A doctor talking to people who were crossing the border at Rajasthan-UP border during the nationwide lockdown due to COVID-19 pandemic.
In the new guidelines issued by the Ministry of Home Affairs for lockdown 4.0, states and Union Territories (UTs) have been given powers to delineate the Red, Green and Orange Zones as the coronavirus situation demands. Furthermore, inter-state movement of passenger vehicles, buses have been allowed with mutual consent of states.
Coronavirus India LIVE Updates: Biggest one-day jump take cases to 96,169; lockdown 4.0 begins today
The National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) Sunday announced that the nationwide lockdown has been extended till May 31. Meanwhile, hours away from entering into the fourth phase of lockdown from May 18, many states including, Tamil Nadu and Maharashtra extended their lockdown till May 31, while Karnataka announced its extension till May 19, earlier in the day. Mizoram and Punjab too extended their lockdown till May 31, while Telangana has announced curbs till May 29. Follow lockdown 4.0 guidelines live updates
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman also announced the fifth and the last tranche of the Rs 20-lakh crore Covid economic package today. Today’s announcements focused on MNREGA, health, and education-related sector, businesses, and COVID-19, decriminalisation of Companies Act, Ease of Doing Business, Public Sector Enterprises- related steps, state governments, and related resources. On Saturday, the government pushed for reforms in Coal, Mineral, Defence, Civil Aviation, Power, Social, Space and Atomic energy.
Coronavirus cases in India Sunday rose to 90,927. Of these, 53,649 are active cases; while 34,109 have already been cured. The death toll stands at 2872. Over 4.6 million have been infected with the virus globally, while over 3 lakh have died so far, with the most number of fatalities from the United States, followed by the UK and Italy.
Host states must be made accountable for the safety and well-being of migrant workers, the court said
The World Health Organisation has warned that the novel coronavirus may never go away
A 58-year-old ACP of Delhi Police posted at Rashtrapati Bhavan has tested positive for coronavirus, following which seven police personnel have been quarantined.
He is posted at the Rashtrapati Bhavan Police Lines, which is situated away from the core area of Rashtrapati Bhavan. The core area compromises the residential area of the President, the police said.
The ACP was tested and sent for isolation on May 13. Five other police personnel who came in contact with the officer were also sent on quarantine as a precautionary measure, the police said.
“We were informed about his reports today. He has tested positive for coronavirus but he is found to be asymptomatic. He was in isolation since May 13 and has been admitted to a private hospital,” a senior police officer said.
The officer is posted in the security of Rashtrapati Bhavan Police Lines and is responsible for duty deployment, administration and management of personnel within the premises, an officer said.
Poor quality food, inadequate water, and plastic sheets for bed under the open sky are among the complaints pouring in from various quarantine centres in Jammu division, triggering protests. These quarantine centres mostly house people who have returned from various states in the country, where they were stranded following the call of a sudden coronavirus lockdown.
On Friday morning, inmates at a quarantine centre at Dhalwas in Ramban district were cane-charged by police after they held a demonstration over inadequate supply of water. Three protesters sustained minor injuries.
At Dharmoond in the same district, a large number of people, including women and children, left the quarantine centre for their home in Banihal’s Mahu Mangat area Friday, alleging supply of poor quality food and delay in their test reports. However, police intervened and made them return to the quarantine centre. Read more here
Standing at a police bandobast in sweltering heat of May is 49-year-old Jamnaben Parmar, a Home Guard of Banaskantha and a cancer survivor, who is now a Coronavirus warrior.
It was last year in February 2019 that Parmar was diagnosed with Ovarian Cancer third stage and was put to bed rest for the next 10 months. A dejected Parmar had learnt to accept the disease and had stayed home in Palanpur of Banaskantha, even as her husband continued his job as a private security personnel. Read more here
Civil society organisations in Manipur’s Senapati district have demanded the suspension of the deputy commissioner (DC), for allegedly flouting COVID-19 safety protocols.
A 48-hour ultimatum to the state government, in the form of a memorandum signed by three apex bodies of the district, namely Naga People’s Organisation (NPO), Senapati District Women Association (SDWA) and Senapati District Students’ Association (SDSA), was submitted to Chief Minister N Biren Singh Sunday.
