Railway Minister Piyush Goyal has appealed to all states to permit the operation of migrant special trains so that the stranded can reach home in the next three to four days. (Representational)
After 50 days of suspension of its passenger operations due to COVID-19 lockdown, the Indian Railways will gradually restart passenger train operations from May 12 initially with 15 pairs of trains (30 return journeys). These trains will be run as special trains from New Delhi Station connecting Dibrugarh, Agartala, Howrah, Patna, Bilaspur, Ranchi, Bhubaneswar, Secunderabad, Bengaluru, Chennai, Thiruvananthapuram, Madgaon, Mumbai Central, Ahmedabad and Jammu Tawi. Only passengers with valid confirmed tickets will be allowed to enter the railway stations. It will be mandatory for the passengers to wear face cover and undergo screening at departure and only asymptomatic passengers will be allowed to board the train.
As India enters the last week of the third phase of the lockdown, which is scheduled to end on May 17, Prime Minister Narendra Modi will hold another meeting with state Chief Ministers via video-conference on Monday afternoon at 3 pm. This will be his fifth meeting with CMs to discuss the post-lockdown strategy. The nationwide tally of confirmed COVID-19 cases has neared the 63,000-mark including 2,109 deaths and 19,358 recoveries. Of the 62,939 cases, 41,427 are active. Earlier today, Railways Minister Piyush Goyal had appealed to all states to permit the operation of migrant special trains so that the stranded can reach home in the next three to four days. “As per the directions of Hon’ble PM Narendra Modi ji, Railways is fully geared up to run 300 Shramik Special trains everyday at short notice since the last six days,” he tweeted.
Globally, there are over 4 million coronavirus cases, with deaths exceeding 2,79,000. Former President Barack Obama harshly criticized President Donald Trump’s handling of the coronavirus pandemic as an “absolute chaotic disaster” during a conversation with ex-members of his administration. Boris Johnson will unveil a virus alert system, similar to the color-coded terror-threat scale, in a Sunday address to Britain that will set out some conditions for removing restrictions on the economy.
Scientists are seen working at Cobra Biologics on a potential vaccine for COVID-19, (File/REUTERS/Carl Recine)
The measures include 24-hour sanitisation of premises; temperature check of all employees twice daily; providing face shields, masks and PPEs
After remaining free of coronavirus for about two months, Wardha registered its first Covid-19 death after an asthma patient, who died on way to hospital, was found to have contracted the virus.
Wardha Collector Vivek Bhimanwar said, “The deceased was a 36-year-old acute asthmatic patient from Hivra Tanda village in Arvi tehsil bordering Amravati district. She was bed-ridden for the past six months and was being taken to Vinoba Bhave Medical College and Hospital at Sawangi Meghe near Wardha on May 8 but died on the way. Her test report came positive on Sunday.” Read More
The number of samples tested for COVID-19 has seen a decline in Vadodara for the past one week – while 228 samples were tested on May 4, it has dropped to 125 in the last 24 hours.
Till May 4, more than 200 samples were taken for testing every day, while it has been less than 200 in the last few days. Read more here
The failure to adhere to the testing protocol laid down by the Indian Council of Medical Research and the delay in testing samples, which at times are sent 670 km away to labs in distant Nagpur, are leading to undetected spread and increasing fatalities in Malegaon, claim local residents and activists in the city. Malegaon, a town of 6 lakh residents located 280 km north of Mumbai, as of Saturday, had a total of 472 positive cases and 20 fatalities since the first case was registered on April 8. Read More
The number of samples tested for COVID-19 has seen a decline in Vadodara for the past one week – while 228 samples were tested on May 4, it has dropped to 125 in the last 24 hours.
Till May 4, more than 200 samples were taken for testing every day, while it has been less than 200 in the last few days. Read more here
The South Eastern Railway has decided to reduce the speed of all goods and special trains to 40 km per hour in its Kharagpur-Bhadkar section till Monday morning owing to the movement of migrant workers at different places along the railway tracks, an official said here on Sunday. All staff in the section, including Railway Protection Force (RPF), gateman and trackman, have been asked to be vigilant regarding the movement of migrant workers along railway tracks, the official said.
