Migrants come reach Lucknow’s Charbagh Railway station from Nagpur on Monday.
As India entered the second extension of lockdown with considerable relaxations in orange and green zones, the total number of Covid-19 cases on Monday jumped to 42,835 and toll to 1,389 with 2,553 new infections. In the last 24 hours, a record 1,074 recoveries were reported taking the total number of cured patients to 11,761 and the recovery rate to 27.52%.
With no sign of a let-up in the number of Covid-19 cases in Mumbai, the tally crossed the 9,000-mark on Monday with 510 new patients, while 18 more died of the novel coronavirus infection. With 61 new recoveries in last one day, Kerala’s case count dropped from 95 to 34. Stating that the government will facilitate the return of Indians stranded abroad on compelling grounds, the Ministry of Home Affairs said the process will start from May 7 in a phased manner.
Congress president Sonia Gandhi on Monday said that the party’s State Congress Committees will bear the ticket expense of the train journey of migrant workers who are being sent back to their homes by various states. “This will be the Indian National Congress’ humble contribution in service of our compatriots and to stand shoulder to shoulder in solidarity with them,” her letter read. Sonia’s letter comes a day after the railways ordered the states to collect train ticket cost from the migrants. In its guidelines published Saturday, Railways said it would hand over the tickets to the originating states and the state would “collect the ticket fare” and hand them over to Railways. (Track India’s state-wise cases, deaths and recoveries here)
Global coronavirus cases surpassed 3.5 million on Monday, with deaths nearing a quarter of a million, although the rate of fatalities and new cases has slowed from peaks reached last month
Migrants inside a train in Bhiwandi, Maharashtra. (Express Photo by Deepak Joshi)
Having registered a sharp spike in COVID-19 cases over the past 48 hours, the Koyambedu wholesale market complex — one of the largest perishable goods markets in the country, spread across over 250 acres in Chennai — has authorities scrambling for corrective action. The market was shut down on Monday for a massive disinfection drive. Authorities point to the density of people and vehicles in the market and a lack of basic facilities. Even though measures were implemented since the last week of April, they fear that the action may not suffice.
The market area has roughly 500 shops — each with 3-10 workers and handling up to 300-400 vehicles each day. It is the largest source of perishable products for Chennai, districts in northern Tamil Nadu and even Tirupati and Nellore in Andhra Pradesh. On an average day, the market gets 50 per cent of its products from Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Kerala, Gujarat and Maharashtra, among other states.
The number of COVID-19 cases in Maharashtra state police reached 422 by Sunday night. Of these, 116 are from the State Reserve Police Force (SRPF), which had been deployed in high-risk areas like Mumbai, Thane and Malegaon earlier, said officials.
As on the night of April 30, the number of police personnel diagnosed with COVID-19 in Maharashtra’s force was 227, which included 30 officers and 197 constables. Three days later, by the night of May 3, the number had increased to 422, which included 43 officers and 379 constables. Of the 422, 34 (eight officers and 26 constables) have already recovered. Read More
While the Union government rushed to announce that it will bear 85 per cent of the cost of migrants’ tickets after AICC chief Sonia Gandhi said that Congress will pay their ticket fare, over 8.6 lakh migrants — who have applied to leave Punjab for their home states — are not sure as when will their turn to board a train come.
Till Monday, 5.30 pm, over 8.6 lakh people registered on a government portal to leave, out of which 6.8 lakh have sought government transport, while another 1.84 lakh have indicated that they will go on their own. Read More
The soles of their feet cracked due to continuous pedaling, three agriculture workers felt they would faint any minute as they reached the Community Health Centre in Daroli Bhai of Moga Saturday night.
Angrej Singh (32), Jaspal Singh (50) and Beant Singh (20), who had traveled nearly 1,500 km in 14 days on their second-hand bicycles from Hoshangabad of Madhya Pradesh, asked the doctors to quarantine them and take their samples to test for the coronavirus. They resolved not to go to their homes in Rattian village or meet their families till they complete the quarantine period. Read More
The Gurgaon district administration issued guidelines for RWAs regarding various activities over the next two weeks of lockdown — after confusion prevailed across condominiums in the city in the absence of clear directions in this context.
