Two labour families of Birwani district in Madhya Pradesh planning to return to their hometown on Monday night were stopped by government officers on Pune-Satara road. (Express Photo By Pavan Khengre).
Coronavirus India Updates: As India extended the coronavirus lockdown till May 3, the death toll due to COVID-19 has risen to 353 while the number of confirmed cases across the country neared the 11,000 mark. The Union Health Ministry said a total of 1,211 new cases and 31 deaths were reported in the last 24 hours. As many as 1,189 persons have recovered from the virus. Maharashtra continued to be the worst-affected state.
As India extended the coronavirus lockdown till May 3, the death toll due to COVID-19 has risen to 353 while the number of confirmed cases across the country neared the 11,000 mark. The Union Health Ministry said a total of 1,211 new cases and 31 deaths were reported in the last 24 hours. As many as 1,189 persons have recovered from the virus. Maharashtra continued to be the worst-affected state.
Meanwhile, an unprecedented situation was created in Mumbai when a large number of migrant labourers came out on road in Bandra (West) bus depot near the railway station demanding transportation arrangements to go to their native places. The crowd was later dispersed following the deployment of extra force to contain the situation.
The government also informed that more than 32 crore poor people have been provided financial support of Rs 29,352 crore as on April 13. In his address, Modi said a detailed document with guidelines on the same would be released on Wednesday. He said there will be strict enforcement of the lockdown for six days, till April 20, after which there could be relaxation in specific areas after assessing the situation. Shortly after the announcement, the Indian Railways and the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) said that railway and air services, respectively, would be suspended till May 3.
On the global front, more than 1.9 million infections have been reported, with over 1,19,000 deaths, according to a Johns Hopkins University tally. The United States has the highest number of cases (581,679) and fatalities (over 23,000) from COVID-19.
The tribal district of Dahod in Gujarat reported its third coronavirus case late Tuesday night after a 27-year-old male from Bhilwa village in Garbada taluka of Dahod was tested positive. "He has a travel history to Rajasthan's Bhawani mandi. We are probing further regarding his travel history to trace his source of infection," District Collector Vijay Kharadi said.
The Ministry of Railways issued a clarification Tuesday that all passenger trains remain suspended till May 3 and there is no "plan to run any special train to clear the passenger rush." The clarification came hours after a large number of migrant labourers gathered outside the Bandra railway station in Mumbai demanding transportation back home.
2,44,893 samples from 2,29,426 individuals have been tested as on April 14. Out of these, 10,307 have been confirmed positive today. 26,351 samples have been reported. Of these, 853 were positive for SARS-CoV-2
Hours after Mumbai witnessed a protest by migrant workers demanding arrangements to go home, the Delhi government swung into action, with Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and the city’s transport head urging people to not fall for rumours on availability of buses at the city’s exit points.
Kejriwal issued a short video message, in which he requested migrants from Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Haryana and other states to stay back at least till May 3. The Delhi government will make all arrangements for them in terms of food and medicines, the CM said in his appeal.
* Italy recorded 602 deaths in the last 24 hours, taking the toll to 21,067. The confirmed coroanvirus cases have climbed to 162,488.
* The Unites States, now the epicentre of the coronvirus outbreak, has surpassed Italy's death toll recording 24,000 deaths so far. There are nearly 583,000 positive Covid-19 cases in US.
* Spain has recorded 18,056 deaths and about 172,541 people have contracted the virus.
* France has recorded 14,967 deaths with 137,887 coronavirus confirmed cases.
* The UK has so far recorded 12,107 deaths with closing to one lakh cases. About 94,829 people have been infected.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday held a telephonic conversation with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and discussed the challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic. During his telephonic conversation with Abbas, the PM appreciated the efforts being made by the Palestinian authorities to protect their population from the virus, and assured all possible support from India for these efforts, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said in a statement.
"The two leaders discussed the challenges posed by the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, and apprised each other of the steps being taken in their respective countries to control the situation," the statement said.
Modi and Abbas agreed to remain in touch at appropriate levels to explore avenues of cooperation at this challenging time.
Exactly six weeks after the first coronavirus case was confirmed in Rajasthan, the state crossed the 1,000 mark on Tuesday evening. Jaipur accounts for almost half of those cases
Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal's appeal to migrant workers: Please do not fall for rumours.Perhaps some of you really want to go home. Please wait till May 3. We will ensure adequate food, medicines. DTC or UP govt buses are not available for you to go home. These are rumours.
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Delhi Transport Department on alleged movement of migrants: It appears that some rumours are being spread that buses are available to go to the borders. No DTC buses or any other buses are available and lockdown is to be strictly observed.
Mother Dairy on Tuesday said it has made special arrangements to supply milk and other dairy products at 61 hotspots of coronavirus pandemic across the national capital region.
Mother Dairy is a leading milk supplier in the Delhi-NCR with per day sales of over 30 lakh per litre. Mother Dairy has deployed 15 vehicles for supply of milk and other products to 61 hotspots across Delhi-NCR, the company said in a statement. This step has been taken by the company in collaboration with the various RWAs and the local authorities to ensure that consumers in lockdown have easy access to their daily essentials of milk and milk products, it added.
