Migrant workers were brought in a special bus at Nashik Road railway station on Friday. (Express photo/Prashant Nadkar)
Coronavirus India Updates: Following the Centre’s nod, the Railways on Saturday rolled out more ‘Shramik (worker) Special’ trains to ferry migrants labourers, pilgrims, tourists and others stranded across the country amidst the lockdown to their home states. While six trains were allowed to transport stranded people, a train carrying 847 stranded migrant labourers left for Lucknow from Nashik in Maharashtra on Saturday morning. Two trains are scheduled to start from Kerala today, while Gujarat will send two trains from Ahmedabad to Uttar Pradesh and one train from Surat to Odisha.
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With nearly 2,000 fresh cases since Friday evening, the Covid-19 tally in India soared to 37,336 with as many 1,218 fatalities on Saturday. The number of active Covid-19 cases stood at 26,167 and as many as 9,950 persons have recovered, the Health Ministry announced. The total cases include 111 foreign nationals. Of the 1,218 deaths, Maharashtra tops the tally with 485 fatalities, followed by Gujarat at 236, Madhya Pradesh at 145, Rajasthan at 62, Delhi at 61, Uttar Pradesh at 42 and West Bengal and Andhra Pradesh at 33 each.
Here is a look at other top Covid-19 developments in India today:
PM Modi meets FM for 2nd economic stimulus package
Prime Minister Narendra Modi today held a series of meetings with key ministers, including Home Minister Amit Shah and Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, and officials of economic ministries to firm up the second stimulus package for sectors impacted by lockdown to curb spread of coronavirus, news agency PTI reported quoting its sources.
The Prime Minister also held discussions with Shah and Sitharaman and would have follow up meetings with ministers of key economic ministries such as Micro, Small & Medium Enterprises (MSME), the news agency reported.
To mitigate hardships faced by the bottom of the pyramid, the government in late March had announced a Rs 1.7 lakh crore stimulus package comprising free foodgrains and cooking gas to poor and cash doles to poor women and elderly.
Earlier today, PM Modi also held a telephonic conversation with Thailand Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha and discussed the challenges posed by the pandemic. Taking to Twitter, Modi said, “As neighbours with deep-rooted historical and cultural links, India and Thailand will work together to deal with the multifarious challenges posed by this present crisis.”
Discussed issues related to COVID-19 pandemic with good friend @prayutofficial. As neighbours with deep-rooted historical and cultural links, India and Thailand will work together to deal with the multifarious challenges posed by this present crisis.
— Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) May 2, 2020
Orange zones: Taxis/ cab aggregators, inter-district movement now allowed
The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) Saturday issued a notification permitting taxis and cab aggregators to ply in orange zones, with one driver and two passengers. It also said inter-district movement of individuals and vehicles, only for permitted activities, and with maximum two passengers besides the driver in four wheeler vehicles, would be allowed.
These activities were not allowed in the initial guidelines announced by the government the previous day for the third phase of lockdown from May 4.
Clarification regarding Movement of Persons and Vehicles in #OrangeZones during two weeks #lockdownextension, with effect from May 4, 2020.#COVID2019#IndiaFightsCoronavirus
Press Release 👇https://t.co/SMYOO9fNeZ pic.twitter.com/eOOtfHVNTi
— Spokesperson, Ministry of Home Affairs (@PIBHomeAffairs) May 2, 2020
The MHA said inter-district and intra-district plying of buses would remain prohibited in orange zones.
Special train with 847 migrants leaves for Lucknow from Nashik
A special train with 847 stranded migrant labourers left for Lucknow from Nashik in Maharashtra this morning, the Central Railway said. “As many as 847 passengers boarded the train following all norms of social distancing. The special train has 17 coaches,” he added.
Out of the two Shramik special trains planned from Nashik on May 1, the CR operated only one train for Bhopal. The train carrying 300 migrants had left on Friday night and reached Bhopal on Saturday morning. The train for Lucknow was also supposed to run last night, but due to some issues its departure was postponed, the official said.
Migrant workers form a queue at Bhartiya Kamla Nagar in Wadala to collect the application form to return to their native place on Saturday. (Express photo/Prashant Nadkar)
Maharashtra: 1,000 migrant labourers hit streets, demand return home
At least 1,000 migrant labourers, mostly from northern parts of India, took to the streets in Chandrapur on Saturday morning to demand that arrangements be made for their return home, police said.
