US President Donald Trump has said he "stands with India and Prime Minister Narendra Modi during this pandemic".(Source: White House)
Coronavirus (Covid-19) Tracker India Live Updates: A total of 15 Railway Ministry officials have been placed in 14-day quarantine after a langoor handler in Rail Bhawan tested positive for Covid-19 on Thursday. The names of the quarantined officials have been circulated internally for awareness. The man, who brought the langoor inside the ministry premises to scare the monkeys away as a matter of government policy, had been coming to the ministry till May 4, a discovery by senior ministry officials have found.
Meanwhile, US President Donald Trump said the US will donate ventilators to India to help it fight the pandemic in the country. Taking to Twitter, Trump said the country will donate ventilators to “our friends in India” as it “stands with India and Prime Minister Narendra Modi during this pandemic.” The US is also cooperating with India on vaccine development, he said, adding “Together we will beat the invisible enemy!”
Last month, Trump had warned India of retaliation if it does not supply the essential hydroxychloroquine drug to the US to treat COVID-19. India had subsequently revoked the export ban on HCQ and sent 29 million of the drug to the US.
Trump had then thanked PM Modi for his “strong leadership in helping not just India, but humanity” in the fight against the new coronavirus.” He had further thanked India “and the Indian people for the decision on HCQ,” adding that it “will not be forgotten.”
Indians stranded in Singapore aboard a Singapore-Delhi Air India flight. (Twitter/India in Singapore)
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday thanked US President Donald Trump for his decision of donating ventilators to India and said that this step gives more power to the friendship between India and US. "Thank you @POTUS @realDonaldTrump. This pandemic is being fought collectively by all of us. In such times, it’s always important for nations to work together and do as much as possible to make our world healthier and free from COVID-19. More power to India - United States friendship!" PM Modi tweeted.
The central government, meanwhile, is expected to take a call sometime over the next one week on when to resume flight operations. To this extent, the Ministry of Civil Aviation has already reached out to various stakeholders including airlines, airports and ground-handling firms to begin laying the ground for restarting flights.
When will the flights start?
The government is learnt to have told airlines that the carriers and the customers will be given time of 10 days to make commercial and technical preparations before the green signal to restart flights is given. Consequently, senior officials in the government and airlines expect commercial scheduled flights to resume sometime during the next one month.
To what destinations will flights operate?
Initially, the repatriation mission being conducted by Air India is expected to be extended on domestic routes. Currently, only international passengers are flying on these flights. Once, sufficient number of repatriation flights are operated on domestic routes, other private airlines may be allowed to fly between airports that are situated in green zones. However, airlines have expressed concern that these airports may not provide necessary passenger loads for flights to be commercially viable. Most major centres such as Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru, Ahmedabad, etc are still classified as red zones.
Migrants at ISBT, Sector 43, Chandigarh, wait for their turn to go home in Bihar.
In every 3 minutes, a Gujarat State Road Transport Corporation (GSRTC) bus leave Surat city to drop people stranded here due to the Covid-19 lockdown to north Gujarat and Saurashtra. With the daily departure of around 1,000 buses, a total of 1.66 lakh people from Surat had been dropped to different destinations in Gujarat. As many as 5,512 buses had left Surat since May 6.
The state transport department charges only one way fare from the passengers and only 30 people are allowed to travel in the 51-seater bus. Read more here
Maharashtra reported 67 deaths due to coronavirus disease (Covid-19) on Saturday, of which 41 deaths were recorded in Mumbai, according to data from the state Health department.
A total of 1,606 new Covid-19 cases were reported from across the state on Saturday. The state tally of COVID-19 positive patients is now 30,706 and the toll has gone up to 1,135. Read more here
Pune reported as many as 11 deaths due to coornavirus disease (Covid-19) and the highest single-day spike in cases so far, 228, on Saturday. The toll due to Covid-19 rose to 197, while the total number of patients has gone up to 3,795.
District Collector Naval Kishore Ram told The Indian Express that the administration was planning another audit to review the cases. “We are also puzzled. On some days, there is a spike in the number of deaths of critical patients… The earlier review showed that in some cases there was a delay in hospitalisation of patients but in other cases, they found that despite more than 15-20 days of treatment, the patients succumbed to the infection,” said the district collector. He pointed out that several patients with co-morbidities have also recovered and been discharged. Read more here
Gujarat Chief Minister Vijay Rupani held a meeting with industry associations and trade bodies and sought their suggestions and opinions regarding the measures to be taken while implementing lockdown 4.0.