"Through the arrangement of vehicle distribution, Mother Dairy sells an average of 78,622 litres of milk per day in the located Hotspots areas of Delhi, Ghaziabad, Noida, Gurgaon, and Faridabad," the company spokesperson said.(PTI)
Vidarbha's overall corona positive cases tally Tuesday crossed the 100-mark with nine more cases surfacing in Nagpur and four in Buldana. The region now has 109 cases from seven of the eleven districts.
An overwhelming number of these have been related to the Markaz event in Delhi last month. At least 47 of the total 52 cases till date in the Amravati division of the region are of either direct travelers from Delhi or of secondary infections caused by them to local residents.
In the division, Buldana tops the list with 21 positive cases followed by Akola (13), Yavatmal (12), Amravati (5) and Washim (1). In the Nagpur division, total cases crossed 50-mark with nine new positive cases being reported on Tuesday. The city now has 56 positive patients.
Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray Tuesday said his government will set up a committee to revive the state's economy after the coronavirus outbreak ends. "After COVID-19 outbreak ends, we will have an equally serious challenge which will be the revival of the economy in the state. Therefore, we have formed committees which will prepare the plans for its revival," he said.
Thackeray also said Maharashtra is doing the highest number of tests in the country. "Mumbai has tested over 22000 samples. 2334 positive cases reported till today morning. 230 people - around 10% people have recovered," he said.
Like many other parts of the world, Turkey has been issuing social distancing and lockdowns instructions along with hygiene advisories to ward off the novel coronavirus pandemic. However, there is one difference in how the Turkish people are tackling the outbreak.
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Maharashtra Tourism Minister Aaditya Thackeray on Tuesday blamed the Centre for the protest by hundreds of migrant workers near Bandra railway station here and sought a road map to facilitate their journey back to their native places.
Hundreds of migrant workers who earn daily wages in Mumbai came out on road on Tuesday afternoon demanding transport arrangements to go back to their native places. The protest took place hours after Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced an extension of the coronavirus-enforced lockdown till May 3.
In a series of tweets, Thackeray said, "The current situation in Bandra, now dispersed or even the rioting in Surat is a result of the union government not being able to take a call on arranging a way back home migrant labour."
"They don't want food or shelter, they want to go back home," Thackeray said. (PTI)
Hours after Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced extension of the ongoing lockdown, Uttarakhand government on Tuesday said that electricity connections of consumers of all categories will not be disconnected till June 30 if they fail to pay the electricity bills and dues.
Also, those who will pay the bills on-line before the due date, they will get a discount of one per cent on the current bill amount. The maximum limit of this discount will be Rs one lakh for HT consumers and Rs 10,000 for LT connection consumers. The government has estimated that nearly 25 lakh consumers will be benefitted from it.
As relief measures for farmers who have private tubewells for irrigation, the state government said that a concession will be given in late payment surcharge on their electricity bills due till June 30. Nearly 20,000 farmers will be benefitted and this will cost Rs 3.64 crore to the state exchequer.
The government also announced to defer the recovery of fixed/demand charge from the consumers of industrial and commercial categories against the power consumption between March to May. Also, concession on late payment surcharge will be given in such cases. This decision will benefit nearly 2.7 lakh consumers and will cost Rs 8 crore to the state exchequer. Chief Minister Trivendra Singh Rawat said that such measures will give relief to electricity consumers who are facing hardships due to lockdown.
Number of active COVID-19 cases drops for first time in Jammu and Kashmir as 14 patients recover, Rohit Kansal, Principal Secretary-Planning, Jammu and Kashmir said. On Tuesday, eight new cases were reported out of which six were from Kashmir while two were from Jammu. Total number of positive cases stands now at 278 in the Union Territory, Kansal said.
On the coronavirus situation in Delhi, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said, "In past few days, COVID-19 cases rose significantly. On 9 April, 51 cases were reported, 183 on 10th, 166 on 11th, 356 on 13th. In last 2 months, many foreigners came to Delhi from affected nations. 1 more incident took place here - of Markaz. This too caused additional burden."
Migrant workers from nearby settlements in Mumbai's Badnra gathered today demanding ration. The police later brought the situation under control.
Joint commissioner of police (law and order) Vinay Kumar Choubey sadi, " Those protesting reside near the Bandra station. When food was being distributed one group said they did not want food but wanted to go home. Since a huge crowd had gathered we called extra force and the crowd was dispersed. They went back to their residences near the railway station."
DRM of WR, GVL Satyakumar said, "The crowd was confined towards the local railway station and not the terminus, they were on the roads, in the local area and not on the station premises. All entries are locked to the station except one which is manned by RPF. The security on all stations will be strengthened."
Only 31 new cases of COVID-19 reported in Tamil Nadu today, lowest in April. State Health Secretary says decline in fresh cases may have started as a result of containment measures being taken across the state. Meanwhile, total cases in the state now sit at 1204.
Air carrier IndiGo has said it will resume flight operations from May 4 in phased manner. This announcement comes on a day when Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced the extension of nationwide lockdown till May 3 in order to flatten the curve of the coronavirus. All passenger trains and flights will remain suspended till May 3.