Starting today the Indian Railway services will run to full capacity nearly 2 months after it suspended its services while leaving it up to the passengers to maintain social distancing on board. (Express Photo by Nirmal Harindran)
Coronavirus India Updates: Fifty days into the nationwide lockdown, the death toll due to COVID-19 rose to 2,293 and the number of cases climbed to 70,756 Tuesday, registering an increase of 87 fatalities and 3,604 cases in the last 24 hours since Monday, according to the Union health ministry. With over 22,400 recoveries, the recovery rate stands at “around 31.73%”, a senior health ministry official said.
During the fifth meeting of Prime Minister Narendra Modi with chief ministers, most states on Monday demanded further easing to resume economic activities but were undecided about completely lifting the lockdown post May 17. While some states sought the authority to decide zoning of districts into red, orange and green categories, some wanted more flexibility to modify lockdown guidelines within their jurisdiction.
Meanwhile, at the daily briefing, Health Ministry Joint Secretary Lav Agarwal Monday reiterated that India had not reached the stage of community transmission.“Our policy has been to implement containment strategies with extra stringency wherever more cases are detected. Some clusters have been found, and in some cases, in some particular locations, relatively large outbreaks have also been noticed,” he said.
Arvind Kejriwal invites public suggestion to prepare post-lockdown strategy
Underlining the importance of safeguarding public health and the economy, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal Tuesday sought suggestions from people on charting out the roadmap to ease restrictions and offer relaxations in the national capital after May 17 when the third phase of lockdown ends.
“On one hand we will have to protect ourselves from Corona, take care of our health, on the other hand we also need to protect the health of our economy.” Kejriwal said.
Kejriwal, who has been advocating greater relaxations to boost the economy, said the Delhi government will draft its proposal, which will have to be shared with the Union government by May 15, based on inputs from people and experts.
“On one hand we will have to protect ourselves from Corona, take care of our health, on the other hand we also need to protect the health of our economy. Because a lot of people are facing difficulties due to the lockdown,” Kejriwal said, a day after proposing that economic activities be resumed across Delhi, barring its containment zones.
How the 5th PM-CMs meet panned out
In his 5th meeting with chief ministers, the prime minister stressed on teamwork, compassion and statesmanship while dealing with the crisis and asked chief ministers to share a broad strategy on how they would want to deal with the lockdown regime in their particular states by May 15
At least 4 states — Maharashtra, Punjab, Telangana and West Bengal advocated the further extension of lockdown. States including Chhattisgarh, Karnataka, Andhra, Bihar and Tamil Nadu had reservations on allowing inter-state transport through rail and air.
Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh stressed that the authority to zone districts into red, orange and green categories be delegated to states with even the BJP-ruled Haryana backing it.
Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said categorisation of red zones should be done on the basis of containment zones.
Karnataka Chief Minister B S Yeddyurappa wanted to do away with the district-wise red, orange and green zones, and appealed for having only strictly cordoned containment zones.
Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot told the Prime Minister that while states followed the Centre mandated lockdown “with all their willpower”, they should now get the right to decide the zones and restrictions in the next phase.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi hinted at a gradual lockdown withdrawal and highlighted the importance of maintaining social distancing as the only weapon in the fight against coronavirus and to overcome the two-fold challenge to check the virus spread and to increase public activity.”I am of the firm view that the measures needed in the first phase of lockdown were not needed during the 2nd phase and similarly the measures needed in the 3rd Phase are not needed in the fourth,” he said.
PM non-committal on helping states tide over fiscal woes: Puducherry CM
Puducherry Chief Minister V Narayanasamy Monday claimed Prime Minister Narendra Modi was non-committal on fiscal assistance to states despite them apprising him of the fiscal sufferings during his video conference.
Puducherry CM V Narayanasamy speaks during the special Assembly session on Wednesday. (Source: Twitter/@VNarayanasami)
Therefore, there was no other option for Puducherry except to borrow from the Reserve Bank of India to tide over the current fiscal crisis, he told reporters here on Monday night after participating in the video conference of chief ministers with Modi.
He said the situation prevails even after he brought to the PM’s attention the fall in the revenue due to closure of all business establishments, liquor shops and industrial units since the COVID-19 lockdown began in March. He said salaries were paid to Puucherry government staff for March and April. But the present situation was grim and hence a way out should be found.
