Coronavirus May 15 Highlights: Farmers’ body upset with changes made to MGNREGA

Even as cases in Maharashtra rose to 29,100 on Friday, or one-third of the country’s burden, health officials said there was a slight improvement in the doubling rate. From 10 days, cases are now doubling in 11 days. Mumbai, with maximum cases in India, has 17,671 Covid-19 cases. It recorded 933 fresh cases on Friday. The city is close to reporting over 1,000 cases a day, officials said.

Mumbai took two months to record the first 7,061 cases. In only 15 days of May, it recorded over 10,000 cases. Maharashtra now has a total of 29,100 cases with 1,068 deaths while Mumbai has 17,371 cases with 655 deaths.

With cases increasing rapidly and public hospitals already working to their full capacity, state Health Minister Rajesh Tope on Friday directed private hospitals to reserve 60 per cent beds for Covid-19 patients.

The state government has told the Gujarat High Court that it will start announcements on vernacular TV channels about the Shramik Special trains for migrants, stranded due to the Covid -19 lockdown, to prevent them from crowding at the assembly points or the administrative offices. The court had taken suo motu cognisance of media reports on migrant workers, including two of The Indian Express.

The government said this to the court, on Thursday, in response to the citation of an Indian Express report on migrants being made to wait 19 hours before boarding a train home. Read more here

With Gujarat reporting 340 new cases, the total number of positive cases reached 9,968, just short of 10,000-mark, on Friday. Moreover, the death toll crossed the 600-mark with 19 more succumbing to the disease, seven of whom had no other serious ailment.

Three children, aged three, five and 13, were among the 261 new cases reported from Ahmedabad, which crossed 7,000-mark. Surat’s tally also crossed 1,000 with 32 new cases. Even as the state has seen a high mortality rate attributed more to high risk and co-morbidities, there was a silver lining in a Vadodara case of a 90-year-old woman who recovered even as her 65-year-old daughter succumbed.

In an outlier of a case, principal secretary, health and family welfare Jayanti Ravi shared the story of the 90-year-old woman from Vadodara’s Navapura Marathi Mohalla who was discharged earlier this week after she tested positive on April 27 and was admitted at the SSG Hospital.

Ahmedabad residents were seen queuing up for vegetables and grocery essentials as the week-long strict lockdown was lifted on Friday. The shops were allowed to remain open from 8 am to 3 pm.

Before this lockdown was lifted, the Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation (AMC) conducted a massive screening drive for the superspreaders where 33,500 of them have been screened, so far.

“In last 7-8 days, major screening of superspreaders has been undertaken in which 33,500 have been screened. Of them, 700 tested positive. This is an effective exercise conducted to ensure that in future coronavirus does not spread through superspreaders,” additional chief secretary, forest and environment department, Rajiv Kumar Gupta said in a pre-recorded video message released Friday.

Five deaths were reported due to coronavirus disease in Pune district on Friday and the toll has now climbed to 186. On Friday, 141 new cases were reported, taking the number of patients to 3,567.

The deceased include a 39-year-old man from Ghorpade Peth, who was admitted on May 12 at YCM Hospital. He had diabetes and suffered from septic shock related to acute respiratory distress syndrome. He succumbed to the infection on Friday.

In another case, a 60-year-old woman from Yerawada, who was also admitted to YCM Hospital on May 12, succumbed to the infection on Friday. She had hypertension and bilateral pneumonia. An 80-year-old man fromYerawada, who was admitted on May 13 at YCM Hospital, had bronchial asthma and succumbed to the infection on Friday.

The United States will donate ventilators to India to help fight Covid-19, the disease caused by the novel coronavirus. "I am proud to announce that the United States will donate ventilators to our friends in India. We stand with India and Narendra Modi during this pandemic. We’re also cooperating on vaccine development. Together we will beat the invisible enemy!" US president Donald Trump tweeted late Friday

I am proud to announce that the United States will donate ventilators to our friends in India. We stand with India and @narendramodi during this pandemic. We’re also cooperating on vaccine development. Together we will beat the invisible enemy!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 15, 2020

The Gujarat Health Department laid down further parameters of testing and for patients availing other medical procedures in government-run, private or corporate hospitals, in a fresh notification issued on Friday. The same allows for the testing of those who are due for delivery and are to undergo major or minor operations in the state. The notification stated that every month, nearly a lakh are admitted for delivery, minor and major operations across Gujarat. For the Covid-19 testing of such patients, 12 laboratories in the state have been approved by the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR). Read more here

The Western Railway will refund ticket fares of all passengers who are not allowed to board special trains, in case they are not found to be fit for travelling owing to Covid-19 symptoms. The refund is applicable for the 41 passengers who deboarded the New Delhi bound train at Sabarmati Railway Station in Ahmedabad on May 5, as they had all reported high body temperatures.

