A man at market of Sector 7, Panchkula, Haryana, during lockdown.
The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) on Friday decided to extend the nationwide lockdown, imposed to arrest the spread of coronavirus, for two more weeks starting from May 4. The lockdown which is in place since March 25, was set to end after completing 40 days on May 3. In the last 24 hours, India reported 1,913 cases of coronavirus, taking the total number in the country to 35,365 on Friday, including 1,152 deaths, the Union Health Ministry said. Maharashtra recorded the highest single-day spike in the number of infections with 1,008 new cases taking tally to 11,506.
Meanwhile, the Centre divided districts in the country into ‘red’, ‘orange’ and ‘green’ zones as per the doubling rate and number of cases. At least 130 districts are in the red zone, 284 in orange and 319 in green. Metropolitan cities like Mumbai, Delhi, Kolkata, Hyderabad, Pune, Bengaluru, Chennai and Ahmedabad are in the red zone. The government said it could be possible to relax restrictions in red and orange zones. (Here is the full list)
It also issued an order allowing movement of stranded migrant workers, pilgrims, tourists, students and others by special trains operated by the Railways Ministry. The first such train carrying about 1,000 migrant labourers left Telangana’s Lingampally at 6 am this morning and reached Hatia in Jharkhand at 11 pm. At least 1,000 workers will leave Aluva in Kerala this evening and head for Bhuvaneshwar in Odisha.
Meanwhile, on the global front, the coronavirus has claimed at least over 233,000 lives and infected over 3.2 million people, according to a tally by John Hopkins University. The United States continues to be the worst-hit, with over 10,00,000 cases and 61,000 deaths.
Authorities across states have begun preparations to help lakhs of migrant workers.
As many as 8,372 have recovered from Covid-19 so far.
The government on Friday decided to extend the nationwide lockdown for two weeks till May 18. The decision was taken after it noticed “significant gains in the Covid-19 situation” due to restrictions imposed since March 24. The announcement was made hours after the Centre categorised districts in the country into ‘red’, ‘orange’ and ‘green’ zones according to the number of cases and doubling rate. Restrictions will be eased as per the zones. Here'swhat else happened during the day.
Over 1,000 migrant labourers who left Telangana’s Lingampally this morning by special trains operated by the Railways Ministry have now reached Hatia in Jharkhand.
The Ministry of Home Affairs extended the nationwide lockdown in the wake of Covid-19 for two more weeks starting May 4, laying down fresh guidelines regarding what to do and what not. It has put forward a list of activities that will be permitted and sectors that would remain operational in all the — in which the states have been divided into depending on the number of cases reported from respective places. MHA also made Aarogya Setu App mandatory for all employees of both private and public sector offices, apart from a host of other safety rules for them to abide by. Click here for more details.
While Haryana’s two districts of Sonipat and Faridabad were declared red zones by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare in its weekly list on red, orange and green zones issued on Thursday, Jhajjar district has fast emerged on top with maximum COVID cases. Till five days ago, Jhajjar district was in green zone and had not reported any COVID case since March 4.
With the sudden surge in COVID cases in districts bordering Delhi due to which Haryana has shut its four borders in Gurugram, Sonipat, Faridabad and Jhajjar, state’s Home Minister Anil Vij told The Indian Express that “nobody shall be allowed to enter Haryana without a COVID test. Be it people carrying essential services or those with lockdown passes, unless a person tests negative on the state’s border, he/she will not be allowed entry into Haryana”. Read more
The Union Health Ministry has issued a revised list of districts under red, orange and green zones on Friday. A total of 130 districts across the country have been placed under the red zone, while 284 and 319 districts have been identified as orange and green zones, respectively.
In Karnataka, the Central government has identified three districts as red zones, 13 districts as orange zones, and 14 districts as green zones. This revised classification is based on the incidence of cases, doubling rate, the extent of testing and surveillance feedback.
Here’s the full list of red/orange/green districts in Karnataka for the week after May 3
The first batch of 332 migrant workers board 'Shramik Special' from Nashik on their way to Bhopal. All of them were put up in shelter homes after being caught traveling in tempos or foot trying to head back home.
1,008 new coronavirus cases detected in Maharashtra on Friday, highest in single day, taking tally to 11,506. With 26 deaths, death toll rises to 485: state health department.
