Hundreds of more people tested positive on Tuesday for the deadly coronavirus infection across India with a large number of them have returned from other states or from abroad, even as officials said India’s mortality rate has been very low and it has taken much longer here for the tally to hit the one-lakh mark than many other countries.
In its morning 8 AM update, the Union Health Ministry said the total number of confirmed cases has reached 1,01,139 and the death toll has risen to 3,163. This marked an increase of nearly 5,000 cases and 134 fatalities in a 24-hour period.
More than 39,000 patients have recovered too, still leaving over 59,000 active cases in the country — which is the seventh-largest globally after the US, Russia, Brazil, France, Italy and Peru.
INDIA FARING BETTER THAN WORLD: GOVT
The Health Ministry said that for every one lakh population, there are 7.1 coronavirus cases in India so far, as against 60 globally.
Referring to data from the World Health Organisation, the ministry said 45,25,497 Covid-19 cases had been reported worldwide till Monday, which is about 60 cases per lakh population.
Among the countries with a very high load of coronavirus cases, the US, with 14,09,452 instances of the infection so far, has around 431 cases per lakh population. In the UK, this ratio is 494 cases per lakh and for Italy, it is 372.
TOOK 64 DAYS FOR CASES TO CROSS 1 LAKH
Officials also cited data about India having taken 64 days for the count of confirmed cases to increase from 100 to one lakh, which was more than double the time taken by countries like the US and Spain. According to the data sourced from the health ministry and Worldometers, the coronavirus infection cases increased from 100 to 1,00,000 in the US in 25 days, while it took 30 days for the cases to reach the 1 lakh-mark in Spain.
It took 35 days in Germany, 36 days in Italy, 39 days in France and 42 days in the United Kingdom for the coronavirus infection cases to rise from 100 to 1 lakh, respectively.
CONGRESS-UP GOVT FIGHT OVER BUSES FOR MIGRANTS
The war of words between the Uttar Pradesh government and Congress party escalated on Tuesday after leader Priyanka Gandhi asked the state to allow permission for 1,000 buses to ferry migrants.
After two days of back and forth, UP’s Additional Chief Secretary (Home & Information) Awanish Awasthi agreeing to take charge of the buses at the Delhi-UP border itself.
But the row reignited hours later when the UP government said the Congress list of 1,000 buses contained registration number of other vehicles. Also, many buses in the last did not have a valid fitness certificate and insurance papers.
The buses were also stopped from entering at the UP-Rajasthan border in Agra.
Police on Tuesday booked Uttar Pradesh Congress president Ajay Kumar Lallu and a personal secretary to party leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra over a list of 1,000 buses to ferry stranded migrant workers back to the state.
STATES LIMP BACK TO NORMALCY AS LOCKDOWN RULES EASE
Markets opened across the country as well as public transportation resumed services after several states announced new guidelines for Lockdown 4.0.
With relaxations being granted for public movement during the fourth phase of the lockdown, there was a 60 per cent increase in the number of vehicles on roads, leading to traffic snarls in many parts of Delhi on Tuesday.
Public transport resumed in Delhi on Tuesday with buses, auto-rickshaws and taxis plying on the road, albeit with a limited number of passengers. Two-wheelers and private vehicles were also plying on the roads which led to traffic jams at many places.
Industrial hubs in the national capital also resumed functioning on Tuesday but faced issues of labour availability and disruptions in the supply chain.
Fifty-six days after the lockdown was clamped in Karnataka, the state started limping back to normalcy, with autorickshaws, cabs and buses plying on the roads, adhering to the new norms issued by the government after easing of restrictions.
In Gujarat, people came out to buy non- essentials, including items like paan masala, and to get their mobile phones and vehicles repaired in western Ahmedabad and other cities.
MAHARASHTRA DIVIDED INTO RED, NON-RED ZONES
The Maharashtra government on Tuesday announced categorization of various areas into red and non-red zones for the purpose of allowing or restricting business and other activities in view of coronavirus pandemic.