The outcry against the DC, Salam Somorjit, followed after a picture of him allegedly inside a bus carrying 36 stranded people, who had returned from Mumbai, went viral on social media. Read more here
Rajasthan on Sunday recorded the highest single day spike of 242 new cases and five more fatalities, officials said. The number of cases in the state stands at 5,202 and fatalities at 131. On Sunday, two more deaths were reported from Jaipur and one each from Bharatpur, Bikaner and Kota. Of the 242 fresh cases, Jaipur recorded the maximum of 60, followed by Jodhpur 43, Dungarpur 18, Udaipur 17, Pali 14, Churu 13, Sikar 12, Nagaur 11, Rajsamand and Sirohi 10 each, Bhilwara, Kota and Bikaner five each, Barmer four, Jalore three, Alwar, Chittorgarh and Jhunjhunu two each, Ajmer, Dausa, Jhalawar, Karauli, Pratapgarh and Sawaimadhopur one each. A total of 3,055 COVID-19 patients have recovered and there are 2,016 active cases in the state, the officials said. PTI
To find Covid-19 cases from among the 55 lakh population of the city, the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) has adopted different means to trace patients but first contact tracing and home survey has been the most effective way.
As on May 15, the PMC has traced 3,093 Covid-19 patients and isolated them for treatment at dedicated Covid hospitals, Covid centres and quarantine centres across the city. Read more here
Goa now has 22 active cases of Covid-19. 8 new patients are from the list of passengers who traveled in Rajdhani to Goa. All are stable. 469 people are currently in quarantine at various tourism residencies and hotels in Goa.
With the doubling rate of patients slowing down from five days to 13, the Pune Municipal Corporation has predicted that there will be a need of 5,500 beds for Covid-19 patients by the end of May as against the earlier estimate of 10,000 beds.
The PMC is working to set up quarantine centres across the city with an objective of 10,000 beds by the end of May, based on the earlier doubling rate of five days.
“The PMC is all prepared to scale up the capacity for Covid-19 patients. However, the slowing of the doubling rate has brought down the estimated need to half of what was expected,” said Municipal Commissioner Shekhar Gaikwad. Read more here
Assam Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal has said returning migrant workers will be given Job Cards and provided work under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) at the earliest. In the past week, at least 12 'shramik' special trains have brought migrants workers from different parts of the country to Assam. More are on their way. CM Sonowal also directed the Skill Development Department to undertake steps to train workers to enhance their existing skills. According to a release by the DIPR, CM Sonowal also directed the Industries Department to prepare a “district-wise list of MSMEs for providing benefits to the sector under Rs 20 lakh crore economic package announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.” The Finance Department was asked to coordinate with banks for “hassle-free provision of loans to migrant workers wanting to engage in constructive works.”
India has recorded 90,927 coronvirus cases till Sunday, including 2,872 deaths and 34,109 receovered or discharged. As number of Covid-19 cases continue to rise in the country, the Centre released new guidelines for the fourth phase of the lockdown starting tomorrow, relaxing restrictions placed across the nation.
Soon after MHA issued the new guidelines for the extended lockdown, the Director General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) issued a statement saying all domestic passenger flight operations and scheduled international commercial passenger services have been extended till May 31.
Over 50,000 stranded people have returned to Jammu and Kashmir as 2,470 persons arrived to the Valley on Sunday. Besides the total 54,866 persons, another set of 11,456 passengers reached Jammu and Udhampur via the special trains. Meanwhile, Jammu district administration on Sunday received the fourth train carrying 898 passengers of various districts of Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir. So far, four trains have reached Jammu with a total of 3768 stranded passengers belonging to different districts.
In wake of the new guidelines issued by the MHA for the fourth phase of lockdown, the Indian Raiwlays stated only Shramik special and other special trains along with parcel and freight services will be operational beginning from May 18.
"There is no change in rail operations. It will be same as in Lockdown 3. The Shramik Special trains and the 15 pairs of special trains will continue to run along with our freight and parcel services," railway spokesperson RD Bajpai said.