“The meeting was held on Friday evening with various chambers, textile associations, diamond associations, retail and wholesale traders of eight municipal corporations. In the meeting held through a video conference, everyone’s suggestions were invited,” said Ashwani Kumar, Secretary to the CM, on Saturday. The official said several “good suggestions” were received during the meeting. Deputy Chief Minister Nitin Patel was also present in the meeting. Read more here
To tide over the disruption in studies owing to the lockdown, the Kerala education department has decided to take classes to the homes of about 45 lakh school students from June 1. A recent survey by the department found 94 per cent of students in state board schools have access to Internet or TV at home. The survey covered students up to Class XII who are enrolled in state board schools.
Beginning May 18, Punjab will lift the curfew but will continue with the lockdown till May 31 with maximum possible relaxations, Chief Minister Amarinder Singh Saturday said.
“From May 18, there will be no curfew in the state. But the lockdown will be there till May 31. Most of the shops and businesses will be allowed to open. We will give more relaxations. Select public transport will also start plying on roads from Monday onwards,” Amarinder said in a live Facebook interaction as part of his #AskCaptain initiative. Read more here
The number of Covid-19 cases at BDD chawls in Worli and NM Joshi Marg of Lower Parel have risen threefold in the last one week. After the number of cases gradually dipped in Worli Koliwada and Jijamata Nagar, the increase in numbers at BDD chawls poses another challenge for G-South ward comprising Worli, Lower Parel and Mahalaxmi. This ward is in the Assembly constituency of state Tourism Minister Aaditya Thackeray.
As on May 14, BDD chawls have 227 positive cases. With the rising number of cases, the BMC has now shut all shops, including those selling essential goods, till Sunday to restrict movement completely. Read more here
Contact tracing is becoming a challenging task for civic staff with close to 1,000 new Covid-19 cases each day in Mumbai. The process is getting delayed as, in some cases, it takes at least two to three days, after a suspected patient tests positive, to put people under quarantine or explain home quarantine rules to them. This poses a higher risk of wider transmission of the infection.
In one such case, a 67-year-old Bandra resident died after suffering from breathlessness and high creatinine levels on May 13. Since his Covid-19 test reports were pending, the private hospital did not seal the body and directly handed it over to the family, which kept his body in a coffin full of ice overnight in their chawl room. The next day, eight people buried him in a nearby cemetery. His samples tested positive two days later, on May 15. But it was only on Saturday that a civic official visited the chawl. Read more here
Following instructions from the state government, the BBMP has decided to do a health screening for all residents of Bengaluru. For this, BBMP will be setting up 3,000 block teams which will be visiting every household, BBMP Commissioner B H Anil Kumar said.
Amid increased influx of people returning home in Jammu and Kashmir from different parts of the country, the Union Territory on Saturday reported the highest 108 COVID-19 positive cases in 24 hours. Kashmir reported one COVID related death too. With this, the death toll among COVID positive people in UT so far has risen to 12.
"108 new cases today. No room for complacency. Be alert. Follow guidelines,’’ tweeted Principal Secretary Power Development Department and UT government spokesperson, Rohit Kansal. The highest number of 12 positive cases were reported in Ramban district bordering Kashmir Valley, followed by 10 in Kathua adjoining Punjab. About those tested positive in Kathua, Deputy Commissioner O P Bhagat tweeted: ``All had travel history outside the UT and they were already in quarantine’’.
Similarly, ten people tested positive in Ramban district too had returned to the UT from outside and they were also already under quarantine, said Director of National Health Mission Bhupinder Kumar. The other two had returned from Kashmir and were at home in Banihal tehsil, he added. - Arun Sharma reports from Jammu
Goa now has 13 cases of Covid-19 positives as of Saturday evening, confirmed Health Minister Vishwajit Rane. The second wave of patients began on May 13 when seven persons tested positive, including a one year old, having returned from Sholapur, Mumbai and Gujarat. ON May 14, a sea farer returning via Mumbai tested positive. All the eight underwent tests after having officially crossed the border with proper travel permits and were admitted to ESI hospital. “Another three tested on Friday and they have been shifted to ESI too,” Rane added. The three were from a group of seven men who had visited Gangapur, Kolkata to deliver barges via sea and returned to Goa via road, and tested at Mollem Check Post upon arrival. The other four of the seven tested negative and have been sent to institutional quarantine.
