According to the latest update by the Health Ministry, the total number of cases now stand at 46,711 and the death toll jumped to 1,583.
Coronavirus India Updates: The Telangana government on Tuesday extended lockdown in the state till May 29. Addressing the media, chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao said that all non-essential shops in the state will remain shut in red zones. Curfew has also been imposed from 7 pm to 6 am every day across all the 33 districts in the state. Meanwhile, Mumbai closed all its non-essential stores and liquor shops. Only essential services will be available from Wednesday. The death toll in the state touched 617. Mumbai alone reported 26 deaths since Monday.
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According to the latest update by the Health Ministry, the total number of cases in the country now stand at 46,711 and the death toll jumped to 1,583. As many as 3,900 new COVID-19 cases and 195 fatalities were reported in the last 24 hours, the biggest spike in a single day, the health ministry said on Tuesday. The government Tuesday also suspended all existing visas granted to foreign nationals, barring a few categories, till international air travel to and from India remains shut due to the coronavirus pandemic, an order by the Ministry of Home Affairs said. The ministry said it has kept in abeyance multiple-entry life-long visas given to Overseas Citizens of India (OCI) card holders till international travel remains suspended.
On the global front, the number of cases has now surpassed 3.5 million with 2,51, 510 deaths, although the rate of fatalities and new cases has slowed from peaks reached last month. The Donald Trump-led United States continues to be the worst-affected with 11,66,083 cases and 67,913 deaths.
Considering the pressure on testing in Punjab following influx of returnees, the state has decided to purchase testing kits from the open market to ramp up its testing capacity.
Chief Minister Amarinder Singh has directed such centres to purchase kits for testing in Punjab from the open market, for which the state government will bear the expenses. The state is currently testing 2,800 people a day, a significant increase from 1,500 a day last week, a government statement said. It added that the Central government testing facilities are unable to enhance their capacities due to unavailability of kits from ICMR. As the state prepared to handle a large influx of NRIs from other nations and stranded people from across the country, Amarinder on Tuesday issued a series of directives to check the spread of COVID-19, including strict directives to the Health Department, to ensure mandatory screening of all such returnees, with institutional quarantine for those coming back from high-risk regions of India, and hotel/home quarantine for the NRIs.
A day after Haryana Home and Health Minister Anil Vij said he fears the consequences of the relaxations enforced in the third phase of the lockdown, he told The Indian Express that “opening all markets at once can be fatal”. Speaking to The Indian Express, he emphasized that “despite the pulls and pressures from high and mighty”, he stands firm on keeping the borders with national capital Delhi “shut”.
Vij also spoke on how prepared his state is to tackle the increasing number of coronavirus cases and unlike other states where the Council of Ministers takes decisions and assesses the Covid situation, “no such practice exists in Haryana” and the “CM was taking all the decisions”.
The government Tuesday announced a Rs 13 per litre hike in excise duty on diesel and a Rs 10 per litre hike in excise duty on petrol in an attempt to shore up more revenues even as demand remains subdued due to the lockdown to counter the spread of COVID-19 pandemic.
Finance Ministry officials said the hike in excise duty, which comes into effect from Wednesday, will not result in hike in retail prices of petrol and diesel for the consumers. This is the second hike in excise duty on fuel in two months by the Centre and comes after a hike in value added tax by several states over the last few days.
Telangana government on Tuesday night extended lockdown in the state till May 29. Addressing the media, chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao said that non-essential shops in the state will remain shut in red zones. Curfew has also been imposed from 7 pm to 6 am every day across all the 33 districts.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday reviewed the current status of India's efforts in coronavirus vaccine development, drug discovery, diagnosis and testing. He chaired a meeting of a task force on coronavirus vaccine development. The review by the prime minister took note of the extraordinary coming together of academia, industry and government, combined with speedy but efficient regulatory process, an official statement said.
A one-size-fits-all approach to the coronavirus pandemic is likely to increase inequalities in the long term, so countries with less resources must let people get on with their lives — to work, earn money and put food on the table – researchers from the Harvard School of Public Health and Harvard Medical School said in The Lancet on Tuesday.
Dr. Vikram Patel, the Pershing Square Professor of Global Health at Harvard Medical School and Richard Cash from the Harvard T Chan School of Public Health, in their perspective on ‘The art of medicine-Has COVID-19 subverted global health?’, urged countries with less resources to allow the average citizen to travel freely with restrictions only applied to clusters where lockdowns are necessary.
Dr. Patel told The Indian Express that it has been repeatedly stressed that the primary objective of a lockdown is to delay and reduce the spike of severely affected persons, allowing time for the health system to prepare for future waves and caring for the sick.
The skies above Tripura have a welcome new addition: soaring, colourful kites. Youngsters are no longer interested in violating the lockdown to get a peek of life outside their homes, but have instead taken to flying kites on their rooftops every afternoon.
The fact that the business of making kites has picked up pace is testimony to this popular new hobby — as kite runners are busy buying kites, ‘latai’ (rollers) and tempering threads with ‘manja’. On Day 42 of India’s lockdown, here are some of the most striking stories
Mumbai civic body Tuesday withdrew lockdown relaxations in the city; allowing only essential services from Wednesday. The death toll in Maharashtra touched 617. Mumbai alone reported 26 deaths since Monday.
Assam Tuesday ordered fresh directives for the implementation of lockdown 3.0 in the state. Here are guidelines in addition to those issued earlier on May 3.
While the state remains under a curfew from 6pm to 6 am, the new notice, signed by Assam Chief Secretary Kumar Sanjay Krishna, has relaxed timings for a number of services — especially those involved in industries, businesses and other economic activities.
