Day 31 of coronavirus lockdown: Ground report from Indian cities

TIMESOFINDIA.COM | Apr 24, 2020, 13:47 IST

NEW DELHI: The number of coronavirus cases in India have crossed the 23,000 mark. 718 patients have died so far due to the coronavirus in India. Mumbai saw the biggest rise in the number of cases on Thursday with 522 people testing positive. The Delhi goverment, after initial encouraging results, have sought permission to conduct plasma therapy on all serious Covid-19 patients.

Here is a look at the latest updates on the outbreak of coronavirus from major Indian cities —

Delhi

Delhi govt to seek permission to conduct plasma therapy on all serious Covid-19 patients as the initial results have been encouraging. The four patients who went through plasma therapy have shown improvement.
Jama Masjid Mosque at Parliament Street closed ahead of the commencement of the holy month of Ramadan. Mohibullah Nadvi, Imam of the mosque says, "People should offer prayers at their homes, they should not visit mosques".
Forty six people living in the containment zone in Jahangirpuri in north district, besides seven Asha workers engaged in the area, tested positive for coronavirus on Thursday.
Delhi government has issued an order asking landlords not to demand rent for one month from migrant workers who have been devastated by the lockdown. Any landlord found violating it will be booked under Disaster Management Act, 2005.
In a major scare for healthcare workers in the capital, more than 35 doctors and nurses working at AIIMS’s gastroenterology division were asked to self-quarantine on Thursday, after it turned out that a male nurse working with them had Covid-19. Some of the patients this nurse attended to have also been tested and their results are awaited, doctors said.

Mumbai

Even as nearly 500 people have recovered from coronavirus and gone home in the city, the BMC has found only two donors to donate blood that is needed to administer the plasma therapy to critical patients.
Restaurants in Mumbai that have started deliveries are also going the extra mile to keep a skeletal staff in the kitchen, follow social distancing and hygiene practices, wear masks and gloves and regular temperature checks. To reassure customers, they are attaching a note informing them about the chef and delivery agent’s body temperatures along with a set of instructions to follow before consuming the food.
As many as 189 of the 930 containment zones in Mumbai have got off the list for tight lockdown till April 22 after they completed 14 days without a new infection since a Covid-19 case was found. Over 300 pockets continue in the strictest red zone.
Maharashtra chief minister Uddhav Thackeray and deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar on Thursday urged railway minister Piyush Goyal to provide an adequate number of trains from Mumbai and Pune, once the lockdown is lifted, to take stranded migrants to their hometowns in Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Bihar.

Chennai

With no money, scanty food, and little safety, more than 500 guest workers, including 30 women and children, crammed into tin sheds at a labour camp on Nookampalayam road in Perumbakkam are struggling to cope with the lockdown.
At least 600 tonnes of vegetables and fruits from the Koyambedu wholesale market have been delivered to customers at their doorsteps in the fortnight since the Chennai Metropolitan Development Authority launched the initiative. All the commodities were supplied at fixed prices decided in Koyambedu.
Determined to stop people, particularly motorists, coming on to the roads for frivolous reasons, police have decided to step up their crackdown and block off arterial stretches.
Even as the government decided to distribute kabasura kudineer to boost immunity of people against coronavirus in containment zones in Chennai, researchers have found that some ingredients — chukku, kirambu and nilavembu — in the herbal concoction can fight the virus.

Bengaluru

Nearly 40 days after Karnataka declared a lockdown to check the spread of coronavirus, several parts of Bengaluru — and rest of the state — were abuzz with commerce and commuters on Thursday after stringent curbs were eased for a limited number of sectors and businesses.
2 people among 121 arrested for violence against health workers in Bengaluru's Padrayanpura & lodged at Ramanagara Jail have tested positive for coronavirus. The 2 accused have now been shifted to city's Victoria Hospital. Remaining 119 accused to be shifted to Bengaluru.

Ahmedabad

Mango growers from Junagadh have got a clearance from the government to start home delivery in Ahmedabad and Gandhinagar from May 3.
Ahmedabad municipal commissioner Vijay Nehra said on Thursday that he was ready to face FIRs or even a person coming at him with a gun, but the administration will go ahead as decided in the interest of the society and Ahmedabad city.
Ahmedabad continued to record high number of Covid-19 positive cases. On Thursday, Ahmedabad district recorded 70% of the new cases or 151 out of 217 cases. The city also recorded seven deaths out of nine recorded on Thursday.
As many as 45 Covid-19 patients, who defeated the deadly novel coronavirus, were discharged at the same time from the Covid care centre (CCC) at the institute; the first such en masse discharge in Gujarat and probably India too, after the outbreak of pandemic.

Lucknow

The district administration yesterday gave conditional approval for reopening of medicine wholesale market in Aminabad from today.
In a major step that boosts testing in the fight against Covid-19, doctors at King George’s Medical University have started using Cartridge Based Nucleic Acid Amplification Test (CB NAAT) — the diagnostic technique to test drugresistant tuberculosis — for conducting Covid-19 tests.
Some prominent colleges associated to Lucknow University have relaxed rules regarding filing of forms for admissions to undergraduate and postgraduate courses. Share to Twitter.

Hyderabad

Police personnel on Covid-19 duty at Noble Chowrasta, which falls under Habeebnagar police station limits in Hyderabad, are having to endure insanitary work conditions. Overflowing drains and foul smells pose a serious health hazard to the personnel deployed near the checkpost. Despite multiple complaints by the cops to the officials concerned, no action has been taken besides a few inspections.
Realising that the lockdown has been especially tough for those who depend upon daily wages, a few students from Hyderabad have decided to lend their hand to migrant labourers and the poor for procuring essentials.
While commercial operations continue to remain suspended, Hyderabad has been witnessing regular aircraft movement — from Begumpet and Shamshabsad – with a fleet of planes either ferrying essential commodities or carrying critically ill patients, to and from Hyderabad.
House owners who demand rents from their tenants or try to forcibly evict them if rent is not paid will be jailed or fined or both. The Telangana government issued orders asking house owners to not insist on rents from their tenants for March, April and May.

Chandigarh

The UT police in the past two days sent back over 600 vehicles from Punjab and Haryana moving without any valid passes. The issue of vehicles coming from Panchkula and Mohali was discussed in the recent review meeting chai-red by UT administrator VP Singh Badnore.
Panic ruled in Panjab University (PU) after students received a message on Wednesday from a warden that the residents of girls’ hostels 8,9,10 and international hostel should move their belongings from the hostels at the earliest.

Kolkata

The Covid-19 pandemic has begun to sting senior healthcare workers and hospital administration staff where it hurts the most: their wallets. Several private hospitals in Kolkata have either enforced, or have asked senior doctors and other staff to voluntarily go for, a pay cut to offset an unprecedented dip in revenue, and to ensure regular salaries for junior staff.
The number of fresh Covid-19 cases in Bengal doubled to 58 over the past 24 hours even as 24 patients were released after recovery on Thursday taking the total number of active cases in the state to 334.