Speed of the trains has been reduced to 40 km per hour between 8 pm of Sunday and 8 am on Monday in the Kharagpur- Bhadrak section across West Bengal and Odisha after migrant workers were spotted walking along the tracks at different places, he said.
Loco pilots have also been instructed to run trains with a strict vigil and have been asked to blow long whistles during movement, the official said. The superintendent of police of Birbhum district also urged the Eastern Railway authorities to provide advance intimation about the movement of trains in order to prevent any incident like that of Aurangabad in Maharashtra where 16 migrant were killed after being run over. PTI
Housing Minister Jitendra Awhad was on Sunday discharged from Fortis hospital where he was recovering after testing positive for Covid-19 in April. In a series of tweets, Awhad said he has been advised to stay at home for a month.
“My fight with Covid-19 over the past few days has turned out to be successful and I am going home today. I will soon be back with the same enthusiasm to work for my state. The doctors have advised me bed rest for a month… hence, I will not be able to meet anyone,” he tweeted in the morning. Read More
Two days after BMC amended its testing protocol again to allow private doctors to prescribe a Covid-19 test, lack of communication on the updated protocol to private laboratories led to multiple instances where patients were refused the test.
Father of a two-month-old baby, who requires an urgent hernia procedure, said he has been trying to get his daughter tested for Covid-19 since three days. Even though the baby has no symptoms of the virus, the test is a prerequisite for surgery to relocate her ovary. Read More
After eight months apart, the last three of which were spent in extreme anxiety, Devendra Dagaliya will have to wait another two weeks more to bring his daughter home. For now though, he is simply relieved that she is back on Indian soil.
Dhwani Dagaliya (18) was among the 572 passengers who were flown back home by Air India from London and Singapore on Sunday. While 329 passengers returned from London, 243 arrived from Singapore in the afternoon. Read More
After remaining free of coronavirus for about two months, Wardha registered its first Covid-19 death after an asthma patient, who died on way to hospital, was found to have contracted the virus.
Wardha Collector Vivek Bhimanwar said, “The deceased was a 36-year-old acute asthmatic patient from Hivra Tanda village in Arvi tehsil bordering Amravati district. She was bed-ridden for the past six months and was being taken to Vinoba Bhave Medical College and Hospital at Sawangi Meghe near Wardha on May 8 but died on the way. Her test report came positive on Sunday.”
“We are trying to trace the origin of her infection. We came to know that a relative, who is a nurse at Nagpur, had come to visit the family about 15 days ago. The police are also investigating if she may have got it from neighbouring Amravati district as her husband was allegedly involved in illicit liquor business,” Bhimanwar added.
The body of the woman was sent to her village before the test report came. As several people attended her funeral, the administration is now tracing and quarantining all of them. The authorities have also sealed areas in a three-km radius of the village and is doing contact tracing.
The district also recorded its second coronavirus case on Sunday with a 64-year-old man from Washim, who had come to the same hospital for treatment, testing positive. He had come to the hospital for treatment of pneumonia.
The Tripura police Sunday lathi-charged a group of people protesting the setting up of a Covid-19 hospital at Shaheed Bhagat Singh Yuba Awas in Agartala city.
Residents of Goalabasti, Bholagiri and adjoining areas had set up a blockade on the busy VIP Road in front of the new 300-bed hospital Sunday afternoon, demanding to speak with authorities. They claimed the hospital posed a major health risk to people living in nearby areas and demanded to know why it wasn’t set up somewhere outside residential areas. Read more here
Railways is planning to gradually restart passenger train operations from May 12, initially with 15 pairs of trains (30 return journeys.) These trains will be run as special trains from New Delhi station connecting Dibrugarh, Agartala, Howrah, Patna, Bilaspur, Ranchi, Bhubaneswar, Secunderabad, Bengaluru, Chennai, Thiruvananthapuram, Madgaon, Mumbai Central, Ahmedabad, and Jammu Tawi. For answers to all your questions, read more here
Sixteen more persons tested positive with COVID-19 in Tripura on Sunday. The state has now got 152 cases in total, out of which 148 are active.
