Thousands of migrant laborers rushed to the CSMT in Mumbai to board the special trains leaving for Uttar Pradesh and Bihar on Tuesday.
With India reporting 4,970 cases in the last 24 hours, the total number of infections due to the coronavirus pandemic crossed the 1 lakh-mark to reach 101,139 from 96,169 on Monday, while the death toll rose to 3,163 on Tuesday. Dharavi in Mumbai reported 26 new COVID-19 cases, taking overall count to 1,353, BMC said.
The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) has asked states to allow plying of more trains to ferry migrant workers, adding that more clarity is needed about the departure of trains or buses. It also said that lack of clarity about running of trains, buses coupled with rumours is causing unrest amongst migrant workers.
In Bihar, of the 835 samples taken from migrant workers who returned from Delhi, as many as 218 were Covid positive. This works out to a positivity rate of over 26 per cent, while the rate in the national capital is about 7 per cent. Until May 18, the state tested a total of 8,337 samples of migrant workers and about 8% were found to be Covid-positive — double the national average positivity rate which is about 4%.
Globally, 4.8 million people have been infected, while over 3.18 lakh casualties have been reported. World Health Organisation (WHO) Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus on Monday said he will “initiate an independent evaluation” at “the earliest appropriate moment”. Beijing, which has been under mounting global pressure, also seemed to have relented on its opposition for an inquiry into the origin of the virus, believed to be a wet market in Wuhan.
Coronavirus India LIVE Updates: Thousands gathered at Ramlila Maidan in Ghaziabad on Monday to register for six trains bound for other parts of Uttar Pradesh and Bihar.
Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal during a digital press conference. (PTI Photo)
Union minister Nitin Gadkari. (PTI/File Photo)
After 58 days, Hyderabad returned to an almost-normal life Tuesday following relaxation in the lockdown norms that permitted all shops and establishments, businesses and offices, both private and public, to start operations in full strength except in containment zones.
In the case of shops, an odd-even policy has been adopted with each of them painted with either 1 or 2 on the outside. The shops numbered 1 will open on odd days, and even-numbered shops will open on other days of the week, Monday being Day One. Read more here
Pune district recorded 10 deaths due to Covid-19 on Tuesday. The toll has now climbed to 221.
While eight deaths took place in the PMC limits, two were reported from Pimpri-Chinchwad, said District Health Officer Dr Bhagwan Pawar.
The district also recorded 193 new cases, taking the total number to 4,370, Dr Pawar said. Read more here
Jharkhand government Tuesday announced e token systems, delivery via professional food aggregators in a bid to avoid overcrowding at the liquor stores in the state. The sale of liquor will begin May 20 which was suspended since the lockdown and the retail sales will be prohibited between 7 pm to 7 am.
Along with the regular counter sales, the Excise Department said that people would use an application developed by the state NIC to get ‘e tokens’ and based on the allotted timings they will be able buy it from the respective shops. The shop owners will give them priority and a separate line will be maintained for them. “This will help in managing the crowd and the shops have been advised to maintain proper social distancing during the delivery,” a source said.
The department is also ‘trying’ to get professional food aggregators on board for home delivery. “After the department’s permission the aggregators would be able to tie with the retail liquor shops in various towns,” the excise department order said.
Abhishek Angad reports from Ranchi
As many as 1,000 students, working professionals and stranded residents from Jammu and Kashmir left for the state by the special Udhampur-bound train from Pune station on Tuesday. As the train left the station at 7 pm, the exuberant passengers clapped and cheered while maintaining social distancing in the compartments.
“We are all delighted as we are going home. Pune was a home away from home for us. Though we were stuck here, we didn’t feel depressed and disappointed as Pune residents took care of our food and accommodation. We had absolutely no problems during this difficult period here in Pune,” said Aqib Bhat, president of Sarhad Kashmiri-Students Union, Pune. Read more here
All markets in Chandigarh opened on Tuesday after a hiatus of sixty days including tourist spot, Sector 17 plaza and the congested rehri markets. However, most residents preferred to stay indoors and only the mobile market of Sector 22 witnessed some rush.