Western Railway officials cited a circular issued by the Ministry of Railways on May 13, which stated, “If during the screening, a passenger has very high temperature/ symptoms of Covid-19, they shall not be allowed to travel despite having confirmed tickets and in such cases, full refund shall be provided.” Read more here

A history-sheeter who fled the SSG hospital in Vadodara, where he was taken to undergo the test for Covid-19, was nabbed by the Dahod police near Jhalod on Friday afternoon.

The accused, Anil Gangwani, was caught in a joint operation by the Vadodara rural and Dahod police.

Gangwani was an accused in the murders of gangster Mukesh Harjani in Vadodara and Alpesh Chaka, a corporator from Anand. As many as 14 cases were registered against him under various charges including murder, attempt to murder and possession of arms.

THE three ordnance factories in Pune — Ammunition Factory Khadki, High Explosives Factory and Ordnance Factory, Dehu Road — will start production activities from Monday with 33 per cent of the staff allowed on the premises at any given point. The ordnance factories across India will also start functioning in the coming days as per the directives and restrictions of local authorities and state government orders.

The main production activities in 41 ordnance factories across India were suspended from the last week of March following the nationwide lockdown. Personnel involved in only essential and skeletal services have been reporting to work in these factories. However, in the following days, some factories started producing safety utilities like hand sanitisers, PPE kits and other Covid relief items. Only these sections of the ordnance factories have been operational.

Farmers' body Mazdoor Kisan Shakti Sangathan in a press statement on Friday said that they were disturbed to read about draft recommendations made by the Group of Ministers on Employment merging Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act with skill development programmes to create a wage subsidy programme.

'News reports (Indian Express, 14th May 2020) suggest that the GoM is recommending that MGNREGA be merged skill development programmes to create a wage subsidy programme, where the MNREGA amount is extended to companies as wage subsidy for Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SME). It also suggests that works in private enterprises such as factories, construction sites and shops can be considered as eligible work under MNREGA. This will lower the cost of wages and make industries competitive, creating a local employment wave,” it added.

According to them, entitlements under MGNREGA as mandated by the law, must be protected and honoured. 'Any efforts related to expanding the scope of MGNREGA such as increasing the number of days households are entitled to, nature of works that can be permitted under MGNREGA, extension of works in urban areas are necessary issues which need to be provided for in addition to the already legally mandated entitlements, and not instead of them,' MKSS said.

The body put forward following demands:

1. Government of India share the draft report of the Group of Ministers on Employment which is currently under discussion, in the public domain

2. The Group of Ministers on Employment establish and follow a transparent process of consultation with all relevant stakeholders to take inputs to finalise the recommendations

3. A Policy be drawn to lay down the terms and conditions in which MGNREGA will be expanded in addition to what it already is mandated to deliver by Law. The expansion of MGNREGA in the current times should not be a piece meal approach but should be directed by a sound and practical policy drawn up in consultation with workers, State Governments, civil society organizations, social movements, trade unions, academicians and subject matter specialists

4. Any attempt to modify guidelines of the MGNREGA should be done by consulting the statutory Central and State Employment Guarantee Councils set up under the Law to advise and review the implementation of MGNREGA in the country

A three-member central team in Tripura to investigate the source of coronavirus outbreak in BSF camps, where 156 cases were recorded, visited state-run GB Panth Hospital and few other COVID-19 care centres in Agartala today. They said actions taken by the government were satisfactory so far. The state government earlier requested BSF to hold internal enquiry to find out source of outbreak among their jawans from the force’s three battalions deployed in Dhalai district, which was declared ‘red zone’ due to successive cases testing positive over the last one week. State Law minister Ratan Lal Nath said the state government has decided to take stern action against those who violate quarantine regulations. He said all those put under quarantine would have to stay put at home. If they don’t comply, they would be kept in police station. A corona jail would be arranged to accommodate them for the time being, he said.