On Saturday, two more positive cases showed up. “A driver has tested positive today and he has traveled to Goa from Haridwar. He was working for an industry in Goa,” said Rane. “One more person who was brought to Goa under a GSIA permit has tested positive and we are sending him to ESI hospital. He was under quarantine as per procedure but was feeling unwell. ” Goa has been in the green zone since May 1, with the last case on April 3. With the roads and railways now eased for travel, Goa is expecting a new influx of passengers — both of Goans returning home and those working in industries here. -Smita Nair reports from Goa
Centre launches online dashboard to monitor info on migrants' movement. National Migrant Info System (NMIS) is a central online repository on #MigrantWorkers developed by NDMA to facilitate their seamless movement across states. MHA asked the states to upload data on NMIS Dashboard for better coordination, movement monitoring and contact tracing.
Following a request by the state government, churches in Mizoram have agreed for their premises to be used as quarantine facilities during the COVID-19 pandemic.“This pertains to most church halls available with the bigger churches,” said state Chief Secretary Lalnunmawia Chuaungo, adding that the decision was taken keeping in mind the large number of residents coming back to the state.“Since May 4, around 2,000 people have returned, and we are expecting another 10,000 to return in the next few weeks.” On Friday, 833 passengers de-boarded at Mizoram from a special ‘shramik’ train from Chennai. As per rules, all those incoming will need to undergo institutional quarantine for 14 days. - A report by Tora Agarwala
Manipur confirmed three more cases of COVID-19 on Saturday taking the total number of positive case in the state to six and four active cases. The new confirmed cases of COVID-19 were reported even as the evacuation of stranded Manipuris was underway. All three new COVID-19 patients were inmates of different quarantine centres situated in Imphal who returned to the state just recentlyManipur health department said, of the three samples sent for testing, the sample of a nursing professional who has returned from Kolkata had tested positive for the virus on Friday. Her sample was tested at JNIMS COVID-19 testing labs. The 21-year-old nurse from Kamjong district has been evacuated to the Isolation ward of JNIMS from the quarantine centre she was staying.On Saturday, two more samples, a 75-year-old woman and his son (48) were tested positive for the virus. The samples were tested at the laboratory of Regional Institute of Medical Sciences.
Another 20 year old girl from Churachandpur district of Manipur tested positive for COVID-19 on Saturday. The patient returned to Manipur on Wednesday in a special carrying over 1000 Manipuris stranded at Chennai. She has been moved to JNIMS Isolation ward in Imphal: source Chief Medical Officer Churachandpur district hospital.(RIMS). They are residents of Moreh border town, Tengnoupal district. - Jimmy Leivon reports from Manipur
Hours after Finance Minister Niramala Sitharaman announced structural reforms as part of Covid economic measures, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said these will create many busiess opportunities. Taking to Twitter PM Modi wrote, "Important sectors such as coal, minerals, defence, aviation, space and atomic energy have been covered in the announcements by the FM today. The measures and reforms announced will create many business opportunities and contribute to economic transformation."
Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Saturday thanked Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharamam for the "landmark" reform initiatives in defence, aviation, coal and some other sectors, saying these were unprecedented steps to make India self-reliant.
In a series of tweets, Shah said the prime minister's 'mantra' of 'reform, perform and transform' is the key of India's phenomenal growth in the last six years. "I thank PM @narendramodi & FM @nsitharaman for today's landmark decisions which will surely boost our economy and further our efforts towards Atmanirbhar Bharat," he said.
The UK government on Saturday launched trials for specially-trained 'Covid dogs' that may be able to detect coronavirus in humans, even before symptoms appear, as part of a new research. The trials will establish whether these dogs could be used as a potential new non-invasive, early warning measure to detect coronavirus in the future.