The government on Tuesday issued new guidelines which would come into effect from May 22.
The Municipal corporations in the Mumbai Metropolitan Region (which includes Mumbai, Thane and surrounding towns), as well as civic bodies of Pune, Solapur, Aurangabad, Malegaon, Nashik, Dhule, Jalgaon, Akola and Amravati fall in the red zone, it said.
All these areas have a high number of coronavirus cases.
All the remaining areas of the state fall in the non-red zone, an official statement said.
In both red and non-red zones, municipal/district authorities will demarcate containment zones.
Shops, malls, commercial establishments and industries in the red zone, which are nor allowed to operate, can remain open between 9 am to 5 pm only for upkeep and maintenance of materials, furniture, plant and machinery and pre-monsoon protection of property and goods.
RAILWAYS SAYS STATES’ CONSENT NOT NEEDED TO SEND SHRAMIK TRAINS
After a political slugfest between the centre and the states over the movement of migrant workers on the Shramik Special trains, the railways on Tuesday said the consent of the destination states is not required to operate such trains.
The statement from a spokesperson of the railways came hours after the Central government issued a standard operating procedure which said that for running the Shramik Special trains, permission will be given by the Ministry of Railways in consultation with the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA).
States and union territories should designate nodal authorities and make necessary arrangements for receiving and sending such stranded people, said the SOP issued by the MHA.
INDIA’S MORTALITY RATE MUCH LOWER THAN AVG
Reeling off further data, officials said India has so far an average of about 0.2 Covid-19 deaths per lakh population as against the global average of 4.1.
They further said a record number of 1,08,233 samples were tested for Covid-19 on Monday, taking the overall count of tests to more than 24 lakh.
RAILWAYS TO START NON-AC TRAINS FROM JUNE 1
Providing huge relief to people, especially in the country’s small towns and cities, the railways will run 200 special passenger trains from June 1, the national transporter said on Tuesday.
These trains will have non-air conditioned second class coaches and will run daily. They will be plied in addition to the Shramik Special and the air-conditioned special trains which are currently being operated on the Rajdhani routes connecting 15 major cities to Delhi.
All categories of passengers will be allowed to book tickets which will be available online.
MORE THAN 1,600 SHRAMIK SPECIAL TAKE 21.5 LAKH MIGRANTS HOME
The Indian Railways has run more than 1,600 ‘Shramik Special’ trains since May 1 and ferried over 21.5 lakh migrants back home, the national transporter said on Tuesday.
More than 900 trains were bound to Uttar Pradesh, while Bihar permitted 428 and Madhya Pradesh over 100, it said.
“Within the next 2 days, Indian Railways will double the number of Shramik Special Trains to 400 per day. All migrants are requested to stay where they are, Indian Railways will get them back home over the next few days,” said Railway Minister Piyush Goyal in a tweet.
KERALA WORRIED THIRD WAVE HAS STARTED
There are concerns that some parts of the country, including in Kerala, Goa and North-East, are seeing the second or third phase of the virus outbreak as they had almost flattened the curves till a few days ago before people from other states or countries started arriving there.
Kerala on Tuesday recorded 12 more Covid-19 cases, all being returnees from overseas and other states, taking the total active patients to 142. Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan said the rise was expected but asserted community transmission has not happened so far.
All those who tested positive had come from outside the state — four from abroad and eight from other states, including six from Maharashtra, Vijayan told reporters.
With the flow of people from various countries and other states, as expected, positive cases have begun to rise in Kerala, the chief minister said.
HRD ANNOUNCES CHANCE TO REAPPLY FOR JEE-MAIN
Students whose plans to study abroad have been affected due to Covid-19 will get a fresh chance to apply for the JEE-Main, the entrance exam for engineering colleges, the HRD minister announced on Tuesday.
“In view of the representations received from various Indian students, who were scheduled to join colleges abroad but are now keen to pursue their studies in India due to the changed circumstances arising out of COVID-19, the National Testing Agency (NTA) has decided to give an opportunity,” Human Resource Development (HRD) Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank said.
