Coronavirus pandemic: Over 1,463 Covid-19 cases have been detected in the country in last 24 hours.
Coronavirus India LIVE News Updates: The death toll due to the coronavirus pandemic crossed the 900-mark to reach 934 on Tuesday while the total number of infections soared to 29,435 including the 6,868 people who have been treated and discharged so far. As many as 62 deaths and 1,543 cases have been reported in the last 24 hours.
With the nationwide lockdown due to end on May 3, states are considering a further extension of restrictions in the coronavirus hotspots as the tally continues to soar. This was part of a broad consensus that emerged in the meeting between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and chief ministers. During, the meeting, Modi said that India’s economy needs to be given importance too while fighting the virus, but cautioned that the danger is far from over.
Meanwhile, on the global front, over 3 million people have been infected from the novel coronavirus ever since its emergence in China last December, while 2,11,167 people have died. The United States continues to be the worst affected, with over 987,022 cases and over 56,144 deaths. The country has recorded 1,303 deaths in the last 24 hours. After the US, Spain reported 2,29,422 infections followed by Italy (1,99,414), France (1,62,220), Germany (1,58,142), the United Kingdom (1,54,038) and Turkey (110,130). (Click here to follow our coverage of Covid-19)
Prime Minister Narendra Modi during interaction with CMs.
The Centre is planning extension of the Covid-19 lockdown in major hotspots across the country. (Express photo/Pavan Khengre)
Of the over 2,300 people evacuated from the Nizamuddin Markaz, 1,080 had tested positive for the infection.
Coronavirus LIVE updates: The kits were to be used only for surveillance and not for diagnosis, but that too stands suspended now.
With the death of a 57-year-old male (P 422) confirmed in Kalaburagi, the death toll due to COVID-19 in #Karnataka rises to 20. "P-422, a 57-year-old male, a resident of Kalaburagi, was admitted on April 21 with a complaint of SARI, with a history of Chronic Liver Disease (CLD). Died on 27.04.2020 at designated hospital Kalaburgi," Karnataka Health ministry confirms.
As many as 522 news cases and 27 deaths reported in Maharashtra today. Total of 8,590 positive COVID-19 cases and 369 deaths have been reported in the state till date. Mortality Rate stands at 4.30 per cent: Maharashtra Health Department.
Delhi Health Minister Satyendra Jain said, "The total number of positive cases in Delhi stands at 3,108 now, of which 190 cases were reported yesterday. 877 patients have been cured, while 11 are on the ventilator. The death toll stands at 54. The doubling rate of COVID-19 in Delhi is 13 days."
Another person has recovered from COVID-19 in Palwal today. 30 of the 34 people who had tested positive have now recovered. The district has 4 active cases of coronavirus.
# States guarded on lifting lockdown: Most states on Monday indicated at the videoconference with Prime Minister Narendra Modi that they wanted the lockdown to continue in some form post-May 3, while adding that they would follow the Centre’s lead on the matter.
# Delhi Police report on migrant camps: “Fans not working and no power back-up; sanitisation of toilets rarely done; most migrants want to leave as their families cannot survive; rude behaviour of civil defence staff; food quality not good; no hand wash and sanitisers; foul smell in toilets; water supply in the toilets only between 7 am and 11 am; one soap for bathing and no detergent for washing clothes; mosquito bites.”
A car, a motorcycle and a boat — bringing food to 80 people living on a tiny island on the Yamuna is a unique challenge. On Sunday, on the menu for residents of Chilla Yamuna Khadar was puri, sabzi, halwa and a special treat for the children: chips. The food is cooked in a courtyard next to a sweet shop in Mayur Vihar Phase I, whose residents decided to send food to those on the island once a day.
# 350 recovered Tablighi members ready to donate plasma: Around 350 members of the Tablighi Jamaat, who had come to Delhi to attend its congregation in Nizamuddin Markaz last month and were subsequently diagnosed with coronavirus, have agreed to donate their plasma to treat severely ill patients in the city. So far, 25 of them have donated for plasma therapy.