After MHA issued its new guidelines on lockdown 4.0, the Delhi government in its statement said the Centre's fresh guidelines is in the right direction of opening up the economy and leaving it to states to work out the details."We have always been saying that we all will now have to learn to live with coronavirus. We used the last two month lockdown period to prepare ourselves for dealing wid corona by improving necessary logistics and health infrastructure," the statement read.The state government said it expects a slight increase in the coronavirus cases when the economy reopens, affirming faith that Delhi is prepared for it.
Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal said the state government will prepare a detailed plan for the national capital based on the MHA's guidelines and announce tomorrow. "We used lockdown period to prepare our healthcare system if COVID-19 cases increase, but it is time to relax restrictions," Kejriwal said.
The new guidelines issued by the Ministry of Home Affairs include:
* All shops shall have to ensure six feet distance among customers; not allow more than five people at one time.
* Local authorities should ensure that shops and markets, except in containment zones, open with staggered timings.
* All shops, except those in containment zones and malls, will be allowed to open from Monday with staggered timings during lockdown 4.0.
* People above 65 years of age, persons with co-morbidities, pregnant women, children aged below 10 shall stay at home.
* Movement of people will remain strictly prohibited across country from 7 pm to 7 am, except for essential activities.
Moments after the Centre extended the nationwide lockdown till May 31, the Ministry of Home Affairs issued new guidelines for the fourth phase of lockdown. The new guidelines include:
* All domestic, international air travel of passengers, except domestic air ambulance, remains prohibited till May 31.
* Metro rail services, schools, colleges to remain closed till May 31.
* Hotels, restaurants, cinema halls, malls, swimming pools, gyms to remain shut till May 31.
* All social, political, religious functions, and places of worship to remain shut during extended lockdown till May 31.
The Centre has extended the nationwide lockdown till May 31. The National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) asked Ministries/ Departments of Government of India, State Governments and State Authorities to continue the lockdown measures up to May 31, 2020. It has also directed National Executive Committee (NEC) to issue modifications in the guidelines, as necessary keeping in view the need to open up economic activities while containing the spread of the coronavirus.
As several states rush to extend their respective lockdowns, hours away from entering into the fourth phase of the nationwide lockdown, West Bengal decided to carry on with the arrangements already in place, stating it received no fresh advisory from the Union government on Sunday, the state department said.
"No advisory yet received from GOI till today evening on lockdown update. Status quo with same arrangements to continue in WB until further notification. We will notify our comprehensive plan tomorrow afternoon," the home department tweeted. Till Saturday, West Bengal recorded 160 COVID-19 deaths with at least 2,576 confirmed cases.
The Surpeme Court has issued new guidelines to hear all cases via video and aurdio links between May 18 and June 19 and has scaled up its '1881' helpline to assist advocates and litigants in e-filing and virtual hearing, according to a standard operating procedure (SoP) released on Sunday.
"In order to contain the spread of coronavirus (COVID-19), considering the prevailing situation, and taking into account the suggestions received from various quarters and the guidelines issued by the Government of India and Government of NCT of Delhi from time to time, the Chief Justice of India has been pleased to direct the constitution of the bench(es) to hear matters in the coming weeks since the Virtual Courts will be functioning from May 18, 2020 to June 19, 2020 (both days inclusive), that is, during the earlier notified summer vacations through video conferencing/ tele-conferencing mode only," the top court said.
The fresh matters lying in the pool which could not be listed due to the pandemic have been scheduled to be listed before the virtual court for hearing during the period, it said. "Once the pool of fresh matters is exhausted, matters belonging to Short Categories, which are ready for listing, will be listed before the court for hearing. In addition to the fresh matters and short category matters, such other matters shall also be listed for hearing, as may be directed," it said.
Karnataka, which has reported 1,147 coronavirus cases, has extended its lockdown till May 19. Officials have clarified, all directives that were put in place on May 4 shall continue. The state has recorded 37 COVID-19-linked deaths. The Ministry of Home Affairs is expected to issue new guidelines on nationwide lockdown today as the country is set to enter its fourth phase of lockdown on May 18.
