Coronavirus Outbreak LATEST Updates:Â The West Bengal government on Thursday announced further relaxations in the night curfew restrictions. The restricted timings from 7 pm to 7 am have been extended to 9 pm to 5 am, reports said.
The MHA blacklisted around 1,000 foreign Tablighi Jamaat members on Thursday and banned their entry into India for 10 years, news agency PTI quoted officials as saying.
However, media reports claimed that the number of foreign nationals who have been blacklisted for their involvement in Tablighi Jamaat activities could be much higher at around 2,200.
Maharashtra minister and Congress leader Ashok Chavan was discharged from hospital after recovering from the coronavirus infection, PTI reported. He had tested positive for the infection last month.
Over 2,500 Maharashtra Police personnel have tested positive for the novel coronavirus so far while 30 have died of the viral infection, PTI reported on Thursday.
The Supreme Court on Thursday directed a Mumbai-based lawyer to deposit Rs 25 lakh with the apex court registry, which he has offered for the travel of migrant workers from Mumbai to their native places in Uttar Pradesh.
A bench of Justices Ashok Bhushan, Sanjay Kishan Kaul and MR Shah directed that lawyer Sagheer Ahmed Khan deposit the amount.
The Supreme Court on Thursday directed that no coercive action can be taken against employers for violation of Ministry of Home Affairs’ 29 March order compelling payment of wages to employees amid the COVID-19 lockdown.
The apex court also reserved its order on the validity of the MHA notification for 12 June, reported Bar and Bench.
The order was passed by the Bench of Justices Ashok Bhushan, SK Kaul and MR Shah.
The Centre on Thursday informed the Supreme Court that its 29 March notification on full payment of wages to workers by their employers during the lockdown was not unconstitutional, instead it was a measure taken to prevent perpetration of financial crisis within the lower strata of the society, labourers and salaried employees.
The Centre, in the affidavit said, the notification on 29 March was not a permanent measure, and it has already been withdrawn. “It is further emphasised and reiterated that the said directions (29 March order) were issued by Union of India as a temporary measure to mitigate the financial hardship of the employees and workers specially contractual and casual during the lockdown period”, said the Centre.
Haryana Education Minister Kanwar Pal said schools in the state will reopen in a phased manner in July with 50 percent strength. He further said that the government will organise demo classes to prepare for the reopening.
“Colleges will reopen in August with first-year commencing from September. Universities will take rest of the decisions,” the eductaion minister said.
The Supreme Court directs Uttar Pradesh, Delhi and Haryana to evolve a common policy for the movement of commuters, reports ANI.
The Odisha government has imposed ‘weekend shutdown’ in the month of June in the districts of Ganjam, Puri, Nayagarh, Khorda, Cuttack, Jagatsinghpur, Kendrapada, Jajpur, Bhadrak, Balasore and Balangir with relaxation only for emergency and public services.
All schools, colleges, educational institutions, training institutions/coaching centres shall remain shut till 31 July in the view of the coronavirus outbreak.
“Weekend shutdown has been imposed by Government on all Saturdays and Sundays during the month of June, 2020 in the Districts of Ganjam, Puri, Nayagarh, Cuttack, Jagatsinghpur, Kendrapada, Jajpur, Bhadrak, Balasore and Balangir with relaxation for only emergency and public services,” an official release by Information & Public Relations Department, Odisha said.
In the past 24 hours, India registered 9,304 fresh coronavirus cases and 260 deaths. The total number of COVID-19 cases across the nation was now at 2,16,919 including 1,06,737 active cases, said the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare on Thursday.
While, 6,075 lives were claimed by the viral infection so far.
India has been unable to reduce the COVID-19 growth rate while, the quasi hard lockdown has flattened the wrong curve. The GDP curve has been flattened, said Rajiv Bajaj while speaking to Congress’ Rahul Gandhi on the economic fallout of the COVID-19 crisis.
India has received the worst of both worlds. The porous lockdown in India has been unable to prevent people from COVID-19 but at the same time has left the economy decimated, said Rajiv Bajaj while speaking to Congress’ Rahul Gandhi on the economic fallout of the COVID-19 crisis.
In the past 24 hours, India registered 9,304 fresh coronavirus cases and 260 deaths. The total number of COVID-19 cases across the nation was now at 2,16,919 including 1,06,737 active cases, said the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare on Thursday.
While, 6,075 lives were claimed by the viral infection so far.