While shops in plaza and other sector dividing roads were allowed to open without the odd-even scheme, rehri markets and other congested still had that basis. Read more here
Nagpur Municipal Commissioner Tukaram Mundhe has said the city will continue to be in the “red zone” of the coronavirus outbreak till May 22. He warned of strict action against those who break lockdown norms till further orders were issued.
In a video message, Mundhe said, “Nagpur is not named in the (red zone) order issued by the state government. The city has seen three deaths in the last four to five days. The city still has some hotspots from where people are being quarantined. This situation will be brought to the notice of the state government. In any case, today’s order is not applicable till May 22. So, the rumours about Nagpur coming out of red zone mustn’t be believed. Anyone found breaking lockdown rules will be strictly dealt with as per the Disaster Management and Epidemic Acts and the IPC.” Read more here
With five percent of the total population in Gujarat put under containment (based on data provided by the state health department), the highest numbers are in Ahmedabad. Nearly 13 lakh persons residing in 2,61,511 houses are contained in ten wards and one pocket of the city.
Being the city with the highest number of Covid-19 cases and mortality rate in Gujarat, this is nearly 23 per cent of its population (as per census 2011). Read more here
A day after a BJP legislator accused Khandwa collector Tanvi Sundriyal of alleged negligence in handling COVID 19 challenge in the district, the government late on Tuesday transferred the IAS officer to Bhopal.
BJP MLA from Pandhana constituency Ram Dangore wrote to the Chief Minister on Monday demanding that the 2010 officer be transferred for her failure to contain the spread of the infection.
``Khandwa is passing through a sensitive phase. The collector is hiding death toll,'' the legislator alleged in the letter and wondered why the intelligence department not apprising the CM of coverage by media, social media and public. ``One more positive case has been reported in my constituency we need a new collector for better monitoring,'' he said.
Sundriyal was transferred as executive director of Environmental Planning and Coordination Organisation (EPCO). Khandwa has so far reported 165 positive cases and nine deaths. The bureaucrat could not be reached for her comment. Incidentally, she had not allowed liquor shops to reopen in the district though the government had permitted it.
Milind Ghatwai reports from Bhopal
Four more COVID-19 cases have been identified in Tripura on Tuesday, raising the total coronavirus positive count to 173 in the state. However, only 57 of them are active cases as 116 patients were discharged from isolation center in hospitals and quarantined as per latest reports.
Chief Minister Biplab Kumar Deb informed on his official Twitter handle about the new cases and wrote, "850 samples have been tested for #COVID19 today and among them 4 persons found POSITIVE. All four #COVID19 patients have returned from Chennai and are now under treatment. We are committed to ensure your safety. Stay safe! #TripuraCOVID19Count".
These new cases are the first positive cases found among civilians in the state. Earlier, only BSF jawans tested positive. These cases were also found among people who returned to Tripura in the last few days from Chennai. All of them were rushed to Govind Ballabh Panth Hospital in Agartala for treatment.
Debraj Deb reports from Agartala
Nagpur Municipal Commissioner Tukaram Mundhe has said that the city continues to be in Red zone till May 22nd. Citizens must not break the stipulations that go with it till his further orders or else face strict action.
In a video message, Mundhe has said, "Nagpur is not named in the(Red zone) order issued by the state government. The city has seen three deaths in the last 4-5days. The city still has some hotspots from where people are still being quarantined. This situation will be brought to the notice of the state government. In any case, today's order is not applicable till May 22. So, the rumours about Nagpur coming out of Red zone mustn't be believed. Anyone found breaking the lockdown rules will be strictly dealt with as per Disaster Management and Epidemic Acts and IPC."
Mundhe further said, "my office will issue different (vegale) order before May 22." Earlier in the day, Nagpur bench of Bombay High Court, while hearing on a clutch of petitions challenging Mundhe's earlier lockdown guidelines, said, "the state government has issued revised guidelines dated May 19, 2020, removing Nagpur from the Red zone. It is obvious that the appropriate authority, including the Municipal Commissioner shall have to issue revised guidelines in the light of latest development."
Vivek Deshpande reports from Nagpur
Starting Wednesday, the south east district police will deploy static announcement systems in areas such as Sarai Kale Khan and Srinivaspuri especially for migrant labourers who are hoping to return to their homes in other states.
The pre-recorded announcements will be about "how to apply for train journeys, where to get medical screening done, and to stay indoors till proper travel arrangements aren't done," said DCP (Southeast) R P Meena.