Maharashtra reported 841 new COVID-19 cases and 34 deaths in the last 24 hours, bringing total cases to 15,525 and death toll at 617.
The Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP), the local civic authority, Tuesday revised the fine for not wearing masks in public places from Rs 1,000 to Rs 200. On April 30, the BBMP had issued an order making facial masks – covering the mouth and the nose – compulsory in public places and in any workplace with more than five people.
On Tuesday, BBMP Commissioner BH Anil Kumar issued a revised order. The order said the fine amount of Rs 200 for the first and subsequent offence had been stipulated as per the government notification of the Karnataka Epidemic Diseases Regulations, 2020.
With the third phase of the nationwide lockdown in effect, Tripura skies have a welcome new addition: soaring, colourful kites. Youngsters are no longer interested in violating the lockdown to get a peek of life outside their homes, but have instead taken to flying kites on their rooftops every afternoon.
The fact that the business of making kites has picked up pace is testimony to this popular new hobby — as kite runners are busy buying kites, ‘latai’ (rollers) and tempering threads with ‘manja’. Read Debraj Deb's report here
Manipur Commission for Protection of Child Rights (MCPCR) has asked private run schools in the Manipur to exempt the monthly school fees of students during the lockdown period. Sumatibala Ningthoujam, MCPCR said during this stressful juncture, no child should be harassed or discriminated due to any non-agreement or conflict between parents and schools owing to non-payment of school fees. It also asked vehicles commuting students not to charge fees from parents and guardian during this period.
Manipur Government ordered the closure of all educational institutions, both government and private schools, since March 12 as precautionary measures to prevent the spread of COVID-19. Further, to ensure the school's children remain engaged in education during the lockdown, the state government has also started online classes in the state.
Subsequently, Manipur Education Minister Th Radheshyam also recently launched the electronic format of comic textbooks for classes III, IV and V and e-textbook for Manipur board from Class 1 to 10.
A “significant breakthrough” in developing an antibody to the novel coronavirus has been made by Israel’s main biological research institute IIBR that can attack the virus and neutralise it within the bodies of those who contract it, country’s Defence Minister Naftali Bennett confirmed, news agency PTI stated.
A statement issued by Bennet’s office said the Israel’s Institute for Biological Research (IIBR), mandated to develop a vaccine for coronavirus, has isolated an antibody “that attacks the virus in a monoclonal way and can neutralise it within the bodies of those ill.
The government on Tuesday issued a standard operating protocol (SOP) for the return of Indians stranded abroad and those who are stuck in India and wish to travel to international destinations for urgent reasons. In an order, Union Home Secretary Ajay Bhalla said priority will be given for return to India to compelling cases in distress, including migrant workers, labourers who have been laid off and those faced with expiry of short term visas. 'Persons with medical emergency, pregnant women, elderly, those required to return to India due to death of family member, and students will also be given preference', the order said. The cost of travel will be borne by such travellers.
The government Tuesday suspended all existing visas granted to foreign nationals, barring a few categories, till international air travel to and from India remains shut due to the coronavirus pandemic, an order by the Ministry of Home Affairs said. The ministry also said it has kept in abeyance multiple-entry life-long visas given to Overseas Citizens of India (OCI) card holders till international travel remains suspended.
The BMC is set to start a crowdfunding drive to provide ration, medicines and sanitary kits to 20,000 families in Dharavi for the next two months.
The move comes after the civic body observed that around 70 per cent of Dharavi’s population is daily wage earners — working in small-scale leather and packaging industries – and auto-rickshaw drivers among others. It noted that these people, mostly without savings, were stepping outside their homes amid the lockdown to arrange for food and essential items.
The BMC has prepared a list of 20,000 families – mostly senior citizens, single mothers and widows – who would be provided with ration, medicines and sanitary kits initially. As per the plan, by donating Rs. 3,000, one can arrange these things for a family of four.
In one of the largest evacuation exercises, named “Vande Bharat Mission”, the government will operate 64 flights from May 7 to 13 to bring home nearly 14,800 Indian nationals stranded abroad due to the coronavirus lockdown.
India will conduct 10 flights to the UAE, seven flights each to the US and the UK, five flights to Saudi Arabia, five flights to Singapore and two flights to Qatar to repatriate Indian nationals between May 7 and May 13, Aviation Minister Hardeep Singh Puri said.
During this period, India will also conduct seven flights each to Malaysia and Bangladesh, five flights each to Kuwait and Philippines, two flights each to Oman and Bahrain, Puri said.
The government Tuesday suspended all existing visas, barring a few exceptions, granted to foreign nationals till international air travel to and from India remains shut due to the coronavirus pandemic, an order said. In a separate order, the Union Home Ministry said it has extended on 'gratis' basis the visas of foreigners stranded in India due to the lockdown. The extension will be for a period of 30 days beyond the opening of international travel.
The Home Ministry also said it has kept in abeyance multiple-entry life-long visas given to Overseas Citizens of India (OCI) card holders till international travel remains suspended. However, the OCI card holders who are already in India can stay in the country for "any length of time", it said. (PTI)
Four people, who recently returned from Gujarat and West Bengal, tested positive for the novel coronavirus in Odisha on Tuesday, taking the number of cases in the state to 173, an official said. The number of active COVID-19 cases now stands at 112. Of the four new cases, two hailed from Balasore, one from Ganjam and the other from Cuttack districts, the official said. Cuttack last reported a COVID-19 case on April 3, while Ganjam falls in the orange zone. The new cases in the two districts are two persons who recently from Surat in Gujarat. (PTI)