Terming a report titled FORCE (Fiscal Options & Response to COVID-19 Epidemic) prepared by 50 young IRS officers as a position “contrary to current policies of government”, the Centre on Monday initiated a formal inquiry against three senior Income Tax officers.
# Trump faults China for coronavirus’ spread: US President Donald Trump said Monday that China could have stopped the coronavirus before it swept the globe and said his administration was conducting “serious investigations” into what happened.
# New Zealand reports zero domestic cases: With new cases in single figures for several days – one on Sunday – Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said the virus was “currently” eliminated. The news came hours before New Zealand moved out of its toughest level of social restrictions. Around 400,000 people returned to work after Ardern shifted the country’s alert level down a notch, loosening some of the tough movement restrictions that shut down businesses for weeks.
# Brazil emerges as next big hotspot: Brazil is emerging as potentially the next big hot spot for the coronavirus amid President Jair Bolsonaro’s insistence that it is just a “little flu” and that there is no need for the sharp restrictions that have slowed the infection’s spread in Europe and the US.
# Wuhan’s hospitals remain empty of virus patients for second day: The Chinese city of Wuhan that was the epicenter of the coronavirus pandemic again reported no new cases or deaths Tuesday and its hospitals remained empty of virus patients for a second straight day. China as a whole reported six new cases, three of them brought from overseas and three in the northeastern province of Heilongjiang, which borders Russia. No new deaths were reported nationwide and 648 current confirmed cases remained registered.
# Italy records lowest day-to-day number of new COVID cases: Italy has registered its lowest day-to-day number of new cases of Covid-19 since practically the first day the nation was put under lockdown to contain what would become one of the world’s worst outbreaks. According to data from the Italian health ministry, 1,739 cases new cases were confirmed in the 24-hour period ending Monday evening. The previous time the nation saw such a low daily number occurred on March 10, when 77 new cases were registered. Italy now has 199,414 known cases.
Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath speaks to Liz Mathew about the steps taken by the state government to contain the spread of coronavirus, protecting health workers and helping stranded migrant labourers. "UP was reeling under unemployment before 2017. But when we made efforts after forming the government, there was a lot of employment generation. The workers, who you are saying will lead to increase in unemployment, will also get employment here. There is no dearth of possibilities. There are challenges but we also have many opportunities. During lockdown itself, the government has provided direct and indirect employment to more than 1.5 lakh people through doorstep delivery. We are in a position to provide immediate employment to 15 lakh people. There is also a lot of opportunity in government construction work, MNREGA, MSME enterprises and work done through voluntary organisations. Instructions have been given to prepare an action plan for the post-lockdown period. I want to assure everyone through you that in future, no labourer in UP will have employment problems," the CM said.
They are what one might call anti-social elements — up to no good apart, but together they are a lethal combination. Meet Infodemic and Pandemic, the protagonists of a new comic strip in Assam, which aims to curb the “sea of misinformation” that is spreading in tandem with the novel coronavirus. Tora Agarwala reports.
People who have very mild symptoms of coronavirus or those pre-symptomatic can opt for home isolation if they have the requisite self-isolation facility at their residence so as to avoid contact with other family members, the Union Health ministry said. According to a new set of guidelines issued on Monday, the patient should be clinically assigned as a very mild case or pre-symptomatic case by the treating medical officer. The patient should regularly inform his health status to the district surveillance officer for further follow up by the surveillance teams. Also, the care giver and all close contacts of such cases should take Hydroxychloroquine as a preventive medication according to the protocol and as prescribed by the treating medical officer.
Just weeks after India announced a nationwide lockdown, it was time to harvest watermelon crops across the country. This past winter, Chandram Benur, a small farmer in Karnataka, had taken a loan of Rs 6,00,000 to grow watermelon in the five acres he owned in Nimbal village of Karnataka’s Indi taluk. Unable to reach the local market, the 80 tonnes of watermelon in Benur’s fields was beginning to rot. Desperate to offload the fruit and without any access to long-term cold storage, he was compelled to sell the fresh harvest at just Rs 2 per kilogram to those in his village still willing to buy the produce.