So far, 51 static announcement systems have been placed in the district -- from containment zones to crowded markets to border pickets. "As of Tuesday, 11 containment zones remain in the Southeast district such as Zakir Nagar, Tughlaqabad Extension, and the pre-recorded messages here request people to stay indoors, maintain social distancing inside their homes, and who to approach for delivery services and medical emergencies," said Meena.
The systems at border pickets, in the meantime, focus on telling people that "only two people are allowed per vehicle, and to wear a mask."
Somya Lakhani reports from New Delhi
On Tuesday, Assam recorded its highest single-day spike with as many as 39 people testing positive for COVID-19. Out of the 39 new cases, 16 cases have been reported from the capital, Guwahati.
This includes 14 from the Sarusajai quarantine centre, which is currently housing several people who have returned to the state by train in the last week. Youngest among these is a 2-month-old baby. Other two cases in the city can be traced to the cancer patient who recently died of the virus.
The remaining cases have been reported from districts spread across the state: Karimganj, Kamrup, Hojai, Biswanath, Nalbari, Kokrajhar, Golaghat, Nagaon and Jorhat. “In view of the rising number I earnestly request you to #StayAtHome and follow #SocialDistancing & hygiene norms” tweeted state Health Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma. The state currently has 107 active cases, with four deaths.-- Tora Agarwala reports from Guwahati
As many as 20 containment zones in have been identified in Bengaluru in 19 wards within BBMP limits.
Migrant families walking toward the bus provided by the state transport, when police called for the residents of Hardoi, UP, under Sector 51 Metro station, Noida. Buses will drop them at Dadri Railway Station, from there they will either take train or bus on there own.
Liquor shops will be allowed to be open across Jammu and Kashmir from Wednesday with the Union Territory easing restrictions as part of its new lockdown guidelines till May 31.
Apart from liquor shops, all private hospitals, clinics and nursing homes (including OPD services) will resume normal functioning including OPD services, the order said, adding the other activities including all E-commerce and courier services; all agriculture, horticulture, animal husbandary and related activities; home delivery by restaurants and hotels; banks and financial services; self employed service providers like plumbers, technicians, electricians etc, will be allowed.
The canteens/eateries at bus stands, railway stations and airports have also been allowed to open in the UT, but with passes in Red districts. Similarly barbour shops, salons and parlours will also open in all the areas except within the limits of Municipal Corporations of Jammu and Srinagar cities. Read more
With the Union government scrapping the need of obtain the consent of destination states to dispatch a Shramik Special train, the Pune district administration plans to send out 10 such trains per day to various states, especially Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, to ferry the lakhs of workers stuck here. Till now, authorities have been running four to five trains a day.
Pune District Collector Naval Kishore Ram said following the Union government’s amended directives, he held discussions with Divisional Railway Manager Renu Sharma, and a policy to increase daily departures has been devised.
“The railway authorities have conveyed to us that they can operate seven Shramik Specials from Pune station, two from Uruli station and two from Daund station. Thus, 11 trains can depart Pune every day,” said Ram.
Salons and garment shops reopen in Ludhiana under revised provisions in lockdown 4.0. (Express photos by Gurmeet Singh)
At least 28 fresh Covid-19 cases were recorded in Jammu and Kashmir on Tuesday of which 6 were from the Jammu Division and 22 from the Kashmir division. One person succumbed to the virus in Kashmir division, officials said.
At least 688 people tested Covid-19 positive in Tamil Nadu today, taking the tally to 12,448. Chennai reported 552 new cases. 87 returnees from Dubai, Kuwait, Malaysia, Maharashtra, Maldives, and Kerala tested positive. 489 were discharged, and three deaths reported.
Maharashtra reports 2,100 new COVID-19 cases, taking tally to 37,158: Health Minister Rajesh Tope. (PTI)
In the first case of relapse of Covid-19 infection in Kerala, a nine-month pregnant nurse, who returned from Kuwait recently after recovering from the disease, has tested positive once again here.