Home Minister's Office in India has told the states that it is their responsibility to ensure that migrant workers do not walk on the roads and rail tracks and that they must adequately publicise all the measures being taken by the govt to help them reach their homes.

Even as indications of greater relaxations in the lockdown 4.0 emerged, the nationwide tally of confirmed COVID-19 cases in India surpassed that of China on Friday, PTI reported. Going by the numbers of cases declared by different states and UTs, the country’s total crossed 85,000 while China’s official tally is recorded at 84,031, according to Johns Hopkins. Maharashtra, the most-affected state, reported 1,576 new cases to take its tally to 29,100, while its death toll rose to 1,068. Tamil Nadu crossed the 10,000 mark with 434 new cases, while Gujarat saw 340 more people testing positive to push its tally to 9,932. Jammu & Kashmir, Bihar and Karnataka breached the 1,000-mark in terms of the number of people having tested positive, while testing and containment measures were ramped up in places like, Kerala, Goa and Manipur that were being seen as being mostly virus-free till a few days back.

Although certain lockdown restrictions have been relaxed, there were many instances where people flouted social distancing norms. Watch this video.

Although certain lockdown restrictions have been relaxed, there were many instances where people flouted #SocialDistancing norms.#COVID19 pic.twitter.com/ZGaSHG6kAR

— InUth (@InUthdotcom) May 15, 2020

16 new cases of Covid-19 were confirmed in Kerala today. Five persons from Wayanad district, four in Malappuram district, two each from Alappuzha and Kozhikode districts, and one each in Kollam, Palakkad and Kasargod districts are those who have tested positive. Seven of them have come back from overseas - four from UAE, two from Kuwait and one from Saudi Arabia. Six have returned from other States - four from Tamil Nadu and two from Maharashtra. Three cases have got infected through primary contact. Meanwhile, no patient under treatment for Coronavirus has recovered today. The total number of Covid-19 cases in the State is 576 and 80 patients are currently under treatment in different hospitals with Wayanad district having the maximum of 19 patients.
 

Prime Minister Narednra Modi welcomed the announcements of Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman. Taking to Twitter, Modi said, "I welcome today’s measures announced by FM Nirmala Sitharaman. They will help the rural economy, our hardworking farmers, fishermen, the animal husbandry and dairy sectors. I specially welcome reform initiatives in agriculture, which will boost income of farmers. #AatmaNirbharDesh"

I welcome today’s measures announced by FM @nsitharaman. They will help the rural economy, our hardworking farmers, fishermen, the animal husbandry and dairy sectors. I specially welcome reform initiatives in agriculture, which will boost income of farmers. #AatmaNirbharDesh

— Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) May 15, 2020

Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan Friday announced that the Railways has agreed to arrange trains from eight states to Kerala to bring back the stranded Malayalees. Railways has also announced that the Bengaluru-Thiruvananthapuram Island Express is scheduled to operate daily. It is trying to make it a non-AC train. Meanwhile, five states have granted approval for the return of the migrant labourers from Kerala. 28 trains will be sent to West Bengal from May 18 to June 14.

Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan Friday repeated the demand of the state government to increase its borrowing limit from the current 3% to 5%. “Because of the lockdown, there has been a drastic fall in the revenue collection and to overcome the financial constraints, we need a hike in the borrowing limit. The Central Government has recently increased its borrowing limit to 5.5% but the State’s limit is still at 3%. Despite repeated requests, the Centre has not bothered to increase the borrowing limit. It is not in line with the basic principles of a Federal system,” he said.

The Chief Minister also said there is nothing new in the announcement of the Union Finance Minister’s allocation of more money to the states for the welfare of workers working in other states. The amount allocated to the Disaster Relief Fund is just a share of the Centre. The 15th Finance Commission had allocated a central share of Rs 314 crores to Kerala but the State has only half of it, Rs 157 crores.

“We have asked the Prime Minister to allow special grants to the states in the context of Covid situation and make this an additional consideration for inclusion in the Second Report of the 15th Finance Commission. It is inappropriate to portray the central contribution to the Disaster Relief Fund as help for Covid19 prevention,” he added.

