India has confirmed 12,380 cases of the novel coronavirus of which 10,477 were currently under treatment, the Union health ministry’s update on Thursday said.
The ministry said death toll had reached 414 while 1,488 people had recovered from the infection so far.
What you need to know today:
1. Pizza delivery agent tests positive in South Delhi
A 19-year-old pizza delivery agent has tested positive for the novel coronavirus in south Delhi, NDTV reported.
The man had delivered pizzas till April 12 and had delivered to 72 families in south Delhi areas like Hauz Khas, Malviya Nagar and Savitri Nagar, the report said.
“All these customers have already been contacted by government authorities,” Zomato said
The restaurant has been shut down, it said.
2. Delhi govt has arranged shelted for people living under bridge at Yamuna Ghat, says Kejriwal
Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said his government has ordered shifting of the people living in the open at the Yamuna Ghat and arrangements have been made to provide them food and shelter.
The move follows report by Scroll which said hundreds of daily wage and migrant workers were living on the banks of Yamuna after three shelters had been set ablaze on Saturday.
Several workers told Scroll that no food had not been served by the authorities since Saturday – until Tuesday afternoon.
3. Govt criticises USCIRF’s response to report on segregation of Covid wards in Ahmedabad hospital
The External Affairs Ministry criticised the US Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) and denied a report that COVID-19 patients in a hospital in Ahmedabad were being segregated on the basis of their religious identities, calling it “misguided”.
The USCIRF had on Wednesday expressed concerns over the way India is fighting the coronavirus pandemic following Indian Express’s report on the government-run hospital in Ahmedabad.
MEA Spokesperson Anurag Srivastava said: “As if its peremptory commentary on religious freedom in India is not enough, the USCIRF is now spreading misguided reports on the professional medical protocols followed to deal with spread of COVID-19 in India.”
Srivastava said the USCIRF “must stop adding religious colour to our national goal of fighting the pandemic and distract from larger efforts”.
4. Assam says it’s the first state to procure PPE kits from China
Assam received a shipment of 50,000 PPE kits from China on Wednesday night.
“The Indian government as well as many countries across the world have been procuring PPE kits from China. We are the first state government to import the kits directly from China. Even the US is procuring from China,” the state’s health minister Himanta Biswa Sarma told NDTV.
5. Noida man shot at for coughing during ludo game, says police
A 25-year-old man in Greater Noida was shot during a ludo game by a fellow villager who accused him of “trying to spread the disease”, according to police.
The incident occurred around 9 pm on Tuesday in Dayanagar village under Jarcha police station, where four people, including the man who received gunshot injuries, were playing the board game.
The injured man, Prashant Singh who goes by the name Pravesh, was hospitalised, and is now out of danger, while the accused, Jai Veer Singh also known as Gullu (30), is yet to be arrested, the police told PTI.
6. Tablighi Jamaat leader booked for culpable homicide
Tablighi Jamaat leader Maulana Saad Kandhalvi has been booked for culpable homicide after some of the attendees of the religious congregation died due to coronavirus, Delhi Police said.
Kandhalvi had organised the religious gathering at Nizamuddin Markaz last month. An FIR was registered against the cleric on March 31 at Crime Branch police station on a complaint of the Station House Officer of Nizamuddin. He was earlier booked for holding the event, police said.
After several attendees of the Tablighi Jamaat event succumbed to coronavirus, we added IPC section 304 (culpable homicide not amounting to murder) in the FIR against the leader, a police official told PTI.