A day after central guidelines for lockdown 4.0 relaxed restrictions on employees coming to office,  the Ministry of Home Affairs Monday released guidelines on measures to be taken to contain the spread of Covid-19 in the workplace.

According to a circular released by the MHA, there are four types of measures to be taken to check the spread of the virus. Read more here

An ambulance driver of health department was beaten by police personnel in Pulwama district of South Kashmir on Sunday night. Officials said that ambulance driver Tariq Ahmad from Shopian was sent to nearby Pulwama to pick up two people who were put under administrative quarantine. The driver alleged that he was stopped at a checkpoint by police personnel in Pulwama and was beaten.

“He had to pick up two people from Pulwama. The driver told us that there was a naka in the area and he was asked to take another route. There was probably an altercation and he said he was beaten by the police present there. He has suffered soft issue injuries,” Chief Medical Officer (CMO) Shopian, Dr. Ramesh Kumar told The Indian Express. He said the matter was taken up with the local authorities and a complaint has been submitted as well.

On Sunday night when the incident happened, Block Medical Officer (BMO) Zainapora and Medical Superintendent Shopian district hospital also reached to the spot. On Monday, ambulance drivers in Shopian staged a protest against the Pulwama police. The driver Tariq Ahmad told The Indian Express that he was sent to Pulwama to pick two quarantined people. “After I picked one, I reached to the circuit road, where policemen were present. They told me to take another route, and road in closed. But after I saw a vehicle coming from the same road, which they told me is closed, I again requested to please allow me to go. They told me to take alternative route. When I objected to it, one policeman came and hit me with stick. I was beaten,” he said. “I contacted seniors and even my brother who is in police department.”

On Monday, one person died of COVID-19 in the Gauhati Medical College and Hospital. The person tested positive only after death. “One person had unfortunately died at GMCH prior to detection,” wrote state Health Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Twitter. This is Assam's second death prior to detection — earlier this month, a 16-year-old girl tested positive for the virus after she died in Guwahati.

Sarma said that the new death was among the seven new positive cases reported in Guwahati on Monday night. “3 patients are from Sarusajai quarantine centre; & rest 3 related to Aloo Godam case are from Fancy Bazaar containment zone” he wrote on Twitter. Earlier in the day, Assam reported 8 cases from Golaghat, Cachar, Jorhat and Nagaon districts.

The total number of cases reported in Assam stands at 115, with 68 active, and four deaths.

The Manipur home department announced Monday that a total curfew has been declared in Imphal city and all district headquarters. It will be enforced from 6pm to 6am.

With an increasing number of migrant workers taking the road across the country to reach their homes in different states, the Odisha government has started a dynamic bus transit system to pick up such migrant workers and drop them to inter-state borders. “Till 18.5.2020, 5.00 PM, Odisha Police arranged 222 trips by bus to transport over 8,000 such migrant labourers of other states using Odisha for transit only. Odisha Police is also running kitchens to feed migrant labour of all types. The biggest such kitchen in Bhadrak is feeding 4,000 people per day,” said a statement issued by the state government.

"As per the latest guidelines issued by various State Government today, driver-partners operating three and four-wheelers on the platform will be available to serve mobility needs on the Ola app, with the highest levels of safety precautions in the states of Karnataka, Telangana, Delhi, Haryana, Chandigarh, Punjab, Tamil Nadu (except Chennai), Andhra Pradesh, Kerala, and Assam," the company said in a statement.

"In all of the 160+ cities where Ola is now operational, enhanced safety protocols are applicable across every single trip. This includes compulsory mask usage for driver-partners and passengers, complete sanitization of cars post-trips, adhering to social distancing norms by limiting to two passengers per ride amongst other key steps through our '10 Steps to a Safer Ride' initiative.’ We urge all users to strictly adhere to local guidelines to undertake only essential trips with all safety precautions,” it said.

To contain the spread of Covid-19, the UT administration Monday extended night-curfew in Jammu district till May 31. In view of the extension of lockdown, restrictions imposed on the movement of individuals for non-essential activities between 7 pm to 7 am in the district have been extended till May 31, an order issued by Jammu Deputy Commissioner Sushma Chauhan stated.