The Indian Railways has operated 932 Shramik Special trains since May 1, ferrying home 11 lakh migrant workers who were stranded in various parts of the country due to the coronavirus-triggered lockdown, officials said on Friday. On Friday, railways operated 145 such trains.Of these, Uttar Pradesh received the maximum number of trains followed by Bihar, they said. Out of the 932 trains which have been operated so far, 215 are in transit while 717 have terminated at various stations. Sixty-seven more are in the pipeline, an official said.These 932 trains were terminated in various states like Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir, Jharkhand, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Manipur, Mizoram, Odisha, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, Telangana, Tripura, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand and West Bengal. (PTI)

The Mizoram government on Friday extended lockdown till May 31 to check the spread of coronavirus infection, an official said. The decision was taken after various political parties and several organisations, including those of NGOs, churches and doctors, favoured extension of the lockdown at a meeting on Thursday, he said.

At a meeting of various task groups on COVID-19 presided over by Chief Secretary Lalnunmawi Chuango, it was decided that the lockdown will be extended beyond May 17, the official said. New guidelines for extended lockdown too was discussed in the meeting, he added. (PTI)

Four Shramik Special trains are scheduled to ferry migrant workers from Gautam Budh Nagar to Bihar on Saturday, according to a statement released by the District Magistrate, Gautam Budha Nagar. The trains will ferry migrant workers who had registered online. The statement encourages those who have not applied, to register on the portal soon, as only those who are registered will be able to board the trains.

Migrant workers are being notified via SMS about the train timings, date of departure and name of the railway station. However, the statement also says that the transport protocol was made keeping social distancing in mind. Hence, everyone who applied may not be accommodated and people will have to wait for their turn. - Mallica Joshi's report

hirty municipal areas account for 79 per cent of India's coronavirus infection caseload, the Group of Ministers (GoM) on COVID-19 was informed on Friday, as the death toll in the country due to the disease rose to 2,649 and the total tally of cases climbed to 81,970. "Thus, around 34.06 per cent patients have recovered so far," a senior health ministry official said. As cases continue to rise, the GoM deliberated on the containment strategy and management of COVID-19, as well as the measures being taken by the Centre and various states. (PTI)

With 385 fresh cases recorded in Tamil Nadu in last 24 hours, the state’s tally crossed 10,000 on Friday to stand at 10,108. The number of fatalities reported so far is 72 including five deaths today.

Covid-19 cases in TN is over 10K now.

A total of 385 cases tested positive today, including 40 people came from Maharashtra.

There are 10,108 cases now, and 71 deaths including 5 today.

State has tested 11,672 samples today & a total of 2.9Lakh till date. @IndianExpress

— Arun Janardhanan (@arunjei) May 15, 2020

More than 580,000 planned surgeries in India might be cancelled or delayed as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, according to a study conducted by an international consortium. The study, published in the British Journal of Surgery, has projected that, based on a 12-week period of peak disruption to hospital services due to COVID-19, around 28.4 million elective surgeries worldwide will be cancelled or postponed in 2020.

This will lead to patients facing a lengthy wait for their health issues to be resolved, according to the research conducted by the CovidSurg Collaborative, a research network of over 5,000 surgeons from 120 countries focused on the impact of COVID-19 on surgical care. The study was led by members based in the UK, Benin, Ghana, India, Italy, Mexico, Nigeria, Rwanda, Spain, South Africa and the US. Read more

In a bid to create awareness about the COVID-19 pandemic among children in slums, a teacher in Maharashtra's Aurangabad city created a nursery rhyme in Marathi to teach them the 20-second hand-washing routine. While frontline workers tackle COVID-19 on a war footing, teachers like Sunita Nagkirti are tasked with creating awareness about the pandemic in hotspot areas, especially slums. A video of Nagkirti teaching a group of children the 20-second hand-washing technique using a nursery rhyme was posted on Twitter by state sports commissioner Om Prakash Bakoriya. (PTI)

• Globally, over 4.4 million people have been infected with the virus, number of deaths has crossed 3 lakh.
• China stealing US research on COVID-19: Mike Pompeo
• UNSC reform process, negotiations postponed until further notice" due to COVID-19
• COVID-19 pandemic will lead to over 28 million cancelled surgeries worldwide: Study
• UK urges Myanmar military to extend cease-fire, citing virus

