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Coronavirus Outbreak LATEST Updates: Kerala chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan said that the state government was not informed by Indian Railways about a train sent to the state from Mumbai. “Indian Railways decided to send a train from Mumbai to Kerala. No info about it was passed to Kerala government. It was taken up with Railway Minister. We said that this would undermine measures taken by our governemnt to ensure proper monitoring and control spread of COVID-19. “But then there was the issue of deciding to send another train in the same way from Delhi. Therefore, the matter has been brought to the notice of the Prime Minister.” The Tamil Nadu health department said that 646 new coronavirus cases have been reported in the state on Tuesday, taking the total number of cases to 17,728. The toll is at 127 after 9 deaths were reported on Tuesday. There are 8,256 active cases now. Maharashtra chief secretary Ajoy Mehta on Tuesday said currently, there are 35,178 active cases in the state. 80 percent of cases are asymptomatic in the state. The doubling rate in Maharashtra right now is 14 days, earlier it was five days. Union civil aviation minister Hardeep Singh Puri said that 58,318 passengers flew to their destinations on 832 flights on the first day of resumption of domestic flights on Monday. “Operations have started in Andhra Pradesh from today. These numbers are all set to soar higher,” he added. The Union health ministry said that 4.4 deaths per lakh population have been reported for the world, while India has reported about 0.3 deaths per lakh population, “which is amongst the lowest in the world”. “This has been due to lockdown, timely identification and management of COVID-19 cases,” the ministry said. ICMR director general Dr Balram Bhargava said that India has scaled up coronavirus testings in the last few months, and now about 1.1 lakh samples are being tested every day. He also said that 612 labs (430 ICMR and 182 private) are functioning across India currently. The United Nurses Association in Maharashtra wrote to Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray over state governemnt’s intention to bring 100 nurses from Kerala to contribute to the government’s response to the COVID-19 crisis, stating that “the initiatives of the Maharashtra Govt are temporary in nature”. “States such as Kerala and Tamil Nadu have shown that it is possible to recruit health personnel for permanent employment rapidly. We urge state government to also opt for this long term approach,” the statement said. The Central Industrial Security Force on Tuesday reported 20 fresh coronavirus cases, with 18 from its unit that guards the Delhi airport, officials told PTI. The over 1.62 lakh personnel strong force has a total of 78 active COVID-19 cases, while 132 personnel have recovered from the disease till now. 412 new COVID-19 positive cases have been reported in Delhi on Tuesday, taking the total number of cases to 14,465. The total toll due to the virus now stands at 288. After Jharkhand, Odisha has become the second state where online restaurant guide and food ordering platform Zomato will be home delivering alcohol starting with the state capital Bhubaneswar. The West Bengal government on Tuesday issued guidelines for air travel as domestic flight services resume in the state on 28 May. All passengers will have to submit self-declaration forms on arrival in Bengal and monitor their health for 14 days, the Mamata Banerjee-led government stated in guidelines for domestic air travel. Rahul Gandhi is interacting with reporters on the Covid-19 pandemic. He questions the Centre on its action plan as cases across the country increase. ‘In Congress states, we have a strategy. But we cannot function without the national government,’ he said. India is the only country where the virus is exponentially rising and we are removing the nationwide lockdown. The aim and purpose of the lockdown has failed. India is facing the result of a failed lockdown, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi said on Tuesday. Nearly 80 cops in Maharashtra tested COVID-19 positive in the past 24 hours, taking the total number of confirmed cases in the police force to 1,889 on Tuesday. After two more COVID-19 deaths were reported, the toll rose to 20, ANI quoted Maharashtra Police as saying. There are a total of 1,031 are active cases while 838 personnel have been recovered. The total number of COVID19 patients in Nagpur is 406, out of which 313 patients have recovered, reports ANI. ‘This means our recovery rate is between 75%-80%. One of the major reasons for this is early identification, tracing, isolation testing and treatment’, said Municipal Commissioner, Nagpur, Maharashtra. For the second consecutive day, India tests less than a lakh samples when the capacity is more than 1,50,000. Authorities tested 92,000 samples in the 24 hours and over 31 lakh samples in totality. Meanwhile, Uber India has laid off 600 employees in India across teams on 26 May, a few days after domestic rival Ola trimmed its workforce by a fourth. India on Tuesday reported a spike of 6,535 new COVID-19 cases and 146 deaths in the last 24 hours. The total number of cases in the country now at 1,45,380 including 80,722 active cases, 60,490 cured/discharged, and 4167 deaths. Countries, where coronavirus infections are declining, could still face an ‘immediate second peak’ if they let up too soon on measures to halt the outbreak, the World Health Organization said on Monday, reports Reuters. The Civil Aviation Ministry permitted chartered flights to resume their operations from Monday, the day when the scheduled domestic passenger flights also started. The ministry said ’non-scheduled and private operators’ of fixed-wing aircraft, helicopters and micro-light aircraft can resume their domestic flights from 25 May onwards. Maharashtra PWD Minister Ashok Chavan, who has tested positive for coronavirus, was on Monday admitted in a hospital in Mumbai, a close aide told PTI. India saw a big jump in COVID-19 cases for the fourth consecutive day on Monday with 6,977 new infections and 154 deaths. With this the total number of confirmed cases in the country rose to 1,38,845, while the death toll rose to 4,021, according to the Union health ministry. According to John Hopkins University data tracker, India has now surpassed Iran to become the tenth worst-affected country in the world. India is the tenth most-affected nation by the pandemic after US, Russia, UK, Spain, Italy, Brazil, Germany, Turkey and France, as per the JHU data. Also on Monday, domestic flights were resumed in the country after nearly two months, with flights operating from airports in Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru, among others. Toll touches 4,021, case count climbs to 1,38,845 [caption id=“attachment_8408061” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Confirmed cases in India climbed to 1,38,845. AP[/caption] In its 8 am update, the health ministry said that the number of coronavirus case count in the country has reached 1,38,845, while the number of deaths due to the viral infection stands at 4, 021. India now has 77,103 active cases while 57,720 people have recovered and one patient has migrated, the ministry said. “Thus, around 41.57 percent patients have recovered so far,” a senior health ministry official said. Of the 154 deaths reported since Sunday morning, 58 were from Maharashtra, 30 from Delhi, 29 from Gujarat, nine in Madhya Pradesh, eight from Tamil Nadu, six from Uttar Pradesh, four from Telangana, three each from Rajasthan and West Bengal, two from Bihar and one each from Punjab and Uttarakhand. Of the total 4,021 fatalities, Maharashtra tops the tally with 1,635 deaths followed by Gujarat at 858 deaths, Madhya Pradesh at 290, West Bengal at 272, Delhi at 261, Rajasthan at 163, Uttar Pradesh at 161,Tamil Nadu at 111 and Andhra Pradesh at 56. According to the ministry’s website, more than 70 percent of the deaths are due to comorbidities. Maharashtra has reported the highest number of cases (50,231) followed by Tamil Nadu with 16,277 cases, Gujarat with 14,056 cases, Delhi with 13,418 cases and Rajasthan with 7,028 cases. Maharashtra, Delhi, Tamil Nadu report new cases However, figures released by various state governments during the day put the numbers higher. According to the Delhi government, the number of confirmed cases in the National Capital climbed to 14,053 with 635 new cases recorded on Monday while the death count reached 276. According to a bulletin released by the Maharashtra public health department, 2,436 new patients of coronavirus were recorded in the state while 60 more people succumbed to the disease. 1,186 patients were also discharged. “The total number of positive cases in the state rises to 52,667, including 1,695 deaths and 15,786 discharged,” the department said. In Mumbai, 1,430 new COVID-19 cases and 38 deaths were reported on Monday, taking the total number of positive cases to 31,789 and the toll to 1,026 in the city. Tamil Nadu reported a sharp spike with 805 new cases and seven deaths, taking the total to 17,082. Kerala too recorded a rise in cases as 46 more tested positive in the state, taking the cumulative figure to 896. Domestic flights resume after two months The Indian skies opened up for passengers after two months, with the first flight taking off from Delhi for Pune at 4.45 am. The first flight from Mumbai was to Patna at 6.45 am. According to Union Civil aviation minister Hardeep Singh Puri, 532 flights with 39,231 passengers were flown and the number would only increase with the resumption of flights in Andhra Pradesh and West Bengal on Tuesday and Thursday respectively.
From no domestic passenger flights yesterday to 532 flights &
— Hardeep Singh Puri (@HardeepSPuri) May 25, 2020
39,231 passengers today, action has returned to Indian skies.
With Andhra Pradesh set to resume operations from tomorrow & West Bengal from 28 May, these numbers are all set to increase further.@MoCA_GoI @PIB_India
However, according to PTI, as many as 630 flights were also cancelled on Monday, adding to the difficulties faced by air travellers. Many passengers reached the airports only to find out that their flights had been cancelled. Only three services touched down in Goa, while ten others were cancelled, state Health Secretary Nila Mohanan said, adding that the reasons behind 10 cancellations among the 13 scheduled arrivals were not known. Aviation industry sources told PTI that the cancellations were due to Centre’s announcement on Sunday night that there would be no flights in West Bengal and Andhra Pradesh, and limited operations at major airports such as Mumbai, Chennai and Hyderabad. It was decided on Sunday that Kolkata and Bagdogra airports in cyclone-hit West Bengal will not operate any domestic flight between 25 and 27 May but will handle 20 flights each daily from 28 May. Moreover, Vijayawada and Vizag airports in Andhra Pradesh will handle just 20 per cent of their pre-lockdown flights from 26 May. Mumbai airport, which is India’s second busiest airport, will handle only 50 flights daily from Monday, the Centre said, adding Chennai airport will see only 25 arrivals per day. There were no limits set on departures from Chennai airport. Moreover, Hyderabad in Telangana will handle just 30 flights every day from Monday, the government said. With inputs from agencies
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