The death toll due to the coronavirus in Delhi has reached to 149 after 19 new fresh deaths were reported on Sunday, the health department said. The total number of Covid-19 cases have reached 9,755 with 422 fresh cases. As on Sunday, 152 people are admitted in the ICU of the 11 designated Covid-19 hospitals in the city, 21 people are on ventilator support. In the last 10 days, the number of people admitted to the ICU and put on ventilator support have gone up. (Read more)
The Delhi Police have registered around nine cases against landlords in Northwest Delhi, who allegedly forced their tenants to pay rent amid the lockdown. Vijayanta Arya, DCP (Northwest) said, “We have registered nine FIRs this month on the complaint of the tenants. Most of these are students of the Delhi University, who are being told that they will be evicted due to non-payment of rent. Some of them are from other states.”
The FIRs were registered under IPC section 188 (disobedience to order duly promulgated by public servant). This was after several students and workers complained that they didn’t have rent money because of the lockdown but were being forced to pay rent, said the police. However, no action will be taken against. The police have warned the accused to not evict the tenants or harass them further.
Amid rising number of coronavirus cases in Mumbai, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has decided to increase the bed capacity for Covid-19 treatment at its facilities to one lakh, civic commissioner I S Chahal told PTI. Mahrashtra is the single largest contributor to the national coronavirus numbers reporting 30,706 cases, inlcuding 1,135 deaths.
He also clarified that the BMC will not take over the premsises of the Wankhede Stadium for quaranntine facility. "We are not taking over the cricket stadium or any other open space because in Mumbai it sometimes rains continuously for a week. It will not be useful at all for the administration to take care of people."
A Covid-19 quarantine centre with capacity of 500 beds set at Dharavi.
Vashi cidco exhibition centre 1200 beds for quarantine getting prepared at an emergency hospital in Navi Mumbai.
The Delhi government has directed police and and District Magsitrates to ensure that migrant workers do not resort to walking on road and on railway tracks. The directive further states, in case migrants are found in such situation, they should be counseled and taken to nearby shelters and provided with food and water till the time they are facilitated to board the special trains or buses to their native homes.
Around 35,000 migrants have been ferried from Delhi till date and another 12,000 are schedued to leave today onboard the Shramik special trains, Deputy CM Manish Sisodia said, earlier in the day. “Most of these people had come to Delhi looking for work 2-6 months back. They had jobs but the lockdown has left them without much hope. I asked them when will you return – they responded when the economy reopens,” Sisodia tweeted. (Read more)
A deputy Mamlatdar at the Ahmedabad collectorate office succumbed to the coronavirus on Saturday. Dinesh Raval, the deceased, was in his mid 50s, and was admitted at the Civil Sola Hospital last week after he tested positive for coronavirus. Over a dozen employees at the collectorate office, including four deputy mamlatdar, data operator at Asarwa office to personal assistant of resident additional collector have tested positive for the virus.
Ahmedabad Collector K K Nirala told The Indian Express, “The fear is not how many are testing positive but how many are asymptomatic. We are highly exposed as we meet everyone and we have our own limitations as we cannot close down just because people are getting infected. We only have a limited control of things in our hands. Though we request people not to come to the collectorate office for something that is possible over a phone call too but not many abide by this.”
After Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu too has extended the lockdown till May 31, PTI reported. One of the biggest contributor to the national numbers, the state has total 10,585 coronavirus cases, including 74 deaths. Over 3,000 Covid-19 cases reported in Tamil Nadu have been traced to its Koyambedu market - a wholesale vegetable and fruit market in Chennai. Till Wednesday, the state’s total case count was 9,227, of which 4,089 were linked to arrivals from other countries and states, and another 1,365 were linked to the Tablighi Jamaat congregation in Delhi in March.
Migrant workers break police barricades placed at Uttar Pradesh-Madhya Pradesh border in Chakghat area, to enter UP.
While the number of coronavirus cases surge in the country, the jail administrations pan-India have stepped up to control the spread of the virus by granting parole or decongesting the prisons.
* Uttar Pradesh: Random testing of samples for coronavirus in all prisons of the state has started. There are 71 operational jails in the state with over 94,000 inmates. So far, more than 16,000 inmates have been released either on bail or parole, Anand Kumar, DG of the Department of Prisons Administration and Reform told PTI.