Health department has issued guidelines to conduct marriages in Karnataka. These include the function should not have more than than 50 attendees, no AC halls, no attendees from containment zones and more. Here's the list

Greater relaxations and flexibility will be seen in the lockdown 4.0, which will begin on Monday, with gradual reopening of the railways and domestic airlines while powers will be given to States and UTs to define their hotspots, officials said on Friday. Schools, colleges, malls and cinema halls will not be allowed to open anywhere in the country but salons, barber shops and optical shops may be allowed in red zones, barring COVID-19 containment areas. There will be lots of relaxations and flexibility in the lockdown 4.0 with complete reopening of the green zones, very limited curb in orange zones and strict restrictions only in the containment areas of red zones, said an official privy to the deliberations in the central government. Read the PTI report here

Three special trains, one each to Delhi, Odisha and Jharkhand with nearly 4,000 people, departed from here and two other terminals in Tamil Nadu on Friday, Southern Railway said. The train for Delhi left from here with 950 passengers, another from Coimbatore to Balasore in Odisha carrying 1464 people. Also, one more train left from Katpadi (Vellore) to TATA Nagar in Jharkhand ferrying 1464 passengers. (PTI)

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi took a jibe at the central government over its Covid preparedness on Friday, saying the "geniuses" at the Niti Aayog had predicted that the nationwide lockdown would ensure no fresh coronavirus cases from May 16. Posting a graph of the projection shared by the government at the time, Gandhi tweeted, "The geniuses at Niti Aayog have done it again. I'd like to remind you of their graph predicting the Govt's national lockdown strategy would ensure no fresh Covid cases from tomorrow, May the 16th."

The geniuses at Niti Aayog have done it again.

I’d like to remind you of their graph predicting the Govt's national lockdown strategy would ensure no fresh Covid cases from tomorrow, May the 16th. pic.twitter.com/zFDJtI9IXP

— Rahul Gandhi (@RahulGandhi) May 15, 2020

Former India skipper and current BCCI president Sourav Ganguly highlighted the financial constraints that the cricket board will face if the Indian Premier League (IPL) is not held this year. He also hinted that if the cash-rich league is cancelled then the cricket governing body will probably implement pay cuts among its employees.

“We will have to examine our financial situation, see how much money we have and take a call. Not hosting the Indian Premier League (IPL) will cause losses to the tune of Rs. 4,000 crore which is huge,” Ganguly said during an interaction with Mid Day. Read more

Considering the rise in COVID-19 cases and lockdown restrictions, a Muslim cemetery, in one of the worst-affected areas of Bhopal city, has arranged for 10 ready-to-use graves for speedy burials. Madhya Pradesh's capital city has recorded 900 cases of novel coronavirus so far, of which 35 patients have succumbed to the infection. Jhada Kabristan is located in Jahangirabad area, one of the worst affected areas of the city, with over 220 COVID-19 cases detected in the locality. (PTI)

First train from Gujarat to Guwahati in Assam departs from Vadodara Western Railway Station, carrying 1,211 residents of Assam, Manipur, Meghalaya and Sikkim from various parts of Gujarat, where they had been stranded since the lockdown. A majority of them are students.

Bengaluru: BMTC buses gear up to resume operations post-lockdown with awareness messages. “However, further action to be taken only after govt announces directions on operations,” officials say.

#Bengaluru: BMTC buses get ready for operations post #lockdown with awareness material regarding #COVID19. “However, further action to be taken only after govt announces directions on operations,” officials say. @IndianExpress pic.twitter.com/V4u51YxDZV

— Ralph Alex Arakal (@ralpharakal) May 15, 2020

Nirmala Sitharaman said, "A central law will be formulated to provide adequate choices to the farmers to sell produce at an attractive price, barrier-free interstate trade and framework for e-trading of agricultural produce. A facilitative legal framework will be created to enable farmers for engaging with processors, aggregators, large retailers,exporters in a fair and transparent manner."