The application window for the Joint Entrance Exam (JEE-Main), which opened on Tuesday, will have to be completed by May 24.
EXEMPT PREGNANT WOMEN, THOSE WITH DISABILITIES FROM JOINING OFFICE: GOVT
All central government departments have been asked to exempt pregnant women, persons with disabilities and those with comorbidities from joining offices in view of the Covid-19 pandemic, the Personnel Ministry said on Tuesday.
It has been decided that government servants who have underlying conditions (comorbidities) and were undergoing treatment for these ailments before the lockdown, may, as far as possible be exempted from roster duty upon production of medical prescription from treating physicians, the ministry said.
MIGRANTS TRAINS TO BENGAL, ODISHA CANCELLED DUE TO CYCLONE AMPHAN
As a precautionary measure in the backdrop of ‘Amphan’ cyclone, the Maharashtra government on Tuesday announced that three Shramik Special trains for West Bengal and Odisha have been cancelled till May 21.
These trains were to carry migrant workers to West Bengal and Odisha which are expected to be hit by super cyclone ‘Amphan’ on Wednesday.
CBI WARNS STATES ABOUT COVID PHISHING SOFTWARE
On an Interpol input, the CBI has alerted police forces of states and UTs, and central agencies about banking trojan Cerberus that lures smartphone users into downloading malicious links related to Covid-19 and then infects devices to do phishing activities, officials said on Tuesday.
The banking trojan known as Cerberus takes advantage of the Covid-19 pandemic and sends SMS to lure a user into downloading the link containing the malicious software, they said.
CASES CONTINUE TO GROW IN STATES
Uttar Pradesh also saw 142 more people testing positive for Covid-19, taking its tally to 4,748.
The national capital recorded 500 more cases, taking its tally to 10,554, while its death toll has now risen to 166.
Maharashtra, the worst-affected state, reported 2,100 fresh cases, taking its overall tally to 37,158, state’s Health Minister Rajesh Tope said.
In Assam, 20 people tested positive, taking the total number of cases in the state to 135. All the new patients were in different quarantine centres across districts. These included people having returned from Chennai and Darjeeling.
Karnataka recorded its biggest ever single-day rise with 127 new cases. Of these, 91 have inter-state travel history from neighbouring Maharashtra, the state government said.
At least two Covid-19 related deaths were reported in Andhra Pradesh, taking the toll to 52, while 57 more tested positive to take the total number of infections in the state to 2,489. Fresh cases include those linked to the Koyambedu market in Chennai, which has become a major hotspot of the deadly virus infection.
WHO TO PROBE ORIGIN OF CORONAVIRUS
A crucial resolution to probe the origin of the novel coronavirus and to carry out an “impartial, independent and comprehensive” evaluation of the global response to the coronavirus outbreak, including the role of the World Health Organisation, was passed by the overwhelming support of around 130 countries including India at the World Health Assembly in Geneva on Tuesday.
The resolution providing for the evaluation of the response mechanism as well as to identify the “zoonotic source” of the virus was passed at the end of the two-day 73rd session of the WHA, which was curtailed from usual three weeks and was for the first time held virtually.
At the crucial conference, India was elected to the 34-member Executive Board of the WHO. As per the rotation policy, the Executive Board will be headed by a member country of WHO’s South-East Asia group for a tenure of one year.
The Executive Board will meet under Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan’s chairmanship on May 22.
US TO DONATE 200 VENTILATORS TO INDIA
The US government is planning to “donate” 200 ventilators to India with the first tranche of 50 expected to arrive soon as part of efforts to strengthen bilateral cooperation in the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic, an American official said on Tuesday.
President Donald Trump had announced last week that the US will donate ventilators to India to treat the COVID-19 patients and help it fight the “invisible enemy”.
Asked about reports that the ventilators may come at a cost for India, USAID Acting Director Ramona El Hamzaoui, during a telebriefing with the media, asserted that it was a “donation”.