Researchers at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (LSHTM) will carry out the first phase of a trial in collaboration with the charity Medical Detection Dogs and Durham University, backed by 500,000 pounds of government funding, the Department of Health and Social Care said. The aim of the first phase will be to determine whether dogs are able to detect coronavirus in humans from odour samples. (PTI)
Health Minister K K Shailaja has informed that 11 new cases of Covid-19 were reported in Kerala today. Four persons in Thrissur district, three from Kozhikode district, and two each from Palakkad and Malappuram districts are those who have been confirmed with the infection. Seven of them have returned from abroad and two each have come back from Tamil Nadu and Maharashtra.
At the same time, four patients under treatment for Coronavirus infection have recovered today. Two patients each from Wayanad and Kannur districts are those who tested negative. This includes an 81-year-old who was in critical condition at the Government Medical College Hospital in Kannur. He was hospitalised for 42 days and he was tested 16 times during this period, The Health Minister has congratulated the entire team there for his successful recovery. The total number of recovered cases in the State is 497 and 87 patients are presently under treatment in different hospitals. Till now 55,045 persons have arrived in Kerala - 2,911 by air, 793 by sea, 1,021 by rail and 50,320 by road.
The UT Government has approached the Centre with the request to bring back J&K residents stranded in Oman, Dubai and Iran under its 'Vande Bharat Mission’.In a letter to Foreign Secretary Harsh Vardhan Shringla, UT Chief Secretary B V R Subrahmanyam has sought his personal intervention in prioritising the evacuation of residents of Jammu and Kashmir stranded in these three countries. The CS in his letter informed the Foreign Secretary that the evacuation of the students from Bangladesh as part of the 'Vande Bharat Mission’ is being greatly appreciated by the people of Jammu and Kashmir.“The Government of Jammu and Kashmir has also received requests from its residents stranded in Oman, Dubai and Iran for their early evacuation. Their prolonged stay abroad during the COVID-19 Pandemic has made them restless and fearful of catching the disease in a foreign country. They are also desirous of celebrating 'Eid' festival, which is, approaching on 25th May, 2020 in Jammu and Kashmir,” CS wrote to the Foreign Secretary and requested for his personal intervention in bringing the J&K residents back from these countries.
A report by Arun Sharma from Jammu
US President Donald Trump has said he does not want to talk to his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping right now, expressing his displeasure at Beijing's handling of the coronavirus outbreak which has spread across the world, killing over 300,000 people.
The US has expressed disappointment over China's handling of the COVID-19 pandemic which has claimed 87,530 lives in America. President Trump on Thursday threatened to "cut off the whole relationship" with China.
The president has been pressing China to agree for an inquiry into the origin of the virus, including the allegation that it emerged from a lab in Wuhan. "Just don't want to talk to him right now. We will see what happens over the next little while," Trump told reporters at the White House on Friday, when asked why he did not want to not speak to Xi.
A total of 14 new Coronavirus cases have emerged in Gurgaon today, of whom seven are contacts of people who had tested positive earlier. Total cases in the district now 193, of who 104 have recovered.
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Saturday interacted with migrant labourers who were walking on Sukhdev Vihar flyover to return to their homestates. Now, the police have taken the labourers in preventive custody saying they they have direction from top to do so.
A total of 496 people have recovered from COVID-19 in Karnataka so far.
A total of 15 Railway Ministry officials have been placed in 14-day quarantine after a langoor handler in Rail Bhawan tested positive for Covid-19 on Thursday. The names of the quarantined officials have been circulated internally for awareness. The man, who brought the langoor inside the ministry premises to scare the monkeys away as a matter of government policy, had been coming to the ministry till May 4, a discovery by senior ministry officials have found.
The Government of West Bengal has written to the Railway Board that it will bear all costs of movement for Bengal's migrant workers using special trains from other states to West Bengal. The government has said that it will not charge migrants.
On the third consecutive day, Delhi recorded over 400 cases in a day with 438 fresh cases reported in the last 24 hours. On Saturday, six more deaths were added by the state government after the cases were examined by the death audit committee.
The total number of cases in Delhi crossed the 9,000-mark and was recorded at 9,333 as of Saturday. The death toll was reported at 129. At the start of this week, Delhi had 7,233 cases with 73 deaths. The number of cases rose by 29 per cent in the last five days. A total of 130845 tests have been done so far and in 24 hours 5656 more tests have been processed. — A report by Astha Saxena
The Kerala Police has decided to rest 50% of its personnel.