• National Medicinal Plants Board will bring 800-hectare area by developing a corridor of medicinal plants along the banks of river Ganga
• Govt to implement a Rs 500 crore scheme of infrastructure development related to integrated beekeeping development centres, collection, marketing & storage centres, post-harvest and value addition facilities; this will lead to an increase in income of 2 lakh bee-keepers
• Operation Greens to be extended from Tomatoes, Onions and Potatoes (TOP) to all fruits and vegetables (TOTAL)
• Government to amend the Essential Commodities Act to enable better price realisation for farmers; agriculture products including cereals, edible oils, oilseeds, pulses, onions, and potatoes to be de-regulated
• A central law will be formulated to provide adequate choices to the farmers to sell produce at an attractive price, barrier-free interstate trade and framework for e-trading of agricultural produce

A 15-year old boy who was found murdered in Ludhiana, tests +ve for coronavirus posthumously. Cops who visited crime spot including five officers, SHO division 5, six cops of Bus stand police post & three of fingerprint team quarantined.

• National Animal Disease Control Programme for Foot and Mouth Disease and Brucellosis launched with a total outlay of Rs 13,343 crore
• Govt to launch the Rs 20,000 crore Pradhan Mantri Matsya Sampada Yojana for development of marine and inland fisheries. 55 lakh people expected to get employment from this program
• Animal Husbandry Infrastructure Development Fund of Rs 15,000 crore will be set up
• Rs 4,000 crore allocated for promotion of herbal cultivation; 10,00,000 hectare will be covered in the next 2 years

• Rs 1 lakh crore for primary agricultural cooperative societies and aggregators among others to strengthen the farm gate infrastructure (cold chains, storage centres, etc). Private entrepreneurs will help them.

• Rs 10,000 crore for micro food enterprises following a cluster-based approach.

• Rs 20,000 crore for fisheries. New fishing harbours can be built, new vessels to be given. Personal boats as well as insurance will be provided.

Nirmala Sitharaman lists out what has been done last two months for fisheries.

For fisheries @IndianExpress pic.twitter.com/mpYfCRwaLM

— P Vaidyanathan Iyer (@iyervaidy) May 15, 2020

Nirmala Sitharaman lists out what has been done last two months for animal husbandry.

For Animal Husbandry @IndianExpress pic.twitter.com/zFAiyHWoDe

— P Vaidyanathan Iyer (@iyervaidy) May 15, 2020

FM lists out what has been done last two months for agricultural sector

FM lists what has been done last two months ?@IndianExpress? pic.twitter.com/YY67jbEY6Z

— P Vaidyanathan Iyer (@iyervaidy) May 15, 2020

Nirmala Sitharaman: During Covid-19 lockdown, the demand for milk reduced by 20-25%. A new scheme to provide interest subvention at 2% per annum to dairy cooperatives for 2020-21. The scheme will unlock Rs 5000 crore additional liquidity, benefit to 2 crore farmers

Nirmala Sitharaman: I will be announcing 11 reforms today -- eight related to strengthening infra, logistics, storage; three on governance administration and reforms. During lockdown period Minimum Support Price purchases of amount more than Rs 74,300 crore; PM Kisan fund transfer of Rs 18700 crore

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman in her press briefing said today's announcements will focus on agriculture and allied activities

Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan has appealed to all the states and Union Territories to ban sale of smokeless tobacco products and spitting in public in line with the orders of the Rajasthan and Jharkhand governments to prevent the spread of coronavirus, PTI reported. In a letter to all state health ministers, Vardhan said smokeless tobacco users have a habit to spit in public places and therefore, increase health risks especially those of spreading contagious diseases like COVID-19, tuberculosis, swine flu, encephalitis and others. "Use of smokeless tobacco also creates an unhygienic environment which further spreads the diseases. Large gathering at the retail outlets where smokeless tobacco products are sold, also pose the risk of spread of COVID-19," he said.

425 new cases of coronavirus have been recorded in Delhi in the last 24 hours. Total number of cases have reached 8,895 and 123 deaths have been reported so far. (File image)

The Supreme Court Friday asked the government not to take any coercive action till next week against the companies and employers who are unable to pay full wages to their employees during the nationwide lockdown due to the coronavirus pandemic, reported PTI. There may be small companies which are not earning and are hence unable to pay, the top court observed. A bench of Justices L N Rao, S K Kaul and B R Gavai, hearing multiple petitions on the issue through the video conferencing, observed that the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) circular of March 29, directing companies to make payment of full wages to workers, was an omnibus order and there was a larger question involved which needs to be answered.