"PM Modi personally monitored situation and ensured a preemptive, proactive and graded response, leaving no stones unturned to contain the deadly virus from spreading. India took all necessary steps well in time," Union Health Minister Dr Harsh Vardhan said at the 73rd World Health Assembly via vide-conference.

PM Modi personally monitored situation & ensured a preemptive, proactive & graded response, leaving no stones unturned to contain the deadly virus from spreading. India took all necessary steps well in time: Health Minister Dr Harsh Vardhan at 73rd World Health Assembly via VC pic.twitter.com/L7KmUuffVX

— ANI (@ANI) May 18, 2020

Union Minister Nitin Gadkari, who was the guest at the Indian Express e-Adda on Monday, said that many industries want to shift base out of China and countries like Japan and US are giving such firms benefits to boost investment. On the govt's Rs 20 lakh crore economic package, Gadkari said it will boost liquidity in the market and attract investment. 'In the next two years, development of roadside industrial clusters, smart cities and logistical parks will be the focus,' he said. 

The Centre on Sunday (May 17) extended the lockdown for two more weeks till May 31, but gave some major relaxations, permitting almost all economic activities and significant public movement. What does the new phase of lockdown mean for the common public, the economy, and the state governments struggling for revenue? Click here for more details.

Jammu and Kashmir recorded 106 fresh Covid cases, of which 94 were from Kashmir and 12 from Jammu: 12. Also, two deaths were reported in Kashmir.

J-K COVID-19 today cases: 106. Fresh cases; Kashmir: 94, Jammu: 12. Also, two deaths reported today in Kashmir. @IndianExpress pic.twitter.com/6DaZSu5qN0

— Adil Akhzer (@adilakhzer) May 18, 2020

"The package announced will not bring any immediate relief to the distressed farmers. The standing crops have perished due to lockdown causing great losses to the farmers. In turn, they are facing a cash crunch & need immediate support to undertake ensuing Kharif season activities," Sharad Pawar said in his letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

I have raised concerns and shared my views in an open letter to Hon’able Prime Minister Narendra Modi ji over the scope of the 20 trillion package announced by him in the wake of the coronavirus-led damages. @PMOIndia @narendramodi @nsitharaman @ianuragthakur @FinMinIndia pic.twitter.com/PSDRe95naP

— Sharad Pawar (@PawarSpeaks) May 18, 2020

With the Centre extending the nationwide lockdown for two more weeks until May 31 to stop the spread of Covid-19, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal Monday announced a detailed plan for the national capital based on the guidelines of the Ministry of Home Affairs.

Here are some of the dos and don'ts are:

• Barber shops, spas and saloons to remain closed

• Sports complexes and stadiums can open but without spectators

• Markets can open but shops will open on odd-even basis

• 50 people to be allowed in marriage functions; 20 people can attend funerals

Click to know the full list of Delhi's lockdown 4.0 guidelines

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal Monday announced that bus service in the capital will resume but only 20 passengers will be allowed at a time. “People will be allowed to step out of their homes between 7 am to 7 pm only.”#Lockdown4.0 #ArvindKejriwal #DelhiLockdownRules pic.twitter.com/A8Hnzlm13b

— The Indian Express (@IndianExpress) May 18, 2020

Kerala on Monday reported 29 new coronavirus cases out of which 21 came from abroad and seven from other states. A health worker was infected through primary contact. No recoveries in the last 24 hours. Active cases now stand at 130.

The Kerala government Monday decided to allow public transport in a restricted manner with an increased travel fare to compensate the shortage of passengers. Here are some of the new guidelines. 

-Buses and boats can operate within a district with 50 per cent seating capacity.

-Passengers won't be allowed to stand and travel.

-Minimum ticket rates in buses hiked by 50 per cent and 70 paise per km.

-In autos, only one person allowed apart from the driver. If it's a family, 2 people allowed.

"Carpooling or car-sharing will not be allowed for aggregators. Auto-rickshaws, e-rickshaws and cycle-rickshaws will be allowed but only with one passenger. For two-wheelers, pillion rider will not be allowed. There will be no activity allowed in containment zones," Delhi CM announced.

"Private offices can open at full strength but they should try that most of the staff work from home. Markets can open but shops will open on odd-even basis. Sports complexes and stadiums can open but without spectators," Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal announced.