Despite the extension of India's lockdown by two weeks, Barclays keeps its GDP projection of 0.0 pre cent GDP growth for CY2020, and 0.8 per cent for FY2020-2021 (April 2020 to March 2021). "Right from the beginning of the lockdown, we have maintained that India’s lockdown is likely to be longer than announced, and we remain comfortable that the lockdown may continue on a partial basis until June 6, as part of the precaution in containing the outbreak. We had also factored in a shift to a partial lockdown scenario from end-April in our last GDP forecast change, which appears to be broadly playing out," it said.
Delhi government has canceled its order regarding the shortage of staff in the non-COVID hospitals due to infection of doctors and staff.
This 12-year-old girl is happy to go back home but she is going to miss some of the new friends she made during her 14-day stay at the isolation ward for coronavirus patients at Symbiosis Hospital. On Friday, the girl, along with 31 others, was discharged from the hospital after recovering from COVID-19
At Symbiosis Hospital, a total of 100 persons have recovered from COVID-19 so far, including a six-month-old boy and 92-year-old woman. “My father had left earlier and I was staying here with my cousin. We made some new friends and used to watch TV for some time. We also played some games,” said the 12-year-old. Read the full story here
As the Ministry of Home Affairs extended the nationwide lockdown for two more weeks starting May 4, laid down fresh guidelines regarding what to do and what not. It has put forward a list of activities that will be permitted and sectors that would remain operational in all the three zones — Red, Orange and Green — in which the states have been divided into depending on the number of cases reported from respective places. MHA also made Aarogya Setu App mandatory for all employees of both private and public sector offices, apart a host of other safety rules for them to abide by. Click here to know what all guidelines workplaces will have to follow
A police officer was injured after a team he was leading was pelted with stones at a village in Assam’s Lakhimpur district Thursday night, officials said. Lakhimpur Superintendent of Police Rajveer told The Indian Express that the in-charge of the local police outpost had got an input that a group of 20-25 persons were offering prayers at a mosque in Dakkhin Pandhowa village, breaking lockdown orders.
The entry and exits will be sealed from Saturday morning, and essential services will be permitted movement only subject to several conditions, including downloading of Aarogya Setu app. The administration has ordered that non-Panchkula residents whose jobs require every day travel to the district will have to be accommodated in the district itself by their managements. The Panchkula residents working in places outside the territory of Panchkula district would have to make similar accommodation arrangements with their management, as per the order from the Panchkula administration.
The Pandit Dindayal Upadhyay Hospital of Rajkot, popularly known as Rajkot civil hospital will soon have facilities to give blood plasma treatment to COVID-19 patients as the Central Licence Approving Authority (CLAA) of the Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation gave its approval to the hospital for separating blood components by apheresis procedure in the blood bank of the hospital. Dr Manish Mehta, medical superintendent of PDU Medical College said the hospital already had necessary equipment for separation of blood components, including plasma through apheresis procedure. "We have two plasma apheresis machines in dialysis unit and one in our blood bank. Now, we have got approval for separating blood components, including plasma. We were trying for the last one week to get this approval so that COVID-19 patients can be given this therapy. But two days ago, Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) issued a circular two days ago stating plasma therapy trials are ongoing and that such treatment should be given only after results of the trial are successful. We expect that these results may take around a week or 10 days before we could start treatment," said Dr Mehta.
In 2008, Ravi Mokashi Punekar, a professor at IIT-Guwahati’s design department created a range of hospital furniture prototypes made from bamboo. For some reason, the project did not take off then. Now in 2020 — as the world battles the COVID-19 pandemic — the professor and his team have decided to bring back the project. Punekar’s idea draws from the fact that Northeast India has a rich diversity of bamboo species, with unparalleled reserves of the material. But for long, its potential has been largely untapped.
Two senior government doctors of Moreh Hospital, who were posted at the Indo-Myanmar border following the COVID-19 outbreak, were suspended for failing to report to duty. The doctors have been identified as Bharat Singh (specialist, Bio-chemistry) and Dr. Ph. Angkhong Rongmei (specialist, surgery).
National guidelines for work places:
National guidelines for Covid-19 management, as issued by the MHA:
All activities are permitted in green zones except the following:
However buses can operate with upto 50 per cent seating capacity and bus depots can operate with upto 50 per cent capacity.
The government has allowed all activities permitted in red zones (listed in the subsequent update) in Orange Zones, and the following activities: