,900, tobacco packs worth Rs 5,000 and beedi bundles worth Rs 1,000 — in the last 24 hours, break-ins have been reported from across the city at a time when most shops, except those selling essential goods and medicines, are closed due to lockdown. MHB Colony police Monday registered an FIR against unidentified persons after 50 packs of Amul butter were reportedly stolen from a shop selling dairy items and sweetmeats on Gorai Road in Borivali (East). Owner Naharsingh Rajput told police around 6 am Sunday, when he reached the shop, its shutter was half open. “I found that a box containing 50 butter packs worth Rs 2,400 was missing,” he said.

Underscoring that there was no alternative to saving human lives even though India might have paid a big economic price, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday announced that the lockdown across the country would be extended till May 3 to ensure that the coronavirus pandemic does not spread to non-affected areas. As the country enters second phase of lockdown today, we bring you visuals from across the country.

Cotton procurement by the Cotton Corporation of India (CCI) is all set to start soon as states work out norms to be followed in order to control the flow of farmers in the wholesale markets. This would come as a relief to the cotton growers as around 25 per cent of the produce still remains with the farmers. Soon after the lockdown was announced, trade was suspended in wholesale mandis dealing with agricultural commodities. The state and the central government had allowed the functioning of the mandis dealing with essential commodities like food grains, vegetables, fruits oilseed etc. But the functioning of kapas (raw unginned seed cotton) yards had, however, not started given the lack of clarity in this regard. Read more here

A day after Congress MLA from Ahmedabad Imran Khedawala tested positive for COVID-19, his health condition is stated to be stable. He is being treated at the city's SVP Hospital.In another development, Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation's senior Congress corporator Badruddin Shaikh and his wife tested positive for coronavirus Wednesday morning.Addressing an online press briefing through social media platforms, Ahmedabad Municipal Commissioner Vijay Nehra said, "I have personally talked to Imran Khedawala over phone. He is admitted at SVP hospital and is stable without any health complications." The other two Congress MLAs, Gyasuddin Shaikh and Shailesh Parmar, who have accompanied Khedawala to Gandhinagar for the meetings, have been home quarantined and their samples have been collected for testing while contact tracing including their driver and family members is under process, Nehra said. "Today, senior Congress corporator Badruddin Shaikh too has tested positive. He had approached us for testing two days ago after he complained of some symptoms," he added. Ahmedabad city has reported 42 new cases of coronavirus in the last 15 hours taking the total number of cases to 399. Among the 42 new cases, 33 are reported from the city's Central and South zones.

China said Wednesday it was "seriously concerned" about the US decision to suspend funding for the World Health Organization, and urged Washington to fulfil its obligations during the coronavirus crisis. President Donald Trump on Tuesday accused the Geneva-based body of putting political correctness above life-saving measures as he ordered the funding freeze for "mismanaging" the pandemic. "China is seriously concerned about the US announcement to suspend funding for the World Health Organization," Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian told a regular press briefing.

Europe's economic powerhouse Germany plunged into recession in March, with the slump sparked by the coronavirus pandemic likely to last until the middle of the year, the economy ministry said Wednesday. "Falling global demand, interruption of supply chains, changes in consumers' behaviour and uncertainty among investors" had all made themselves felt in the export giant, the ministry said. The economic blow from the virus fell just as Germany was beginning to recover from a 2019 marked by the impact of trade wars and Brexit fears.

French President Emmanuel Macron on Wednesday called for a moratorium on the debt of African countries as "an essential step" to help the continent get through the coronavirus crisis. Speaking in an interview with Radio France Internationale, Macron urged G20 finance ministers meeting Wednesday to take action on a moratorium as the COVID-19 pandemic threatens to overwhelm the fragile health systems of the poorest countries. The moratorium would be a first step towards full cancellation of African debt, he said.

"At a time of crisis, we need to give the African economies a break rather than servicing the interest on the debt. This is an essential step and I think it is a huge step forward," he said. "Every year, a third of what Africa exports commercially is used to service its debt. That's crazy! And we have increased this problem in recent years," he said. "We absolutely must help Africa build its capacities to respond to the public health disaster and we must help it economically," Macron insisted.