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal announced that buses will be operational in Delhi, but will carry maximum 20 passengers at a time. All passengers will be screened before entering. Social distancing will be maintained at bus depots.

"Barber shops, spas and salons to remain closed in Delhi for now," Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal announced. "Stepping out of homes between 7 pm to 7 am, except for essential services will be prohibited. Taxis and cabs will be allowed but only 2 passengers at a time in a car," he said.

On Monday, Meghalaya CM Conrad Sangma declared the state’s lone active COVID-19 case as ‘recovered’ after the person tested negative. "Second Retest of the lone active case (positive patient) was done again, and the test has come out negative. The patient can be declared as recovered," tweeted CM Sangma. On April 15, a Shillong doctor had tested positive — followed by 12 of his primary contacts testing positive. The state reported a total of 13 COVID-19 cases, with one death. Currently, there is no active case in Meghalaya.

Second Retest of the lone active case (positive patient) was done again, and the test has come out negative. The patient can be declared as recovered.

— Conrad Sangma (@SangmaConrad) May 18, 2020

No official night curfew in West Bengal, but people are requested not to venture out after 7 pm, says CM Mamata Banerjee. Hawkers will be allowed to reopen shops in non-containment zones in the state from May 27.

A lot is going to change for Uber customers in the coming days as India slowly eases out of the lockdown. Take a look at the graphic below before you book your next Uber ride. More details here.

Leading the charge against the government over the economic package announced to overcome the impact of the coronavirus pandemic, Congress leader P Chidambaram on Monday called it “hopelessly inadequate” while seeking a revised and comprehensive package of 10 per cent of the GDP.

“The fiscal stimulus package is hopelessly inadequate given the gravity of the economic crisis as it amounts to only Rs 1.86 crore, which is 0.91 per cent of the GDP,” the former finance minister said.

Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal will be addressing a press conference at 5.30 pm today on the COVID-19 situation in the capital. 

While fever, cough and difficulty in breathing are some of the most common symptoms of COVID-19, the disease has been known to affect different parts of the body. There have been reports that the disease may overstimulate the immune system and lead to a cytokine storm, and in some other patients, doctors noticed a swelling on their patients’ toes. Click here to read our explainer.

As the number of COVID-19 positive cases in Maharashtra crossed 33,000 as of Monday morning, the number of positive cases in Maharashtra Police reached 1,273 with 11 having lost their lives to the viral disease. According to the numbers shared by officials from the Maharashtra Police headquarters, among the 1,273 cases, 131 are officers and 1142 are constables. Of these, a total of 291 — 34 officers and 257 constables — have recovered. A majority of these cases are local police personnel from Mumbai, Thane and Malegaon or personnel of the State Reserved Police Force (SRPF) who were deployed in these high-risk areas and later repatriated to their home units. Click here to read our report.

Globally, 4.7 million people have been infected, while over 3.15 lakh casualties have been reported. The United States continues to top the charts in coronavirus infections and deaths that stand at 14,86,742 and 89,56 respectively. In terms of the death toll, it is followed by the UK (34,716), Italy (31908,315) and France (28,111).

Here's what has happened today:

*China says premature to immediately begin a COVID-19 investigation

*Vatican, Italy start return to religious normal as public Masses resume

*Indonesia reports 496 new coronavirus infections, 43 deaths

*Yemen could face 'catastrophic' food situation as pandemic worsens, says UN Food and Agriculture Organisation

*Russia's new coronavirus cases below 10,000 for the third day in a row

The All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) is finalising its plan to restore services at the hospital from this week. The plan involves equally redistributing personnel from Covid-19 centres in all departments to reallocating beds for indoor patients.

“The services are likely to start this week. Discussions on whether the services should be partially opened or in one go are going on with all the heads. Suggestions regarding limited registrations have also poured in. We are working on the plan,” said Dr DK Sharma, medical superintendent of the hospital.

Online food delivery platform Swiggy will lay off 1,100 of its employees, spanning across grades and functions across cities and its head office over the next few days, the firm’s CEO Sriharsha Majety wrote in an email to the staff on Monday. Swiggy’s decision comes close on the heels of its Gurugram-based rival Zomato asking over 500 of its employees to start looking for new jobs, as the restaurant industry stares at deep uncertainty in the aftermath of Covid19.