At least six wards of a panchayat in Kerala's Idukki district have been informally shut down and a mass contact tracing exercise is on after a bakery owner tested positive as part of the sentinel surveillance mechanism of the state's health department. Random testing as part of sentinel surveillance is carried out among high-risk categories such as shopkeepers, police officers, health workers and journalists to detect silent community transmission of the coronavirus.On May 14, a 39-year-old bakery owner in Puttadi in Vandenmedu panchayat was found detected with the virus after his samples were tested randomly on May 11. He was asymptomatic. After the test results came in, he was admitted to the taluk hospital in Thodupuzha and his family members consisting of his wife and two children placed under home quarantine. Since the bakery is believed to have been visited by hundreds of people over the past week, local health workers are scouring for those in the area who have had primary contact with the bakery owner based on high-risk and low-risk parameters. Helpline numbers of the district health department has been published on social media, asking people to come forward if they have visited the bakery in recent days.
Idukki district medical officer N Priya told the Indian Express, "We have prepared a contact list of 250-300 people. Most of these people are those in the locality of the bakery in Vandenmedu panchayat. His actual residence is in Karunapuram panchayat where very few people have had primary contact with him. None of those on the primary contact list have any symptoms so far." — Vishnu Varma reports from Kerala
Nirmala Sitharaman: Rs 8,100 crore provided towards 30% Viability Gap Funding for social infrastructure projects.
Nirmala Sitharaman said:
Nirmala Sitharaman: PM had said that we should prepare for tough competition. When we speak of Aatma Nirbhar Bharat, we are not looking inwards, it is not isolationist policy, it is making India rely on its strengths, ready to face global challenges.
'Structural reforms today's focus': Nirmala Sitharaman announces 4th tranche of Covid economic package. (Photo: ANI)
They might not have the reputations of some designers and tend to populate hospitals rather than catwalks, but pandemics have had a deep impact on fashion and the art of dressing up. Sounds hard to believe? Well, then consider the fact that even as the world struggles to cope with Covid-19, masks have been added to most wardrobes. And gloves seem next on the list. No we are not being flippant. This is not the first time that a disease or illness has influenced the way we dress. And it will not be the last. For centuries now, people have tweaked wardrobes to cope with illness and infections, from headdress to hems to shoes. Nimish Dubey writes
Around 100 migrant labourers, who were waiting outside New Delhi Railway Station hoping to get a train to go home, have been shifted to relief shelters by district authorities and are being registered for Shramik Special trains to send them back to their homestates as soon as possible.
Special trains have been leaving New Delhi Railway Station for various states since Tuesday carrying thousands of people out of Delhi to their homestates. Tickets for these Rajdhani-type trains have to be booked and paid for online. However, as The Indian Express has been reporting from Tuesday itself, a number of migrant labourers without tickets have been making long journeys to the station every day in the hope of getting a train back home. — Sukrita Baruah's report
Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Edappadi Palaniswami appeals to guest workers to not travel to their hometowns on foot or through any other transportation.He says so far 55,743 workers have been sent home and the govt is taking steps to send 10,000 workers per day. Government to bear the travel costs too.
The number of coronavirus cases in Goa came down to 10 on Saturday, after one of the COVID-19 patients tested negative in the final test, state Health Minister Vishwajit Rane said. Eight COVID-19 cases were detected in Goa earlier this week, while three more persons had tested positive during the rapid tests conducted on Friday evening, he said.
"During the final test conducted on the trio, two were found infected with coronavirus. However, the third one tested negative. The test was conducted at the virology lab of Goa Medical College and Hospital (GMCH) near here," Rane said. The minister said that seven residents of Vasco city in South Goa had left on April 21 to deliver barges at Gangapur near Kolkata, a green zone.
After reaching Gangapur on May 3, they were taken to some other place in a boat there. "They reached Goa at 10.30 am on Friday from Mollem check post (South Goa) in one vehicle," he said, adding that they were taken for testing at a district hospital in South Goa. "Three tested positive during the rapid testing, while other four were taken for institutional quarantine," Rane had said this morning. Goa was declared green zone on May 1. However, the fresh cases began surfacing in the state after May 13. (PTI)
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday thanked US President Donald Trump for his decision of donating ventilators to India and said that this step gives more power to the friendship between India and US. 'Thank you @POTUS @realDonaldTrump. This pandemic is being fought collectively by all of us. In such times, it’s always important for nations to work together and do as much as possible to make our world healthier and free from COVID-19. More power to Flag of India - Flag of United States friendship!' PM Modi tweeted.