On whether domestic helps can return to work or not, the administration has stated: “Systematic process for domestic help such as maids, house helps, drivers, dhobis, tailors, car cleaners etc., who do not stay within the RWA premises, may be planned by respective RWAs as per need.” Read more here
Not having the 'Aarogya Setu' app on smartphones while out in a public place in Noida or Greater Noida will be considered a violation of the coronavirus-forced lockdown and attract punishment, according to new guidelines issued by the police. Action will also be taken against people going outdoors without a face mask or spitting in public places, according to the police in Gautam Buddh Nagar in western Uttar Pradesh.
Aarogya Setu is a mobile application developed by the central government to connect essential health services with the people over the fight against COVID-19. PTI
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi will talk to Nobel Laureate Abhijit Banerjee Tuesday on dealing with the adverse economic outcome of Covid-19. Announcing this on Twitter, Gandhi urged all to tune in to his Youtube channel at 9 am Tuesday to watch the conversation. "Tomorrow at 9 am, tune in to watch my conversation with Nobel Laureate, Abhijit Banerjee on dealing with the economic fall out of the #COVID19 crisis," he wrote.
With no sign of a let-up in the COVID-19 spread in Mumbai, the tally of cases crossed the 9,000-mark on Monday with the addition of 510 new patients, while 18 more died due to the viral infection, the city civic body said. The new cases, reported in the last 24 hours, took Mumbai's COVID-19 tally to 9,123, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) said. (PTI)
The Malegaon Municipal Corporation is facing criticism over its handling of the Coronavirus outbreak. 44 medical staffers who were called in from Nashik to treat patients had to sleep in the open on Sunday after the MMC failed to make arrangements for their stay.
With the entire Manipur listed under the green zone, the state government on Monday further relaxed the COVID-19-induced lockdown in more sectors.
As per the new guidelines, issued by the chief secretary of Manipur, markets were allowed to open from 6 am to 4 pm throughout the entire state except for the three historic Ima Markets (women markets), Nagapamal and Ngari galli markets. Earlier the relaxation was confined on locality-based retail shops dealing with essential commodities like groceries for daily use, vegetables, fruits, poultry meat, and fish from 6am to 2pm on all days except Sundays.
From Monday, all government offices were allowed to function subject to attendance of 50 per cent of employees against the earlier order of 33 per cent attendance, for those under secretary rank. Moreover, all private offices were allowed to open subject to strictly following social distancing norm. — Jimmy Leivon reports from Manipur
Monday has been a great day for Kerala in its efforts to fight the coronavirus pandemic. For the second consecutive day, the state reported no new cases of infection. At the same time, a total of 61 people recovered from the illness, the highest in a single day, taking the number of active cases from 95 to 34.
Among those who recovered, 19 were from Kannur district, 12 from Kottayam, 11 from Idukki, nine from Kollam, four from Kozhikode, two each from Malappuram, Thiruvananthapuram and Kasaragod, chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan said at his daily press briefing. With Monday’s developments, three more districts – Kozhikode, Malappuram and Thiruvananthapuram have joined the list of Covid-19 free districts. Kannur has the most number of active cases (18) remaining, followed by six in Kottayam and three each in Kollam and Kasaragod. READ MORE
While the pandemic-imposed lockdown has been hard for everyone, it has proven to be a battle for survival for migrant workers, tourists, students and out-of-towners who have been stuck in cities and districts far away from home during the lockdown. In fact, there are a lot of people who got stuck in an unfamiliar city where they had travelled to for treatment.
Bikash (30), a carpenter from Jhumri Telaiya in Jharkhand, and his wife (26) and his five-year-old son has been stuck in Vellore, Tamil Nadu for well over a month now. The family came to CMC Vellore on March 10 to receive treatment for his wife’s liver ailment. “My wife’s treatment got over on March 31 and by the time we could leave, we got stuck here with the lockdown.” Read Shivani Ramakrishnan's report
In two separate incidents on Monday afternoon, thousands of migrant workers came out on the streets in Vareli village of Surat district, and Palanpur area of Surat city, demanding to go home. In Vareli, migrants from Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, working in the textile dyeing and printing factories of Kadodara GIDC and powerloom units, came out on the streets chanting slogans and demanding to go back to their home states.