Easing COVID-19 induced lockdown norms further, the Karnataka government on Monday allowed all the four state transport corporation buses to operate, except in red and containment zones, from tomorrow. Private buses have also been permitted to run their services, Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa told reporters here. Only 30 people would be allowed to travel in the buses and wearing of face masks and maintaining physical distancing are mandatory, he said. Bus fares would not be increased, he added. Inter-state transport would not be allowed, except in emergency cases. Auto and taxis were also given green signal to get on to roads, but there should be only three passengers, including the driver. In maxi-cabs, the maximum number should be four passengers, including driver. Trains can operate within the State but not inter-state services till May 31.

CBSE today released revised datesheet for the remaining Class 12 examinations. It also released dates for the remaining Class 10 papers.

JUST IN: CBSE releases revised datesheet for remaining Class 12 exams @IndianExpress pic.twitter.com/rFXjxotriZ

— Ritika Chopra (@KhurafatiChopra) May 18, 2020

JUST IN: CBSE releases datesheet for remaining Class X exams for students of north-east Delhi @IndianExpress pic.twitter.com/E5FMdqeY4y

— Ritika Chopra (@KhurafatiChopra) May 18, 2020

An analysis of the train network opened for the migrants shows that of the 1000 Shramik Special trains that have run since May 1 to May 15, until over two-thirds of them, or 668, originated from Red zones and as many as 508 of them moved passengers to Green or Orange zones. In other words, an estimated 8 lakh migrants, assuming each train carried the designated 1,200 passengers, moved from Red zone “hotspots” (classified based on case load, doubling rate, extent of testing) to districts.

Most Shramik trains from Red zones, isolating migrants new challenge that have either been Covid-free for the past 28 days (Green) or are in Orange zones, which are classified as neither Green nor Red. Just 71 trains originated from locations designated as Green zones. Of these, 30 terminated in Green zones, 17 in Red zones and the rest in Orange zones.

Kashmir has recorded another COVID-19 related death on Monday, taking the total number of COVID-19 linked deaths to 14 in J&K. This is the second COVID-19 death in Kashmir in last 24 hours. Dr Salim Tak, Medical Superintendent of Srinagar’ s Chest Disease hospital in Srinagar told The Indian Express that an elderly man died on Monday morning, “A patient from South Kashmir was admitted in our hospital. He died today and he was on ventilator,” he said. “The patient had COVID-19 pneumonia.”

Officials also said that 19 more policemen have been found COVID-19 positive from district police lines(DPL) in Anantnag, South Kashmir. On Sunday, 14 policemen were found positive from DPL Anantnag. Dr. Mukhtar Ahmad Shah, Chief Medical Officer, Anantnag told The Indian Express that 19 positive cases have been reported from district police lines on Monday morning. 

At one point, South Korea had the highest number of coronavirus infections outside China. Then for weeks, the country was praised for having managed to control the spread of COVID-19. That changed last week after a new outbreak hit capital Seoul linked to the nightclub district of Itaewon.

Along with the surge in new cases, this new wave also put sharp focus on the city’s LGBTQ community, after approximately 130 new cases were traced to a coronavirus cluster related to a 29-year-old man who visited several establishments in Itaewon on May 2. South Korea’s public health authorities announced that the man, who later tested positive for COVID-19, may have come in contact with approximately 5,500 people. The identification of the man as a member of the city’s LGBTQ community, led to backlash against members of the community who already face discrimination and harassment in conservative South Korean society.

A 71-year-old cancer patient who had recently returned from Mumbai is the third COVID-19 casualty in Assam. Health Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma confirmed the news on Twitter saying that he passed away at 11:05 am at the Gauhati Medical College and Hospital “owing to respiratory distress.” “Doctors did their best,” Sarma wrote, adding that the patient had “neck cancer. ”The patient was part of the group of 150 cancer and heart patients (along with their attendants) who had arrived in Assam after a 2,700 km journey over four days from Mumbai by road on May 12. On reaching, seven from the group had tested positive on May 7. 

More than 25 Indians who landed at Indore airport last week from Kuwait in two flights have tested positive. Bhopal CMHO Dr Prabhakar Tiwari told The Indian Express that more results are awaited. The number could go up. Those who tested positive have been admitted to Chirayu Hospital in Bhopal.