132 BSF jawans and their relatives were tested positive with the virus from 86th battalion and 138th battalion, both posted in and around Ambassa. However, no community transmission among civilians was seen, even in the worst affected Dhalai.
Chief Minister Biplab Kumar Deb took to Twitter and informed about the development writing, "ALERT! 16 persons found #COVID19 POSITIVE in Tripura from 86th-Bn #BSF (Official:1, Female:6, Children: 9). We are conducting max number of tests. 75 Samples from 3rd-Bn BSF tested but all reports are NEGATIVE. Total active cases:148. Transferred out:02. Recovered:02". Two patients, an ambulance driver and a trucker had departed to Siliguri in West Bengal and Karimganj of Assam respectively before their test reports arrived. They are being treated as 'transferred patients'.
Nearly two months after it suspended its passenger operations in view of the coronavirus-induced lockdown, the Railways on Sunday announced that it will gradually restart its passenger train operations from May 12. The decision was taken a day ago at a high level meeting of government and states with Cabinet Secretary, sources said, adding that the final touches of the crucial move were prepared on Sunday evening. In the midst of the lockdown, Railways has so far operated its freight services to transport essential goods across the country and ‘Special Shramik’ trains to ferry stranded migrant workers to their home states.
In the midst of the lockdown, Railways has so far operated its freight services and 'Special Shramik' trains. But where all will it operate passenger trains now? Here's everything you need to know.
As Tamil Nadu on Sunday reported 669 confirmed cases of Covid-19, taking the total number of cases to 7,204, a number of cases linked to the Koyambedu vegetable market cluster has exceeded the total number of cases originated from state’s controversial cluster of cases originated from a Tablighi Jamaat conference held in Delhi. According to comprehensive data of cases compiled on Saturday evening, the total number of cases linking “Koyambedu cluster” was 2,005 against 1,350 cases linked to the congregation.
While the Tablighi cluster’s 631 primary contacts had infected 719 secondary contacts, 875 primary contacts of ‘Koyambedu cluster’ had infected another 1,130 close contacts, according to the state health department’s contact tracing data updated till Saturday evening.
Kerala Minister for Health, K K Shailaja informed that seven new cases of Covid-19 were confirmed in Kerala today. Three of the positive cases are in Wayanad district, two from Thrissur district, and one each in Ernakulam and Malappuram districts. Three of them are Pravasi Malayalees who came back from Abu Dhabi on May 07 by the first evacuation flight to Kerala, two have returned from Chennai and two are cases of local transmission.
At the same time, four patients under treatment for Coronavirus tested negative today. Two patients from Kannur district and one each from Palakkad and Kasargod districts are those who have recovered from the infection. With today’s results, Kasargod district, which once had the highest number of patients is Covid free. So far, 489 patients have been cured of this infection in the State and 20 patients are presently under treatment in different hospitals.
26,712 persons are now under surveillance in various districts in the State. Of these, 26,350 are under quarantine at their homes and 362 are isolated at hospitals. 135 people were admitted to hospitals today.
Manipur Government on Sunday issued a strict Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) for people returning to the state by train in order to facilitate smooth transportation and screening of the returnee. As per the SOP issued by the Home department, all the returnees shall remain under strict quarantine for 14 days under designated district quarantine centres.
A different protocol will be followed in case of any suspected passengers as per the order of the department, it said. Earlier, the state has announced that the returnees who are symptomatic will be referred to RIMS and JNIMS while the non-symptomatic will be escorted to institutional quarantine centres in Imphal. They (returnee) shall have to spend a day at the centre as their samples will be sent for testing.
During the testing, if anyone is found negative they will be sent to their homes for home quarantine.
According to reliable sources from the Government, 14 days quarantine was made mandatory for all the returnee taking into consideration the new challenges the health department may face in testing a large number of people in a day. Among other guidelines issued by the department are that registration of names in the Manipur Government official web portal www.tengban.in and in the web portal of the respective state, they are located, have also been made mandatory. The final list of the passengers will be notified at the state government website, it said.