According to police sources, at that point, there were only five policemen present there, who tried telling the mob on loudspeakers to go back, but were pelted with stones. Two policemen were injured and several vehicles damaged by the workers, officers said. The police charged them with lathis and lobbed tear gas shells. At least 100 persons were detained, and offences registered against them at the Palsana police station. Read full story here
In a major embarrassment to the UT administration in Ladakh, Chief Executive Councillor of Leh’s Ladakh Autonomous Hill Development Council (LAHDC), Gyal P. Wangyal along with his Deputy Tsering Sandup, executive councilors and councilors held a dharna outside the resident of Lt Governor R K Mathur in protest over the delay in evacuation of local people stranded elsewhere the country in view of the continued lockdown due to the threat of COVID-19.
Tamil Nadu Covid-19 cases cross 3,500
The Shree Jagannath Temple Managing Committee (SJTMC) would soon start the construction of chariots for the annual festival of Rath Yatra of Lord Jagannath which is scheduled to be held on June 23. Chariot construction could not start in view of the lockdown imposed in the wake of the COVID-19 outbreak in the country. Puri townin Odisha, where the popular Jagannath Temple is located, has so far not reported a single case of COVID-19, Puri Gajapati Maharaja Dibya Singha Deb said. He added that the pilgrim town comes under the green zone and therefore, there should be no restriction on construction activities.
A man arrested in a case of abetment to suicide tests positive for coronavirus. Now, 23 cops from Mundian police post and Jamalpur police station have been quarantined. This is the second such incident of an arrested person testing positive in Ludhiana.
Mandatory home or institutional quarantine for 14 days is what the Gujarat government plans for the diamond workers who are keen to leave Surat and return to their villages in Saurashtra, a senior state government official said on Monday.
The diamond markets located in Varaccha, Katargam, Punagam and Mahidherpura areas of Surat city have an estimated 4,000-odd diamond units that employ close to five lakh diamond workers. A large number of these workers hail from Saurashtra. Last week, the Surat Diamond Association had requested the state government to allow the diamond workers to return home. Read more here
Heavy traffic jam at National Highway-24 near Gazipur-Delhi UP border on Monday. (Expres Photo: Prem Nath Pandey)
To contain COVID?19 spread through vegetable vendors in Ahmedabad city, the municipal corporation will now issue a card and certificate to vendors after screening which will be valid for seven days. They have to again get screened after seven days. No vending without screening card.
Stating that the government will facilitate the return of Indians stranded abroad on compelling grounds, the Ministry of Home Affairs on Monday said the process will start from May 7 in a phased manner. As India entered the second extension of lockdown with considerable relaxations in orange and green zones, the total number of Covid-19 cases jumped to 42,835 and toll to 1,389 with 2,553 new infections. In the last 24 hours, a record 1,074 recoveries were reported taking the total number of cured patients to 11,761 and the recovery rate to 27.52%.
Red zone
Orange zone
Green zone
The Jammu and Kashmir government has classified nearly two-third of the Union Territory including entire Kashmir Valley as Red Zone prohibiting all sorts of movement of inter-state, inter and intra district public transport and private vehicles, besides ordering closure of all educational and training institutions across the UT till further orders.
As per the SOP issued for regulating activities in Red Zones, it has also prohibited all sorts of public movement during night from 7 pm to 7 am. According to UT’s Department of Information and Public Relations, "all movement with passes. Medical emergencies exempted".
As per the order issued on Sunday night by UT Chief Secretary BVR Subrahmanyam, the areas declared as Red Zones include "all the ten districts of Kashmir and three districts of Kathua, Samba and Jammu’’ in Jammu division. - Arun Sharma reports from Jammu
Delhi Chief Minister expressed disappointment over reports of overcrowding at various places in Delhi on the day 1 of lockdown relations. "If we come across any further violation of social distancing anywhere, we will be forced to seal that area," Kejriwal said.
Vadodara Covid-19 tally crossed 400-mark
The Khans are the high-flying superstars of Indian Airlines Colony in Begumpet, Hyderabad. Even as the entire nation grapples with the novel coronavirus pandemic amid a nationwide lockdown, the Khans are at the forefront of fighting COVID-19, as a family.
