Outside Parliament House on Monday
Coronavirus India Tracker LIVE Updates: India Monday recorded the biggest single-day spike in the number of cases —1,553 cases in the last 24 hours — taking the number over 17,000. Of the 17,265 cases, 14,715 are active and 2546 are cured. At least 543 deaths have been reported in the country.
Meanwhile, as lockdown restrictions are being eased in various parts of the country, the Centre has shot a letter to the Pinarayi Vijayan-led government stating that some of its decisions including opening eateries, allowing travel are in violation to its guidelines. On the other hand, while Delhi and Punjab governments said there will be no relaxations till the lockdown ends on May 3, the K Chandrasekhar Rao government in Telangana decided to extend the complete lockdown in the state till May 7. Follow Indian Express Covid-19 tracker for latest updates
Globally, there are over 2.4 million confirmed cases with 1.65 lakh deaths. The toll in New York — one of the worst hit places — dropped, a sign Governor Cumo said means that the state is “on the other side of the plateau.” French Prime Minister Emmanuel Macron, meanwhile, warned that his compatriots will need to “learn to live with the virus” after the country lifts its lockdown. In Tel Aviv, over 2,000 Israelis hit the streets to protest anti-democratic measures passed during the coronavirus crisis and the policies of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, while maintaining social distancing.
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Patients maintaining social distance outside a private clinic in Bibvewadi in Pune. (Express Photo: Pavan Khengre)
Delhi Police at check-post to ensure people are following lockdown.
Chandigarh: Health department workers taking a door to door survey of residents after a rise in Covid-19 cases in the city, on Sunday. (Express Photo by Kamleshwar Singh)
Rajya Sabha staff wait for elevators at the secretariat, while standing in marked circles, in a bid to maintain Social Distancing. Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha secretariat resume work from today after they were shut on March 24 in the wake of the COVID19 outbreak.
As restrictions were gradually eased on Monday, some pictures from outside Parliament House
Healthcare workers from a Denver-area hospital blocked lines of cars and trucks campaigning against the state government’s stay-at-home order to curb the spread of coronavirus. Hundreds of protesters defied social distancing norms on Sunday and gathered at the Colorado State Capitol in Denver demanding lifting of the lockdown measures and reopening of nonessential businesses.
As restrictions are eased across states, Central government offices resume functioning from today. The ministers have been asked to practice social distancing
As the lockdown continues, spot-boys in the film industry are struggling to make ends meet. "Spot boys manage to get work for some 15 odd days in a month. I’d earn around Rs 18,000-20,000 per month. With the coronavirus outbreak, production houses have suspended work, and now due to the lockdown, we are stuck at home without work. It is like a break that we don’t even want and can’t afford. I don’t know how we are going to manage. I have a family of three children and a wife. Whatever little savings I had managed, are fast dwindling," Rakesh Dubey told Komal RJ Panchal
More than 2,000 Israelis took to the streets of Tel Aviv on Sunday, demonstrating against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s attempts to form an “emergency” government with his chief rival and accusing him of using the coronavirus crisis to escape prosecution on corruption charges. Demonstrators wore face masks and largely kept their distance from one another, in line with social-distancing rules, as speakers criticized Netanyahu’s possible partnership with rival Benny Gantz. Some held black flags, which have become the symbol of their campaign in recent weeks.
New Zealand will extend the lockdown measures in place to beat the coronavirus by a week, after which it will move to a lower level of restrictions, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said on Monday. "New Zealand will move out of Alert Level 4 lockdown at 11.59 p.m. on Monday April 27, one week from today," Ardern said in a news conference. "We will then hold in Alert Level 3 for two weeks, before reviewing how we are tracking again, and making further decisions at Cabinet on the 11th of May," she said.
The Union Home Ministry has taken strong objection to the Kerala government's decision to allow opening of restaurants, bus travel in cities and opening of MSME industries in municipal areas, saying it amounts to dilution of its lockdown guidelines. In a letter to the Kerala government, the home ministry said the state government on April 17 has circulated revised guidelines for lockdown measures which allowed opening of activities which are prohibited in the Centre's consolidated revised guidelines issued on April 15.
Such additional activities allowed by the government of Kerala, include opening of local workshops, barber shops, restaurants, book stores, MSMEs in municipal limits, bus travel in cities and towns for shorter distance, two passengers in the back seat of four wheeler and pillion riding on scooters. This amounts to dilution of guidelines issued by the home ministry and violation of its April 15 order issued under the Disaster Management Act 2005, the home ministry said.
