分类： bharat

Coronavirus cases in India now stand at 85,940. This figure includes 30,152 recoveries, 2,752 casualties and one migration. According to the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, more than 70 per cent of novel coronavirus patients in India who succumbed to the infection died due to comorbidities.

Two days before the end of the present phase of the lockdown, the number of Covid-19 cases in India surpassed that of China that has reported a total of 82,933 cases as of May 16.

An official statement from the centre is awaited on Sunday about guidelines that will have to be followed during the fourth phase of the lockdown that is all set to begin from May 18. Sources in the government said that schools, colleges, malls and movie theatres are unlikely to be allowed to resume operations anytime before May 31. However, shops and public transport could be given the green light in red areas following the announcement on April 17.

Auraiya tragedy

In the early hours of Saturday morning, a DCM lorry carrying migrant workers collided with a truck in Uttar Pradesh’s Auraiya district. While 25 migrants lost their lives, 36 sustained injuries. All of the lorry’s passengers were natives of Bihar, Jharkhand, West Bengal and Uttar Pradesh. They had been working as migrant labourers in Rajasthan and were returning to their native homes when tragedy struck.

Another incident was reported from Sagar district where a truck carrying migrant workers overturned on Saturday, killing five and injuring at least 20. The truck was headed to Chhatarpur.

PM Modi thanks President Trump

Responding to US President Donald Trump’s decision to donate ventilators to India, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday thanked his American counterpart. In a tweet, the PM wrote, “Thank you @POTUS @realDonaldTrump. This pandemic is being fought collectively by all of us.”

Punjab lifts curfew, retains lockdown

Chief Minister Amarinder Singh in a public address on Saturday evening, said that the Punjab government has decided to lift curfew restrictions currently in force across the state. He, however, added that the lockdown will continue in Punjab till May 31.

All cities in the state will be allowed so that businesses can resume operations with the sole exception of containment zones, CM Singh added. The state government’s new guidelines also mention that only areas/localities where authorities detect the presence of coronavirus patients will be sealed.

Shramik Specials to the rescue

The Indian Railways on Saturday issued a statement that 1,074 Shramik Special trains have been used to ferry over 14 lakh migrants back to their home states until now. Uttar Pradesh has given the most approvals to facilitate the return of natives followed by Bihar, Union Railways Minister Piyush Goyal said.

Data also shows that out of the 501 fresh cases of Covid-19 reported by the Bihar Health Department between May 3 and May 15, 391 or 78 per cent were related to migrants. As many as 122 of these cases are linked to migrants who returned to Bihar from New Delhi sometime in the last two weeks.

Now, over 30,000 cases in Maharashtra

With 1,606 new cases of infection, Maharashtra on Saturday reported its highest single-day spike in new cases of the novel coronavirus. The state also recorded 67 new casualties within 24 hours. Mumbai accounted for 41 of these deaths. Now, a total of 30,706 cases in Maharashtra include 7,088 recoveries and 1,135 deaths. Mumbai alone has 18,555 confirmed cases and 696 casualties to date.

Delhi, on the other hand, now has 9,333 confirmed cases. This includes 129 casualties. Uttarakhand also recorded its highest single-day spike in new cases, 88, taking the number of active cases in the state to 36 as of April 16.

Between Friday night and Saturday evening, Rajasthan reported 213 new cases, Gujarat’s tally surged past 10,000, and the union territory of Jammu and Kashmir recorded 72 fresh cases of infection.

The Health Ministry has identified 30 municipal areas that are contributing to 80 per cent of the novel coronavirus cases in India.

Covid-19 cases surge in Delhi, Jaipur prisons

As many as 15 inmates and a prison official tested positive for Covid-19 at Delhi’s Rohini jail on Saturday. Similarly, Jaipur district jail accounted for 116 of the 177 new cases of infection reported from Rajasthan on May 16.
Ban on export of non-surgical, non-medical masks lifted

The government of India on Saturday passed an order lifting the ban on export of non-surgical and non-medical masks. “All other masks falling under ITCHS code, including the HS codes, would continue to remain prohibited for the exports,” read the order from the Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT), Ministry of Commerce and Industry.

It was one of those days when many in Coimbatore were standing in a long queue to buy their liquor bottles. Little did they know there was a small four-wheeler machine standing in the queue along with them. Why? To buy liquor for its creator and to spread awareness about the need for social distancing to keep coronavirus at bay.

Karthik Velayutham, an innovator from Coimbatore, has built this robot which would stand in long queues and buy liquor. “This is an awareness campaign to make people understand the need for social distancing in this time of a pandemic,” Karthik said.

Karthik built this machine in two days and at a cost of Rs 3,000. The 31-year-old computer engineer says that his machine can be operated from anywhere in the world.

“By using this Robo, you can maintain social distancing. It can provide services in hospitals where doctors and nurses can use this to dispatch medicines without personally interacting with the patients.”

“The Robo can be used from anywhere in the world using the internet. All you need to do is enter the login details,” Karthik added.

The Robo is currently being used using an android phone. There are video and call facilities and the owner can use these to interact and operate it with other people. The Robo at present can carry up to 30 kg of weight, and it has a backup power of six to seven hours.

How does it buy liquor? Kathik can instruct the shopkeepers via the video facility on the robot. The shopkeepers can provide him the essentials. The payment is made online.

The nationwide tally of coronavirus cases is soon to cross that of China’s as more cases were reported from across the country on Friday. India’s official figure, according to the health ministry, is 81,970 and is expected to surpass China’s 84,031 as the country prepares to enter the lockdown 4.0 beginning Monday. India’s fatality rate due to coronavirus is, however, significantly lesser than China’s.

Since Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s address to the nation on Tuesday, there have been indications that the fourth phase of the lockdown would be implemented with greater relaxations to revive the economy. PM Narendra Modi had said that the lockdown 4.0 will have a “completely different form”, with new rules. PM Modi had also said the guidelines will come before May 18.

Just two days before the lockdown 3.0 is supposed to end and ahead of the announcement of guidelines for the fourth phase of coronavirus-induced lockdown 4.0, Home Minister Amit Shah held several meetings with his ministry’s officials. Senior officials have been busy in finalising the guidelines for the fourth-phase of the lockdown, a home ministry official said.

Ahead of the lockdown 4.0 and the greater relaxations that are expected to contain the economic costs of the pandemic, a prominent health expert has said that India must gear up to face the possibility of community spread of the Covid-19 and cautioned there could be more widespread transmission of the novel coronavirus due to easing of the lockdown.

Meanwhile, Maharashtra on Friday reported 1,576 new Covid-19 cases, taking the total number of cases in the state to 21,467. The fatalities due to Covid-19 mounted to 1,068 as 49 more deaths were reported.