Coronavirus Outbreak LATEST Updates: The MCGM said that 751 new COVID-19 cases were reported in Mumbai on Friday, taking the total number of cases to 7,625.
Migrant workers in Kerala's Aluva and Maharashtra's Nashik began to arrive at train stations to board the scheduled special trains set to take them back to their native places, as per the MHA order.
The MHA said that a limited number of activities will remain prohibited across India, irrespective of the zone, including travel by air, rail, metro and inter-state movement by road.
This includes the functioning of schools, colleges, and other educational and training/coaching institutions.
A large number of other activities are allowed in the Red Zones. All industrial and construction activities in rural areas, including MNREGA works, food-processing units and brick-kilns are permitted: MHA on the extension of lockdown.
The Ministry of Home Affairs on Friday issued an order under the Disaster Management Act, 2005 to further extend the nationwide coronavirus lockdown for a further period of two weeks beyond 4 May, ANI reported, quoting an official statement.
PD Vaghela, chairman of Empowered Group 3 of the Centre's COVID-19 response team, on Friday said, "Demand for PPE kits has been projected at 2.01 crore in India. We have placed orders for 2.22 crore kits out of which 1.42 crore kits are being procured in the domestic market. 1.87 lakh kits are being produced daily in the country."
Seventeen more COVID-19 cases were reported from Agra on Friday taking the total confirmed cases in the district to 496, the administration said.
Inter-district and inter-state curtailment of movement between Delhi and Gurugram will now be applied to individuals, including media persons, police personnel and doctors.
"Individual movement has also been curtailed as we're enforcing the curbing of inter-state and inter-dist movement. Be it media persons/Police/doctors, their inter-state and inter-district movement through these borders (Delhi-Gurugram border) will also not be allowed," said ACP Karan Goyal.
Earlier, the ACP had said that the restrictions will not be applied to media persons. He further said that for the healthcare professionals living in Gurugram, arrangements would be made there.
Punjab health minister Balbir Singh Sidhu on Friday blamed the Maharashtra government for not implementing Centre's guidelines on movement of migrant labourers after several pilgrims who returned from Nanded to Punjab tested COVID-19 positive.
"They were under Maharashtra government's observation. It was their duty to implement Centre's guidelines; their samplings and tests should've been done there. Had they told us it hasn't been done, we would've sent two teams there," said Singh after the state reported more than 100 coronavirus cases in a single day.
People who have been given permission to go back to their hometowns should do so patiently and not all at once, otherwise once again, the permission will be denied, said Uddhav Thackeray on Friday while reviewing the COVID-19 situation in the state.
Maharashtra government will not halt agricultural activities in the state, said chief minister Uddhav Thackeray during the State address on COVID-19 situation. "We are gradually opening the state up," said Thackeray.
With 11 more individuals testing positive for the novel coronavirus in Karnataka from 30 April at 5 pm till 1 May at 12 pm, the total confirmed cases in the state climbed to 576, said the health department in the state.
This figure includes 22 deaths and 253 discharges. The recovery rate in the state stood at 44 percent.
The elections to the nine Legislative Council seats in Maharashtra, which fell vacant on 24 April, will be held on 21 May, the Election Commission announced on Friday.
Sources in the Election Commission had earlier said that polls can be conducted amidst the coronavirus outbreak and lockdown, provided precautions as advised by the Health Ministry are taken, and MLAs follow social distancing while casting their vote
The first train carrying over 1,000 migrant labourers from Telangana to Jharkhand began its operations on Friday at 4.50 am. The 24 coach train will arrive at Hatia in Jharkhand from Lingampally in Telangana at 11 pm on Friday.
All due processes including quarantine etc will be followed as per guidelines. According to the report, the train will not stop anywhere till it reaches Hatia.
All districts of Delhi have been included in the Red Zone category. Maharashtra, the most affected state, has the highest number of Red Zones - 14 districts - among all states.
In Tamil Nadu, 12 districts fall under the Red Zones, 19 in Uttar Pradesh, 10 in West Bengal while nine each in Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh. Rajasthan has eight Red Zones.