* Madhya Pradesh: Nearly 6,500 inmates have been released from jails in Madhya Pradesh since the outbreak of the virus. Of these, as many as 3,900 have been granted parole while 2,600 have been released on interim bail by courts for a stipulated period, state prisons Deputy Inspector General Sanjay Pandey told PTI. The state has 131 jails, of which 75 per cent were overcrowded.
* Goa: The Goa Central Jail has granted parole to 44 prisoners ever since the lockdown was enforced. Prior to the parole, the jail had 486 prisoners lodged in jail. The parole will run coterminous to the lockdown period, which means the prisoners granted temporary release will stay out of jail till the lockdown continues, an official told PTI.
* Maharashtra: Over 7,200 prisoners have been released so far from jails across the state and an additional 10,000 will be released shortly, an official said. A total of 17,000 imates would be realeased on temporary bail or parole. 'The pre-lockdown population in the 60 prisons across the state was over 35000 and so far we have released over 7200inmates temporarily to decongest the jails,' an official from the prisons department told PTI.
A day after Rahul Gandhi held an impromptu hour-long meeting with a group of 20 migrants in Delhi, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Sunday called the Congress leader’s act nothing but a “drama”.
Calling Rahul Gandhi a “dramebaaz”, Sitharaman, while announcing the fifth and final tranche of the Rs 20 lakh crore economic stimulus package, said, “Rahul Gandhi’s act of speaking for migrant labourers is drama.” The Congress has been vocally critical of the government’s handling of the migrant crisis even as hundreds of migrants have been walking or hitchhiking their way for days to native villages.
Sitharaman also asked Congress president Sonia Gandhi to join the efforts of the government in handling the migrants issue and to deal with them more responsibly. “I want to tell the Opposition party that on the issue to migrants we all must work together. We are working with all states on this issue. With folded hands, I ask Sonia Gandhi ji that we must speak and deal with our migrants more responsibly,” Sitharaman said.
The Maharashtra government Sunday issued directions to extend the lockdown in the state till May 31. 'In exercise of the powers conferred under section 2 of the Epidemic Diseases Act, 1898 and the powere, conferred under the Disaster Manangement Act, 2005, the undersigned, in his capacity as Chairperson, State Executive Committee, hereby issues directions to extend the lockdown till 31st May 2020 for containment of Covid-19 epidemic in the State and all Departments of Government of Maharashtra shall strictly implement the guidelines issued earlier from time to time. The calibrated phase wise relaxation/lifting of lockdown orders will be notified in the due course,' an order issued by the state government said.
The COVID-19 would peak at different times in states and there is not going to be uniformity across the country, a noted public health expert and epidemiologist said, suggesting heightened surveillance and forming district action plans to handle the pandemic more effectively.
Professor and Head of Life Course Epidemiology at the Public Health Foundation of India, Giridhara R Babu said the coronavirus is in complete ascendancy stage in states such as West Bengal, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra and Gujarat, where it has gone beyond minimal containment. There, things will have to be completely different in terms of reducing the mortality rate, while in other states we are yet to see the surge and, therefore, our preparedness will have to continue, he said.
But in both these categories we have to make sure surveillance is the only thing which will guide us, because if we lose our guard now, then we will no longer enjoy that success that we relatively have compared to the other countries, Babu told PTI.
With the biggest caseload in the country, Maharashtra has decided to extend the lockdown till May 31. After Punjab, Mizoram and Telangana, Maharashtra has become the latest state to extend restrictions. 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.
India reported an unusually high number of new cases as well as recoveries on Saturday, thanks to adjustments made by Gujarat and Punjab.
Gujarat reported results of a special drive it had carried out over the last one week in Ahmedabad to look for potential ‘spreaders’. That drive discovered 703 positive cases in the last week, all of which were added to the state’s numbers on Saturday, resulting in a big spike.
In Punjab, 952 positive, but asymptomatic, cases were sent back to their homes, following new guidelines that allow asymptomatic cases to be isolated at home. Close to 850 of these asymptomatic cases are returnees from Nanded. Punjab, like most other states, bunches ‘Recoveries’ and ‘Discharges’ together. So, these 952 have shown as having ‘recovered’ even though they have only been ‘discharged’ from official quarantine centres. After this adjustment, the number of recoveries in Punjab has jumped from 305 to 1257.