Vistara CEO Leslie Thng on Wednesday announced that senior employees will be going on compulsory leave without pay for up to three days between April 15 and April 30 as a measure to further conserve the airline's cash flow amid the lockdown to combat the coronavirus threat. On March 27, the airline had also introduced compulsory leave without pay for up to three days between April 1 and April 14 for the same set of senior employees. The compulsory no pay leave will affect around 1,200 employees in senior grades. The remaining 2,800 employees of the airline such as members of cabin crew and ground handling services will be unaffected.

A 99-year-old World War II veteran in Brazil was released from hospital with military honours Tuesday after recovering from the coronavirus. Second Lieutenant Ermando Piveta, who served in the Brazilian artillery in Africa during the Second World War, was brought out of Brasilia's Armed Forces Hospital to trumpet music and applause. Wearing an army-green side cap, he raised his arms in the air as he left after eight days as a patient. "It was a tremendous fight for me, greater than in the war. In war, you kill or live. Here, you have to fight in order to live, and you leave this fight a winner," said Piveta. -- AFP

Former Maharashtra chief minister Ashok Chavan on Wednesday demanded a thorough probe into Tuesday's gathering of migrants at Mumbai's Bandra railway station and said it was an attempt to disrupt communal harmony and negate the state's efforts to fight the coronavirus outbreak. Addressing a press conference through a video link, he cited a letter of the South Central Railways for starting special trains to transport migrant labourers that might have triggered the gathering at Bandra.

He said he smelt a political conspiracy behind the campaigns being run on social media to impose President's Rule in Maharashtra. "Whatever happened on Tuesday, there needs to be a thorough investigation into it. "There are some who want to disturb the communal harmony in Maharashtra and negate the state's efforts to fight coronavirus," he said.

With the lockdown extended till May 3 people will need to wait for some more days to step out of their home. While stuck in the house for nearly a month now everyone is finding out new ways to engage and entertain themselves. People are learning new languages, taking up new courses, fitness challenges and so much more. Today we have come up with another way that can keep you entertained while you spend some more days at home to prevent the spread of the Covid-19 pandemic.

If you love traveling and visiting new places and aren’t able to do so due to the coronavirus outbreak we have way out for you. Google Arts and Culture team has collaborated with thousands of museums around the world and allows you to take a tour of them all without moving from your couch. Click here to read

There is no standard protocol anywhere in the world for dealing with visitors for critically-ill COVID-19 patients. A recent article published in the New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM) points to one “particularly difficult” aspect of the COVID-19 pandemic, which is refusing to allow visitors to meet their critically-ill family members. Click here to know if visitors are allowed to meet critically ill COVID-19 patients.

The Gujarat government Wednesday informed that Chief Minister Vijay Rupani was examined by two leading doctors who found him “completely healthy” with all his parameters normal. The state government, however, said that no visitor will be allowed to enter the CM’s official residence here for the next one week. CM Rupani’s health has come under scanner after he met three Congress MLAs at his official residence in person Tuesday and one of the MLAs – Imran Khedawala – tested positive later in the evening.

With the nationwide lockdown being extended in India till May 3, the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2020 season has been suspended indefinitely. The 2020 season, which had earlier been postponed to April 15, will not be held in ‘the regular summer window’, ESPNCricinfo reported Wednesday. All eight franchises were informed of the decision by Hemang Amin, the IPL’s chief operating officer, according to the report. Read full report here

An 11-day-old infant and two others tested positive in Rajkot taking the districts tally to 21 while the state’s tally reached 719, with 66 new cases Wednesday. The toll touched 30 with a 45-year-old woman from Surat, which reported six new cases today, succumbing to the disease. In Botad, an 80-year-old man tested positive, marking the first case in the district. He has since been admitted to a private medical facility in the city where his condition is stable, Botad district collector Vishal Gupta told The Indian Express.

The Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) has declared 38 wards across six zones in Bengaluru as hotspots after at least one positive COVID-19 case was reported from each of the wards in the past 28 days. According to the data analysis made by the BBMP’s COVID-19 war room, 38 of 198 wards in the BBMP limits have been identified as hotspots. As of Wednesday morning, Bengaluru has reported 80 coronavirus cases where 31 people have been recovered and two have died in the city.