The 34-year-old Alappuzha native had returned to India on May 13 after she managed to get a ticket on board one of the special flights arranged by the central government under the “Vande Bharat mission” to bring back stranded Indians from the gulf and other countries. Read more
Just as the Gujarat government issued its notification for restrictions and relaxations pertaining to the fourth phase of the lockdown on May 18, the Vadodara Municipal Corporation (VMC) issued an advisory, urging people to avoid falling for misleading information about spraying disinfectants on people.
The advisory comes a day after multiple videos of people spraying disinfectants on people, presumably their domestic help, went viral on social media. Written in Gujarati, the advisory warns people of the dangers of directly spraying disinfectants on people and highlights the “mental trauma” it can cause to a person.
The advisory states, “Spraying disinfectant on people or groups, under any circumstances, is injurious to physical and mental health. Spraying disinfectants on a Covid-19 patient does not kill the virus in any case because it is inside a person’s body.”
The Delhi High Court Monday expressed anguish over the failure on part of the Delhi government in implementing its previous “clear cut” directions that “no citizen currently residing in Delhi should go hungry”.
“We express our disappointment and dismay,” a bench of Justice Siddharth Mridul and Justice Talwant Singh said, after noting that the orders passed to the Delhi government by the court on April 27 and May 6, has not been implemented in “letter and spirit”.
The bench reiterated its previous orders and observed that the objective sought to be achieved in that regard remains unfilled, therefore, the Delhi government should immediately ensure that the food grains are distributed to poor, needy and marginalised non-PDS residents from the Public Distribution System (PDS), as well as, other distribution centres.
All districts of the Kashmir province, barring Ganderbal and Bandipore are red zones as of May 19. The two exceptions are categorised as orange zones. No green zones in Kashmir. However, there are four green zones in the UT - Doda, Kishtwar, Poonch and Rajouri.
Thirteen new cases of novel coronavirus in Faridabad today. Among those who tested positive, 4 police personnel, a health care worker, and a 3-year-old girl. Total cases in the district now 163, of who 86 have recovered & 6 have succumbed to the infection.
Mumbai records over 1400 Covid-19 cases today. Total toll of city is over 22,500.
Dental clinics in the COVID-19 containment zones will remain closed, however, they can continue to provide teleconsultation to patients, according to the guidelines issued by the Union health ministry for dental professionals in view of the ongoing pandemic.
Stating that dentists, auxiliaries as well as the patients undergoing dental procedures are at high risk of cross-infection as most dental procedures require a close contact with the patients' oral cavity, saliva, blood and respiratory tract secretions, the ministry has advised that all patients must be treated with due precautions.
"Saliva is rich in COVID-19 viral load. Many patients who are asymptomatic may be carriers. For this reason, it is suggested that all patients visiting a dental office must be treated with due precautions," it underlined.
According to the advisory, dental clinics will remain closed in the containment zones. However, they can continue to provide teleconsultation and the patients in these zones can seek ambulance services to travel to the nearby COVID dental facility.
Emergency dental procedures can be performed in the dental facilities falling under "red" zones. (PTI)
India has so far about 0.2 COVID-19 deaths per lakh population as against the global figure of 4.1, the Union health ministry said as the number of fatalities due to coronavirus infection in the country rose to 3,163 on Tuesday and the total cases reached 1,01,139.
Also, a record number of 1,08,233 samples were tested for COVID-19 on Monday in the country. So far a total of 24,25,742 samples have been tested, the ministry said.
"The relatively low death figures represent timely case identification and clinical management of the cases," the ministry said.
On testing, it said from one laboratory conducting COVID-19 test in January, India has very rapidly increased its capacity by adding over 385 government laboratories and 158 private laboratories.
"Duly forging partnerships with all central government labs, state medical colleges, private medical colleges and private sector, the testing capacity in the country has been expanded," the ministry said. (PTI)
The inordinate delay in the running of trains to ferry migrant workers to their home-states resulted in scuffles between workers and the police in Kozhikode and Kannur districts of Kerala Tuesday.
Around 100 labourers from Bihar assembled in Parakkadavu near Kuttyadi in Kozhikode district violating social distancing norms and demanding immediate transportation to take them back home. They were miffed that their colleagues from Odisha and Jharkhand had already reached home by special trains while they were still stuck in Kerala without any earnings for the past two months. They complained that train services were not being arranged to take them to Bihar.