Singapore registered 682 more infections of the new coronavirus, its health ministry said on Sunday, taking the city-state's total to 28,038 cases. The vast majority of the newly infected people are migrant workers living in dormitories, the ministry said in a statement. Four are permanent residents.
Faridabad recorded its sixth Coronavirus death last night, with officials saying the deceased was a 45-year-old resident of Greater Faridabad. "He was a known case of Diabetes and had been on the ventilator for the last week. He was undergoing treatment at the ESIC hospital in the district. We are awaiting the detailed report on the case," said Yashpal Yadav, Deputy Commissioner of Faridabad. This is the third death due to Coronavirus in the district this week - a 17-year-old girl whose treatment, officials said, was complicated by the fact that she had been undergoing treatment for Tuberculosis for the last 3 months, and also had blood cancer, had passed away on Friday, while a 65 year old man who resided in Sector 18 had passed away on Monday.
Delhi reported 19 fresh coronavirus deaths on Sunday and 422 new infections, taking the total to 148 fatalities and 9,755 cases, the authorities said. In a bulletin issued on Sunday, the Delhi Health Department said with 19 more fatalities reported, the death toll from coronavirus infection has risen to 148. On Saturday, the total number of cases stood at 9,333 and fatalities at 129. On Thursday, the city had reported the highest single-day spike yet of 472 fresh cases.
Sitharaman added: "While the borrowing sealing of the states were increased, they have only borrowed 14% of the limit authorised to them; 86% remain unutilised as of now. We have now allowed them to borrow up to 5% of GSDP from the earlier 3%. This means, the states can now borrow an additional amount of Rs 4.28 lakh crore."
"Part of the borrowing (by states) will be linked to specific reforms. From 0-3%, it will be unconditional. Upto 4.5%, it will be released in four tranches. The last 0.5 will be given as soon as the milestones are reached in at least three of the conditions," Nirmala Sitharaman announced.
Authorities in Maharashtra have released over 7,200 prisoners so far to check overcrowding in jails amid the coronavirus pandemic, officials said on Sunday. Around 10000 more will be released shortly, they said. In a bid to decongest state jails due to coronavirus outbreak, the state prisons department has so far released over 7,200 prisoners across the state on either temporary bail or parole, an official said.
Following the Supreme Court directives to states and Union territories to set up a panel to consider the release of prisoners on parole to avoid overcrowding in jails to check the spread of coronavirus, the state government had said that around 11,000 prisoners in Maharashtra, whose sentence period is less than seven years, would be released temporarily.
"The pre-lockdown population in the 60 prisons across the state was over 35000 and so far we have released over 7200 inmates temporarily to decongest the jails," an official from the prisons department told PTI. In all, around 17000 jail inmates would be released on temporary bail or parole, he said. A high-powered committee appointed by the state government recently decided to release 50 per cent prisoners from various jails across the states and this figure is around 17000, he said. (PTI)
More than 580 Indian citizens stranded in Maldives due to the COVID-19 pandemic arrived here on board a Naval ship on Sunday, in the second phase of the Vande Bharat repatriation mission, officials said. The Indian Navy ship INS Jalashwa under "Operation Samudra Setu" with 588 evacuees from Maldives arrived at the Cochin Port at 11.30 am on Sunday, official sources said.
The Cochin Port Trust tweeted a photo of the third group of Indian expatriates evacuated from the Island nation arriving at the port. There are 568 repatriates of Kerala, 15 of Tamil Nadu and three belonging to Telangana and two persons from Lakshadweep, officials said.
This is the third naval ship operated as part of the Vande Bharat mission to the city. On May 10, the vessel had brought home 698 Indian nationals from Maldives. Two days later, another Navy Ship INS Magar had evacuated 202 Indian citizens from Maldives to here.
Speaking on the support which has been extended to state governments, Nirmala Sitharaman said, "Like the Centre, the state is also witnessing a sharp drop in revenues. Over Rs 46,038 crore were devolved as tax revenue to states. Over Rs 12,000 crore were also dispensed on time. The Health Ministry has also released over Rs 14,000 crore. The RBI in a very timely step has increased ways of advancing limits for states by 60%. The number of days a state can be in an overdraft situation in a quarter have been raised."