On May 3, after several weeks, the three doctors in the Khan family were at home together after a felicitation ceremony where they were showered with rose petals by residents of their colony. “They are the real heroes. They are doing a great job, fighting COVID from the forefront. Right from the Prime Minister, everyone appreciates their work,” says Gopal Giridhar, a colony resident. Read this COVID-19 story of strength here
Kerala on Monday recorded highest number of recoveries in a day. A total of 61 people tested negative in the last 24 hours, taking the number of active cases from 95 down to 34. To add the cherry on the cake, there are no new positive cases of Covid in the state
Gujarat: Restive migrants demanding to go home clashed with the police in Palsana area of Surat on Monday. Even as five Shramik Special trains were leaving from Surat — three for Odisha and one each for Jharkhand and Bihar, a huge number of the migrants still await their turn (Express photos: Hanif Malek)
Congress president Sonia Gandhi releases a video where she reiterated that her party will bear the ticket expense of the train journey of migrant workers who are being sent back to their homes by various states. In a statement earlier in the day, she had said, “This will be the Indian National Congress’ humble contribution in service of our compatriots and to stand shoulder to shoulder in solidarity with them."
"Infectious disease spread is a geometric progression. Doubling time is up from 3.4 to 12 days. Lockdown is yielding results. We need to see how to go about easing, said Lav Agarwal, JS, MoHFW. He added central government or railways never said anything about charging the migrantworkers for sending them home. "GoI bearing 85% costs, 15% to be borne by states," he added.
"In the 112 aspirational districts where 22% India stays, there have been just 2% cases," said Amitabh Kant, chairman empowered group 6. Stating that around 90 million people have so far downloaded Aarogya Setu so far, he added that a feature phone version of Aarogya Setu App will be out soon.
India transitioning into new normal. Citizens need to be careful that any district which has not had a case will need to have containment zones even if there is one case, said Lav Agarwal JS
Ministry of Home Affairs asked states to ensure that there are no issues in inter-state cargo movement. MHA Control Room Number 1930 and NHAI helpline number 1033 might be used by drivers/transporters to lodge any complaint pertaining to lockdown
Government presser on coronavirus underway.
Driver of an escort vehicle accompanying Centre's IMCT team in West Bengal has tested positive for Covid-19. The driver belongs to the BSF.
A wine shop in Powai, an upscale neighbourhood in central Mumbai, saw considerable chaos outside it on Day 1 of relaxed lockdown. When asked, aren’t you scared of catching the infection, a customer said, “Kaika dar bhai, corona ka illaj iss dukan main hai! (Scared of what? This shop has the treatment for corona!)'
A 57-year-old assistant sub inspector with Pune City Police, who was infected with COVID-19, died while undergoing treatment on Monday afternoon. This is the first case of death of a police personnel due to COVID-19 in Pune city and fourth in Maharashtra state. Joint commissioner of Police Ravindra Shisave confirmed that an assistant sub inspector attached with a police station in the central area of the city died at a private hospital in Pune around 1 pm.
The deceased was among the 12 cops who had tested positive for COVID-19. Most of them are attached with the same police station. All police staff of the police station in central area were quarantined after this..
Confirming that it has received approval for serology blood test for detection of the antibody (IgG), medical device company Abbott has said in a statement that it will begin shipping to India by month end. Detecting these IgG antibodies would help determine if a person was previously infected with the virus that causes COVID-19, it has claimed.
Vehiclular movements were high in Chennai as the city experienced first day of relaxed lockdown.(Express Photos)
Pune District Collector has now allowed liquor shops located outside containment areas to open. Earlier in the day, hundreds of tipplers in Pune district returned home disappointed with no formal order coming from the district administration on reopening of stores despite Maharashtra government allowing the sale of alcohol. Buoyed by the news of the opening of liquor shops almost six weeks after their closure on March 20, hundreds of tipplers had queued outside several wine shops in the city since early morning. However, the wine shops (which generally open at 10 am) remained closed with, in some places, owners showing up to tell the gathered prospective customers that they were unable to open the shop until they receive a written order from the District Collector via the State Excise Department.
Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said on Monday he had decided to extend the country's national state of emergency to May 31. Abe will consider lifting the state of emergency without waiting for its May 31 expiration if experts decide that is possible based on detailed analysis of regional infection trends, he said at the start of a meeting of the government's coronavirus task force.
Hundreds of tipplers in Pune district had to return home disappointed on Monday with no formal order coming from the district administration on reopening of stores despite Maharashtra government allowing the sale of alcohol.
Buoyed by the news of the opening of liquor shops almost six weeks after their closure on March 20, hundreds of tipplers had queued outside several wine shops in the city since early morning. However, the wine shops (which generally open at 10 am) remained closed with, in some places, owners showing up to tell the gathered prospective customers that they were unable to open the shop until they receive a written order from the District Collector via the State Excise Department.
“We are hoping that the order will come today. But it hasn’t yet been issued and until that happens we will not be able to up the shutters,” said Pravin Agarwal, a manager at A Zone Wine Shop on Bhandarkar Road where over 150 customers had queued up on Monday morning.
The country’s manufacturing sector activity witnessed unprecedented contraction in April amid national lockdown restrictions, following which new business orders collapsed at a record pace and firms sharply reduced their staff numbers, a monthly survey said on Monday.
The headline seasonally adjusted IHS Markit India Manufacturing Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) fell to 27.4 in April, from 51.8 in March, reflecting the sharpest deterioration in business conditions across the sector since data collection began over 15 years ago. The index slipped into contraction mode, after remaining in the growth territory for 32 consecutive months.
While millions of people took advantage of easing coronavirus lockdowns to enjoy spring weather, some of the world's most populous countries reported worrisome new peaks in infections Sunday. Health experts warn that a second wave of infections could hit unless testing is expanded dramatically once the lockdowns are relaxed. But pressure to reopen keeps building after the weeks-long shutdown of businesses worldwide plunged the global economy into its deepest slump since the 1930s and wiped out millions of jobs.
Customers have breakfast at a local restaurant in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, on Monday, May 4, 2020. (AP Photo/Vincent Thian)
People at a beach in Hong Kong, Sunday. China, which reported only two new cases, saw a surge in visitors to tourist spots. (Reuters)
A total of 2511 houses with a population of 9284 in Ahmedabad district have been put under containment zone while 3266 houses and 11883 population are under the buffer zone. The district has a total of 36 active cases as on Monday.
On Sunday night, Ahmedabad collector K K Nirala issued an order under Rule 11 of the Epidemic Disease Act 1987 to prevent spread of COVID-19 citing ‘Several positive cases have been found in Ahmedabad district and it is necessary in public interest to take adequate steps to stop further spread of COVID-19’.
District areas of Bopal, Dholka, Changodar, Jetalpur, Ode, Bareja, Vanch, Gatrad, Kathwada, Hudco, Kerala and Makrol are under containment and buffer zones. In Bopal area, the number of active cases is 11 and a total of 1427 houses with a population of 4338 have been put under the containment zone. These include apartments and houses.
With 7 active cases in Jetalpur area of Daskroi taluka, two areas namely Prajapati Vas and Darbar Vas with a total of 69 houses and 359 population are under the containment zone.
The challenges confronting the world due to the unprecedented coronavirus pandemic have brought to the fore the inadequacies of the global governance structures, India's former UN envoy Ambassador Syed Akbaruddin has said.
As the world grapples with the health and humanitarian crisis unleashed by the coronavirus, Akbaruddin, who retired on April 30 from the post of India's Permanent Representative to the UN, told PTI the challenges of confronting the global pandemic have brought to the fore the inadequacies of global governance structures. “Retooling to make them fit for the purpose for our times will be required, once the immediate concerns of addressing the multiple crises are addressed. Otherwise the global governance crisis impedes the arrival of the new normal.
“Even while facing unprecedented challenges on the domestic front, India has shown ability to work cooperatively globally with a range of international partners at the regional, plurilateral and multilateral levels in the delivery of global public goods to address the needs of the COVID-19 pandemic,” he said.
