A slew of COVID-19 related announcements were made on Wednesday, aimed at the revival of India's economy. Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced a ₹3 lakh crore stimulus package for MSMEs, and the Prime Minister’s Office announced that the PM CARES fund will allocate ₹3,100 crore to COVID-19 relief, including funds for ventilators, migrant workers and vaccine development.
The Hindu has brought out a multi-language e-book on essential COVID-19 information, in addition to covering the developments related to the coronavirus pandemic as it unfolded. Here is a collection of our daily cartoons on COVID-19.
Here are answers from experts on your queries about the virus, a list of State Helpline numbers, a State-wise tracker for COVID-19 cases, deaths and testing, and a map of confirmed cases in India.
Here are the latest updates:
Seven new COVID-19 cases in Goa
Samples of seven suspected COVID-19 patients in Goa have tested positive for the disease, state Health Minister Vishwajit Rane said on Thursday.
Goa was earlier declared a green zone by the Union government as there was not a single active COVID-19 case since May 1.
The results came out positive during the TrueNat test (rapid test) conducted on the samples.
The seven people, including three females, have been shifted to a hospital dedicated for the treatment of COVID-19 patients, Mr. Rane said. - PTI
’Work from home’ to be new normal for govt offices post lockdown: Personnel Ministry
Asserting that central government employees may have to work with staggered attendance and variable working hours, the Personnel Ministry has come out with a draft framework for ‘work for home’ for the staff post-lockdown.
The Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) may provide option for work from home to the eligible officers/staff for 15 days in a year as a matter of policy, it said.
There are 48.34 lakh central government employees. - PTI
Rajasthan records another COVID-19 death
The death toll due to coronavirus infection rose to 122 in Rajasthan, with one more person succumbing to the virus on Thursday. The state has also recorded 66 fresh coronavirus cases, taking the virus tally to 4,394.
A total of 4,395 cases of the virus have been reported in the state so far. Apart from these, 177 migrants who travelled from other states have also been tested positive.
The state has 1,697 active cases. - PTI
Coronavirus cases in Himachal climb to 70
A 30-year-old woman and her 7-year-old daughter have tested positive for COVID-19 in Himachal Pradesh’s Sirmaur district, taking the total number of cases in the state to 70, a state health official said on Thursday.
The two had returned from Delhi on May 4. Both of them were asymptomatic.
With this, the number of positive cases in Sirmaur district has risen to four. Two people have been cured in the district.
The total number of COVID-19 cases in the state has now climbed to 70 and three people have died due to the virus so far. - PTI
Passengers with coronavirus symptoms won't be allowed to travel in trains
Passengers with COVID-19 symptoms won't be allowed to board trains, the Railways has announced.
According to the guidelines issued by the Ministry of Home Affairs, all passengers shall be compulsorily screened and only asymptomatic passengers shall be allowed to enter/board trains.
“If, during screening, a passenger has very high temperature/symptoms of COVID-19 etc., he shall not be allowed to travel despite having confirmed tickets. In such case full refund shall be provided to the passenger,” the order stated.
On a group ticket if one passenger is found unfit to travel and all other passengers on the same PNR also do not want to travel, in that case full refund shall be granted for all passengers. - PTI
All tickets booked for regular passenger trains for travel on or before June 30 stands cancelled, Indian Railways has announced.
Shramik trains for migrants and special trains will however continue.
Passengers with tickets of regular trains which have been cancelled till June 30 will get full refund.
73 new cases in Odisha
As many as 73 new COVID-19 positive cases have been detected in Odisha on Thursday, taking the State’s total to 611, according to the State Health Department
Of the total, 143 have recovered and three people have died so far.
Fifty of the new cases, including 42 in Ganjam district, were Surat returnees, while 20 had returned from West Bengal. One had returned from Karnataka. Two cases were detected in a containment zone, officials said. - Prafulla Das
Over 3,700 new cases in India in the past 24 hours: Health Ministry
India has registered 3,722 new COVID-19 positive cases and 134 deaths in the past 24 hours, according to an update from the Union Health Ministry on Thursday.
With this, the total number of cases in the country is now 78,003, according to Union Ministry data. Of this, 49,219 are active cases. As many as 2,549 people have succumbed to the infection while 20,916 people have been cured.
Tamil nadu’s tally past 9,000-mark with 509 new cases
Tamil Nadu’s overall tally of COVID-19 cases crossed the 9,000-mark after recording 509 new cases on Wednesday. Three days after reporting more than 500 cases, the number of cases marginally dipped to 380 in Chennai, even as its total count climbed to 5,262.
With fresh cases — 288 males and 221 females — being reported in 16 districts across Tamil Nadu, the State’s total number of COVID-19 cases stood at 9,227*. The total number of deaths due to COVID-19 increased to 64. Three men — all in their 40s — died in Chennai.
Impossible to predict when COVID-19 pandemic will be controlled: WHO
The World Health Organization’s emergencies chief said it’s possible the new coronavirus may be here to stay, warning it’s impossible to predict when the pandemic might be controlled.
This virus may never go away, said Dr. Michael Ryan, in a news briefing on Wednesday. He said that the number of people infected by COVID-19 so far is relatively low.
13 new cases in Bihar
Bihar has registered 13 new COVID-19 positive cases, taking the total number of COVID-19 cases in the State to 953.
All the new cases are from Munger, Begusarai and Aurangabad districts.