Speaking of public enterprise policy, she said, "All sectors will be opened to private sectors also. Public sectors will continue to play an important role in defined areas. We shall defined the areas or categories. The strategic sectors in which public private sector enterprises will be present will be notified. Not more than four enterprises will be present in each sector."
On matters concerning the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC), Sitharaman said, 'Debts related to COVID shall be excluded from default under the IBC. No fresh insolvency proceedings will be made for a year. For MSMEs, a special insolvency framework will be notified under Section 42A of IBC, the minimum threshold has increased from Rs 1 lakh to Rs 1 crore.'
Under the Companies Act, Sitharaman said the government is trying to decriminalise most of the sections. Compoundable offences can now be tried under internal adjudicating mechanisms, she said.
On the steps taken for the education sector, the finance minister said, 'The direct telecast mode use by schools will now get 12 more channels. This will also help in rural areas. Provision has been made for live telecast of teachings. We have also tied up with private operators such as Tata Sky and DTH to air educational content.
The government also increased its expenditure on public healthcare. Sitharaman said: "All districts will have an infectious diseases' block. Public health labs will be set up at all block levels."
Centre has decided to provide an additional Rs 40,000 crore for MGNREGA workers. This is over and above the BE amount of Rs 61,500 crore made in Budget 2020-21
Hailed for her leadership during the coronavirus pandemic, New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern and her partner were turned away from a cafe on Saturday because it was too full under the physical distancing guidelines.
Ardern's government relaxed many social distancing rules on Thursday, reopening cafes, cinemas and malls after two months of some of the tightest restrictions in the world to stop the spread of the coronavirus. Ardern and Clarke Gayford walked for a brunch to a cafe in the country's capital, Wellington, where they were initially told it was too full, New Zealand media reported. An employee ran after them a few minutes later when a table became free and the couple went back.
The Finance Minister will make announcements for the following sectors today: MNREGA, health (rural and urban) and education, business, de-criminalisation of Companies Act, Ease of Doing Business, Public Sector Enterprises, state govts and resources to them.
Quoting Prime Minister Narendra Modi while addressing reporters today, Sitharaman said: "In order to prove the resolve of the self-reliant India, land, labour, liquidity and laws, all have been emphasised in this package." She added, "We have announced several reforms in this regard and shall continue with the same today." "As a nation, we stand at a very crucial juncture. Such a big disaster is a signal for India, it has brought a message and opportunity," she said.
Ahead of the presser, former finance minister P Chidambaram tweeted: "My one line comment on FM’s fourth tranche: No fiscal measure, ZILCH."
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman will announce the fifth and last tranche of the Rs 20-lakh crore Covid-19 packages part of the “Atmanirbhar Bharat Abhiyan (Self-reliant India campaign) at 11 am on Sunday.
On Saturday, Sitharaman unveiled the fourth set of the economic package for eight sectors — coal, minerals, defence production, civil aviation, power distribution, social infrastructure, space and atomic energy. An easing of limits on foreign direct investment in defence manufacturing, privatisation of six more airports, opening up of more airspace and allowing private sector in commercial coal mining were among key announcements made by her.
Prior to Saturday’s announcements, Sitharaman had announced relief measures for Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs), migrant labourers, farmers and street vendors, and the agriculture sector and allied activities.
For every migrant worker who died in the Auraiya road accident, a lakh more are waiting to return to their native homes in states. On May 2, Jharkhand started an online portal asking its stranded people to register if they want to travel back home. Between May 2 and May 14, 6.92 lakh people registered, according to an official in the state’s labour department. “More than 10 lakh people are stranded in various states. The number of registrations are only expected to increase,” the official said.
Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal, Rajasthan and Odisha are some of the other states besides Jharkhand which primarily feed the labour markets in Maharashtra, Gujarat and the southern states including Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Telangana and Kerala.
