One of the busiest stations for trains route to North India, the Lokmanya Tilak Terminus in Mumbai, shut during the lockdown, saw heavy crowds on Tuesday.
Coronavirus India Live updates: West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has said the state will act against those involved in communal clashes during lockdown. She also said she raised several issues during video conference with Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday but gained nothing out of it as always.
A day after holding a six-hour meeting with chief ministers of different states, Prime Minister Narendra Modi will address the nation at 8 PM on Tuesday. His address comes five days ahead of the end of the third phase of lockdown on May 17.
With India reporting 3,604 coronavirus cases in the last 24 hours, the total number of infections Tuesday crossed the 70,000-mark to reach 70,756 including the 22,454 people who have been treated and discharged so far. The death toll also rose to 2,293. According to the Home Ministry, the recovery rate stands at 31.15 per cent.
Meanwhile, the Railway services starting Tuesday will run to full capacity, while leaving it up to the passengers to maintain social distancing on board, and to states to decide the protocol on arrival. More than 54,000 passengers made reservations for their train journeys within three hours after the Indian Railways opened booking on Monday. Also, sources have told The Indian Express that Aarogya Setu app is a must for people travelling by trains. Passengers who don’t have it will be asked to download even after reaching the station.
Globally, 41,781,56 people have been infected so far, with deaths exceeding 286,000. According to Johns Hopkins data, the United States continues to be the worst-affected country with 79,894 fatalities and 1,339,819 cases, followed by United Kingdom (32,140 deaths and 224,327 cases) and Italy (30,379 deaths and 219,814 cases).
Coronavirus LIVE Updates: Medics at a government hospital in New Delhi, Monday.
A woman police officer at work at Junabazaar chowk, one of the containment areas in Pune on Monday.
PM Narendra Modi has approved ex-gratia of Rs 2 lakh each to next of kin of the 16 migrant labourers run over by a goods train near Aurangabad.
To avoid spread of Covid-19 inside jails in Maharashtra, the state prison department has decided to temporarily release around 17,000 prisoners, which is around half of the pre-lockdown the population in jails in Maharashtra, the state government said on Tuesday.
A Supreme Court-mandated high powered committee (HPC) held meeting on Monday following detection of 185 positive coronavirus cases in Arthur Road Jail, which included 158 inmates and remaining staff, and one case in Byculla Jail. Based on the committee’s recommendations, the government has has increased number of prisoners who are slated to be released temporarily.
On March 26, the Maharashtra government had announced that nearly 11,000 inmates — both undertrials and convicts — would be released either on provisional bail or parole. After the process of release started on March 28, over 5,200 prisoners have been released on conditional bail. The process of release of convicts began on May 8 in which around 500 inmates have been released on emergency parole by the state prison department. The proposed number of inmates to be releases has now increased to 17,000.
Karnataka reported 63 new COVID-19 cases on Tuesday. With this, the total number of positive persons in the state has gone up to 925. It includes 31 deaths and 433 discharges.
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has said the state will act against those involved in communal clashes during lockdown. She also said she raised several issues during video conference with Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday but gained nothing out of it as always.
"Red zones will be further broken into three categories - a,b,c. Police will figure it out. No change in containment zones," she further said.
Manipur Chief Minister N Biren Singh has said that managing a large number of returnees is likely to pose another major challenge to his government as evacuation to bring back Manipuris stranded in different parts of the country begins.
An official statement of IPR department said the chief minister stated this during the video conference held on Monday held between the chief ministers of different States and with Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Singh thanked the central government and different states for taking care of stranded Manipuris and extending co-operation to make their return to the state possible, the statement said.
The first train carrying around 1,200 Manipuris from Chennai will arrive at the Jiribam railway station on Wednesday afternoon around 3:30 pm. The district authority of Jiribam has said that all necessary arrangements are in place to receive the passengers.
W Malemnganba Chenglei, deputy commissioner Jiribam said 12 screening counters have been set up at the railway station. In addition, he said around three community quarantine centres having the capacity to accommodate 600 people were also identified.
To ferry the returnees from the station to Imphal the transport department of Manipur has arranged 150 buses. While the train is yet to arrive, the state has already run into hurdle due to the mass evacuation plan.
External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar held his first virtual joint commission on Tuesday with Denmark Foreign Minister Jeppe Kofod and reviewed bilateral ties.
Jaishankar said discussions strengthened focus on clean technology, urbanisation, renewable energy, green solutions and food processing.
"Did my first virtual Joint Commission today. Couldn't be with a better counterpart - FM @JeppeKofod of #Denmark," Jaishankar tweeted. "Would encourage colleagues in other countries to follow suit."
"A productive review of our ties. Strengthened focus on cleantech, urbanisation, renewable energy, green solutions and food processing. And an even stronger political partnership," he added.
New countries from where flights will operate: France, Germany, Italy, Ireland Malaysia, Indonesia, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand Russia, Kazakhstan, Ukraine, Kyrgyzstan, Georgia, Tajikistan, Belarus Canada Australia Japan Bahrain Armenia Nepal Nigeria.
Just In: Second phase of repatriation flights will be launched from May 16 to 22. It will bring back Indians from 31 countries. 149 flights to be deployed. Bigger than first phase, where 64 flights from 12 countries are operating.
As the government arranges trains and buses to get migrant workers stranded across the country, many of them working in Tripura feels otherwise. A large group of worker from Bihar, who came to work as loaders here years back, said they are getting some work, albeit less, as lockdown restrictions are gradually lifted. They want to stay back till the pandemic is resolved. Back home, they would be jobless, penniless and helpless, they say.