As India inches towards the end of the 40-day nationwide lockdown imposed in view novel coronavirus, Niti Aayog's CEO Amitabh Kant shared a six-point strategy that could be the road ahead for the country.
A 53-year-old COVID-19 patient, the first to receive plasma therapy in Maharashtra, passed away on 29 April in Mumbai, Dr Ravishankar, CEO Lilavati Hospital told ANI.
The total confirmed COVID-19 cases in India reach 35,043, 1,147 deaths recorded, as per the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare on Friday. 73 deaths and 1993 new cases reported in the last 24 hours in the country due to the novel virus.
India registered a total of 35,043 confirmed COVID-19 cases on Friday, according to the latest data by the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare. The total number of deaths caused due to the novel coronavirus so far stood at 1,147.
Of the total confirmed cases, 25,007 were active cases while one COVID-19 patient migrated. The recovery rate of the nation was at 25.4 percent with as many as 8888 COVID-19 patients being cured.
With one more individual testing positive for the novel coronavirus in Balasore district, the total confirmed cases in Odisha on Friday climbed to 143. The figure also includes 143 active COVID-19 cases.
Balasore recorded as many as 20 confirmed COVID-19 cases so far. €‹The total number of RT-PCR tests conducted in Odisha in past 24 hours stood at 2437.
The number of coronavirus toll in India crossed 1,000 on Thursday after 67 new deaths were reported, and cases rose to 33,610 with 1,823 new infections in a day. State governments also began preparations to help lakhs of migrant workers and students reach their homes from different parts of the country, where they have been stranded for over a month due to the COVID-19 lockdown.
As people waited for further clarity on the government's next move on the nationwide lockdown, whose second phase ends this Sunday, former RBI governor Raghuram Rajan said India should open up up its economy in a measured way soon to save jobs and estimated that Rs 65,000 crore would need to be spent to support the poor amid the crisis.
Interacting with Congress leader Rahul Gandhi through video conferencing, Rajan said it is "all too easy to have a lockdown forever", but that is not sustainable for the economy and India does not have the capacity to support people across the spectrum for too long.
A nationwide lockdown has been in place since 25 March. Initially, it was announced for 21 days till 14 April, but Prime Minister Narendra Modi later extended it till 3 May, as a measure to contain the coronovirus pandemic.
Meanwhile, in the Union health ministy's daily briefing on Thursday, officials said that the recovery rate of COVID-19 patients has improved to nearly 25.2 percent, from about 13 percent a fortnight ago.
The ministry's evening update said that 1,075 people have died due to COVID-19 so far across the country after 67 deaths were reported since Wednesday evening.
However, a PTI tally of the toll reported by various states and union territories, as of 8.30 pm, showed at least 1,137 people have lost their lives while close to 34,500 people have been infected so far.
At the press briefing, Health Ministry joint secretary Lav Agarwal said that the current fatality rate among detected is 3.2 percent, with 65 percent being men and 35 percent women.
"If we divide it on the basis of age, then 14 percent fatality has been seen in those aged below 45 years, 34.8 percent between 45-60 years and 51.2 percent in those above 60 years," he said.
Agarwal further said that the recovery rate for COVID-19 has improved from 13.06 percent to over 25 percent in the past 14 days. He added that the doubling rate for COVID-19 cases has improved to 11 days as against 3.4 days before the lockdown was imposed.
Additionally, he said the doubling rate of COVID-19 cases was found to be between 11-20 days in Delhi (11.3), Uttar Pradesh (12), Jammu and Kashmir (12.2), Odisha (13), Rajasthan (17.8), Tamil Nadu (19.1) and Punjab (19.5).
A doubling rate of between 20-40 days was seen in Karnataka (21.6), Ladakh (24.2), Haryana (24.4), Uttarakhand (30.3) and Kerala (37.5), Agarwal said.
A doubling rate of over 40 days was noted in Assam (59), Telangana (70.8), Chhattisgarh (89.7) and Himachal Pradesh (191.6), he added.
Speaking about testing being scaled up, Agarwal said starting with one single laboratory, the RT-PCR tests are now available in 292 government and 97 private facilities across the country.