West Bengal -- 2.5 lakh
Chhattisgarh -- 2.69 lakh
Uttar Pradesh -- 10 lakh
Rajasthan -- 5.5 lakh
Bihar -- 2.7 lakh
The above are the figures for the number of migrant workers from respective states believed to be stuck.
South Korea has reported 13 new cases of the coronavirus over a 24-hour period, raising hopes that a new outbreak linked to nightclubs in Seoul may be waning. The additional figures released on Sunday by the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention brought the national tally to 11,050 with 262 deaths. The agency says 9,888 of them have recovered and that 17,660 were under tests to determine whether they've contracted the virus.
After weeks of a slowdown of new cases, South Korea's daily jump marked an average of about 30 for several days, mostly associated with nightclubs in Seoul's Itaewon entertainment district. But the daily increase marked 19 on Saturday.
Saturday marked the sixth anniversary of the Modi government’s coming to power but hanging over the celebrations by the party were images of the tragedy in Auraiya and from across the nation. Of hapless migrants on the road with no succor in sight. Pushed by the economic distress in the cities and drawn by the reassurance of safety at home in rural Bihar, UP and Odisha, countless have hit highways across the country.
The BJP launched a social media video, “6 saal, bemisaal”, to highlight the achievements of the government and there is a sense of relief over the national Covid figures. But there is also disquiet in a section of the party and the government, at the Centre and its governments in UP and Bihar, over the lack of anticipation of this crisis which many think will snowball as the stage is set for a further easing of the lockdown.
The streams of migrants on the road nearly two months after the lockdown began on March 24, underlines the government’s underestimation of the scale of the disruption that its decision, announced by the Prime Minister with barely four hours’ notice, would trigger. Read more, here
India has crossed the 90,000-mark in the number of coronavirus cases as it recorded the biggest single-day jump of 4,987 new patients, bringing the total to 90,927 cases so far, including 2,872 deaths, Union Health Ministry said today.
Pramod Rai, Kamlesh Sahu, Ravi Maurya, Dinesh Kharadi, Ajay Manjhi, Gajraj Yadav, and Abdul Azim are the “luckier” ones, having made their way back to their villages after long journeys. As they rework their budgets and life, what keeps them going is the whiff of their dreams. Read our special Sunday Story, here
As Russia’s surging coronavirus infections have turned it into a global epidemic hotspot second only to the US one thing puzzles health experts: Why is it reporting so few deaths?
Russian officials say 2,305 people have died so far from Covid-19 out of 252,245 confirmed cases since the epidemic erupted. Russia’s total cases on Tuesday overtook those of Spain, which has reported close to 27,000 deaths, after passing the U.K. and Italy, which have more than 13 times the Russian level of fatalities. The World Health Organization said it’s in talks with Russia about the country’s statistics for coronavirus deaths, which at 0.9% is far below the global average and the lowest among nations with the highest numbers of infections.
Following suggestions from the states, an MHA official said that no state wants complete withdrawal of lockdown but all want gradual resumption of economic activities, according to PTI. The official said there will be lots of relaxations and flexibility in lockdown 4.0 with complete reopening of the green zones, very limited curbs in orange zones and strict restrictions only in the containment areas of red zones. The official also said states and UTs may be empowered to take decisions on easing of the curbs. However, the final guidelines will be issued by the MHA only after going through the suggestions of the state governments.
Spain will seek permission from Congress to extend the state of emergency for a fifth time to combat the coronavirus outbreak, Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said.
Sanchez, speaking in a press conference on Saturday, said he’d call for a prolongation of about a month and hoped it would be the last time as Spain begins a gradual easing of restrictions on movement. Regions of Spain less affected by the Covid-19 outbreak may have the state of emergency lifted earlier, he said. “We’re still in a state of vulnerability,” Sanchez said. “It’s fundamental to maintain the state of emergency during the de-escalation. We need to continue to restrict mobility.”
With the third phase of a nationwide lockdown slated to end Sunday, the Centre is mulling a more relaxed post-May 17 strategy. Some states, including Assam, Telangana, Maharashtra, and Punjab have recommendation an extension of the lockdown for the remaining of the month to contain the spread of the novel coronavirus, while others including Delhi, Haryana, Karnataka have suggested a gradual easing of restrictions. Here's what the states want