 "Coronavirus Outbreak Updates: 366 new COVID-19 infections reported in Gujarat today, total number of cases rises to 11,746 in state")
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Coronavirus Outbreak LATEST Updates: Reports said that 366 new coronavirus cases were reported in Gujarat on Monday, taking the state’s tally to 11,746. “The package announced will not bring any immediate relief to the distressed farmers. The standing crops have perished due to lockdown causing great losses to the farmers. In turn, they are facing a cash crunch & need immediate support to undertake ensuing Kharif season activities,” Sharad Pawar said in his letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The Maharashtra health department said that 2,033 more coronavirus cases and 51 deaths were reported in the state on Monday. Total number of cases in the state is now at 35,058, including 25,392 active cases and 1,249 deaths. Maharashtra chief minister Uddhav Thackeray extended the COVID-19 lockdown in the state till 31 May. He added, “People ask me why are you not lifting lockdown. Imagine if we lift the lockdown, see what happened in US, UK and Brazil. We won’t allow that to happen in Maharashtra. This is why no industries will be allowed to open in red zones. Just think, if we allow industries to function and if their workers are found positive, then again we will have to go into a forced lockdown. Why not continue this lockdown only.” “We have to ensure the green zones remain green and are not infected. Also have to ensure red turns into green. We have set up a 1,000-bed hospital in BKC in just 10-12 days. It will be ready for use in 2-3 days,” said Maharashtra CM Uddhav Thackeray on Monday. “Gujarat will have containment and non-containment zones. Only essential services to be allowed in containment zones,” said Gujarat chief minister Vijay Rupani on Monday. “Schools, shopping malls, gyms, swimming pools will remain closed. Beauty parlours and salons allowed to operate in non-containment zones only. “Restaurants can open but only for home delivery of food. The food delivery agents must have a health card. Restaurants on highways can be open but social distancing to be maintained,” he said. Maharashtra chief minister Uddhav Thackeray is reportedly scheduled to address the state at 8 pm on Monday over the coronavirus situation. Meanwhile, a dedicated COVID-19 health centre was transferred from the MMRDA to BMC on Monday, News18 reported. The facility has 1,000 beds and was transferred in the presence of Thackeray and Deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar. Tamil Nadu on Monday reported 536 new cases of coronavirus, of which 46 people have travel history to Maharashtra. The total number of cases in Tamil Nadu rose to 11,760. Reports said that there are currently 56,316 active cases of coronavirus in India. “So far, a total of 36,824 people have been cured of COVID-19. In the 24 hours a total of 2,715 patients are reported cured and presently the recovery rate is pegged at 38.29 percent,” News18 reported. Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal said that while private offices can open at full strength, they should try that most of the staff works from home. “Markets can open but shops will open on odd-even basis. Sports complexes and stadiums can open but without spectators. Construction activities are allowed in the national capital now but only with labourers who are in Delhi right now,” he added. Kerala chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan said that 29 new cases of coronavirus were reported in the state on Monday, of which 21 have arrived from abroad. West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee on Monday extended the COVID-19 lockdown in the state till 31 May. “We will try to arrange for 115 more trains in a few days and the state government will pay the train fare,” she added. The Delhi government reportedly decided not to test samples of deceased patients who were suspected of having coronavirus. Delhi health secretary Padmini Singla issued the order saying, “No sample for COVID-19 test will be taken of dead body. However, if doctors are satisfied from clinical examination that the cause of death may be COVID-19 infection, the dead body may be released as suspect COVID-19 infected dead body.” “However, even those suspected to have died of coronavirus have to be buried or cremated as ICMR protocols. As reported by The Indian Express, over the past two months, five cremation/burial grounds in the capital have carried out 410 funerals as per the standard operating procedure (SOP) for Covid patients, which is followed for confirmed as well as suspected cases,” The Indian Express reported. According to a Maharashtra Police action report, 240 cops and 38 health workers have faced assault. Moreoever, 85 policemen have also suffered injuries while performing their duty. Karnataka CM BS Yediyurappa announced that people from Gujarat, Maharashtra, Kerala and Tamil Nadu will not be allowed to enter the state till 31 May. Migrants workers pelted stones at the police and vandalised two of their vehicles in Ahmedabad allegedly over their demand to go back to home states. A clash then ensured, in which two police personnel were injured. Six employees of OPPO mobile company’s factory in Greater Noida have tested positive for COVID-19, ANI reported. The factory, which had resumed operations on 9 May has been completely shut down. Section 144 of the Criminal Procedure Code will remain in effect in all districts of Chhattisgarh for the next three months. The state has reported 86 cases so far, of which 59 have recovered and none have died. The fourth phase of the coronavirus lockdown began on Sunday and will continue till 31 May. Meanwhile, a total of 62 countries, including India, backed a joint effort by Australia and European Union, calling for an independent inquiry into the World Health Organisation’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Three more passengers - a total of seven people - who travelled in Mumbai-Goa train on Sunday tested positive for COVID-19 during TrueNat testing. The total number of active cases in Goa has reached 29. The country is set to enter the fourth phase of the lockdown due to the novel coronavirus on Monday, as the National Disaster Management Authority issued an order to continue the lockdown measures till 31 May. Subsequently, the home ministry issued a set of guidelines for the fourth phase, in which it directed that air travel, hotels, restaurants and public gatherings will remain prohibited throughout the country. Earlier in the day, finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced the fifth and final tranche of the government’s stimulus package to revive the coronavirus-hit economy. She said the stimulus package includes the Rs 8.01 lakh crore of liquidity being made available by the RBI. The death toll due to COVID-19 rose to 2,872 and the number of total positive cases climbed to 90,927 Sunday morning, registering an increase of 120 fatalities and a record jump of 4,987 new cases in 24 hours, since 8 AM Saturday, according to the Union Health Ministry. The number of active COVID-19 cases stands at 53,946, while 34,108 people have recovered and one patient has migrated, it said. [caption id=“attachment_8377241” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Representational image. AP[/caption]
Lockdown guidelines
The Union home ministry issued guidelines listing the dos and don’’ts during the lockdown 4.0 that has been clamped in the country to cut the chain of coronavirus infection. The guidelines said all domestic, international air travel of passengers, except domestic air ambulance, will remain prohibited. Metro rail services, schools, colleges will remain closed till May end, the guidelines issued by the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) said. Hotels, restaurants, cinema halls, malls, swimming pools, gyms will also remain shut even as all social, political, religious functions, and places of worship will be closed till May 31, it said. The MHA said inter-state movement of passenger vehicles, buses will be allowed with mutual consent of states involved during the COVID-19 lockdown 4.0. States and Union Territories have been given the powers for delineation of Red, Green and Orange Zones as per COVID-19 situation, the MHA said. All shops, except those in containment zones and malls, will be allowed to open from Monday with staggered timings during lockdown 4.0, it said. Further, state governments and Union Territories have been asked to decide on the demarcation of red, orange and green zones based on the parameters set by the Centre. Also significantly, the new guidelines permit inter-state movement of passenger vehicles and buses with the mutual consent of the states or Union Territories.