In case the train arrives late evening, screening shall be done inside the coaches of the trains and as such passengers are asked to stay in the train overnight until buses to ferry them back to Imphal are made in the morning.
After 50 days of suspension of its passenger operations due to COVID-19 lockdown, the Indian Railways will gradually restart passenger train operations from May 12 initially with 15 pairs of trains (30 return journeys).
81 more inmates at Arthur Road jail tested positive for covid-19, taking the total number to infected inmates to 58, apart from 26 jail staffers, who had also tested positive.
The decision was taken Saturday at the highest level of the government, and states were sounded out on Sunday in a meeting with the Cabinet Secretary, sources said. The final touches for the crucial move were prepared Sunday evening.
Booking for reservation in these trains will start at 4 pm on May 11, and will be available only on the IRCTC website (https://www.irctc.co.in/). Ticket booking counters at the railway stations shall remain closed and no counter tickets (including platform tickets) will be issued, Railways said.
Further details, including train schedule, will be issued separately in due course. Read more here
These trains will be run as special trains from New Delhi Station connecting Dibrugarh, Agartala, Howrah, Patna, Bilaspur, Ranchi, Bhubaneswar, Secunderabad, Bengaluru, Chennai, Thiruvananthapuram, Madgaon, Mumbai Central, Ahmedabad and Jammu Tawi.
Booking for reservation in these trains will start at 4 pm on 11th May and will be available only on the IRCTC website (https://www.irctc.co.in/). Ticket booking counters at the railway stations shall remain closed and no counter tickets (including platform tickets) will be issued, Railways said.
The Indian Railways will gradually restart passenger operations from May 12 initially with 15 pairs of trains. The passenger operations will start with more special services on new routes, based on the available coaches after reserving 20,000 coaches for COVID-19 care centres and adequate number of coaches being reserved to enable operation of up to 300 trains everyday as “Shramik Special”.
Booking for reservation on these trains will start at 4 pm on 11th May and will be available only on the IRCTC website. Ticket booking counters at the railway stations shall remain closed and no counter tickets (including platform tickets) shall be issued.
Only passengers with valid confirmed tickets will be allowed to enter the railway stations. It will be mandatory for the passengers to wear face cover and undergo screening at departure and only asymptomatic passengers will be allowed to board the train.
The death toll from COVID-19 crossed the 100 mark in West Bengal on Sunday with 14 more people succumbing to the disease in the last 24 hours, taking the fatalities to 113, a state government bulletin said. The state also reported 153 fresh cases, the highest in a day so far. Of the 14 deaths, Kolkata alone accounted for 10. West Bengal has so far reported 1,939 coronavirus cases of which 1,337 are active cases. As many as 4,046 samples were tested in the last 24 hours and a total of 43,414 since the outbreak of the viral disease, it said.
At a time when the spread of COVID-19 has made social distancing a buzzword, banks have increased their reliance on social media to engage with their customers — for disseminating information or for dispelling their boredom.
Among the noteworthy initiatives by banks during the lockdown, HDFC came out with a scheme to help its customers find their artistic talent.
“Tired of staying home and having nothing to do? HDFC Bank Fingage presents The Art Project, to give you a #BreakFromBoredom! Unlock your creativity during the lockdown & stand a chance to win exciting prizes!,” tweeted the bank, trying to engage its customers during the lockdown.
Here is a curated list of some interesting stories from across the country on Day 47 of India’s coronavirus lockdown.
Twenty-five more people tested positive for COVID-19 in Jammu and Kashmir on Sunday, bringing the number of cases to 861 in the union territory, officials said. The fresh cases include a nurse and three contacts of a doctor who had earlier tested positive for novel coronavirus, the officials said.
While 23 new cases are from the Kashmir Valley, two are from Jammu region, they said. The officials said the number of cases in Jammu and Kashmir has now reached 861. "Of the total number of cases, 790 are in Kashmir, while 71 are in the Jammu region," they added. (PTI)
All shops, including ones dealing in essential items, have been told to down shutters from Monday in 69 containment zones in Pune municipal corporation limits as people were not observing social distancing and other lockdown norms in place for the novel coronavirus outbreak, said civic chief Shekhar Gaikwad. He said the decision to shut all shops was taken after a review meeting. Pune is among the worst-hit urban areas in the country with the district having 2,732 cases as on Saturday. Of these, 2,380 are in Pune Municipal Corporation limits.