Two Kuwait Airways flights carrying 120 passengers, including students and tourists, had landed at Indore airport late on Wednesday. The flights were earlier scheduled to land at Bhopal.

After being screened at Indore airport, the passengers were brought to Bhopal in buses and quarantined at EME Centre. The samples were collected in Bhopal. More than a dozen took ill on Saturday.

Chinese handset maker Oppo on Sunday suspended operations at its Noida factory till the time it completes screening of all 3,000 employees at the plant. The company had resumed the operations on Friday after it got permission from the UP government for it with around 30 per cent of employees. The company has send sample of all employees who have to join work for coronavirus testing.

India had eased its lockdown rules from May 4 and had even allowed migrant workers to travel back to their homes, a decision that has resulted in lakhs of people being on the move for the last two weeks. And though hundreds of these people have since tested positive for the virus, there was no major surge in the overall numbers. The number of new cases being reported every day more or less followed a pattern that had been set prior to the easing of the lockdown. In fact, the doubling time of cases had been consistently on the decline all this while, a good indicator of the slowdown in the spread. That seems set to change, now that even more relaxations have come into effect from Monday and a wide range of activities have been permitted. Read here

The closest and the most useful comparison for the current Covid-19-induced school closures across the world is with closures during the Ebola epidemic in West Africa in 2014. While the current pandemic and the Ebola epidemic are different in terms of scale, they were similar in how education was hit quickly and hard in the respective outbreak regions. Educationists and policymakers, especially of countries where schools have never remained closed for such extended periods, are now looking at the West Africa experience for important insights into the short- and long-term consequences of government-mandated classroom shutdowns. Read more here

Japan's economy slipped into recession for the first time in 4-1/2 years in the last quarter, putting the nation on course for its deepest postwar slump as the coronavirus crisis ravages businesses and consumers. Monday's first-quarter GDP data underlined the broadening impact of the outbreak, with exports plunging the most since the devastating March 2011 earthquake as global lockdowns and supply chain disruptions hit shipments of Japanese goods. Analysts warn of an even bleaker picture for the current quarter as consumption crumbled after the government in April requested citizens to stay home and businesses to close, intensifying the challenge for policymakers battling a once-in-a-century pandemic.

With 299 fresh cases, the infections in Delhi breached the 10,000-mark

Cases of Coronavirus in Delhi breaches 10,000 mark. 299 more cases reported in the last 24 hours. Total number of cases reported are 10,054
12 more deaths updated by the health dept. Total number of deaths reported in Delhi now stands at 160 @IndianExpress

— Astha Saxena (@Asthasaxena88) May 18, 2020

The central government petition offices in Beijing, where people come from across China to register complaints, will remain closed for the time being as a virus-control measure, state media reported Monday. As its cases have declined for weeks, China has moved to restart schools and reopen businesses and industries to revive the world's second-largest economy. However, some government offices that tend to attract large numbers of people in restricted spaces have largely remained closed. Central government petition offices are a particular concern because complainants often travel considerable distances to Beijing where they might live for weeks or months in substandard accommodations awaiting a response. Local governments often send officers to intercept petitions and forcefully return them home.

Under the new guidelines, the government has allowed inter-state movement of buses and private vehicles with the consent of the involved states. The move will greatly ease public transportation and is likely to come to immediate help of migrant labour on the roads. Karnataka, which had announced an extension of lockdown till May 19, is ready to ply buses and encourage social distancing

KSRTC ready to ply buses with safety rules. To maintain
social distancing at the Majestic bus stand in #Bengaluru, square box markings have been drawn at all passenger platforms.@IndianExpress pic.twitter.com/fGcIFgj6VS

— Express Bengaluru (@IEBengaluru) May 18, 2020

At a time when the whole world is focused on protecting itself from the novel coronavirus SARS-CoV-2, more than 20,000 people from 102 countries have enrolled on a US website to voluntarily infect themselves with the virus. It is the “human challenge” in the quest for a vaccine against the novel coronavirus disease Covid-19 — the objective is to go on to test whether a given vaccine works on any of these infected persons. Lawmakers in the US have been pushing for human challenge trials and the World Health Organization (WHO) has given the go-ahead, subject to a set of preconditions being met. How frequent are such trials, what is the objective, and what precautions are taken? We explain

On May 10, Ganpat Makwana, 67, developed cough, cold and fever. The same evening, the family that lives in Ahmedabad’s Rohit Patel Colony got him admitted to hospital. On May 13, they say, they learnt from a daily medical bulletin on patients issued by the Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation (AMC) that Makwana was coronavirus-positive. On May 14, the administration put the family under quarantine. The next morning, Makwana turned up dead at a bus stop 1 km from home.