The United States will donate ventilators to India to help it fight the coronavirus pandemic in the country, President Donald Trump announced late Friday. Taking to Twitter, Trump said the country will donate ventilators to “our friends in India” as it “stands with India and Prime Minister Narendra Modi during this pandemic.” The US is also cooperating with India on vaccine development, he said, adding “Together we will beat the invisible enemy!”
The coronavirus death toll in Delhi has mounted to 129, even as the total number of COVID-19 cases reported in the national capital climbed to 9,333 on Saturday, authorities said. The city had recorded 472 fresh cases, the highest single-day spike, on Thursday. In a bulletin issued on Saturday, the Delhi health department said, with six more fatalities reported, the death toll from coronavirus infection has risen to 129.
It, however, said the cumulative death figures refer to fatalities where the primary cause of death was found to be COVID-19, as per the report of the Death Audit Committee on the basis of case sheets received from various hospitals. On Friday, the total number of cases stood at 8,895, including 123 deaths. With 438 fresh cases, the total number of coronavirus cases in Delhi has mounted to 9,333. (PTI)
Singapore on Saturday reported 465 new COVID-19 cases, taking the country's total count to 27,356, with a senior minister warning that the city-state may see an increase in the number of infections when it allows more activities to resume from June 1. The majority of new cases are foreigners on work permits and residing in dormitories, said the Health Ministry, as it continues to test foreign workers.
Four cases are Singapore citizens or permanent residents (foreigners), reported by the Ministry. At a press conference held by the multi-ministry task force dealing with the COVID-19 outbreak on Friday, Health Minister Gan Kim Yong warned that community cases will "likely" increase with the easing of some more restrictions from June 1, when the circuit breaker ends.
He cautioned that the circuit breaker measures need to be lifted "carefully and slowly". "Because if we are not careful, the number of cases will spike up and you may have big clusters forming again," Channel News Asia quoted Gan as saying. (PTI)
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman will announce the fourth tranche of the economic relief package at 4 pm on Friday. Sitharaman had announced the first three tranches of the package on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday, respectively.
India will enter into the fourth phase of lockdown from May 18 but with a different set of rules and guidelines as announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi during his address to the nation on May 11. The new guidelines will be based on the suggestions by chief ministers of all the states to the home ministry last week.
“Based on the suggestions by states, information related to lockdown 4 will be given to you before 18th May. We will fight corona and we will move forward,” the Prime Minister had said, adding that “we have to live with coronavirus for some time.” The 54-day curfew in India, owing to the rising number of coronavirus cases, was first imposed for 21 days starting March 25 and then extended from April 15 and May 4. How will the lockdown rules be different this time? Read here
Sri Lanka has ended the isolation of several villages which were kept under a close watch to prevent the COVID-19 clusters from being formed, a senior official said on Saturday. Army Commander Shavendra Silva, the head of the coronavirus prevention operations, said that all such villages have been reopened as they have been able to curb the spread of the contagion. He said that no case was reported over the last two weeks.
"This is a very happy outcome as a nation. If people maintain social distancing and follow health guidelines, COVID-19 can be completely tackled," Silva said. Several areas in Colombo and outer districts were kept under isolation since early April. Most of these were re-opened on Thursday, according to the officials. The Sri Lanka Navy's north Colombo detachment at Welisara, which was affected by the coronavirus, was completely shut since early April.
Navy spokesman Isuru Suriyabandara said that polymerase chain reaction tests are rapidly continuing and it will be another month since the cluster can be completely eradicated. The Naval camp will not be re-opened for some time. Some 479 sailors were infected and 151 of them have been discharged. Sri Lanka's total coronavirus cases stood at 935 by Friday with 477 recoveries and nine deaths. (PTI)
Scientists at CSIR-CMERI in Durgapur have developed two sprayer units to disinfect indoor areas. The units can be used for the effective cleaning and disinfecting pathogenic micro-organism present in hospital wards, hospital beds, surfaces, rooms, halls and building corridors, a spokesperson of the institute said on Saturday.