Health Ministry to carry out pool testing in all districts as part of nationwide surveillance plan
The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare Monday decided to carry out pooled testing in all districts – including those which have not reported any case so far – as part of its nationwide surveillance plan.
According to the Health Ministry’s data, 216 districts had not reported any case till last week. The ministry plans to include such districts in its countrywide surveillance, which will be carried out in 10 health facilities (6 public, 4 private) in each district.
Both high-risk (healthcare workers) and low-risk (non-ILI Out Patient Department patients and pregnant women) groups will be selected. According to the plan, 100 samples will be collected from high-risk groups and 50 each from the two groups of low-risk population each week.
This comes after the ministry revised home isolation guidelines, stating that there is no need for testing after the home isolation period is over.
Aarogya Setu data only for health needs, to be deleted in 180 days
The Aarogya Setu Data Access and Knowledge Sharing Protocol released on Monday by the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) states that the personal data of the app’s user, which includes contacts and location, must be permanently deleted after 180 days “from the date on which it is collected”, and data can only be used for health purposes.
The new protocol also allows an individual to request for deleting demographic data, which must be abided by in 30 days. (Express Photo: Sneha Saha)
“NIC (National Informatics Centre) shall collect only such response data as is necessary and proportionate to formulate or implement appropriate health responses. Further, such data shall be used strictly for the purpose of formulating or implementing appropriate health responses and constantly improving such responses,” said The MeitY statement.
Meanwhile, former Supreme Court Judge B N Srikrishna, who chaired the committee that came out with the first draft of the Personal Data Protection Bill, termed the government’s push mandating the use of Aarogya Setu app “utterly illegal”.
The Aarogya Setu App became mandatory for private and public sector offices on 1 May by the Ministry of Home Affairs.
Railways to resume their services starting today
Starting today, the Indian Railway services will run to full capacity nearly 2 months after it suspended its services, leaving it up to the passengers to maintain social distancing on board, and to states to decide the protocol on arrival.
On Monday, the Home Ministry issued a standard operating procedure (SOP) for the movement of people by trains and made it clear that only asymptomatic and confirmed ticket holders will be allowed to travel. Passengers have to reach 90 mins in advance in stations to board the trains.
Within 20 minutes of the bookings opening Monday, the Howrah-New Delhi train was sold out. In no time at all, it was fully booked for the next five days. The same was the story with the Mumbai-New Delhi route.
Meanwhile, Joint Secretary of Health Ministry Luv Agarwal expressed concerns on the possibility of infection spreading in AC trains. “Centralised AC can be used, but there is a need to monitor the flow of air. If there is any aerosol-induced spread risk, we can travel without AC too,” Agarwal said.
Start Mumbai local trains for those working in essential services, Uddhav tells PM Modi
Stating that the inter-ministerial central teams that had visited Mumbai and Pune had given useful suggestions, Uddhav assured the PM of his government’s cooperation at the virtual meeting on Monday.(Express file photo)
Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray Monday requested Prime Minister Narendra Modi to start Mumbai suburban railway services for people employed in the essential services industry and also asked the deployment of Central forces in order to give the state police some relief.
A statement issued by the Chief Minister’s Office quoted Uddhav as saying: “The suburban railway services should be started and it should be only for the employees working in the essential sectors. They can be allowed to board locals after checking their identity cards.”
Stating that the inter-ministerial central teams that had visited Mumbai and Pune had given useful suggestions, Uddhav assured the PM of his government’s cooperation at the virtual meeting on Monday.
Migrant protests continue
Migrants from Jaipur’s Shastri Nagar stranded due to the coronavirus lockdown hit the streets Monday protesting about no means to go home and lack of ration. After they were dispersed by police, several protesters claimed that they were beaten up; the authorities, however, maintained that no force was used.
At Shastri Nagar in Jaipur Monday. The migrants, who clashed with police, belong to Uttar Pradesh, Bihar. (Photo: Rohit Jain Paras)
Tamil Nadu becomes the third worst affected, numbers continue to rise
With almost 800 new cases on Monday, its highest-ever single day increase, Tamil Nadu has now overtaken Delhi as the state with the third biggest caseload of novel Coronavirus in the country with 8002 confirmed infections.
Read| Coronavirus numbers explained: Tamil Nadu heads north
Only Maharashtra and Gujarat now have more confirmed cases than Tamil Nadu, which has seen its numbers rise rapidly in the last few days, especially after the discovery of the Koyambedu market cluster in Chennai which has so far contributed more than 2,000 cases.