Pune Collector Naval Kishore Ram has directed officials in villages along the national highways to create temporary ‘rest houses’ for migrant workers walking to their homes or taking other means of transport.
The resting facilities will be created at dhabas, marriage halls and other public buildings at regular intervals, so as to provide water, food and access to toilets to the travellers.
These ‘rest houses’ will be set up with the help of local Gram Panchayats along Pune-Bangalore, Pune-Solapur, Pune-Nashik, Pune-Ahmednagar and Pune-Mumbai highways, and money for these will be made available from the State Disaster Management Funds, Collector Ram said in a directive issued to Tahsildars. Read more here
Senior Congress leader and former Defence Minister A K Antony on Sunday urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to intervene immediately to prevent starvation deaths in the country in the wake of the nationwide lockdown due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Noting that the situation on the ground was "very difficult", the Congress leader said it was high time the prime minister announced a relief package for the poor and a financial stimulus for the economy. "The situation is very difficult. The prime minister must intervene immediately. Otherwise, there would be deaths due to hunger and starvation," Antony told PTI. He also urged the prime minister to take care of the problems of the migrant labourers, the poor and vulnerable sections of society and provide them with a relief package that includes food and cash.
Weeks after alleging financial misappropriation in procuring Former Tripura Healthy Minister and BJP MLA Sudip Roy Barman has written to Chief Minister Biplab Kumar Deb, requesting him to blacklist companies who purportedly supplied substandard protective gears and kits to the government amidst coronavirus outbreak.
In his letter, which was made available to indianexpress.com on Sunday, Roy Barman said only 914 PPE kits supplied by HIL out of 9,000 kits procured by the state government were found to be up to quality standards. The rest are permeable to liquid; such sort of permeability is hazardous in COVID-19 treatment, he informed the CM.
'The procured 'Goggles' were found to be unable to provide the much needed 'Protective Seal' essential for the protection of the eyes. Hand Sanitizer named Ventiz Clear All 500ml bottles were found to have only 57.68% of Alcohol, much less than the required percentage', Roy Barman's letter said. He also said frontline workers like doctors and medical personnel are most likely to be left vulnerable to the virus due to these 'substandard PPE kits & component articles of PPEs. He requested the Chief Minister to blacklist all companies which supplied substandard materials and take necessary actions.
Railway Minister Piyush Goyal has appealed to all states to permit the operation of migrant special trains so that the stranded can reach home in the next three to four days. “As per the directions of Hon’ble PM Narendra Modi ji, Railways is fully geared up to run 300 Shramik Special trains everyday at short notice since the last six days,” he tweeted. The appeal comes a day after Home Minister Amit Shah wrote to West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee to allow such trains to run.
The number of active cases of coronavirus in Uttar Pradesh rose to 1,884 on Sunday, while 1,504 patients have been discharged so far, a senior official said. Principal Secretary, Health, Amit Mohan Prasad said 84 more people have tested positive for the disease. On Saturday, 1,365 samples were tested in 273 pools, he told PTI. The official said the Medical Education Department, on the directives of the chief minister, has devised a 'mentor institute system' which doctors can use to seek guidance for treating COVID-19 patients.
With 53 new cases confirmed in Karnataka in the last 12 hours, the total number of novel coronavirus cases in the state are now 847. According to the Department of Health and Family Welfare Services, 22 of these are from Belagavi. With the new additions, the north Karnataka district now has 105 cases, behind capital city Bengaluru as the district with the most cases in the state.
Meanwhile, Shimoga and Bagalkote recorded eight new cases each as seven more from Uttara Kannada, three more from Bengaluru and Kalaburagi, and one each from Davangere and Chikkaballapura comprise the other new cases confirmed as on 12 noon on Sunday. Read more, here
Shops remained shut and vehicles were off the roads in Kerala as the state government's order on total shutdown on Sundays came into force since morning as part of the efforts to prevent the spread of COVID-19. The Left government had on Saturday night issued an order on "total shutdown across the state on Sundays" while exempting shops selling essential items and essential services.While Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, had said on Friday that Kerala had "flattened the curve" after the state registered cases in single digits, two new cases-- expatriates who had returned to the state from Abu Dhabi and Dubai on Saturday, had tested positive, causing concern as over fourlakh people had registered with the NORKA portal wanting to return to the state.Roads remained empty across the state and shops were closed, except those selling essentials, including milk and medicines. (PTI)
Cases in Gujarat's Anand district reached 83 after a 56-year-old female from Akhbarpur in Khambat tested positive. A total of 17 patients were discharged today as per the new policy of the state. Of the 83 cases, 11 are still under treatment in Anand.
Africa has more than 60,000 confirmed coronavirus cases, according to a tally from the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The Africa CDC says that all but one of the continent's 54 countries, tiny Lesotho, has confirmed cases of the virus. South Africa has the most with more than 9,400 registered. The widespread shortage of testing capacity continues to be a challenge and means the true figures are likely to be much higher.
Some countries are easing lockdowns even as cases rise, arguing people have to make a living and feed their families despite the risks.
Approximately four months after COVID-19 was first detected, the South Pacific Islands have not yet reported any cases of the infectious disease. Recognising the threats the spread of this disease would cause, the governments of these small island nations immediately began instituting travel bans to prevent incoming passengers, and in some cases, even denying permission to cruise ships and cargo ships.
In March, reports emerged of wealthy American citizens attempting to escape the coronavirus outbreak by travelling to New Zealand — one of the Pacific island nations that has recorded COVID-19 infections but at lower rates — to take “shelter” in multi-million dollar bunkers, before the country closed its borders to foreigners. Read more, here
Russia's count of coronavirus infections has climbed above 200,000 after its highest daily tally of new cases. Figures released Sunday recorded 11,012 new cases of the virus for a total of 209,688, with 1,915 deaths attributed to COVID-19. Russian officials say the sharp rise in numbers can be attributed to increased testing, at least in part. More than half the infection cases and deaths are recorded in Moscow, which will remain under lockdown for the rest of the month.
PM Narendra Modi will hold the fifth meeting via video-conference with state Chief Ministers tomorrow afternoon at 3 pm.
With 53 new COVID-19 positive cases confirmed in Karnataka in the last 12 hours, the total number of novel coronavirus cases in the state is now at 847. This is the biggest spike in the number of cases recorded in the state so far.According to the Department of Health and Family Welfare Services, 22 of these are from Belagavi. With the new additions, the north Karnataka district now has 105 cases, just behind capital city Bengaluru as the district confirming most cases in the state. Meanwhile, Shimoga and Bagalkote recorded eight new cases each as seven more from Uttara Kannada, three more from Bengaluru and Kalaburagi, and one each from Davangere and Chikkaballapura comprise the other new cases confirmed as on 12 noon on Sunday (May 10).As on Saturday, Karnataka had tested over a lakh people since the pandemic broke out earlier in March. Medical Education Minister Dr Sudhakar K had said, "We are boosting our testing capacity to have 60 labs by end of this month and will be able to conduct 10,000 tests per day."
Expressing anguish over the sight of migrant workers walking hundreds of kilometres to reach their homes, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal Sunday urged them to not leave the city on foot. Despite arrangements being made slowly by Delhi and other state governments, several workers have been walking home, tired of waiting for buses and trains arranged by the state.
“They have blisters on their feet, they don’t have food, some are carrying their children on their shoulders, in one case I saw a person carrying his old mother. It is rather painful,” Kejriwal said while addressing a webcast.
Taking a different tack than most other nations, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson is expected to extend the bulk of the country's coronavirus lockdown restrictions for three weeks or so when he speaks to the nation Sunday evening. Following a week of mixed messages that started with Johnson indicating that there will be changes to the lockdown beginning Monday, the government has sought to douse speculation that they will amount to much. That's because the U.K., which has recorded the most coronavirus-related deaths in Europe at 31,662, is still seeing a relatively high number of infections. "Extreme caution is actually the watchword on this, Transport Secretary Grant Shapps said Saturday.