Though the local village officer reached the spot and attempted to pacify them by saying that trains to Bihar would begin from May 20, the workers were not pleased. The officer also suggested an alternate plan of arranging buses if they were ready to pay Rs 6500 each for the over 2500-km journey. They didn't agree to it either as they didn't have the financial resources to pay such a large amount of money.
South Western Railway promotes Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Vocal for Local initiative, distributes GI-tagged Channapatna toys to children of migrants boarding Shramik Special trains from Karnataka.
Nine new coronavirus cases in Gurgaon today. Three are contacts of people who have tested positive earlier, three cases are from Sector 10A, and one each from Daultabad, Palam Vihar, Shivaji Park. Total cases in the district now 220, of which 118 have recovered.
Kerala on Tuesday recorded 12 more COVID-19 cases, all returnees from overseas and other states, taking the total active patients to 142 as Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan said the rise was expected but asserted community transmission has not happened so far. Vijayan said while Kannur accounted for five new cases, Malappuram three and Pathnamthitta, Alappuzha, Thrissur and Palakkad districts one case each.
"All those who tested positive had come from outside the state -- four from abroad and eight from other states, including six from Maharashtra," he told reporters.
With the flow of people from various countries and other states, as expected,positive cases have begun to rise in Kerala, the chief minister said.
"The next stage is transmission of the infection through contact and all of us need to be cautious about it," he said, adding there has been no community transmission of the contagion in the state so far. (PTI)
Thousands of migrant laborers rushed at the CSMT in Mumbai, to board the special trains leaving for Uttar Pradesh and Bihar on Tuesday. (Express photos by Ganesh Shirsekar)
543 people have recovered from the infection in Karnataka so far. However, total cases have risen to 1395. Deaths: 40. Active cases: 811 (include 6 patients in ICU).
Warning people against crowding, the Gujarat government on Tuesday said that it will be forced to shut shops or withdraw certain relaxations if crowds continue to swell in public places. "Today being the first day of lockdown 4.0, people were seen crowding in some places... It is the responsibility of the shop owner as well as the clients to see that there is no unnecessary crowding at tea shops, paan parlours, saloons and spas," said Ashwani Kumar, Secretary to Chief Minister Vijay Rupani, on Tuesday.
Dharavi in Mumbai reports 26 new COVID-19 cases, taking overall count to 1,353, BMC says.
As many as 35 persons were arrested on Monday after a group of migrant workers employed at the IIM Ahmedabad site in Vastrapur area vandalised office property, government vehicles and assaulted police personnel and other workers, demanding that they be allowed to return home.
Police said they fired tear gas shells and resorted to lathicharge when the irate group assaulted other workers, pelted stones at police teams and vandalised properties. All 35 arrested are from Jharkhand, they added.
According to police, around 10 am on Monday, Vastrapur police station received a message that a mob of over 250-300 migrant workers had assembled at the GMDC Ground behind Alpha One mall, demanding that they be allowed to go back to their home states.
The Maharashtra government on Tuesday retained most of the lockdown curbs it had imposed in the previous phase, including ban on taxis and hair saloons in red zones. The revised guidelines for lockdown 4.0 will be applicable post May 22. Areas outside municipal corporation in Mumbai and Pune have been excluded from the red zone.
There are also restrictions on private vehicles — both four and two wheelers — in red and orange zones. Only those stepping out on essential work are allowed in red zones. In orange, taxis and rickshaws are allowed with limits on number of passengers. Similar restrictions are also imposed on private vehicles — maximum of two passengers and drive for cars and no pillion rider for two-wheelers.
Private offices are not allowed to reopen in red zones and only 5 per cent staff is allowed in government offices. The restrictions don’t apply in orange zones. The government has also advised companies “on best effort basis” to ensure that Aarogya Setu app is installed by all employees having compatible mobile phones. It also said district authorities may advise individuals to install the contact tracing app and regularly update their health status. Read more
China on Tuesday accused President Donald Trump of using it "as an issue" to shift the blame from his "incompetent response" to contain the coronavirus at home, hours after he threatened to pull the US out of the UN health body if it failed to demonstrate "independence" from China.
"The US tries to use China as an issue to shift responsibility and bargain on its international obligations to WHO", which is a miscalculation, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian told a media briefing.
"The US leadership's open letter is full of vague expressions such as probably etc," Zhao said.