Two days after a cancer hospital in Meerut put out an advertisement stating that Muslim patients would only be admitted if they, and their attendants, showed negative test results for COVID-19, an FIR has been filed against the hospital owner. Dr Amit Jain, owner of Valentis Cancer Hospital, maintained that the advertisement was not communal and alleged a “conspiracy” instead. He claimed that a “wrong message” was sent due to “typing errors or misprints”, and his objective was to “promote testing”.
India Monday registered the biggest single-day spike in the number of coronavirus cases - 1,553 cases in the last 24 hours - taking the total to 17,265, including 543 deaths, Union Health Ministry said today, adding that 36 deaths were reported in the last 24 hours. Of the 17,265 cases, 14,715 are active and 2546 are cured.
Pressure continues to grow on governments to loosen restrictions ease the economic pain of lockdowns. Still, there were occasional signs of hope: South Korea reported just eight more cases of the coronavirus on Sunday, the first time a daily increase has dropped to single digits in about two months. And in New York, the daily toll of coronavirus deaths has hit its lowest point in more than two weeks.
Planning to dine out after the lockdown ends? Well, it's going to be a different experience. Restaurants are among the hardest-hit businesses in the pandemic, and they’re one of several industries that will face major hurdles in getting customers comfortable coming back. Retailers, sports leagues and music venues are also evaluating next steps. To survive, businesses will have to make customers feel safe by spacing them out more and finding ways to minimize human contact, such as digital ordering and payment. Read more, here
Missed the newspaper? Worry not, we have you covered. Here are some major stories that you shouldn't miss reading from our paper today. You can also read our paper here (The paywall has been lifted due to the pandemic and lockdown)
Good morning, readers! Lockdown relaxation in different states of India will come into effect today. With revised guidelines for the lockdown coming into effect from Monday, several states plan to permit industrial activity, MNREGA work and government office functioning. Here is a look at what is allowed and what's not
ON Sunday, Goa Health Minister Vishwajit Rane tweeted that all patients who tested positive for COVID-19 in the state have recovered and “active number of cases in Goa now stands at 0”. The state had reported seven positive cases.
Chief Minister Pramod Sawant told the media, “I thank all doctors and nursing staff across Goa for continuously putting efforts for the recovery of seven patients. This also doesn’t mean anything is relaxed. The lockdown still continues.” As of now, test results of 46 samples are awaited and 10 people are in isolation.
From an absolute disadvantage of not having a testing facility in the state, and with no trained microbiologist for RNA extraction, the state’s preparedness, officials say “started with an absolute disadvantage”. The biggest fear, the state administration admits, came from travellers and tourists, both foreign and domestic, with the tourism season still underway. Further, with eight entry points on road — connecting it to Maharashtra and Karnataka, both states with Covid-19 cases as early as March 9, the fear loomed large. Read more
Limited economic activities will begin in half of Madhya Pradesh from Monday, but strict lockdown will be enforced in Indore, Bhopal and Ujjain. Gutka and liquor will remain out of bounds.
Announcing this, Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan Sunday said the situation in Indore and Bhopal was under control, but these two most-affected cities will see no relaxation in the lockdown.
Out of 52 districts, 26 districts in Madhya Pradesh have been affected by the Covid-19 outbreak. Twelve of them have reported double-digit positive cases, and three have reported one case each. Read more
While, the Telangana government has extended the lockdown in the state till May 7, the Kerala government on Sunday identified 88 hotspots in the state where no relaxation in lockdown guidelines would be allowed until May 3. Here's how the states are preparing for easing of lockdown
By Friday, M S Ansari (60) ran out of money. He checked his wallet a few times, looked under the pillow, tried to find some cash in old boxes in his rented house but there was no money to even buy a loaf of bread. Ansari has been an autorickshaw driver for 30 years in the capital, and lives in the rented house in East Delhi’s Mandawali with eight family members, including two teething grandchildren.
On Saturday, a photo taken by ANI of Ansari, with tears in his eyes and a mask around his face, with a caption that said that he was unable to provide for his family, went viral on Twitter. By Saturday night, AAP’s Dilip Pandey had rushed to him with dry ration — rice, dal, onions, potatoes and masala — while a group of civilians raised Rs 60,000 for him in under two hours. On Sunday, 27-year-old Ankit Gupta, who runs the handle ‘Kisse Kahaniyaan’, handed over the money to Ansari.
The family survived on stored ration at home for the first 12 days of the lockdown. Once that was over, Ansari found out about food being given to the needy outside a school in Preet Vihar, over a kilometre away from his house. “The idea of standing in a queue with utensils for free food broke my father’s heart. He was ashamed of it. He has been a hardworking man his whole life and suddenly he had to stand in a line for food. He would leave home at 6 am and return around 1 pm, with food for barely four people,” said Haleema Khatoon (29), Ansari’s daughter. Read more