“More than 1,000 labourers, mostly staying at a construction site in a government medical college, hit the streets and demanded that arrangement be made for their movement to their home states. They tried to block the highway and started walking towards the railway station,” he said.
“The labourers want to go back to their hometowns in Uttar Pradesh and Bihar. Some of them are from West Bengal. They said they have been facing hardships due to the lockdown as their source of income has stopped,” the official said. The situation was brought under control after personnel from the Ramnagar Police Station arrived at the spot.
Pune Police punish lockdown violators on Friday. (Express photo/Arul Horizon)
12-day-old baby girl recovers from Covid-19 in Bhopal
A 12-day-old baby girl, who had tested positive for the virus, was discharged in Bhopal on Friday, an official said on Saturday. The infant, whose sample was taken for testing when she was only nine days old, returned home on Friday night after recovering from the deadly infection, a district official said.
According to the child’s father, the baby, who was born on April 7 at the government-run Sultania Janana Hospital, allegedly contracted the infection from a woman health worker, who was on duty during the birth, and had later tested positive.
“My daughter has recovered and returned home last night. We have named her ‘Prakriti’ (nature), because she won the battle against the pandemic,” he told PTI on Saturday.
An old man waits to open his grocery shop as the local administration has allowed business for a few hours in Kolkata on Saturday. (Express photo/Shashi Ghosh)
Cop dies when van escorting Telangana returnee migrants bus overturns
A Telangana cop died and four security personnel were injured after their van overturned in Ramgarh district while they were escorting a bus carrying migrant workers from Hatia to Chatra in the wee hours of Saturday, police said.
Ramgarh Superintendent of Police, Prabhat Kumar, told PTI that another escort van was immediately provided as the bus continued its onward journey.
The accident occurred along National Highway-33 under Ramgarh town police station. The cop, Dinesh Kumar, died on the spot.
Migrant labourers arrive at Thiruvananthapuram Central Railway Station on Saturday.
Thermal camera with face detection tech for fever screening procured in Kerala
The first Thermal and Optical Imaging camera with Artificial Intelligence-powered face detection technology for fever screening was procured for Thiruvanthapuram by former Union Minister Shashi Tharoor.
The Lok Sabha MP from Thiruvananthapuram said it was brought to his notice that a Thermal imaging camera with face detection technology was urgently needed in the district to scan from a safe distance and isolate those potentially having fever. Using his MPLADS fund, Tharoor procured the equipment.
Taking to Facebook, the Congress leader said the Thermal camera was procured from Amsterdam due to its unavailablity in Asia and brought to India using multiple flight connections covering Cologne, Paris, Leipzig, Brussels, Bahrain and Dubai before finally reaching Bengaluru, from where it was shipped to Kerala, Tharoor said in a Facebook Post.
Maharashtra: 20 people from Nanded gurdwara test positive for Covid-19
Twenty persons currently residing in Gurdwara Langar Sahib at Nanded in Maharashtra have tested coronavirus positive, an official said on Saturday. Swabs of total 97 people residing in the gurdwara had been collected for testing. Of them 20 have tested positive for the infection, civil surgeon Dr Neelkanth Bhosikar said. “They have been admitted to NRI Bhawan COVID Care Centre in Nanded city,” he said. Their samples had been collected on April 30 and May 1, he said. Twenty-five of them have tested negative, while the reports of 41 others are awaited. Reports of 11 others are undecided, Bhosikar said in a statement.
Migrant workers on their way to their native place walk along the Mumbai-Agra National highway on Saturday. (Express photo/Prashant Nadkar)
All Maharashtra citizens will get free health cover: Health Minister
Maharashtra Health Minister Rajesh Tope has said that all citizens will be covered under the state government’s health scheme, and Maharashtra will be the first state to provide free and cashless insurance protection to its people.
On Friday, Tope said 85 per cent of the state’s population was covered under the Mahatma Jyotiba Phule Jan Arogya Yojana (MJPJAY) at present and the cover will be extended to the remining 15 per cent.
“The government has signed a MoU with the General Insurance Public Sector Association (GIPSA) for treatment of COVID-19 patients at private hospitals in Pune and Mumbai,” he said.