"It tries to mislead the public to smear China and shift the blame from its own incompetent response to stop the spread of the virus in the US," he said.
"It is futile. Currently, COVID-19 is still spreading in the US and many other places," he said, adding that the US politicians should stop the blame game and work with the international community to stop the spread of the virus. (PTI)
Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra has written to Uttar Pradesh government again, saying the buses arranged by the party are yet to be given permission to enter UP by the Agra administration. The letter says buses have been waiting at the UP border at Agra.
Delhi Transport Minister Kailash Gahlot said the department is taking all necessary precautions with regard to the resumption of public transport and urged people to wear masks and ensure social distancing.
"At some terminals and bus stands, we have started conducting thermal screening of passengers before boarding. We will try to implement this at all busy bus stands. Under the leadership of Arvind Kejriwal, the government is taking all necessary steps to ensure safe transport for people," he tweeted.
Indian Railway spokesperson says consent of destination states not necessary anymore for Shramik trains. "MHA 29th April circular was issued for Roadways and later MHA had issued 1st May circular making 29th April circular applicable for Railways too. Now today MHA has withdrawn 1st May circular and issued a seperate SOP for Railways," says Railways spokesperson.
In a bid to avoid the spread of Covid-19 infection, the Office of the District & Sessions Judge (HQs) has issued a direction to not to use saliva while affixing the court fees stamps on petitions or applications. The direction has been issued to reduce the spread of coronavirus in district courts.
“Lawyers/Munshis/Litigants/Naib/Courts/Police Officials may be asked through court staff to not to use saliva while affixing court fee stamps on the application/petition and envelopes containing summons/notices, etc,” the circular stated. Read More
Even as 500 fresh Covid-19 cases and six deaths were reported in Delhi on Tuesday, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said the main priority of the government was to bring down the fatality rate. The total number of cases in the city now stand at 10,554, while 166 people have died. Of the total cases, 4,750 have recovered or been discharged. Delhi’s Covid-19 fatality rate is 1.57 per cent at present. The rate among patients below the age of 50 is 0.46 per cent and among those above the age of 60 is 5.79 per cent. In 84.94 per cent of the deaths, the patient was suffering from co-morbidities such as cancer, diabetes or a respiratory disease.
Opposition parties to meet on Friday. Congress chief Sonia Gandhi to chair the meeting by video conference.
With three more COVID-19 deaths, toll in Karnataka rises to 40. The fatalities reported today include one each from Ballari, Vijayapura, and Bengaluru.
In a possible breakthrough in coronavirus treatment, Moderna Inc has reported successful results from its experimental vaccine for Covid-19. The US biotechnology company Monday said its studies, although in a very early stage, showed the vaccine was “generally safe and well tolerated”.
Moderna’s vaccine is among the over 100 projects in various stages of development across the world. Its results Monday come at a time when global coronavirus cases are nearing five million. At least 300,000 people have succumbed to the disease. Experts have predicted a vaccine could be ready only in about 12-18 months.
Amid calls for an independent inquiry into the origins of the novel coronavirus, the World Health Organisation (WHO) Monday gave its nod to “initiate an independent evaluation” at “the earliest appropriate moment”. This came after 61 countries, including India, had moved a resolution at the World Health Assembly (WHA) — the WHO’s decision-making body — asking for an “impartial, independent and comprehensive evaluation” of the WHO’s response to the coronavirus pandemic, as well as identification of “the zoonotic source” of the coronavirus. Read More
A lot has been said and written about the do’s and don’ts of the novel coronavirus pandemic, but some basic questions about day-to-day living continue to be asked. Dr Sonu Goel, Professor at the Department of Community Medicine and School of Public Health at Post-Graduate Institute of Medical Education & Research (PGIMER), Chandigarh, clarified some common doubts and misconceptionsto Hina Rohtaki of The Indian Express.
Islamic seminary Darul Uloom Deoband has issued a fatwa asking Muslims to offer their Eid prayers this time at home, instead of congregating at mosques. The directive comes amid a nationwide lockdown to slow down the spread of coronavirus. Despite the relaxations announced in the lockdown, religious and other large gatherings are still banned.
On Monday, the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare issued guidelines on preventive measures that need to be followed in workplaces to contain the spread of COVID-19. India entered the fourth phase of its lockdown, which will continue till May 31. In its new guidelines, the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) has allowed all offices to run at 100 per cent capacity, even though work from home is encouraged to the extent possible. Here is what the Health Ministry has advised as measures to contain the spread of infection in workplaces and offices.
E-commerce platforms such as Amazon, Flipkart, and others can now deliver all kinds of products in Red, Orange, and Green zones. According to the latest guidelines provided by the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) e-commerce platforms will be barred from delivering non-essential goods to containment zones. Snapdeal in a statement to the media revealed that the platform has received 65 per cent orders from red zones on day one of lockdown 4.0. The e-commerce platform noted that deliveries in red zones will begin today, May 19. However, Snapdeal said that it is awaiting state-specific guidelines.
Patients who test positive for the coronavirus weeks after recovering from Covid-19 probably aren’t capable of transmitting the infection, research from South Korea shows.
Scientists from the Korean Centers for Disease Control and Prevention studied 285 Covid-19 survivors who had tested positive for the coronavirus after their illness had apparently resolved, as indicated by a previous negative test result. The so-called re-positive patients weren’t found to have spread any lingering infection, and virus samples collected from them couldn’t be grown in culture, indicating the patients were shedding non-infectious or dead virus particles.
The findings, reported late Monday, are a positive sign for regions looking to open up as more patients recover from the pandemic that has sickened at least 4.8 million people. The emerging evidence from South Korea suggests those who have recovered from Covid-19 present no risk of spreading the coronavirus when physical distancing measures are relaxed.
A day after the Uttar Pradesh government accepted Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi’s offer to arrange 1,000 buses to ferry migrant workers to their home districts, state minister Sidharth Nath Singh on Tuesday alleged that the buses had registration numbers of scooters, three-wheelers and goods carriers. “In the preliminary checking of the numbers, it has been found that the numbers mentioned in the list as that of buses are actually of scooters, three-wheelers and goods carriers,” PTI quoted the minister as saying.
500 new cases in Delhi take the total number of infections to 10,554. Earlier, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal had said that while the number of cases was rising, it was heartening that the recovery rate was also high
Pakistan reported 1,841 new cases of the novel coronavirus and 36 fatalities during the last 24 hours, taking the total infections in the country to nearly 44,000 with 939 deaths, the health ministry said on Tuesday.
Pakistan has started easing in phases the lockdown and partially resumed its domestic air services. To add to the woes of the government, leading clerics announced on Monday to resume five-time congregational prayers at mosques across the country. They said prevailing uncertainty about the end of coronavirus could not stop people from activities of daily life and regular business. The congregations were banned when the countrywide lockdown was imposed in March to contain the spread of coronavirus.
Home Ministry issues fresh SOPs for the movement of Shramik Trains for migrant workers. Their schedules to be publicised, States to make request to the Ministry of Railways and all passengers to be screened.
A Railway officer, who was quarantined for coming in contact with langoor handler in Railway Board, tested positive on Tuesday. On May 17, an entire section of Rail Bhawan officials in New Delhi had to be quarantined after a man deputed to chase away monkeys in its premises tested positive for the coronavirus. This person, who would deploy his pet langoor (baboon) to scare off the Railway Ministry’s resident rhesus monkey population, had been visiting the premises till May 4, senior ministry officials have found.
Three migrant labourers were killed along with the driver of the bus they were traveling in, near Arni town of Maharashtra’s Yavatmal district around 4 am on Tuesday. Deputy Superintendent of Police, Yavatmal, Udaysinh Chandel said, “The Maharashtra State Road Transport Corporation ( MSRTC) bus was carrying 30 migrants from Solapur to Nagpur. Around 4 am the bus rammed a truck carrying road construction material from behind, killing the bus driver and three labourers and injuring 26 others. ”
When contacted, a SpiceJet spokesperson, in a statement, said,” Our international bookings are closed till June 15.”
Some airlines have started bookings for flights from June onwards, sources said amid commercial flight services remaining suspended till May 31 due to the coronavirus lockdown. A SpiceJet spokesperson, however, said its international bookings are closed till June 15. Commercial flights have been suspended since March 25 when the country-wide lockdown began to curb the spread of coronavirus.