A community quarantine centre in Imphal East district in Manipur was sealed after a man there tested positive for COVID-19, an official told PTI on Friday. Imphal East Deputy Commissioner Rangitabali Waikhom said the Jamia Galina Aziz Girls School which was a designated quarantine centre was declared a "containment zone" and the building "completely sealed" as per the Manipur Epidemic Diseases COVID-19 Regulations 2020. The order issued by the deputy commissioner said "the said building is completely sealed and any person/institution/organisation found violating any of the containment shall be deemed to have committed an offence punishable under section 188 of the Indian Penal Code." 

According to Karnataka Health Department, all the 90 Covid-19 patients who were undergoing treatment in Mysuru District Hospital have been discharged after being cured.

Medical Education Minister K Sudhakar has said there is no trace of COVID-19 community transmission in Karnataka. “25% of cases trace back to domestic & international travel history and 7% cases have comorbidities. Average daily growth in state is 5.4% while its 11.8% for the country.“

Speaking on the 'Shramik Special' trains, Railways Minister Piyush Goyal said, “It pains me that several states such as West Bengal, Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh and Jharkhand are not giving enough permission for ‘shramik special’ trains to enter their states.” Watch here:

Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan has appealed to all states and Union Territories to ban sale of tobacco products and spitting in public places in line with the orders of the Rajasthan and Jharkhand governments to prevent the spread of Covid-19. In a letter to all state health ministers, Vardhan said smokeless tobacco users have a tendency to spit in public places or otherwise and therefore, increase health risks especially those of spreading contagious diseases like COVID-19, tuberculosis, swine flu, encephalitis and others. "Use of smokeless tobacco also creates an unhygienic environment which further spreads the diseases. Large gathering at the retail outlets where smokeless tobacco products are sold, also pose the risk of spread of COVID-19," he said.

The Supreme Court today also stayed the Madras High Court order which had asked the Tamil Nadu government to close state-run liquor vends. Following the stay on the high court order by the apex court, the state-owned liquor shops may reopen in the state. A bench comprising Justices L Nageswara Rao, S K Kaul and B R Gavai stayed the May 8 order of the High Court after taking note of the appeal of government firm Tamil Nadu State Marketing Corporation (TASMAC) which sells alcoholic beverages in the state. 

The total number of Covid-19 cases in Karnataka breached 1,000 mark, with 45 people testing positive, the state health department said on Friday. Total number of positive cases in the state stood at 1,032. With 35 deaths and 476 discharges, there were 520 active coronavirus cases, the department said in its mid-day situation update. The new cases include- 16 from Dakshina Kannada, 13 from Bengaluru Urban, five from Udapi, three each from Bidar and Hassan, two from Chitradurga, and one each from Kolar, Shivamogga and Bagalkote districts. Twenty of them are with travel history to Dubai, four to Mumbai and three returned from Chennai. One patient has a history of severe acute respiratory illness (SARI) and another was from containment zone in Bidar.

Karnataka reported 45 new #COVID19 cases on Friday(12pm). With this, the total number of positive persons in the state has gone up to 1,032 It includes 35 deaths and 476 discharges. @IndianExpress pic.twitter.com/FyX0QzffLg

— Darshan Devaiah B P (@DarshanDevaiahB) May 15, 2020

The Maharashtra government has set up two committees at state and district level for better coordinationbetween public and private hospitals in tackling the spread of Covid-19. The decision to constitute the coordination panels was taken on Thursday after a meeting between representatives of the Indian Medical Association (and Maharashtra Chief secretary Ajoy Mehta, according to the government. A Government Resolution (GR) issued on May 14 said the committees will ensure all government decisions regarding steps being taken to control the pandemic and medical protocols are made available to all concerned. The panels will see that PPE kits, gloves and masks are made available to medical workers in private hospitals. The committees will also work out steps to be taken to ensure medical workers have social security and are treated with respect and dignity, the GR said.

Faridabad recorded it’s fifth Covid-19 death on Thursday after a 17-year-old girl succumbed to the infection. "The patient had tested positive two days ago. However, she was also suffering from two other ailments. She had been undergoing treatment for Tuberculosis for the last three months and also had blood cancer. She passed away at the ESIC Hospital on Thursday,” said Deputy Commissioner Yashpal Yadav. The district has so far recorded 137 cases of Covid-19.