A plea seeking intervention in a case relating to suo motu cognisance of problems faced by migrant labourers stranded in different parts of the country after the COVID-19 lockdown has been filed in the Supreme Court.
The plea filed by Students’ Federation of India (SFI) said that during the lockdown, many students were compelled to return to their homes due to pandemic. SFI said the students are now getting calls from their landlords to pay the rents.
“It is pertinent to mention that most of these students are dependent on their family’s income for their educational expenses and therefore it is an additional burden for them to pay the rents for these months of lockdown. It is respectfully submitted that a vast majority of the population of our country is employed in the informal sector; several of their incomes are unstable during this time,” the plea said.
Rahul Gandhi’s dialogue with industrialist Rajiv Bajaj on the economic fallout of the COVID-19 crisis will be aired on Thursday, the latest in the series of interactions the former Congress chief is having with experts from various fields on the impact of the pandemic.
In the teaser of the conversation released on various social media accounts of the party, the Managing Director of Bajaj Auto can be seen talking about the effect of the lockdown on the economy.
Defence secretary Ajay Kumar has tested positive for the novel coronavirus and is under home quarantine, two officials familiar with the development confirmed on Wednesday on the condition of anonymity.
Kumar got himself tested for the virus after developing mild fever and was found to be infected, said one of the officials.
“He tested positive but continues to work and look into files from home quarantine,” said another official said.
India registered a record jump of 8,909 novel coronavirus cases, pushing the total number of such infections to 2,07,615 on Wednesday, while the toll rose to 5,815 with 217 more deaths, according to the Union health ministry.
States like Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Gujarat and Delhi, which have a high case load, continued to report more infections, while new cases also emerged in several eastern and north-eastern states including Bihar, West Bengal, Odisha, Assam, Nagaland, Mizoram and Sikkim.
The health ministry said it has boosted the COVID-19 testing capacity to around 1.4 lakh per day.
8,909 new cases, 217 deaths reported in 24 hours
In its morning update, the health ministry said that the country had reported 8,909 new patients and 217 fatalities in the 24 hours since 8 am on Tuesday. With this the total number of cases in the country climbed to  2,07,615 and the toll rose to 5,815.
As many as 1,00,302 people have recovered, while one has migrated and the number of active cases of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) is now 1,01,497, said the ministry.Around 48.31 percent of the patients have recovered so far, a ministry official said. As many as 7,123 cases ae being reassigned to states, it said.
Of the 217 more deaths since Tuesday morning, 103 were in Maharashtra, 33 in Delhi, 29 in Gujarat, 13 in Tamil Nadu and 10 in West Bengal,
Six more people died from the pathogen in Madhya Pradesh, followed by five each in Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh, and four in Telangana, There were two deaths each in Haryana and Jammu and Kashmir, and one each in Kerala, Chandigarh, Ladakh, Punjab and Uttarakhand.
Of the total 5,815 fatalities, Maharashtra accounts for 2,465 deaths followed by 1,092 in Gujarat and 556 in Delhi. In Madhya Pradesh, 364 people have died so far, followed by 335 in West Bengal, 222 in Uttar Pradesh and 203 in Rajasthan. Tamil Nadu has registered 197 deaths so far, while there have been 92 fatalities in Telangana and 64 in Andhra Pradesh.
India registered a record jump of 8,909 novel coronavirus cases, pushing the total number of such infections to 2,07,615 on Wednesday. AP
Fifty-two people have succumbed to the infection in Karnataka, followed by 46 in Punjab, 33 in Jammu and Kashmir, and 24 in Bihar. Haryana has registered 23 fatalities, while the toll in Kerala is 11. There have been seven deaths each in Odisha and Uttarakhand.
Five COVID-19 fatalities each have been reported from Himachal Pradesh, Chandigarh and Jharkhand, while four have died in Assam. A person each has died due to the pandemic in Meghalaya, Chhattisgarh and Ladakh, according to the data.
More than 70 percent of the deaths are due to comorbidities,said the ministry.
The health ministry also said that the number of COVID-19 tests across the country has crossed the 40 lakh-mark, while the daily testing capacity has been ramped up to 1.4 lakh through 480 government and 208 private laboratories.
Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu report most new cases
Many states reported an increase in both infections and deaths arising from it through the day and a PTI tally based on figures releases by state and UT governments put the aggregate number of cases in India till 9.30 pm at  2,09,163. According to the news agency, 5, 996 have been reported in the country so far while a total of 1,03,460 persons have recovered from the disease.