"On Wednesday, 58,686 tests were performed and if you see the average number of tests performed each day in the last five days, it comes to 49,800 tests. It is important to understand that whatever capacity is needed, we have progressively increased it," he said.
COVID-19 cases in Maharashtra cross 10,000-mark, Gujarat reports 313 new patients
Maharashtra alone saw its tally crossing 10,000 with 583 new cases during the day, while 27 more people died. The state tops the nationwide tally with a total 10,498 confirmed cases and 459 deaths so far. Mumbai alone now accounts for 6,874 confirmed cases and 290 deaths.
Gujarat also saw its tally of confirmed cases rising by 313 to 4,395, while 17 more people died on Thursday to take the state's death toll to 214. Ahmedabad reported more than 3,000 cases and 149 deaths.
Tamil Nadu, Odisha, Karnataka and West Bengal also reported new cases.
There are more than 24,000 active patients across the country, while more than 8,300 people have recovered and one patient has migrated. The total number of cases include 111 foreign nationals.
Health Minister Harsh Vardhan said India is doing better compared to other countries on all parameters in its fight against COVID-19 and should be able to win this decisive war in the coming few weeks.
About 60,000 foreign nationals from 72 countries have also been evacuated from India, while the issue of evacuation of Indians stranded abroad is also under discussion, according to the Ministry of External Affairs.
States take steps to facilitate movement of stranded people
Several states, in the meantime, announced steps they were taking for facilitating the movement of migrant workers and students, stranded in various cities due to the lockdown, to help them reach their respective native places, in line with the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) guidelines announced on Wednesday. Some states have already brought back some migrant workers from other places.
The Madhya Pradesh government said it has brought back over 20,000 migrant labourers, who were stranded in other states due to the COVID-19 lockdown.
Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath asked officials to ready quarantine centres, shelter homes and community kitchens as the state readied for the return of migrant workers stranded in different parts of the country.
Maharashtra issued a notification designating all the district collectors as the nodal authority for the movement of stranded people into or outside the state and also within the state, while the Gujarat government appointed 16 bureaucrats as nodal officers to facilitate the movement of such people across borders.
The Kerala government renewed its demand for special non-stop trains to transport those who are keen to leave for their respective states. There are 3.60 lakh workers in over 20,000 camps in the state and majority of them, hailing from West Bengal, Assam, Odisha, Bihar and Uttar Pradesh, wanted to return home.
Punjab chief minister Amarinder Singh also urged the prime minister to arrange special trains for transportation of migrant workers, while he directed all deputy commissioners to prepare data of migrant labourers stranded in the state due to the lockdown.
As per the MHA order, buses will be used for transporting those stranded, and these vehicles will be sanitised and will have to follow safe social distancing norms on seating. A senior official said all states and UTs will have to "strictly follow" these guidelines.
While the movement of trucks is already allowed for transportation of goods during the lockdown, the MHA separately clarified that no separate passes are required for their inter-state movement, including for those carrying goods or returning after delivery, and licence of the driver is enough.
There have been reports that movement of trucks is not allowed freely and local authorities insist upon separate passes at inter-state borders in different parts of the country.
Over 30 million Americans file for unemployment benefits
Bleak new figures on Thursday underscored the worldwide economic pain inflicted by the coronavirus: The number of Americans filing for unemployment benefits has climbed past a staggering 30 million, while Europe's economies are in an epic slide, AP reported.
The statistics are likely to turn up the pressure on politicians to ease the lockdowns that have closed factories and other businesses.
In the US, the government reported that 3.8 million laid-off workers applied for jobless benefits last week, raising the total to about 30.3 million in the six weeks since the outbreak took hold. The layoffs amount to 1 in 6 American workers and encompass more people than the entire population of Texas.
Some economists say that when the US unemployment rate for April comes out next week, it could be as high as 20 percent €" a figure not seen since the Depression of the 1930s, when joblessness peaked at 25 percent.
The virus has killed over 2,20,000 people worldwide, including more than 61,000 in the US, according to a tally by Johns Hopkins University. Confirmed infections globally topped 3.2 million, with 1 million of them in the US, but the true numbers are believed to be much higher because of limited testing, differences in counting the dead and concealment by some governments
Firstpost
No comments:
Post a Comment