First Covid-19 case was reported at Byculla women's jail in Mumbai. A 54-year old woman inmate tested positive on Saturday. The jail doctor had earlier tested positive but was off duty for 20 days, officials said.
On Friday, the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare released its revised policy for the discharge of COVID-19 patients. Now, as per revised guidelines, after discharge, patients need to follow home isolation for seven days. However, if before their discharge the patient’s oxygen saturation drops below 95 percent, the patient will be moved to a COVID Health Centre. It is important that oxygen saturation is maintained at the required levels since if the oxygen levels start falling below 90 percent, patients may experience lethargy, confusion or mental disruptions. Read more here
New coronavirus infections are accelerating again in Germany just days after its leaders loosened social restrictions, raising concerns that the pandemic could once again slip out of control. The Robert Koch Institute for disease control said in a daily bulletin the number of people each sick person now infects - known as the reproduction rate, or R - had risen to 1.1. When it goes above 1, it means the number of infections is growing. Chancellor Angela Merkel, bowing to pressure from leaders of Germany's 16 federal states to restart social life and revive the economy, announced on Wednesday measures that included more shop openings and a gradual return to school. At the same time, she launched an "emergency brake" to allow for the reimposition of restrictions if infections pick up again.
The World Health Organisation has denied a media report that claimed that Chinese President Xi Jinping personally asked WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom to ‘delay a global warning’ regarding the coronavirus outbreak during a phone call in January. The WHO, on its part, called the claims “unfounded and untrue.” In a series of tweets, the WHO clarified that there was never a phone call between chief Tedros and Xi Jinping.
Two people tested positive for novel coronavirus in Himachal Pradesh on Saturday night, taking the total number of cases in the state to 53, including 11 active cases. Additional chief secretary (health) RD Dhiman said that the two patients tested positive in Kangra and Hamirpur. “There are now two active cases in Hamirpur and three each in Kangra and Chamba, while Mandi, Shimla and Una districts have one patient each,” he said.
Five pilots of Air India have tested positive for coronavirus, airline sources said on Sunday. Air India, which is operating flights to evacuate Indians stranded in foreign countries, have asked its pilots to undertake coronavirus? test before they operate such flights, the sources said. "Five Air India pilots have tested positive for coronavirus. These pilots were tested one after one. We suspect it could be a case of faulty testing kit as well," one of the sources told PTI. The five pilots fly Boeing 787 planes, the second source said. Air India spokesperson did not offer any comment. A senior airline official said the five pilots had not operated any flight in the last three weeks. "These pilots had operated cargo flights to China prior to April 20," the official said (PTI)
Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Sunday said 75 per cent of COVID-19 cases in the city are asymptomatic or with mild symptoms. The chief minister said the government has also issued an order for requisition of ambulances of private hospitals, adding that the decision has been taken in the wake of shortage of state-run ambulances. "They (private ambulances) will have to be pressed into service when the government requires their service," Kejriwal said while addressing an online media briefing. The government has made arrangements for treatment of those at their homes with mild COVID-19 symptoms in accordance with the Centre's guidelines.
Becoming a mother is quite a life-changing experience. For any woman, ushering a new life into this world makes her feel both overwhelmingly powerful and fearful. These are strange times we are living in. While on one hand apprehensions about the future are rife, on the other, new lives are being welcomed around the world every day.
This Mother’s Day, indianexpress.com reached out to new mothers for whom this is a first-time celebration. While some are wary and doing everything they can to keep their babies safe, others are sharing their experience of having delivered their babies amid the ongoing lockdown. Read their experiences, here
Superstar Rajinikanth on Sunday warned the ruling AIADMK against reopening state-run liquor outlets in Tamil Nadu, saying if it was done, it should not harbour "dreams" of coming to power again, apparently in next year's Assembly elections. In a tweet, he also asked the government to work out alternate modes of revenue generation.