India is the seventh worst-hit nation by the COVID-19 pandemic after the US, Brazil, Russia, the UK, Spain and Italy. The infection which first emerged in China in December last year has now affected 62,87,771 people across the world and has claimed 3,79,941 lives, according to the World Health Organisation (WHO) COVID-19 tracker.
Of the total number of cases reported in India till date, nearly 1 lakh new cases having emerged in a span of 15 days. The first COVID-19 case in India was detected on 30 January.
COVID-19 fatalities in worst-affected Maharashtra spiked by 122 on Wednesday, the highest in a single day, including 49 from worst-hit Mumbai, taking the death toll to 2,587, the state health department said. The number of cases shot up by 2,560 to 74,860, it said.
“Of the 122 deaths, 60 fatalities were reported from the Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR), including 49 from Mumbai alone,” the statement said. Mumbai now accounts for 43,492 COVID-19 cases of the total 74,860 cases in the state with 1,417 deaths.
A total of 996 patients were discharged from hospitals in the day, taking the tally of the recovered cases to 32,329 so far, a statement said.
The spread of the virus also continued in Tamil Nadu, with the state reporting more than a thousand cases , including an all-time single-day high in the capital city, for the fourth straight day on Wednesday, taking the total infection count to 25,872. The state also reported 11 more COVID-19 deaths, taking the toll to 208.
Of the 1,286 new positive cases, which is also a new single-day high for the state, as many as 15 were returnees from abroad and 27 from other states, while Chennai accounted for 1,012 of the fresh infections, its highest in a day so far, a health department bulletin said.
In Goa, as many as 40 people from a COVID-19 containment zone in Goa tested positive for the disease on Wednesday, Chief Minister Pramod Sawant said while attributing the “local transmission” to one family. The family members consulted a private medical practitioner after developing COVID-19 symptoms, instead of going to a testing centre, he said.
Kerala reported its highest single-day spike of 86 cases, taking its tally to 1,494. Those having tested positive included a doctor and four health workers. More than 1.6 lakh people are under observation in the state. Among the new cases, 53 people had come from abroad and 19 from other states, Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan told reporters after a COVID-19 evaluation meeting.
In the north, Himachal Pradesh’s remote Kinnaur district reported its first two cases after a couple tested positive after returning from Delhi.
Barring Lahaul-Spiti, now 11 of the 12 districts in the state have COVID-19 cases.
Uttarakhand also saw 23 more people testing positive, taking its tally to 1,066. According to the state government bulletin, the people who tested positive had travelled to Delhi, Aligarh, Mumbai and Hyderabad. As the number of infections among those returning from other states has continued to rise, the state government has extended the quarantine period to 21 days for those returning from the country’s 75 worst-hit cities.
According to an order issued by Chief Secretary Utpal Kumar Singh, people returning from the 75 highly infected cities will be quarantined at an institutional facility for a week. Thereafter, they will be home quarantined for 14 days.
In Nagaland, nine more people tested positive and all of them had returned to the state last month in a migrant special train. In Sikkim, a man who returned from Delhi recently tested positive, becoming the second case of COVID-19 in the hill state. Megalaya and Mizoram also saw new cases among those having returned from other states.
Assam recorded 111 new cases, while Odisha reported 143 more cases. Karnataka recorded 367 new cases and 168 new cases emerged in Madhya Pradesh. Gujarat’s tally of confirmed cases rose by 485 to reach 18,117, while its death toll increased by 30 to 1,122.
AIIMS Nurses’ Union continues protest for third day
In the National Capital, a five-member committee has been constituted by the Delhi government to strengthen the healthcare infrastructure and look into overall preparedness of hospitals to battle COVID-19.
In the meantime, a protest by the AIIMS Nurses’ Union over their working conditions entered the third day. The premier medical institution in the National Capital has seen at least 329 staff members having tested positive for COVID-19 so far, of which 47 are nursing staff.
In a letter to AIIMS Director Randeep Guleria, the nurses body has put forward a number of demands including implementation of a uniform four-hour shift with personal protective equipment in COVID-19 areas of the hospital, a uniform rotation policy between COVID-19 and non-COVID-19 areas, and establishment of proper donning and doffing area.
With inputs from PTI
Updated Date: Jun 04, 2020 22:39:20 IST
Tags :
MHA,