In those five days, leading up to Makwana’s discharge from hospital hours before he was found dead, they had no information on his condition, his family says. On Sunday, Gujarat Chief Minister Vijay Rupani announced a high-level inquiry into the case.

The Home Ministry’s nod to the re-opening of sports stadiums notwithstanding, the BCCI is not thinking about organising the Indian Premier League at the moment. According to BCCI treasurer Arun Dhumal, no plan could be in place with regards to holding this year’s IPL as long as there are restrictions on international and domestic travel.

What’s the upside of re-opening of sports stadium? Will the BCCI get a window in autumn to organise the IPL if the T20 World Cup in Australia is postponed? All your IPL-related questions answered, here

It is time for us to start keeping an eye out for states’ performance in identifying clusters, enforcing guidelines and their clinical management arrangements even as we keep tab on the central response to the unfolding pandemic. Though the variable performance across states has already been visible, these are likely to get more pronounced under increased stewardship of the state governments during these relaxed norms. One may expect that states have turned wiser after the experience picked up during the last three lockdowns and will utilise this to better their performance, as more migrants shuttle between states, more cases emerge, more unforeseen challenges emerge, writes Ravish Tiwari

With over 5,000 new infections being reported in the past 24 hours, India registered it's biggest one-day spike, taking the number of confirmed cases to 96,169. The death toll also saw a jump from 2,872 to 3,029. Currently, India has 36,824 recoveries and 56,316 are active cases. Globally, 4.7 million people have been infected, while over 3.15 lakh casualties have been reported.

The Ministry of Home Affairs on Sunday issued new guidelines for the fourth phase of the lockdown that has been extended till May 31. Prohibition on all public gatherings, closure of schools, malls and restaurants, and suspension of flight and Metro services will remain in force during this phase too. However, the MHA has allowed sports complexes to open, possibly clearing the path for the resumption of the training of athletes which came to a halt in mid-March.

Lockdown 4.0 begins today: Some curbs have been eased and states have been tasked with colour-coding the zones.

Here's what's allowed and what's not

Follow LIVE updates: https://t.co/auDoRbr6Oi pic.twitter.com/y4Pe9U7jUx

— The Indian Express (@IndianExpress) May 18, 2020

Prime Minister Narendra Modi is learned to have tasked an informal group of ministers (GoM) to monitor the implementation of the economic revival package announced by him last week, sources revealed on Monday.

Government sources confided that the informal group chaired by Defence Minister Rajnath Singh comprise of top ministers of the Government, starting from Home Minister Amit Shah, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, Railways and Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal and Civil Aviation Minister Hardeep Puri. The group, in fact, sources confide is likely to start working at the earliest since the Finance Minister has already announced all the elements of the package through last week. Sources, in this context, did not rule out the possibility of meetings from today itself.

Dealing with Covid-19 and its after-effects has been a story of many challenges in Tamil Nadu even as the state, with its robust public health system, has been able to maintain one of the lowest death rates, state Health Minister C Vijayabaskar said.

In an interview with The Indian Express, the health minister, who has an MBBS degree, highlighted that the state’s fight against the coronavirus included 22 cancer patients, 15 dialysis patients, two liver failure patients and some HIV patients, who were among the COVID-19 cases that were successfully treated and discharged in the last few days.

Tamil Nadu recorded 11,224 COVID cases till Sunday, the largest number after Maharashtra. However, the state’s death rate of .67 is lower than that of Maharashtra, Gujarat and several larger states, Vijayabaskar pointed out.