His remarks came a day after Tamil Nadu moved the Supreme Court, seeking a stay against a Madras High Court order directing closure of liquor shops in the state. The AIADMK cannot have "dreams of coming to power again if the government re-opens TASMAC shops at this juncture," the veteran said in the tweet. "Please #Look out for better ways of filling the coffers," he added.
For the third straight day on Saturday, the number of new cases of novel Coronavirus in the country was slightly lower than the previous day. On Thursday, 3355 new Coronavirus patients were discovered throughout the country, which was lower than the 3530 reported a day earlier. It was then followed by 3340 on Friday, and 3083 on Saturday.
Never before, since the outbreak began in the first week of March, has there been three straight days of decline in daily numbers. But there is little in it beyond this statistical coincidence, which was partly made possible by the decision of the Delhi government to reschedule its COVID bulletins and report only half-days figures on Saturday.
From calling outstation students back in a staggered manner, compulsory testing and quarantine on arrival to reducing the number of students attending class on a day. These are some of the reopening strategies being considered by centrally run schools and higher education institutions as they prepare for an academic year in the midst of a pandemic. Read more, here
Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) set up by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare dictate that the arriving passengers wear gloves and face masks throughout their journey. At the airport, two dedicated aerobridges have been identified for these flights, while the Airport Hospital Organisation has set up infrastructure to screen passengers before they proceed towards immigration. Passengers displaying symptoms of Covid-19 will be isolated and shifted to a separate area earmarked for the purpose, the spokesperson said, adding that airport ambulances were placed on standby to shift such passengers to designated isolation centres.
Separated by the breadth of the country, Gujarat and West Bengal have emerged as areas of concern as the Centre tries to find its way around easing a lockdown that has stretched to more than 45 days. From testing delays to trust deficit, we look at what explains the uphill struggle in two states with the highest case mortality against coronavirus in the country. Read the full story, here
In the past 24 hours, Delhi has reported 381 new cases, taking the total infections to 6923. With five new casualties, the death toll stands at 73. 2069 people have recovered and there are 4781 active cases in the capital.
Delhi said it had decided to follow a 24-hour cycle from midnight to midnight for releasing its data and would discontinue its practice of revealing information in the evening for data collected till four pm in the afternoon.
China's National Health Commission reported 14 new confirmed coronavirus cases on May 9, the highest number since April 28, including the first for more than a month in the city of Wuhan where the outbreak was first detected late last year. While China had officially designated all areas of the country as low-risk last Thursday, the new cases according to data published on Sunday represent a jump from the single case reported for the day before. The number was lifted by a cluster of 11 in Shulan city in northeastern Jilin province.
The first batch of 572 Indian nationals, who were stranded in the United Kingdom, landed at the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport in Mumbai early on Sunday morning. The passengers were thermally screened before being sent for quarantine to 88 hotels across the city. A spokesperson for Mumbai International Airport Limited said several more flights will repatriate as many as 2,350 nationals from the UK, US, Singapore, Malaysia, Bangladesh and Philippines over the next week beginning Sunday. In addition, six transit flights will also pass through Mumbai.
INS Jalashwa carrying 698 repatriated Indian citizens from the Maldives arrived in Kochi harbour on Sunday morning, completing the Indian Navy's first massive evacuation exercise from foreign soil during the COVID-19 lockdown. The passengers would disembark from the cruise terminal of Cochin Port Trust, they said.
This pandemic hasn’t generated grief alone. We have experienced, by turns and often together, melancholy, outrage, fear, and last but not least, anger at the bad faith of our rulers everywhere. The COVID-19 contagion has made social distancing necessary for survival while also bringing people together in new ways. Read more on our Sunday EYE cover, here
In the Covid-19 story, there are three possibilities that lie ahead: One, communities develop immunity against the disease, two, a drug is invented to contain the disease, and three, a vaccine is made available. At the earliest, we are 12-18 months away from developing a vaccine for the coronavirus, but global efforts raise hope that we could emerge on the other side of the pandemic. Which countries are developing coronavirus vaccines? Read more, here