The coronavirus pandemic has adversely hit organ transplants in the state, with zero cadaver donations and just three live organ transplants recorded in April. A disruption in these donations has meant a longer wait list for patients requiring organ transplants. While emergency, life-saving surgeries are being performed at hospitals, organ transplants are avoided because fewer donors available, and surgeons do not want to take the risk of exposure.
The novel coronavirus can infect and replicate in cells that line the inside of the human intestines, according to a study that could explain why some patients with COVID-19 experience gastrointestinal symptoms. The finding, published in the journal Science, shows that the intestines are a target organ for the SARS-CoV-2 virus. Studies have shown that the virus enters epithelial cells in the lungs by exploiting an enzyme called ACE2, allowing it to replicate and spread further, according to the researchers, including those from Erasmus Medical Center in the Netherlands. Read more
The number of official Covid deaths in Malegaon in Maharashtra is just 12 since the first case in early April but, overall, the number of deaths in this city has shown an unusual surge. At 580 deaths for April, as per civic records obtained by The Indian Express, it’s almost twice the figure for the same month last year (277) and a 48 per cent jump over the number of deaths in March this year.
Hard pressed to explain this spike — some officials blame the locked-down private hospitals — the state government has decided to randomly test family members of all those who died after April 10. This amid concerns that some of those who have died may have had Covid but went undetected — and could, possibly, have passed on the infection to close contacts. Read more
Scenes from outside liquor stores in Bangalore, Delhi
As India stepped out of the second phase of its lockdown, and into a more relaxed third phase, there were already signs of a surge in the number of novel Coronavirus cases in the country. With the lid now off in many places, and significantly loosened even in some of the worst affected areas like Mumbai and Pune, India could see a rapid rise in the infection numbers, which in any case, were increasing by record margins every day for the last four days.
By the end of day on Sunday, the total number of confirmed cases in India had reached over 42,500. At the start of the lockdown on the midnight of March 24, India had just 525 cases. And while the six intervening weeks seems to have done little to prevent the spread of the virus, the fact is that the numbers could have been multiple times higher in the absence of the lockdown.
The Centre has allowed sale of liquor across the country, even as it extended the lockdown period for two more weeks beginning today. The sale of liquor is part of the overall opening of economic activity that the government is attempting in the third phase of the lockdown, and is expected to earn states much-needed revenue. But will liquor now be freely available, or will there still be some restrictions? Will all liquor stores now open?
Remdesivir has been given emergency approval for COVID-19 treatment in the US, even as a new study casts doubts over its efficacy. Remdesivir is designed to obstruct the stage of replication, when the virus creates copies of itself, followed endlessly by the copies creating copies of themselves. Research last month concluded that remdesivir indeed works this way, and a new paper last week described the exact mechanism of interaction between the virus and the drug. What is it about remdesivir that holds promise, and why is it debated? We explain
Coronavirus test kits used in Tanzania were dismissed as faulty by President John Magufuli on Sunday, because he said they had returned positive results on samples taken from a goat and a pawpaw.
Magufuli, whose government has already drawn criticism for being secretive about the coronavirus outbreak and has previously asked Tanzanians to pray the coronavirus away, said the kits had “technical errors”. The COVID-19 testing kits had been imported from abroad, Magufuli said during an event in Chato in the north west of Tanzania, although he did not give further details.
After Sonia Gandhi announced that Congress will bear the migrants' train ticket fares, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi in a tweet in Hindi said, :On the one hand, the Railways is charging ticket fares from labourers stranded in other states, while on the other hand, the Railway Ministry is donating Rs 151 crore to the PM-Cares Fund. Just resolve this puzzle."
So as India starts Lockdown 3.0, albeit with some relaxations, the main question facing the economy is: When will the government announce a relief package? That’s because, with each passing week, the economy is moving from job losses of individuals to the financial ruin of firms. If the government does not provide a safety net to smaller firms, especially those that were running fine before the Covid-19 induced lockdowns ruined them, then the economic distress will continue to deepen and likely become insurmountable in the future. Here’s hoping that the government’s relief package is only a question of when, and not if, writes Udit Mishra. Read here
Kashmiri students waiting in queue for registration to go back at their native states, in Kharar, Mohali, Punjab (Express photo by Jasbir Malhi)