State-wise cases and deaths
Of the 120 new deaths reported since Saturday morning, 67 were in Maharashtra, 19 in Gujarat, nine in Uttar Pradesh, seven in West Bengal, six in Delhi, four in Madhya Pradesh, three in Tamil Nadu and two in Haryana and one each from Andhra Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir and Rajasthan Of the total 2,872 fatalities, Maharashtra tops the tally with 1,135 fatalities, Gujarat comes second with 625 deaths, followed by Madhya Pradesh at 243, West Bengal at 232, Delhi at 129, Rajasthan at 126, Uttar Pradesh at 104,Tamil Nadu at 74 and Andhra Pradesh at 49 The death toll reached 36 in Karnataka, 34 Telangana and 32 in Punjab Haryana has reported 13 fatalities due to the disease, Jammu and Kashmir has 12 deaths while Bihar has registered seven and Kerala has reported four deaths Jharkhand, Chandigarh, Himachal Pradesh and Odisha have recorded three COVID-19 fatalities each, while Assam has reported two deaths Meghalaya, Uttarakhand and Puducherry have reported one fatality each, according to the ministry data. The ministry’s website says more than 70 per cent of the deaths are due to comorbidities According to the health ministry data updated in the morning, the highest number of confirmed cases in the country are from Maharashtra at 30,706, followed by Gujarat at 10,988, Tamil Nadu at 10,585, Delhi at 9,333, Rajasthan at 4,960, Madhya Pradesh at 4,789 and Uttar Pradesh at 4,258 The number of COVID-19 cases has gone up to 2,576 in West Bengal, 2,355 in Andhra Pradesh and 1,946 in Punjab It has risen to 1,509 in Telangana, 1,179 in Bihar, 1,121 in Jammu and Kashmir, 1,092 in Karnataka and 887 in Haryana Odisha has reported 737 coronavirus infection cases so far, while Kerala has 587 cases. A total of 217 people have been infected with the virus in Jharkhand and 191 in Chandigarh Tripura has reported 167 cases, Assam has 92 cases, Uttarakhand has 88, Himachal Pradesh has 78 cases, Chhattisgarh has 67 and Ladakh has registered 43 cases, so far Thirty-three COVID-19 cases have been reported from the Andaman and Nicobar Islands Goa have reported 17 COVID-19 cases, while Meghalaya and Puducherry have registered 13 cases each Manipur has seven cases. Mizoram, Arunachal Pradesh and Dadar and Nagar Haveli have reported a case each till now.
Sitharaman announces final tranche of economic stimulus
The Centre has announced suspension of new bankruptcy filings on loan defaults for one year and raised the threshold for insolvency as it moved to ease COVID-19 pain for the industry. It also announced a new policy for companies under state control saying public sector undertakings under the non-strategic sector will be privatised while those in the identified strategic sector would be capped by not more than four by merging some of them. In the fifth and final tranche of the economic stimulus package, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman raised allocation for employment guarantee scheme by Rs 40,000 crore over and above the Rs 61,000 crore budgeted earlier for MGNREGS, to provide employment to migrant workers moving back to their states. This, she said, will help generate nearly 300 crore person-days in total. For industries, she said the minimum threshold to initiate insolvency proceedings will be raised to Rs 1 crore from Rs 1 lakh, which largely insulates micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) from bankruptcy on defaulting on loans. Also, a special insolvency resolution framework for MSMEs under Section 240A of the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC) will be notified soon, she said adding that fresh initiation of insolvency proceedings will be suspended up to one year depending upon the pandemic situation. Coronavirus-related debt will be excluded from the definition of “default” under the IBC for the purpose of triggering insolvency proceedings, she said adding that the changes will be effected by promulgating an ordinance. Additionally, minor technical and procedural defaults under the Companies Act such as shortcomings in CSR reporting, inadequacies in board report, filing defaults, and delay in holding AGM will be decriminalised. Last week, the government pledged a Rs 20 lakh crore (nearly 10 per cent of gross domestic product) package to support the economy headed for its first full-year contraction in more than four decades. With inputs from PTI
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