In mid-April, a Twitter account named ‘Harvesting Farmer Network’ began sharing information about distressed farmers across the country and stocks of harvested fruits and vegetables for which they were desperately searching for buyers. Interested customers were urged to directly contact farmers nearest to them and purchase produce, everything from mangoes to mushrooms, if they could make their own arrangements for transportation.
The novel coronavirus (Covid-19) has claimed at least 210, 551 lives and infected at least 3,034,801 people worldwide since its outbreak, according to a tally by John Hopkins University. The United States continued to be the worst affected, with over 960,000 cases and over 52,000 deaths. However, President Donald Trump has projected that coronavirus deaths in the United States could reach 70,000, but said original projections were much higher as he explained why voters should consider re-electing him in November. Follow all the latest world updates on COVID-19 here
Auto driver-turned-vegetable vendor Nasim Khan (52) says he is scared to set up shop at Jamshedpur’s Ghodabandhar Maidan. He says he was forced to leave the maidan five days ago by a group of men who had abused him for his religion, and alleged that his co-religionists were spreading the novel coronavirus infection. After he complained to police, Khan says, an FIR was registered. But he remains afraid that the men would retaliate. The lockdown forced Khan to try to sell vegetables for a living. Read full story here
Across the country, 1515 new cases of Coronavirus infection were discovered till reports last came in on Monday evening, taking the total number to confirmed cases to 29,362. More than 6800 of these have already recovered and discharged from hospitals. Maharashtra contributed 522 of the new cases while Gujarat had 247.
There has been a sudden dip in the number of new cases emerging from Telangana for the last few days. Among states with a large number of cases, only Kerala has added numbers at this slow pace. There were just two new cases in Telangana on Monday, which took its tally to 1003. On the previous day, there were 11 cases and before that seven cases. The state hasn’t reported any deaths in the last four days. Also, Maharashtra reported its highest single-day fatality figure of 27 on Monday, as the total number of dead across the country rose to at least 918.
Delhi Government Monday lifted the bar on veterinarians, plumbers,& electricians after reviewing COVID-19 situation in the national capital. In the order, Delhi Disaster Management Authority(DDMA) also allowed inter-state travel of health workers, lab technicians and scientists.
Health & Family Welfare Ministry has issued guidelines for home isolation of people who either have very mild COVID-19 symptoms or are in the pre-symptomatic phase. Such patients with requisite self-isolation facility at their residence will now have the option for home isolation.
New Zealanders queued for burgers, fries and coffee takeaway on Tuesday after they were freed from a month-long lockdown, which Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern credited with eliminating domestic transmission of the coronavirus. Around 400,000 people returned to work after Ardern shifted the country’s alert level down a notch, loosening some of the tough movement restrictions that shut down businesses for weeks.
On Monday, the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) put an end to the question of rapid tests when it told the states that the newly procured kits for such tests had failed quality checks and should be returned to the suppliers. This effectively brings the curtains down on a long conversation on rapid testing between the states and the ICMR, at least for the time being. A look at the tests, how the conversation started and where it stands internationally.
In a highly unpredictable time such as this, the RBI should preserve its inflation credibility. This requires making the institution of MPC more enduring, not bypassing it. Decision on monetary policy actions based on voting by committee members, provision of inflation and growth forecasts in the resolution statement, and coordination of rate-setting and liquidity management, need to be adhered to. Even in desperate times, we need to follow due processes and justify with substance the extraordinary actions so that commitment is provided as to how these actions will be unwound when necessary, writes Urjit Patel. Read the full column here
The death toll due to the coronavirus pandemic crossed the 900-mark to reach 934 on Tuesday while the total number of infections soared to 29,435 including the 6,868 people who have been treated and discharged so far.