The two units -- Battery Powered Disinfectant Sprayer (BPDS) and Pneumatically Operated Mobile Indoor Disinfection Unit (POMID) -- are designed with two-stage spraying and separate storage tanks. Most of the disinfectant sprayers available in the market are based either on cleaning or disinfecting using single chamber storage but CSIR-CMERI developed sprayer systems consisting of dual-chamber storage, its director Harish Hirani said. The technology will have relevance even beyond the COVID-19 crisis, he said. (PTI)
A 71-year-old man from Greater Noida's sector 150 died due to the novel coronavirus infection on Friday, officials said. The man had been admitted to Lok Nayak hospital in Delhi and was receiving treatment for cancer. According to officials, the cause of death was multiple organ failure and his body was handed over to administration for the funeral as per the procedure. The death toll in Greater Noida is now 4, officials said.
15 inmates and one staffer of Delhi's Rohini jail tested positive for the novel coronavirus disease on Friday. The first positive case from the prison was reported on Wednesday after a 28-year-old inmate had tested positive.
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Saturday said the Centre should stop acting like a "money lender" for its children by giving them credit instead of cash, and asked Prime Minister Narendra Modi to reconsider the COVID-19 economic stimulus package. Interacting with journalists of regional media via video conferencing, he said he was trying to put pressure on the government for generating demand by putting money into the accounts of the poor and vulnerable sections of society.
Gandhi said a 'storm' was brewing on the economic front that will cause damage and hurt many. "The storm has not come yet, it is coming and will cause big economic damage and hurt many," he said.
The Congress leader asserted that if demand is not generated, the country will suffer a bigger loss economically than from the novel coronavirus. He also said that it is important to lift the lockdown intelligently without sacrificing the old and vulnerable population to the disease. (PTI)
A langoor handler in Rail Bhavan has tested positive for coronavirus. He was in charge of chasing away monkeys in the ministry. Following this, some officials have been asked to home quarantine themselves for 14 days.
The Bombay High Court on Friday directed the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) to file an affidavit enumerating the list of clinics and maternity homes offering services to expecting women across the city and also provide an account of the number of deliveries conducted by the medical institutions during the lockdown period.
A division bench of Chief Justice Dipankar Datta and Justice A A Sayed passed the directions while hearing through video-conference, a public interest plea filed by advocate Mohiuddin Vaid, who referred to news reports to say that a pregnant woman was refused admission to J J Hospital as she did not have a Covid-19 negative report.
According to media reports, the pregnant lady from Nagpada on April 27 wanted to get admitted at JJ Hospital but was allegedly refused admission since she was unable to produce a Covid-19 negative report. Thereafter, the woman had to approach three other hospitals to get admitted. After being turned down by four hospitals, she was forced to give birth at home, with the help of a midwife, who was present outside one of the hospitals. Read more
After a week's hiatus, sale of alcoholic beverages resumed in non-containment zones of Tamil Nadu on Saturday amid police security except in State capital Chennai and neighbouring Tiruvallur. As part of measures to avoid crowding and ensure social distancing, authorities implemented colour-coded token system that specified the date and time allotted for the buyers at a designated outlet.
To prevent unmanageable crowds witnessed in several places when the shops reopened on May 7 after a 43-day dry spell, the authorities limited the number of tokens per day to 500 and 70 for an hour. The shops are open from 10 am to 5 pm. Adequate police personnel were deployed to regulate crowd and tokens were distributed at separate locations away from the liquor shops and only those who had the coloured slips were allowed to buy beverages at the outlets. (PTI)
Karnataka on Saturday reported 23 new coronavirus cases. With this, the total number of positive cases in the state rose to 1,079. It includes 36 deaths and 476 discharges.
Six new cases of Coronavirus have emerged from Nuh and Jhajjar this morning, with officials saying all the patients are contacts of persons who have tested positive for the infection earlier this week. In Jhajjar, the two new cases that emerged were of the children of a Delhi Police Constable who had already tested positive. “2 more positive cases have been found in Bahadurgarh, both of who are sons of a Delhi Police Constable posted in Sultanpuri area of Delhi and admitted at AIIMS Badhasa for treatment for Coronavirus,” said Dr Randeep Poonia, Chief Medical Officer (CMO), Jhajjar.