At present, there is no sure-shot way of knowing what will be the final level of government spending at the end of this financial year. Most calculations suggest that — far from the promised level of 10% of the GDP — the actual government expenditure in the Atmanirbhar Bharat Abhiyan is just 1% of GDP. And we still don’t know if this 1% (of GDP) expenditure is over and above the Budgeted expenditure or will it be funded by expenditure cuts elsewhere. It is clear then that Atmanirbhar Bharat Abhiyan economic package is likely to do little for India’s economic growth in this financial year, and that is why it is being criticised, writes Udit Misra

• China reports 7 new cases: China reported seven new coronavirus cases Monday and no death in over a month. With the decline in cases, China has moved to restart schools and reopen businesses and industries. However, some government offices that tend to attract large numbers of people in restricted spaces have largely remained closed to the public.
• Canadian acrobatic jet crashes into British Columbia neighborhood: A Canadian acrobatic jet crashed into a British Columbia neighborhood Sunday during a flyover intended to boost morale during the pandemic, killing one crew member, seriously injuring another and setting a house on fire. Video appeared to show at least one person ejecting. 
• Trump wants stadiums 'loaded with people': President Donald Trump called into a charity golf tournament broadcast Sunday and promised Americans a speedy return to normalcy. `We want to get it back to where it was. We want big, big stadiums loaded with people,'' he said. ``We want to get sports back. We need sports in terms of the psyche, the psyche of our country.''
• Apple to reopen stores in US, Canada: Apple Inc. said it’s reopening more than 25 stores across the U.S. and 12 stores in Canada this week, adding to nearly 100 global locations that have reopened to customers after the novel coronavirus outbreak forced them to close. Some stores will offer only curbside or storefront service, the company added in an emailed statement.
• Brazil waits for Health Minister as cases soar: Brazil’s President Jair Bolsonaro held back from replacing his health minister Sunday. The country, with the fourth-highest caseload globally, is awaiting an announcement following Nelson Teich’s resignation Friday after 29 days on the job as health minister. He had taken over the post in April after Bolsonaro fired his predecessor amid public discord over social distancing.
• New York Guv Cumo takes a nasal test on camera: Governor Andrew Cuomo engaged in a bit of political theater during his daily briefing as he had a swab inserted in his nostril to demonstrate the ease of getting checked for the virus. “I’m not in pain, I’m not in discomfort,” he said in Albany after Dr. Elizabeth Dufort used a long stick to collect the sample. “There is no reason why you should not get the test.”

India is among the 62 countries that have moved a proposal at the World Health Assembly to “identify the zoonotic source” of the coronavirus and asked for an “impartial, independent and comprehensive evaluation” of the WHO’s response to Covid-19. China and the US are not part of the resolution. This is the first time India has taken a position in an international forum on the origin of the virus. The proposal is likely to be taken up today

After steering the first three phases of the coronavirus lockdown, the government has decentralised the fourth step by asking states to take charge of the details while implementing its guidelines for the next fortnight. At the same time, the guidelines assign greater ownership of the Covid-19 response to states. This is a marked departure from mid-April, early in Lockdown 2.0, when the Union Home Ministry forced the Kerala government to modify its guidelines that were at slight variance with the central template. Subsequently, Kerala, which has been managing the outbreak better that many other states, had to roll back its relaxation for non-AC barber shops, bookshops, plying of buses, etc.

On May 12, Ramesh Kumar, a migrant worker from Siddharthnagar district in Uttar Pradesh, received the call he had been waiting for days — his application form to travel to Lucknow had been processed and that he would be on a train home the next day. Along with nine others, the 26-year-old reached the allocated meeting point, an open ground, at Saki Naka sharp at 7 am Wednesday. Read more here

The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has distributed 1.84 crore food packets – a number that exceeds the city’s population of 1.25 crore, according to the 2011 census – in 42 days between March 30 and May 10. According to the BMC data, the civic body had started food distribution through its community kitchens set up in each of the 24 wards in the city.

The demand for food packets has seen a steady increase since March 30, when the BMC first distributed 14,540 food packets in a day. Read more here

Maharashtra recorded 2,347 new Covid-19 cases on Sunday, its highest single-day spike so far, taking the overall count to 33,053. Mumbai reported 1,595 new cases – also its highest single-day count till now. Overall, the city has reported 20,150 cases.

According to the figures released by the state government on Sunday, 63 people succumbed to the virus on Sunday, taking the overall toll to 1,198. Read more here