Babloo Kumar Yadav, a labour sardaar or labourer handler working with several trading concerns of Agartala as loader for last 20 years. Hailing from Khagadiya district of Bihar, Babloo said he faced some problems of work due to lockdown but some government assistance was given.
“If we keep getting work, we shall stay back. 14-15 of us stay together at an accommodation provide by our employers. We are wearing masks, face covers and are maintaining social distancing. But we shall prefer to stay back till everything is alright about the coronavirus outbreak”, Babloo told indianexpress.com.
Restaurant Brands International Inc., the owner of Burger King and Tim Hortons, says the food-service industry needs to change “for the foreseeable future and possibly forever” after Covid-19.
In an open letter Tuesday, Chief Executive Officer Jose Cil said his company is preparing to welcome diners back as some governments start to reopen their economies. One option being considered is “more comfortable and reusable masks that may become part of our standard uniforms.”
Restaurant Brands is increasing its digital ordering capabilities by adding its restaurants to smartphone apps, Cil said. He also noted that the company is making unspecified improvements to its drive thrus and adding curbside pickup service. Inside restaurants, it’s making sure customers are spaced out in all locations, regardless of local regulations. (Bloomberg)
The first Shramik Special train operated by the Mysuru division left Kabakaputtur in Karnataka for Motihari in Bihar at 2.38 pm today. At least 1,428 passengers are on board. All 27 trains before this were operated by Bengaluru division.
The union government’s new guidelines on discharging asymptomatic Covid-19 patients without another round of testing is still under consideration of the Punjab government.
The state government has found that 13 of the asymptomatic patients — all pilgrims who had returned from Hazur Sahib, Nanded — are still testing positive and remain asymptomatic, after more than 10 days of treatment at the Guru Nanak Dev Hospital of Government Medical College, Amritsar.
“Very mild, mild and pre-symptomatic cases can be discharged after 10 days of symptom onset and no fever for three days. No test is required before discharge from Covid-19 care centres,” say the Union government guidelines.
Members of Madari (juggler) community have begun dance practice with their monkeys as they hope to restart their work under new lockdown relaxations.
Nepal on Tuesday reported 57 new cases of coronavirus, the highest in a single day, taking the total infections in the country to 191, the health ministry said. Nepal, which has entered the 50th day of its nationwide lockdown to contain the spread of deadly coronavirus, is among the nations that has the least number of cases of the deadly COVID-19 with no deaths.
"Among the infected, eight persons are from Kapilvastu district, nine from Rupandehi, 39 from Parsa, and one from Bara. All of them are males. This was the highest number of coronavirus cases reported in a day," PTI reported.
Nobel laureate and economist Abhijit Banerjee has said there is no certainty that India will gain in case big corporates shift their businesses from China in the wake of coronavirus pandemic.
His comments come amid reports of multinational corporations preparing the ground to shift base to nearby countries which have cheap labour — like Taiwan, Indonesia and India — due to their distrust in China for hiding the extent of the Covid-19 crisis before it engulfed most of the world.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union minister Ravi Shankar Prasad had also asked states to utilise the opportunities thrown up by the coronavirus crisis in the world to their advantage.
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has warned that a mass vaccine for the novel coronavirus may be over a year away and, in the worst-case scenario, may in fact never be found.
In his foreword to the government's new 50-page guidance on a step by step easing of the lockdown measures in place to control the spread of the deadly virus, the UK prime minister lays out plans for businesses to gradually start reopening with "COVID-19 Secure" measures of social distancing and for the public to use "good solid British common sense" as the economy is unlocked.
"A mass vaccine or treatment may be more than a year away," said Johnson, highlighting the work being done in the UK by scientists at Oxford University and Imperial College London towards this mission.
"Indeed, in a worst-case scenario, we may never find a vaccine. So our plan must countenance a situation where we are in this, together, for the long haul, even while doing all we can to avoid that outcome," he said.
Admitting that a vaccine or drug-based treatment is the only "feasible long-term solution", he said the UK has accelerated this with "promising" vaccine development programmes and a collaboration between Oxford University and pharma major AstraZeneca was a vital step that could help rapidly advance the manufacture of a COVID-19 vaccine when it is ready. (PTI)
Passengers waiting to boarding Mumbai-Delhi Rajdhani Express at Mumbai Central after being screened at entry points. 'Maintain social distancing' is announced at the station.
Businesses and industries in Gujarat's Rajkot city will be given permission to reopen from May 14, says a govt official; order will not be applicable to containment zones within the city.
The Thane Municipal Corporation on Tuesday ordered shutting down of all activities at Lokmanya-Savarkar Nagar locality, citing rise in the number of COVID-19 cases in the area in Maharashtra's Thane city.
Only milk shops and medical stores will be allowed to function in the area, the order stated.
The civic body directed the police to ensure complete lockdown in Lokmanya-Savarkar Nagar, where it was found that citizens were defying the lockdown and were not practising social distancing, an official said.
Of the 752 cases reported in Thane so far, 178 were from Lokmanya-Savarkar Nagar locality, he added. (PTI)
The day Tulu Basfor became Facebook famous, among the scores of congratulatory messages was one panicky call. “People at the market are saying you have tested positive,” came his mother’s harrowed voice from the other end. Quarantined at a hotel in Assam’s Goalpara district, Basfor hadn’t seen her in two weeks. “I am quarantined, that does not mean I am positive,” he had said, “Don’t listen to others. I am fine. You don’t take tension.” ‘Don’t take tension’ — it was something the 31-year-old Basfor had been telling himself too.