In Nuh, meanwhile, all 4 cases that emerged were of contacts of a truck driver who has tested positive earlier this week. “The truck driver had returned to the district from outside on April 26, and his samples were taken as part of routine testing in the area on May 12, and returned positive. Samples of his relatives and other contacts were subsequently taken, and 4 of them have returned positive today,” said a spokesperson of the Nuh district administration.
Jhajjar has so far recorded 89 cases of Coronavirus, while 65 people have tested positive in Nuh. Apart from these two districts, Faridabad also recorded 4 new cases of Coronavirus today, bringing the total count of cases in the district to 144. “Four people have tested positive today, including a vegetable vendor at the Dabua mandi,” said a spokesperson of the Faridabad district administration. Of the 144 people who have tested positive in the district, 75 have been discharged and 5 have succumbed to the infection, while the rest are undergoing treatment.
An assistant police inspector, who tested positive for COVID-19, succumbed to the infection at a civic-run hospital here on Saturday, an official said. The 33-year-old officer attached to Shahu Nagar police station in Dharavi was found unconscious at his home in the early hours of the day and was rushed to civic-run Lokmanya Tilak Hospital in Sion, where he died, the official said.
A resident of Pratiksha Nagar in Sion, the officer had been on sick leave, as he suffered from cold and fever, he said. The deceased had undergone a swab test on Wednesday and his reports came out positive on Saturday, the official said. This is the ninth COVID-19 death to be reported in the Mumbai police force. (PTI)
Four more people test positive for coronavirus in Haryana's Nuh, all of who are contacts of a truck driver who had tested positive earlier this week. The total number of cases in the district is now 65.
Grit and patience hold the key to triumph over the deadly COVID-19, say survivors of the disease in Odisha, one of whom is a plucky 17-year-old girl. The survivors say endurance and positive spirit are necessary to recover from the disease. "I have successfully fought a tough battle at a young age. I was fraught with fear initially. However, the nursing staff at the hospital was very supportive and caring. My fear faded away soon," the girl, who hails Rajnagar area of Kendrapara district, said.
"I used to speak to my father over the phone from the hospital bed several times every day. I never gave him the impression that I was ill. His soothing words toughened me mentally," the girl, who was discharged from the medical establishment in April, said on Friday.
A similar experience was shared by a 19-year-old college dropout from nondescript Beheraguda village in Golamunda block of Kalahandi district, who contracted the disease while playing a cricket match. "I have defeated novel coronavirus. I am thankful to the doctors and health personnel at the COVID-19 hospital in Cuttack. The disease can be conquered by everyone. One has to stay at home and maintain social distancing during outdoor movement to keep COVID-19 at bay. I was infected with the disease as I had violated these norms," he said. "I along with other village youths had taken part in a cricket match in which the wicketkeeper was afflicted with COVID-19 and we were unaware of it," he recounted. (PTI)
The death toll due to COVID-19 rose to 2,752 and the number of cases climbed to 85,940 on Saturday, registering an increase of 103 deaths and 3,970 cases in the last 24 hours, according to the Union Health Ministry. The number of active cases stood at 53,035, while 30,152 people have recovered and one patient has migrated, it said. "Thus, around 35.08 per cent patients have recovered so far," a senior health ministry official said.
The total confirmed cases include foreign nationals too. Of the 103 deaths reported since Friday morning, 49 were in Maharashtra, 20 in Gujarat, 10 in West Bengal, eight in Delhi, seven in Uttar Pradesh, five in Tamil Nadu, two in Madhya Pradesh, one each in Karnataka and Himachal Pradesh. Of the 2,752 fatalities, Maharashtra tops the tally with 1,068 deaths, Gujarat comes second with 606 deaths, followed by Madhya Pradesh at 239, West Bengal at 225, Rajasthan at 125, Delhi at 123, Uttar Pradesh at 95, Tamil Nadu at 71 and Andhra Pradesh at 48.
The death toll reached 36 in Karnataka, 34 Telangana and 32 in Punjab. Haryana and Jammu and Kashmir have reported 11 fatalities each due to the disease, while Bihar has registered seven and Kerala has reported four deaths, the ministry said. Jharkhand, Chandigarh, Himachal Pradesh and Odisha have recorded three COVID-19 fatalities each, while Assam has reported two deaths. Meghalaya, Uttarakhand and Puducherry have reported one fatality each, according to the ministry data.